There’s no more of a ‘coup’ today than there was four years ago. A coup is a violent takeover, like dozens that have been organized by the CIA since WWII. One group seizes power from another group.
1. There WILL be what essentially amounts to a "coup." DOGE and assorted Cabinet Members/Department Heads are discovering and stopping Theft, Fraud and Abuse virtually EVERYWHERE they look - in the 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 of dollars. Not surprising, nearly 100% of the STOLEN LOOT has been going to the left/dimocrats/communists. They are TRULY in a panic. The whole "progressive/liberal" movement for the past 40 years has been "funded" and fed by Fraud and Money Laundering, enabled by the straight-up 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗙𝗧 of our tax dollars. All of their Degenerate Programs, Culture-Killing Ideas and Subversions of Democracy are completely dependent on how much money they can steal or extort from our Government. For the first time in my life, that spigot is being (hopefully) turned off - and they are FREAKING OUT, cornered and terrified. A coup incoming? Maybe once the indictments start flying and by a different name - rhymes with Black Swan or EMP Event. That won't get their graft back, but like all leftardes - they'd rather Rule Over Ashes than surrender ill-gotten Power.
2. Everything we are learning about through the Sunshine and Transparency provided by Musk and Trump is a validation of what many of us (those with a working brain at least) have suspected for years, decades even. It is proof of something grotesque, sickening and maddening. While having the Criminality exposed is a vital part of fixing the mess, 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙐𝙎𝙀𝙇𝙀𝙎𝙎 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙁𝙐𝙇𝙇𝙔 𝙤𝙣𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩. This means NOT APPROVING CERTAIN FUNDING AND GREATLY REDUCING OTHER APPROPRIATIONS! All of this will come to naught if our bought-and-paid-for "representatives" don't do the right thing during the upcoming CR/Budget Battle in mid-March 2025. A Continuing Resolution won't work any longer. Speaker Johnson must IMMEDIATELY split the funding into the 12 separate Bills as the system is designed so our "representatives" can debate and vote on them INDIVIDUALLY. If they try to squeeze through a CR and just continue the thievery, the consequences for all of them should be severe. Yes folks, we are talking about TRILLIONS (with a "T") of stolen tax money, used to prop-up an apparatus that hates people like you and me and would prefer to see us dead. This MUST stop, now. It's important enough for you to contact your Representatives today and then again when the funding battles begin - it might be the most important phone call, email or office visit you ever make.
These "Statesmen and Stateswomen" have a singular chance to go down in History as Heroes. Will they take it? Honestly, I'm not very optimistic. However, we are fixin' to see just WHO is larping as a "leader" while really being nothing more than a purchased entity...
The latest Criminality exposed for those leftardes busy screaming instead of paying attention:
I was always under the impression that the dirty deeds done by the State Department and CIA overseas couldn't/wouldn't be done on American soil because of the Constitution. Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong. Just the little bit of dirt DOGE uncovered with respect to USAID absolutely shattered that myth. To your point, if these perpetrators aren't charged, sentenced, and incarcerated we can kiss goodbye to what's left of our civil liberties. Labeling this a Tribal fight is a huge distraction. Republican's are up to their necks in this as well. Bill doesn't think American's have the intestinal fortitude to see this fight through. He's probably right, but I'm going to work to prove him wrong. I think and hope X (Twitter) can be the game changer this time around.
Couldn't agree more Starboard! We were being taken to the cleaners while they have been stealing from us according the rules which they write. It has gotten so bad that they wanted to tell us what our morals must be and they would take away our free speech i.e. the FIRST AMENDMENT. They wanted to tell us where we had to go to war and send our children for themselves to garner more power. Trump has been asking me several times a day for money as are the rest of the Republican team. I'm writing my Senators and Congresswoman weekly with my "advice" and they reply "they appreciate it, giving them direction". I'm OK with that as long as I see progress removing the fraud, spending, corruption while moving toward a balanced budget, honesty and integrity. I want something as good as I had for my grandkids.
I see the move away from the Democrats as a very big deal within my simple goals above. I'd like to see the government be less than a quarter of it's current size and spending. I think it would be more effective. The spending on culture was a complete absurdity. It's my belief that this spending and corruption is exactly 36 trillion.
Couldn't agree more. But assuming this has been going on for a long time, one has to think that many of the Republicans are either complicit as well, or stupid, incompetent, or just didn't care enough to do anything about it (e.g., the Mitch McConnell type). Certainly, there are many Republicans that have been calling this out over a long period of time, but they never got anything done. Did they not have the courage, ability, or were at least some of them bought off, or what? Why has it taken this long and a Trump second term along with Musk's genius and expertise to get to this point?
Anyone wondering what happens if/when Trump's Secretary of the Treasury doesn't agree to increasing the Budget or using "extraordinary means" to delay hitting the debt ceiling? Given Judges now think they can chime-in on what the Executive Branch can and can't do with funds - the Judges can't raise the debt ceiling. Plus who proposes a new budget to Congress - what? it isn't the Justice Department. It isn't Congress. It is the Executive Branch. It is going to be an extremely interesting March.
Joes Rogan's latest interview with Mike Benz will absolutely blow your mind. Benz thinks it will take 50 years to clean this up. We really are living The Truman Show.
All u say here is all the great things dog'e is GOING to do . And it seems only ur supposition that all the Dem law makers are running scared. All hogwash ; If u want to espouse all this rhetoric u should give specific examples of what doge does and truth check each one .
You truly have to be blind not to see the Democrats' panicked response to all of this, defending every agency as if their life depended on it. Doesn't that alone make you want to see if DOGE is doing something worthwhile rather than just dismissing it with your "hogwash" comment? As SE mentions, it's not his job to educate you especially if you are unwilling to open your eyes to the obvious and at least do some investigating on your own. It wouldn't take much.
This isn't a Tribal issue; both Democrats and Republicans are in on this. Mike Benz will give you more facts than you'll be able to process. Nothing like this has ever been undertaken in our lifetime. The more DOGE is allowed to dig the crazier this will get. This has the potential to be the story of our lifetime.
The "truth check" is happening daily, but you have to bother to follow the real news media, not the prehistoric (and dying) legacy media.
I'm going to take a wild guess and posit that your current or former line of work was either directly or indirectly dependent on some level of government. I also surmise that you could never have cut the mustard in a real business that had to deliver value, quality or an actual return on investment. And those letters you put after your name just identify you as an over-educated moron, that can't or couldn't do any of the things specified in the previous sentence.
I'm sure you won't respond to this just like you won't debate Starboard because he would eat you for breakfast (and then have to eject a projectile). Just know that the winning will continue regardless of whether Marxist/Leftist/Democrat morale improves (which hopefully will be never). Being in government was never cool, Obama just made you think it was.
OK ,Mr. Butinsky , I can see from ur profile that u have never done an honest days work in ur hole life. As for me , I was in "government " USAF and it was under IKE, JFK, and LBJ . And it was very COOL! I helped save ur sorry ass from the Commies of which u stupidly compare to the Dems.
When u denigrate government service u denigrate the military , judicial , postal, law enforcement, and many other vital operations of the government.
As for debating Starry, u can't debate someone who doesn't make any sense or state any facts in his musings.
My name is not Butinsky, but I'll leave you to your delusion of being clever. Only in the mind of a government loving drone would working 70-75 hours a week for almost 30 years creating a unique, never existed before business be construed as "never done an honest days work . . ."
Your little trip down memory lane in the USAF only covers 12 to 16 years (at most). I'd be really interested to know what you did AFTER your military service?
This is not your Daddy's Democrat Party anymore. Today's bunch are absolutely espousing Marxist concepts and ideology. If you don't recognize that then you have obviously never studied Marx, Engels, Lenin, etc. You might want to crack a book and educate yourself. You might even figure out that the comparison to the modern Democrat Party is far from stupid.
Though technically part of government, I don't like to lump the military and law enforcement in with things like judicial, postal or the rest of Federal, State, County and Municipal operations because the vast majority of them are far from "vital". And, as Trump and Musk are in the process of exposing, somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of what the Federal government spends is abuse, waste and/or outright fraud. You can deny, deny, deny all you want, but you're going to get run over (figuratively) like the bureaucrats are going to get run over literally by the Trump Train.
Pat, you're just big-time butt hurt because for decades (likely) you have believed you are "smarter, more compassionate and generally better" than anyone on the right - simply because you have always been a leftarde.
Now, actual PROOF is coming out about how corrupt, degenerate and disgusting your side of the political aisle is WORLDWIDE (and always has been) - at this late stage of your life, you can't handle how ignorant and wrong you have been for so many years. Cry Harder.
But fret not - we're seeing the same breakdown EVERYWHERE, and it's Glorious. NONE of you are worthy of Sympathy or even Empathy - but ALL of you are worthy of ridicule and scorn....
I have been told that when you bought a new Model T it came with a set of tools with which you could perform any repair the vehicle needed.
When I was a younger man I took the engine out of my '67 VW bug, took it completely apart, rebuilt the engine in my garage and put it back in the car, after which it ran perfectly.
I doubt that I could do that with my 2014 Toyota Tacoma, largely because of all the electronics on it, and repairs are not cheap. If my truck has to go into the shop I consider myself lucky if I get it back for under $1,000.
The way things are going, I don't see how working class Americans will be able to afford driving a car or truck much longer but isn't that part of the plan; Net Zero and 15 minute cities. You will own nothing and be happy...
Sadly, the f one fifty in nineteen seventy seven is not the f one fifty of today. Bill was right when he said the whole texting is a scam. You can't even get enough.One fifty with crank windows Or without AC or power steering or analytic breaks.Or redundant emission systems in airbags. Those systems alone cost more than the original 77 f150. Most of.
Bill, the F150 example is as down to earth as you can get to lay out the "value for price" changes over the last 50 years. At 78 I have lived through these changes ( as with the price of gold also) and it is clear to me the equation is used by the economists to describe our financial picture is B.S.
You have to pretty much ignore all economic data from the harris/biden junta of the past 4 years as fake so things are likely much worse than we think.
Great view, Bill. So is the car and house worth more now than back then? It's pretty obvious that average pay hasn't made up for the increase in Time required to pay for the object. No comparison! So is the house a lot better in life? Is the car a lot better in utility? I'm a no nonsense kind of car guy. I get the cheapest reasonable car that is reliable or where the costs of inferior quality, considering my time involved, are balanced with the purchaser's cost. I just try to get the job done i.e. driving around as needed without considerations of how cool my car is. My dad was a used car dealer while I was in high school and I drove over 40 cars before leaving high school. I fixed and cleaned the cars up and my dad put them back on the lot and sold them. That's how I view cars. Hence to me I've lost big time due to the "better" cars idea.
I remember my grandmother's home, a farm, where they heated with coal. One had to shovel coal into the hopper thence the thermostat controlled temperature and fed coal. The home was wonderfully comfortable not really different from my modern home I have today in my opinion but I'm certainly not one who dwells on extras and new fangled stuff. So I consider the extra cost of a home in Time worked to get it as a definite loss of value for me. I still cut and stack my own wood for all my homes because I like to know I have heat regardless of what happens and I like to save money but I further enjoy the whole sequence and need the exercise to stay healthy. So again I see both homes and cars (trucks) as a huge loss of time and value for me personally.
My winter home is passive solar and I gain tremendously from sun heating in winter on the coldest but also sunniest days, near the continental divide, Jackson. Wy. So in this sense my engineering in my home was done by me and my running costs are cheaper. Comforts the same as my grandma's home in Michigan in the early 50's
I think you make a great point which I take to mean the value of one's Time is decreasing, on average, in terms of big cost necessary items, like car and home. On the other hand I have skiis which allow me to fly around mountains at 10-15 MPH whereas the skiis in my grandfather's garage were boards with raised tips with a single leather strap through the wood to hold my boots on top. I also have sail boats and motor boats which my father never had. Hence my enjoyment time seems a lot better than my Dad's golf and bowling ormy grandfather's horse racing. I really have a hard time deciding with certain conviction that Time is worth more or less. I do think selections people make have a much greater resultant value which is based upon individual preferences. But I think Bill's point is financial and I agree with those big cost standard items.
It's also worth mentioning that other countries, the BRICS, are also telling us our money isn't worth as much as it use to be. Just to mention one other mathematical consideration. Our money's value is based upon the world's view that we are reputable and have integrity of laws and lack of corruption i.e our money is honest as are our financial systems and banking are honest and reliable. So now given a defined system, a specific amount of money (including credit) based upon our entire GDP and global confidence in that GDP what happens when we print 2 times as much money as before. For me its obvious that our money is then worth half as much. Throw in the fact that we know our system is not reputable/honest and doesn't have integrity. A more likely number is the value of our money should be 1/4 th what is was before the US was assumed to have integrity. So it seems like gold should be at least double what it is right now as we struggle to bring back integrity of the US.
Bill also mentioned that after the government cuts of employees or expenditures will reduce gdp. As absurd as that sounds it is correct. Government spendin is considered a part of gdp. Factually , it is a drain on g d p.
Sure is fun to watch Elon share all of the incredible waste in the fed government. Still small money in the grand scheme. Without the bigger items being addressed we will still run 2T in deficits.
It would be an interesting study to determine how much it cost (say, over a 10 year period) to keep that 1977 F-150 up and running as opposed to the cost of keeping a 2025 F-150 on the road. Factor those costs into the price of each vehicle, and my gut tells me the 2025 model has increased in price way more than 83 times.
The price increase is justified because of improvements in the product - totally moot if I can't afford the new product whereas I could afford the previous "unimproved" product.
That's 7.54 times more expensive for the car and 8 times more expensive for a house. Obviously everything is rough but the two values seem to reach pretty much the same ballpark figure. Hence a description of the primary trend seems sound.
The value of the Dow is given in inflated money and credit, with which to buy the Dow, which is worth less now. Many calculations of the value of money is a loss of 95-98% in the last 100 years. I've seen this in many calculations. So measuring the value of the Dow in dollars becomes very suspect when it has lost 98% of its value over the time period being compared. I'd have much greater confidence in comparisons of Labor Time against one another over a similar time frame.
Bill and Dan, thanks for your analysis, as always. Please do keep us up on whether you think Musk's assault on fraud, etc. is going to have any effect on the deficit. The CBO has been projecting a ghastly $1.9T deficit for FY 2025, but if we've run up $840B in just the first third, then we're on pace to obliterate that. Will we see any cost-cutting effect in the second third? That should tell the tale. I'm not optimistic, but open to some good news....
I fear you are likely correct. Federal expenditures exceed revenues by 50% or so. How does anyone even begin to cut into that? An across-the-board slash of spending by 20%, which ain't gonna happen, would only reduce the deficit by $800B, meaning the debt would still grow by over $1T. Historically, governments' only responses to a debt trap are default or hyperinflation. Pick yer poison.....
With the debit and entitlements we are stuck with you guys can talk all you want. We are looking in the wrong place. Get rid of the fed and get back to a gold standard and we are on our way. (maybe) A gold standard that backs the dollar is a good start.Notice I said backs and nothing about pegs. If you cannot redeem your dollars for gold then you have an empty promise. The gov. is good at empty promises God's blessings to all.
What happens when all these laid off government workers find their way into the private sector. Talk about a drag on GDP! Sorry to any government employed readers who actually contributed in their daily work
A) Government employees who actually contributed in their daily work is an oxymoron; and
B) The world needs ditch diggers too. If laid off government workers go into manual or menial labor their contribution to society would be far greater and better than their previous line of work. One is productive and the other is parasitic.
A couple points:
1. There WILL be what essentially amounts to a "coup." DOGE and assorted Cabinet Members/Department Heads are discovering and stopping Theft, Fraud and Abuse virtually EVERYWHERE they look - in the 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 of dollars. Not surprising, nearly 100% of the STOLEN LOOT has been going to the left/dimocrats/communists. They are TRULY in a panic. The whole "progressive/liberal" movement for the past 40 years has been "funded" and fed by Fraud and Money Laundering, enabled by the straight-up 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗙𝗧 of our tax dollars. All of their Degenerate Programs, Culture-Killing Ideas and Subversions of Democracy are completely dependent on how much money they can steal or extort from our Government. For the first time in my life, that spigot is being (hopefully) turned off - and they are FREAKING OUT, cornered and terrified. A coup incoming? Maybe once the indictments start flying and by a different name - rhymes with Black Swan or EMP Event. That won't get their graft back, but like all leftardes - they'd rather Rule Over Ashes than surrender ill-gotten Power.
2. Everything we are learning about through the Sunshine and Transparency provided by Musk and Trump is a validation of what many of us (those with a working brain at least) have suspected for years, decades even. It is proof of something grotesque, sickening and maddening. While having the Criminality exposed is a vital part of fixing the mess, 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙐𝙎𝙀𝙇𝙀𝙎𝙎 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙁𝙐𝙇𝙇𝙔 𝙤𝙣𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩. This means NOT APPROVING CERTAIN FUNDING AND GREATLY REDUCING OTHER APPROPRIATIONS! All of this will come to naught if our bought-and-paid-for "representatives" don't do the right thing during the upcoming CR/Budget Battle in mid-March 2025. A Continuing Resolution won't work any longer. Speaker Johnson must IMMEDIATELY split the funding into the 12 separate Bills as the system is designed so our "representatives" can debate and vote on them INDIVIDUALLY. If they try to squeeze through a CR and just continue the thievery, the consequences for all of them should be severe. Yes folks, we are talking about TRILLIONS (with a "T") of stolen tax money, used to prop-up an apparatus that hates people like you and me and would prefer to see us dead. This MUST stop, now. It's important enough for you to contact your Representatives today and then again when the funding battles begin - it might be the most important phone call, email or office visit you ever make.
These "Statesmen and Stateswomen" have a singular chance to go down in History as Heroes. Will they take it? Honestly, I'm not very optimistic. However, we are fixin' to see just WHO is larping as a "leader" while really being nothing more than a purchased entity...
The latest Criminality exposed for those leftardes busy screaming instead of paying attention:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/lee-zeldin-reveals-shocking-abuse-bidens-epa-20/
https://www.newsnationnow.com/politics/government-waste-inefficiency-trump-doge/
https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-doge-subcommittees-first-hearing-uncovers-billions-lost-to-fraud-and-improper-payments-launches-war-on-waste/
A dimocrat who actually gets this right -
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1889363477715939461?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1889363477715939461%7Ctwgr%5Eb4bf497cbf7e108bd2368e8e02dd20360bfd3bf6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fchoiceclips.whatfinger.com%2F2025%2F02%2F12%2Fmoskowitz-if-elon-musk-and-doge-has-found-all-this-fraud-waste-and-abuse-well-then-we-cant-fund-the-government-by-cr%2F
I was always under the impression that the dirty deeds done by the State Department and CIA overseas couldn't/wouldn't be done on American soil because of the Constitution. Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong. Just the little bit of dirt DOGE uncovered with respect to USAID absolutely shattered that myth. To your point, if these perpetrators aren't charged, sentenced, and incarcerated we can kiss goodbye to what's left of our civil liberties. Labeling this a Tribal fight is a huge distraction. Republican's are up to their necks in this as well. Bill doesn't think American's have the intestinal fortitude to see this fight through. He's probably right, but I'm going to work to prove him wrong. I think and hope X (Twitter) can be the game changer this time around.
Well, then there's Pam Bondi. She may have a say in all this in terms of prosecution. Doesn't look like she's shy about moving forward.
Couldn't agree more Starboard! We were being taken to the cleaners while they have been stealing from us according the rules which they write. It has gotten so bad that they wanted to tell us what our morals must be and they would take away our free speech i.e. the FIRST AMENDMENT. They wanted to tell us where we had to go to war and send our children for themselves to garner more power. Trump has been asking me several times a day for money as are the rest of the Republican team. I'm writing my Senators and Congresswoman weekly with my "advice" and they reply "they appreciate it, giving them direction". I'm OK with that as long as I see progress removing the fraud, spending, corruption while moving toward a balanced budget, honesty and integrity. I want something as good as I had for my grandkids.
I see the move away from the Democrats as a very big deal within my simple goals above. I'd like to see the government be less than a quarter of it's current size and spending. I think it would be more effective. The spending on culture was a complete absurdity. It's my belief that this spending and corruption is exactly 36 trillion.
Thieves will steal more and more until they're caught. We see it all the time with small time. Embezzlors becoming big time embezzelors .
Caught 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗨𝗧𝗘𝗗...
Couldn't agree more. But assuming this has been going on for a long time, one has to think that many of the Republicans are either complicit as well, or stupid, incompetent, or just didn't care enough to do anything about it (e.g., the Mitch McConnell type). Certainly, there are many Republicans that have been calling this out over a long period of time, but they never got anything done. Did they not have the courage, ability, or were at least some of them bought off, or what? Why has it taken this long and a Trump second term along with Musk's genius and expertise to get to this point?
The R's have been content to enrich themselves while LOSING and being losers - for decades...
Musk is the boob.
Anyone wondering what happens if/when Trump's Secretary of the Treasury doesn't agree to increasing the Budget or using "extraordinary means" to delay hitting the debt ceiling? Given Judges now think they can chime-in on what the Executive Branch can and can't do with funds - the Judges can't raise the debt ceiling. Plus who proposes a new budget to Congress - what? it isn't the Justice Department. It isn't Congress. It is the Executive Branch. It is going to be an extremely interesting March.
And we'll see if Trump really means what he says. If so, hopefully it will be enough to shut Bonner up on the subject for awhile...
Wait for the pentagon.
A few juicy examples already took to the streets.
Coffe cups each 1.300 usd and such.
Joes Rogan's latest interview with Mike Benz will absolutely blow your mind. Benz thinks it will take 50 years to clean this up. We really are living The Truman Show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPc8OVNngg&t=3736s
Hogwash !
Can you make a factual, reasonable argument why, Patrick?
All u say here is all the great things dog'e is GOING to do . And it seems only ur supposition that all the Dem law makers are running scared. All hogwash ; If u want to espouse all this rhetoric u should give specific examples of what doge does and truth check each one .
You truly have to be blind not to see the Democrats' panicked response to all of this, defending every agency as if their life depended on it. Doesn't that alone make you want to see if DOGE is doing something worthwhile rather than just dismissing it with your "hogwash" comment? As SE mentions, it's not his job to educate you especially if you are unwilling to open your eyes to the obvious and at least do some investigating on your own. It wouldn't take much.
Not my job to both pay attention AND educate you.
I will give you this:
https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1886925625434214898
Hit Dogs Yelp, Patrick...
Great. Now everybody thinks his hog reply is under my reply.
This isn't a Tribal issue; both Democrats and Republicans are in on this. Mike Benz will give you more facts than you'll be able to process. Nothing like this has ever been undertaken in our lifetime. The more DOGE is allowed to dig the crazier this will get. This has the potential to be the story of our lifetime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPc8OVNngg&t=3736s
Exactly which point(s) Starboard made is/are hogwash? I'd be happy if you could cite one example. I'll wait.
Both points are hogwash ! If Starry wants to diatribe on all these great things dog-e is doing, let him list each one and truth check each one .
The "truth check" is happening daily, but you have to bother to follow the real news media, not the prehistoric (and dying) legacy media.
I'm going to take a wild guess and posit that your current or former line of work was either directly or indirectly dependent on some level of government. I also surmise that you could never have cut the mustard in a real business that had to deliver value, quality or an actual return on investment. And those letters you put after your name just identify you as an over-educated moron, that can't or couldn't do any of the things specified in the previous sentence.
I'm sure you won't respond to this just like you won't debate Starboard because he would eat you for breakfast (and then have to eject a projectile). Just know that the winning will continue regardless of whether Marxist/Leftist/Democrat morale improves (which hopefully will be never). Being in government was never cool, Obama just made you think it was.
OMG!!! Love it! 🤣
OK ,Mr. Butinsky , I can see from ur profile that u have never done an honest days work in ur hole life. As for me , I was in "government " USAF and it was under IKE, JFK, and LBJ . And it was very COOL! I helped save ur sorry ass from the Commies of which u stupidly compare to the Dems.
When u denigrate government service u denigrate the military , judicial , postal, law enforcement, and many other vital operations of the government.
As for debating Starry, u can't debate someone who doesn't make any sense or state any facts in his musings.
My name is not Butinsky, but I'll leave you to your delusion of being clever. Only in the mind of a government loving drone would working 70-75 hours a week for almost 30 years creating a unique, never existed before business be construed as "never done an honest days work . . ."
Your little trip down memory lane in the USAF only covers 12 to 16 years (at most). I'd be really interested to know what you did AFTER your military service?
This is not your Daddy's Democrat Party anymore. Today's bunch are absolutely espousing Marxist concepts and ideology. If you don't recognize that then you have obviously never studied Marx, Engels, Lenin, etc. You might want to crack a book and educate yourself. You might even figure out that the comparison to the modern Democrat Party is far from stupid.
Though technically part of government, I don't like to lump the military and law enforcement in with things like judicial, postal or the rest of Federal, State, County and Municipal operations because the vast majority of them are far from "vital". And, as Trump and Musk are in the process of exposing, somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of what the Federal government spends is abuse, waste and/or outright fraud. You can deny, deny, deny all you want, but you're going to get run over (figuratively) like the bureaucrats are going to get run over literally by the Trump Train.
Pat, you're just big-time butt hurt because for decades (likely) you have believed you are "smarter, more compassionate and generally better" than anyone on the right - simply because you have always been a leftarde.
Now, actual PROOF is coming out about how corrupt, degenerate and disgusting your side of the political aisle is WORLDWIDE (and always has been) - at this late stage of your life, you can't handle how ignorant and wrong you have been for so many years. Cry Harder.
But fret not - we're seeing the same breakdown EVERYWHERE, and it's Glorious. NONE of you are worthy of Sympathy or even Empathy - but ALL of you are worthy of ridicule and scorn....
Brother, when you have time read my post right above yours. It's a response to our friend Patrick and I think you'll enjoy it.
Superb!! Thank you once again
I have been told that when you bought a new Model T it came with a set of tools with which you could perform any repair the vehicle needed.
When I was a younger man I took the engine out of my '67 VW bug, took it completely apart, rebuilt the engine in my garage and put it back in the car, after which it ran perfectly.
I doubt that I could do that with my 2014 Toyota Tacoma, largely because of all the electronics on it, and repairs are not cheap. If my truck has to go into the shop I consider myself lucky if I get it back for under $1,000.
The way things are going, I don't see how working class Americans will be able to afford driving a car or truck much longer but isn't that part of the plan; Net Zero and 15 minute cities. You will own nothing and be happy...
Sadly, the f one fifty in nineteen seventy seven is not the f one fifty of today. Bill was right when he said the whole texting is a scam. You can't even get enough.One fifty with crank windows Or without AC or power steering or analytic breaks.Or redundant emission systems in airbags. Those systems alone cost more than the original 77 f150. Most of.
That is government regulation.
Bill, the F150 example is as down to earth as you can get to lay out the "value for price" changes over the last 50 years. At 78 I have lived through these changes ( as with the price of gold also) and it is clear to me the equation is used by the economists to describe our financial picture is B.S.
Jim Marshall
You have to pretty much ignore all economic data from the harris/biden junta of the past 4 years as fake so things are likely much worse than we think.
Great view, Bill. So is the car and house worth more now than back then? It's pretty obvious that average pay hasn't made up for the increase in Time required to pay for the object. No comparison! So is the house a lot better in life? Is the car a lot better in utility? I'm a no nonsense kind of car guy. I get the cheapest reasonable car that is reliable or where the costs of inferior quality, considering my time involved, are balanced with the purchaser's cost. I just try to get the job done i.e. driving around as needed without considerations of how cool my car is. My dad was a used car dealer while I was in high school and I drove over 40 cars before leaving high school. I fixed and cleaned the cars up and my dad put them back on the lot and sold them. That's how I view cars. Hence to me I've lost big time due to the "better" cars idea.
I remember my grandmother's home, a farm, where they heated with coal. One had to shovel coal into the hopper thence the thermostat controlled temperature and fed coal. The home was wonderfully comfortable not really different from my modern home I have today in my opinion but I'm certainly not one who dwells on extras and new fangled stuff. So I consider the extra cost of a home in Time worked to get it as a definite loss of value for me. I still cut and stack my own wood for all my homes because I like to know I have heat regardless of what happens and I like to save money but I further enjoy the whole sequence and need the exercise to stay healthy. So again I see both homes and cars (trucks) as a huge loss of time and value for me personally.
My winter home is passive solar and I gain tremendously from sun heating in winter on the coldest but also sunniest days, near the continental divide, Jackson. Wy. So in this sense my engineering in my home was done by me and my running costs are cheaper. Comforts the same as my grandma's home in Michigan in the early 50's
I think you make a great point which I take to mean the value of one's Time is decreasing, on average, in terms of big cost necessary items, like car and home. On the other hand I have skiis which allow me to fly around mountains at 10-15 MPH whereas the skiis in my grandfather's garage were boards with raised tips with a single leather strap through the wood to hold my boots on top. I also have sail boats and motor boats which my father never had. Hence my enjoyment time seems a lot better than my Dad's golf and bowling ormy grandfather's horse racing. I really have a hard time deciding with certain conviction that Time is worth more or less. I do think selections people make have a much greater resultant value which is based upon individual preferences. But I think Bill's point is financial and I agree with those big cost standard items.
The resultant value of time is PRICELESS (though not everyone realizes it).
It's also worth mentioning that other countries, the BRICS, are also telling us our money isn't worth as much as it use to be. Just to mention one other mathematical consideration. Our money's value is based upon the world's view that we are reputable and have integrity of laws and lack of corruption i.e our money is honest as are our financial systems and banking are honest and reliable. So now given a defined system, a specific amount of money (including credit) based upon our entire GDP and global confidence in that GDP what happens when we print 2 times as much money as before. For me its obvious that our money is then worth half as much. Throw in the fact that we know our system is not reputable/honest and doesn't have integrity. A more likely number is the value of our money should be 1/4 th what is was before the US was assumed to have integrity. So it seems like gold should be at least double what it is right now as we struggle to bring back integrity of the US.
Bill also mentioned that after the government cuts of employees or expenditures will reduce gdp. As absurd as that sounds it is correct. Government spendin is considered a part of gdp. Factually , it is a drain on g d p.
Another point of view worth discussing among our people at home.
Sure is fun to watch Elon share all of the incredible waste in the fed government. Still small money in the grand scheme. Without the bigger items being addressed we will still run 2T in deficits.
It would be an interesting study to determine how much it cost (say, over a 10 year period) to keep that 1977 F-150 up and running as opposed to the cost of keeping a 2025 F-150 on the road. Factor those costs into the price of each vehicle, and my gut tells me the 2025 model has increased in price way more than 83 times.
The price increase is justified because of improvements in the product - totally moot if I can't afford the new product whereas I could afford the previous "unimproved" product.
Once again, Bill, nail on the head idea! Ali
That's 7.54 times more expensive for the car and 8 times more expensive for a house. Obviously everything is rough but the two values seem to reach pretty much the same ballpark figure. Hence a description of the primary trend seems sound.
The value of the Dow is given in inflated money and credit, with which to buy the Dow, which is worth less now. Many calculations of the value of money is a loss of 95-98% in the last 100 years. I've seen this in many calculations. So measuring the value of the Dow in dollars becomes very suspect when it has lost 98% of its value over the time period being compared. I'd have much greater confidence in comparisons of Labor Time against one another over a similar time frame.
Does the 8% include interest paid on the "death grip" (mort-gage)?
Bill and Dan, thanks for your analysis, as always. Please do keep us up on whether you think Musk's assault on fraud, etc. is going to have any effect on the deficit. The CBO has been projecting a ghastly $1.9T deficit for FY 2025, but if we've run up $840B in just the first third, then we're on pace to obliterate that. Will we see any cost-cutting effect in the second third? That should tell the tale. I'm not optimistic, but open to some good news....
There is no good news.
I fear you are likely correct. Federal expenditures exceed revenues by 50% or so. How does anyone even begin to cut into that? An across-the-board slash of spending by 20%, which ain't gonna happen, would only reduce the deficit by $800B, meaning the debt would still grow by over $1T. Historically, governments' only responses to a debt trap are default or hyperinflation. Pick yer poison.....
In Augusta, Ga, and all I see are laborers carrying shingles up steep ladders. Not a forklift in sight .
Then they're illegals. Or maybe you're in the country of georgia. 😁
Thanks for breaking that down.
I read the other day a headline titled: Countries Dont Go Broke.
Governments Do.
With the debit and entitlements we are stuck with you guys can talk all you want. We are looking in the wrong place. Get rid of the fed and get back to a gold standard and we are on our way. (maybe) A gold standard that backs the dollar is a good start.Notice I said backs and nothing about pegs. If you cannot redeem your dollars for gold then you have an empty promise. The gov. is good at empty promises God's blessings to all.
What happens when all these laid off government workers find their way into the private sector. Talk about a drag on GDP! Sorry to any government employed readers who actually contributed in their daily work
Well, in the private sector they'll have to produce or be shown the door.
A) Government employees who actually contributed in their daily work is an oxymoron; and
B) The world needs ditch diggers too. If laid off government workers go into manual or menial labor their contribution to society would be far greater and better than their previous line of work. One is productive and the other is parasitic.