On tariffs

A little self own by the GOP. Fact checking yourself to remind people that WE will be paying for these tariffs and not whoever made and sold them is enlightening. 

So $100 billion divided by 300 million people means, on average, we will be spending $333 more a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it disproportionately skews down to lower income people, where the income is smaller and it takes a larger bite out of what you have already budgeted. 

And then T-rump saying he doesn't care if WE have to pay more for a car? That's crazy. An already expensive $50,000 automobile will now cost $62,500. That made what was unaffordable now unattainable. But I'm sure some company will be happy to write you a loan for that amount for a ridiculous amount of interest.  

This guy….

A shell game

I saw a headline "Elon Musk sells [the platform formerly known as twitter]"

The subhead is that it's for a lot of money and something about it being a valuable property and he profited from it!

Except that it's just some made up nonsense to generate a headline when no one checks any facts. 

He personally owned the platform. He "sold it" to another company that he owns, and rolled it under that company. 

That's an accounting trick of sorts, that allows for obfuscation of profits, losses, tax liability and such. 

It was a "stock swap" so that no actual cash changed hands. Another accounting trick!

The valuation was whatever he said it was since he owns both companies. 

And in the end, he still owns the social media platform, and can do whatever with it. But he'll tell you otherwise. Because him putting some distance between his name and any company he's involved with is better for his bottom line. 

Greenland, Panama, and the assumed agenda

Throughout history, controlling trade routes has been an important part of opening the world. Through various large companies and through government action, routes opened and people benefited - from the sellers to the buyers to the people and companies that facility the trade. 

What was the Silk Road? A trade route. What of Marco Polo and other early traders? They looked to open trade. 

The new world opened trade routes that now needed military ships to protect these routes. (And if you think about it, the stamp act, the tea party, and other pre-revolutionary war actions were fueled by this trade being unfavorable to the colonists) 

The Panama Canal opened as a means to make trading with Asia easier. 

Germany looked to disrupt trade routes in order to further their goals of European domination. 

Oil and natural gas are always commodities that travel along some routes to literally fuel our lives. 

In the early 20th century, wealthy industrialists made their mark, too. They looked to own certain passages, owned shipping companies, harbors and ports, and then sought to make ways for the goods to be delivered. 

And here we are in the 21st century and it's playing out again, and still. 

Putin took Crimea and is still trying to take Ukraine. Why? Because there are ports to be had and trade to control. 

And that brings us around to the topic at hand. 

Why does T-rump want the Panama Canal? Because it is still a vital part of trade with Asia. And of course the US no longer controls the canal, and several other nations are working to create a new shipping channel through part of Panama to bypass the old canal. So there's money to be made that we are missing out on. 

Funny enough, some of these venture capital companies now own a lot of ports that are useful in the area, but they could be even more profitable if they had a "friendly" agreement with the owners of the canal. 

And then there's Greenland. Its seems illogical that the US would show such great interest in it. 

Except that with climate change comes melting ice, meaning that new shipping channels are starting to open much further north than they ever could have. And Greenland would be part of the shipping channel, a place where goods could be held before shipping to the Americas or other places further south. 

And there's your proverbial killing two birds with one stone. Saying climate change isn't real while using it to your advantage to increase potential profits, all the while acting like 20th century robber barons, T-rump stands to reshape global trade. And meanwhile he can take any natural resources he wants from Greenland.  

And he and his allies get rich. 

It's so 19th and early 20th century diabolical. But in the great magicians trick, pay no attention to that. DEI! That's what we need to focus on!

Wake up people. 

Anyone else notice this?

Tesla has come under scrutiny, mostly because of Elon Musk. 

Sales are down. Stock price was plunging. And people hate the cars because of the guy. 

The obvious answer for the company is to remove him as the CEO. 

But…. Because he is the shadow president, there's another option. First step is to whine a lot. Then, he opted to use the White House as a showroom (because nothing screams decorum like branding at the highest level of government).  And finally he got his BFF to slap tariffs of 25% on any cars not made in the United States. Which is all of his electric competition. And most of the other cars. 

Voila. Stock price goes up like magic!

Talk about manipulating everything to your advantage.  Sigh. 

Education is under fire

At the Federal level, there is an admittedly half-assed plan to do away with the department of education. 

The net result is that there would be limited, or perhaps no, funds that are sent from the federal government to states that ensures that the education offered will be "excellent" …

Meanwhile in the state of Florida, there is a proposal to do away with property taxes, which are used for some services, and most importantly, education. 

Florida has no state income tax. The only other sources of direct revenue are highway tolling, and sales tax. Highway taxes do pay for a lot of things but not education. And don't look to sales tax, as there's also a proposal to *lower* the rate, meaning there will be less revenue for everything. 

So Florida schools will be funded … how exactly? I imagine the only viable options for those that can afford it will be some form of private school (that doesn't have to adhere to a curriculum, and surely will weed out anyone who doesn't "fit in") or some crappy, overcrowded schools that won't be able to provide transportation or pay for teachers. 

But, hey, not to worry, because the state has plans to allow anyone to teach, to pay below minimum wage for "certain jobs" (teaching is not among them for now), and to allow children to work. 

Maybe they can just let students teach the class! 

This is insanity. 

Who needs an edumacation anyway?

Stupidity? Ineptitude? Or part of a (seemingly ridiculous) strategy?

This sending of battle plans to a reporter is just bizarre.  So I ask the question in the title.  

And in the end, it doesn't matter which one it is... because the reality is that everything is part of a complete disregard for everything and just about an agenda to destroy the country from within.  

Not that we haven't heard this before.  In 1838, Abraham Lincoln addressed the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois. He warned us against the dangers of mob violence and the erosion of respect for law and government. 

How then shall we perform it?--At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?-- Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow?

 

Never!--All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

 

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

And a little under 200 years later, it seems to have come to pass.