The Next President is...

[Sua Sponte]

1 hour ago, Pooter said:

This is one of the most epic economic self-owns in history.  I've never seen the right and left so united against anything, but when you propose possibly the most retarded economic plan ever, I guess that's what happens.  I'm so glad we're tariffing Vietnam into oblivion to bring back all those quality t-shirt sweatshop manufacturing jobs. Just happy I'm a long way from retirement and can use it as an opportunity to buy the dip.  

 

[Pooter]

26 minutes ago, SocialD said:

Maybe some day, those shouting the loudest about what will and what will not work, will actually fix the economic situation we're in.  But from where I'm sitting, they've done nothing but 3x our national debt in the last three decades.  

I just don’t see how starting a worldwide trade war that tanks our markets and makes virtually every product more expensive fixes our debt problem. And the republicans just passed a continuing resolution that failed to cut spending in any meaningful way so I have a hard time believing this is some all-aspect strategy to attack the national debt. 

I will grant that trumps tariff plan is at least different. But so is shooting yourself in the dick.

[SocialD]

5 minutes ago, Pooter said:

I just don’t see how starting a worldwide trade war that tanks our markets and makes virtually every product more expensive fixes our debt problem. And the republicans just passed a continuing resolution that failed to cut spending in any meaningful way so I have a hard time believing this is some all-aspect strategy to attack the national debt. 

 

Quite frankly, idk either.  But doing what we have been doing clearly wasn't working.  So do we just keep doing that?  My guess is they hope it will bring people to the table.  Big gamble, then again, maybe it pays off big.  Time will tell, but I'm not going to cry wolf because the market hits the same level we were in last summer.  I say that as someone who isn't all that fond of 47.  

 

 

5 minutes ago, Pooter said:

I will grant that trumps tariff plan is at least different. But so is shooting yourself in the dick.

 

 

Maybe just cut it off, that seems to have become popular over the last few years.  

[Pooter]

3 hours ago, SocialD said:

But doing what we have been doing clearly wasn't working.  So do we just keep doing that?  

No. But you can change course without going full retard.  If you want to attack the debt you cut spending in a meaningful way like they were *kindof* trying to do with the doge stuff.. and leave trade policy tf alone. We are not getting ripped off by Vietnam because we have a trade deficit with them. We are a rich country. They are a poor country. They make stuff for super cheap. We then buy that stuff for super cheap and have more money left over for other things. It is a win-win. Trump is under this insane misimpression that voluntary trade is a zero-sum game where there has to be a winner and a loser. And somehow since the word "deficit" sounds bad, we are the loser?? As others have pointed out, you have a trade deficit with your local grocery store, or your dry cleaner, or literally every service you pay for ever. So are you being ripped off when you voluntarily engage in a market transaction to buy something that someone else made?

Not to mention we're tariffing countries who we have a trade surplus with...  please make it make sense

I think tariffs are almost always stupid, but I would be slightly more willing to take this ride if it seemed like there was any semblance of a coherent plan. The reason the market is tanking is because there is no plan and we've been in a constant state of will-he-won't-he for the the last two months. If we actually want to "bring manufacturing back to the US" businesses need some stability and predictability before they go sink millions and billions into new domestic production capacity. But they can't do that when the president is flip-flopping on his own policies and creating random new carve outs and exemptions on an hourly basis.  Because who knows, trump could use these tariffs to get some concessions from a few countries and then dump the policy entirely in a few months.. well inside the turn circle of setting up a new production line.

In summary:

-you can address the debt without dumpstering world trade

-trade deficits are not us being ripped off

-blanket tariffs are bad and dumb

-the market wants stability, not constant whiplash

-if there is a plan, fucking communicate it

 

Edited 13 hours ago by Pooter

[M2]

Trump administration fires director of National Security Agency/Cyber Command

The Trump administration has fired the director and deputy director of the National Security Agency, the United States’ powerful cyber intelligence bureau, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation, members of the Senate and House intelligence committees and two former officials familiar with the matter.

The dismissal of Gen. Timothy Haugh, who also leads US Cyber Command — the military’s offensive and defensive cyber unit — is a major shakeup of the US intelligence community which is navigating significant changes in the first two months of the Trump administration. Wendy Noble, Haugh’s deputy at NSA, was also removed, according to the former officials and lawmakers.

The top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committee, Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Jim Himes, denounced the firing of Haugh, who served in the roles since February 2024, in statements on Thursday night...

(Full article at title link)

I've had a couple of opportunities to meet with Gen Haugh when he was the 16AF/CC.   He was an articulate, dedicated and experienced leader in the field of cybersecurity and intelligence, and I cannot fathom how his dismissal will benefit our national security.

[Sua Sponte]

It’s not supposed to benefit our national security, he wasn’t a puppet and that’s why Trump fired him.