The cash consumer will pay the cost of the Trump-Musk penny-elimination gambit: Is it the harbinger of a coming cashless tyranny?

"The Amish have been galvanised to head to the polls and turn the battle ground red."

 

The little guy voted for Trump, so naturally Trump is going to screw the little guy, the Amish in particular.

And not mentioned in the story below is the deep resistance to eliminating cash among the denizens of America's survivalist communities. They see this as a control issue, and a potential threat to freedom because you control the cash in your pocket, but not the digital currency in your account. Cross the authorities somehow, and your account can be wiped out with a keystroke.

We already have experienced lawful gun owners and gun businesses being de-banked over gun ownership, among other culture war issues contested by liberal elites using economic coercion.

Meanwhile The UniParty has devalued the 1913 dollar to three cents. If you've only got one, eliminating the penny means you've now got bupkis.

How does the observation go? It's always the Republicans who actually advance the liberalism which the people resist when the Democrats are in control.

Every. Damn. Time.

 

To the extent rounding up occurs more frequently than rounding down, cash consumers would be paying the price for the cost efficiency Trump and Musk are seeking, said Ajay Patel, a professor of finance at Wake Forest University School of Business. ...

. . . people at the bottom of the economic ladder will probably feel the penny pinch the most.

“The individuals paying for this benefit will be those who purchase products and services using cash and will continue to do so going forward because they are either unbanked or unable to access debit or credit cards or a digital wallet,” Patel said. ...

Laura Maike, of Burton, Ohio, notes that the Amish will feel the pinch right now.

“Here in Northeast Ohio’s Amish country, we still use pennies regularly,” Maike said of her area, which includes thousands of generally cash-using Amish. “How would this work for cash-only transactions? It would be impossible to give exact change as the purchaser or seller.”

More.

 

Meanwhile, there is real money: $2,905.98 the ounce, the seventh record gold price this year

gold content: about $542 at today's high

Gold prices jumped more than 1% on Monday to hit a record high, as safe-haven demand surged on fears of a global trade war after U.S. President Donald Trump announced new tariff plans.

Spot gold was up 1.3% to $2,897.99 per ounce after hitting a record high of $2,905.98 earlier in the session — its seventh record this year.

U.S. gold futures rose 1.2% to $2,923.1.

“The precious metal is set to retain its upward bias, as long as President Trump’s policy threats continue to stoke fear and uncertainty through global financial markets,” said Exinity Group chief market analyst Han Tan.

More. 

PM Update:

Spot gold surged 1.5% to $2,903.53 per ounce after hitting a record high of $2,911.30 earlier in the session.

Mad King Ludwig bans the penny

 

Congress has the exclusive power to coin money and regulate its value, not the president, according to the US Constitution.

But since all coin and currency is worthless, thanks to Congress, does it really matter anymore?

The thieving Roman emperors infamously diluted the value of coinage from time to time by reducing the amount of gold and silver contained in the coins. 

Since we had real money once upon a time, our founders didn't want one man potentially messing with the money, so they put Congress in charge, because they really did think a president could become a tyrant.

But our perfect, holy founders who supposedly thought of everything never anticipated that the Congress itself would become the thieving bastards, the naifs.

The 1913 dollar is now worth three measly cents, but even that Mad King Ludwig will now take away.

If we were a free people, we wouldn't put up with this.

The principle remains, even if the circumstances have changed.

 Trump takes aim at ‘wasteful’ government spending by ordering end to penny production

But at least one analyst on Wall Street expects that the penny’s days are numbered. TD Cowen’s Jaret Seiberg said the halt will [be] likely to pass judicial review, leading to a shortage in the coin.

“We believe this order would survive judicial review, which is why this is likely to occur,” Seiberg wrote on Monday. “We worry about this leading to a shortage of pennies, which could force merchants to pay banks more for coins. It also adds legal risk for merchants and banks. That could create the crisis needed to force Congress to act.”

 

In the aggregate US Treasury yields averaged 4.408 on Friday, Feb 7, still ahead of the Daily Federal Funds Rate of 4.33 set by the Fed in December

Relative to each other by duration, bond yields on average normalized at the beginning of December, and notes on average in mid-December. 

Last week the spreads narrowed as bills on average rose a little bit in the aggregate and bond yields fell.

The 20-year bond was the yield leader at 4.75 while the 1-year bill was the yield laggard of all the issues at 4.25. 

The fixed rate 30-year mortgage averaged 6.89 last Thursday.

 

 

Global coal electric capacity hit 2,175 gigawatts in 2024

China added nearly 31gw of new coal electric capacity in 2024 and India nearly 6gw while the US retired almost 5gw, according to the story:

. . . U.S. exports of coal have been rising steadily to satisfy growing global demand for the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, even though its domestic consumption has decreased.

On top of that, the world’s coal capacity reached a new record high of nearly 2,175 gigawatts in 2024, data from Global Energy Monitor showed on Feb. 6. Coal capacity is the overall power output that can be generated from coal-fired power plants. ...

More. 

According to Electric Power Annual for 2023 at the US Energy Information Administration, existing US coal electric capacity is down to 193gw, behind natural gas at 572gw and ahead of wind at 148gw. Nuclear is still a distant fourth at 100gw from 93 existing utility-scale generators.

PEW: 54% of Americans express unfavorable views of Elon Musk

Here:

Musk is viewed more negatively than positively overall. More than half of Americans (54%) express unfavorable views of the billionaire, while 42% view him favorably.

• 73% of Republicans view Musk favorably, while about a quarter (24%) view him unfavorably.
• Just 12% of Democrats rate Musk favorably, while 85% view him unfavorably.

 

Hakeem Jeffries should welcome a government shutdown on March 14 because Trump is now a bad faith president who oversteps Congress' power of the purse and can't be trusted

Really, Democrat leadership is looking at it all wrong.

Just shut it down and go home. That's what Democrat legislators have had to do in many states. Might as well try it in Washington.

In fact, put out a general call for all Democrats to refuse to cooperate everywhere in the country, like the communists do in Italy and France.

Don't go to work at the factory. Don't go to work at the school. Shut down all the government offices everywhere. Don't go to work anywhere. Snarl transportation on land, sea, and air. Empty the shelves at the grocery stores. Cancel all the doctor appointments. Let 911 ring and ring and ring.

Call a general strike.

Shut the whole goddamn country down until Trump agrees to play by the rules. Get mad as hell and refuse to take it anymore!

 

... House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his Senate counterpart, Chuck Schumer, have been in talks about how best to use the funding deadline to counter Trump. But some top Democrats worry that even if they won policy concessions, Trump would only ignore the law — as they believe he has in some of his initial assaults on federal agencies — so a knockdown, drag-out battle and potential shutdown could be all for naught.

“If the foundational role of Congress is the power of the purse, why would we ever believe them again on an appropriations deal?” said Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware. “It’s going to be harder for us to work together because it’s harder for us to trust each other.” ...

“We’re not going to keep on bailing him out,” added Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, who is among a growing faction of Democrats who are ready to stare down Trump in a shutdown fight. “We’re not a cheap date.” ...

“If Senate Democrats don’t have the gumption to do what is necessary in this moment, I believe that House Democrats will,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said. Asked whether the confrontation could lead to a shutdown, she insisted her party wouldn’t be to blame and the price of Democratic votes should be “very high.”

More.

Just words: It's been 20 days and the war he said he'd settle before he even became president is still going strong

 

Trump says he has spoken to Putin about ending the Ukraine war

 

 

 

And then it came to me lol

 

Trump's deportation fantasies hit the big brick wall of reality

 Meanwhile at ICE, Vitello told agents in January to aim to meet a daily quota of 1,200-1,400 arrests. According to numbers ICE has posted on X, the highest single day total since Trump was inaugurated was just 1,100, and the number has fallen since that day. On Tuesday of this week, arrests of immigrants were over 800, according to a source familiar with the numbers. But last weekend, there were only about 300 arrests, another source told NBC News.

In order to fulfill Trump’s Inauguration Day promise of “millions and millions” of deportations, the Trump administration would have to be deporting over 2,700 immigrants every day to reach 1 million in a year. 

And, as NBC News has reported, arrests do not always equal immediate detentions, much less deportations. Of the more than 8,000 immigrants arrested in the first two weeks of the Trump administration, 461 were released, according to the White House. 

More.

They were supposed to end catch and release on day one. They can't do even that.

 

 

Scandalous: Republicans subscribe to Politico Pro just like everyone else lol

... records from USAspending.gov show Politico payments totaling only $44,000 from USAID during fiscal years 2023 and 2024. ...

 

Last year, Republicans and committee offices paid for Politico’s products including $9,060 from the Office of the Speaker of the House, $84,000 from the House Committee on Agriculture, and $58,000 from the House Committee on Energy, according to government records.

In total, 38 Republicans in the House spent over $300,000 on Politico subscriptions in the first nine months of 2024, and committees led by Republicans expensed almost $500,000 of Politico subscriptions in the same time period, a Washington Post analysis shows.

 

The day before the mini-scandal erupted, the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director signed a $35,000 contract for a Politico Pro Premium subscription for 15 users, according to government records. ...

 

Throughout the day Wednesday, Musk and other Republicans claimed that USAID alone had spent millions on Politico over the past 12 months.

 

But that characterization is false, according to a senior executive at Politico who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private internal data. The entire federal government spends more than $16 million on Politico subscriptions, the executive said. Those payments go to Politico Pro and other professional offerings from the Axel-Springer-owned publisher, which offers some subscriptions and licensing deals that can reach five figures. ...

 

More.

Obama appointed judge, Paul Engelmayer, issues sweeping order banning Musk and his allies from accessing the US Department of Treasury payments system

 Federal Judge Blocks Elon Musk’s DOGE From Treasury System: Order requires those who have accessed payment records without proper security clearance to destroy them

A federal judge in New York temporarily restricted the ability of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access the Treasury Department payment system, saying that doing so was necessary to prevent the potential disclosure of sensitive and confidential information. 

The early Saturday order by Judge Paul Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, precludes officials without proper background checks and security clearances from accessing the payment system through at least next Friday, including political appointees and special government appointees. It also orders any prohibited person who has had access to the records since President Trump’s inauguration to destroy them. The judge set a hearing for Friday.

Some 19 blue-state attorneys general filed the case Friday evening, saying that Musk’s DOGE initiative risks interference with the payment of funds appropriated by Congress. 

Engelmayer said the states were likely to win on arguments that the Trump administration exceeded its authority in allowing broader access to the payment system. He also said the states faced irreparable harm without court intervention for now, including “the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking.” ...

Well thank God.

None of these people have security clearances. The say so of President Trump is not a security clearance.

America has always produced outstanding 19 year olds, like Audie Murphy of Kingston, Texas

 

When Audie Murphy was 19 and two days after he had already been wounded in the legs, he stood alone on top of the burning wreckage of a tank destroyer for an hour gunning down 50 German soldiers with a machine gun that still worked, for which he won the Medal of Honor. It happened in Holtzwihr, France, 26 January 1945.

 

A boy we all looked up to.

 

 

Trump appointed judge Carl Nichols stops 2,200 USAID workers from being placed on administrative leave tonight

 

Judge pauses Trump plan to put USAID staff on leave

 

During the hearing, Nichols questioned DOJ attorney Brett Shumate about why the Trump administration needed to place 2,200 USAID workers on leave so quickly.

“What is the urgency of this?” the judge asked.

“The President has decided there is corruption and fraud at USAID,” Shumate replied.

I'll say. 

Buying co-president Elon Musk's Starlink terminals and funding Melania Trump's and Ivanka Trump's pet projects is corruption of the highest order.

Doubly inconvenient: USAID spent $1 million on Elon Musk's Starlink terminals for the Ukraine War which MAGA opposes

 What is the world coming to?

 

A Democrat with multiple credit card balances owed, including one for $1.2 million, should fit right in as a cabinet secretary overseeing spending of money we don't have

 

RFK Jr. had up to $1.2 million in credit card debt — what experts say on tackling high balances

Kennedy’s credit card balances range between $610,000 to $1.2 million in accounts that carry interest rates of 23.24% to 23.49%, the filing shows.

Financial experts interviewed by CNBC said balances that high are unusual.

“That’s a truly massive amount of credit card debt,” said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.

Maybe he can borrow some fashion money at lower rates from Kash Ap Patel at the FBI, if they ever confirm him.

 

Your reminder that gal pals Kamala and Hillary have a rather low opinion of 18-24 year olds

 

It's deportation theatre at Fox News: The ICE Capades

 

USAID was not just great in the opinion of the old Marco Rubio, both Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump thought so too, deploying millions of its dollars for their pet projects under Trump I lololol

 

A bunch of phony baloney plastic banana good time rock 'n rollas, but I repeat myself.

 

Melania and Ivanka's close ties to USAID exposed as Trump goes scorched-earth on the 'corrupt' agency:

Melania and Ivanka Trump used thousands of dollars from USAID to fund pet projects during Trump's first term it's been revealed as the agency's spending comes under scrutiny from the president.

The president has gone scorched-earth against the USAID this week, berating its use of tax-payer dollars and saying it had to be 'corrupt' in its spending.

But despite Donald's disdain for the aid agency, it has maintained close ties with his wife and daughter for years by investing in their government ventures. 

USAID helped fund Melania Trump's Be Best program and Ivanka Trump's Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative during the first Trump term.

And each woman traveled with the agency on separate trips to Africa, where they praised the investments it was making on the continent.

Ivanka Trump travelled with then-USAID administrator Mark Green to Africa in April 2019, where they met with women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia and rural cocoa farmers on the Ivory Coast.

USAID oversaw $265 million per year in spending Ivanka Trump's women's business initiative and an associated antipoverty program.

Melania Trump partnered with the agency on her 2018 trip to Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt.

In Malawi, the first lady promoted USAID's national reading program, which was donating on Trump's behalf 1.4 million textbooks to the more than 5,600 primary schools in the poverty-stricken nation.

'I am so proud of the work this administration is doing through USAID and others,' the first lady said at the time, 'and look forward to the opportunity to take the message of my Be Best campaign to many of the countries, and children, throughout Africa.'

In his first term, Trump heavily cut funding for the aid agency but it still found money to invest into his family's government ventures.

Ivanka Trump used USAID for her program to promote women in business, claiming 12 million women around the world had been helped by it.

She travelled with the agency to Colombia in September 2019 to run a workshop for women entrepreneurs.

That same year, she also used over $11,000 from the agency to buy video recording and reproducing equipment for a White House event, its records show.

Meanwhile, USAID was one of the first agencies to name an ambassador to Melania Trump's Be Best initiative.

When Melania Trump first announced her signature program in May 2018, she asked government agencies to name a liaison to her group. USAID immediately did so.

At her one-year anniversary celebration in May, Melania acknowledged the agency and thanked it for naming the first Be Best ambassador.

'For the first time in history, the United States Agency for International Development has appointed a Be Best ambassador,' she said.

'On this one year anniversary of my initiative, I call on all of our partner agencies to appoint a be best ambassador who will serve as a liaison between my office and their respective agency to better highlight and promote the programs and services offered to parents and children on behalf of the US government,' she added.

Donald Trump was sitting in the audience listening.

Neither the East Wing, the West Wing, nor Ivanka Trump's office responded to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

USAID delivers billions of dollars in humanitarian aid overseas.

The Trump administration is threatening to shut it down or bring the independent agency under the umbrella of the State Department.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now acting director of the agency it's been announced this week.

Hundreds of USAID contractors were placed on unpaid leave and some were terminated. Elon Musk, who is running Trump's Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE program, said the agency would be eliminated.

Its Washington D.C. office is closed and employees were either put on leave or told to work from home.

Trump has said of the agency: 'It's been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we're getting them out.'

He also claims it 'had to be corrupt' to approve certain initiatives. 

The president has berated the agency for its spending practices, including having a subscription to Politico Pro, a service that tracks legislation and other government news.

And his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, gave a blistering account of USAID's spending. Speaking to reporters at the White House last week, she held up a sheet of paper giving details of the astonishing ways in which taxpayers' money had been doled out.

It was an apparent reference to a story in Daily Mail, which first outlined the shocking expenditures related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), on which President Trump has ordered a crackdown.

'I don't know about you. But as an American taxpayer, I don't want my dollars going toward this crap. And I know the American people don't either. And that's exactly what Elon Musk has been tasked by President Trump to do. To get the fraud, waste and abuse out of the federal government,' Leavitt said.

The legal system is about to be clogged with multiple battles over Trump's second and imperial presidency, which has deployed Elon Musk as the embodiment of the line-item veto which it does not possess

It's a strange day when I find myself agreeing with Ed Markey.

. . . “The courts, if they interpret the Constitution correctly, are going to stop Musk, are going to stop Trump,” Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday.

“Article One is the Congress. Article Two is the president, Article Three is the judiciary. There is not an Article 3.5 where Elon Musk gets to do whatever he wants to do,” Markey said. “They are trying to rewrite constitutional law in this country.” . . .

Three weeks in, the growing storm of lawsuits means some of this young administration’s most extraordinary applications of unilateral presidential power could be reined in. But the litigation also conjures a scenario that no one wants to think about: what would happen if the administration refused to recognize court rulings — even one handed down by the Supreme Court?

This is a particularly acute matter because it’s the Justice Department, which is now operating under Trump’s firm hand, that’s responsible for enforcing the law. The constitutional remedy for a president who breaks the law is impeachment, but Republicans have twice shown that they will not hold Trump to account in such trials, making moot this key check on power envisioned by the founders.

“That is the doomsday scenario,” Ryan Goodman, a former Defense Department special counsel and NYU law professor, told CNN’s Burnett. “So far, they are complying with all the court orders, but what happens come the day that they do lose at the Supreme Court?” Goodman asked.

“If they really want to push it, we are in a real constitutional crisis.”

From the story here.

January 2025 is the fifth consecutive January with full time employment not as good as in January 2020 when 49.85% of civilian population usually worked full time

January 2020: 49.85%

January 2021: 47.42%

January 2022: 49.29%

January 2023: 49.32%

January 2024: 49.16%

January 2025: 49.22%

 

Judge George O’Toole Jr. pauses Trump's federal employee buyout nationwide, says he will consider arguments on the legality of the buyout on Monday

 

Judge pauses Trump federal employee buyout offer pending court hearing

 

. . . O’Toole’s order Thursday is the latest in a series of judicial rulings pausing implementation of key policy initiatives of President Donald Trump.

Kinda like a libertarian convention

 

Trump’s tax cuts are ‘stuck in the mud’ as Republicans split over spending 

 

. . . fiscal hawks said they could not support the massive package without more spending cuts. ...

I thought he loved the poorly educated

 

Trump administration demands lists of low-performing federal workers

 

 

Welcome to end stage libertarianism: The executive branch of the United States does not possess a line-item veto power

 What Trump is doing will be challenged all the way to the Supreme Court, which already ruled the 1996 version of the line item veto unconstitutional.

Trump is a renegade.

Imagine a Democrat president simply canceling programs Republicans passed and firing all the people in them. That's what this is. And that's what the future will bring if Trump gets away with any of this.

It's anarchy, and it's unconstitutional, however much you may agree with the cuts. The Court will set this straight or the federal government is finished as an institution.

Despite record highs in stocks in 2024, real return since the last secular peak in August 2000 still significantly lags previous periods of peak-to-peak returns

 

During four months in 2021, real return since August 2000 briefly hit the 5s: 5.06% in August, 5.02% in September, 5.17% in November, and 5.15% in December.

Real return swooned after that, as low as 3.63% in October 2022, making it seem like 2021 might have been a secular turning point.

But by October 2024 real return since August 2000 had recovered to 5.11%, and 5.2% in November, and 5.24% in December.

Is this the new secular peak?

Return might suggest, No, seeing how low it still is.

Valuation might suggest, Yes.

The annual average of the S&P 500 divided by GDP in trillions hit 186 in 2024, a level not seen since 1930 (228) on an annualized basis.

That ratio never got above 139 (2000) between 1937 (165) and 2020 (151).

And this ratio was 180 in 2021, 158 in 2022, and 155 in 2023, all unprecedented for the post-war.

But 186 in 2024 really takes the cake.

The price of the market is really, really rich for the return you get.

 

Gold prices continued their record run on Wednesday

 

... Spot gold was up 0.8% at $2,865.61 per ounce by 01:59 p.m. ET (1859 GMT), after hitting a record high of $2,882.16 earlier in the session. ... Spot silver rose 0.8% to $32.36 per ounce . . ..

-- CNBC

Jim Cramer says take the nutball more seriously

 

Wall Street needs to take Trump more seriously, Jim Cramer says

One nutball era ends, another begins, Wednesday edition

 

Trump says U.S. will ‘take over’ Gaza to develop it, and Palestinians should leave

 

‘Deranged’ and ‘problematic’: Bipartisan lawmakers bash Trump’s Gaza proposal

 

He's the Gentrifier in Chief lol, move the poor out, let the wealthy take over:

 

Trump: Gaza Could Become "The Riviera Of The Middle East," "We'll Make Sure That It's Done World-Class"

 

Gold hits record high as investors flock to safe-haven amid tariff war

 Spot gold gained 1.1% to $2,843.06 per ounce after hitting a record high of $2,845.14 earlier in the session. ... Spot silver rose 1.9% to $32.15 per ounce.

-- CNBC

The revenge of the bond vigilantes

 The Fed started cutting the Federal Funds Rate last September (DFF 5.33 then, 4.33 now), and average yields for notes and bonds started climbing and haven't stopped lol.

 

 

The Senate Finance Committee has voted 14-13 to advance RFK Jr to a Senate floor vote on his nomination to HHS

 

Just a reminder that theatre is exactly what this is, starring Mexico, Canada, and Donald Trump

 Sound familiar?

Banana Republican Donald Trump hastily makes Elon Musk a special government employee AFTER THE FACT of allegations of impropriety since January 20

 

White House says Elon Musk serving as a ‘special government employee’

There is nothing in this story indicating that Musk or his employees have undergone the standard background checks.

Unvetted individuals are working with the most sensitive personal data of hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors.

Reminds me of nothing so much as Bill and Hillary Clinton possessing the FBI's files on government employees.

 

 

More tariff theatre: Trump announces 25% tariffs on Canada on Saturday, reverses himself before dinner on Monday lol

 

Trump pauses tariffs on Canada imports for 30 days after doing the same for Mexico

... Trudeau said Canada had made new commitments “to appoint a Fentanyl Czar.” 😉😉

“Canada is implementing our $1.3 billion border plan — reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl,” the prime minister wrote. “Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are and will be working on protecting the border.” ...

In 2024, more than 21,100 pounds of fentanyl was seized by U.S. authorities on the border with Mexico, compared to only about 43 pounds seized at the Canadian border. ...

Clueless Marco Rubio appoints Taiwan surrender monkey Darren J. Beattie to State Department job

As if the nine-dash line doesn't even exist.

Beattie is a total suck-up, just like Rubio.

 

Gold hits record high as Trump tariffs spur safe-haven buying

  Spot gold rose 0.6% to $2,816.53 per ounce by 09:38 a.m. ET, after hitting a record of $2,818.58 earlier in the session.     

More.

Later in the day gold hit $2,830.49.

Trump announces 25% tariffs on Mexico on Saturday, reverses himself before lunch on Monday lol

 

 Stocks that got hit the most from Trump’s tariffs before the Mexico reprieve

... Shares of companies spanning the auto, industrial, retail and beverage industries with international supply chains were hit particularly hard. ... The president said Monday that he’s pausing the Mexico tariffs for one month after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to immediately send 10,000 soldiers to her country’s border to prevent drug trafficking.

The country which can't stop the drug cartels from operating unchecked within its own borders is going to stop drug traffic to the USA because it puts its troops closer to our border?

Phony baloney plastic banana good time rock 'n rolla.

Trump will crow that Panama has bowed the knee by agreeing not to renew participation in China's Belt and Road Initiative, but Panama was already dissatisfied with China from 2019

 

Events quickly shifted, however, following the election of Laurentino Cortizo as Panama’s president in early 2019. After taking office, Cortizo suspended or cancelled multiple Chinese investment projects. A review by the Panama Maritime Authority (PMA), the government agency that oversees the country’s ports, of the PCCP concession found that the Landbridge-led consortium had failed to comply with numerous contractual terms, including investing only roughly one-fifth of the promised amount, failing to provide key project documentation, and employing much less local labor than promised. The review led to the PMA’s decision to revoke the PCCP concession in June 2021.

More here. 

Panama pledges to end key canal deal with China, work with US after Rubio visit

... José Raúl Mulino, Panama's president, said his nation's sovereignty over the 51-mile waterway, which connects the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, will remain unchanged. But he said he would not renew a 2017 memorandum of understanding to join China’s Belt and Road global development initiative and that Panama would instead look to work more closely with the U.S. ...

Trump's tariff gambit has little to do with fentanyl but everything to do with increasing revenues on the backs of consumers so that he can pass his temporary tax cut package and not increase deficits

 It's complete madness. It's Donald Trump: "Everything will cost more but I'm cutting your taxes!"

 Wolfgang Munchau, here:

Economically, his tariff war will act like a tax on US consumers. The increased costs are inevitably borne by the consumers. But, as a form of rebalancing, it will raise a lot of revenue for the US treasury and together with the shrinking of the federal government, may well end up lowering the budget deficit and strengthening the US current account balance. Of course, there will be repercussions that could push in the other direction: the dollar might rise; the world might plunge into recession. But the truth is we have no experience of what happens when the largest economy on earth, with the dominating global reserve currency, imposes massive tariffs on its trading partners.

Munchau thinks Trump will win his tariff war. I do not. Munchau overestimates Trump's political support at home, and underestimates the fickleness of the US electorate. Continued inflation will throw sand into the gears of this gambit and sow discontent.

Control of the US House is everything, and Trump barely has it. He has two years and is already blowing it.

Trump has nothing but little gimmicks up his sleeve, not fundamental lasting transformation

 To help pay for Trump tax cuts, new taxes on worker benefits become GOP target

... House Republicans recently floated a list of potential measures to help compensate for lost revenue from trillions of dollars in tax cuts championed by President Donald Trump. Taxing employees for fringe benefits such as employer-provided transportation, free food and on-site gyms is up for discussion. ...

To be sure, these proposals are still in the early stages and there’s a lot of jockeying by lawmakers to accommodate Trump’s $4 trillion extension of the 2017 tax cuts as well as make good on campaign promises for tax breaks on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits — in all, the tax cut promises made on the campaign trail by Trump could take the total to near $10 trillion. The situation is especially tenuous given the hefty $36 trillion federal deficit. ...

Whatever gets passed will happen under reconciliation anyway, and therefore will be . . . temporary, just like Trump.

All of this small thinking is a reflection of the reality of the GOP's narrow majority in the US House, about which Donald Trump seems to care not at all, and will therefore most likely lose in 2026 unless Republicans push back against Trump, do what's right, and maybe save their own skins.

Trump meme coin now down to $17 from $73 lol

 Story.

Elon Musk and Donald Trump stop USAID payments authorized by Congress, some of which Marco Rubio used to be for before he became Secretary of Suck-Up and is now against

I expect a federal judge to intervene on this one perty quick like.

The sums involved are paltry, but Elon Musk amusingly makes a mountain out of this molehill and says “This is our shot. This is the best hand of cards we’re ever going to have,” he said. “Now or never.”

Seems more like an admission that it will be impossible to slay the federal leviathan.

Elon Musk says he and Trump are shutting down USAID

... Congress annually appropriates money for USAID to spend, primarily for foreign aid and internationally focused charities. Its budget for the 2023 fiscal year was about $40 billion, according to a report last month from the Congressional Research Service. That’s a tiny fraction of the overall federal discretionary spending of $1.7 trillion. ...

A 1974 federal law known as the Impoundment Control Act says that the president generally cannot withhold funds that Congress has approved. Some Trump aides argue that the law is unconstitutional, foreshadowing a potential fight in the courts. ... 

 

 

RFK Jr gets a nicotine fix during Senate testimony

Yeah, that's what we want to see in our next Secretary of Health.

Ciga-reetes, and heroin, and wild, wild Olivia Nuzzis, they'll drive you crazy, they'll drive you insane.

 

Trump's new Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, has given Elon Musk control of the payment systems which control everyone's Social Security and Medicare benefits

 

 Billionaire Elon Musk’s deputies have gained access to a sensitive Treasury Department system responsible for trillions of dollars in U.S. government payments after the administration ousted a top career official at the department, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe government deliberations.  

On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approved access to the Treasury’s payments system for a team led by Tom Krause, a Silicon Valley executive working in concert with Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” the people said. 

David A. Lebryk, who served in nonpolitical roles at Treasury for several decades and had been the acting secretary before Bessent’s confirmation, had refused to turn over access to Musk’s surrogates, people familiar with the situation told The Washington Post. Trump officials placed Lebryk on administrative leave, and then he announced his retirement Friday in an email to colleagues. 

Spokespeople for Treasury and DOGE declined to comment. 

The sensitive systems, run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, control the flow of more than $6 trillion annually. Tens of millions of people across the country rely on the systems. They are responsible for paying Social Security and Medicare benefits, salaries for federal personnel, payments to government contractors and grant recipients, and tax refunds, among tens of thousands of other functions.

More.

These guys are up against the debt ceiling and are obviously looking for other ways than the customary "extraordinary measures" to cut spending under the circumstances of a new administration trying to pass new tax and spending legislation. That's why Trump has offered buyouts to government workers so they quit, among other novel spending gambits like freezing program spending for 90-days.

The Treasury stopped paying into certain accounts from January 17th, before Trump and Musk took over, as part of the extraordinary measures undertaken by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to keep from hitting it.

She's been keeping the national debt at $36 trillion to $36.2 trillion ever since Thanksgiving.

It's all very troubling, as elected officials like to say.

Typically, only a small group of career employees control the payment systems, and former officials have said it is extremely unusual for anyone connected to political appointees to access them. 

Some Americans abuse drugs so everyone must pay 25% more for avocado toast

 

Trump tariffs will increase costs of fruits, vegetables, potatoes, and grains, among a hellish host of things

 

... The sweeping tariff could make more expensive a host of items that the U.S. imports from its neighbors. Among the common Mexican imports that will now get pricier to bring into the country: fruits, vegetables, beer, liquor and electronics. And from Canada: potatoes, grains, lumber and steel. ...

Trump is enacting the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which allows the president to respond to “extraordinary threat,” which Trump has identified as a fentanyl and drug crisis that he alleges China, Mexico, and Canada facilitate. ...

More.

Because some Americans use illegal drugs, Trump is punishing all Americans.

Makes sense, right?

I mean George Floyd's blood fentanyl level was fatal and we lit the nation's cities on fire because of it, so yeah, we deserve it.

Trump used a phony picture of California lol

 

J. D. Vance is practicing his ad hominem attacks for 2028 on a misguided Jesus lover from the UK

 

Black Hawk helicopter collision with passenger jet was part of a routine, annual re-training of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission

 Crashed US Army Black Hawk unit was responsible for doomsday readiness

... The three soldiers killed in the collision were part of the 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, whose responsibilities in a national crisis include evacuating Pentagon officials. Another 64 people were killed in the passenger plane. ...

You would think a president who needs the votes of a senator from Maine to confirm his nominees would give it a minute before imposing tariffs on Canada, its primary trading partner

But you would be wrong.

 

Incompetence from sea to shining sea: Trump releases water needed for summer agricultural irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley to fight fires but that water will simply evaporate in Tulare Lake

 

Acting on Trump’s order, federal officials opened up two California dams

... The two reservoirs are used to hold supplies for agricultural irrigation districts. Nemeth noted that winter is not the irrigation season for farms, which require more supplies to grow crops in the summer months, “so there isn’t a demand” for the water in the San Joaquin Valley at this time. ...

Peter Gleick, a water scientist and senior fellow at the Pacific Institute, said dam managers would typically only release large quantities of water in the winter when major storms create a need to make space for large inflows of runoff. But Southern California has been very dry and the snowpack in the southern Sierra remains far below average, so “there is no indication that that’s why these releases occurred.”

“In addition, when those kinds of releases do occur, they’re always done in consultation with local and state agencies,” Gleick said.

“I don’t know where this water is going, but this is the wrong time of year to be releasing water from these reservoirs. It’s vitally important that we fill our reservoirs in the rainy season so water is available for farms and cities later in the summer,” Gleick said. “I think it’s very strange and it’s disturbing that, after decades of careful local, state and federal coordination, some federal agencies are starting to unilaterally manipulate California’s water supply.”

Vink agreed, saying that given how dry it has been in the region this winter, there was no need to make such a release. In fact, he said, farmers were counting on that water to be available for summer irrigation.

“This is going to hurt farmers,” Vink said. “This takes water out of their summer irrigation portfolio.” ...

 

It's great to be a Trumpist

 Trump Media gifts DJT shares to FBI pick Kash Patel, Linda McMahon and president’s son

Trump Media this week gifted thousands of shares of company stock to President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, to Trump’s eldest son and to four other board members, new regulatory filings show.

The company awarded 25,946 stock shares each to Patel, Donald Trump Jr., and the president’s pick for Education secretary, Linda McMahon, who all serve as Trump Media directors, the filings Thursday reveal.

Three other directors — former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, Eric Swider and Kyle Green — received the same number of DJT shares at no cost, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

The filings said the awards were granted Tuesday. Trump Media that day closed trading at $30.04 per share.

At that price, the shares have a paper value of more than $779,400. But most of the stock awarded has restrictions on when it can be sold. ...