Purely Politics

The article regarding the bond market was too long, here's the link:

Here's the link. Love to hear your thoughts.

 

LOL, not one person asked you for "the link". Per your statement you are "just a guy", not a political or economic advisor/expert. I'm sure 1 or 2 will take a click.

 

Yup just a guy who reads a lot and understands it is better to be well read than an illiterate boor. Know what i mean?

Of course you do.

How about our president announcing all those world leaders were lining up to kiss is fat ass?

Talk about an illiterate boor. No wonder you idolize him eh?

 

The bullying of posters on this site is verifiable and is easily proven to be reprehensible behavior against anyone who tries to share an opinion. The calling out of specific people in an attempt to engage in violence and malice is illegal in accordance with Arizona State law ARS 13-2921. repeatedly commits an act or acts that harass another person.

Keyword: Repeatedly

Please cease and desist your repeated verbal abuse and harassment against me immediately. This serves as a written notice for the offending behavior stop and any additional attempts to call out posters shall be noted and forwarded to the appropriate legal authorities for further investigation and prosecution

 

Read the Russia collusion memos President Trump declassified and Kash Patel gave to Congress | Just The News

for the not so savvy computer folks the above is a link

 

Thank you, thank you very much for that round of applause. I do appreciate knowing i was able to shed light on the realities of exactly why trump crapped the bed. Hopefully each of you is a little smarter for it. Today's pages are filled with it, but you saw and read it here first. Let me summarize it for you:

"It was the bond market baby."

PS. It still a butt ugly mess, but later today far more interesting news to share.

Stay tuned.

 

So here's an interesting twist to the Abrego Garcia dilemma from my friends at The Bulwark:
"SCOTUS ordered the Maryland federal court to clarify its order compelling the administration to try to retrieve Abrego Garcia—which Judge Paula Xinis promptly did in a filing last night, ordering the government to “take all available steps” to facilitate the prisoner’s return “as soon as possible” and to report on his status by 9:30 this morning. The ball is now back in the White House’s court. Will they defy the order or merely play games with the language of it? We anxiously await."

Whatever will happen? We'll see soon whether 47 respects SCOTUS or whether they are just another norm to topple.

 

It just keeps getting better and better; this is most likely why Navaro was moved to the sidelines eh?

Trump’s tariff policies aren’t just misguided—they are built on the bizarre fantasies of Peter Navarro, who literally invented a fake economist to back his ideas. Meet "Ron Vara," a fictional Harvard-educated expert Navarro created (and conveniently named as an anagram of himself) to lend credibility to his protectionist trade theories. I honestly can’t believe this story is true but unfortunately it is. This made-up expert appears in a half dozen of Peter Navarro's books dating back to 2001 and this imaginary character became the intellectual backbone of Trump’s tariff policy, which were sold as a way to save American jobs but instead wreaked havoc on the economy.

The results were predictably disastrous. The tariffs acted as a tax on U.S. consumers and businesses, driving up prices and provoking retaliatory measures from trading partners like China. Farmers suffered, markets tanked, and allies were alienated—all while Navarro insisted this chaos was a "necessary overhaul." In reality, it was economic malpractice wrapped in pseudo-populist rhetoric.

Is there a better metaphor encapsulating trump tanking the entire global economy based on the intellectual findings of a fictional character with no real data to back up a single thing he said? This debacle is a case study in what happens when policy is driven by ego and fiction instead of facts. Navarro’s made-up economist became the blueprint for a trade war that left the U.S. economy battered and its global credibility in shambles.

Helping shine a light on these troubling times is my only goal; it's not politics, it's enlightenment.

Thank you, thank you very much.

 

One more before i head off and it's an important matter i know most of you will be grateful to read about. And, rather than sharing the opinions of those you don't trust (libs and those suffering from tds), let me use the exact quotes from actual real live republican's who were working on the house bill passed last night. Mind you, these aren't my words, but those of your trusted republicans:

* Supposed budget hardliners in the House folded en masse this week after Trump told them Tuesday night to “close your eyes and get there.” The sole exceptions were Reps. Victoria Spartz and Thomas Massie. Spartz—not exactly a typical voice of reason by reputation—hit the nail on the head here: “The instructions we voted on today,” she said, “are still setting us up for the largest deficit increase in the history of our Republic, & opening up a ‘pandora’s box’ by changing accounting rules to hide it.”

* Massie was even more biting: “If you were trying to hasten financial collapse of our country and bribe voters to go along with it, the strategy wouldn’t look much different than what Congress is doing today. The big beautiful bill cuts taxes while keeping spending on an increasingly unsustainable trajectory.”

Yikes, thanks to my friends at The Bulwark for this analysis and ferreting out those remarks. And finally, one of the commentators summarized the house bill this way: "Trump's social agenda will drive millions away from supporting him in 2026. Cutting Medicaid and restructuring Social Security and Medicare benefits to give the upper 10% of Americans $2 Trillion in tax cuts is political suicide. America may aspire to entrepreneurial self reliance but we do not aspire to steal from the poor to give to the rich."

 

I enjoy reading Bill's Double-Double down posts.

It makes me wonder why he criticizes 2 Republicans with a different opinion from the rest, but never criticizes the Dem's who never fail to vote lock-step with their Party whether some may actually like a Bill?

True, Republican's step on their D**k's all the time because they like to ride their high-horse of so-called integrity and rather shoot themselves in the foot and have a Bill defeated rather then voting with, and in support of their Party.

And for heaven's sake, PLEASE stop spreading the rumor that the Republicans will be cutting Medicare and Social Security! What they will be doing is kicking those who don't deserve to receive those benefits off the rolls! Besides, if you knew what you were talking about you would know that when it comes to the reconciliation process, Social Security is off the table and can't be touched.

 

Double, double down Tom, yikes. Here’s my reality (stay with me brother), not really a big fan of any of the D’s right now and frankly not worth following all that closely. On the others hand the MAGA brand owns the house, senate, POTUS and SCOTUS (so much for co-equal branches of government) so they get all my attention.

Rightly so, given trump creating the nightmare we are all caught up in. Like I keep telling you; own it, revel in his mastery over every aspect of the American way of life. Frankly, I think our best hope is he spends more time on his golf courses. Everything is truly butt ugly and headed in the wrong direction.

More to come…double, double indeed.

 

Bill you seem to have all the answers, or most of them, yet you never ran for office. Never put your hand in the air to help the country, just sit back and judge and whine and call POTUS names. Sounds familiar yes?

 

And that's because your Party did such a poor job people couldn't wait to not only vote them out of office, but also won Trump the popular vote!

Can do, and you too should be hoping for his success because if he fails, we all fail, especially if the Dem's were to get back in power and continue with their progressive agendas.

Remember, the Republicans are in power because the Dem's drove themselves into a ditch!

I'm looking forward to seeing where we stand 6 months to a year from now.

I'll be having steak for dinner and you'll be eating crow!

 

Crow Tom? Personally we eat fish/sea food three times a week. Sorry crow isn't in the budget. But enough tom-foolery. Let's get serious for a minute before we undertake some of the more serious shit hitting the fan.

I posted the stories about the bond market for those trump supporters who strike me as at least willing to try and understand what is actually happening; as opposed to thinking everything trump does is genius. That would include you and a few others so hopefully i'm not wrong in giving you more credit than you are due.

Anyway, here's the question(s): Did you understand just how important the bond market before this week's implosion? In all honesty, i didn't, but i do now. Did you understand the huge differences between the stock markets going up and down relative to the impact of those selling off their bonds in large scale and impacting our overall well-being? And did you realize those sell-offs means the only way to sell bonds is to raise the interest which in turn increases our debt service?

My goodness, what a stunning revelation, at least for those of us who want the president and more importantly our country to succeed.

So fess up bro, did you know?

 

My bad Tom, sorry for asking the questions, it was unfair of me to put you in that delicate a position.

This thread is is the exact reason i suggested the Admins delete it or move it. I'm fine either way, it should never have been started here in the first place.

And as i look back, i understand perfectly why it was. Those who wanted Biden gone and their guy in office placed it where it would get optimum viewing. The reality is, the party in office is always easier prey. And to be even more clear, it is why i am taking advantage of where it is to get optimum viewing.

Which is also why i want the admins to either kill the thread or move it.

However, until they do, the dump of articles regarding just how borked we are is near unlimited.

 

Tom started this in April 2024. Maybe He can remove it? I have never tried to remove a thread. I started one in Non SC related subjects, but this is the one that took off. Maybe just don't post to this thread anymore?? Looking at recent posters here it appears you have posted more than anyone else.

 

Here's what I know Bill. I know that bonds and T-bills is what pays our national debt. But I believe you're missing the elephant in the room "? It's not about the drop in bond prices, it's about why we need them.

We take in a little over 4 trillion dollars a year in revenue through taxes, etc. We spend over 6, almost 7 trillion dollars a year. We are currently over 37 Trillion dollars in debt and growing exponentially! Talk about an existential threat! We can't just keep on printing money that's propped-up with bonds and T-bills!

We pay more in interest on the debt than we spend on our military. If we don't get a handle on our national debt the last thing you will need to worry about are bond prices because nothing will be sustainable.

You worry about cutting Social Security and Medicare. There won't be any along with any other social entitlement/benefit because all our dollars will be going just to pay the interest on our debt.

What Trump is doing, in my humble opinion, IS trying to right the ship. We must stop other countries taking advantage of us with their trade tariffs. We need a rebirth of manufacturing in our own country. If we were to go to war where would we buy our steel? What manufacturing companies can produce our planes, tanks and all the other items necessary to fight a war?

I'm looking forward to see how all these negotiations go and wouldn't be surprised ending up to see equality, perhaps 10% on you and 10% on me!

Nobody will care whether you were a Democrat or Republican on the food-line! And that's assuming the country can afford a food-line!

 

Thanks for the answer Tom. For those that don't know, Tom and i are friends in spite of our different political views. You are right about the exploding debt and tomorrow i'll post a more in depth response. The bond market and our standing in the world market place is in jeopardy. That may not matter to some, but the stability of our economy was the envy of the world. It has taken a beating this week and the "pause " did little to stop the panic.

The national debt is killing us, as you noted. Neither the right or the left has cared other than the fake umbrage when the other party is in office. We disagree on trump's solution for a lot of reasons, but there are two really easy identifiers. The first was his term in office where he increased the national debt at nearly a record level.

Here's the kicker: I would take your argument seriously if the house wasn't working so hard to renew the 2017 tax cuts to the millionaires and worse yet the billionaires. this 2025 house bill, if it was costed out like it should be would show us all just how much more debt we will incur. I read reports we will be nearing the 50 trillion dollar mark.

If they pass the tax "relief" for the most wealthy, the only place to cut is on our "entitlements."

 

Always curious with those comments coming from the cheap seats, but i do enjoy a healthy discussion from those whose political ideology is different than mine and willing to engage on an adult level. As mentioned, my frustration is this thread belonged in the "Non Sun City Related Discussions," but alas, here we are. Karma is indeed a bitch and hopefully the administrators will move it or take it down.

Back to Tom's argument about trump fixing the looming crisis (and it is), our debt service is killing us. If you think not, take a look at the interest payments on a daily basis and tell me how that is sustainable? The numbers are out there for anyone who wants to find them. The Wall Street Journal just reported that to date this year, the federal government spent way more money than for the same time period as last year. Duh, the debt repayment alone drove that number up and that's after musk's chain saw antics (hint; his nonsense won't amount to a pimple on an elephants ass in the grand scheme of our financial difficulties). More likely they will send a ripple effect across the services we use daily. Time will tell.

Nope, my bigger concerns are regarding the allegations/hopes trump has this all figured out. Tariffs will be our salvation. Hell, Karoline Leavitt (the 29 year old firebrand) just yesterday told us to "trust in trump" because he is working from a proven track record (or some such nonsense). Every time i saw the clip i hollered at the screen; proven by whom and when? Damn, she refused to answer.

There-in is the problem; we know from one of my above posts "Ron Vara, (goodness that Peter Navaro is a clever guy) has spouted the nonsense but the massive number of economists have said this is crazy talk. Is it possible trump. Navaro and Leavitt are all smarter than everyone else? Maybe, you know just like maybe manufacturing jobs will come streaming back into the USA. If they do in the next ten years, it would be on the backs of robotics, but that would take massive investments by corporations who understand the nature of political changes.

Back to trump and his first term in office. Who remembers this: "I’m the king of debt. I’m great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me,” I can post the video where he bragged about it in 2016 or i could post the rest of his remarks where he just argues about his negotiation skills and concluded with this remark: "You go back and you say, hey guess what, the economy crashed. I’m going to give you back half.”

That's what he did throughout his entire career, screwed little people who he contracted with and then demanded everything at half what he initially agreed to pay them. It worked, not sure how he slept at night but not my problem. Would it surprise anyone if i told you there are rumors about defaulting on paying off bonds at full face value? Sorry, that's not the way government works and in all likelihood why bond owners are selling them now.

Let's get back to looking at trump's first term in office, if he was serious about getting a handle on our debt crisis this would not have happened: "The U.S. national debt increased by 39% under Trump, reaching $27.75 trillion by the end of his term." He simply didn't care; why would the "king of debt" care about more debt. Debt is good according to trump. And to be even more blunt, a good portion of that national debt increase was due the 2017 tax cuts where the bulk of the cuts went to the millionaires and billionaires.

Now, with the house and senate working overtime to just pass trumps big beautiful bill by "closing their eyes" and doing it, we are on the brink of even more financial ruin. The phony accounting procedures for "costing out" the bill have been exposed for what they are, a scam on the American public. You want me to believe trump is the real deal? Restore taxes on the most wealthy to levels that help lower the national debt, not explode it.

Until that happens, it's just more of the same, a con job on the American public with the little guy coming out on the short end; with the richest of the rich becoming even more wealthy.