Political Posts

[dwy000]

10 hours ago, 73 Reds said:

 Does anyone truly believe that deficits can continue to grow indefinitely without consequences or taxing people to oblivion?

Well, with the budget just passed the accumulated deficits will be $19T for the next 10 years.  And that's if all the cuts that were achieved, the tariffs meet all revenue projections and none of that affects growth. 

[SharperDingaan]

Most would argue that he's drunk on power; I am invincible!

At one time he was very, very good .... now he's just another idiot savant, flying high on rapidly melting wings.

Every round of cuts, a new roll of the dice betting on the unsuccessful reprisal of thousands of people; then one day the dice comes up against .....  

 

SD

[TwoCitiesCapital]

1 hour ago, dwy000 said:

Well, with the budget just passed the accumulated deficits will be $19T for the next 10 years.  And that's if all the cuts that were achieved, the tariffs meet all revenue projections and none of that affects growth. 

 

Plenty of people believe it - in both parties. Otherwise we'd have never have gotten here. 

 

Trump himself ran the largest peacetime deficits ever during his last presidency and Musk's current cost cuts pale in comparison to Republican proposed tax cuts that will further increase the debt. 

 

We're past the point of no return IMO. How quickly it unravels depends on how quickly others come to the same conclusion. 

[Parsad]

12 hours ago, lnofeisone said:

Elon is the only one not getting paid. The rest of DOGE is paid. 

 

Oh Elon is getting paid...just not the way everyone else is.  Elon is slowly positioning himself to be the most powerful human in history.  The world should either be ecstatic or scared shitless!  Cheers!

[dealraker]

6 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

Oh Elon is getting paid...just not the way everyone else is.  Elon is slowly positioning himself to be the most powerful human in history.  The world should either be ecstatic or scared shitless!  Cheers!

Just like in the James Bond movies!

[73 Reds]

7 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

Oh Elon is getting paid...just not the way everyone else is.  Elon is slowly positioning himself to be the most powerful human in history.  The world should either be ecstatic or scared shitless!  Cheers!

I think he is already there.  That's what F-U money can buy.  Would anyone prefer that this person be Chinese, Russian, or Iranian?  Critics laughably pretend that they know more about how to generate wealth and influence policy while playing back seat driver and in relative terms accomplish little or nothing.   I, for one am glad the guy is working for us.  

[Ulti]

Another example of bureaucratic incompetence combined with an agenda … this one from the progressive side…

Doombergs latest

 

 

The Wreckers

Trump prepares to loosen Sacramento’s death grip on the national transportation sector.

DOOMBERG

FEB 26

∙

PREVIEW

 

READ IN APP

 

“This is not the United States of California.” – Chris Spear

A tow truck driver is killed approximatelyevery three weeks in the US. Among small businesses, towing company operation is one of the toughest. Despite the critical role of maintaining road and highway safety, finding qualified workers willing to do the job is, quite obviously, a significant challenge. Mix in intense competition, high startup costs, and the need to be on call 24/7, and one wonders why anyone would embark on such a commercial venture.

 

Compounding the challenge is the ever-present regulatory state, and no state exerts its regulatory reach more persistently than California. Thanks to a congressional carve-out in the Clean Air Act, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) wields disproportionate influence over a wide range of industries. Given the size of California’s market and the several states that have pledged to follow its regulations, the transportation sector is effectively at the mercy of the progressive far left.

CARB derives its powers from specific waivers granted to it by the EPA, and no waiver is ever permanently overturned. In the waning weeks of the Biden administration, whoever was in charge decided to radically alter the nation’s car and trucking fleets with a set of new ones:

“The Biden administration on Wednesday approved California’s trailblazing rules that would set stricter-than-federal emissions standards, in a bid to ban gas car sales by 2035.

In doing so, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted two requests from the California Air Resources Board for waivers that would allow for the implementation of two rules: the Advanced Clean Cars II regulations for light-duty vehicles and a low-nitrogen oxide regulation for heavy-duty highway and off-road vehicles and engines.”

Historic indeed | Associated Press

With a foresight characteristic of a central planner, CARB’s latest edicts suffer from a few flaws, notable among them being that California’s tow truck industry will soon be without access to new vehicles:

“Due to the CARB’s passage of the State’s Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) regulation, towing and recovery trucks will no longer be assembled or sold in California once 2024 truck inventories are depleted. Truck manufacturers have not developed electric truck chassis that meet towing and recovery truck performance and safety requirements, and towing companies can’t purchase diesel-powered trucks built before January 2024. This catch-22 threatens small businesses, jobs, and motorists.”

Although industry participants widely assume that President Trump will revoke these waivers, the history of such attempts suggests a significant political battle ahead. It also remains uncertain whether Congress will be capable of intervening, as the legislative hurdles may be higher than most suspect. Let’s pull apart the wreckage and examine how this might play out...

 

[Charlie]

2 hours ago, 73 Reds said:

9 hours ago, Parsad said:

Oh Elon is getting paid...just not the way everyone else is.  Elon is slowly positioning himself to be the most powerful human in history.  The world should either be ecstatic or scared shitless!  Cheers!

I think he is already there.  That's what F-U money can buy.  Would anyone prefer that this person be Chinese, Russian, or Iranian?  Critics laughably pretend that they know more about how to generate wealth and influence policy while playing back seat driver and in relative terms accomplish little or nothing.   I, for one am glad the guy is working for us.  

We will see. The weighing machine is working from Monday to Friday:

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/chart/TSLA#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

[Parsad]

3 hours ago, 73 Reds said:

I think he is already there.  That's what F-U money can buy.  Would anyone prefer that this person be Chinese, Russian, or Iranian?  Critics laughably pretend that they know more about how to generate wealth and influence policy while playing back seat driver and in relative terms accomplish little or nothing.   I, for one am glad the guy is working for us.  

 

For now!  He will go wherever the wind is beneath his sails.  Remember, it was gigafactories in China previously.  Then move everything to Texas.  Originally, it was Canada that he's giving a big fuck you to now! 

 

Elon is in it for Elon...not Trump, not the USA, no one!  The saving humanity shit is to move his agenda forward...some of that is exciting, some of that is God damn scary!  Cheers!

[sfbm21]

spot on.

[Hektor]

22 minutes ago, Parsad said:

He will go wherever the wind is beneath his sails.

 

22 minutes ago, Parsad said:

Elon is in it for Elon.

 

No surprise. I posted this under Charter. The article delves a little into the conflict of interest Elon has.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-26/elon-musk-s-starlink-gets-gop-backing-for-42-billion-broadband-program

 

GOP Wants Musk’s Starlink to Get a Cut of $42 Billion Biden Internet Plan

[73 Reds]

41 minutes ago, Parsad said:

 

For now!  He will go wherever the wind is beneath his sails.  Remember, it was gigafactories in China previously.  Then move everything to Texas.  Originally, it was Canada that he's giving a big fuck you to now! 

 

Elon is in it for Elon...not Trump, not the USA, no one!  The saving humanity shit is to move his agenda forward...some of that is exciting, some of that is God damn scary!  Cheers!

Thing is, I don't care about his motivations, only his results.   As long as he is not breaking any laws, all the power to him.  Some folks (not you) get too caught up in personality types which are highly irrelevant when otherwise positive influence can be of great benefit.  As a society we're well past the point of positive role models; social media has pretty much ended that.  So what's left are accomplishments.  

[Hektor]

And he isn't going anywhere, I guess

 

From the cabinet meeting today

 

“Is anybody unhappy with Elon?” Trump asks. “If you are, we’ll throw him out of here.” Nervous laughter ripples through the room as the cabinet members start to clap.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02/26/us/trump-musk-news

[cubsfan]

15 minutes ago, Hektor said:

And he isn't going anywhere, I guess

 

From the cabinet meeting today

 

“Is anybody unhappy with Elon?” Trump asks. “If you are, we’ll throw him out of here.” Nervous laughter ripples through the room as the cabinet members start to clap.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02/26/us/trump-musk-news

 

Ha, ha - who hates the President more than The NY Times - no one!

[Hektor]

4 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

Ha, ha - who hates the President more than The NY Times - no one!

Hear it from the horses mouth. Listening to the video, I think he said "If you are, we’ll throw them out of here", meaning the secretaries, not "throw him" meaning Musk.

 

 

[cubsfan]

19 minutes ago, Hektor said:

Hear it from the horses mouth. Listening to the video, I think he said "If you are, we’ll throw them out of here", meaning the secretaries, not "throw him" meaning Musk.

 

 

 

 

I have NO idea where you are going with this. Who cares what the cabinent thinks.

It's non of their business.  Musk works at the direction and solely for the President.

 

All that matters is that Musk is in charge, he works directly for the President and will be fired 

only by the President.

 

What exactly is your point?

[DooDiligence]

2 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

For now!  He will go wherever the wind is beneath his sails.  Remember, it was gigafactories in China previously.  Then move everything to Texas.  Originally, it was Canada that he's giving a big fuck you to now! 

 

Elon is in it for Elon...not Trump, not the USA, no one!  The saving humanity shit is to move his agenda forward...some of that is exciting, some of that is God damn scary!  Cheers!

 

Does anybody really give a shit about going to Mars. I know I don't. I hear it's a hell of a lot less comfortable than a Ko Chang beach bungalow.

[Hektor]

1 hour ago, cubsfan said:

I have NO idea where you are going with this.

I am going nowhere and will leave it here. Since NY Times was mentioned, I wanted to see if there was a video of the meeting. When I found one, I thought I'll share it here.

[John Hjorth]

1 hour ago, Hektor said:

Hear it from the horses mouth. Listening to the video, I think he said "If you are, we’ll throw them out of here", meaning the secretaries, not "throw him" meaning Musk.

 

 

 

Thank you for sharing that video, Hektor [ @Hektor ],

 

Very nice indeed to get things covered and what is facts clear cut to the bone.

 

And by the way, now we're at it : The video also in the beginning contains the basic explanation from Mr. Musk of what this e-mail to all the public servants really is about. It's certainly not not what the main stream media have reported. I wonder if any of them even have tried to reach out to him, for comment, explanation or elaboration.

 

It's basically one of the first things one recommend to do as advisor or management consultant, if you in the employeé handbook find a line about it's not OK to jump a colleague in the pretty dark space behind the copy machine, and the place is vast and need a spring cleaning.

 

It certainly tells me a lot about how careful we all have to be with our sources for what we are dragging in here on CofB&F.

 

So I'm happy that you led me to the video, Hektor [ @Hektor ].

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

I hope one day a fellow American CofB&F member will explain to me how the US administrations payroll system is built and stuctured. I imagine it must be from the stone age, well almost, - at least from a time now long gone. Off topic - and that'll have to be another day, in another topic.

 

 

Edited February 26, 2025 by John Hjorth

[Hektor]

2 minutes ago, John Hjorth said:

So I'm happy that you led me to the video, Hektor [ @Hektor ].

[tnathan]

I think what a lot of the arguments miss is that the only way to make a real dent in the budget is some combination of cuts to (1) Defense (2) Social Security and (3) Healthcare. So Elon can claim to be making great progress, but nothing he cuts outside of these areas actually matters. Good luck to him cutting #2 and #3 above -- these are a lot more complex than simply saying "we are getting rid of DEI programs". If he does start to cut #2 and #3 people are going to have serious problems with him. 

[cubsfan]

2 hours ago, Hektor said:

Hear it from the horses mouth. Listening to the video, I think he said "If you are, we’ll throw them out of here", meaning the secretaries, not "throw him" meaning Musk.

 

 

 

@Hektor Thanks for the video Hector. The whole thing is excellent and anyone that wants to understand DOGE should listen to it. 

[cubsfan]

10 minutes ago, tnathan said:

I think what a lot of the arguments miss is that the only way to make a real dent in the budget is some combination of cuts to (1) Defense (2) Social Security and (3) Healthcare. So Elon can claim to be making great progress, but nothing he cuts outside of these areas actually matters. Good luck to him cutting #2 and #3 above -- these are a lot more complex than simply saying "we are getting rid of DEI programs". If he does start to cut #2 and #3 people are going to have serious problems with him. 

 

Well - you have a direct contradiction if you listen to the video. He still thinks he can cut $1T.

 

That is an aggressive, but worthy goal. 

[Hektor]

9 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

Hektor Thanks for the video Hector. The whole thing is excellent and anyone that wants to understand DOGE should listen to it. 

[Saluki]

All these "cuts" are performance theater, nothing more. It's red meat for the angry and ignorant. 

 

Since we are all investors here, assume you have two stocks and one is a 13% position and another is 0.01%, and you need to raise cash.  You don't touch the big one which loses money, but you cut the smaller one, which pays a huge dividend. How are you doing?   The big one is defense, 13% of spending. The second one is CFPB which had a budget of $800mm and returned $20bln to consumers since 2011.  The math isn't mathing. 

 

If you think government is wasteful because the workers "don't do anything" then how is paying them for 9 months and telling them they don't have to work going to improve that productivity issue?