10 hours ago, JaxxBKK said:

 

You just don't get it. I understand

 

You're another one on here with an absolute inability to give Trump credit for anything. If it were Dem policy it would be perfectly fine.

 

Biden increased jobs by 16 billion 😂😂😂😂😂😂

 

4 years under Biden was largely a treasonous adventure that did absolutely nothing but HARM the economy and the US population.

 

Your post is wholly incorrect

 

You are a strident anti trump poster. Like spiderman you have an absolute inability to look at anything objectively.

 

You're an absolute LAFF. Biden economy spending into oblivion and you hold THIS president to account over 100 days.

 

Meanwhile, Biden needlessly spent trillions and no criticism whatsoever. You have zero credibility

Please explain how a 50% tariff on steel and aluminium is going to achieve anything apart from raising costs for all American consumers, even down to paperclips and sardine cans.

 

Railing about Biden is classic look over there. 16 billion new jobs under Biden is a fact, you are in denial. Objective my @rse.

 

You cope with basic economics about as well as an Eskimo would cope with living in the Sahara.

Is this Jaxx guy still in school? If so he's failing on all fronts.

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

Please explain how a 50% tariff on steel and aluminium is going to achieve anything apart from raising costs for all American consumers, even down to paperclips and sardine cans.

 

Railing about Biden is classic look over there. 16 billion new jobs under Biden is a fact, you are in denial. Objective my @rse.

 

You cope with basic economics about as well as an Eskimo would cope with living in the Sahara.

 

You just don't get it. The tarrifs are about stopping the hemorrhaging of money abroad. They are a cudgel. If, like Thailand Nations continue to keep up their barriers and THEIR tarrifs and they get what they get.

 

Everyone is whining and complaining but the truth is we won't really know how effective this play is until the end of Trump's term and maybe beyond.

 

A number of countries have come to acceptable trade agreements already. It is disingenuous to argue that the tariff play isn't effective.

 

You let Rome burn under Biden and cared not a whit. Now, you expect miracles in 100 days. It's a total laff.

3 minutes ago, bubblegum said:

Is this Jaxx guy still in school? If so he's failing on all fronts.

 

Cite please

8 minutes ago, Dan O said:

Wanna expand on the Biden legacy that will live on in infamy? Give us some specifics not just opinion or rumor. 

 

Go back and look at my political posts. Simples

14 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

My theory is Trump and the far right's underlying and intended aim is to ultimately put the federal government in such bad financial straights that the far right will then have a more compelling argument for slashing / privatizing / effectively eliminating Medicare, Social Security and all manner of other federal programs that support ordinary Americans and retirees...

 

All the while, the Musk's, Bezoz's, Zuckerberg's and other billionaires in Trump's current cohort go laughing to the bank with Trump Admin federal funding / contracts / concessions, while ordinary Americans suffer.

 

Have Wealthy Donors Bought the Trump Administration?

February 10, 2025

 

"When only a small group of people with extraordinary wealth have power over the government, our system is not responsive to the will of the people, but rather to the will of a handful of wealthy donors whose biggest concerns are lining their own pockets.  

 

Yet, President Trump is rewarding his biggest donors with political favors and countless opportunities to enrich themselves at the expense of the American people.

...

Now we’re witnessing President Trump reward his wealthy donors not only with ambassadorships, but also with positions in the Cabinet and new roles such as Musk’s unelected position that is influencing government decisions in the shadows.  

 

(more)

 

https://campaignlegal.org/update/have-wealthy-donors-bought-trump-administration

 

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is a nonpartisan legal organization dedicated to solving the wide range of challenges facing American democracy.

 

What does the far right gain if/when the federal government is effectively hobbled:

 

-- little to no environmental regulation enforcement

-- little to no banking / stock market regulation enforcement

-- little to no Justice Department voting rights violation enforcement

-- little to no FDA food safety regulation enforcement

etc etc etc.

 

Which is exactly the road Trump has already started the current federal government down thru massive attempted federal worker layoffs and attempting to eliminate or effectively gut entire federal agencies and departments.

 

AGREE  with this, particularly privatization and slashing of social security benefits.

 

 

Isn't anyone going to mention the price of eggs in US ? 😳

2 minutes ago, JaxxBKK said:

 

Go back and look at my political posts. Simples

 you are making claims and not supporting them so if you want people to take you serious  then show us the facts not your opinions. It shouldn't be hard if you already know or are you scared to back up your claims?

1 minute ago, Dan O said:

 you are making claims and not supporting them so if you want people to take you serious  then show us the facts not your opinions. It shouldn't be hard if you already know or are you scared to back up your claims?

 

You need to get on the Internet and research this stuff yourself - IF in fact interested, but you're not. Someone could lay out the facts in a neat tidy package and you would still deny it all anyway. This is the nature of you people

I don't know if any of you guys ever pay attention to Hugh Hendry and what he has to say, but he has some interesting insights into the global economy, the bond market, cryptos, Trump's tariffs, and the role of the US in the world, going forward.  It's worth a listen, if you have an hour.

 

 

Really can't make it much worse.  1) 36 Trillion in debt 2) Close to 900 billion in interest payments on the debt 3) Spend more than it takes in 4) Debt to GDP ratio 120% 4) The only other developed economy that has a worse GDP to Debt ratio is japan at over 200%.  These numbers only apply to the US Federal Government.  Some American states and large cities are even in worse fiscal condition.  CA has a 40+ Billion budget defict and the second larges city, LA, has a 900 million budget deficit and it's esteemed Karen Bass announced the possiblity of layoffs and a hiring freeze with the exception of police.  I could go on and on but USS Titanic is coming closer to it's iceberg. 

1 hour ago, JaxxBKK said:

 

I don't drink wine. I prefer Scotch and Bourbon.

 

The tarrifs won't stand and everything will shake out eventually. Purpose of tariffs are too strong arm countries into acceptable trade agreements.

 

I don't care a wit about the wine importers. My guess is most Americans and even wine drinkers don't care either - imported wine could entirely disappear from the shelves in the United States and my thinking is Americans would be perfectly ok with that. America produces excellent wine

 

You mentioned Montclair. I don't drink wine but if I were to it would be this brand because I don't trust how bottles of proper wine could be handled in this heat.

 

My mother drank a great deal of wine. I grew up living next door to the cousin of Robert Mondavi for what that's worth.

 

Go Cali!

Okay so you admit to your lack of expertise when it comes to wine. I happen to be a wine collector and I know for a fact that Americans would care very deeply if imported wines were heavily taxed. Though California does produce some amazing wines they're completely unlike their old world counterparts and taxing those wines is based on pure hubris. Trump appears to be exhibiting a Thai gov't. level of ignorance when it comes to these tariffs. 

24 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

Really can't make it much worse.  1) 36 Trillion in debt 2) Close to 900 billion in interest payments on the debt 3) Spend more than it takes in 4) Debt to GDP ratio 120% 4) The only other developed economy that has a worse GDP to Debt ratio is japan at over 200%.  These numbers only apply to the US Federal Government.  Some American states and large cities are even in worse fiscal condition.  CA has a 40+ Billion budget defict and the second larges city, LA, has a 900 million budget deficit and it's esteemed Karen Bass announced the possiblity of layoffs and a hiring freeze with the exception of police.  I could go on and on but USS Titanic is coming closer to it's iceberg. 

 

Thank you

 

This is the problem and Trump and gop doing F all to solve it. Elon Musk has every right to be absolutely pissed. He spent 6 months of his life and was in a daily battle with nitwits to shine a light on the incompetence, malfeasance and outright theft

 

Of course the Democrats are completely lost when it comes to this topic.

 

At this point in my life I only care about one thing and that is a strong dollar. I'm not going to get that from Trump, but all presidents try to beat down the dollar in order to stimulate exports.

 

The United States is very close to entering Japanese debt territory. At that point all bets are off and I really don't see the way things are going how this is going to get turned around.

 

I'm glad I didn't pay much into Social Security I always knew it was going to go under before I received the bulk of it.

 

If the United States sees higher interest rates ident spiral could ensue. At that point it's over. That could come far quicker than the piling on and escalation of debt.  This is why interest rates were kept at 0 for so long and the government borrowed and borrowed without conscience.

12 minutes ago, JaxxBKK said:

 

Thank you

 

This is the problem and Trump and gop doing F all to solve it. Elon Musk has every right to be absolutely pissed. He spent 6 months of his life and was in a daily battle with nitwits to shine a light on the incompetence, malfeasance and outright theft

 

Of course the Democrats are completely lost when it comes to this topic.

 

At this point in my life I only care about one thing and that is a strong dollar. I'm not going to get that from Trump, but all presidents try to beat down the dollar in order to stimulate exports.

 

The United States is very close to entering Japanese debt territory. At that point all bets are off and I really don't see the way things are going how this is going to get turned around.

 

I'm glad I didn't pay much into Social Security I always knew it was going to go under before I received the bulk of it.

 

If the United States sees higher interest rates ident spiral could ensue. At that point it's over. That could come far quicker than the piling on and escalation of debt.  This is why interest rates were kept at 0 for so long and the government borrowed and borrowed without conscience.

This is what I fear the most: Who will buy more US Debt? The last thing I want to hear is "raise the debt ceiling".  The cracks may be forming even right now.   The inventory of unsold homes in many parts of the US is growing by the day.  Interest rates across the board are starting to iinch higher and higher and this is literally brake that halts any economy.  The US economy runs on borrowed money (auto loans, home loans, credit cards and even personl loans).  When money is cheap the economy humms and when money is expenisve the economy crawls.  

46 minutes ago, JaxxBKK said:

 

You need to get on the Internet and research this stuff yourself - IF in fact interested, but you're not. Someone could lay out the facts in a neat tidy package and you would still deny it all anyway. This is the nature of you people

I do quite a bit of research and fact checking and dont run with rumors or opinions as you have clearly posted. Its obvious that you have nothing since you cant even regurgitate what you claim to have already posted. Funny since you also claim that you are not a trump fan, then go on to defend crap that isnt factual. Not sure who the "you people" are but Im sure its opposite what you are from the sounds of it. 

8 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

 

It is all in the approach. The Democrats are reluctant to support a freeze as long as  the very wealthy are receiving large tax reductions.  The fiscal conservative group within the GOP are not advocating for wealthy tax cuts. There are Democrats who are willing to work with Republicans (just as there are Republicans willing to work with Democrats) to  get a responsible budget done. The problem that arises is that as soon as anyone talks about keeping some taxes, they get called a commie, and if someone suggests closing a redundant military base they are labeled anti American.  

 

Yet when they had the chance to raise taxes on the rich and cut spending they did neither. 

 

How do you define "very wealthy", and what large tax reductions are the very wealthy getting? 

43 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Okay so you admit to your lack of expertise when it comes to wine. I happen to be a wine collector and I know for a fact that Americans would care very deeply if imported wines were heavily taxed. Though California does produce some amazing wines they're completely unlike their old world counterparts and taxing those wines is based on pure hubris. Trump appears to be exhibiting a Thai gov't. level of ignorance when it comes to these tariffs. 

Only a small percentage of mostly rich Americans would care. 

 

Most anyone that will pay $50 for a bottle of wine will pay $100 for the same bottle. 

 

That said, I am generally against tariffs, and much of Trump's use of them. 

I don't rule out the possibility that Trumpinator is part of the wrecking crew tasked to destroy what's left of middle class western society.

 

In the meanwhile I'm taking prophets from my portfolio and spending them on Thai iced tea and street vendor pad thai. 👊

2 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Only a small percentage of mostly rich Americans would care. 

 

Most anyone that will pay $50 for a bottle of wine will pay $100 for the same bottle. 

 

That said, I am generally against tariffs, and much of Trump's use of them. 

Flip flopping or is the light of truth starting to cut thru your fog of ignorance about trump?

4 minutes ago, Dan O said:

Flip flopping or is the light of truth starting to cut thru your fog of ignorance about trump?

I have never been generally for tariffs, nor have I ever supported all of Trump's use of them. 

 

So, you are either a liar, or you are still locked in your fog of ignorance, or (more likely), both. 

22 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Yet when they had the chance to raise taxes on the rich and cut spending they did neither. 

How do you define "very wealthy", and what large tax reductions are the very wealthy getting? 

 

The Center for Budget and Policy priorities analysis led it to conclude that under the  budget, the average family earning less than $50,000 would get under $300 in tax cuts in 2027, less than $1 a day, while the average tax filer earning $1 million or more a year would receive about $90,000 in tax breaks.  It is not an equitable  tax reduction. The super wealthy who make 20X  the poor American family, but will receive 300X the  reduction. Do the super wealthy really merit that size a reduction?

https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/by-the-numbers-house-republican-tax-agenda-favors-the-wealthy-and-leaves

 

It is easy to blame Democrats, but the   reality is that  the U.S. “fiscal gap”—how much taxes need to be raised or spending cut to keep public debt stable as a share of gross domestic product—was entirely created by the Republican tax cuts of 2001, 2003, and 2017.

Worse still is the MAGA insistence on gutting the IRS and reducing enforcement actions.  The “tax gap”—the amount of taxes owed but not paid each year—is currently larger than the overall fiscal gap. It is driven by the richest U.S. households and businesses cheating the law and underpaying taxes.  https://www.epi.org/publication/tcja-extensions-2025/  If everyone paid what they owed, much of the budget deficit would be  eliminated.

56 minutes ago, JaxxBKK said:

 

Thank you

 

This is the problem and Trump and gop doing F all to solve it. Elon Musk has every right to be absolutely pissed. He spent 6 months of his life and was in a daily battle with nitwits to shine a light on the incompetence, malfeasance and outright theft

 

Of course the Democrats are completely lost when it comes to this topic.

 

At this point in my life I only care about one thing and that is a strong dollar. I'm not going to get that from Trump, but all presidents try to beat down the dollar in order to stimulate exports.

 

The United States is very close to entering Japanese debt territory. At that point all bets are off and I really don't see the way things are going how this is going to get turned around.

 

I'm glad I didn't pay much into Social Security I always knew it was going to go under before I received the bulk of it.

 

If the United States sees higher interest rates ident spiral could ensue. At that point it's over. That could come far quicker than the piling on and escalation of debt.  This is why interest rates were kept at 0 for so long and the government borrowed and borrowed without conscience.

I think it's fairly safe for those of us that have a reasonable level of objectivity, to say that the US has been on the decline for at least 30 or 40 years, and that decline is only going to continue. Trump is precipitating that decline to a dramatic degree, whether or not he knows that ,and whether or not this is deliberate we will probably never know. 

 

Trump’s idea of power. If I can destroy, if I can defile and march on relatively unscathed and unpunished, that makes me powerful. Other people can’t get away with it, but that’s how dominant and superior I am.

 

Trump would not be where he is without the deep state or a similarly sinister organization or group of very powerful people who put him in that place, and are allowing him to conduct these extremely destructive economic policies. As reckless and as poorly thought out as all this seems, I think it's actually deliberate economic sabotage.

 

 

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Okay so you admit to your lack of expertise when it comes to wine. I happen to be a wine collector and I know for a fact that Americans would care very deeply if imported wines were heavily taxed. Though California does produce some amazing wines they're completely unlike their old world counterparts and taxing those wines is based on pure hubris. Trump appears to be exhibiting a Thai gov't. level of ignorance when it comes to these tariffs. 

 

Lol maybe the top 0001%.

 

I've never met anyone on the west coast that insists on fancy imported wines.

 

If all imports of wine were to be halted would there still be an ample supply of good wine? Absolutely.

 

Would the American care if fancy  imported wines were stopped? Absolutely not.

 

This is your own paranoia about your hobby or income.. which is understandable.

 

The reality is that all wine imports could be stopped forever and essentially nothing in the US would change whatsoever.

 

You're such a drama queen.

 

Where's that list of grievances Mike? How Trump admin has damaged your business in last 120 days?? 🚀

4 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

I think it's fairly safe for those of us that have a reasonable level of objectivity, to say that the US has been on the decline for at least 30 or 40 years, and that decline is only going to continue. Trump is precipitating that decline to a dramatic degree, whether or not he knows that ,and whether or not this is deliberate we will probably never know. 

 

Trump’s idea of power. If I can destroy, if I can defile and march on relatively unscathed and unpunished, that makes me powerful. Other people can’t get away with it, but that’s how dominant and superior I am.

 

Trump would not be where he is without the deep state or a similarly sinister organization or group of very powerful people who put him in that place, and are allowing him to conduct these extremely destructive economic policies. As reckless and as poorly thought out as all this seems, I think it's actually deliberate economic sabotage.

 

 

 

You claim objectively and then 120 days into administration claim

 

*Economic Sabotage*

 

Pure comedy

10 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

Do the super wealthy really merit that size a reduction?

 

I do think so.

 

They proved themselves worthier than the Profane.

49 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

This is what I fear the most: Who will buy more US Debt? The last thing I want to hear is "raise the debt ceiling".  The cracks may be forming even right now.   The inventory of unsold homes in many parts of the US is growing by the day.  Interest rates across the board are starting to iinch higher and higher and this is literally brake that halts any economy.  The US economy runs on borrowed money (auto loans, home loans, credit cards and even personl loans).  When money is cheap the economy humms and when money is expenisve the economy crawls.  

 

Thank you

 

This is another huge issue. It may top interest rates moving upward. It's conceivable that no one buys the debt. That's serious business and would mean the Fed has to add yet more debt to it's balance sheet.

 

Much we don't know about Fed especially after 2008.

 

Yellin was an absolute disaster and much of the inflation problem - she kept rates low to stimulate a morabund economy on life support and even injected trillions.

18 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Trump is precipitating that decline to a dramatic degree, whether or not he knows that ,and whether or not this is deliberate we will probably never know. 

 

We can never know.

 

My gut says he is part of the wrecking crew, along with the clowns in the UK, Oz and Canada.

 

In the meanwhile I'm taking prophets and spending them on Khaosan Rd at the noodle shops and tshirt vendors.

 

Ya gotta live Spidey.

16 hours ago, TedG said:

 

 

1) The federal budget has been a mess for sometime now.   This is not a Trump thing.   I blame the dems for buidling a government that we can't afford.    Spending is at 23% of the GDP.   Which is unstainable.  

2) Calling this a tax break for the wealthy is a stupid narrative.   

 

 

Trump ran up national debt twice as much as Biden 

https://www.axios.com/2024/06/24/trump-biden-debt-deficits-election

7 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

 

The Center for Budget and Policy priorities analysis led it to conclude that under the  budget, the average family earning less than $50,000 would get under $300 in tax cuts in 2027, less than $1 a day, while the average tax filer earning $1 million or more a year would receive about $90,000 in tax breaks.  It is not an equitable  tax reduction. The super wealthy who make 20X  the poor American family, but will receive 300X the  reduction. Do the super wealthy really merit that size a reduction?

https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/by-the-numbers-house-republican-tax-agenda-favors-the-wealthy-and-leaves

If you don't know, just say you don't know, no shame in that. 

 

Only about 6% of the families that earn less than $50,000 a pay any federal income taxes at all, so if you extrapolate what the savings would be for the 6% of families that earn less than $50,000 per year, that savings would be quite significant. 

 

So again, if you want to have a real discussion, please define "very wealthy", and explain what large tax reductions the very wealthy are getting. 

 

Cut-and-pasting from agenda driven websites and pretending you are providing facts is lazy at best. 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

It is easy to blame Democrats, but the   reality is that  the U.S. “fiscal gap”—how much taxes need to be raised or spending cut to keep public debt stable as a share of gross domestic product—was entirely created by the Republican tax cuts of 2001, 2003, and 2017.

Worse still is the MAGA insistence on gutting the IRS and reducing enforcement actions.  The “tax gap”—the amount of taxes owed but not paid each year—is currently larger than the overall fiscal gap. It is driven by the richest U.S. households and businesses cheating the law and underpaying taxes.  https://www.epi.org/publication/tcja-extensions-2025/ If everyone paid what they owed, much of the budget deficit would be  eliminated.

 

I'm not blaming Democrats, I was just pointing out the hypocrisy. The whole "tax cuts for the rich" shtick is silly and tiresome. 

 

I am all for collecting what is owed, and I very much support developing AI software such that every return is audited. I am very much against hiring more people and throwing money at a system that is rife with inefficacy political targeting. 

 

If you want to discuss how MAGA is gutting the IRS and reducing enforcement actions, I'm all for that as well, but again, cut-and-pasting from agenda driven websites and pretending you are providing facts is lazy at best.

 

I do not think it is generally the 1%'ers that are evading taxes. 

 

 

6 minutes ago, Woke to Sounds said:

 

We can never know.

 

My gut says he is part of the wrecking crew, along with the clowns in the UK, Oz and Canada.

 

In the meanwhile I'm taking prophets and spending them on Khaosan Rd at the noodle shops and tshirt vendors.

 

Ya gotta live Spidey.

I think it's fairly safe to say that Trump is a pathological superfreak, and that he cares not one iota for his supporters, for Democrats (the other half), nor for Americans or the people around the world. He cares only for himself and his family, and his cronies, and it all about power and wealth. He is personally bankrupt.

 

That's the end of the story the sooner his supporters realize that the deeper their understanding will be in regard to his nature and his character.