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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.

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#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

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**
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."

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#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.

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#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.

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#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.

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#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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**
www.thedailybeast.com - Fox Biz Expert Warns Trump's Tariffs Have U.S. on Brink of Recession | The president's "weak negotiating hand" has left markets "on edge" - 2025-04-25, TDB

|------- Donald Trump's tariffs have left the U.S. teetering on the edge of a recession, with even Fox News hosts voicing their concerns about the president's import levies.

"We need people to buy our debt, and China supplies us with a lot of cheap goods," he said. "We can see inflation rise up dramatically. And Xi [Jinping] knows this."

... "Beijing has also warned countries not to do trade deals with the U.S. that exclude China - or else. ... Beijing's threat has resonated in a way that it never previously did. U.S. diplomatic sway is ebbing."

... Meanwhile, big box CEOS have warned Trump that his trade policy will result in "empty shelves" unless his dramatically changes course in the coming weeks.
-------|

.

"Winning"? Art of the Bulls**t is not working with the big boys in the real world.

.

nypost.com - How Team Trump is working overtime to close face-saving trade deals - 2025-04-25, NYP

|------- Team Trump is looking for a face-saving off-ramp in its global trade war, and they're ready to announce a deal-in-kind with at least one trading partner...

How that manifests itself is unclear, but my sources are led to believe that actual deals - i.e. signed agreements even with the most friendly of trading partners caught up in the Trump maelstrom - are probably not happening anytime soon.

What is more likely is a series of public announcements...
-------|

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nypost.com - Trump team needs a trade deal to stop investor panic - 2025-04-21, NYP

|------- About 10 days ago, an increasingly confident Scott Bessent began telling Wall Street executives that he was on the verge of removing the big dark cloud hovering over the US markets and economy: The Treasury Secretary said he was making significant progress in cutting trade deals with India, Japan, South Korea, and Australia...

But that was last week, and there are still no deals...

The trade war wasn't supposed to go down this way.

... "The White House needs trade deals done quick with a negotiation path established with China..."
-------|

.

nypost.com - Start talking trade deals, Mr. President - and end the tariff meltdown - 2025-04-07, NYP Ed. Board
|------- Mr. President, take "yes" for an answer.

... "We have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

It's exactly the sort of agreement that would make President Trump's tariff wars a success ...

But is the administration even answering the phone?

... Peter Navarro... and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggest that these overtures are for naught.
-------|

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** Charles Gasparino's book "Blood on the Street: The Sensational Inside Story of How Wall Street Analysts Duped a Generation of Investors" (2005) - en.wikipedia.org - highly recommend for the budding investors who don't quite understand what the roles of different "financial analysts" are on Wall Street and in the financial "infrastructure" layers and hierarchy.
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#6 | Posted by ScottS at 2025-04-24 06:39 PM
China's economy is collapsing and the speculation inside the country is that Xi may lose control of the CCP.

Chinese economy has been "collapsing" for years, because of failed BRI and wild overinvestment in real estate and what are now "ghost cities" - not unlike our poor investments in "manufacturing infrastructure."

In the latest move, countries like Vietnam are ending the Chinese trans-shipments to hide the true country of origin.

Korean and Chinese-owned factories in North Vietnam, like Goertek, Luxshare, etc., are already part of Apple's supply chain and didn't need to "hide country of origin." India couldn't ramp up and has much higher manufacturing costs.

#12 | Posted by ScottS at 2025-04-24 08:02 PM
... due to the Chinese economic collapse kicked off by Trump's tariffs his first time around.

... Hard facts - China has already lost the trade war. The latest news is Foxconn moving their iPhone manufacturing to India and Vietnam causing a few million more Chinese to lose their jobs.

Apple and Hon Hai/Foxconn have been trying to move their supply chain and manufacturing to India, Vietnam and elsewhere for years. If you've ever been to Shenzhen (China's 'Silicon Valley') and seen Foxconn's factories, they are highly automated and there aren't "millions of Chinese" working there. Foxconn - Taiwanese co, and world's largest EMS, dwarfing (3x) 3 largest US + 1 Canadian EMS combined - has been replacing iPhone factory in Shenzhen with other customers.

US farmers lost soy and sorghum sales (again), since China can easily source them from Brazil and Argentina. China is now buying LNG from Russia instead of US.

Millions of US jobs are at stake as VARs/VADs are or will be closing their shops if they can't replenish their inventories with Chinese or other cheap enough components.

Hard fact is that everybody loses from trade wars, but the US has most to lose, including trust, good will, and USD status as "reserve currency."

If China already "lost" why are CEOs of S&P500 asking Trump to stop it? Why is Charlie Gasparino **, Fox biz commentator and NYPost columnist, saying we lost it, and begging Trump to save face by "declaring victory" and back off trade wars?

But, due to your blind hatred of Trump - you can't seem to understand these things. Doesn't matter - reality is reality regardless of how much your plug your ears and bury your head in the sand.

That's "Apprentice" TV version. Reality: replace "blind hatred" with "blind adulation of 'golden calf' Trump" and you'll be on right track.

Can you explain what is the end goal of the stupid tariffs, and what "winning" trade wars in global economy looks like? Because Trump didn't, except saying that "America was treated very badly and was taken advantage of" which is economically illiterate and literally and figuratively stupid.

Far from playing 3D/4D chess, Trump is can't see beyond his half-moves. Peter Navarro and Stephen Miran are the same kind of economic charlatans, claiming "new financial theories" as Stephanie Kelton (Bernie's/Biden's economic guru) was with her "MMT doesn't cause inflation and deficits don't matter."

www.mercatus.org - Straight Talk about Economic Illiteracy - [PDF, 6 pgs]

www.realcleareducation.com - Combating Economic Illiteracy - 2024-11-08
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#8 | Posted by itchyp at 2025-04-07 12:58 AM
WE are winning! All of US! Say THANKS PWESIDENT TWUMP!!

The reason you think "we" are winning is because you don't understand the game, and in all of the excitement of "Winning!" you lost the sight of the end-game - you're just one of the "apprentices" who buy DJT "vision" and stock and meme-coins... and HODL until they eventually go to 0... just like suckers who bought into his "brand" before.

Your attention is being focused [by Trump] on the "battle of tariffs" while it's only a tool that's supposedly is going to solve the "problem" of "trade deficits" and, of course, at the same time to make the US "rich" by collecting huge tariff duties and revive and protect jobs in US "manufacturing" - these are supposed to be the end goals of the "game" according to Trump, no?

That assumes that 1. the USA only has "trade deficits" because it's been "taken advantage of / raped" by countries with high tariffs that make US goods too expensive to import; and 2. the USA can import enough goods that taxes / tariffs on them will compensate for shrinking real inflation-adjusted GDP and higher costs to consumers.

Both assumptions are demonstrably wrong, because, as I pointed out here (drudge.com), after decades of world-wide free-trade agreements (WTO and some bilateral/multilateral FTAs, like Mercosur, NAFTA/USMC or whatever Trump will want to call it next, etc.), we already have nearly tariff-free world trade.

98% of world trade is governed / covered by WTO and these FTAs. Tariffs are the red herring by Trump to "win" his usual Apprentice s**tshow for his MAGA cult.

ustr.gov - The United States has comprehensive free trade agreements in force with 20 countries, separate from WTO

en.wikipedia.org - [Incomplete] List of World's Multilateral and Bilateral Trade Agreements, Areas and Zones

Trump wanting to re-make most of them into bilateral agreements will change absolutely nothing in "trade deficits" and if, for example, we get ZERO TARIFFS with every country (YAY!), we'll have the same situation we have now - same high (or higher) "trade deficits" and no income from Trump's "External Revenue Service" and no "protection" for our manufacturing sector employment - IOW, this would not solve any "problems" he told you we have and would "lose" every one of supposed goals he told you he would accomplish using tariffs for "trade wars" and in the process alienate consumers and potential consumers of our trading partners and allies.

In fact, the best thing many of these countries can do is call Trump's bluff and hand him the "win" of ZERO TARIFFs immediately - it will either not make an iota of difference from current trade or will make "trade deficits" worse. Since "trade deficits" is a phony issue anyway, nobody (except maybe some US exporters) will notice or feel any difference, but at the end of the year the embarrassing numbers will show up. At least, that's the best case scenario for US economy.

Tariffs or not, you can't force people to buy from the source they loathe, given they have the alternatives. That's why Trump couldn't find contractors to work with him and banks to finance his ill-conceived short-term splashy "projects" and how his businesses went bankrupt.

How is that for "Winning!" the game you have no idea you're actually playing? Or maybe you're just being played and someone is screwing with your brain?

If you keep your eyes on the ball instead of chasing every "squirrel" or "shining object" Trump throws out, you might keep you sanity and your money. If not, you'll be just one of many Trump cult zombies.
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#2 | Posted by et_al at 2025-04-03 05:32 PM
Yeah, well good luck with dat.

Interesting recent development, from unexpected(?) source:

"The first known lawsuit against President Donald Trump's tariffs has been filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) on behalf of a Simplified, a Florida-based home goods and stationary company, who is arguing that the president "unlawfully" overstepped his authority to impose the levies.

The lawsuit is challenging Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA), which requires extensive investigations before sanctions can be imposed. Trump has used opioid trafficking from China as a reason for the "emergency" tariffs against the country.

The lawsuit contends that Trump has not shown that his actions are "necessary" or tailored to address a drug trafficking emergency. In fact, lawyers note, Trump has said the actual reason for the tariffs is to reduce a trade deficit.

In any case, the IEEPA allows for asset freezes, trade embargos and similar sanctions, but not tariffs, the suit argues.

The law "authorizes presidents to order sanctions as a rapid response to international emergencies. It does not allow a president to impose tariffs on the American people ... Presidents can impose tariffs only when Congress grants permission," the suit states.

"Congress passed the IEEPA to counter external emergencies, not to grant presidents a blank check to write domestic economic policy," it states.

"In the IEEPA's almost 50-year history, no previous president has used it to impose tariffs. Which is not surprising, since the statute does not even mention tariffs, nor does it say anything else suggesting it authorizes presidents to tax American citizens," the lawsuit notes.

NCLA is a right-wing group with financial ties to Leonard Leo and the Koch network is aiming to halt Donald Trump's tariff plan.
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#12 | Posted by itchyp at 2025-04-04 05:08 AM
-Of course Congress want 'more power'. They can't peddle the influence without the power.
It's sort of their own fault for paying themselves only 174K+tip. Most can make more than that on just one selfdeal.

No, actually they want to claw the power back, as Congress should have never delegated it to Executive / President in the first place, albeit with good intentions - to facilitate rapid execution of it in case of "product dumping" at costs below export country's production and negotiating trade agreements - which have not caused problems, until Trump decided to grossly abuse it - just like he did with many other laws in his personal-business-political-scam_artist life, which got him impeached twice and should have put him in prison, if not for the gross incompetence of Biden, DOJ, federal and state prosecutors and help from corrupt judges and lawyers.

"In recent years, Presidents Trump and Biden have exercised an aggressive level of executive authority to raise tariffs on imported goods. Most of these tariffs have been implemented under broad authority delegated by Congress to combat unfair practices or national security. As a result, tariff revenue as a share of total tax receipts peaked in 2019 over the last eighty years, surpassing levels not seen since the mid-1970s."

Ah, mid-70s, when we last had [national] trade surplus... and high inflation + stagnant growth ("stagflation") and "malaise" - why not re-live those "good times"?

.
|------- The constitutional authority to levy taxes, including customs duties (tariffs), indisputably rests with Congress under Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. This authority is fundamental to the government's ability to fund its operations, including national defense, public services, and infrastructure spending.

Until the early 1930s, tariffs, like all other tax rates, were determined by Congress. The enactment of the Trade Act of 1930, otherwise known as the Smoot-Hawley Act, exposed some of the risks of imposing large tariffs to protect American workers. Smoot-Hawley Act imposed the second-highest tariffs in American history, targeting agricultural imports to protect American farmers. The act triggered a global trade war - by 1933, U.S. exports had fallen by at least 60% - and deepened the on-going macroeconomic crisis. This would also be the last act implemented by Congress to set tariff rates.

On the heels of this disaster, Congress began a decades-long trend of ceding the authority to lay and collect customs duties to the executive branch. Importantly here, Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1934 granted authority to the president to impose tariffs if imports were found to threaten national security.

The Trade Act of 1974 granted the president new authority to negotiate trade agreements and adjust tariffs, while also creating mechanisms to protect U.S. industries and workers. Section 201 provides a mechanism for the U.S. to protect domestic industries from serious injury caused by import surges, and Section 301 grants authority to the U.S. Trade Representative (a cabinet-level position) to take action against foreign countries that violate trade agreements or engage in practices that are deemed unfair. -------|
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These kinds of far-reaching decisions should never be left to a single person, just like the right to Presidential pardon (which is unfortunately in the Constitution) which clearly leads to temptation and/or corruption, and needs to be abolished / remedied by Constitutional Amendment... which after what we saw it having been abysmally abused by Trump and Biden recently (but also by Presidents before them) should not be that difficult.
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#8 | Posted by itchyp at 2025-04-04 04:10 AM
OK I know how to settle this. Make the law to apply the same tariffs on the same products that other countries charge us.

Settle what? What "problem" is Trump (and you) are trying to solve?

For example, do you think Canada's 40M people should buy the same amount of "stuff" from US, as 340M buy from Canada. Also, in case you didn't know, excluding oil trade, USA has trade "surplus" with Canada. So, should the companies in the US buy oil somewhere else because Trump can't do kindergarten-level math?

Trade deficits are not the [national] problem - countries, for the most part, don't trade with other countries. People in the US, having for the long time the fortune of the world's largest economy and being prodigious consumers of US-made and foreign-made goods (which are often cheaper and/or better-made or have better/bigger/attractive brands that consumers want) keep buying more of smaller economies' goods, while people in smaller economies keep buying more advanced US services (USA has substantial service trade surplus vs the "rest of the world") and particular products (e.g., technology, military etc.) where we have what David Ricardo called "comparative advantage" (see Paul Krugman's excellent essay Ricardo's Difficult Idea - web.mit.edu - TL;DR: "Free trade good").

drudge.com

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

Since 1980s we have been importing disinflation from other countries, initially too poor to buy our products (or debt), but growing and becoming richer and more capitalist in the process, e.g., "Made in" Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, India, China (since Deng Xiaoping), Vietnam etc., while at the same time supplying them with non-inflationary expansion of USD, thus maintaining / expanding "reserve status" of USD and promoting more trade, which increases our service and manufacturing, i.e., "expanding the global economic pie" rather than trying to grab larger share of smaller one.

98% of the world trade is governed / covered by WTO and/or other FTAs. Most tariffs are either on goods we don't sell in significant quantities in particular geolocation (governed by their specific rules, like medical content, trademarks etc. or there is no sufficient demand for import) or have been exempted for particular negotiated reasons and don't significantly affect either irrelevant [national] "balance of trade" or GDP - at most about 0.50 one-time increase in GDP - definitely not worth all the noise, let alone world-wide trade war which will alienate long-time trading partners, re-route major supply chains away from the [no longer reliable, if not outright "hostile"] US suppliers

How is that "abuse" and "rape" of the USA, when we have been the biggest beneficiaries of generally free trade?

Even CNBC's Jim Cramer, who has been against "free trade" and is for what he calls "fair trade" and tariffs, railed against Trump's idiotic trade war: www.thedailybeast.com - Jim Cramer Hits Trump With Kiss of Death as 'Liberation Day' Looms - 2025-04-01

So Trump needs to change the hard-won free-trade (aka "capitalism") world order (to our detriment) because Prof. Peter Navarro put a bug in Trump's hole in the head where brain should usually reside, and Trump thinks that he "invented" something new, that "no one has ever seen before." It also, along with trying to expand crypto's role in US economy (and self-dealing, as usual), jeopardizes "reserve status" of USD, with serious implications for US economic well-being.
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#10 | Posted by dutch46 at 2025-03-31 12:07 PM
As I read the headline, the image of a snake devouring it's own tail instantly came to mind.

Ouroboros. Interesting visual, but analogy is not incongruous, especially in financial engineering.

As I've said here before, Musk's purchase of "X/Twitter" entity was never planned to be stand-alone, but rather a leveraged stage 1 for merger with another platform, most likely with financial or sales component - trying to emulate the Chinese all-in-one apps/ecosystems like Tencent or Alibaba.

X/Twitter was never going to go public, but xAI most likely will, at high enough valuation (Musk "proposed" the combo of xAI and X is now worth ~$80B) - not bad for a glorified search engine chatbot, trained on X-"wisdom" and disinformation. For comparison, OpenAI just closed a round of investment at valuation of $300B.

Guess what happens when xAI goes public - all personal debt Elon assumed with the purchase of Twitter will become debt of public company shareholders, allowing Musk to participate in public company riches while "sharing" the huge debt with people buying the common stock.

This is EXACTLY, only on much larger scale, the scam Donald Trump pulled when he used his [father's] name and reputation for ~$1B in personal loans for 2 casinos that he was certainly going to default on, then folded one into DJT / Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts public company, then did the same with another one... and poof, his personal debt disappeared and became "property" of the unsuspecting suckers aka DJT shareholders.

www.congress.gov - As its stock collapsed, Trump's firm gave him huge bonuses and paid for his jet - WaPo, June 12, 2016 [PDF, 5 pgs]

|------- It was promoted as the chance of a lifetime: Mom-and-pop investors could buy shares in celebrity businessman Donald Trump's first public company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts. Their investments were quickly depleted. The company known by Trump's initials, DJT, crumbled into a penny stock and filed for bankruptcy after less than a decade, costing shareholders millions of dollars, even as other casino companies soared.

In its short life, Trump the company greatly enriched Trump the businessman, paying to have his personal jet piloted and buying heaps of Trump-brand merchandise. Despite losing money every year under Trump's leadership, the company paid Trump handsomely, including a $5 million bonus in the year the company's stock plummeted 70 percent.

Many of those who lost money were Main Street shareholders who believed in the Trump brand, such as Sebastian Pignatello, a retired private investor in Queens. By the time of the 2004 bankruptcy, Pignatello's 150,000 shares were worth pennies on the dollar. ...

Trump said he "made a lot of money in Atlantic City," adding, "I make great deals for myself." ... -------|

This is also what current DJT Media and Technology stock is - worthless vessel to "make deals" and transfer money into Donald's pockets, not to mention his family "legitimate" crypto ventures and meme coins to "create" and launder money.

The scam is repeatable. Ouroboros indeed.

Money for nothing and kicks for free
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Drudge Retort
 

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