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#4 | Posted by oneironaut at 2025-07-28 10:21 AM
How dare they use math. --- #3 math?

Yes, math - algorithms that adapt to variations of supply and demand.

These aren't free market principles. This is no different than a social scoring system. Earning or lising points because government wants you to behave a certain way.

This is EXACTLY "free market principles" - Delta is not the government and can't force you to buy anything, only incentivize you by cheaper prices or upgrades when supply exceeds demand and they have open seats to sell [for marginal profit], or raise prices when seats are in short supply and demand exceeds supply.

|------- If passed, the law would allow anyone to sue companies found unfairly using AI, lawmakers explained in what's called a "one-sheet." That could mean charging customers higher prices - based on "how desperate a customer is for a product and the maximum amount a customer is willing to pay" - or paying employees lower wages - based on "their financial status, personal associations, and demographics."

Hepner pushed lawmakers to support the legislation... suggesting that could help "restore fair, transparent, and predictable pricing." Otherwise, "there is no such thing as a good deal when every consumer is charged a different price"
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Really? What is "a good deal" to him? "One size/price/wage fits all" is a "good deal"?

More [class] lawsuits and/or government interference and regulations based on someone's "perception" of being "gouged" by "predatory" airlines or employers that take into account education, experience (demographics), work history, mental capacity, etc.?

That will only raise costs and, correspondingly, prices for everyone.

|------- Delta denied that its AI system used personalized data for individualized pricing. Instead, it apparently relies on AI to forecast demand for certain flights... factors like... customer demand, and competitive offers that perhaps that customer is known to be weighing also influence the AI's pricing, which lawmakers and critics may be interpreting as individualized pricing.

Delta said: "There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing or plans to use that targets customers with individualized offers based on personal information or otherwise. A variety of market forces drive the dynamic pricing model that's been used in the global industry for decades, with new tech simply streamlining this process." -------|

This is just an extension of what Sen. Warren and Bernie Sanders and Ron Wyden tried last year, to blame Kroger and/or other grocers or companies in other industries (like real estate/rent management company RealPage, etc.) that used tech and math ("algorithmic pricing" / "dynamic pricing") for so-called "algorithmic collusion" (aka "hi-tech price fixing") and "gouging" ("corporate greed") while in reality it usually benefits both the consumers and companies, e.g.:

www.npr.org - Why supermarkets are adopting dynamic pricing: Dynamic pricing is an increasingly common phenomenon - NPR, 2024-03-06

Now the same "usual suspects" using the same terms ("gouging, fair wages, inequality, exploitation...") are trying to redefine "algorithmic collusion" as "AI spying / surveillance-based pricing" and also sneak into the bill "AI-based wage discrimination."

This is just one example why voters don't usually trust Democrats on the economy.

No thank you!

If you read the entire article and understand what this bill is really about and what it's actually trying to do, you would say not only "No thank you!" but "Hell, no!"
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#4 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-18 07:59 PM
t aside, why might have the IPO stock price plunge by almost 50%?

1. WS axiom: "Buy on the rumor (hype), sell on the news."

SPACs usually trade around initial $10, until they find a "reverse merger" target. PEW has run up to $21.40 once they learned that merger will happen, on nothing more than Trump Jr being on the board of merger target.

2. It dropped back only to "initial" $10 by Friday (and another 8% this morning) so not really a huge flop, considering that company has no sales, weird financials (even for a SPAC), and no real business or potential competitive advantage relative to other, established online-only or mixed BaM firearm sellers.

Essentially they will be burning money they raised (just like Trump Media / DJT) and may eventually go the "Bitcoin/crypto treasury" model route (just like DJT recently did) which has become a popular way to boost the stock for companies whose business dried up or has never been there, i.e., scams. That usually causes the spike in stock price, just like during dot-com bubble adding ".com" to name of companies temporarily boosted the price... until people figured out that it was the sign of failed business and prices of many newly minted .com's started to fall rapidly.

Some of the "investors" may be waiting for this or similar event to exit on a spike, leaving new buyers with losses.

Most "blank check" speculators know that most SPACs eventually go bust, but keep playing the game hoping for "greater fools" to sell to.

3. In any case, Don Jr has 300K of free stock, which may be time-restricted, but still nothing to sneeze at for lending a no-business company a brand name. If he can sell any of them before the bust, it's pure profit.

If anything, the lackluster "reception" of PEW may mean that people are on to the grift, that "TRUMP" sheen is starting to fade, and their grift will have fewer opportunities like this, to scam the "investors" in the brand.

Like father, like sons.
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#28 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-07-13 10:07 AM
For example while they claimed they were going eliminate private property they never did especially for the elite Germans.

Yeah, read the Mises.org link about that - it explains why they "never did" that, and "total control" didn't mean "total ownership" as communism/Marxism demanded - their socialism was different from Marxism. And even in Soviet Union they "never eliminated private property, especially for the elite Russians." And shortly after the Great Revolution of 1917, they had to institute "New Economic Policy / NEP," which went well beyond even National Socialism in allowing private property and commerce to save the communist economy from ruin.

www.britannica.com (brief)
en.wikipedia.org

Same in Cuba, and other "socialist/Marxist" countries where the elites enjoyed privileges of dachas and private investments and accumulated great wealth.

Hitler didn't make the mistake of abolishing significantly more efficient large private industrial enterprises (again, see reasons in mises.org link and elsewhere) - which allowed rapid rebuilding of the Wehrmacht economy - but he did, for example, force Ferdinand Porsche to create Volkswagen ("People's car") for the masses, etc. etc.

What most fans of "socialism" are trying to imply is that, on one hand, "socialism" can have many forms other than failed "communism" and be "good, benevolent" - yet in another breath they insist that only Marxist "socialism" (Marx himself didn't distinguish between "socialism" and "communism") was the only and true one, and there can be no other (like German National Socialism) which we all know has definitely not been the case.

Even in Soviet Union there were several different socialist groups. the largest of which were Bolsheviks (far-left faction of the original Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party [RSDLP]) led by Lenin, Stalin, Dzerzhinsky et al(eventual, and the only winners) and more bourgeois-socialist Mensheviks, led by Trotsky, Axelrod, Dan, Martov et al., which were eventually outlawed and subjugated or eliminated.

Historians generally agree that Nazism was a distinct ideology separate from traditional socialism

Mo, historians, like Hitler and Goebbels, generally agree that Nazism is different from Marxism ("traditional"?? socialism) - which would be correct.

Like I said, unless you think that "traditional socialism / Marxism" (i.e., "total government ownership of means of production" and total elimination of private property / enterprises) is the only form of "socialism" then it's difficult to explain the existence of [and attachment to] "other/benevolent forms(?)" of "socialism."

... but their core ideology was centered on race, nationalism, and state power...

Yes, and as my posts and links show, none of these exclude "socialism" - after all, the core of socialism is state power and "patriotism"

Repeat: Communism requires "total ownership of means of production"; fascism imposes "total control over means of production" - but both are socialist totalitarian regimes (government 'uber alles' / above individual rights).

Who better to learn this from than the chief propagandist of ideology?

It is well known now that Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime frequently used deception and propaganda to mask their true intentions and advance their agenda.

Yes, so do/did every other socialist/communist country - that's why need for total control/ownership of the media. In USSR "samizdat" (underground press) was prosecuted, and typewriters issued only to "good communists."
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The 25 points program of NSDAP (1920) - was it "socialist" enough?

www.vaholocaust.org - "25 points of Nazi Party" - "National Socialistic Yearbook 1941" - Published by: Central Publishing House of N.S.D.A.P. - The program of the NSDAP [PDF]

|-------
The program is the political foundation of the NSDAP and accordingly the primary political law of the State. It has been made brief and clear intentionally. ...

... Fuehrer has succeeded in the realization of essential portions of the Party program from the fundamentals to the detail.

The Party Program of the NSDAP was proclaimed on the 24 February 1920 by Adolf Hitler ... and since that day has remained unaltered. Within the national socialist philosophy is summarized in 25 points:

...

3. We demand land and territory (colonies) for the sustenance of our people, and colonization for our surplus population.

4. Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood, without consideration of creed. Consequently no Jew can be a member of the race.

...

7. We demand that the state be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihood and way of life for the citizens. ...

...

10. The first obligation of every citizen must be to work both spiritually and physically.

11. Abolition of unearned (work and labour) incomes. Breaking of rent-slavery.

...

13. We demand the nationalization of all (previous) associated industries (trusts).

14. We demand a division of profits of all heavy industries.

15. We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare.

17. We demand a land reform suitable to our needs, provision of a law for the free expropriation of land for the purposes of public utility, abolition of taxes on land and prevention of all speculation in land.***

...

19. We demand substitution of a German common law in place of the Roman Law serving a materialistic world-order.

20. The state is to be responsible for a fundamental reconstruction of our whole national education program, to enable every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education and subsequently introduction into leading positions. ... The comprehension of the concept of the State must be striven for by the school [Staatsbuergerkunde] ...

21. The State is to care for the elevating national health by protecting the mother and child, by outlawing child-labor, by the encouragement of physical fitness...

22. We demand abolition of the mercenary troops and formation of a national army.

23. We demand legal opposition to known lies and their promulgation through the press. ...

24. We demand freedom of religion for all religious denominations within the state so long as they do not endanger its existence or oppose the moral senses of the Germanic race. ... It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and around us...: common utility precedes individual utility.

25. For the execution of all of this we demand the formation of a strong central power in the Reich. Unlimited authority of the central parliament over the whole Reich and its organizations in general. ...

*** Adolf Hitler proclaimed the following explanation for this program on the 13 April 1928:
Regarding the false interpretations of Point 17... the following definition is necessary:
"...land which has been illegally acquired or is not administered from the viewpoint of the national welfare. This is directed primarily against the Jewish land-speculation companies."
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***
|----- Consider these quotes from Joseph Goebbels:

"Socialism is the ideology of the future." - ... in Goebbels: A Biography

"The bourgeoisie has to yield to the working class ... Whatever is about to fall should be pushed. We are all soldiers of the revolution. We want the workers' victory over filthy lucre. That is socialism." - in "Doctor Goebbels: His Life and Death"

"We are socialists, because we see in socialism, that means, in the fateful dependence of all folk comrades upon each other, the sole possibility for the preservation of our racial genetics and thus the re-conquest of our political freedom and for the rejuvenation of the German state. - "Why We Are Socialists?" Der Angriff (The Attack), July 16, 1928

"We are not a charitable institution but a Party of revolutionary socialists." - Der Angriff editorial, May 27, 1929

"Capitalism assumes unbearable forms at the moment when the personal purposes that it serves run contrary to the interest of the overall folk. It then proceeds from things and not from people. Money is then the axis around which everything revolves. It is the reverse with socialism. The socialist worldview begins with the folk and then goes over to things. Things are made subservient to the folk; the socialist puts the folk above everything, and things are only means to an end." - "Capitalism," Der Angriff, July 15, 1929

"In 1918 there was only one task for the German socialist: to keep the weapons and defend German socialism." - "Capitalism," Der Angriff, July 15, 1929

"To be a socialist means to let the ego serve the neighbour, to sacrifice the self for the whole. In its deepest sense socialism equals service." - diary notes (1926)

"The lines of German socialism are sharp, and our path is clear. We are against the political bourgeoisie, and for genuine nationalism! We are against Marxism, but for true socialism!" - Those ---- Nazis: Why Are We Socialists? (1932)

"We are socialists because we see the social question as a matter of necessity and justice for the very existence of a state for our people, not a question of cheap pity or insulting sentimentality. The worker has a claim to a living standard that corresponds to what he produces." - Those ---- Nazis: Why Are We Socialists? (1932)

"England is a capitalist democracy. Germany is a socialist people's state." - "Englands Schuld" (the speech is not dated, but likely was given in 1939)

"Because we are socialists we have felt the deepest blessings of the nation, and because we are nationalists we want to promote socialist justice in a new Germany." - Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken (1932)

"The sin of liberal thinking was to overlook socialism's nation-building strengths, thereby allowing its energies to go in anti-national directions." - Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken (1932)

"To be a socialist is to submit the I to the thou; socialism is sacrificing the individual to the whole. Socialism is in its deepest sense service." - as quoted in "Escape from Freedom," Erich Fromm

"We are a workers' party because we see in the coming battle between finance and labor the beginning and the end of the structure of the twentieth century. We are on the side of labor and against finance. . . The value of labor under socialism will be determined by its value to the state, to the whole community." - Those ---- Nazis: Why Are We Socialists? (1932)

... One can see that in many ways the Nazi spoke much like Karl Marx. ...
-----|
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#14 | Posted by Corky at 2025-07-09 02:53 PM
It's just hilarious that you never pass up the chance to infer that Nazis were ever really socialists.
It's like you don't know that was a propaganda ploy in the name.

TL;DR: There is ton of indisputable evidence that Nazi were, in fact, "really socialist" which the fans of [concept of benevolent] "socialism" choose to deny:

Joseph Goebbels himself wrote many articles and books detailing why NSDAP ideology was truly socialist** ... but not Marxist.

fee.org - Joseph Goebbels' Own Words Show He Loved Socialism and Saw It as 'the Future'
Socialists will continue to argue that Nazism was not "real" socialism, but the Nazi propaganda despised capitalism and spoke like Karl Marx.
- 2023-01-23

|----- ... before capitalists and socialists agree on whether the Nazis were "really socialists."

... and not just because the word is right there in the name: National Socialism. If you read the speeches and private conversations of the Nazi hierarchy, it's clear they loved socialism and despised individualism and capitalism.

In his new book Hitler's National Socialism, the historian Rainer Zitelmann gives a penetrating look into the ideas that shaped men like Hitler and Goebbels. While it's clear they saw their own brand of socialism as distinct from Marxism (more on that later), there is no question they saw socialism as the future and despised bourgeoisie capitalism. ***

...

Phrases like "we are a workers' party," "the worker has a claim to a living standard that corresponds to what he produces," "money... is the reverse with socialism," and "we are against the political bourgeoisie" could easily be plucked from Marx's own speeches and writings - yet it's clear Goebbels despised Marx and saw his brand of "national socialism" as distinct from Marxism.

So what sets National Socialism apart from Marxism? There are two primary differences.

The first is that Hitler and Goebbels fused their socialism with race and German nationalism, rejecting the international ethos of Marxism " "Workers of the world unite!" " for a more practical one that emphasized Germany's Vlkischen movement.

... As the Nobel Prize-winning economist F.A. Hayek pointed out, it made socialism more palatable to many Germans...

"The supreme tragedy is still not seen that in Germany it was largely people of good will who, by their socialist policies, prepared the way for the forces which stand for everything they detest," Hayek wrote in The Road to Serfdom (1944). "Few recognize that the rise of fascism... was not a reaction against the socialist trends of the preceding period but a necessary outcome of those tendencies."

The second difference is that National Socialists were less concerned with directly controlling the means of production.
-----|

**
"We are socialists because we see in socialism, that is the union of all citizens, the only chance to maintain our *racial inheritance* and to regain our political freedom and renew our German state" - Joseph Goebbels (1928)

"Fascism is the stage reached after communism has proved an illusion..." - Friedrich A. von Hayek

Communism requires "total ownership of means of production"; fascism imposes "total control over means of production" - but both are socialist totalitarian (government 'uber alles' / above individual rights) regimes.

mises.org - Why Nazism Was Socialism and Why Socialism Is Totalitarian - 2021-10-01
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Trump's Finances Were Shaky -- Then He Began to Capitalize on His Comeback

Nothing new here - he's made most of his money (-- money) through politics and money-laundering, including and starting with his first Manhattan "real estate deal" with Pritzkers' Hyatt... which, of course. ended in acrimony:
www.thedailybeast.com - Trump's Bitter Personal Feud With Rival Billionaires Is Behind His Harvard Hate Campaign

He was never in Top 10 Developers List in New York City or New Jersey, or success--l in many other enterprises he branched into (airlines, casinos, food. etc.). Most of his golf courses are losing money and financed with Russian mob money.

Just one example of Trump property at a very prestigious location that is worthless, and losing money due to low occupancy:

www.curbed.com - The Weird Worth of 40 Wall Street | Donald Trump's most troubled real estate could soon become a slick machine to curry favor with the president. - Oct. 31, 2024 (a week before election - loan supposedly has just been paid off at the end of June 2025; with all the money thrown at Trump since election**, especially through crypto and obscure public and pre-IPO/reverse merger/SPAC companies where Don Jr and Eric are invited to be on Board) it would be embarrassing to default on very visible "Trump property" in NYC.)

As far as real business is concerned he's been a huge failure all his life, and is well known for breaking agreements / "deals" he negotiated. Most of people who have previously done business with him have turned against him, some ended up in bankruptcies or even in prison... which doesn't bother him a bit as long as he can move on to the new scam and grift - and phony "populism" allows to do this bigly. As well as propensity to offload his personal debts onto other "investors," particularly via worthless public companies (like DJT - 1st and 2nd).

His branding income is only supported because of the office he holds, when "investors" think they can capitalize on it, directly or indirectly; most of it pretty much disappeared after he lost to Biden.

As I've said before - his goals are to stay out of jail, get Nobel Peace Prize or attach his name to something considered positive and consequential in history ("Abraham Accords"! "Trump Accord"!) to wash off his impeachments and dismal record and polling, and grab as much cash and embed his dumb and dumber sons in sustainable "Trump" branded businesses.
.

**
www.forbes.com - Don Jr. And Eric Trump Landed $3 Million In Stock For Joining Firm's Advisory Board That Had Little Public Presence Before Their Appointment (DOMH) - 2025-04-17

smokinggun.org - Trump Jr. Becomes GrabAGun Director Ahead of IPO - 2025-04-14

nypost.com - Donald Trump Jr. joining board of BlinkRx - 2025-02-06

www.reuters.com - Eric Trump-backed American Bitcoin to go public through all-stock merger - 2025-05-12

www.coingabbar.com - $620M in 6 Months | Who is Building Trumps Crypto Empire - 2025-07-03

etc., etc.
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#19 | Posted by BellRinger at 2025-06-30 07:54 AM
See. It can be done. Just pretend it was the UK that mediated this.

Or you can pretend that Trump mediated this... just like he claims to have "mediated" the end of Operation Sindoor (India-Pakistan skirmish) which PM Modi absolutely, positively rejects - there was no 'perfect call' and ceasefire was negotiated by MoD's of both countries.

He also complains that he'll never get Nobel even as he deserves it for "solving / mediating" Serbia and Kosovo, Egypt and Ethiopia...
www.newsweek.com - 2025-06-21

Claiming credit for any seemingly positive event that he had nothing to do with is a sign of fragile and overinflated ego of never being respected as a "successful businessman" and "great dealmaker" (because he never was) and in constant need of stroking, flattery and parades, and his sick, demented mind - check his family history and past and recent statements by his psychologist niece Mary Trump and nephew Fred Trump III on issue of dementia.

.

#26 | Posted by BellRinger at 2025-06-30 02:18 PM
Of course we know what happened. It's been widely reported.

It has been, but you only chose the part you want to see.

Here's what happened well before the fake "peace agreement" which Trump wanted to call "Trump Accord" and claimed it deserves Nobel Peace Prize, which he is after, like a dog chasing car, no matter how much damage it might cause - see Neville Chamberlain's "Peace for our Time" a year before WWII... not that this "agreement" is in any way as consequential.

This is NOT about "peace":

1. DRC produces 80 percent of the world's cobalt. 80 percent of DRC's total cobalt output is controlled/owned by Chinese state-owned companies.

2. DRC ranks 183 out of 190 on the World Bank's Doing Business indicators.

3. 2023-2024 : HR 8310 - Bipartisan "BRIDGE to DRC Act" - "To require a national strategy to secure US supply chains involving critical minerals sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo"

"As the US seeks to gain greater access to critical minerals and diversify its supply chains away from Chinese influence, Biden administration officials hope that... it would increase US or Western firms' willingness to invest in the country."

www.npr.org - DRC's mining is at the heart of Biden's bid to counter China in Africa - Dec 4, 2024

4. Doha, March - May 2025: DRC - Rwanda peace talks didn't lead to agreement because main belligerent - March23 (M23) - rejected the proposals. Sidestepping M23 as a participant in Trump's "peace deal" makes it 'provisional,' at best. And none of many conditions to make it "real" include M23, which is why no such charade was attempted before... but that didn't stop the publicity hound Trump.

5. KoBold, funded by Bezos and Bill Gates (I mentioned here in February that they abandoned search for REEs in Greenland and moved on to "sure thing" in Congo) signed a $1B conditional purchase agreement with a DRC miner AZV in May - www.mining.com

6. Only respective FMs showed up for signing. "Rwanda FM told Trump that past deals had not been implemented and urged Trump to stay engaged. Congo FM said deal must be followed by disengagement." M23 is not party to "peace deal" - so whose "boots on the ground" are going to enforce it? Or are US taxpayers dollars going to PMCs (like Constellis?) to police it... or the mine(s)?

"And now you know... the rest of the story."
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"We take the solar power that we collect from the sun with solar panels, and we take that energy and put it into a set of diodes that turn it back into light," Bhatt said. "That light goes into a fiber where there's a laser, which then lets us point that down to the ground."

Not a new concept - ask 'Willard Whyte'.

www.youtube.com - James Bond - Diamonds are Forever - Baja? I haven't got anything at Baja!

Or more recently:
www.nbcnews.com - Solar Lasers Not Just for James Bond - NBC, 2011-09-19

en.wikipedia.org - Space-based solar power

"Various SBSP proposals have been researched since the early 1970s, but as of 2014 none is economically viable with the space launch costs. Some technologists propose lowering launch costs with space manufacturing or with radical new space launch technologies other than rocketry.

Besides cost, SBSP also introduces several technological hurdles, including the problem of transmitting energy from orbit."
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#4 | Posted by oneironaut at 2025-06-19 09:53 AM
This is just an after affect of Biden seizing Russian assets and giving them to Ukraine.
No nation can be the reserve currency and just take other Nations money because you don't like them.

1. It's not "Biden seizing", it's G7 freezing Russian assets / funds, most of which have been in European banks at the time (in whatever acceptable "designated" international currency) more than 3 years ago - USD actually went up 20% in March-August 2022, after G7 "froze" the assets. Euroclear alone is holding vast majority of funds, in euros, EUR195B.

2. ~$300B is a tiny amount of even USD daily trade / transaction volume, and it's earning interest until G7 decides what to do with it. So far Ukraine only received about EUR1B from accrued interest on these funds. Recent Euroclear disbursement of ~$3.4B to Russian investors was controversial, to say the least.
"If it is returned to Russia, it will be converted into tanks, missiles, drones, training of new troops. The world... must demonstrate that unlawful war brings irreversible financial consequences."

3. Until Trump started openly stating that he wants lower USD (to help US exports and make imports more expensive - "lower trade deficit"!) and lower interest rates (which would also lower USD value) - and to "make the US crypto capital of the world" (of course, nothing to do with his own crypto grifts) - USD was in range of 100-108 for ; it dropped sharply since 110 in January 2025 to 98 this week.

IOW, this nonsense has absolutely nothing to do with USD being a "reserve currency" and its exchange rate.

I understand you want to tie anything that happens here economically to "Russia / Putin have been 'treated badly' by the big bad US / West / NATO" and this is all "Biden's fault" but this one is craziest one I've heard.

.

#8 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2025-06-19 03:13 PM
Expect more wars because all America has left to sell is weaponry - and its the absolute best but it's really all we produce anymore.

How so? In absolute $$ terms we are only behind China in manufacturing:

Manufacturing by country (2023/2024, in ~$$B, % of global manufacturing output):
China ---- 4658 (31.6%)
USA ------ 2497 (15.9%)
Germany -- 845 (10.5%)
Japan ---- 818 (5.5%)
India ---- 461 (3.1%)
S Korea -- 416 (2.8%)
Mexico --- 361 (2.4%)
Italy ---- 355 (2.4%)
UK ------- 354 (2.4%)
France --- 334 (2.3%)

Brazil --- 290 (2.0%)
Indonesia . 256 (1.7%)
Russia --- 252 (1.7%)
Turkey --- 215 (1.5%)
Ireland -- 207 (1.4%)

But wait, there is more! USA has much smaller population than China... and much smaller labor force... and US manufacturing sector now employs only 8.5% (12.8M) of US total labor force, while China's manufacturing employs more than 120M / 29% of total labor force! Yet US produces more than half of China's manufacturing output. Companies is other countries (including China) are buying what we manufacture, and companies here are buying what they (we) need for resale or for integrating into value-add products.

By normalized metrics, US manufacturing output is second to none!

For comparison, Vietnam manufacturing sector is 21% of their total labor force, Turkey is at 20%, Germany - 19%, Iran - 18%, Japan and SKorea - 16%, Russia and Indonesia - 14%, Ukraine - 13%, India, Brazil and Argentina - 12%, Canada, UK, Singapore, Netherlands and Israel - 9%...
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#21 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2025-06-19 02:28 PM
Netanyahu refuses to allow Americans to leave Israel.
He needs Americans as human shields.
Unfortunately Israel puts them in the middle of civilians.

"Zionist monsters" closed Israeli airspace for no other reason than to keep Americans in as "human shields"... because Iran cares?

Do we really need to keep lying to ourselves and make s**t up or repost every laughably stupid, easily disproved disinfo from eX-Twitter, Instagram, YT, Iranian and Russian propaganda websites** about Netanyahu / Israel / "Zionism" / Jews, only to feed confirmation bias and "keep the hate alive"?

www.travelagewest.com - This Is How Tourists to Israel Can Get Out of the Country - June 17, 2025
|------- As the Israel-Iran conflict continues to escalate, Israel's airspace remains closed, and flights to and from Israel have been suspended. Ben Gurion Airport... is closed until further notice. On Monday, the U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory for Israel to Level 4, or "Do Not Travel." According to the Israel Ministry of Tourism, there are currently 38,000 tourists in Israel... On Tuesday, the organization announced that it has created a pathway for tourists to leave the country. ... -------|

www.cbsnews.com - U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem says State Department "planning for contingencies" to help Americans leave Israel - CBS, 2025-06-18

.

**
From Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) reports (https://networkcontagion.us):

|------- 6/18/25 False Flags and Fake MAGA:

Amid the escalating war with Iran, pro-Kremlin and Iranian state-linked propaganda nodes flooded American social media while masquerading as MAGA loyalists.

... These coordinated efforts exploited what NCRI identifies as a false flag reflex - a conditioned response that turns... into a trigger for trending conspiracy claims.

... Russia and Iran are actively working to destabilize MAGA movement from within. These foreign actors are deploying tens of thousands of social media bots... to amplify disinformation and sow discord among conservatives... The strategy mirrors tactics previously used to disrupt the Democratic Party, suggesting a deliberate effort to undermine political stability within the United States.

The bots work by amplifying the voices of real-life influencers who propagate false flag narratives... By creating an illusion of widespread support for extreme viewpoints, the bots aim to manipulate public perception.

... The report details specific examples of how these tactics are employed. Noctis Draven, a U.S. veteran who frequently contributes to Russian state media, is identified as a key player in spreading false flag narratives. Draven uses social media platforms to reach a potential audience of millions, pushing conspiracy theories and anti-Western propaganda.

... The report also exposes the use of seemingly innocuous online personas to spread disinformation.

One example cited is "Red Pill Media," an account claiming to be based in the U.S. but operated from Pakistan. This account, which purports to expose "Zionist terrorism," has a significant following and actively spreads anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda. These seemingly grassroots accounts are often part of larger, coordinated disinformation networks, amplifying each other's messages and creating a false sense of organic support. ...
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They don't care if you're "woke" or "MAGA" - just different messages for different tribes.
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Iran Years Away from Nukes, Not Seeking Them

'Now, after days of Israeli airstrikes, US intelligence officials believe that so far, Israel may have set back Iran's nuclear program by only a matter of months, according to one of those people, a US official.

The article contradicts itself on so many levels - we're to understand that:
1. Iran is not "seeking nuclear weapons"...
2. But if they do... they are "years away from them"...
3. But if they are not "years away from them" then the Israelis have only done enough damage (as of June 17th) to "set back Iran's program by only a matter of months"...

And article's different unnamed "experts" say completely different things, some of them are "US intelligence officials" (are these "old" or "new / MAGA" officials, like "Russian asset" DNI Tulsi Gabbard ?) whose views are likely more colored by their attitude toward Israel rather than Iran's program etc. etc.

Real life:

isis-online.org - ISIS - 2025-06-09
"Iran can convert its current stock of 60 percent enriched uranium into 233 kg of WGU in three weeks at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), enough for 9 nuclear weapons
... Iran could produce its first quantity of 25 kg of WGU in Fordow in as little as two to three days. ...

From IAEA:
www.iaea.org

www.iaea.org - 2025-03-03
"I am seriously concerned that the outstanding safeguards issues remain unresolved. They stem from Iran's obligations under its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and need to be resolved for the Agency to be in a position to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful."

www.iaea.org - 2025-06-09
"Arising from this, the Agency also concludes that Iran did not declare nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at these three undeclared locations in Iran.

Iran's unilateral decision to stop implementation of modified Code 3.1 has led to a significant reduction in the Agency's ability to verify... The rapid accumulation of highly enriched uranium... is of serious concern ... Agency cannot ignore the stockpiling of over 400 kg of highly enriched uranium."

.

#18 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-06-19 01:33 PM
Stewart revealed that the clip was from ... 2012.

Maybe should not get serious news from comedians?

Let's think:

If there were no Iranian nuclear program in 2012, why did Obama negotiate with Iran and had them sign multinational NPT agreement about monitoring it?

Remember Stuxnet (Israeli / US) "worm" that fried Iran's nuclear centrifuges at several plants - that was in 2010, and set Iran's program back by several years.

Was Netanyahu / Israel wrong about Syria building secret nuclear bomb program with the help of North Korea, which was bombed in 2007 in Operation Orchard / Operation Outside the Box?
en.wikipedia.org - Operation Orchard / Operation Outside the Box - September 6, 2007 - Strategic bombing run to destroy the Syrian nuclear site

www.youtube.com - Operation Orchard: The Explosive Raid on Syria's Nuclear Facility - YT video doc (48 min) details of operation and the role of North Korea in development of Syria nuclear program
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#12 | Posted by REDIAL at 2025-06-17 05:12 PM
So "we" are at war with Iran now?

#13 | Posted by truthhurts at 2025-06-17 05:55 PM
not even 5 months in and war

I am not sure I'd call it a "war" as much as it is [attempt at] potential "regime change" ... should TPTB "choose to accept it" and not TACO.

.

#14 | Posted by Corky at 2025-06-17 05:58 PM
A war he started when he pulled the Sanctions off of Iran... prolly as yet another favor to Vlad.

Vlad did congratulate Trump on his birthday, and used that call to talk about "dangers of nuclear war" in Middle East. Vlad asked him to stop Israel from attacking his buddy Ayatollah - which Trump failed to do - and just a day ago Trump was thinking aloud about Vlad being a mediator of "Cease Fire" between Israel and Iran...

Now that this plan went up in smoke and IAF and Mossad "control the vertical and horizontal" in the air and on the ground in Tehran after decapitating IRGC and Iran's High Command and Ayatollah in "hiding" (if he wants to know where his military leaders are, and vice versa, they can call Tehran's temporary local Mossad HQ branch for info), Trump changed the course and the tone from "We are not involved at all" and is running fast to get in front of the parade and take the credit for possible "regime change" that will finish rearranging ME in the right direction, without Iranian Islamists and Russia causing trouble.

This was offered to Biden more than once but he and his team kept blinders on and insisted on Israel / Netanyahu to "take the win" and continued to pressure Israel to make more and concessions to Hamas, who saw the weakness and kept stalling and changing demands... while Israel kept almost singlehandedly dismantling Hezbollah in Lebanon, Ansar al-Shari'a in Yemen, and al-Assad's Iranian and Russian support in Syria, eventually chasing Syrian Hezbollah, Bashar and Vlad out of Syria.

Biden could've been a hero and take credit, if his team had a little nerve, courage, sense and imagination. Just like he could if he'd ignored Vlad's phony "WWIII red lines" in Ukraine. Putin-Trump channel messenger boy Tucker Carlson is attempting to do that "one weird trick" now.

Had Biden gone with the plan A, we might not have had the TACO disaster "to kick around anymore" now.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, the only thing Trump really has ever done well is choosing his enemies. "A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies."

Happy International Panic Day
Happy International Day for Countering Hate Speech
Happy International Sushi Day
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#12 | Posted by REDIAL at 2025-06-17 05:12 PM
So "we" are at war with Iran now?

#13 | Posted by truthhurts at 2025-06-17 05:55 PM
not even 5 months in and war

I am not sure I'd call it a "war" as much as it is [attempt at] potential "regime change" ... should TPTB "choose to accept it" and not TACO.

.

#14 | Posted by Corky at 2025-06-17 05:58 PM
A war he started when he pulled the Sanctions off of Iran... prolly as yet another favor to Vlad.

Vlad did congratulate Trump on his birthday, and used that call to talk about "dangers of nuclear war" in Middle East. Vlad asked him to stop Israel from attacking his buddy Ayatollah - which Trump failed to do - and just a day ago Trump was thinking aloud about Vlad being a mediator of "Cease Fire" between Israel and Iran...

Now that this plan went up in smoke and IAF and Mossad "control the vertical and horizontal" in the air and on the ground in Tehran after decapitating IRGC and Iran's High Command and Ayatollah in "hiding" (if he wants to know where his military leaders are, and vice versa, they can call Tehran's temporary local Mossad HQ branch for info), Trump changed the course and the tone from "We are not involved at all" and is running fast to get ahead of parade and take the credit for possible "regime change" that will finish rearranging ME in the right direction, without Iranian Islamists

This was offered to Biden more than once but he and his team kept blinders on and insisted on Israel / Netanyahu to "take the win" and continued to pressure Israel to make more and concessions to Hamas, who saw the weakness and kept stalling and changing demands... while Israel kept almost singlehandedly dismantling Hezbollah in Lebanon, Ansar al-Shari'a in Yemen, and al-Assad's Iranian and Russian support in Syria, eventually chasing Syrian Hezbollah, Bashar and Vlad out of Syria.

Biden could've been a hero and take credit, if his team had a little nerve, courage, sense and imagination. Just like he could if he'd ignored Vlad's phony "WWIII red lines" in Ukraine. Putin-Trump channel messenger boy Tucker Carlson is attempting to do that "one weird trick" now.

Had Biden gone with the plan A, we might not have had the TACO disaster "to kick around anymore" now.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, the only thing Trump really has ever done well is choosing his enemies. "A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies."

Happy International Panic Day
Happy International Day for Countering Hate Speech
Happy International Sushi Day
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#1 | Posted by ScottS at 2025-05-15 09:03 AM
... the 'expert' consensus was an INCREASE of .3% for April. So, the 'experts' were off by a full .8%. They deserve no credibility.

The numbers you refer are usually an average of number of "experts" who make them several months in advance, i.e., well before Trump attacked the world economy with the "most stupid tariffs" (that's according to even most MAGA tariff-sympathetic economists and "experts") ever seen.

The numbers, and the resulting "expert opinions", reflect much sharper slowdown of the economy than "experts" expected, solely due to businesses dumping existing inventory and volume discounts to businesses that rushed to stock on pre-tariff arriving inventory - IOW, caused by Trump's much higher and wider tariffs than businesses and sane "experts" expected. That's a one-off, and some prices for inelastic items will resume their upward movement, coupled with tariffs/taxes, while others may rise on demand shortages or drop for a month or two due to rising prices.

Then again, you probably approve of President who can not only institute what amounts to a "federal/national sales tax" of any size on any item, but also raise or lower it at any time for any reason (or any whim) at all? Trump lost whatever economic "credibility" he might have had even with people who generally support tariffs (for protectionist / "fairness" reasons), no matter how poorly economically "justified" they may be.

.

#2 | Posted by ScottS at 2025-05-15 09:20 AM
Well I am SHOCKED. The 'experts' expected a rise in wholesales prices but instead, they were DOWN .5% from March. This is a HUGE deal. First, our 'experts' once again proved their forecasts are fueled by political bias and/or they have no idea how trade actually works.

Second, there is ZERO need for the Fed to continue holding interest rates high when wholesale prices are actually deflationary.

Again, you are using a single [one-off] variable for a single period of usually multi-months of economic indicators to make a sweeping economic policy statement / decision. Cherry picking volatile and "unadjusted for real life" indicators is "unwise," to put it mildly.

Also - first drop in 4 years - I wonder what kind of ------- had been running the show for the prior 4 years to bring such horrible results.

Considering the drop was undeniably caused by an abrupt and radical (and illegal) Trump's tariff/tax decision, contrary to even his economic disciples, we know who is the certifiable s**thead that is running the show now.

Here is just one of real experts, who successfully ran the largest active bond funds in the world (Allianz-PIMCO) - Mohamed El-Erian:
|------- "While quoting the central banker [Powell] verbatim, El-Erian asks if the concerns raised "Sounds familiar?" This two-word response by the renowned economist highlights how the Fed's messaging mirrors prior inflationary cycles and supply-side shocks over the years.

... [El-Erian is] alluding to the stagflation of the 1970s, a period El-Erian has frequently referenced in past commentary. He has warned that tariffs and trade wars risk creating conditions reminiscent of the Carter era, marked by low growth and high inflation.
-------|

Let's see other, more relevant and forward-looking numbers from the same and next days' reports:
April's Empire State Manufacturing went -1.1 to -9.2, Industrial Production lost 0.3%, Import prices +0.5% (future inflation indicator) and Consumer Sentiment for May dropped to 50.8 (-26.5% Y-Y, -30% since Jan. 2025) - all were expected to improve or stay stable.

How is that for being SHOCKED?

Curb your enthusiasm. And welcome to the "95% Club"!
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NBC Cancels Night Court, Suits LA

Whatever little "TV" I see, the writing is atrocious, the sound is mumbled, and topics are mostly just boring and uninteresting.

The weekly game shows, as pointed out, became so expensive to produce in the US, it's cheaper to pack the planes with contestants and fly them to Ireland (or Eastern Europe) and back.

Besides destroying many suppliers, service and peripheral movie businesses during the strike, the productions in Hollywood are down by "existential" levels.

www.wvia.org - Hollywood is facing an 'existential moment' as production levels plummet - 2025-05-10

www.hollywoodreporter.com - Los Angeles Film and TV Soundstage Vacancies Reach Historically High Levels | A new FilmLA report shows studios reporting the fewest number of onstage shoot days in recorded history. - HR, 2025-04-03

Maybe "Hollywood" unions should have Trump's "tariff solution to everything" ("the most beautiful word") to the rescue... or have another strike demanding production to be done only in the US, of course with "fair share" and "living wages" and banning AI (except James Cameron) and...

variety.com - Trump's Movie Tariff Appeals to Some in Hollywood Who Lost Jobs to Foreign Subsidies - Variety, 2025-05-14

www.hollywoodreporter.com - Cannes: What Ever Happened to Tariffs? - HR, 2025-05-14

deadline.com - James Cameron Wants To Use AI To "Cut The Cost" Of Filmmaking Without "Laying Off Half The Staff - Deadline, 2025-04-09

Two years ago the unions were "winning!" taking the cue from Shawn Fain and UAW... "Short term pain, long term gain!" they said.

What are they saying now - "bail us out"? Another "American" industry being destroyed, by pricing itself out?

"Are you not entertained!"
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#1 | Posted by Sycophant at 2025-05-13 10:54 AM
This is what Saudi's get for giving the Trumps billions of dollars.

#3 | Posted by REDIAL at 2025-05-13 11:07 AM
US policy has always been to let Israel have F-35 fighters but not give them to the Arabs so Israel stays ahead of the game.
I wonder if Saudi and Qatar have bribed Lewzer enough to change that policy? Israel is notably absent from this "tour".

Saudis are not getting F-35s, at least not yet. This is announcement of "big beautiful Trump deal" of the package Saudis have negotiated last year with Biden administration for 54 F-15EX initially and up to 200 overall, to add, replace and refit aging Saudi fleet of F-15SR.

Qatar AF was the first to use F-15EX under F-15QA name.

It's a hot item and the F-15EX wait list includes Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Japan, SoKorea, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand...

There is also a grab bag of possible development of nuclear plants, AI, "tourism and leisure projects" etc., so the figures of "deals" will be as inflated as possible.

"Man of Peace" Trump, who pines for Nobel Peace Prize, wants Saudis to join Abraham Accords and negotiate some kind of "deal" with Iran, which became more difficult since his idiotic tariffs and bluster openly "united" China, Russia and Iran (after 50 years of 'Kissinger Doctrine' of keeping China and USSR/Russia antagonistic, which led to USSR's fall - "keep your enemies closer") against now common adversary / enemy.

Trump doesn't care about consequences as long as he can stay out of jail and stuff his pockets with as much money as possible and set up himself and his family in positions of power and free flow of "brand" royalties, dividends and fees from crypto and "brand" licensing.
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**
ied.eu - A Brief History of The 4 Industrial Revolutions that Shaped the World

www.history.com - How the Second Industrial Revolution Changed Americans' Lives

mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de - Third Industrial Revolution (began in 1950s) Brings Global Development - 2021

en.wikipedia.org - Information Age

fredblog.stlouisfed.org - Is the decline in manufacturing economically "normal"? - STL Fed, 2019

www.stlouisfed.org - Manufacturing's Share of Real GDP - STL, 2017
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#12 | Posted by ScottS at 2025-05-10 10:40 PM
Anyone with 'sticker shock' is the reason why the American economy is where it is today...

Reason for what? And "sticker shock" (inflation) is directly due to Trump-45+Biden+Congress throwing money at the economy and Trump's tariffs.

Just like US agriculture employment went from ~50% of US labor force in 1870 to ~33% in 1900 to ~1.5% in 2023, while supplying the nation with almost everything the population needs and significant exports to other countries (including China) who find their product desirable, the US manufacturing employment was reduced by automation (not "offshoring") while providing most of what the US needs and having significant exports of finished goods. Along with almost a third of $1T in accompanying service "trade surplus" to other countries.

Peak of manufacturing employment in 1970s - 19.5M people in 1979, 33% of labor force - was producing ~11% of real GDP (how is that for "efficiency / productivity"?); now 12.8M people in manufacturing account for 8.5% of labor force and is responsible for ~11% of real GDP, but is likely to slide lower still. Economies adjust for efficiency and productivity through automation and/or outsourcing when the costs of domestic production become untenable - IOW, when US labor "prices themselves out of the market."

"Money goes where it's welcome, and stays and multiplies where it's respected and appreciated."

Building a "Berlin Wall" trough tariffs doesn't work - we already saw predictable results here. "Industrial policy" doesn't work either - ask Biden.

No one is crying to "bring agriculture home" anymore but both left and right phony "populists" promise to "bring manufacturing home" to end "offshoring" because we have "empty factory towns" that couldn't adjust because they are not needed any more for various reasons, including younger population moving to city-centers for better education and service / professional jobs. It's not like we have a high unemployment because of "offshoring" - country has long moved on to service economy because "manu-facturing" (Latin: manufactura = making by hand) has been largely automated.

In 1960s computers were much more expensive than human labor; since 1980s human labor (union labor, in particular) became increasingly much more expensive relative to automation needed to produce better or higher quality output - hence, Third Industrial Revolution. **

Lutnick's "army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones - that kind of thing is going to come to America" is not "coming to America" - it's a fantasy in the times long past by the "globalism deniers" and believers in Trump Org "Central Committee economic planning" - it plays on the voters' economic illiteracy and ignorance of history, and party-line bros in particular, who put the "blame" on one or the other party / President / "the rich / elite" / "greed" for natural progress and adoption of technology, inventions and ingenuity.

No one is forcing you to buy "cheap crap" from China or any other country, you can still buy ugly expensive Cybertruck (65% built in US and Canada, 25% in Mexico, was planned for 80+% in Mexico Gigafactory but paused because... "Trump. will. fix. it") or any other "expensive crap" from anywhere. No one talked about being "ripped off" by availability of Japanese "cheap crap" from Epson, Citizen, Sanyo electronics or watches instead of US brands or expensive "high-precision" Swiss watches.

The worst monsters offer you the best dreams... Then you wake up.
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#10 | Posted by chiligordo at 2025-05-03 06:20 PM
Short term pain for long term gain.

Pain is obvious. What makes you think it's only short term? Because we'll get used to it, so won't feel it as much?

1. What exactly would constitute "long term gain" (even if achievable by businesses-killing, inflationary tariffs) because Trump has not defined it.
2. Expect about as much "long term gain" from Trump as was promised by his numerous failed businesses, including first DJT public company.

The trade deficits and resulting debt must be addressed or else Americans will end up picking cotton on Chinese-owned plantations.

This is nonsense - "[national] trade deficits" don't result in fiscal deficits and debt - you're conflating different things: real, government fiscal / budget deficits (government spending and having to borrow more money than it brings in from various sources) with purely statistical "[national] trade deficits / surpluses" (balance of trade, i.e., buying and selling goods and services by people and businesses who happen to live in "other" countries, mostly unencumbered by protectionist tariffs) - that's just parroting our seriously economically illiterate Influencer-in-Chief.

In fact, "[national] trade deficits" actually allowed / subsidized disinflationary expansion of our economic growth and helped finance fiscal budget deficits, and firmed up USD as world's "reserve currency" through non-inflationary growth of US money supply. Trade "deficits" is a non-issue, a "fake problem":

drudge.com - Bipartisan Bill to Give Congress More Power over Tariffs

drudge.com - Fact Check: Trump's False Claims About Tariffs

drudge.com - Is Trump Trying to Engineer a Recession?

scholar.harvard.edu - Truth About Trade Deficits / "Fake Problem" - [PDF, 3 pgs] - October 7, 2018

www.cato.org - Ignore the Politicians: Trade Deficits Don't Really Matter - Aug 29, 2024
"This is a fallacious claim because trade deficits don't really matter - not between countries and not between you and your local grocery store."

Trump's weird obsession / bizarre "idee fixe" with "trade deficits" is just a distraction from US budget deficits and his family self-dealing with crypto (including using his position and US Treasury to increase and pump his crime family's holdings) which also stands to benefit from destruction of USD as "reserve currency" from his policies - "Trump crypto-fascism" gets a literal meaning.

www.latimes.com - What will Trump's tariffs 'liberate' us from? - LAT, 2025-03-31

www.latimes.com - Democrats decry the 'chaos' of Trump's trade war but are OK with some tariffs - LAT, 2025-04-13

Even Trump's two main tariffs hawks, besides being wrong on substance and long-term consequences, can't agree on reasons for them:
blog.irvingjimenez.com - Trade Differences in the Approaches of Navarro and Miran - 2025-04-21

Shows how much bullcrap all these "strategies" are.

1970s - "Back to the future"

Play stupid games - win stupid prizes
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Drudge Retort
 

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