Tuesday, December 30, 2025
New so-called conservative Tax Foundation analysis says Trump/GOP tax and spending bill heralded on the Fourth of July benefits the richest taxpayers over the poorest taxpayers by 4,435%
The One Big Beautiful Bill Cuts Taxes Across the US, New Analysis Finds
... At the county level, the largest average tax cuts are found in mountain resort towns. For example, we estimate Teton County in Wyoming will see an average tax cut of $37,373 per taxpayer in 2026, the highest in the US. Pitkin County, CO ($21,363), and Summit County, UT ($14,537), rank number two and three for the largest average tax cuts, likely representing the residences of business owners and higher-earning taxpayers. The smallest average tax cuts are found in rural counties, such as Loup County, NE, with an average tax cut of $824 in 2026. ...
Yes, the average tax cut of the richest taxpayers is 45.35 times the size of the average tax cut for the poorest.
Yeah, run on that GOP, run.
Georgia pollster Matt Towery is in complete denial about how bad 2026 is looking for Republicans because of Trump
... I mean, I had President Trump in my Inside Advantage poll at 50% approval. I think others have him at 50%, but a lot of these other pollsters have him at 36, 38, which is just ridiculous. ... That needs to be the number one motivating message from the Republicans, their hatred for Trump ...
More.
Trump Strongly Disapprove, currently 44%, hasn't dipped below 40% at Trump-friendly Rasmussen Reports since mid-September.
Trump Total Approve, at 44%, has been south of 50% since mid-October.
Trump Strongly Approve, at 29%, hasn't been north of 35% since mid-October.
Trump Approval Index, at -15, has been double digit negative since early November.
Republicans need to run in 2026 AWAY from Trump, but unfortunately for them, they spent all of 2025 worshipping Trump, and when not worshipping Trump, keeping quiet about Trump.
Chickens. Comin' home. To roost.
Monday, December 29, 2025
Brigitte Bardot was a French patriot
I am against the Islamisation of France! Our ancestors, our grandfathers, our fathers have for centuries given their lives to push out successive invaders.
Throughout most of her life Brigitte Bardot was the very symbol of everything that was in vogue with the left, but in death they hate her for telling the truth
She was a true born child of liberty.
And holy shit, see the update below.
Every damn time lol.
Gold and silver retreat from new record high prices at $4,549.71 and $83.62
... Spot gold declined 1.4% at $4,470.56 per ounce, after hitting a record high of $4,549.71 on Friday. ...
Spot silver shed 4.8% at $75.32 per ounce, retreating from an all-time high of $83.62 hit earlier in the session. ...
Spot platinum fell 6% to $2,305.15 per ounce, after rising to an all-time high of $2,478.50 earlier in the day, while palladium plunged 13.2% to $1,669.11 per ounce. ...
More.
Sunday, December 28, 2025
One silver observer found someone projecting silver going as high as $1,400 lol
$1,400 silver seems absolutely ludicrous to me, but maybe not $300 silver.
The Coinage Act of 1792 fixed the ratio of silver to gold at 15:1. Gold then was $19.39 and silver was $1.29.
The Coinage Act of 1873 effectively ended this bimetallism in the United States in favor of gold but was not widely understood to have done so until after the fact. By 1913 silver averaged about only sixty cents, for various reasons, and the silver to gold ratio went to about 34:1.
Gold at $4,533 on Friday implies silver at $302 at the 15:1 ratio, but silver is actually only about $80. Divided by 34, however, the implied silver price is about $133. The ratio at about $80 is 57:1.
The main driver of the silver price in our time is industrial, but the ratio is instructive for contextualizing, as the kids say, its relative value.
Saturday, December 27, 2025
Three in four Americans say groceries are so expensive they’ve been forced to cut down on entertainment, travel, clothing, and food and drink away from home
Reported here.
So, what do those of us cut, who long ago completely cut out entertainment, travel, food and drink away from home, and mend the clothes we cannot replace?
Drink period, for starters:
THE alcohol industry has faced financial hardship in 2025, leading to several distilleries filing for bankruptcy as Americans are drinking at the lowest levels in history. ... An August poll conducted by Gallup found that 54% of adults say they consume alcohol, which was down from 58% in 2024 and 62% in 2023. Gallup said the 54% finding is “the lowest by one percentage point in Gallup’s nearly 90-year trend.” ... Gallup found that 53% of Americans said having one or two drinks a day is bad for one’s health, while 37% say it makes no difference and 6% say it’s good for one’s health. ...
More.
Bankruptcies in 2025 surge to a level not seen since 2010
Corporate bankruptcies surged in 2025, rivaling levels not seen since the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession, as import-dependent businesses absorbed the highest tariffs in decades.
At least 717 companies filed for bankruptcy through November, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. That’s roughly 14 percent more than the same 11 months of 2024, and the highest tally since 2010. ...
More.
Trump likes to trumpet the billion$ he's collecting in tariffs, but there is no single report which calculates the hundreds of billion$ these bankruptcies must cost the economy over time.
Friday, December 26, 2025
Liberal democracy must solve the problems of Gen Z globally, which works a lot but stays poor, or it will perish
Crushed by soaring rents and living costs and staring down a future where robots and AI threaten their jobs, Gen Z is unleashing a wave of protests that is rattling governments worldwide. ...
More.
Thursday, December 25, 2025
Unbelievably rosy GDP report contained core pce inflation data at 2.9% countering previous rosy core cpi inflation report at 2.6% and indicating rising inflation
The U.S. economy grew at a much greater-than-expected pace in the third quarter, boosted by strong consumer spending, a delayed report released Tuesday showed.
U.S. gross domestic product, a sum of all goods and services produced in the sprawling U.S. economy, expanded by 4.3% in the July-September period, the Commerce Department said in its initial reading of third-quarter growth. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a gain of 3.2%. ...The economy moved forward during the period despite persistent signs of inflation pressures.
The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s primary inflation gauge, rose 2.8% during the period, and 2.9% for core which excludes food and energy. Both were above prior respective readings of 2.1% and 2.6% and remain well above the Fed’s 2% inflation gauge. Also, the chain-weighted price index, which accounts for changes in consumer behavior such as switching to less expensive products for pricier items, rose 3.8%, a full percentage point above the forecast. ...
As for the GDP report, even if you accept the rosy number as reported, it remains that . . .
Trump's real GDP since 2017 is growing at a compound annual rate which is 5% lower than the rate for 1984-2017; and
Trump's GDP since 2017 is growing at a compound annual rate 21% lower than the rate for 1947-2017.
Meanwhile GDP since 1984 is growing at a compound annual rate which is 28% lower than for 1947-1984.
And GDP since the Great Recession in 2007 is growing at a compound annual rate 42% lower than for 1947-2007.
The results of the era inaugurated by Reagan have been devastating. Real GDP today would be much higher had the previous long term trend continued.
3Q1984 Reagan real GDP of 8252.46 at the pre-Reagan rate of compound annual growth since 1947 would be 36213.94 today instead of 24024.95, 50% higher.
The Trump era is doubling down on stupid, not breaking with it. It is guaranteed to get us nowhere, faster.
It's completely crazy that an entry level ice cream scooper in Brooklyn, New York earns almost as much as an entry level small engine mechanic
Fifty cents an hour less.
It's as if the weight of wealth accumulation by the top 10% has squished and compressed those beneath them into one giant, undifferentiated blob scooping ice cream alongside this woman.
... When I started working at Lady Moo Moo in Bed-Stuy, I found myself surrounded by people who, like me, had already built careers and are now navigating an unpredictable job market. Some had been laid off just as I had. Others, like my colleague who is a sex educator and public health advocate, lost funding in their fields. A few are juggling multiple part-time roles to stay afloat. ... Every shift, I met people who never imagined they would be picking up part-time work: artists, teachers, nonprofit workers, tech employees, museum curators, and neighbors doing their best to make life work in a difficult economy. ...
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