"The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated last year that undocumented workers paid almost $60 billion in federal taxes in 2022. That money helps fill the Social Security fund’s coffers. Without it, the program will move closer to insolvency."
Worth repeating, no? Especially to those family and friends who are so set on deporting all the immigrants who are working here, contributing to all our lives in many ways.
1) One of the enduring mystiques about Trump is that he’s such a savvy business man. I keep wondering how long it will be before people realize that simply isn’t true, i.e., unless you define savvy businessman to be someone who actually founds a business that makes real money in the aggregate (I read that of all of the Trump projects that involved actually building something, only two made money – and that money doesn’t come close to making up for the money lost in his six bankruptcies.)
Clearly, Trump is someone who lives in the past, seemingly about 1955. Coal is “beautiful”, green energy is close to, if not an actual, scam, and climate change is such a hoax that there’s no reason not to “drill, baby, drill”.
In other words, at a time when no one was really concerned about the environmental impacts of anything that we did.
And, of course, it was a time when the U.S. was the only real economic superpower because either: (1) many countries had never had much of an industrial base, or (2) the ones that did had had them blown to smithereens by WWII. So the U.S. got to dictate whatever terms they wanted to.
But the bottom line is not that Trump has good or bad ideas. It’s that he’s simply not capable of executing any of his ideas in a coherent manner. Because it appears that his mind can’t stay focused on any one subject for more than a few minutes. And he certainly doesn’t want to spend any time learning something. That is way too much work.
So it doesn’t matter if the tariffs are a good idea or not. Because Trump will execute them in some slipshod, erratic way.
2) “And she was gonna put them in a high-tech industry, to make little cell phones” – How ironic that Trump pooh-poohed the very idea that Lutnick implied would make so many American workers happy.
Gretchen Whitmer has earned a resounding vote of no confidence from my corner. I hope this tanks any presidential aspirations she might have had. Forgive my crass language here but what the fuck is she doing? She is perpetuating Trump’s bullshit about how tariffs will bring back good manufacturing jobs to America, something democrats have been working tirelessly to refute. No one asked for this, Gretchen. You could have just stayed quiet, or better yet, you could have joined the fight.
The fact that she’s sanewashing Trump and treating him as a normal person who is acting in good faith, while simultaneously undermining the democratic messaging around how disastrous Trump’s tariffs are is insane. People don’t want a fucking treatise on how to implement tariffs selectively and effectively. No one cares. Stick to the message that Trump’s tariffs are a disaster and leave it at that. The only people who want you to reach out to Nazis are other Nazis, Gretchen. How long before she and Newsome decide to host a round table with Andrew Tate the Knights of the KKK about finding common ground with MAGA?
For the love of god, please get the self-serving shameless panderers and academic nerds out of the party. It’s either they leave, or we leave. Democratic affiliation is at an all time low and it’s not hard to see why. So many of us would be done with the party if we had any other choice.
I can’t take it anymore! Trump just accused Miles Taylor of treason! Trump has personally ordered an investigation into 2 decent and honorable Americans, Taylor and C(K)hris Krebs! America just completely descended into a dictatorship because elected REPUBLICANS are cowards without any decency!
The Bulwark has been trying to alert Americans to the threats to our democracy, but the warnings are not adequate! Now they and the PRESS must use full-throated alerts to expose a totally corrupted and incompetent Trump, his personal DOJ, FBI, and his entire administration!
Trump just might be using this unAmerican move to distract and to cover up his disastrous tariff actions!
Thank you for expressing your outrage. It is mine as well.
Adam Schiff is starting his own investigation on the possibility of stock manipulation by the administration. (Of course, since Trump was acting on "official business," he has immunity.)
It is under a dictator. Since the SCOTUS allowed him to continue with his fascist deportations we get closer and closer to being a full on dictatorship. But, we still have elections. See Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida.
Think that any of the bruhs in his brain trust have introduced Trump to the arithmetic of how many thousands of days at $2 billion in tariffs per day it will take to make up for the $10 trillion in wealth he has single-handedly vaporized?
The countries aren't folding as he wanted. He also admitted there is no pencil on paper, he's going by instinct really. We knew that.
Part of me is glad, but part of me is angry because this move will allow his supporters to say "See. He's not so bad. He's a master at putting a scare into all those bad countries that are taking advantage of the US. You'll see how much more respectful those countries are."
Well just in: "HE'S" putting the Tariffs on "HOLD" for 90 days (3 months) which will take us to the middle of July when he can put them back on and no one will notice because it will be summer. I think the current "melt down" he didn't expect. Or maybe he did. He changes his mind like you have to change babies diapers. Oh and by the way there is NO SUCH THING as CLEAN COAL. Nope I live in the swing state of Pennsylvania where coal mining used to be big as a matter of fact my grandfather was a coal miner back in the day. All our power companies used coal fired generators but now have switched to natural gas because the coal was too dirty and polluting while the gas is a whole lot cleaner. If anyone thinks they will go back to coal fired I believe they have another think coming. Oh and back in the day my grandparents homes were heated with coal, until they switched to natural gas as well.
I remember when I was a kid how dirty our windowsills were. It was such a pain and if I was at my grandparents and stood on the floor grate my socks would get dirty as well.
Well, Trump did today what he swore yesterday he wouldn’t—apparently the stock market is dumber than everyone else. One poll that has Trump underwater and he does an immediate 180. Why anyone would believe anything he says is beyond me.
And listening to Peter Navarro in forming his so called economic policy is just more evidence of how clueless Trump is about how economics actually work. I wonder if Ron Vara is the reason WHY Trump, aka John Baron, thinks Navarro is so smart? After all, it must take a GENIUS to make up a fake name and try to pass it off to give you credibility.
One tends to wonder about the obvious market manipulation and insider trading currently in vogue with the duly elected T. Rump criminal enterprise. Although the crystal ball is occasionally cloudy on this point it is crystal clear - none of the instant billionaires manufactured in this process will face any consequences for illegal trading. Yay. Project 2025 - the gift that keeps on giving, especially to the grifting one percenters.
Bessant/Trump just announced a ninety-day pause on the tariffs, except those on China. The market is responding by soaring. Want to bet that Don,Jr., Eric, Ivanka, and Jared are making a killing?
From Quick Hits:
"The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated last year that undocumented workers paid almost $60 billion in federal taxes in 2022. That money helps fill the Social Security fund’s coffers. Without it, the program will move closer to insolvency."
Worth repeating, no? Especially to those family and friends who are so set on deporting all the immigrants who are working here, contributing to all our lives in many ways.
Now a day later we're back in the red. HIS "trick" apparently didn't work like he thought it would.
A few comments...
1) One of the enduring mystiques about Trump is that he’s such a savvy business man. I keep wondering how long it will be before people realize that simply isn’t true, i.e., unless you define savvy businessman to be someone who actually founds a business that makes real money in the aggregate (I read that of all of the Trump projects that involved actually building something, only two made money – and that money doesn’t come close to making up for the money lost in his six bankruptcies.)
Clearly, Trump is someone who lives in the past, seemingly about 1955. Coal is “beautiful”, green energy is close to, if not an actual, scam, and climate change is such a hoax that there’s no reason not to “drill, baby, drill”.
In other words, at a time when no one was really concerned about the environmental impacts of anything that we did.
And, of course, it was a time when the U.S. was the only real economic superpower because either: (1) many countries had never had much of an industrial base, or (2) the ones that did had had them blown to smithereens by WWII. So the U.S. got to dictate whatever terms they wanted to.
But the bottom line is not that Trump has good or bad ideas. It’s that he’s simply not capable of executing any of his ideas in a coherent manner. Because it appears that his mind can’t stay focused on any one subject for more than a few minutes. And he certainly doesn’t want to spend any time learning something. That is way too much work.
So it doesn’t matter if the tariffs are a good idea or not. Because Trump will execute them in some slipshod, erratic way.
2) “And she was gonna put them in a high-tech industry, to make little cell phones” – How ironic that Trump pooh-poohed the very idea that Lutnick implied would make so many American workers happy.
That "Boys will be boys" line seems to be the mantra for Trump's women, the only pathetic excuse they can come up with for their pathetic men.
Gretchen Whitmer has earned a resounding vote of no confidence from my corner. I hope this tanks any presidential aspirations she might have had. Forgive my crass language here but what the fuck is she doing? She is perpetuating Trump’s bullshit about how tariffs will bring back good manufacturing jobs to America, something democrats have been working tirelessly to refute. No one asked for this, Gretchen. You could have just stayed quiet, or better yet, you could have joined the fight.
The fact that she’s sanewashing Trump and treating him as a normal person who is acting in good faith, while simultaneously undermining the democratic messaging around how disastrous Trump’s tariffs are is insane. People don’t want a fucking treatise on how to implement tariffs selectively and effectively. No one cares. Stick to the message that Trump’s tariffs are a disaster and leave it at that. The only people who want you to reach out to Nazis are other Nazis, Gretchen. How long before she and Newsome decide to host a round table with Andrew Tate the Knights of the KKK about finding common ground with MAGA?
For the love of god, please get the self-serving shameless panderers and academic nerds out of the party. It’s either they leave, or we leave. Democratic affiliation is at an all time low and it’s not hard to see why. So many of us would be done with the party if we had any other choice.
I can’t take it anymore! Trump just accused Miles Taylor of treason! Trump has personally ordered an investigation into 2 decent and honorable Americans, Taylor and C(K)hris Krebs! America just completely descended into a dictatorship because elected REPUBLICANS are cowards without any decency!
The Bulwark has been trying to alert Americans to the threats to our democracy, but the warnings are not adequate! Now they and the PRESS must use full-throated alerts to expose a totally corrupted and incompetent Trump, his personal DOJ, FBI, and his entire administration!
Trump just might be using this unAmerican move to distract and to cover up his disastrous tariff actions!
WHEN WILL AMERICANS WWKE UP?
Thank you for expressing your outrage. It is mine as well.
Adam Schiff is starting his own investigation on the possibility of stock manipulation by the administration. (Of course, since Trump was acting on "official business," he has immunity.)
It is under a dictator. Since the SCOTUS allowed him to continue with his fascist deportations we get closer and closer to being a full on dictatorship. But, we still have elections. See Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida.
Think that any of the bruhs in his brain trust have introduced Trump to the arithmetic of how many thousands of days at $2 billion in tariffs per day it will take to make up for the $10 trillion in wealth he has single-handedly vaporized?
Trump cried uncle. Or bought up all the cheap stock he could and decided to cash in.
The countries aren't folding as he wanted. He also admitted there is no pencil on paper, he's going by instinct really. We knew that.
Part of me is glad, but part of me is angry because this move will allow his supporters to say "See. He's not so bad. He's a master at putting a scare into all those bad countries that are taking advantage of the US. You'll see how much more respectful those countries are."
Well just in: "HE'S" putting the Tariffs on "HOLD" for 90 days (3 months) which will take us to the middle of July when he can put them back on and no one will notice because it will be summer. I think the current "melt down" he didn't expect. Or maybe he did. He changes his mind like you have to change babies diapers. Oh and by the way there is NO SUCH THING as CLEAN COAL. Nope I live in the swing state of Pennsylvania where coal mining used to be big as a matter of fact my grandfather was a coal miner back in the day. All our power companies used coal fired generators but now have switched to natural gas because the coal was too dirty and polluting while the gas is a whole lot cleaner. If anyone thinks they will go back to coal fired I believe they have another think coming. Oh and back in the day my grandparents homes were heated with coal, until they switched to natural gas as well.
A gas turbine can be turned on and off easily to meet demand. Coal powered boilers take days to start up.
Yes that is truly why many went from coal fired furnaces to natural gas. Although the one drawback with Natural Gas is it can blow up.
No giant piles of fly ash is a plus.
I remember when I was a kid how dirty our windowsills were. It was such a pain and if I was at my grandparents and stood on the floor grate my socks would get dirty as well.
Well, Trump did today what he swore yesterday he wouldn’t—apparently the stock market is dumber than everyone else. One poll that has Trump underwater and he does an immediate 180. Why anyone would believe anything he says is beyond me.
And listening to Peter Navarro in forming his so called economic policy is just more evidence of how clueless Trump is about how economics actually work. I wonder if Ron Vara is the reason WHY Trump, aka John Baron, thinks Navarro is so smart? After all, it must take a GENIUS to make up a fake name and try to pass it off to give you credibility.
Actually way back in 2016 a sharp journalist guest on MSNBC referred to. Trump as “a monkey with a gun”
True and prophetic!
If you're a 23 year old online gambler and crypto lover this maybe for you but I can do without the drama
One tends to wonder about the obvious market manipulation and insider trading currently in vogue with the duly elected T. Rump criminal enterprise. Although the crystal ball is occasionally cloudy on this point it is crystal clear - none of the instant billionaires manufactured in this process will face any consequences for illegal trading. Yay. Project 2025 - the gift that keeps on giving, especially to the grifting one percenters.
Bessant/Trump just announced a ninety-day pause on the tariffs, except those on China. The market is responding by soaring. Want to bet that Don,Jr., Eric, Ivanka, and Jared are making a killing?
that would be the "short and the long" of it
Brilliant!
Trump caved.
All tariffs, except the ones levied by Trump on China, are put on hold for 90 days.
The markets rejoice...
Right. Jaimie Dimon went on FOX news this morning and said a recession was likely. And Trump caved. The great negotiator my ass.
Trump's gonna claim a great victory.
Just watch.