Instead of by, for, and of ‘The People,’ government is taken over by smallish, privileged elites who devote their entire careers to extracting wealth and power from the people they are meant to serve.
Thank you Bill for a well reasoned comment on the dilemma of governance of men. Kingship and its attenders, conquerors and elected officialdom all have limitations and attract exploiters within whatever system is in power. The extraordinary advantages enjoyed by this nation as it developed allowed an expansion of global power and a hubris that masked its creeping corruption. The loss of integrity and virtue weakened the ability to limit corruption within the leadership. It also limited the citizens ability to clearly see the flaws within the candidates.
Self serving is the criteria of fellowship within the political structures of the candidates and the government body as a whole. It is the arena in which personal security is provided by generalized protection from consequences. There are exceptional individuals within the various structures above but they are a distinct minority and are at risk of sabotage because of their unreliability to protect the rot.
To sum it up, there is not a majority to support reform. Trump is a narcissist, a limitation of his personality. It will affect his decisions, his priorities, and the associates who can withstand his emotional needs.
But, he has selected reform as his MAJOR THEME of Presidential duties. This is a significant departure from his recent predecessors. He, like all before him, will make mistakes. We the people will have to cope with their impact. But his overriding message has been the mission to restore employment, ambition, self-reliance and increased prosperity for the American citizens.
Most, not all, in the tangled web of government will resist his efforts by all available means. He will respond by all available means to overpower them. Yes, he is a big man. Other reformers have not stood up to take that responsibility. I wish him well, I believe he wishes us well.
Spot-on Steve with acknowledgement to Bill's view of the limitations the Big Man has. He isn't independent of the courts, Congress, elites, etc. Plus Big Men want to do Big Things. Focusing back on America - cutting spending and wasteful departments while completely re-focusing our military including cutting the defense budget by 2/3 - are not necessarily Big Things to the new Big Man and his Big Minions I fear. They want the World Stage focused on them and this provides the narcissistic high they so actively crave. Doesn't seem to matter whether it is good or bad - they just need the attention. My view - unfortunately - sees the US$ crumbling and the credit bubble exploring. But I still like to hear Dusty sing - Wishin' and Hopin' - even though Dylan was right - the World It's A-changin'. As always, one Ol' Man's opinion
Bill: Again with your bullshit. Trump’s speech was exceptional. He has done more in 6 weeks than must previous administrations have done on their term. This is just the beginning. This ‘big man’ will surprise EVEN YOU when he continues his remedies that the USA needs. I am looking forward for the next year or two to see what unbelievable accomplishments his administration has done. give the man a chance; he has a lot of bad policies that need to be reversed. AP
Bill has no solutions, just a deep look backwards. His TDS is going to get him back in Hopkins, is there enough anti-depressants in the world, IDK. What I do know, is the man, Trump, is in office a mere 43 days and BB is on him like white on rice. You know, just like he did to the Biden corrupted admin. Right? How much prose did our BPR leader write about any of that... As I recall, nil. so STFU already and give the new man a chance. Else we continue to suffer under our own stupidity. Stupidity for allowing the noon-elect to spend our money and run our currently defective system.
So true - it's called selectively ignoring the people and facts that don't align with your narrative. I, for one, would LOVE to see a Bonner deep dive into a few select individuals, what they have done over the last 20 years and its effect on our Economy and Global Position, from where they have collected their "income" and what they seem to be doing and planning for now. Sounds like a lot of research, or Bill could just call up some old friends and ask what orders they have given to the dancing monkeys to determine answers to all the questions above.
Start with Susan Rice, Anthony Blinken, Victoria Nuland, John Brennan and Marc Elias. If Bill is feeling froggy, maybe pen a second missive about the Redneck from Chicago Barry Soetoro, Skanky McKanckles Clinton and Bag Boy James Biden.
Never gonna happen on these pages. Too many of those individuals are too closely associated with higher-ups whom are on Bill Bonner's speed dial. As a result, the Propaganda runs deep, swift and thick - rotting all the way down into an allegedly "financial" little substack we all know and love...
I'm with you, the nation at that level has become so corrupt they can no longer track what lies they told or to who. It would be great if BB put his considerable skills and assets to helping figure that out.
To illustrate how unserious Republicans are about cutting spending, President Trump just endorsed adopting a continuing resolution (CR) through September.
This means that Joe Biden’s spending levels and priorities would be extended through the end of the fiscal year.
It also means that Congress would vote on one spending bill that combines all the departments rather than 12 separate bills that allow for more calibrated changes.
GOP leaders have hinted at slightly modifying the CR with some of the @DOGE “cuts,” but even if that were to happen, those items are minuscule relative to the overall bill, so fundamentally we’d be getting a full fiscal year of Biden spending.
People will continue to make excuses for what’s happening, but those excuses will not change the end result. Congress and the White House are pursuing the status quo on spending.
It’s not surprising to those of us who know how bad Washington is, but it’s still appalling.
Whether they’re Democrats or Republicans, nearly all of them—with rare exceptions like @RandPaul and @RepThomasMassie—simply do not care about the fiscal and economic health of the country.
The fix is simple: As a general matter, total expenditures should be limited to the average annual revenue collected in the three prior years. This can be implemented gradually, but it has to be implemented.
The problem is that there’s no current effort at the top to do so even though the president and congressional leaders have tremendous leverage to make it happen.
"All we needed was a new president," was in reference to closing the boarder. And you know what? It was exactly true. Biden and co. were deliberately leaving the boarder open, and in fact, were paying untold billions to help smuggle people across it, including flying over 1 million foreigners directly into the mainland America where they were promptly set up on well-fare. So compassionate towards the taxpayers. Thank goodness for the "small men," who rob us blind for our own benefit. Thank goodness the majority of America saw through the tsunami of USAID propaganda and voted for the Big Man to replace the grifting and senile Biden.
I'm left wondering why you wouldn't take the opportunity to point out the obvious distinction between Trump and the others in your AI generated photograph and the supporting write-up. That distinction being Trumps effort to reduce the Federal government and return control to the States. This is a glaring failure.
This time you've finally gone overboard with TDS: "Big Men" don't try to make government smaller, they don't try to return power to the states, and many of them try to become grifter-in-chief instead of cutting-off grifters where a fair judiciary is possible.
Trump is Trump, his style is over-the-top, but his speech at SOTU was actually well-put-together, he had moments of humor, and it would have been obvious to almost anyone but you, apparently, that the grifting going on - Trump read off a list of $$$ and programs that were ridiculous -- is out-of-control.
If Trump and Musk/DOGE aren't successful, the US finally goes bankrupt. One would have thought Bill Bonner would applaud the efforts and even lean-in.
I thought I was nice, actually - and practiced considerable restraint by not sharing my immediate reaction [and rant] to an off-brand and serious-TDS-display in today's email. WTH, all the emails regarding fiscal responsibility or lack thereof, favorable commentary about Milei, and now this?
Bonner ignorantly writes that the "Declaration of Independence in 1776 began the Age of Democracy." Rather, properly understood, it should have begun the "Age of Individual Rights". After all, didn't it state that each person had the right to his own life, his own liberty, and his own pursuit of happiness", the details of which were later written into our Constitution (unfortunately, with some flaws which have been exploited over the many years by the statists). The Founders of this country gave us a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. The Founders knew that democracy was nothing more than mob rule, and while we vote for our representatives, they are supposed to abide by the rules of the Constitution which are predominately in defense of individual rights. But it is not only Bonner who does not understand this. Many of our presidents have had the same problem, both Republican and Democrat. So, in spouting off that democracy was the key to legitimacy, terrorist organizations like Hamas or the PLO say "okay, let's get elected". Same goes for the rest of the thugs who are ruling countries as they go through the motions of an election to feign democracy and therefore legitimacy.
If you want a civilized society, Bill, or a civilized world, it has to be based on individual rights, a key truth missing from all of your writings. And it is the main reason why so much of what you write is truly misguided.
Well said. We are not a democracy. I'm not sure but I think the last true democracy was Greece. If we were a true democracy during the George Floyd panic era,we'd probably be in squid games now. At least those of us not wearing a mask or sporting purple hair.
The Greek city states had democracy for a tiny percent of male citizens. Most were slaves, both captured and hereditary.
The militaristic Sparta city state got down to only about 450 male voting citizens. So there is not much in common with modern democracy's with 10s or hundreds of millions of citizens.
Democracy can only function well with Christian values as the base, every individual is made by God differently with different gifts, personalities and abilities, yet each person is equally valued by God. People need to respect others for democracy to work and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" needs to be to a working value.
Bill, I'd caution you with conflating a Democracy with a Constitutional Republic. There's a big difference. A Democracy is Communism-Lite and not what our Founders envisioned for America. Most of us here know that Lincoln killed the Constitutional Republic and Wilson and FDR hammered the coffin shut. We also know that a Democracy eventually devolves into an Authoritarian/Fascist nightmare for the masses. The big question is: "Is Trump our benevolent Dictator?" It's a fool's errand to expect a good outcome when over half your citizens are parasites :-)
Bill has no solutions, just a deep look backwards. His TDS is going to get him back in Hopkins, is there enough anti-depressants in the world, IDK. What I do know, is the man, Trump, is in office a mere 43 days and BB is on him like white on rice. You know, just like he did to the Biden corrupted admin. Right? How much prose did our BPR leader write about any of that... As I recall, nil. So do us all a favor and STFU already, give the new man a chance! Else we continue to suffer under our own stupidity. Stupidity for allowing the non-elect to spend our money and run our currently defective system.
Stupid? The only thing stupid is comments out of your league, you have no idea what 75% of that comment even means, i think you type gibberish like this to feel relevant. You can stop now, you are not.
I don't get the Napolean reference. Only the aristocracy was allowed to marshall armies and the masses until after the revolution, without which Napolean would have never been able to rise in rank and station to become the great military leader of his time. That same upward mobility is what, ironically, two billionaires are trying to resurrect for the unwashed in America. I recently read a piece about the British who are to this day very much enthralled with their royalty, frown on their lessors becoming a bit too much of themselves, and hate any success one achieves above one's station. I will take the two non-politician billionaires running things any day.
If you can't see what Trump is really doing, I genuinely hope you're comfortable aligning yourself with that side of history. Trump's actions aren't about empowering states or saving money—he has openly turned his back on America's longstanding allies and instead aligned himself with authoritarian leaders.
Consider the figures, both living and dead, depicted alongside him in the image from the article. You know, the "Who's Who" of guys your history teacher told you NOT to emulate.
But seriously—why is Trump doing this?
Because it's not about cutting costs or promoting federalism. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿—𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲. Trump's recent actions, especially abandoning Ukraine, signal a deliberate shift in geopolitical alliances. It's like he's playing geopolitical Jenga—only he's intentionally removing the stability blocks from the bottom to increase his leverage and consolidate power.
If Trump truly wanted to tackle America's $36 trillion deficit, he'd start by cleaning his own house—not setting fire to the neighbor’s yard. There’s plenty to clean up domestically without needlessly provoking allies. Pretending to your own family, from your side of the fence, that you're doing what's best—while your neighbor stands bewildered on the other side thinking, "What the hell, Donald?"—only highlights the absurdity and recklessness of his actions.
He didn't need to explicitly vote against Ukraine to save money—he could have abstained. But explicitly siding with Russia? Even China knows better. And when you're less diplomatic than China, maybe it's time for some serious introspection.
Trump’s decision directly undermines commitments such as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, where Ukraine relinquished its nuclear arsenal based on promises from Russia (Yeltsin), the US (Clinton), and the UK (Major) to respect its sovereignty and borders. Today, Ukrainians pay dearly for believing those assurances, now proven worthless. Europe is left vulnerable, and aggressive nations are emboldened.
Clearly, someone didn't get the memo. Literally, there was a memo—it's called the Budapest Memorandum. Turns out, paper promises are only good until someone decides they aren't.
Poland? No nukes. If you retaliate, someone pushes the big red button. What could possibly go wrong?
We're headed toward a grim future: Europe divided and dominated by Russia, Southeast Asia increasingly under China's influence, and rising tensions right here in North America—including Canada, Greenland, and Central America. Trump’s path isn't leading toward freedom; it's leading toward instability and conflict. There's no cost savings in invading your neighbors—just the grim satisfaction of increased power.
Trump's rhetoric on fentanyl and border security? Pure theater. We don’t endlessly point out that most guns smuggled into Canada come from the US, nor do we make a spectacle of the fact that more fentanyl flows northward than southward. Border crossings are each nation's own responsibility. But hey, why let facts interfere with a good invasion story?
Trump knows this; he's simply setting up Canada (and Mexico) to make a mistake—providing him with a pretext for aggression. Because why fight an imaginary enemy when you can create a real one?
Again, this isn't about money. It's about power—and maybe just a little about ratings.
But don't underestimate Americans—the other 50%. History has repeatedly shown how resilient and determined the American people can be when faced with adversity. America has overcome dark hours before by choosing to do what’s right.
I don’t believe that Trump is ‘siding’ with anyone, including authoritarian leaders. He wants peace and is willing to communicate with people he personally might despise. Power is in the eye of the beholder, Trump has to show strength and determination to turn around many years or corruption and theft. If he was like Biden everything would remain the same. AP
It sure is hard to tell with Trump. One day he's got the answer. Next day, he's got a different one. One day its tariffs on his neighbors hoping they give him pretext for an invasion. Which Canada nearly gave him by shutting down the grid.
Next day he's trying to broker a peace deal. But when it goes south, he removes intelligence sharing. Then talks resume, but without him present, for we all know how that would have turned out.
That isn't the art of the deal. That's a 13 year old adolescent being given the keys to the house, while his parents are on the other side of the planet. And the kid? Doing whatever the hell he wants to do.
The neighbors just can't wait until the parents come home and put out the house fire. Before the neighborhood burns to the ground.
Mr. Lucas, you do know that America was instrumental in starting the Ukraine war. When you look at the shelling of the Donbass region, plus the Maidan Revolution in 2014, and add in the Minsk Accords. In 1962, when Kennedy told the Russians to get those missiles out of Cuba, he was prepared to go to war. This is the exact same scenario. There was absolutely no reason for this country to be afraid of Russia other than nuclear. This whole war is total BS. The European Union with 500 million people, once the American republic with 350 million people, to defend against 150 million Russians... makes no sense at all.
Not so sure that America started the war in Ukraine. But they certainly saw an opportunity in the civil unrest of 2014 and made the best of it—just as Russia and Putin did when they tried to keep Ukraine in their orbit with a $15 billion aid package in 2013. You know, to help with education, infrastructure, and a little bit of grift thrown in for good measure. Of that, $3 billion actually made it to Ukraine before Yanukovych was ousted during the Euromaidan Revolution.
Let’s face it—people were tired of corruption. We have relatives over there, and we heard about it before, during, and after the fighting.
After the government collapsed, Yanukovych’s mansion was all over the news. The golden chandeliers, private zoo, and luxury cars—a lifestyle far beyond what a civil servant should afford—were paraded front and center. More than $70 million in personal assets were frozen across multiple Western countries. Ukraine was corrupt then. Not sure how much better it was after that.
In 2016, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) released documents showing illegal payments from Yanukovych’s Party of Regions to various politicians and officials. One of them? Paul Manafort—yeah, the guy who later became Trump’s campaign chairman. These were Ukrainian funds, but some of the money flowed through Russian-linked oligarchs. What better way to launder the stuff?
How much of this is true? Hard to say. Are people dying? Yes. Is it horrible? Absolutely. Should it stop as soon as possible? Without question.
And this goes for every war that was ever waged, since the dawn of time.
That said, the fact that NATO is on Russia’s borders does not escape me. This all started in 1990, when U.S. Secretary of State James Baker told Gorbachev that if Germany was allowed to unify and stay in NATO, the alliance would not expand "one inch eastward." Yeltsin later echoed that same stance, but NATO continued its expansion anyway. His argument fell on deaf ears.
He was the old guard. Then came Putin, the new guard. You know the type—like leaders before him, he saw an opportunity to "right the wrong" as he perceived it. A slap to Russia’s face when assurances were cast aside.
His first snub? The 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Not a formal treaty, just a security "assurance"—no different than Baker’s verbal promise to Gorbachev.
Now, think back to 1962—the Cuban Missile Crisis. When the Soviets tried to put nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off U.S. shores, Kennedy wasn’t having it. He was prepared to go to war over it. That’s how serious the U.S. took the idea of enemy missiles so close to home.
Fast forward to today—what if NATO had set up missile systems in Ukraine? If Ukraine ever did join NATO, what then? Putin could have reacted the same way Kennedy did—with threats, diplomacy, maybe even a naval blockade. But instead of taking that route, he invaded Ukraine outright.
Kennedy never invaded Cuba. He didn’t send troops to storm Havana. Putin did in Ukraine.
So, what’s Putin really after?
Is he creating a buffer zone for Russia—like the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are for North America?
Yes, big men date back to the early Roman Republic, ordinarily ruled by a triumvirate but in an emergency they elected a Big Man. Where did Napoleon come from, a mathematical genius from an obscure military school but when the monarchies
Threatened he did the impossible made a rabble into a winning army. He did some great things, some lasting things; that exist, today, in Bill’s France. Napoleon waged war either from necessity or because he began to like it; it seems the whole elite world of Lords and Nobels and Kings were against him.
Was Britain ever a democracy, if it was, only the Lords ruled. They did a competent job. Then you have Big Man Churchill, Empire man, that hated any rival meaning Germany. Was a big cause of WW1 and WW2.
It’s like despicable heresy to throw Washington into Bill’s derogatory rendition of Big Man since he could have been and relinquished it like Cincinnatus.
Big Man Moa transformed China. They have surpassed America, they have 5,000 miles of high speed trains, a modern infrastructure and the average Chinaman never dreamed life could be so good.
Trump was a little man from New York, he always had a big ego but if you listened to him at 35 he made sense.
He makes sense to the majority of Americans. The vaunted market has spoken except, somehow, Bill doesn’t believe in this market.
Right now, Trump is big man Napoleon. He has raised up an army to fight the shits. Thank God for Trump, there was no one else and, for whatever reason, he stepped up.
Step up, Bill or step out. I love you man but you have become whom you rail against..
You are right. The key MAGA light group (Independents) who voted for Trump, voted for him to be dictator for a day....effectively for the first year or 18 months...do what he can to clean house, get laws passed, and get us onto a trajectory where our middle class will grow in size and earnings power rather than stagnate. If he's lucky he gets a second 18 months. And his legacy will be if he can hand the work to a Millennial or Gen Z type who can revert back to more rules based whatever. Bessent said today if we had 4 years like the 4 years we just head, this country would not be recoverable with so much debt. If Trump and Bessent are lucky and good, we can bend the growth of government down and bend the growth of the middle class up. Will be beautiful, if we survive the short term pain.
With all do respect, your comment in this letter is heavily "colored" by your severe case of TDS... I watched President Trump's address and can say with confident that the quote you used is incorrect. "‘There will be a little disturbance, but we are OK with that… all we needed was a new President. ‘ this quote is butchered.
You can have your personal preferences indeed, but at least be accurate if you quote our president.
Here what President Trump said referring to his strategic use of tariffs: "‘There will be a little disturbance at the beginning, but we are OK with that… right?"
And here what President Trump said regarding the stopping the invasion on our borders: "Biden was saying that he cannot stop the illegal crossing because we needed the congress to act / come up with a new immigration law. It turned out that all we needed was... a new President."
His speech was inspiring, uplifting, energizing. Many people feel a renewed enthusiasm for our country. Yet you, predictably, emphasize true and untrue imperfections of Mr Trump.
He is NOT a perfect man, NOBODY is. But he is a perfect instrument to give the United States a chance to stop the destruction and come back to greatness that we once had...
Furthermore, while you might be brilliant in many financial matters, when you write about any topic (e.g. history, economy, culture, etc.) that somehow has reference to our president, you are VERY impartial and often inaccurate.
Frankly, I am puzzled by this observation....
As we all know, President Trump, just like Elon Musk, didn't have to do it. They CHOSE to save our country. At a great cost - financial, personal, mental.
And if you, as brilliant man as yo might be, don't see that, you're blinded by jealousy and G-d knows what else.
Thank you Bill for a well reasoned comment on the dilemma of governance of men. Kingship and its attenders, conquerors and elected officialdom all have limitations and attract exploiters within whatever system is in power. The extraordinary advantages enjoyed by this nation as it developed allowed an expansion of global power and a hubris that masked its creeping corruption. The loss of integrity and virtue weakened the ability to limit corruption within the leadership. It also limited the citizens ability to clearly see the flaws within the candidates.
Self serving is the criteria of fellowship within the political structures of the candidates and the government body as a whole. It is the arena in which personal security is provided by generalized protection from consequences. There are exceptional individuals within the various structures above but they are a distinct minority and are at risk of sabotage because of their unreliability to protect the rot.
To sum it up, there is not a majority to support reform. Trump is a narcissist, a limitation of his personality. It will affect his decisions, his priorities, and the associates who can withstand his emotional needs.
But, he has selected reform as his MAJOR THEME of Presidential duties. This is a significant departure from his recent predecessors. He, like all before him, will make mistakes. We the people will have to cope with their impact. But his overriding message has been the mission to restore employment, ambition, self-reliance and increased prosperity for the American citizens.
Most, not all, in the tangled web of government will resist his efforts by all available means. He will respond by all available means to overpower them. Yes, he is a big man. Other reformers have not stood up to take that responsibility. I wish him well, I believe he wishes us well.
Thank you for a calm, rational post, Mr. Steve.
IMO, every single sentence in your comment is 100% True, Fair and Evident...
Spot-on Steve with acknowledgement to Bill's view of the limitations the Big Man has. He isn't independent of the courts, Congress, elites, etc. Plus Big Men want to do Big Things. Focusing back on America - cutting spending and wasteful departments while completely re-focusing our military including cutting the defense budget by 2/3 - are not necessarily Big Things to the new Big Man and his Big Minions I fear. They want the World Stage focused on them and this provides the narcissistic high they so actively crave. Doesn't seem to matter whether it is good or bad - they just need the attention. My view - unfortunately - sees the US$ crumbling and the credit bubble exploring. But I still like to hear Dusty sing - Wishin' and Hopin' - even though Dylan was right - the World It's A-changin'. As always, one Ol' Man's opinion
Bravo.
Steve:
Well said. I agree with you 100%
AP
Bill: Again with your bullshit. Trump’s speech was exceptional. He has done more in 6 weeks than must previous administrations have done on their term. This is just the beginning. This ‘big man’ will surprise EVEN YOU when he continues his remedies that the USA needs. I am looking forward for the next year or two to see what unbelievable accomplishments his administration has done. give the man a chance; he has a lot of bad policies that need to be reversed. AP
Bill has no solutions, just a deep look backwards. His TDS is going to get him back in Hopkins, is there enough anti-depressants in the world, IDK. What I do know, is the man, Trump, is in office a mere 43 days and BB is on him like white on rice. You know, just like he did to the Biden corrupted admin. Right? How much prose did our BPR leader write about any of that... As I recall, nil. so STFU already and give the new man a chance. Else we continue to suffer under our own stupidity. Stupidity for allowing the noon-elect to spend our money and run our currently defective system.
So true - it's called selectively ignoring the people and facts that don't align with your narrative. I, for one, would LOVE to see a Bonner deep dive into a few select individuals, what they have done over the last 20 years and its effect on our Economy and Global Position, from where they have collected their "income" and what they seem to be doing and planning for now. Sounds like a lot of research, or Bill could just call up some old friends and ask what orders they have given to the dancing monkeys to determine answers to all the questions above.
Start with Susan Rice, Anthony Blinken, Victoria Nuland, John Brennan and Marc Elias. If Bill is feeling froggy, maybe pen a second missive about the Redneck from Chicago Barry Soetoro, Skanky McKanckles Clinton and Bag Boy James Biden.
Never gonna happen on these pages. Too many of those individuals are too closely associated with higher-ups whom are on Bill Bonner's speed dial. As a result, the Propaganda runs deep, swift and thick - rotting all the way down into an allegedly "financial" little substack we all know and love...
PS - Start here, Bill:
https://x.com/nataliegwinters/status/1897295065585983602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1897295065585983602%7Ctwgr%5E40a4a4a69c473fb7004a0f45152baab6af214755%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fchoiceclips.whatfinger.com%2F2025%2F03%2F05%2Feveryone-in-victoria-nulands-family-profits-off-sending-young-americans-to-die-for-other-countries-in-the-name-of-democracy%2F
I'm with you, the nation at that level has become so corrupt they can no longer track what lies they told or to who. It would be great if BB put his considerable skills and assets to helping figure that out.
You will never get that information out of Bonner, as you know.
Right, he is content bashing anyone who tries something out of pattern.... Except for the out of pattern stuff the (D's) do.
Justin Amash
@justinamash
To illustrate how unserious Republicans are about cutting spending, President Trump just endorsed adopting a continuing resolution (CR) through September.
This means that Joe Biden’s spending levels and priorities would be extended through the end of the fiscal year.
It also means that Congress would vote on one spending bill that combines all the departments rather than 12 separate bills that allow for more calibrated changes.
GOP leaders have hinted at slightly modifying the CR with some of the @DOGE “cuts,” but even if that were to happen, those items are minuscule relative to the overall bill, so fundamentally we’d be getting a full fiscal year of Biden spending.
People will continue to make excuses for what’s happening, but those excuses will not change the end result. Congress and the White House are pursuing the status quo on spending.
It’s not surprising to those of us who know how bad Washington is, but it’s still appalling.
Whether they’re Democrats or Republicans, nearly all of them—with rare exceptions like @RandPaul and @RepThomasMassie—simply do not care about the fiscal and economic health of the country.
The fix is simple: As a general matter, total expenditures should be limited to the average annual revenue collected in the three prior years. This can be implemented gradually, but it has to be implemented.
The problem is that there’s no current effort at the top to do so even though the president and congressional leaders have tremendous leverage to make it happen.
Dino, you are totally RIGHT and it completely sucks.
I mentioned that MAR25 was THE pivotal month for our Country. So far, we are not "winning"...
Was about to leave a comment but you said it all. Good job!
"All we needed was a new president," was in reference to closing the boarder. And you know what? It was exactly true. Biden and co. were deliberately leaving the boarder open, and in fact, were paying untold billions to help smuggle people across it, including flying over 1 million foreigners directly into the mainland America where they were promptly set up on well-fare. So compassionate towards the taxpayers. Thank goodness for the "small men," who rob us blind for our own benefit. Thank goodness the majority of America saw through the tsunami of USAID propaganda and voted for the Big Man to replace the grifting and senile Biden.
Agreed
I'm left wondering why you wouldn't take the opportunity to point out the obvious distinction between Trump and the others in your AI generated photograph and the supporting write-up. That distinction being Trumps effort to reduce the Federal government and return control to the States. This is a glaring failure.
And that's just one positive difference among dozens...
This time you've finally gone overboard with TDS: "Big Men" don't try to make government smaller, they don't try to return power to the states, and many of them try to become grifter-in-chief instead of cutting-off grifters where a fair judiciary is possible.
Trump is Trump, his style is over-the-top, but his speech at SOTU was actually well-put-together, he had moments of humor, and it would have been obvious to almost anyone but you, apparently, that the grifting going on - Trump read off a list of $$$ and programs that were ridiculous -- is out-of-control.
If Trump and Musk/DOGE aren't successful, the US finally goes bankrupt. One would have thought Bill Bonner would applaud the efforts and even lean-in.
Very disappointing.
Jessica - be nice. Bonner only writes what he writes because he is an idiot. 😎
I thought I was nice, actually - and practiced considerable restraint by not sharing my immediate reaction [and rant] to an off-brand and serious-TDS-display in today's email. WTH, all the emails regarding fiscal responsibility or lack thereof, favorable commentary about Milei, and now this?
Yes, you were nice. Too nice. I like this Jessica post better.
Or he is playing us. It reminds me of mark cuban, the short tank guy. Clearly
capitalist! Has moved left.... Seems phoney, seems like big time opportunist.
Thank you, John. I'm still laughing out loud at that comment!
Thank you WFE, it was one of my better moments.
Agreed
Bonner ignorantly writes that the "Declaration of Independence in 1776 began the Age of Democracy." Rather, properly understood, it should have begun the "Age of Individual Rights". After all, didn't it state that each person had the right to his own life, his own liberty, and his own pursuit of happiness", the details of which were later written into our Constitution (unfortunately, with some flaws which have been exploited over the many years by the statists). The Founders of this country gave us a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. The Founders knew that democracy was nothing more than mob rule, and while we vote for our representatives, they are supposed to abide by the rules of the Constitution which are predominately in defense of individual rights. But it is not only Bonner who does not understand this. Many of our presidents have had the same problem, both Republican and Democrat. So, in spouting off that democracy was the key to legitimacy, terrorist organizations like Hamas or the PLO say "okay, let's get elected". Same goes for the rest of the thugs who are ruling countries as they go through the motions of an election to feign democracy and therefore legitimacy.
If you want a civilized society, Bill, or a civilized world, it has to be based on individual rights, a key truth missing from all of your writings. And it is the main reason why so much of what you write is truly misguided.
Agreed.
The constitution laid down rules applying to government leaving the individual free.
This was reversed over the centuries.
Now the rules apply to the individual leaving the government free to do as it pleases.
The constitution has been well and truly junked
Well said. We are not a democracy. I'm not sure but I think the last true democracy was Greece. If we were a true democracy during the George Floyd panic era,we'd probably be in squid games now. At least those of us not wearing a mask or sporting purple hair.
The Greek city states had democracy for a tiny percent of male citizens. Most were slaves, both captured and hereditary.
The militaristic Sparta city state got down to only about 450 male voting citizens. So there is not much in common with modern democracy's with 10s or hundreds of millions of citizens.
Democracy can only function well with Christian values as the base, every individual is made by God differently with different gifts, personalities and abilities, yet each person is equally valued by God. People need to respect others for democracy to work and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" needs to be to a working value.
Bill, you left out "From each according to his ability and to each according to his needs".
Ha! And Hahahahahahaaaa!!
Bill, I'd caution you with conflating a Democracy with a Constitutional Republic. There's a big difference. A Democracy is Communism-Lite and not what our Founders envisioned for America. Most of us here know that Lincoln killed the Constitutional Republic and Wilson and FDR hammered the coffin shut. We also know that a Democracy eventually devolves into an Authoritarian/Fascist nightmare for the masses. The big question is: "Is Trump our benevolent Dictator?" It's a fool's errand to expect a good outcome when over half your citizens are parasites :-)
With guns no less!
Good thing they can't purchase ammo with their EBT cards :-)
Bill has no solutions, just a deep look backwards. His TDS is going to get him back in Hopkins, is there enough anti-depressants in the world, IDK. What I do know, is the man, Trump, is in office a mere 43 days and BB is on him like white on rice. You know, just like he did to the Biden corrupted admin. Right? How much prose did our BPR leader write about any of that... As I recall, nil. So do us all a favor and STFU already, give the new man a chance! Else we continue to suffer under our own stupidity. Stupidity for allowing the non-elect to spend our money and run our currently defective system.
Mr. stiff , U shouldn't write such a stupid comment let alone repost it.
Who are U anyway? U don't seem to be a working man .
Stupid? The only thing stupid is comments out of your league, you have no idea what 75% of that comment even means, i think you type gibberish like this to feel relevant. You can stop now, you are not.
I agree with you. AP
Patrick:
Mr. Stiff is 100% correct. Your comment just shows how much you prefer previous administrations of incompetence, corruption and theft. AP
I don't get the Napolean reference. Only the aristocracy was allowed to marshall armies and the masses until after the revolution, without which Napolean would have never been able to rise in rank and station to become the great military leader of his time. That same upward mobility is what, ironically, two billionaires are trying to resurrect for the unwashed in America. I recently read a piece about the British who are to this day very much enthralled with their royalty, frown on their lessors becoming a bit too much of themselves, and hate any success one achieves above one's station. I will take the two non-politician billionaires running things any day.
If you can't see what Trump is really doing, I genuinely hope you're comfortable aligning yourself with that side of history. Trump's actions aren't about empowering states or saving money—he has openly turned his back on America's longstanding allies and instead aligned himself with authoritarian leaders.
Consider the figures, both living and dead, depicted alongside him in the image from the article. You know, the "Who's Who" of guys your history teacher told you NOT to emulate.
But seriously—why is Trump doing this?
Because it's not about cutting costs or promoting federalism. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿—𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲. Trump's recent actions, especially abandoning Ukraine, signal a deliberate shift in geopolitical alliances. It's like he's playing geopolitical Jenga—only he's intentionally removing the stability blocks from the bottom to increase his leverage and consolidate power.
If Trump truly wanted to tackle America's $36 trillion deficit, he'd start by cleaning his own house—not setting fire to the neighbor’s yard. There’s plenty to clean up domestically without needlessly provoking allies. Pretending to your own family, from your side of the fence, that you're doing what's best—while your neighbor stands bewildered on the other side thinking, "What the hell, Donald?"—only highlights the absurdity and recklessness of his actions.
He didn't need to explicitly vote against Ukraine to save money—he could have abstained. But explicitly siding with Russia? Even China knows better. And when you're less diplomatic than China, maybe it's time for some serious introspection.
Trump’s decision directly undermines commitments such as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, where Ukraine relinquished its nuclear arsenal based on promises from Russia (Yeltsin), the US (Clinton), and the UK (Major) to respect its sovereignty and borders. Today, Ukrainians pay dearly for believing those assurances, now proven worthless. Europe is left vulnerable, and aggressive nations are emboldened.
Clearly, someone didn't get the memo. Literally, there was a memo—it's called the Budapest Memorandum. Turns out, paper promises are only good until someone decides they aren't.
Poland? No nukes. If you retaliate, someone pushes the big red button. What could possibly go wrong?
We're headed toward a grim future: Europe divided and dominated by Russia, Southeast Asia increasingly under China's influence, and rising tensions right here in North America—including Canada, Greenland, and Central America. Trump’s path isn't leading toward freedom; it's leading toward instability and conflict. There's no cost savings in invading your neighbors—just the grim satisfaction of increased power.
Trump's rhetoric on fentanyl and border security? Pure theater. We don’t endlessly point out that most guns smuggled into Canada come from the US, nor do we make a spectacle of the fact that more fentanyl flows northward than southward. Border crossings are each nation's own responsibility. But hey, why let facts interfere with a good invasion story?
Trump knows this; he's simply setting up Canada (and Mexico) to make a mistake—providing him with a pretext for aggression. Because why fight an imaginary enemy when you can create a real one?
Again, this isn't about money. It's about power—and maybe just a little about ratings.
https://lucaskandia.substack.com/p/the-edge-of-the-abyss-where-empires
But don't underestimate Americans—the other 50%. History has repeatedly shown how resilient and determined the American people can be when faced with adversity. America has overcome dark hours before by choosing to do what’s right.
Let’s hope that remains true in the days to come.
Lucas:
I don’t believe that Trump is ‘siding’ with anyone, including authoritarian leaders. He wants peace and is willing to communicate with people he personally might despise. Power is in the eye of the beholder, Trump has to show strength and determination to turn around many years or corruption and theft. If he was like Biden everything would remain the same. AP
It sure is hard to tell with Trump. One day he's got the answer. Next day, he's got a different one. One day its tariffs on his neighbors hoping they give him pretext for an invasion. Which Canada nearly gave him by shutting down the grid.
Next day he's trying to broker a peace deal. But when it goes south, he removes intelligence sharing. Then talks resume, but without him present, for we all know how that would have turned out.
That isn't the art of the deal. That's a 13 year old adolescent being given the keys to the house, while his parents are on the other side of the planet. And the kid? Doing whatever the hell he wants to do.
The neighbors just can't wait until the parents come home and put out the house fire. Before the neighborhood burns to the ground.
Excellent!
Mr. Lucas, you do know that America was instrumental in starting the Ukraine war. When you look at the shelling of the Donbass region, plus the Maidan Revolution in 2014, and add in the Minsk Accords. In 1962, when Kennedy told the Russians to get those missiles out of Cuba, he was prepared to go to war. This is the exact same scenario. There was absolutely no reason for this country to be afraid of Russia other than nuclear. This whole war is total BS. The European Union with 500 million people, once the American republic with 350 million people, to defend against 150 million Russians... makes no sense at all.
Not so sure that America started the war in Ukraine. But they certainly saw an opportunity in the civil unrest of 2014 and made the best of it—just as Russia and Putin did when they tried to keep Ukraine in their orbit with a $15 billion aid package in 2013. You know, to help with education, infrastructure, and a little bit of grift thrown in for good measure. Of that, $3 billion actually made it to Ukraine before Yanukovych was ousted during the Euromaidan Revolution.
Let’s face it—people were tired of corruption. We have relatives over there, and we heard about it before, during, and after the fighting.
After the government collapsed, Yanukovych’s mansion was all over the news. The golden chandeliers, private zoo, and luxury cars—a lifestyle far beyond what a civil servant should afford—were paraded front and center. More than $70 million in personal assets were frozen across multiple Western countries. Ukraine was corrupt then. Not sure how much better it was after that.
In 2016, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) released documents showing illegal payments from Yanukovych’s Party of Regions to various politicians and officials. One of them? Paul Manafort—yeah, the guy who later became Trump’s campaign chairman. These were Ukrainian funds, but some of the money flowed through Russian-linked oligarchs. What better way to launder the stuff?
How much of this is true? Hard to say. Are people dying? Yes. Is it horrible? Absolutely. Should it stop as soon as possible? Without question.
And this goes for every war that was ever waged, since the dawn of time.
That said, the fact that NATO is on Russia’s borders does not escape me. This all started in 1990, when U.S. Secretary of State James Baker told Gorbachev that if Germany was allowed to unify and stay in NATO, the alliance would not expand "one inch eastward." Yeltsin later echoed that same stance, but NATO continued its expansion anyway. His argument fell on deaf ears.
He was the old guard. Then came Putin, the new guard. You know the type—like leaders before him, he saw an opportunity to "right the wrong" as he perceived it. A slap to Russia’s face when assurances were cast aside.
His first snub? The 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Not a formal treaty, just a security "assurance"—no different than Baker’s verbal promise to Gorbachev.
Then came the slow rise to former glory:
Transnistria (1992) – Yeltsin.
Chechnya (1999) – Putin.
Georgia (2008) – Putin.
Crimea (2014) – Putin.
Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson (2022) – Putin.
Now, think back to 1962—the Cuban Missile Crisis. When the Soviets tried to put nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off U.S. shores, Kennedy wasn’t having it. He was prepared to go to war over it. That’s how serious the U.S. took the idea of enemy missiles so close to home.
Fast forward to today—what if NATO had set up missile systems in Ukraine? If Ukraine ever did join NATO, what then? Putin could have reacted the same way Kennedy did—with threats, diplomacy, maybe even a naval blockade. But instead of taking that route, he invaded Ukraine outright.
Kennedy never invaded Cuba. He didn’t send troops to storm Havana. Putin did in Ukraine.
So, what’s Putin really after?
Is he creating a buffer zone for Russia—like the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are for North America?
Possibly.
Is he consolidating power?
Absolutely.
Yes, big men date back to the early Roman Republic, ordinarily ruled by a triumvirate but in an emergency they elected a Big Man. Where did Napoleon come from, a mathematical genius from an obscure military school but when the monarchies
Threatened he did the impossible made a rabble into a winning army. He did some great things, some lasting things; that exist, today, in Bill’s France. Napoleon waged war either from necessity or because he began to like it; it seems the whole elite world of Lords and Nobels and Kings were against him.
Was Britain ever a democracy, if it was, only the Lords ruled. They did a competent job. Then you have Big Man Churchill, Empire man, that hated any rival meaning Germany. Was a big cause of WW1 and WW2.
It’s like despicable heresy to throw Washington into Bill’s derogatory rendition of Big Man since he could have been and relinquished it like Cincinnatus.
Big Man Moa transformed China. They have surpassed America, they have 5,000 miles of high speed trains, a modern infrastructure and the average Chinaman never dreamed life could be so good.
Trump was a little man from New York, he always had a big ego but if you listened to him at 35 he made sense.
He makes sense to the majority of Americans. The vaunted market has spoken except, somehow, Bill doesn’t believe in this market.
Right now, Trump is big man Napoleon. He has raised up an army to fight the shits. Thank God for Trump, there was no one else and, for whatever reason, he stepped up.
Step up, Bill or step out. I love you man but you have become whom you rail against..
"I love you man but you have become whom you rail against.."
Man, O Man - truer words...
Amen brother
You are right. The key MAGA light group (Independents) who voted for Trump, voted for him to be dictator for a day....effectively for the first year or 18 months...do what he can to clean house, get laws passed, and get us onto a trajectory where our middle class will grow in size and earnings power rather than stagnate. If he's lucky he gets a second 18 months. And his legacy will be if he can hand the work to a Millennial or Gen Z type who can revert back to more rules based whatever. Bessent said today if we had 4 years like the 4 years we just head, this country would not be recoverable with so much debt. If Trump and Bessent are lucky and good, we can bend the growth of government down and bend the growth of the middle class up. Will be beautiful, if we survive the short term pain.
Bill at this point my belief is you’re just an empty suit troller that needs his ego stroked. Please tell me
how I’m wrong.
With all do respect, your comment in this letter is heavily "colored" by your severe case of TDS... I watched President Trump's address and can say with confident that the quote you used is incorrect. "‘There will be a little disturbance, but we are OK with that… all we needed was a new President. ‘ this quote is butchered.
You can have your personal preferences indeed, but at least be accurate if you quote our president.
Here what President Trump said referring to his strategic use of tariffs: "‘There will be a little disturbance at the beginning, but we are OK with that… right?"
And here what President Trump said regarding the stopping the invasion on our borders: "Biden was saying that he cannot stop the illegal crossing because we needed the congress to act / come up with a new immigration law. It turned out that all we needed was... a new President."
His speech was inspiring, uplifting, energizing. Many people feel a renewed enthusiasm for our country. Yet you, predictably, emphasize true and untrue imperfections of Mr Trump.
He is NOT a perfect man, NOBODY is. But he is a perfect instrument to give the United States a chance to stop the destruction and come back to greatness that we once had...
Furthermore, while you might be brilliant in many financial matters, when you write about any topic (e.g. history, economy, culture, etc.) that somehow has reference to our president, you are VERY impartial and often inaccurate.
Frankly, I am puzzled by this observation....
As we all know, President Trump, just like Elon Musk, didn't have to do it. They CHOSE to save our country. At a great cost - financial, personal, mental.
And if you, as brilliant man as yo might be, don't see that, you're blinded by jealousy and G-d knows what else.
The remedy for the immediate past is unattractive to some. JM