Trump's good buddy Putin just bombed an American factory in Ukraine, injuring 15

 

Tulane University's Walter Isaacson calls out Trump's state capitalism for Nvidia, Intel, and Advanced Micro Devices

 

Trump’s Nvidia and Intel meddling is a ‘scattershot method of crony capitalism’: Walter Isaacson

... “That state capitalism often evolves into crony capitalism, where you have favored companies and industries that pay tribute to the leader, and that is a recipe for not only disaster, but just sort of a corrupt sense of messiness,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” ... Earlier this month, both Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices agreed to pay 15% of their China revenues to the U.S. government for export licenses to sell certain chips there. ...                                                                

 

Trump adds $1 trillion to the national debt in record time and S&P Global underscores its own irrelevance by maintaining the U.S. AA+ credit rating

 Trump tariff revenue expected to offset tax bill impact, S&P says in U.S. credit rating hold

... "We could lower the rating over the next two to three years if already high deficits increase ..." lol.

 These people are afraid of Trump.

They don't want to be singled out for Trump's daily Two Minutes Hate.

They don't want to be the next Jerome Powell, or Lisa Cook, or Volodymyr Zelensky.

Meanwhile year to date the Trump deficit is running $112 billion ahead of Biden's last deficit. DOGE so-called spending cuts and Trump Tariffs have done nothing to reduce it.

 

 

 

Trump just added $1 trillion to the national debt in record time, 32 business days after the big ugly bill became law

 

The Trump administration's Howard Lutnick doubles down on the state capitalism of the CHIPS Act of Joe Biden

 

Lutnick says Intel has to give government equity in return for CHIPS Act funds

 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday that Intel must give the U.S. government an equity stake in the company in return for CHIPS Act funds.

“We should get an equity stake for our money,” Lutnick said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “So we’ll deliver the money, which was already committed under the Biden administration. We’ll get equity in return for it.” ... 

Lutnick said any potential arrangement wouldn’t provide the government with voting or governance rights in Intel.

“It’s not governance, we’re just converting what was a grant under Biden into equity for the Trump administration, for the American people,” Lutnick said. “Non-voting.”

Intel declined to comment.

Lutnick also suggested that President Donald Trump could seek out similar deals with other CHIPS recipients. ...

“The Biden administration literally was giving Intel for free, and giving TSMC money for free, and all these companies just giving them money for free,” Lutnick said. “Donald Trump turns that into saying, ‘Hey, we want equity for the money. If we’re going to give you the money, we want a piece of the action.’ ” ...

Um, I don't think getting an equity stake was anywhere in the bill.

Just another example of Trump executive branch overreach, but will the supine GOP Congress care? 

Zelenskyy got the guy back good and hard who shamed him for not wearing a suit to the White House last time

 

Two weeks Trump was already at it again on Friday before meeting with Putin on Saturday

... Trump said on Friday he did not immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil - which is subject to a range of Western sanctions - but might have to "in two or three weeks." ...

 

More. 

Trump is a disgrace for welcoming Vladimir Putin to Alaska, who has just butchered another family in Kharkiv

 

It's been a long war against the NFL

 

  “The left targets something it doesn’t like, and they never give up, and they keep going until they ruin it. And I’m telling you, National Football League is in their cross-hairs right now,” Limbaugh said. “One of the most important planks of liberalism, militant feminism, is the vehicle which is being utilized in this latest effort to undercut the game.” 

-- Rush Limbaugh, September 2014, here. 

 

 

What really buzzed the Alaska summit

 

Nothing good comes out of Minnesota

 

Yo Antonio, my man

 

26 business days after the big ugly bill

 

When the deck should have been the headline

 

Trump makes America grovel again

 

Frozen orange juice concentrate, coffee, bananas, and chocolate chip cookies also made new record high average prices in July 2025

 

Frozen orange juice concentrate $4.641/12oz

Coffee $8.414/lb

Bananas $0.657

Chocolate Chip cookies $5.264

 

Even though bananas and chocolate chip cookies made new highs, they are good values adjusted for inflation since 1980. Bananas are 49% lower than they should be, and the cookies are 12% lower. Most US bananas come from Guatemala, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Honduras.

Coffee is running 3.9% ahead of its inflation adjusted price from July 1984, and OJ is running 3.4% ahead of its inflation adjusted price since July 1980.

All nearly fifty food items I track are still near their all time highs. 

We've had no fewer than seven spikes of serious food inflation running ahead of core inflation just since the year 2000.

Agricultural export prices also have soared since then. What a coincidence.

 

 

All eight beef prices I track made new record average highs in July 2025

Adjusted for inflation since July 1984, 100% ground beef should cost $3.88/lb in July 2025, but it's actually 61% higher than that.

 

  

100% Ground Beef $6.254/lb

Ground Chuck 6.338

Round Roast 7.909

All uncooked beef roasts 8.397

Choice chuck roast 8.439

Round steak 8.69

All uncooked beef steaks 11.875

Choice sirloin steak 13.554 

 

 

Adjusted for inflation since 1980, eggs should cost $3.03 a dozen in July 2025, instead they cost $3.60

 

A real American president could have done the funniest thing

 

My God, that sentence

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/08/13/nasa-perseverance-rock-helmet-photo/85649312007/