Political Posts

[backtothebeach]

2 hours ago, gfp said:

Did this podcast already get passed around here?  This is long, maybe skip ahead to the actual interview.  But a good interview

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gStOMoLx-SQ

 

Great interview, thanks for posting.

[Milu]

6 hours ago, TwoCitiesCapital said:

 

I think the primary protest has been 1) not buying Teslas and 2) defacing of Teslas on the streets. 

 

Nobody is gonna march about this - they're just gonna starve Tesla of revenue and give others with less conviction reasons to shop elsewhere 

Perhaps you are right. I still have the belief that all this noise about sales falling off a cliff or people boycotting Tesla will either have less impact that people think or be more short lived than people think. There is often a massive gap between what people think in the real world and what you read on Reddit/twitter. 
 

I remain convinced that for 95% of people world wide Elon Musks politics are not top of mind when they decide what car they are going to buy or not buy. Perhaps in countries like Canada or Germany there is a little tension but these are not large markets for Tesla. If zero Canadians buy one this year that less than 2% of total sales.

 

maybe I’ll end up being completely wrong on this but let’s check back at end of year to see how far total car sales drop off from last years number of 1.8m. 

Edited March 30, 2025 by Milu

[Ulti]

Go DOGE …. Article in Washington Post….

 

 

Tax revenue could drop by 10 percent amid turmoil at IRS

Staff cuts and disruptions related to the U.S. DOGE Service have officials bracing for a sharp loss of revenue.

Jacob BogageUpdated March 22, 2025

Senior tax officials are bracing for a sharp drop in revenue collected this spring, as an increasing number of individuals and businesses spurn filing their taxes or attempt to skip paying balances owed to the Internal Revenue Service, according to three people with knowledge of tax projections.

Treasury Department and IRS officials are predicting a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline compared with 2024, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share nonpublic data. That would amount to more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue; the IRS collected $5.1 trillion last year. For context, the U.S. government spent $825 billion on the Defense Department in fiscal 2024.

“The idea of doing that in one year, it’s hard to grapple with how meaningful of a shift that represents,” said Natasha Sarin, president of the Yale Budget Lab and a senior Biden administration tax official.

The prediction, officials say, is directly tied to changing taxpayer behavior and President Donald Trump’s rapid demolition of parts of the IRS. Senior tax agency officials issued detailed warnings about those outcomes to the incoming Trump administration before the president took office, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.

Follow Trump’s first 100 Days

The administration has moved to fire nearly 20,000 agency employees, specifically targeting new hires in taxpayer services and enforcement divisions. It’s already dismissed more than 11,000 workers at the agency, though some of their statuses are unclear pending fast-moving court cases.

The IRS has dropped investigations of high-value corporations and taxpayers, according to several agency employees involved in those inquiries, because it’s had to triage resources to keep internal systems operating. Two agency commissioners have resigned since Trump took office. The IRS’s head of compliance, Heather Maloy, stepped down effective Friday.

The IRS publishes weekly filing season reports that show the number of returns received and how officials are processing refunds. Those reports show the IRS has received 1.7 percent fewer returns this year compared with the same point in the 2024 filing season.

That percentage is narrower than the projected decrease in total receipts. But the agency also makes more detailed, nonpublic revenue projections based on IRS measurements of scheduled payments from already filed returns and outstanding balances relative to similarly situated taxpayers in previous years.

Those calculations take into account the number of filers who have paid their balances or are owed refunds, those who have scheduled payments by the April 15 deadline, those who have taken extensions, and measurements of annual noncompliance. That gives the agency deeper insight on the amount filers are paying.

The IRS also has separate measurements of business tax receipts. Corporations must pay first-quarter estimated tax on April 15.

“The thing that I think is really alarming is if this data ends up telling a story about how this filing season is evolving, and you’re seeing it happen in real time,” Sarin said.

The IRS has noticed an uptick in online chatter from individuals declaring their intention to not pay taxes this year or to aggressively claim credits and deductions for which they are ineligible, the three people said — wagering that auditors will not examine their accounts.

After this report was published, a Treasury Department spokesperson called this story “sensational and baseless” and said claims from The Post’s anonymous sources “should be dismissed out of hand.” The Treasury spokesperson requested to remain anonymous, citing a department policy preventing them from speaking on the record.

Representatives from the IRS did not respond to requests for comment.

Other dynamics could explain some of the projected drop in revenue, experts say. Natural disasters, such as the Los Angeles-area wildfires, could lead taxpayers in wealthy areas to postpone filing until October, said Timur Taluy, CEO of tax-prep service FileYourTaxes.com. And during times of economic turbulence, some taxpayers typically opt for a penalty-free six-month filing extension.

But neither would entirely account for such a large drop in revenue, experts say, especially after the 2.8 percent growth the U.S. economy experienced in 2024. Tax officials entered filing season expecting to collect more revenue that last year, the people said, because of economic growth and the lack of significant tax law changes.

“There’s no reason to anticipate this based on the economic year we had in 2024,” said Dorothy A. Brown, who studies tax policy and racial disparities at the Georgetown University Law Center.

The results could mean the government has to borrow more money to cover the cost of federal services. The IRS collects 95 percent of federal revenue each year. A shortfall in tax dollars, if Congress doesn’t cut spending to match, would drive up the national debt, which already sits at $36.2 trillion.

IRS officials have weathered well-documented showdowns with Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service and immigration officials over access to highly sensitive personal and business financial data.

But tax filing season has generally proceeded smoothly this year, Taluy said, though IRS data is beginning to show weak spots in agency operations. Roughly 85 percent of callers to IRS helplines are reaching a representative, compared with 93.6 percent at this point in 2024, according to records obtained by The Post.

Senior IRS officials attempted to warn the Trump transition team about the effects of planned staffing and budget cuts at the agency, according to other records, obtained by The Post through the Freedom of Information Act. On top of the DOGE-driven workforce reductions, congressional Republicans also repealed $20.2 billion in resources for the agency as part of a recent government funding law.

“Aggressive reductions to budget and personnel capacity risk backlogs, delays, reduced receipts, and diminished capacity to build next generation digital capabilities,” according to a January presentation given by tax officials to the incoming Trump administration’s Treasury Department team.

The presentation — a 68-slide deck — included recommendations for how the Trump administration could gradually decrease IRS staff numbers without disrupting tax administration. It called for digitizing tax-filing processes and automating the work of some employees in the customer service and compliance divisions.

“The IRS is pursuing a vision of digitalization and automation which will increase the speed and quality of its processes while reducing the overall IRS footprint,” the presentation states. “In the past we have increased our staffing levels to improve taxpayer assistance, tax assessments, and collection processes. However, once modernized, our staffing footprint can be reduced while maintaining performance.”

But the presentation also compares current IRS operations to an “assembly line,” noting that much of the agency’s productivity is dictated by its staffing levels.

“We tried to make clear this is a logistics operation. There’s a science to it. If you put 30 people on the line, this is how much you can accomplish today. If you put 15 people on the line, you can accomplish half of that,” said one person involved in the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly. “You can change the productivity over time with a smaller input of personnel, but not this filing season. This is where we are today.”

 

[Spekulatius]

5 hours ago, Milu said:

Perhaps you are right. I still have the belief that all this noise about sales falling off a cliff or people boycotting Tesla will either have less impact that people think or be more short lived than people think. There is often a massive gap between what people think in the real world and what you read on Reddit/twitter. 
 

I remain convinced that for 95% of people world wide Elon Musks politics are not top of mind when they decide what car they are going to buy or not buy. Perhaps in countries like Canada or Germany there is a little tension but these are not large markets for Tesla. If zero Canadians buy one this year that less than 2% of total sales.

 

maybe I’ll end up being completely wrong on this but let’s check back at end of year to see how far total car sales drop off from last years number of 1.8m. 

Tesla market shares in Europe overall have shrunk by ~40% and, despite the EV market recovering. baically this means that Tesla market share has halved. People are well aware of Elon role in politics and are acting accordingly. Europeans are shocked about the Trump government and I don’t think this will change.

 

Teslas sales in China are also shrinking but for differnt reasons- the market has become hypercompetiive and BYD cars have caught up with Teslas and maybe even have become better. In any case, the Chinese have started to prefer domestic products.

[73 Reds]

6 hours ago, Milu said:

Perhaps you are right. I still have the belief that all this noise about sales falling off a cliff or people boycotting Tesla will either have less impact that people think or be more short lived than people think. There is often a massive gap between what people think in the real world and what you read on Reddit/twitter. 
 

I remain convinced that for 95% of people world wide Elon Musks politics are not top of mind when they decide what car they are going to buy or not buy. Perhaps in countries like Canada or Germany there is a little tension but these are not large markets for Tesla. If zero Canadians buy one this year that less than 2% of total sales.

 

maybe I’ll end up being completely wrong on this but let’s check back at end of year to see how far total car sales drop off from last years number of 1.8m. 

Agreed.  In fact unless you're Elon or a TSLA shareholder, who cares? Once DOGE is (hopefully) done next year people will forget all about the "political" Elon.  Making mountains out of mole hills is never ending.

[thepupil]

3 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

Agreed.  In fact unless you're Elon or a TSLA shareholder, who cares? Once DOGE is (hopefully) done next year people will forget all about the "political" Elon.  Making mountains out of mole hills is never ending.

I think it matters in that TSLA is 1% of the global stock market, a little more of US and 3% of QQQ and much more heavily represented in select portfolios.

 

i pay attention to TSLA as a bellwether of speculative companies and to a lesser extent Large cap tech/Mag7 (though it is dwarved by others in that basket and hopefully will be further dwarved).

 

and I pay attention because I’ve hated Musk since like 2014. So there’s also a pure spectator element of it for me which wishes misfortune upon the company, slightly offset/contradicted by patriotism/ wanting American companies/investors to do well. In the case of TSLA though, the former far outweighs the latter.

[lnofeisone]

The system was working well enough. Everyone on this board is a direct beneficiary of this system. Did the system need some minor tuning? Sure. But an unplanned overhaul isn't what's needed. I suspect, just like everything else, the current admin will try to make their changes, fail miserably (like DOGE), walk back, wait for things to rebound, and then claim credit. 

[lnofeisone]

29 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

Agreed.  In fact unless you're Elon or a TSLA shareholder, who cares? Once DOGE is (hopefully) done next year people will forget all about the "political" Elon.  Making mountains out of mole hills is never ending.

People may forget about Elon's clowning but the fact that his competitors took advantage and took market share from Tesla will persist at least a couple of years. Unless Tesla pulls off some sort of miracle (very well can happen), there is an uphill battle for them in the cards. 

[73 Reds]

18 minutes ago, thepupil said:

I think it matters in that TSLA is 1% of the global stock market, a little more of US and 3% of QQQ and much more heavily represented in select portfolios.

 

i pay attention to TSLA as a bellwether of speculative companies and to a lesser extent Large cap tech/Mag7 (though it is dwarved by others in that basket and hopefully will be further dwarved).

 

and I pay attention because I’ve hated Musk since like 2014. So there’s also a pure spectator element of it for me which wishes misfortune upon the company, slightly offset/contradicted by patriotism/ wanting American companies/investors to do well. In the case of TSLA though, the former far outweighs the latter.

OK, but my view about everything investment-related is completely emotionally detached.  There are important issues on which to spend emotional capital and investing is nowhere near the top.  For that matter neither is politics.

[thepupil]

4 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

OK, but my view about everything investment-related is completely emotionally detached.  There are important issues on which to spend emotional capital and investing is nowhere near the top.  For that matter neither is politics.

i agree with you there as it relates to actual dollars deployed. If I followed my emotions regarding TSLA, I’d have gone bankrupt a long time ago. 
 

Bjt I do have, to use ackman’s term “psychological shorts”, companies and people who I do not wish to succeed…and those I do.
 

We all have our biases/veliefs/values. 

TSLA is a consequential company, economically and from a capital markets perspective. I don’t think one must be long/short to follow what’s happening with it.
 

Edited March 30, 2025 by thepupil

[dealraker]

1 hour ago, Ulti said:

Go DOGE …. Article in Washington Post….

 

 

Tax revenue could drop by 10 percent amid turmoil at IRS

Staff cuts and disruptions related to the U.S. DOGE Service have officials bracing for a sharp loss of revenue.

Jacob BogageUpdated March 22, 2025

Senior tax officials are bracing for a sharp drop in revenue collected this spring, as an increasing number of individuals and businesses spurn filing their taxes or attempt to skip paying balances owed to the Internal Revenue Service, according to three people with knowledge of tax projections.

Treasury Department and IRS officials are predicting a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline compared with 2024, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share nonpublic data. That would amount to more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue; the IRS collected $5.1 trillion last year. For context, the U.S. government spent $825 billion on the Defense Department in fiscal 2024.

“The idea of doing that in one year, it’s hard to grapple with how meaningful of a shift that represents,” said Natasha Sarin, president of the Yale Budget Lab and a senior Biden administration tax official.

The prediction, officials say, is directly tied to changing taxpayer behavior and President Donald Trump’s rapid demolition of parts of the IRS. Senior tax agency officials issued detailed warnings about those outcomes to the incoming Trump administration before the president took office, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.

Follow Trump’s first 100 Days

The administration has moved to fire nearly 20,000 agency employees, specifically targeting new hires in taxpayer services and enforcement divisions. It’s already dismissed more than 11,000 workers at the agency, though some of their statuses are unclear pending fast-moving court cases.

The IRS has dropped investigations of high-value corporations and taxpayers, according to several agency employees involved in those inquiries, because it’s had to triage resources to keep internal systems operating. Two agency commissioners have resigned since Trump took office. The IRS’s head of compliance, Heather Maloy, stepped down effective Friday.

The IRS publishes weekly filing season reports that show the number of returns received and how officials are processing refunds. Those reports show the IRS has received 1.7 percent fewer returns this year compared with the same point in the 2024 filing season.

That percentage is narrower than the projected decrease in total receipts. But the agency also makes more detailed, nonpublic revenue projections based on IRS measurements of scheduled payments from already filed returns and outstanding balances relative to similarly situated taxpayers in previous years.

Those calculations take into account the number of filers who have paid their balances or are owed refunds, those who have scheduled payments by the April 15 deadline, those who have taken extensions, and measurements of annual noncompliance. That gives the agency deeper insight on the amount filers are paying.

The IRS also has separate measurements of business tax receipts. Corporations must pay first-quarter estimated tax on April 15.

“The thing that I think is really alarming is if this data ends up telling a story about how this filing season is evolving, and you’re seeing it happen in real time,” Sarin said.

The IRS has noticed an uptick in online chatter from individuals declaring their intention to not pay taxes this year or to aggressively claim credits and deductions for which they are ineligible, the three people said — wagering that auditors will not examine their accounts.

After this report was published, a Treasury Department spokesperson called this story “sensational and baseless” and said claims from The Post’s anonymous sources “should be dismissed out of hand.” The Treasury spokesperson requested to remain anonymous, citing a department policy preventing them from speaking on the record.

Representatives from the IRS did not respond to requests for comment.

Other dynamics could explain some of the projected drop in revenue, experts say. Natural disasters, such as the Los Angeles-area wildfires, could lead taxpayers in wealthy areas to postpone filing until October, said Timur Taluy, CEO of tax-prep service FileYourTaxes.com. And during times of economic turbulence, some taxpayers typically opt for a penalty-free six-month filing extension.

But neither would entirely account for such a large drop in revenue, experts say, especially after the 2.8 percent growth the U.S. economy experienced in 2024. Tax officials entered filing season expecting to collect more revenue that last year, the people said, because of economic growth and the lack of significant tax law changes.

“There’s no reason to anticipate this based on the economic year we had in 2024,” said Dorothy A. Brown, who studies tax policy and racial disparities at the Georgetown University Law Center.

The results could mean the government has to borrow more money to cover the cost of federal services. The IRS collects 95 percent of federal revenue each year. A shortfall in tax dollars, if Congress doesn’t cut spending to match, would drive up the national debt, which already sits at $36.2 trillion.

IRS officials have weathered well-documented showdowns with Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service and immigration officials over access to highly sensitive personal and business financial data.

But tax filing season has generally proceeded smoothly this year, Taluy said, though IRS data is beginning to show weak spots in agency operations. Roughly 85 percent of callers to IRS helplines are reaching a representative, compared with 93.6 percent at this point in 2024, according to records obtained by The Post.

Senior IRS officials attempted to warn the Trump transition team about the effects of planned staffing and budget cuts at the agency, according to other records, obtained by The Post through the Freedom of Information Act. On top of the DOGE-driven workforce reductions, congressional Republicans also repealed $20.2 billion in resources for the agency as part of a recent government funding law.

“Aggressive reductions to budget and personnel capacity risk backlogs, delays, reduced receipts, and diminished capacity to build next generation digital capabilities,” according to a January presentation given by tax officials to the incoming Trump administration’s Treasury Department team.

The presentation — a 68-slide deck — included recommendations for how the Trump administration could gradually decrease IRS staff numbers without disrupting tax administration. It called for digitizing tax-filing processes and automating the work of some employees in the customer service and compliance divisions.

“The IRS is pursuing a vision of digitalization and automation which will increase the speed and quality of its processes while reducing the overall IRS footprint,” the presentation states. “In the past we have increased our staffing levels to improve taxpayer assistance, tax assessments, and collection processes. However, once modernized, our staffing footprint can be reduced while maintaining performance.”

But the presentation also compares current IRS operations to an “assembly line,” noting that much of the agency’s productivity is dictated by its staffing levels.

“We tried to make clear this is a logistics operation. There’s a science to it. If you put 30 people on the line, this is how much you can accomplish today. If you put 15 people on the line, you can accomplish half of that,” said one person involved in the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly. “You can change the productivity over time with a smaller input of personnel, but not this filing season. This is where we are today.”

 

POTUS spending is already trending well above Biden spending.  It is all being "fixed" by the fixer via massive revenue decline.  Welcome to the DJT business model, a consistent one for some 60 years of failure.

 

 

[lnofeisone]

17 hours ago, cubsfan said:

^^^ Say what you like.  The Democratic Party is in meltdown mode as reasonable people flee to the right.  The large base of independents in this country want nothing to do with this party anymore

as they double down on woke & DEI.  For the time being, the Democrats are done and the Party of Trump is solidly in charge.

 

That's what I call resounding. Try and hold an election today, and it would be a wipeout.

A wipeout? That's some wrong and strong view coming from the right. Just look at how concerned GOP is with losing FL special elections with Fine and Patronis both ringing alarm bells, asking for more help in districts that voted +30R? Let me say this again, these districts vote +30R. This is like a republican walking into DC and winning mayoral elections. GOP also pulled Stafanik's nomination for UN ambassador so she would remain in place. Why? Look at the big picture, GOP is hedging bets as they are concerned at losing.

 

If you wonder why the current admin slowed down their clown car in the last few weeks is to see how these elections pan out. 

 

Realistically, I give the highest probability to republicans prevailing in both of the upcoming special elections, but the margins are going to close significantly. The second-highest probability is that Patronis (R) is going to lose. We'll see by the end of the week. 

[Cigarbutt]

14 hours ago, DooDiligence said:

...continue the present course and the dollar will devalue on its own. Toss in a US bankruptcy filing to speed things up.

This thread is not labeled (yet) p*l*t*c*l and i will try, constructively, to walk the thin line.

There appears to be some kind of plan to devalue the dollar (there are rational arguments behind such plan) and a public debt restructuring is in the cards (personal note, when doing the CFA stuff, everything seemed to revolve around the so called golden standard risk-free rate so i guess a few chapters need to be rewritten..).

One of the strategic underpinnings is to bring manufacturing jobs back and some of the first-level thinking behind this is to consider a close inverse correlation between the strength of the USD and the manufacturing job index.

*Part of the title was obliterated in order to avoid unnecessary personalization of the conversation

So the basic idea is to weaken the dollar (can be done in various ways) and then expect manufacturing jobs to come back.

How likely is that to happen and to result in a net positive result for modern capitalist USA?

 

Something i came across (some people actually try to rationally make sense of all that noise) is the following (details available upon request):

The persistent trade deficits have had a disproportionate negative effect on certains categories of individuals but data shows that it's not only trade and manufacturing related. Nostalgia, by itself, will not do the trick.

My (humble) take: there are other factors to consider  .

-----

All that to say that if this trade experiment continues, there is potentially a bright future for USA-based dollar stores, private prisons (Corecivic etc) and private drug rehab centers. 

-----

Apologies from an international fellow Board member: as a Canadian, i will do my best to stop the fentanyl shipments crossing the border to your great country and then, in exchange, hope that the retaliatory tariffs will ease some.

[Ulti]

https://danieldrezner.substack.com/p/american-foreign-policy-is-being
 

American Foreign Policy Is Being Run by the Dumbest Motherfuckers Alive

The fuckwittery on display right now by Trump's foreign policy team boggles the mind.

Daniel W. Drezner

[Charlie]

1 hour ago, Spekulatius said:

Europeans are shocked about the Trump government and I don’t think this will change.

+1000 

 

What happened to the most impressive democracy of the world?

[cubsfan]

28 minutes ago, lnofeisone said:

A wipeout? That's some wrong and strong view coming from the right. Just look at how concerned GOP is with losing FL special elections with Fine and Patronis both ringing alarm bells, asking for more help in districts that voted +30R? Let me say this again, these districts vote +30R. This is like a republican walking into DC and winning mayoral elections. GOP also pulled Stafanik's nomination for UN ambassador so she would remain in place. Why? Look at the big picture, GOP is hedging bets as they are concerned at losing.

 

If you wonder why the current admin slowed down their clown car in the last few weeks is to see how these elections pan out. 

 

Realistically, I give the highest probability to republicans prevailing in both of the upcoming special elections, but the margins are going to close significantly. The second-highest probability is that Patronis (R) is going to lose. We'll see by the end of the week. 

 

The base of the Democratic party is being destroyed - with little help from Republicans.

 

Why did Republicans win?   They got:

Last election, 48% of Hispanics, 26% of  black males, Dems hemmoraging Asians & youth vote.

 

It's amazing to see Democrats polling at 27% approval with independents fleeing.

Down 20% from 12 months ago.

 

But when you don't address the fundamental issues hurting Americans,, this is to be expected.

 

No one can figure out what Democrats represent, except "We hate Trump"

Edited March 30, 2025 by cubsfan

[DooDiligence]

26 minutes ago, Cigarbutt said:

This thread is not labeled (yet) p*l*t*c*l and i will try, constructively, to walk the thin line.

There appears to be some kind of plan to devalue the dollar (there are rational arguments behind such plan) and a public debt restructuring is in the cards (personal note, when doing the CFA stuff, everything seemed to revolve around the so called golden standard risk-free rate so i guess a few chapters need to be rewritten..).

One of the strategic underpinnings is to bring manufacturing jobs back and some of the first-level thinking behind this is to consider a close inverse correlation between the strength of the USD and the manufacturing job index.

*Part of the title was obliterated in order to avoid unnecessary personalization of the conversation

So the basic idea is to weaken the dollar (can be done in various ways) and then expect manufacturing jobs to come back.

How likely is that to happen and to result in a net positive result for modern capitalist USA?

 

Something i came across (some people actually try to rationally make sense of all that noise) is the following (details available upon request):

The persistent trade deficits have had a disproportionate negative effect on certains categories of individuals but data shows that it's not only trade and manufacturing related. Nostalgia, by itself, will not do the trick.

My (humble) take: there are other factors to consider  .

-----

All that to say that if this trade experiment continues, there is potentially a bright future for USA-based dollar stores, private prisons (Corecivic etc) and private drug rehab centers. 

-----

Apologies from an international fellow Board member: as a Canadian, i will do my best to stop the fentanyl shipments crossing the border to your great country and then, in exchange, hope that the retaliatory tariffs will ease some.

 

Thanks for that thoughtful outline. I did watch / listen to the Julian Brigden interview yesterday and I get his bullet points, but personally believe he gives too much credit to the thought processes of the big Cheeto. Smooth brain plan: 1) split up NATO and serve Europe to Soviet Union, 2) kill economy to create social unrest, 3) crown self emperor of NA, 4) get rid of every admin who helped and may be able to usurp.

 

Change my mind  ???

 

edit: forgot to add 5) buy more golden toilets with bigger bore.

 

.

Edited March 30, 2025 by DooDiligence

[no_free_lunch]

Just now, TwoCitiesCapital said:

 

+1 

 

This isn't exactly an irrational reaction or Napoleon syndrome. This was a good relationship under basically every prior administration and is becoming a bad one under Trump for no other reason than that he's a bully. 

 

 

You're approaching this as if Republican have a consistent platform that they stand for and believe in anymore. The ONLY platform is BEAT. THE. OTHER. GUY. 

 

Is why as a slightly right-of-center independent that I haven't been able to support the party since Trump's first run - was clear all principles had been abandoned. 

 

Pending the conversation, the 'other guy' evolves from Democrats, to China, to 'unfair' trade agreements (previous negotiated by Trump), to drugs, to illegals immigrants stealing their jobs, etc. They pick a boogeyman and that is the 'other guy'. 

 

 There is no consistency- just 'beat the other guy' by an means necessary. Even if that means abandoning everything you previously stood while lying about it it everything. 

 

Is why the party of balanced budgets can stand behind the largest non-recessionary deficits of all time.

 

Is why the party of family values can support the individual who has three failed marriages and steps out of his marriage to bang porn stars.

 

Is why the party of 'tough on crime' can elect a criminal. 

 

Is why party of 'good for business ' elected a man whose primary 'good business' was lying about being good at business (ghost written books and The Apprentice). 

 

Is why the party of the 'religious right'  can overlook the commandments of love your neighbor and how Jesus treated the poor to cut services for the poor while transferring payments to billionaires. 

 

There's no rationale behind it - just a party that has lost its way and supporters who aren't self-aware enough to realize they've done a 180⁰ on everything they claimed to be believe. 

 

 

This All resonates with me. I have a right wing background and thought process but a lot of this makes sense.  However, I think if we ignore the day to day the big picture makes a bit of sense.  The big picture being a fundamental conflict between the west and the east brewing.

 

Back to pure economics, I wonder if there isnt some truth to the trump doctrine.  When I look at all this junk I buy from China, it really is junk.  I still have shoes I bought 20 years ago that were US made, while I keep replacing everything from these random China companies.  Is there really a cost saving once you amoritize, I dont know. My only concern is whether the US will lose their quality advantage, looking at boeing it might have already happened.  However, if tarriffs start maybe we can roll back the clock on manufacturing, so much is automated I wont see why not.  Its just a question of whether we have the skills but we certainly have the people.   Are we really going to just let ourselves be pidgeonholed into what China wants us to do?

[DooDiligence]

11 minutes ago, no_free_lunch said:

This All resonates with me. I have a right wing background and thought process but a lot of this makes sense.  However, I think if we ignore the day to day the big picture makes a bit of sense.  The big picture being a fundamental conflict between the west and the east brewing.

 

Back to pure economics, I wonder if there isnt some truth to the trump doctrine.  When I look at all this junk I buy from China, it really is junk.  I still have shoes I bought 20 years ago that were US made, while I keep replacing everything from these random China companies.  Is there really a cost saving once you amoritize, I dont know. My only concern is whether the US will lose their quality advantage, looking at boeing it might have already happened.  However, if tarriffs start maybe we can roll back the clock on manufacturing, so much is automated I wont see why not.  Its just a question of whether we have the skills but we certainly have the people.   Are we really going to just let ourselves be pidgeonholed into what China wants us to do?

 

I believe more could be accomplished with messaging centered around integrity, altruism, hope and fraternity, with a generous dose of good old Japanese frugality to address mindless consumerism. Fear, hate and divisiveness are the tools of despots. It never goes or ends well for the people.

Edited March 30, 2025 by DooDiligence

[Gregmal]

57 minutes ago, lnofeisone said:

GOP also pulled Stafanik's nomination for UN ambassador so she would remain in place. Why?

This is false. They clearly pulled her nom because for months NY politicians in Albany have been scheming and concocting ways to either delay or deny her seat from being filled. 

[DooDiligence]

49 minutes ago, Charlie said:

+1000 

 

What happened to the most impressive democracy of the world?

 

Brain smoother extraordinaire.

 

Edited March 30, 2025 by DooDiligence

[TwoCitiesCapital]

8 hours ago, Milu said:

Perhaps you are right. I still have the belief that all this noise about sales falling off a cliff or people boycotting Tesla will either have less impact that people think or be more short lived than people think. There is often a massive gap between what people think in the real world and what you read on Reddit/twitter. 
 

I remain convinced that for 95% of people world wide Elon Musks politics are not top of mind when they decide what car they are going to buy or not buy. 

 

Perhaps 95% is correct, but we care about are the minority that buy Teslas. 

 

CA is bigger than the next 3-4 states combined for Tesla. Do you think politics and Elon's image are top of mind for buyers in CA? 

 

Germany is Teslas largest European market? Do you think the Hitler-salute is something most Germans will just look past when choosing an EV? 

 

You're generalizing - and are probably right about the generalization. But what matters are the specifics. Tesla has long catered to left-of-center individuals for their customer base ...and then Elon went full MAGA and is alienating his core customer base. Way more than 5% of Tesla customers care about their image and being associated with a seemingly out-of-touch billionaire/white supremacist. 

 

 

2 hours ago, lnofeisone said:

People may forget about Elon's clowning but the fact that his competitors took advantage and took market share from Tesla will persist at least a couple of years. Unless Tesla pulls off some sort of miracle (very well can happen), there is an uphill battle for them in the cards. 

 

+1

 

Customer acquisition is hard. You want to keep the ones you have from trying out competing products or you won't get some of them back. Tesla is both alienating existing customers while also giving new customers a reason to stay away. All at a time where they're actually getting competition from higher end EVs for the first time ever ....

[Spooky]

On 3/29/2025 at 3:53 PM, cubsfan said:

 

I'm very happy about what I see. The FBI, DOJ, CIA all need a good housecleaning.

In the last 3 elections, Washington DC voted 95% democratic - all in protection of DC.

You go nowhere in DC as a Republican - so weaponization was a natural result.

 

You need to set examples for corruption. That's what's coming. They broke the law and they will all have fair trials. It's going to be the only way to reclaim the Federal government.

 

People that did nothing have nothing to fear.

 

Cubs the last director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, was appointed by Trump and was a Republican.

[LC]

Never let facts get in the way of a good rallying call.

 

I should save reading these posts for the evening, when I've had a glass of wine and can enjoy a good laugh.

[TwoCitiesCapital]

1 hour ago, DooDiligence said:

 

I believe more could be accomplished with messaging centered around integrity, altruism, hope and fraternity, with a generous dose of good old Japanese frugality to address mindless consumerism. Fear, hate and divisiveness are the tools of despots. It never goes or ends well for the people.

 

+1

 

It's not like Republicans are a party against mindless consumerism. Their president was a reality TV star

 

It's a cultural change that needs to happen beyond politics if we want a society focused on creating value instead of consuming trash.