Courting Disaster
Monday, March 16th, 2026
Bill Bonner, writing from Youghal, Ireland
The most remarkable thing about the bombing of Iran is the premise behind it. We’ll come back to that in a minute. First, the economic news, from the Washington Post:
The Commerce Department downwardly revised its estimate of economic growth in the fourth quarter of last year, saying that gross domestic product expanded at just 0.7 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2025, much smaller than the 1.4 percent pace the department had reported in an “advance” estimate last month.
The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, rose 2.8 percent over the prior year, a slight decline from December but still well above the Fed’s 2 percent target. More concerning to some economists, so-called core PCE inflation — which strips out volatile food and energy prices and is closely watched as a measure of underlying price trends — ticked up to 3.1 percent in January from 3.0 percent in December.
Low growth? Higher prices? Sounds like stagflation.
Whatever it is, the attack on Iran makes it worse. The firepower industry gets richer. Everyone else gets poorer.
And now that Kristi Noem is gone, Pete Hegseth must be the most embarrassing member of America’s presidential cabinet. He thinks you win a war by blowing things up.
But what is the point of it? So far, the only explanation that makes sense comes from Mr. Hegseth, who suggests that the goal was to take out Iran’s defenses...so we could bomb it some more. The Wall Street Journal:
Hegseth Says U.S. and Israel Are Winning
“The United States is decimating the radical Iranian regime’s military, in a way the world has never seen before,” he said during a Pentagon news conference Friday.
“Never before has a modern, capable military, which Iran used to have, been so quickly destroyed and made combat ineffective, devastated. We said it would not be a fair fight, and it has not been.”
They are ‘bad people,’ says POTUS. Maybe bombing them will turn them into good people?
As near as we can tell, the underlying motive for both the attack on Iraq and the attack on Iran were the same — to make these countries more fetching to US eyes...and more compliant with its policies. That is, we aimed to turn these bad people into our friends and allies.
But the idea of bombing a country to make it a friend...is a little like assaulting a woman to win her affection. She won’t cooperate? Give her the ol’ bitchslap.
This is something both Hegseth and Trump are reputed to have personal experience with, so we will defer to their judgement. But we imagine that it only works on a very unique woman.
Iran may not be that gal. That Wall Street Journal:
Oil market’s new reality: The Gulf disruption isn’t going to end soon
When the U.S. and Israel first attacked Iran, some traders initially expected days of disorder. Now they are expecting the turmoil to last weeks or even months. On Thursday, Brent crude shot back above $100 a barrel amid growing concerns about a protracted period of disruption to the oil markets. Futures settled at $100.46, up more than 9% for the day.
Iraq turned out not to be that kind of woman either. Even after $5 trillion spent to impress her...she’s still not cooperating. In the Iraqi Parliament, members chant “Death to America.” And out on the streets, Americans may get more than just smiles. The Financial Times:
Shia militias targeted a US diplomatic and logistics facility inside Baghdad’s airport complex with several drones on Tuesday night, said people familiar with the situation. All but one were intercepted. The people said retaliatory strikes were then launched on militia positions on Wednesday. The armed groups have also attacked oil installations, an airport and several hotels housing US citizens in Erbil and have claimed attacks on Jordan and Kuwait. An Italian military base in Iraq’s Kurdistan region was also struck.
The New York Times adds:
U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Targeted as Iraq Gets Drawn Deeper Into Regional War
Apparently, we didn’t bomb them enough.
Regards,
Bill Bonner
How about this analogy? Trump and Netanyahu are sitting with acquaintances at the end of the bar. They look down the bar at Iran and say to themselves "Let's kick that guy's ass." The fight starts and Iran is holding its own. So Trump looks down the bar at NATO, Japan and China and says "You guys got to help us". But they respond "Bartender, another round and some more popcorn. Let's watch the fight".
Two Ayatollah’s K-1 and K-2 took over Iran with purpose.
Control the people, control the country, use all its wealth to complete the Final Solution of exterminating Judaism and also Westernism.
In the meantime steal as much wealth for themselves, their support murderous bodyguards and sycophantic opportunists, and let the Persian rank and file be treated as serfs and slaves totally disposable.
The success of this terror model after 50 years was nearing completion, thanks to hand wringing politicians and a corrupt UN and no one prepared to take on the Islamic Republic of Terror, even when nuclear an their development of options were evident as war driven and close to operative.
Since 1948 the Jewish community in Israel determined they are not going to be exterminated again. So with guts, determination and outstanding smarts, they develop their tiny patch of ground to maximum productivity, innovation and preparedness to be good world citizens in harsh surroundings. The sense of existential threat demands, intelligence and fighting for survival as David vs Islamic Goliath nations surrounding their ENTIRE living space as a nation has been constant and evident by multiple wars.
Then finally a leader step up for Western civilisation and nations who says this is totally unacceptable.
“My predecessors said STOP!
“ You ignored them snd kicked them in the guts and have killed many of our people and continued to lie, cheat, abuse take our goodwill and spit in our faces. ENOUGH!
“You even funded and supplied your many others to do your dirty work, kill, destroy, maim and create global terror as mainstream medieval religious thugs, that 90% of world knows is garbage and evil. YOU ARE NOW GOING TO DIE YOURSELVES!
Trump love or hate him is THE single national leader and individual has called out in these terms, the geriatric tyrant K-2 and many of his leaders, commanders and just BLEW THEM AWAY to dust.
That the 50 years of the building of a terrorist cancer cannot be gotten rid of in 3 weeks is stupidity. It is a stage 4 cancer and to deal with all its metastases is going to take years.
Thank heavens he has had the balls to get his countries resources to take action to obliterate the curse that even the wimpy Gulf neighbours should have started punishing over tens of years ago. They all knew what K-1 and K-2 stood for, did and were full committed to as terrorists in black turbans and grey beards.
That the various Gulfies new cities and towers, are suddenly not proving quite such safe havens for millionaires, multi-billion families, economically and physically drone vulnerable, despite sitting on their thrones, oil wells, bank accounts, gold and new found infrastructure, shows their own arrogance ignorance, lack of common sense and world scenario planning.
Trump is not the idiot he disguises himself to be. He has stirred the ants nest just in time.