Cesar Deicide

Project 2025 is less about governance and more about remaking the state in ways that require large-scale disruption. Doge was the first step. The rapid-fire blunderbuss approach that Steve Bannon mentioned is still happening. Naomi Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine” had warning signs that match much of current MAGA blueprint. While the citiz…[Read more]

@Reg

Yup!

Sitting in the sun outside Starbucks today, I overheard people sarcastically toasting  (or roasting) Trump for the probable reduction in coffee prices here as Brazil starts to export its coffee to Europe instead of the USA.  People are not going to play his game. Just ignore him and make new friends instead.

I’m starting to think that destruction of the economy is actually an unstated part of the Project 2025  planners. They clearly want to establish something resembling a feudalism with an all powerful lord at the top, lords bound to him by fealty, and helpless compliant commoners with little control over anything beyond their own househods. Letting…[Read more]

@Reg

That as well, though I think what I proposed pretty much covers the same ground in different words. It’s not friendly to be constantly breaking rules and/or rewriting them unilaterally to one’s own advantage.

The Canadians will happily and safely dance with their friends.

I think the biggest issue for most countries is that Trump cannot be trusted. The rest of the world has watched in bafflement and dismay at how Trump has treated Canada. In his first term he overhauled the NAFTA trade agreement, which became USMCA. I will admit that was a better trade agreement and one built on a broadly stable and modernized…[Read more]

I think the main reason Canada is supplanting the good ole USA is that they are friendly with their customers whereas Trump America is hostile.

🙂 Sorry, I only intended to paste as far as “Author: (you)”, not the entire code….

@Reg

I’m sure I’m not alone in saying my eyes glazed over. What I did was ask ChatGPT this: Recently the President basically took over the agency that issues monthly job statistics, presumably so he can meddle with it and provide only favorable data with little regard to accuracy. So, I’m wondering if it’s possible to basically derive the same…[Read more]

Yes, there are numerous sources of good data and methods to do this. I used to be involved in economic forecasting for a university “thinktank” in a previous career.  Individual States can offer labor rates from jobless claims and job openings from Linkedin etc. MasterCard and Bank of America track credit card spending. The varied sources allo…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
The worst thing that Trump did was to fire Erika McEntarfer as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The damage to the reputation of the trustworthiness of US economic data, used by financial forecast organizations around the world, is now undermined, thanks to the guy who insists he is 6’3’’ and w…

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