Raising the minimum wage to at least twenty dollars per hour and a wealth tax to ease the property tax burden that pays for public education would help average Americans afford the increased cost of necessities. Increasing the amount earned to qualify for Medicaid and the Snap program would help along with subsidized daycare. I doubt this will happen under the Trump administration. Suppose Musk and Vivi would make suggestions to cut the military budget instead of domestic programs. It might not be harmful, especially if the arms manufacturers switch to valuable products like solar or wind energy. During WWII, manufacturers rapidly switched from domestic products to war products. Could our arms manufacturers retool in reverse?
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."
HA, the military budget is where the fat is, but these guys are gonna carve away at muscle and bone. You know they are … The super-wealthy are, anyway, non-state types — their wealth is grounded in countries aall over the world, not just here. Corporate types, especially, have mouthed such “value systems” — they support whatever supports their corporations, over all else.
{Thom here is talking about structuring an economy that makes relocating manufacturing on shore in the U.S. attractive to these selfish bastards … Well, I called them selfish bastards. Mr. Hartmann did not.}
I don't think that kind of taxation is the answer. A lot of foreigners and even foreign countries make a lot of money in the US without paying a dime in income taxes. Comes to trillions. l've told you many times that OPEC has in effect been taxing us since 1973. Based on price fixing and price gouging. At the same time, bought control of some of our most wealthy companies...like Exxon. We should recoup all that money.
Those crimes have affected all of us -- rich and poor.
We also have too many deadbeats. Many wealthy foreigners live here....I am cynical. I don't believe they pay taxes.
Meanwhile, some of the wealthiest Americans offshore virtually everything they have to avoid taxation.
I've been around the block. Too many tricks. We used to write pour over trusts funded by "key man" life insurance to skip generations from having to pay taxes. Borrowing from equity.
If we want fairness, inheritance taxes are much better. Consumption taxes reach the manufacturer -- even if in a foreign country. Can exempt low income tax payers.
They'll move to someplace like the Caymans, Isle of Wight. My favorite was Halliburton, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halliburton. At one point they were illegally trading with Iran. Moved headquarters to Dubai. Darth Vader was vice president, or president of vice.
If there is anything to be gleaned from the 900 pages of Project 2025, is that there will be no mid term or general in 2026 or 2028.
I assume that my "negativity" is depressing, but I am also realistic. Project 2025 is a blueprint for an autocratic theocracy, he will destroy the administrative state, by filling cabinet positions with incompetent loyalists who will obey his every command, then he will fire 50,000 or more civil servants and replace them with MAGAts, the will gut the Pentagon and Joint Chief of Staffs and replace them with Dominionists and Loyalists like Gen Charles Flynn, who my guess will be Chairman of the JCS.
Ignore the Posse Commitatus Act, and mobilize the Army against it's own people under somer pretense of martial law.
Since the Democratic National Committee slops at the same trough as the Republican National Committee. I have never seen any difference between the two until 2016, and I again revert to my 2016 opinion.
What can the DNC do, it is powerless against an authoritarian regime, and slops at the same trough as the Republicans and Trump?.
What incentive do corporations and billionaires have, to even let Democrats near the trough., when Trump has filled their stockings and placed all of the presents under the tree that is on their wish list.
Will there even be an election in 2026? If so will it be a real one, with real opposition? Can real opposition even get a message out in an electronic medium that is MAGA controlled.?
Even now there is word that ComCast is going to sell MSNBC and Musk is going to purchase it.
And a Trump judge has interfered in the sale of Alex Jones show to the Onion.
I don't enjoy being a "Debbie Downer", but instead of continuing the pretense that the sun will come up tomorrow, and that we can right the ship of state, acknowledge what Kevin Roberts said of Project 2025, this is the 2nd revolution and it will be bloodless if the left allows it.
We should be planning and organizing a counter revolution, via analog means, since the NSA has a data center in Bluffdale, UT that sniffs every piece of electronic communication transmitted, including substack comments.
Do not look to the Democratic party for leadership, it's already in the process of morphing for the sake of survival, to the party of the loyal opposition, only this time the loyalty is not to the constitution but to the new regime.
Trumps cabinet has already been normalized as pundits and hosts are discussing the qualities and pecadillos of nominees, as if the Senate will have some say over their appointment.
I see this as chatter, mere gossip, a pretense that the institutions still hold.
I wish it was different, I really do
Mr and Mrs Scarborough were the leading edge of a surrender wave, more to follow..
I don't see a downside Lei. I am never depressed,or disappointed, because I never expect better. I can only be joyously and pleasantly surprised.
As regards the future. I am concerned,not scared. Fear immobilizes you. I've been in combat and the last thing that youwant in yourself or anyone in your unit is to be immobilized with fear
I learned the Serenity Prayer in AA, and live by it, that helps.
That doesn't mean that I am a patsy and accept all the feces thrown at me.
But it enables me to slow down and think. If I get emotional, i get irrational and that interferes with rational thinking, especially critical thinking.
I am concerned, very concerned about the future, I can't save anyone other than myself, and not sure about that either, but am making plans and moves that will hopefully help me survive,
But I am not some Jew living in Berlin, who waited until the GESTAPO knocked on their door telling them to pack their bags, they were going on a trip.
I started carrying an Irish Blessing coin in my pocket. I'm not religious, but I am Irish 🍀. This is my last ditch spiritual effort to get through this. I'm not one to pray, but I think at this time, we all need something to hang on to.
William, I share your concerns, but you won't receive a standing ovation in this particular audience for voicing them. Call me a pessimist, but I have a feeling that we're already very far around the bend.
But I have some background in communications (at the physical level) and something you said jumped out at me. You mentioned organizing via non digital modes due to the NSA's unprecidented ongoing surveilance program. I presume you include via the use of the highest encryption standards. How then? I can't think of a single secure mode in this age of massive supercomputers and AI. Obviously this is exactly the wrong place to be discussing the topic 😆 but if you have any suggested reading it would be appreciated just to satisfy my curiosity. Thanks. And soldier on, friend.
No LeMoine. I am the furthermost thing as an expert or even a novice in telecommunications and encryption.. But I am sure that NSA has the ability to break any encryption that is commercially available.
IIRC, NSA has the key to all commercial encryption, by law.
I have no reading suggestions because I wouldn't understand what I would be reading
No worries, William. I'm just an ex nerd that wishes there were a way to communicate privately anymore. Those days have passed us by, unless by way of some titan battle between competing AI interests, and even then, folks on our level wouldn't have access. But, oh wait, I just thought of a possibility: passing matchbooks on a dark street corner with EPROMS scotch taped to the inside. Velcro attachment of these carriers to small drones progralled to fly into the landing gear bay of commercial airliners destined for exotic places. Etc. Think I just got an idea for a technothriller book/movie. Thank you!
(PS: happy to know you appreciate cats. I have an orange tabby who is my very best friend! Happy TG)
I definitely understand your tabby being your best friend.
The idea of passing matchbooks is not so far fetched. Especially when one considers who is going to be in charge of the DNI, and the power of the NSA data center
How does non-digital modes include any encryption standards? He said analog as I recall. I think that means no electronic communication. With the advent of AI, I have heard even the highest encryption standard can be defeated
Summit. All commercial encryption before it is released to the public, has to have an encryption key given to the government. In other words your email is only encrypted to the recipient, and I'm not sure that those who intercept the packets can't read the email.
The problem has nothing to do with encryption Summit, but being locked out after three failed attempts at entering a password or a swipe. That is why iPhones have gone to biometrics like fingerprints , facial or retina.
And TV producers are using biometrics in their plots, holding phones to the face of a dead person, even taking an eye to use in a scanner or using a dead persons thumb. Nothing to do with encryption.
Agree re encryption vs biometric. I think we’re in agreement that encryption alone won’t be sufficient. It will need to be combined with biometric data based on physical or auditory or both characteristics, not susceptible to dead parts being held for the camera.
All attempts to find a Pollyanna view to counter the points in your post were unsuccessful. The underlying point of your message is the main fear. The media and Democratic Party are responding as if they're seeing a normal temporary shift in electoral power. They're behaving like this is just another election and the normal post mortem and regroup will reverse their fortunes.
They, pundits and many voters don't appreciate that the planned installation of the Project 2025 goals locks in reactionary power for the foreseeable future. Once in place, they neutralize the left with a combination of surveillance, media control, reversal of civil rights and the protections ensuring fair elections helped by a willing Supreme Court, and the occasional dispatch of the intelligence and military apparatus to arrest and imprison rivals or worse.
These are not normal times. The politicians poised to take power next year are a Frankenstein monster of Nazis, the KKK, entitled gentry controlling massive wealth, and all are tied together with the zealotry Christian Nationalism reliably provides. If the above sounds scary, good. It's terrifying and we all need to be gaming out how to resist a reactionary Death Star.
The only personality I've seen TV that tells it like it really is. Is Michael Steele, former Chairman of the Pre Trump RNC,, that was on Deadline White House with Nicole Wallace and the face of Nicole was priceless,downcast, chagrin and so eager to change the subject. Most of the Democrat hosts are in denial and making pretense that everything is business as usual, and gossiping about the peccadilloes of Trumps picks.
I thought it was a joke that "word that ComCast is going to sell MSNBC and Musk is going to purchase it." Musk laughed at that... Too much high level journalism o that channel for us to lose it.
Value of MSNBC has fallen some 57% since the election, Joe and Mikka are probably responsible for most of that. Musk is interested but not the only billionaire
That's quite a read, Thom - and necessarily so. The tariff topic is not a black and white issue. Thanks for always looking to the horizon in search of better tomorrow's - you're a strategic warrior, not a tactical martyr. We need more of that.
I wish I could be hopeful as you Jon, But I have read Project 2025, have listened to Kevin Roberts, Trump, JD Vance, Stephen Miller and believe them. I look at Trump's cabinet picks, and know that if one backs out, as Gaetz did, that someone worse will step into fill the slot. He will sign a slew of Executive Orders, already written and awaiiting his signature, He will recreate Schedule F, which Biden so foolishly revoked when he could have and should have use it, to eject the Trump humping employees he injected in his last weeks like David Weiss who was so eager to prosecute Hunter.
Plans are to fire 50,000 independent and career civil servants and replace them with MAGAts, which his team are already take applications for and screening.
He will fire the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the pentagon and all generals who will not swear loyalty to him, and they are legion. He already has one loyalist General that could head the JCS, Gen Charles Flynn, Mike Flynn's brother,whom Joe Biden promoted, though he was a Jan 6th co conspirator.
He will use any civil disturbance as an excuse to declare martial law and mobilize the military, and federalize the 50 national guards
Am I wrong, where am I wrong? There is a belief in the officer corps, and it's oath to the constitution, well there is Charles Flynn, Col Martha McNalley, Lt Col Tulsi Gabbard, Maj Pete Hegseth,Captain Tom Cotton
According to recent data, around 98 members of the 118th Congress have served in the military, representing roughly 18.1% of the total membership, which would include commissioned officers from various branches; . 80 Are Republicans, 18 are Democrats.
And how many of the 98 still retain their commissions though not on active duty? And how many of them are Regular Officers.
I am a regular officer on the retired rolls and still subject to the UCMJ, and can be recalled at any time and be court martialed, as can Lt Gen Michael Flynn, for violating his oath to the constitution.
You're right, but arugably we've been doing that since JFK. We have an office of trade representative that is supposed to be on top of every deal. https://ustr.gov/about-us/about-ustr
The main reason it hasn't worked out was vulture capitalism caused by changes in the tax code like special tratment for long term capital gains and write offs for the costs associated with offshoring our goose that laid the golden egg, manufacturing.
Of course politics and legalized bribery affect trade policy, also.
Biden should be lionized for the Chips and Infastructure Acts..... Bringining in jobs.
Politics is legalized bribery Daniel, and that is the reason that there is special treatment for long term capital gains and write offs for the costs associated with offshoring our manufacturing and why we have the politics that we have, the courts that we have and the looming theocratic autocracy.
No, lobbying and dark money ala Citizens' United is legalized bribery. Once upon a time, was illegal in this country. And those changes in the tax code started in the late 70's, culminating with Reagan.
Trade policy overcomplicates things. Lots of irony. Probably could do algorythms to take the "human" corruption out of trades, but that way the lobbyists wouldn't get a cut. Down here in Baghdad By the Sea we have 2 growing seasons, and we probably could feed ourselves, but markets are rigged, many products commoditized, so we have to import the same stuff we grow here.
Same with many other products. I still am amazed re the preponderence of imported cars in the parking lots in Detroit. I used to live near the now defuct National Labor College. They were pissed when I asked why there were foreign cars in the parking lot. At one time, I suggested a plan where unions could help market the products they were making.
Washington state the same. We grow apples and grapes but export them to Asia,mostly Japan, and then turn around and import them from Chile.
This is part of Milton Friedman's scheme of comparative advantage, importing benefits the exporting company, shipping companies, middle men, wall Street but they are paid for by the American Consumer, Products are picked green (unripe) and ripen in transit, maybe.
When I live in Louisiana I loved to pick a watermelon out of the field, thump on it to hear if it was ripe. I will not eat a store bought watermelon anymore, they are tasteless and a waste of money.
I taste grapes before I buy, because many times they are still ripening.
I eat Halo brand tangerines, also mostly tasteless, they come from Chile also.
And I suspect that great Florida tangerines are exported to Europe. after being picked green.
I was watching on MSNBC a discussion about tariffs on the price of oil, I learned that we import oil from Canada, and the tariff will raise the price of gas.
However we actually produce more oil than we import, but export oil, the whole thing is a scam for the benefit of traders, oil companies, shipping companies and Wall Street.
As regards American Cars, They are pieces of shit. In the1950's, 1960's and 1970's planned obsolecence was retooling and changing the body style and maybe reboring the engine,every year or two (a good example is the 57, 58, 59 Chevy. Now the planned obsolescence is in the electronics.
I bought one of the first PT Cruisers in Dec 2020, there is no difference between that car. which is under wraps in my barn, with 22,000 miles, and the 2010 PT Cruiser, except that the door fob no longer works, the clock works sometimes, and the seat belt indicator comes on when I am hooked in, and sometimes goes off. It is the mother boards, and that cost hundreds to replace.
On the other hand my wife drives a 2009 Honda CRV, we give it regularly scheduled maintenance,and except for a few dings and scratches it is as new, great compression..
The first Honda's imported were pieces of shit, I owned an 83 Accord, they were manufactured to Japanese Standards,which required that an engine last 50,000 miles (anti pollution standard). I went through an engine, a transmission and three clutches.
Yet I drove a 1970 Maverick for 130,000 miles down the Pan American Highway to Panama, drove it three years in Panama, it was a stick shift and I would use the clutch to hold it on a hill, and when I sold it 13 years later it still had the same clutch, brakes and spark plugs that it had when I bought it,and didn't burn oil.
And that is probably why you see Hondas and Toyotas in the employee parking lots of GM ,and Stellantis.
In 1960 I bought a 56 Ford Custom Line, with an Intercept engine,but it had an annoying rattle in the door. a year later I found it, a whiskey bottle. Union workers would drink on the job and dispose of their bottle in cars on the line.
I can't say I don't understand,production line work is the most tedious and boring of all. I really feel for the seamstress working in clothing factories
How ‘bout splitting the difference in that politics has always been an influence buying game and Citizen’s United took off the last impedimetnts to creating unaccountable secret bribery?
Inspired by this blog, we mapped Trump's senseless tariff trade war and the American jobs it'll cost. What does Trump's senseless tariff trade war mean for you? How many jobs in your state depend on international trade? Who are America's biggest trading partners? What do they buy from America? Check this map.
Washington State exports Lumber and Apples and imports apples via the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma. Tariffs would impact the need for ILWU and thus impact the city, counties (King and Pierce),and the state.
I see the entire Trump Tariff as little more than a stealthy way to create the rejected “National Sales Tax” which proposed to eliminate Fed and State Taxes with a 30% across the board tax on everything….
The Tax Policy Center stated this:
Theory and evidence suggest that the tax would be passed along to consumers via higher prices.
Because lower-income households spend a greater share of their income than higher-income households do, the burden of a retail sales tax is regressive when measured as a share of current income: the tax burden as a share of income is highest for low-income households and falls sharply as household income rises.
In short it screws working class people and eliminates any progressivity in the uber rich paying their fair share.
So, it’s clear that Trump wants to mis-direct the ire of the working class onto all foreign nations we trade with, while giving the uber rich even mo’ money.
Please let go of the decent jobs aspect of Tarriffs, the only jobs “coming back” will be for robots. The New Yorker had a fine piece done on robots and the advances in improving what the robotic hands can do… By 2027 I predict this and AI teamed together will eliminate millions of jobs requiring skilled hand work.
NAFTA or whatever it is called now, was a great benefit to Canadian (Ontario) auto manufacturing. We are too small to make our own cars but we make parts for export to American auto manufacturers and some vehicles also exported to USA. Trump's tariffs will destry that
Western Canada exports high quality beef on the hoof and boxed to Western USA and imports lower quality (dairy) beef into Ontario and Quebec. Much more efficient than when we shipped swinging sides to Montreal by rail where the beef trade was mafia controlled. Trump's tariffs will force us back to that.
Canada has supply management of poultry and dairy much to America's anger at being locked out, more or less, of that Canadian market. BUT the reason for that is simple. Prior to the 1970s when it was introduced, we suffered from the American commodity price cycles. In times of high prices, American production would flood our market driving producers here out of business. In times of low prices, Americans would cut production and our supply would dry up. Only with supply management can we legally block american imports.
I actually read Wealth of Nations for bragging rights as most people quote it but have never read it. One point that really hit home was that big corporations were NOT on the side of the Nation. No shit, Sherlock.
We already have very low unemployment. A low birth rate. Structural labor shortage. There is no pool of millions of workers to make a large-scale manufacturing renaissance happen unless we have more immigration. And Trump is poised to deport 10-15 million people, most of them workers.
Creating an acute labor shortage in ag, food processing, construction, manufacturing, hospitality.
Using tariffs to revitalize American manufacturing is a good idea, but it has to be done carefully and intelligently, targeted tariffs, not tariffs on everything, and coordinated with labor supply and industrial ability to build up manufacturing, not just throwing mud at the wall and shit at the fan like Trump.
I swear every time I read one of your posts my brain expands! Why didn’t I have you in high school? (You would have to be 90 yrs old now!) Anyway, keep writing and I’ll keep learning.
first someone will have to explain in detail how talking points work and why we must deconstruct the gops constant industrial grade propaganda, put down markers on what their plan will result in,and after the gop plan has cost americans alot explain how we got here. This all as unknown as deep space for democrats or maybe they just want to be nice all the time.
A missing element in this article is skills, or loss of thereof, we have at least two generations of people who lack the basic skills and discipline necessary to work in a factory. The widespread belief in this country is that the only road to success college. The result is proliferation of private colleges (Trump U's) and the massive student debt problem. When I was a kid in the 50's a big Christmas present was an Erector set by Gilbert. Now it's a game box or a WII.
I agree completely , my dad how was manager in alot of settings, even back in 60’s many candidates were not fit to work at least in attitude. I always made myself useful. Particularly in smalll companies if you make things go smoother they usually notice and reward you.
This guy, a Plutocrat, gave a TED talk aimed at his fellow plutocrats, on a similar topic, the disease of neoliberalism- sickens the patient and ends up killing all of us. Throughout history, without exception, vast inequities driven by a small overlord class have not persisted long and violent revolution has always followed, either Myanmar or France being opposite outcomes, as I assume you are all aware. So his talk is pragmatic, but a great summary of a capitalist way of looking at things based on history.
After reading your column, I got that the BB on both sides do neoliberalism because the short term profits are better. So it’s another level in the war between people with externally directed egos and people with internally directed egos, or the 1% with Rupert Murdoch flying monkeys and the rest of us. The Goths are winning and Rome is falling due to internal divisions. I guess 2000 years or so in planetary time is an eye blink, because we certainly aren’t learning. There hasn’t been a leap in consciousness since the Buddha, although those levels of awareness are more accessible to more people these days. You don’t have to live in a monastery to experience the ground of being. At that level, everything is one and these divisions are manufactured for financial gain. The only question is do we want to be a pawn or are we going to take control of our own destinies?
Well … I doubt this is a new ideological haven for the Dems as Trump has made it very clear for a long time that recovering our North American manufacturing base is one of his prime goals.
It was actually Clinton that screwed up the US industries the most, and its clear that Trump is the only western leader since to shape up to reverse this. Biden just kept the same tariffs in place that Trump had already installed, but adopted a useless and wasteful strategy involving green energy that will do nothing for our core industries, and unless changed by Trump will do far more damage than good..
The good news is that Trump is back, and will get on with what he started, and Canada and Mexico will have to buckle up and join him on the ride to a North American trade bloc.
More about this in my new book Take Back Manufacturing at …
Well, Nigel I wish you good luck . I suppose when already stagnant wages never recovered from offshoring, reach lows below that of Chinese laborers then the jobs will return.
Well…. the good news is that we are already at the landed cost tipping point between the US and China on quite a few commodities ……. even without tariffs.
Labor is only a small delta cost compared to shipping, inventory and other hidden costs in long supply chains.. then if we add the latest automation this further reduces any advantage of low cost labor.. Plus the offshore labor is also escalating to further close the gap
And this is why 85% of corporation are reshoring with a 55% increase in reshoring levels year over year..
We have challenges…… but its happening and well worth the effort.
Raising the minimum wage to at least twenty dollars per hour and a wealth tax to ease the property tax burden that pays for public education would help average Americans afford the increased cost of necessities. Increasing the amount earned to qualify for Medicaid and the Snap program would help along with subsidized daycare. I doubt this will happen under the Trump administration. Suppose Musk and Vivi would make suggestions to cut the military budget instead of domestic programs. It might not be harmful, especially if the arms manufacturers switch to valuable products like solar or wind energy. During WWII, manufacturers rapidly switched from domestic products to war products. Could our arms manufacturers retool in reverse?
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."
HA, the military budget is where the fat is, but these guys are gonna carve away at muscle and bone. You know they are … The super-wealthy are, anyway, non-state types — their wealth is grounded in countries aall over the world, not just here. Corporate types, especially, have mouthed such “value systems” — they support whatever supports their corporations, over all else.
{Thom here is talking about structuring an economy that makes relocating manufacturing on shore in the U.S. attractive to these selfish bastards … Well, I called them selfish bastards. Mr. Hartmann did not.}
I don't think that kind of taxation is the answer. A lot of foreigners and even foreign countries make a lot of money in the US without paying a dime in income taxes. Comes to trillions. l've told you many times that OPEC has in effect been taxing us since 1973. Based on price fixing and price gouging. At the same time, bought control of some of our most wealthy companies...like Exxon. We should recoup all that money.
Those crimes have affected all of us -- rich and poor.
We also have too many deadbeats. Many wealthy foreigners live here....I am cynical. I don't believe they pay taxes.
Meanwhile, some of the wealthiest Americans offshore virtually everything they have to avoid taxation.
I've been around the block. Too many tricks. We used to write pour over trusts funded by "key man" life insurance to skip generations from having to pay taxes. Borrowing from equity.
If we want fairness, inheritance taxes are much better. Consumption taxes reach the manufacturer -- even if in a foreign country. Can exempt low income tax payers.
I’m not sure what you’re saying, Daniel. Tariffs won’t do it? Tariffs will do it?
Some OTHER kind of tax?
Yes, them that’s got … gets the breaks. Them that’s got calls the shots and they set the rules, too.
I’m not sure what you are suggesting, though …
What I'm saying is there are other ways to fund the government. We want people to invest in America, not drive them away.
I want the treasury to collect what should be due.
Tariffs work in some situations, but like Thom said Trump is the proverbial bull in the china shop. He screwed midwest farmers the last time.
Gloria, my heart goes out to your honest and genuine ideas, because I’d love to see them happen.
The real agenda for Musk and Swami is to achieve Feudalism as quickly as possible.
They'll move to someplace like the Caymans, Isle of Wight. My favorite was Halliburton, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halliburton. At one point they were illegally trading with Iran. Moved headquarters to Dubai. Darth Vader was vice president, or president of vice.
Mmmmm, yes. That ….. They ARE in reality stateless people, loyal to their business and their own bottom line, only.
If there is anything to be gleaned from the 900 pages of Project 2025, is that there will be no mid term or general in 2026 or 2028.
I assume that my "negativity" is depressing, but I am also realistic. Project 2025 is a blueprint for an autocratic theocracy, he will destroy the administrative state, by filling cabinet positions with incompetent loyalists who will obey his every command, then he will fire 50,000 or more civil servants and replace them with MAGAts, the will gut the Pentagon and Joint Chief of Staffs and replace them with Dominionists and Loyalists like Gen Charles Flynn, who my guess will be Chairman of the JCS.
Ignore the Posse Commitatus Act, and mobilize the Army against it's own people under somer pretense of martial law.
Since the Democratic National Committee slops at the same trough as the Republican National Committee. I have never seen any difference between the two until 2016, and I again revert to my 2016 opinion.
What can the DNC do, it is powerless against an authoritarian regime, and slops at the same trough as the Republicans and Trump?.
What incentive do corporations and billionaires have, to even let Democrats near the trough., when Trump has filled their stockings and placed all of the presents under the tree that is on their wish list.
Will there even be an election in 2026? If so will it be a real one, with real opposition? Can real opposition even get a message out in an electronic medium that is MAGA controlled.?
Even now there is word that ComCast is going to sell MSNBC and Musk is going to purchase it.
And a Trump judge has interfered in the sale of Alex Jones show to the Onion.
I don't enjoy being a "Debbie Downer", but instead of continuing the pretense that the sun will come up tomorrow, and that we can right the ship of state, acknowledge what Kevin Roberts said of Project 2025, this is the 2nd revolution and it will be bloodless if the left allows it.
We should be planning and organizing a counter revolution, via analog means, since the NSA has a data center in Bluffdale, UT that sniffs every piece of electronic communication transmitted, including substack comments.
Do not look to the Democratic party for leadership, it's already in the process of morphing for the sake of survival, to the party of the loyal opposition, only this time the loyalty is not to the constitution but to the new regime.
Trumps cabinet has already been normalized as pundits and hosts are discussing the qualities and pecadillos of nominees, as if the Senate will have some say over their appointment.
I see this as chatter, mere gossip, a pretense that the institutions still hold.
I wish it was different, I really do
Mr and Mrs Scarborough were the leading edge of a surrender wave, more to follow..
Being a realist sure has it's downside.
I agree with everything you said and it scares the crap out of me.
I don't see a downside Lei. I am never depressed,or disappointed, because I never expect better. I can only be joyously and pleasantly surprised.
As regards the future. I am concerned,not scared. Fear immobilizes you. I've been in combat and the last thing that youwant in yourself or anyone in your unit is to be immobilized with fear
I wish I was more like you. I feel like I've been kicked in the gut over and over again.
I learned the Serenity Prayer in AA, and live by it, that helps.
That doesn't mean that I am a patsy and accept all the feces thrown at me.
But it enables me to slow down and think. If I get emotional, i get irrational and that interferes with rational thinking, especially critical thinking.
I am concerned, very concerned about the future, I can't save anyone other than myself, and not sure about that either, but am making plans and moves that will hopefully help me survive,
But I am not some Jew living in Berlin, who waited until the GESTAPO knocked on their door telling them to pack their bags, they were going on a trip.
I started carrying an Irish Blessing coin in my pocket. I'm not religious, but I am Irish 🍀. This is my last ditch spiritual effort to get through this. I'm not one to pray, but I think at this time, we all need something to hang on to.
William, I share your concerns, but you won't receive a standing ovation in this particular audience for voicing them. Call me a pessimist, but I have a feeling that we're already very far around the bend.
But I have some background in communications (at the physical level) and something you said jumped out at me. You mentioned organizing via non digital modes due to the NSA's unprecidented ongoing surveilance program. I presume you include via the use of the highest encryption standards. How then? I can't think of a single secure mode in this age of massive supercomputers and AI. Obviously this is exactly the wrong place to be discussing the topic 😆 but if you have any suggested reading it would be appreciated just to satisfy my curiosity. Thanks. And soldier on, friend.
No LeMoine. I am the furthermost thing as an expert or even a novice in telecommunications and encryption.. But I am sure that NSA has the ability to break any encryption that is commercially available.
IIRC, NSA has the key to all commercial encryption, by law.
I have no reading suggestions because I wouldn't understand what I would be reading
Sorry.
No worries, William. I'm just an ex nerd that wishes there were a way to communicate privately anymore. Those days have passed us by, unless by way of some titan battle between competing AI interests, and even then, folks on our level wouldn't have access. But, oh wait, I just thought of a possibility: passing matchbooks on a dark street corner with EPROMS scotch taped to the inside. Velcro attachment of these carriers to small drones progralled to fly into the landing gear bay of commercial airliners destined for exotic places. Etc. Think I just got an idea for a technothriller book/movie. Thank you!
(PS: happy to know you appreciate cats. I have an orange tabby who is my very best friend! Happy TG)
I definitely understand your tabby being your best friend.
The idea of passing matchbooks is not so far fetched. Especially when one considers who is going to be in charge of the DNI, and the power of the NSA data center
How does non-digital modes include any encryption standards? He said analog as I recall. I think that means no electronic communication. With the advent of AI, I have heard even the highest encryption standard can be defeated
Summit. All commercial encryption before it is released to the public, has to have an encryption key given to the government. In other words your email is only encrypted to the recipient, and I'm not sure that those who intercept the packets can't read the email.
Then why are the police having such a hard time getting into iPhones? This is likely not relevant to the original post.
The problem has nothing to do with encryption Summit, but being locked out after three failed attempts at entering a password or a swipe. That is why iPhones have gone to biometrics like fingerprints , facial or retina.
And TV producers are using biometrics in their plots, holding phones to the face of a dead person, even taking an eye to use in a scanner or using a dead persons thumb. Nothing to do with encryption.
Agree re encryption vs biometric. I think we’re in agreement that encryption alone won’t be sufficient. It will need to be combined with biometric data based on physical or auditory or both characteristics, not susceptible to dead parts being held for the camera.
All attempts to find a Pollyanna view to counter the points in your post were unsuccessful. The underlying point of your message is the main fear. The media and Democratic Party are responding as if they're seeing a normal temporary shift in electoral power. They're behaving like this is just another election and the normal post mortem and regroup will reverse their fortunes.
They, pundits and many voters don't appreciate that the planned installation of the Project 2025 goals locks in reactionary power for the foreseeable future. Once in place, they neutralize the left with a combination of surveillance, media control, reversal of civil rights and the protections ensuring fair elections helped by a willing Supreme Court, and the occasional dispatch of the intelligence and military apparatus to arrest and imprison rivals or worse.
These are not normal times. The politicians poised to take power next year are a Frankenstein monster of Nazis, the KKK, entitled gentry controlling massive wealth, and all are tied together with the zealotry Christian Nationalism reliably provides. If the above sounds scary, good. It's terrifying and we all need to be gaming out how to resist a reactionary Death Star.
The only personality I've seen TV that tells it like it really is. Is Michael Steele, former Chairman of the Pre Trump RNC,, that was on Deadline White House with Nicole Wallace and the face of Nicole was priceless,downcast, chagrin and so eager to change the subject. Most of the Democrat hosts are in denial and making pretense that everything is business as usual, and gossiping about the peccadilloes of Trumps picks.
I thought it was a joke that "word that ComCast is going to sell MSNBC and Musk is going to purchase it." Musk laughed at that... Too much high level journalism o that channel for us to lose it.
Value of MSNBC has fallen some 57% since the election, Joe and Mikka are probably responsible for most of that. Musk is interested but not the only billionaire
https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/25/media/elon-musk-msnbc-spinoff-cable/index.html
That's quite a read, Thom - and necessarily so. The tariff topic is not a black and white issue. Thanks for always looking to the horizon in search of better tomorrow's - you're a strategic warrior, not a tactical martyr. We need more of that.
I wish I could be hopeful as you Jon, But I have read Project 2025, have listened to Kevin Roberts, Trump, JD Vance, Stephen Miller and believe them. I look at Trump's cabinet picks, and know that if one backs out, as Gaetz did, that someone worse will step into fill the slot. He will sign a slew of Executive Orders, already written and awaiiting his signature, He will recreate Schedule F, which Biden so foolishly revoked when he could have and should have use it, to eject the Trump humping employees he injected in his last weeks like David Weiss who was so eager to prosecute Hunter.
Plans are to fire 50,000 independent and career civil servants and replace them with MAGAts, which his team are already take applications for and screening.
He will fire the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the pentagon and all generals who will not swear loyalty to him, and they are legion. He already has one loyalist General that could head the JCS, Gen Charles Flynn, Mike Flynn's brother,whom Joe Biden promoted, though he was a Jan 6th co conspirator.
He will use any civil disturbance as an excuse to declare martial law and mobilize the military, and federalize the 50 national guards
Am I wrong, where am I wrong? There is a belief in the officer corps, and it's oath to the constitution, well there is Charles Flynn, Col Martha McNalley, Lt Col Tulsi Gabbard, Maj Pete Hegseth,Captain Tom Cotton
According to recent data, around 98 members of the 118th Congress have served in the military, representing roughly 18.1% of the total membership, which would include commissioned officers from various branches; . 80 Are Republicans, 18 are Democrats.
And how many of the 98 still retain their commissions though not on active duty? And how many of them are Regular Officers.
I am a regular officer on the retired rolls and still subject to the UCMJ, and can be recalled at any time and be court martialed, as can Lt Gen Michael Flynn, for violating his oath to the constitution.
Thanks, it is good to see that you can read the 2025 Plan and the “Day One Dictator” plot clearly.
You're right, but arugably we've been doing that since JFK. We have an office of trade representative that is supposed to be on top of every deal. https://ustr.gov/about-us/about-ustr
The main reason it hasn't worked out was vulture capitalism caused by changes in the tax code like special tratment for long term capital gains and write offs for the costs associated with offshoring our goose that laid the golden egg, manufacturing.
Of course politics and legalized bribery affect trade policy, also.
Biden should be lionized for the Chips and Infastructure Acts..... Bringining in jobs.
Politics is legalized bribery Daniel, and that is the reason that there is special treatment for long term capital gains and write offs for the costs associated with offshoring our manufacturing and why we have the politics that we have, the courts that we have and the looming theocratic autocracy.
No, lobbying and dark money ala Citizens' United is legalized bribery. Once upon a time, was illegal in this country. And those changes in the tax code started in the late 70's, culminating with Reagan.
Trade policy overcomplicates things. Lots of irony. Probably could do algorythms to take the "human" corruption out of trades, but that way the lobbyists wouldn't get a cut. Down here in Baghdad By the Sea we have 2 growing seasons, and we probably could feed ourselves, but markets are rigged, many products commoditized, so we have to import the same stuff we grow here.
Same with many other products. I still am amazed re the preponderence of imported cars in the parking lots in Detroit. I used to live near the now defuct National Labor College. They were pissed when I asked why there were foreign cars in the parking lot. At one time, I suggested a plan where unions could help market the products they were making.
Washington state the same. We grow apples and grapes but export them to Asia,mostly Japan, and then turn around and import them from Chile.
This is part of Milton Friedman's scheme of comparative advantage, importing benefits the exporting company, shipping companies, middle men, wall Street but they are paid for by the American Consumer, Products are picked green (unripe) and ripen in transit, maybe.
When I live in Louisiana I loved to pick a watermelon out of the field, thump on it to hear if it was ripe. I will not eat a store bought watermelon anymore, they are tasteless and a waste of money.
I taste grapes before I buy, because many times they are still ripening.
I eat Halo brand tangerines, also mostly tasteless, they come from Chile also.
And I suspect that great Florida tangerines are exported to Europe. after being picked green.
I was watching on MSNBC a discussion about tariffs on the price of oil, I learned that we import oil from Canada, and the tariff will raise the price of gas.
However we actually produce more oil than we import, but export oil, the whole thing is a scam for the benefit of traders, oil companies, shipping companies and Wall Street.
As regards American Cars, They are pieces of shit. In the1950's, 1960's and 1970's planned obsolecence was retooling and changing the body style and maybe reboring the engine,every year or two (a good example is the 57, 58, 59 Chevy. Now the planned obsolescence is in the electronics.
I bought one of the first PT Cruisers in Dec 2020, there is no difference between that car. which is under wraps in my barn, with 22,000 miles, and the 2010 PT Cruiser, except that the door fob no longer works, the clock works sometimes, and the seat belt indicator comes on when I am hooked in, and sometimes goes off. It is the mother boards, and that cost hundreds to replace.
On the other hand my wife drives a 2009 Honda CRV, we give it regularly scheduled maintenance,and except for a few dings and scratches it is as new, great compression..
The first Honda's imported were pieces of shit, I owned an 83 Accord, they were manufactured to Japanese Standards,which required that an engine last 50,000 miles (anti pollution standard). I went through an engine, a transmission and three clutches.
Yet I drove a 1970 Maverick for 130,000 miles down the Pan American Highway to Panama, drove it three years in Panama, it was a stick shift and I would use the clutch to hold it on a hill, and when I sold it 13 years later it still had the same clutch, brakes and spark plugs that it had when I bought it,and didn't burn oil.
And that is probably why you see Hondas and Toyotas in the employee parking lots of GM ,and Stellantis.
In 1960 I bought a 56 Ford Custom Line, with an Intercept engine,but it had an annoying rattle in the door. a year later I found it, a whiskey bottle. Union workers would drink on the job and dispose of their bottle in cars on the line.
I can't say I don't understand,production line work is the most tedious and boring of all. I really feel for the seamstress working in clothing factories
How ‘bout splitting the difference in that politics has always been an influence buying game and Citizen’s United took off the last impedimetnts to creating unaccountable secret bribery?
No reason why bribery, especially by a corporation or other entity that doesn't pay taxes should be permitted.
Until recently, some states did not permit any corporate lobbying. Ended in 2012. https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/american-tradition-partnership-inc-v-bullock/
Inspired by this blog, we mapped Trump's senseless tariff trade war and the American jobs it'll cost. What does Trump's senseless tariff trade war mean for you? How many jobs in your state depend on international trade? Who are America's biggest trading partners? What do they buy from America? Check this map.
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/11/27/mapping-trumps-senseless-tariff-trade-war-and-the-american-jobs-itll-cost/
Washington State exports Lumber and Apples and imports apples via the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma. Tariffs would impact the need for ILWU and thus impact the city, counties (King and Pierce),and the state.
I see the entire Trump Tariff as little more than a stealthy way to create the rejected “National Sales Tax” which proposed to eliminate Fed and State Taxes with a 30% across the board tax on everything….
The Tax Policy Center stated this:
Theory and evidence suggest that the tax would be passed along to consumers via higher prices.
Because lower-income households spend a greater share of their income than higher-income households do, the burden of a retail sales tax is regressive when measured as a share of current income: the tax burden as a share of income is highest for low-income households and falls sharply as household income rises.
In short it screws working class people and eliminates any progressivity in the uber rich paying their fair share.
So, it’s clear that Trump wants to mis-direct the ire of the working class onto all foreign nations we trade with, while giving the uber rich even mo’ money.
Please let go of the decent jobs aspect of Tarriffs, the only jobs “coming back” will be for robots. The New Yorker had a fine piece done on robots and the advances in improving what the robotic hands can do… By 2027 I predict this and AI teamed together will eliminate millions of jobs requiring skilled hand work.
NAFTA or whatever it is called now, was a great benefit to Canadian (Ontario) auto manufacturing. We are too small to make our own cars but we make parts for export to American auto manufacturers and some vehicles also exported to USA. Trump's tariffs will destry that
Western Canada exports high quality beef on the hoof and boxed to Western USA and imports lower quality (dairy) beef into Ontario and Quebec. Much more efficient than when we shipped swinging sides to Montreal by rail where the beef trade was mafia controlled. Trump's tariffs will force us back to that.
Canada has supply management of poultry and dairy much to America's anger at being locked out, more or less, of that Canadian market. BUT the reason for that is simple. Prior to the 1970s when it was introduced, we suffered from the American commodity price cycles. In times of high prices, American production would flood our market driving producers here out of business. In times of low prices, Americans would cut production and our supply would dry up. Only with supply management can we legally block american imports.
I actually read Wealth of Nations for bragging rights as most people quote it but have never read it. One point that really hit home was that big corporations were NOT on the side of the Nation. No shit, Sherlock.
We already have very low unemployment. A low birth rate. Structural labor shortage. There is no pool of millions of workers to make a large-scale manufacturing renaissance happen unless we have more immigration. And Trump is poised to deport 10-15 million people, most of them workers.
Creating an acute labor shortage in ag, food processing, construction, manufacturing, hospitality.
Using tariffs to revitalize American manufacturing is a good idea, but it has to be done carefully and intelligently, targeted tariffs, not tariffs on everything, and coordinated with labor supply and industrial ability to build up manufacturing, not just throwing mud at the wall and shit at the fan like Trump.
If enough people will PAY ATTENTION to this!! A wonderful explanation, Mr. Hartmann. Thank you.
I swear every time I read one of your posts my brain expands! Why didn’t I have you in high school? (You would have to be 90 yrs old now!) Anyway, keep writing and I’ll keep learning.
first someone will have to explain in detail how talking points work and why we must deconstruct the gops constant industrial grade propaganda, put down markers on what their plan will result in,and after the gop plan has cost americans alot explain how we got here. This all as unknown as deep space for democrats or maybe they just want to be nice all the time.
A missing element in this article is skills, or loss of thereof, we have at least two generations of people who lack the basic skills and discipline necessary to work in a factory. The widespread belief in this country is that the only road to success college. The result is proliferation of private colleges (Trump U's) and the massive student debt problem. When I was a kid in the 50's a big Christmas present was an Erector set by Gilbert. Now it's a game box or a WII.
I agree completely , my dad how was manager in alot of settings, even back in 60’s many candidates were not fit to work at least in attitude. I always made myself useful. Particularly in smalll companies if you make things go smoother they usually notice and reward you.
This guy, a Plutocrat, gave a TED talk aimed at his fellow plutocrats, on a similar topic, the disease of neoliberalism- sickens the patient and ends up killing all of us. Throughout history, without exception, vast inequities driven by a small overlord class have not persisted long and violent revolution has always followed, either Myanmar or France being opposite outcomes, as I assume you are all aware. So his talk is pragmatic, but a great summary of a capitalist way of looking at things based on history.
After reading your column, I got that the BB on both sides do neoliberalism because the short term profits are better. So it’s another level in the war between people with externally directed egos and people with internally directed egos, or the 1% with Rupert Murdoch flying monkeys and the rest of us. The Goths are winning and Rome is falling due to internal divisions. I guess 2000 years or so in planetary time is an eye blink, because we certainly aren’t learning. There hasn’t been a leap in consciousness since the Buddha, although those levels of awareness are more accessible to more people these days. You don’t have to live in a monastery to experience the ground of being. At that level, everything is one and these divisions are manufactured for financial gain. The only question is do we want to be a pawn or are we going to take control of our own destinies?
https://youtu.be/q2gO4DKVpa8?si=RAKDkbvqXr6eFb_X
Well … I doubt this is a new ideological haven for the Dems as Trump has made it very clear for a long time that recovering our North American manufacturing base is one of his prime goals.
It was actually Clinton that screwed up the US industries the most, and its clear that Trump is the only western leader since to shape up to reverse this. Biden just kept the same tariffs in place that Trump had already installed, but adopted a useless and wasteful strategy involving green energy that will do nothing for our core industries, and unless changed by Trump will do far more damage than good..
The good news is that Trump is back, and will get on with what he started, and Canada and Mexico will have to buckle up and join him on the ride to a North American trade bloc.
More about this in my new book Take Back Manufacturing at …
https://nigelsouthway.substack.com/p/take-back-manufacturing-298
And at
https://nigelsouthway.substack.com/
www.nigelsouthwayauthor.com
Well, Nigel I wish you good luck . I suppose when already stagnant wages never recovered from offshoring, reach lows below that of Chinese laborers then the jobs will return.
Well…. the good news is that we are already at the landed cost tipping point between the US and China on quite a few commodities ……. even without tariffs.
Labor is only a small delta cost compared to shipping, inventory and other hidden costs in long supply chains.. then if we add the latest automation this further reduces any advantage of low cost labor.. Plus the offshore labor is also escalating to further close the gap
And this is why 85% of corporation are reshoring with a 55% increase in reshoring levels year over year..
We have challenges…… but its happening and well worth the effort.
More at .. www.nigelsouthwayauthor.com
and a video at TBM and Industry 4 0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5f1VB7s3FQ&t=884s