Bipartisan Boondoggles

The two parties are doing something that China, Russia, Iran et al might like to do, but lack the means to do it. They’re bankrupting and impoverishing the USA.

Tuesday, March 24th, 2026

Bill Bonner, from Youghal, Ireland

We’re watching the news. Our head is spinning...where’s the rhyme? Where’s the reason? The Jerusalem Post:

US-Iran tensions rise as both sides threaten attacks on Gulf energy facilities

But hold on. That was on Saturday. Trump gave Iran 48 hours to free up the Strait of Hormuz.

Apparently, Iran’s supreme leader was in no mood for threats. His father, his mother, his sister, his nephew and his brother-in-law — all were murdered by the US/Israeli war machine. And his father was the spiritual leader of his faith...a bit like the Pope for Catholics.

How likely was it that Mr. Khamenei would come to terms with Trump/Netanyahu and let bygones be bygones? Not very. He replied that if the US attacks his energy, he would attack energy infrastructure all around the Gulf.

‘Tit for tat,’ is how US commentators describe it, finally discovering that you reap what you sow. Then, Iran’s armed forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi mentioned another tat that might be putting down roots:

“We are watching your cowardly officials and commanders, pilots and wicked soldiers. From now on, based on the information we have on you, the promenades, resorts and tourist and entertainment centres in the world will not be safe.”

Taking the hint, The Independent:

US warns Americans across globe to ‘exercise increased caution’

It must have been about then...on Sunday...that Mr. Trump realized he had his own you-know-what in a wringer. Negotiator that he is, he tried to back out of the deal…a TACO...as he did with reciprocal sanctions, Greenland, and other things. His popularity was said to be crashing. Gas prices were going up. The economy might be going down. And most important, elections are coming. Reuters:

Trump backs down on strikes on Iran’s power network, says US and Tehran holding talks

He even proposed a “joint leadership” for Iran. Who would do it? ‘Me,’ he says, suggesting that the ‘me’ in question may have lost the plot completely.

Now, as he did with the Epstein files, POTUS is telling Americans to look the other way. The war ‘has already been won,’ he says. It’s over. Iran is ‘dead,’ he claims. And now we need a new enemy.

Who dat? Cuba? The New York Post:

President Trump said Monday that he expects to have the “honor” of “taking Cuba,” days after the island’s communist government acknowledged it was in talks with the US.

“You know, all my life I’ve been hearing about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States do it?

“I do believe I’ll have the honor of taking Cuba...that’s a big honor.”

But then, we learned that he has another enemy in mind:

Now with the death of Iran, the greatest enemy America has is the Radical Left, Highly Incompetent, Democrat Party! Thank you for your attention to this matter.

We pause here to celebrate the president’s half-smart honesty. At 50%, he’s more right than usual. The biggest enemy the US faces is not Iran. Or Cuba. Or Russia. Or China.

None of them are likely to do Americans any harm, except inasmuch as we try to harm them. Our major enemies are not overseas. They are homegrown...homeland bound...homies.

But he left out the other half of America’s big enemy — Republicans. Together the two parties put Americans in debt for $39 trillion dollars. That’s about $325,000 per family. And it’s currently going up by about $2 trillion per year — rising about twice as fast as GDP.

In other words, the two parties are doing something that China, Russia, Iran et al might like to do, but lack the means to do it. They’re bankrupting and impoverishing the USA.

Both parties nodded in consent to the biggest boondoggles to come down the pike — the war on Iraq...the war on Afghanistan...Obamacare...the Wall Street bailout of 2008....the Covid lockdown and stimmie program...and now, the war on Iran.

Obviously, America’s families can’t afford to pay for these things. Trump is right, too, that the attacks on Iran should end immediately. But it appears that he is not the one — or at least, not the only one — who is calling the shots.

Money talks. The politicians listen. And Netanyahu is telling them that Iran cannot be allowed to exist in its present form. Iran sees Israel as an existential threat, too...one that must be eliminated. Neither Netanyahu nor Khamenei seem inclined to CO (chicken out). And the question before us is this: has Armageddon been cancelled. Or merely postponed?

Unreconstructed catastrophists that we are, our advice today is to lay in some extra supplies of medicine and necessities. You never know when all Hell may break loose, and you never know where the sparks will fly...or what they may ignite.

Regards,

Bill Bonner

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Research Note, by Dan Denning

If there’s an off ramp to total currency destruction and hyperinflation, the US government had better take it now. The US Treasury Department has published its Financial Report of the United States government for 2025. The word ‘unsustainable’ appears 18 times. The word ‘crisis’ 14 times. Gold, a surprising 19 times (gold is an asset on the government’s balance sheet so it must necessarily show up somewhere).

The report is a slog. But we’ll go through it this week and report back to you on any new and important findings. For now, please note that debt held by the public finished 2025 at 99% of GDP. The historical high is 106%. From 1980 to 2025, the average was 53%. By the time debt-to-GDP reaches 576% (100 years from now, according to the report) America as we know it may no longer exist.

If government bonds become a casualty of the US war in Iran, then the American public or the Fed will have to buy more of it. The Fed may do so through Quantitative Easing—expanding the money supply (and inflation) out of thin air. The public, through financial repression, may be forced to buy government bonds to fund annual deficits of $2 trillion and annual interest payments of $1 trillion (unless the budget its balanced, spending is slashed, and the forever wars are ended).