Political Posts

[Blake Hampton]

 

[Blake Hampton]

Which American politician said the following?

 

Item one: “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should . . . EAT THE TARIFFS, and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”

 

Item two: “After causing catastrophic inflation, Comrade Kamala announced that she wants to institute socialist price controls . . . Her plan is very dangerous because it may sound good politically . . . This is Communist; this is Marxist; this is fascist.”

 

If you guessed that both are statements by Donald Trump, you have broken the code on the bizarro world of the President’s second-term economic policies. Last year he blasted Kamala Harris’s proposal for price controls on groceries. But now he is attacking Walmart for warning that it will have to raises prices in the wake of Mr. Trump’s tariffs.

 

Mr. Trump’s flip-flop on price controls is a rebuttal of his own previous tariff claims. For months he’s said that foreign producers pay the full cost of tariffs. But now he’s admitting that Walmart, an American retailer, will have to eat some of the costs or pass them on to Americans.

 

Despite his business background, Mr. Trump doesn’t know much about retail. Walmart’s net profit margin is below 3%, so it doesn’t have much room to absorb the higher costs caused by tariffs. Retail competition is intense, and Walmart’s longtime comparative advantage has been lower prices.

 

Mr. President is telling a company how to run its business, along with a vague, implicit threat of retribution. Marxist? How would Mr. Trump react if Congress told him how much his family could charge for a Mar-a-Lago fee?

 

Mr. Trump is trying to duck the political fallout for his misguided tariff policy by blaming everyone else. Americans are too smart to fall for it.

 

Donald Trump Plays Walmart CEO - WSJ

[Blake Hampton]

"If I only had a brain."

[DooDiligence]

1 hour ago, Blake Hampton said:

Which American politician said the following?

 

Item one: “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should . . . EAT THE TARIFFS, and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”

 

Item two: “After causing catastrophic inflation, Comrade Kamala announced that she wants to institute socialist price controls . . . Her plan is very dangerous because it may sound good politically . . . This is Communist; this is Marxist; this is fascist.”

 

If you guessed that both are statements by Donald Trump, you have broken the code on the bizarro world of the President’s second-term economic policies. Last year he blasted Kamala Harris’s proposal for price controls on groceries. But now he is attacking Walmart for warning that it will have to raises prices in the wake of Mr. Trump’s tariffs.

 

Mr. Trump’s flip-flop on price controls is a rebuttal of his own previous tariff claims. For months he’s said that foreign producers pay the full cost of tariffs. But now he’s admitting that Walmart, an American retailer, will have to eat some of the costs or pass them on to Americans.

 

Despite his business background, Mr. Trump doesn’t know much about retail. Walmart’s net profit margin is below 3%, so it doesn’t have much room to absorb the higher costs caused by tariffs. Retail competition is intense, and Walmart’s longtime comparative advantage has been lower prices.

 

Mr. President is telling a company how to run its business, along with a vague, implicit threat of retribution. Marxist? How would Mr. Trump react if Congress told him how much his family could charge for a Mar-a-Lago fee?

 

Mr. Trump is trying to duck the political fallout for his misguided tariff policy by blaming everyone else. Americans are too smart to fall for it.

 

Donald Trump Plays Walmart CEO - WSJ

 

Is it still OK to tell jokes like this?

 

A man walks into a shop. He asks the clerk, “You don’t have any meat?” The clerk says, “No, here we don’t have any fish. The shop that doesn’t have any meat is across the street.”

 

[DooDiligence]

Lowes and Home Depot brace for a perfect phone call next.

[DooDiligence]

Comrade Trump orders glorious investigation into traitorous song people.

 

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-calls-investigation-beyonce-bruce-springsteen-performances-2073941

[Hektor]

3 minutes ago, DooDiligence said:

Comrade Trump orders glorious investigation into traitorous song people.

 

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-calls-investigation-beyonce-bruce-springsteen-performances-2073941

No surprise, after Bruce's comments across the pond last week or so

[Spekulatius]

59 minutes ago, Ice77 said:

I think most people know that he lies and deflects even if some will never admit it. He tried something big and it is not working.

 

The bigger question for me is if tariffs fail to reset the manufacturing flows in such a way that US can assuredly keep its geopolitical supremacy then are we now one step closer to "politics by other means" whenever that may be. 

This ought to be a big concern. There is a huge disconnect between what the current admin is trying to do and what they are capable off.

 

If those plans don’t pan out. I think we are looking at MAGA socialism and they actually may get help from Bernie and AOC and the like which would make the horseshoe hypothesis come true.

[changegonnacome]

On 5/18/2025 at 10:02 AM, Spekulatius said:

people who criticize Yellen for the short maturity of the treasury debt financing stack need to realize that this was the idea behind QE. QE means that the Fed was constantly  buying treasuries and MBS to keep LT interest rates lower. If Yellen had issued long duration treasuries to finance the debt, it would have negated QE.  Not that QE really worked but the idea was at least consistent with what they tried to do together with Fed.

Well the criticism of Yellen was not during QE but rather when QE had stopped due to monetary/covid inflation…let’s call it ~2023/2024…..the Fed was trying to cool the economy via higher short term rates….Yellen doubled down on short term issuance instead of a more balanced issuance book….it was political yield curve control targeting the 10yr….in some respects the Fed had its foot on the brakes while the White House/Treasury was putting its foot on the accelerator pedal via ever larger fiscal deficits and non-normal t-bill issuance to fund that deficit…and conversely abnormally low long term bond issuance. This - the deficit growth & ST issuance - was not in the best interest of country but rather they (Biden/Yellen) saw it as means to an end to win the next election. Biden/Yellen don’t get a pass here they played their part in the deteriorating fiscal

position of the United States….Captain Chaos & his big beautiful bill are in the process of blowing the doors off that fiscal position…and Bessent has continued the financing of treasury at the short end….its all getting very emerging market-esque

[Blake Hampton]

There simply isn't enough demand to finance these large deficits on the long end. Attempt that, and you're almost certain to trigger a liquidity event — and likely a huge test of faith as well. The only reason we can continue financing these deficits on the short end is because people generally, for now at least, still have faith in the dollar. Remember, Treasury bills are cash equivalents.

 

Yellen probably could have sold some longer-term debt back in 2021, since back then, everyone was buying any piece of shit they could get their hands on — but that’s certainly not the case now.

 

Edited May 19, 2025 by Blake Hampton

[Blake Hampton]

[Blake Hampton]

[Blake Hampton]

This year's budget is shaping up to be an absolute disaster:

Republicans have a plan to add trillions to the national debt - The Economist

 

These legislators have zero clue about the imminent risk this all poses. Have you noticed how Treasury bills now dominate debt issuance? All of this new debt is being issued at around a 4.25% rate, and we're likely heading into a period of higher inflation — which means rates will stay at least level, if not rise further. On top of all that new issuance, existing debt is rolling over at these higher rates. Our interest expense is exploding.

 

And they think the best solution is to cut more taxes to "stimulate growth." I have no words.

[changegonnacome]

4 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said:

Yellen probably could have sold some long-term debt back in 2021, since back then, everyone was buying any piece of shit they could get their hands on — but that’s certainly no longer the case.

 

To @Spekulatius's point....Yellen in 2021 was sympatico with the Fed.....it was all about flattening the curve back then to support the COVID economy .....Fed did their bit via rates/QE....Treasury too....fair enough.....then we got monetary inflation and the aim of the game was cooling the economy.....the Fed and Treasury diverged at that point....Biden/Yellen kept their equivalent money printer going via ever greater deficits funded via t-bills while the Fed raised rates & did QT....foot on the break and accelerator at the same time.....it hasn't come out yet and been confirmed by officials but my working theory is that the Biden admin had a policy of helping to 'fix' inflation by flooding the US with immigrant labor by opening up the southern border....it kinda worked if you think about the relatively painless disinflation that occured 2022-2024...however the immigrant flood + the memory of high inflation cost Biden politically.

[RichardGibbons]

7 hours ago, Blake Hampton said:

Mr. Trump is trying to duck the political fallout for his misguided tariff policy by blaming everyone else. Americans are too smart to fall for it.

 

I'm not sure why you believe this--it seems rare that people resolve cognitive dissonance by rejecting their existing beliefs.

[coc]

Read through some of the religion commentary here (which was like nuns discussing sex) but one question I'd love someone to take a shot at: Why is Bin Laden's activity considered driven largely by Islamic theology and Rumsfeld/Bush/Cheney's partial destruction of the Middle East not considered driven largely by Christian theology? Because in point of fact the latter were highly partial to pushing a narrative of Christian conquest and Bush's cabinets contained Biblical fundamentalists eg Ashcroft. 

 

Now if you would like to argue that the Bible thumping coming out of the Bush camp during the "War on Terror" (all the good and evil stuff) was just "words" and the real reasons were something else (political, strategic, pure dumbassery), then why do we not consider much of what AL Qaeda talks about "just words" and the real reasons something else? 

 

I finish with Bush's own words during the WoT while trying to remake Iraq.

 

"I believe all these things because freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world."

[Sweet]

4 hours ago, coc said:

Read through some of the religion commentary here (which was like nuns discussing sex) but one question I'd love someone to take a shot at: Why is Bin Laden's activity considered driven largely by Islamic theology and Rumsfeld/Bush/Cheney's partial destruction of the Middle East not considered driven largely by Christian theology? Because in point of fact the latter were highly partial to pushing a narrative of Christian conquest and Bush's cabinets contained Biblical fundamentalists eg Ashcroft. 

 

Now if you would like to argue that the Bible thumping coming out of the Bush camp during the "War on Terror" (all the good and evil stuff) was just "words" and the real reasons were something else (political, strategic, pure dumbassery), then why do we not consider much of what AL Qaeda talks about "just words" and the real reasons something else? 

 

I finish with Bush's own words during the WoT while trying to remake Iraq.

 

"I believe all these things because freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world."

That’s a lot of words, but it’s really this simple.  Would Bush’s military intervention in the Middle East occurred without 9/11?  No.  But sure, let’s try and pretend it’s about this other thing by cherry picking quotes. 

[DooDiligence]

One thing's for sure, a shit ton of people have been deaded because "my god is better than your god".

[Xerxes]

37 minutes ago, Sweet said:

That’s a lot of words, but it’s really this simple.  Would Bush’s military intervention in the Middle East occurred without 9/11?  No.  But sure, let’s try and pretend it’s about this other thing by cherry picking quotes. 

incorrect. Come on Sweet you know this stuff. 
 

9/11 led to Afghanistan. Sure.
 

But there needn’t to be an Iraq. There was an Iraq for no other reason than some ideologically driven initiative. Just like Putin was fully invested in late 2021 to invade Ukraine by early 2022, so was the then White House in 2002 leading up to 2003.  
 

The Rumsfeld/Cheney machine (both chaps veterans of 1991 Gulf War) just push that through the system, never mind Collin Powell looking like an idiot. 

 

 

[Sweet]

5 hours ago, DooDiligence said:

One thing's for sure, a shit ton of people have been deaded because "my god is better than your god".

100%
 

5 hours ago, Xerxes said:

incorrect. Come on Sweet you know this stuff. 
 

9/11 led to Afghanistan. Sure.
 

But there needn’t to be an Iraq. There was an Iraq for no other reason than some ideologically driven initiative. Just like Putin was fully invested in late 2021 to invade Ukraine by early 2022, so was the then White House in 2002 leading up to 2003.  
 

The Rumsfeld/Cheney machine (both chaps veterans of 1991 Gulf War) just push that through the system, never mind Collin Powell looking like an idiot. 

 

 

 

I’m not saying we needed to be in Iraq.  I’m saying 9/11 beget more than Afghanistan- right or wrongly. 

[Sweet]

121 days into Trump’s promise to end the Russia-Ukraine war within one day, JD Vance with a negotiating masterclass:

 

“Speaking before Trump's call with Vladimir Putin yesterday, JD Vance warned if Russia is not "willing to engage" then "eventually, the US has to say this is not our war".

 

I’ve noticed that JD hasn’t been in the spotlight much lately.  I suspect it’s because Trump has quietly sidelined him for his regular gaffes.

 

Edited May 20, 2025 by Sweet

[Spekulatius]

3 hours ago, Sweet said:

121 days into Trump’s promise to end the Russia-Ukraine war within one day, JD Vance with a negotiating masterclass:

 

“Speaking before Trump's call with Vladimir Putin yesterday, JD Vance warned if Russia is not "willing to engage" then "eventually, the US has to say this is not our war".

 

I’ve noticed that JD hasn’t been in the spotlight much lately.  I suspect it’s because Trump has quietly sidelined him for his regular gaffes.

 

This is typically Trump. Either get a quick publicity win (deal) or I am out of here. ruffling Putins feathers would be too difficult.

 

It will be interesting what happens with Iran in the same context. My guess is that it will be a similar deal than Obama did.

[changegonnacome]

16 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

This is typically Trump. Either get a quick publicity win (deal) or I am out of here. ruffling Putins feathers would be too difficult.

 

It will be interesting what happens with Iran in the same context. My guess is that it will be a similar deal than Obama did.

 

Yep - Trump lives and breathes for press conference or press release 'wins'....all politicians do but Trump is the quintessential salesman......ABC - always be closing....but given Trump's cult following and frankly the lack of rigour by which his supporters follow these things its enough to feed them surface level truth social 'wins'.....the impression of relentless 'winning' is more important than long term structural wins. This is what ADHD tiktok politics looks like in the modern era and Trump's surface level style is perfectly suited for it. Its about winning the phone lock screen news/social media notifications. Smash and grab 15-second win politics.

 

An Iran deal will follow the same playbook - we'll get a JCPOA-like deal dressed up in the emperor's new clothes.....it will be heralded as triumph of diplomacy that only Trump could have achieved and where he's saved us from nuclear armageddon.......till you realize he ripped up the old JCPOA and in effect manufactured the current Iran/Israel nuclear tensions for no good reason only that he wanted to rip up something Obama had done.

 

It will join a fairly substantial and growing list of crisis that are directly manufactured by Trump himself but where we are asked at the end to thank him and praise him for resolving the crisis. Like a toxic marriage where the spouse beats his partner but wants to be heralded as hero for bringing them to the emergency room.

[DooDiligence]

Yep. They don't care that normal humans see what they're doing. The messaging is aimed at his ass flavored KoolAid drinkers.

[changegonnacome]

Well I think its more that the Trump coalition is made up of die hard Republicans who'd elect a donkey if the GOP put it on the ticket, then single issue abortion voters and then what I'd call potentially the most politically disengaged & uninformed voter bloc ever assembled (lets call them the non-college educated males who get their political 'news' on TikTok in-between onlyfans thirst traps and old Joe Rogan clips).

 

Its why Trump is a gift and a curse for the GOP - he'll get himself into the White House and the GOP a wafer thin majority in the House but once the midterms rocks around the 'Joe Rogan voter' doesn't even realize there's a midterm election being held.

 

Let's see midterms are really not that far away now will be very curious to see if Trump can buck the poltical gravity of the cockmamie coalition he put together to win 2024 so narrowly. I find it implausible that he can and so we'll get a bunch of spendthrift Dems controlling the House.....quite the toxic mix....a low-T Republican party that's lost its deficit hawk mojo twinned with a Democratic party so lost in victimhood that if you let them they'd transfer a billion dollars to every non-white male voter as reparations.