Next article……the oil business. Despite “Drill Baby Drill” Trump has completely undermined the economics of the domestic oil production industry, especially shale oil, and they are not happy. Trump with the Saudis assistance have taken oil prices down by $10/bbl since taking office, tariffs, especially of steel tubular reduces have increased input costs, and immigrant deportations are driving labor costs up. The industry does claim that lighter regulations have shaved costs by $2/bbl. The Sept Dallas Fed report is eye opening, the comments at times, brutal. https://www.dallasfed.org/research/surveys/des/2025/2503#tab-forecastcharts
I'm a right-brained creative type. Never thought I could EVER understand economics. A few years ago I dove in. Found layman level books & several podcasts. If this interests you I highly recommend the Pitchfork Ecomomics podcast & credit it with giving me a well-rounded understanding of that formerly mystifying subject. I highly recommend going into the archives and listening to the very illuminating interview with Rand Corporation's head mathematician, et al. Carter Price, called "Inequality is Costing workers $50 trillion, with Carter Price. I feel like flawed economic policy is at the core of how politics has been able to weaken, anger and divide our middle- and working class -- and this interview made it so clear as to why and how. I wish the Bulwark would interview Nick Hanauer sometime. He's a hugely wealthy person but is engaged in action trying to correct some of these problems rather than "trying to die with most toys" ;)
Michael, I do agree that we are all "part of this mess." I do believe that when more people become more aware, the tide will turn. The majority of Americans do not want a Dictatorship/Authoritarian Rule. This direction is being pushed by a very active minority.
His lack of understanding of the impacts of his policies on businesses exposes exactly why he was horrible at business and bankrupted several of his companies.
Being a teen and early twenties growing up in NYS, we all hated Trump. His reputation preceded him when he entered politics as far as I was concerned. I never watched whatever his show was called, never looked at any of his books, never read any positive articles written about him and would never, ever vote for him. I'm now in my early 60s. Some of us learned our lessons from the way he operated his businesses and screwed over the people that he came into contact with, even all those years ago!
“This whole thing,” Langlais said, “it doesn’t make any sense to me.”
It makes perfect sense when you consider it was never about "energy independence" and always about a quid pro quo with the oil industry to bankroll his campaign last year.
The regime is dangerous because the people running it are incompetent and corrupt. They talk of civil war because that is the only way for them to keep power.
I recall an interesting lecture from my misspent youth attending Florida State University on the way to collecting a degree in Physics. The topic, as I recall was overall energy strategy and one of the presenters discussed the possibility of nuclear fusion as solving the energy problem since coal and oil were nearing the end of economic viability due to increased costs of extraction in fixed resources. He indicated that if fusion became a reality it would be possible to furnish the electric energy needs of the planet into the foreseeable future- essentially until the sun burns out. And then he mentioned an interesting possibility regarding black body radiation and considering the energy balance of the planet. I leave it as an exercise for the student to determine how much energy would be required to raise the surface temperature of the planet. As I recall the number was huge, and easily achievable if fusion ever comes online. He concluded, if memory serves me, that the surface temperature of the earth could exceed the boiling point of lead long before the full capability of fusion to produce energy was reached.
For those who think that nuclear fission is the way forward once coal and oil become too expensive to burn it is well to consider that fissile material needed for those reactors is also a limited resource. Estimates back in the day (early 1970's) indicated about a 150-200 year supply if current energy demand could be limited to levels experienced at that time. Of course, great strides in fission reactor technology have been made in the last 50 years, mostly in Europe, however there are limits to what can be achieved. Nature always wins. YMMV.
1. I can 100% see the Revolution Wind project "cancellation" being retaliation for the Keystone XL pipeline project cancellation. That is just how Trump and the revanchist GOP thinks. Add onto that Trump's weird hatred of wind power and it makes 100% sense.
2. At some point American labor, the American working class will have to come to grips with the fact that the GOP is not actually a populist organization. Everything that the GOP does favors the wealthy owner class over the people. Maybe it's an indictment of the Dems that they lost the working class to the very people dedicated to making the working class powerless. Either way, I cannot believe that this dynamic can persist.
Shambolic. That's an interesting word to use when you are trying to say that Aristotle noted a couple of thousand years ago that "It is also in the interests of a tyrant to keep his people poor, so that they may not be able to afford the cost of protecting themselves by arms and be so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for rebellion.”
I can’t think of one area of governing or policy in which Trump or his advisors demonstrate competence! If we wait for the 2026 election to solve our Trump problem, it will be too late! Only elected Republican Senators and Representatives and/or the Supreme Court can now save our democratic republic! Will any of their Republican members find the courage to end Trump’s fast moving dictatorial efforts?
United States will be left out of the world economy. It is because our President is so ignorant on economic policies or he is helping Russia and China. What dope would stop a windmill project that is 80% percent complete ? Do you think it might have something to do with the wind power company being from Denmark ? This might never get finished if Trump wants Greenland for allowing them the project to be finished !
Trump does not *have* an agenda that goes beyond what he wants. Big Picture: He wants *everything*, but he makes important decisions based on his “gut.,” That makes him not only a threat to the economy, but also to his own best interests. How do you think he bankrupted three casinos in Atlantic City? He had two profitable ones. His greedy gut told him he could make even more money with a third one. They cannibalized one another.
Now, he’s going to do the same to our economy. But he’ll be laughing all the way to the bank, Making billions off his cryptocurrency, the sketch camouflage for foreign governments or criminals to pay their bribes.
BTW, where is he keeping all the Congressional preauthorized money he has frozen? Invested in some safe haven like his cryptocurrency?
A very bad move. I wonder how many American workers were employed there and lost their jobs when the factory was closed. There were surely more than 475 employees there. When Trump backtracked some to allow some to remain to train American workers, he realized he had shot himself in the foot. The South Koreans didn’t want to take any chances and were likely offended. He certainly offended South Korea and stopped a lot of growth in industry in America. He won’t bring manufacturing back to this country with stupid moves like this.
Next article……the oil business. Despite “Drill Baby Drill” Trump has completely undermined the economics of the domestic oil production industry, especially shale oil, and they are not happy. Trump with the Saudis assistance have taken oil prices down by $10/bbl since taking office, tariffs, especially of steel tubular reduces have increased input costs, and immigrant deportations are driving labor costs up. The industry does claim that lighter regulations have shaved costs by $2/bbl. The Sept Dallas Fed report is eye opening, the comments at times, brutal. https://www.dallasfed.org/research/surveys/des/2025/2503#tab-forecastcharts
“Ever since this stop-work order came, we’ve been waiting for the ransom note,” Langlais said.
- Such an apt description of dealing with Trump.
I'm a right-brained creative type. Never thought I could EVER understand economics. A few years ago I dove in. Found layman level books & several podcasts. If this interests you I highly recommend the Pitchfork Ecomomics podcast & credit it with giving me a well-rounded understanding of that formerly mystifying subject. I highly recommend going into the archives and listening to the very illuminating interview with Rand Corporation's head mathematician, et al. Carter Price, called "Inequality is Costing workers $50 trillion, with Carter Price. I feel like flawed economic policy is at the core of how politics has been able to weaken, anger and divide our middle- and working class -- and this interview made it so clear as to why and how. I wish the Bulwark would interview Nick Hanauer sometime. He's a hugely wealthy person but is engaged in action trying to correct some of these problems rather than "trying to die with most toys" ;)
Michael, I do agree that we are all "part of this mess." I do believe that when more people become more aware, the tide will turn. The majority of Americans do not want a Dictatorship/Authoritarian Rule. This direction is being pushed by a very active minority.
Americans deserve better.
His lack of understanding of the impacts of his policies on businesses exposes exactly why he was horrible at business and bankrupted several of his companies.
Being a teen and early twenties growing up in NYS, we all hated Trump. His reputation preceded him when he entered politics as far as I was concerned. I never watched whatever his show was called, never looked at any of his books, never read any positive articles written about him and would never, ever vote for him. I'm now in my early 60s. Some of us learned our lessons from the way he operated his businesses and screwed over the people that he came into contact with, even all those years ago!
Sorry, who did Langlais vote for?
“This whole thing,” Langlais said, “it doesn’t make any sense to me.”
It makes perfect sense when you consider it was never about "energy independence" and always about a quid pro quo with the oil industry to bankroll his campaign last year.
The regime is dangerous because the people running it are incompetent and corrupt. They talk of civil war because that is the only way for them to keep power.
Yep, it's all about the rich guys' oceanfront views. Trump & Kennedy.
I recall an interesting lecture from my misspent youth attending Florida State University on the way to collecting a degree in Physics. The topic, as I recall was overall energy strategy and one of the presenters discussed the possibility of nuclear fusion as solving the energy problem since coal and oil were nearing the end of economic viability due to increased costs of extraction in fixed resources. He indicated that if fusion became a reality it would be possible to furnish the electric energy needs of the planet into the foreseeable future- essentially until the sun burns out. And then he mentioned an interesting possibility regarding black body radiation and considering the energy balance of the planet. I leave it as an exercise for the student to determine how much energy would be required to raise the surface temperature of the planet. As I recall the number was huge, and easily achievable if fusion ever comes online. He concluded, if memory serves me, that the surface temperature of the earth could exceed the boiling point of lead long before the full capability of fusion to produce energy was reached.
For those who think that nuclear fission is the way forward once coal and oil become too expensive to burn it is well to consider that fissile material needed for those reactors is also a limited resource. Estimates back in the day (early 1970's) indicated about a 150-200 year supply if current energy demand could be limited to levels experienced at that time. Of course, great strides in fission reactor technology have been made in the last 50 years, mostly in Europe, however there are limits to what can be achieved. Nature always wins. YMMV.
A couple of thoughts:
1. I can 100% see the Revolution Wind project "cancellation" being retaliation for the Keystone XL pipeline project cancellation. That is just how Trump and the revanchist GOP thinks. Add onto that Trump's weird hatred of wind power and it makes 100% sense.
2. At some point American labor, the American working class will have to come to grips with the fact that the GOP is not actually a populist organization. Everything that the GOP does favors the wealthy owner class over the people. Maybe it's an indictment of the Dems that they lost the working class to the very people dedicated to making the working class powerless. Either way, I cannot believe that this dynamic can persist.
Shambolic. That's an interesting word to use when you are trying to say that Aristotle noted a couple of thousand years ago that "It is also in the interests of a tyrant to keep his people poor, so that they may not be able to afford the cost of protecting themselves by arms and be so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for rebellion.”
I can’t think of one area of governing or policy in which Trump or his advisors demonstrate competence! If we wait for the 2026 election to solve our Trump problem, it will be too late! Only elected Republican Senators and Representatives and/or the Supreme Court can now save our democratic republic! Will any of their Republican members find the courage to end Trump’s fast moving dictatorial efforts?
United States will be left out of the world economy. It is because our President is so ignorant on economic policies or he is helping Russia and China. What dope would stop a windmill project that is 80% percent complete ? Do you think it might have something to do with the wind power company being from Denmark ? This might never get finished if Trump wants Greenland for allowing them the project to be finished !
Trump does not *have* an agenda that goes beyond what he wants. Big Picture: He wants *everything*, but he makes important decisions based on his “gut.,” That makes him not only a threat to the economy, but also to his own best interests. How do you think he bankrupted three casinos in Atlantic City? He had two profitable ones. His greedy gut told him he could make even more money with a third one. They cannibalized one another.
Now, he’s going to do the same to our economy. But he’ll be laughing all the way to the bank, Making billions off his cryptocurrency, the sketch camouflage for foreign governments or criminals to pay their bribes.
BTW, where is he keeping all the Congressional preauthorized money he has frozen? Invested in some safe haven like his cryptocurrency?
A very bad move. I wonder how many American workers were employed there and lost their jobs when the factory was closed. There were surely more than 475 employees there. When Trump backtracked some to allow some to remain to train American workers, he realized he had shot himself in the foot. The South Koreans didn’t want to take any chances and were likely offended. He certainly offended South Korea and stopped a lot of growth in industry in America. He won’t bring manufacturing back to this country with stupid moves like this.