Win-win deals make us richer and better off. But win-lose deals (in which you win by making the other fellow lose) never go away. And occasionally, the win-losers take over.
Because the nature of government is the promotion of ever more government, it incentivizes the wrong stuff. Soon you have an indolent, non-motivated, stagnant populace and decadent society and $37 trillion in debt from all the vote-buying in the form of social welfare programs, for which people will continue to vote. We are in the end times of this process. It's been spectacular in many ways, and the greatest irony of all is this: the country nominally founded on the enduring, codified principle of limited government is going to be the biggest governmental bust of all time! It is a genuine cautionary tale, but no one will learn from it. Best always. PM
Moral of the story? Humans never learn nor change. This fact is why we need to be with people who think alike. If you love God, family and country, and you are surrounded by those same values, you’re much more likely to survive any kind of disaster better than being surrounded by democrats, who just love to eat their own…
Perzackly. If consensus government is to succeed, the group must be more like-thinking than not. We stagnated seriously in the 90s, and since then, all of our political energy has been devoted to one side trying to force its political will on the other. You see the results. Best always. PM
Tragically, the majority in both parties have been eating their young at all levels of democracy since it was first named by Aristotle, and in America for the past 100 years plus.
Talk about a downer of a column on what was already a dreary day in my little corner of paradise. Yet there is a reason post-apocalyptic books and movies endure...we have seen them play out over the course of history. I recently read that Stalin had soldiers sent to gulags at the end of the war so they could not come home and cause trouble. Bill's column raises the question of whether human nature is inherently good. If so, why aren't all deals win-win?
The mentally unstable individuals were created by both political parties.
The Constitutional Republic was never supposed to be a perfect system, the Founders understood changes would be needed to the government, while the basic framework of individual rights would not change. Ben Franklin was a realist when asked what form of government was created to replace the monarchy. "A republic, if you can keep it"
Franklin understood, the new republic would not be open to the unwashed and ignorant to take a hand in governing, all would be ruled over by an invisible hand (Constitution) used to support their individual rights above the masses. This new radical form of government would only survive with the active participation and responsibility of its citizens.
The republic started the decline when the first judge or government official strayed from the Constitutional framework. Wilson ended the republic with the formation of the Federal Reserve bank and the IRS which acts as the debt collector for the Fed. For the first time it became legal for the Federal government to place money in hands of private individuals. From that point it was simple buy off the Congress, which in turn bought off state and local government. The end result, today school board elections have citizen pitted against citizen.
The transfer of public funds into private hands has become so normalized so expected with the end result being: An apartment dweller in Scranton, PA is expected to pay for hurricane damage to 5 million dollar shore homes in Naples, Florida.
In the 1960's a homeowner took a chance building or buying at any shore community or in the tornado belt.
The government in my little part of suburbia (where we don't lock doors or windows and leave the keys in our cars), thought it necessary to purchase an armed personnel carrier equipped with what surely looks like a turret mounted cannon and a truck lettered "Mass Causality Response Vehicle". Might the local government know something the citizens should be told? Might I use my 2nd Amendment right to purchase a shoulder mounted grenade launcher or armor piercing bullets to defend my Constitutional rights against all aggressors foreign and domestic?
Some, like Jesus (the Christ), Gautama Sidhartha (the Buddha), Mohandas (the Mahatma) Gandhi, and many others just love to give. God-like.
Many, many want to stay in even exchange. Honorable.
Many others want something for nothing. Takers. They love to lie. Home wreckers.
Some few are sadistic, sociopathic perverts. We read and hear about them, but I have never met one face to face (to my knowledge.)
Bad things happen to good people - resulting in intelligent empathy. The good gain power to comfort and strengthen others, as the above-named did and do.
That's how it looks from the rock this frog is sitting on.
Overall Trade Deficits CUT IN HALF??! Hmmmm - according to Bill, this is a bad thing. The only downside I see is less overall Supply (temporarily), so yes, higher prices. But that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone - both sides have been harping on it for months. The flip-side is a greatly increased GDP, or an increase in the "stuff" produced in America. Again, hmmmmm.
Seems like the stupid plan that had no chance to work is starting to go down exactly as President Trump said it would. But I'm not naive - Bill and many here will refuse to see anything positive about this - or anything else.
Mr. S.E., I remember in the early part of the 20th Century when free traders like Bill, when free trade was being first criticized for taking away over a million jobs from American workers, would reply that a tough transition period was necessary, and that the tech revolution would replenish plenty of jobs and a Chinese middle class would be created that would overthrow their authoritarian masters. None of this has remotely occurred. Now Bill and other free traders are screaming about the difficult transition period per tariffs, for example, by spooking the stock markets. Hypocrisy anyone?
Bill's Big Beautiful Buddies are just pissed off that it's working, though he'll never admit it. The reality is that the policies are designed to help Main Street and Bill's BBB's care only about Wall Street and Real Estate.
Did you miss reality, Bill? Did you NOT see the excessive number of international tariffs which "stuck it" to the USA? Enough is enough! Time to even it up - at least a little! If I was in charge, I wouldn't try to "get it even" in one fell swoop but I sure as hell would start the process of bumping the tariffs. Maybe by, 20-25% of the current spread. Don't make anybody get their panties in a bunch. And don't advertise that we were going to bump it every year by the same %. Enough said. I need a coffee - wonder if its an import?
Tariff imbalances are the price USA pays for the exorbitant privilege of having the World's (current) reserve currency.
Most of what USA inc makes these days is behind other countries apart from the vapour ware of social media meaning,with a few honourable exceptions, people in the rest of the world buy fewer US goods, not because of tariffs, but because they don't like them.
The price of tariffs is the $ falls off a cliff and the Chinese version of Ayn Rand writes a book ending "He raised his hand and over the desolate earth he traced in space the sign of the Yuan".
The only reason that Bill likes Musk now is because he had a disagreement with Trump. A couple of weeks ago he was ignorant and a Trump crony. I wish Obama, Hilary, or Biden said that they liked the big, beautiful, bill. I wonder if Bill would throw his buddies under the bus. I think Bill, as usual, might be writing a little more into this than what appears.
All true. My only pushback is it seems Trump is really overreacting to Elon's comments. Trump sometimes just needs to shut up and move on. Picking a fight with Elon is unnecessary. Why not just agree with Elon that more needs to be done but that we can only do so much now, with more to come. That would smooth things over. But Trump has to be confrontational, it seems, even when it is unnecessary.
I don’t know why John, but Musk is ripping Trump apart pretty good. Almost like it’s a reality tv show 🤔…everything seems so scripted, like a B movie gone bad…
Apparently, yes, he has said as much about Trump, so not sure that this is some little made-up, designed to distract, made for the internet, spat, to earlier comments, based on what I've read. Some serious shit-slinging coming down the pipe I'd say
Wasn't expecting a happy ending with those two, but thought the marriage would make it beyond the honeymoon at least.
The President is probably thinking this hasn't been a great week, given, what I suspect was a "let's cut to the chase" conversation with Putin earlier.
Yeah, no sh!t. Just look at Morning Joke, uh, I mean Joe.
That assh0le was a Democrat, switched to Repub to run for Congress in FL House Dist 1 (a Dem wouldn’t have stood a chance), and now is a hard-core TDS-suffering leftwingnut. Makes me want to puke that I voted for the turncoat SOB…
If Trump was in the Epstein Files, we would have known that YEARS ago. Puh-lease. Benny always gives a fair analysis - just the facts. He doesn't know either, but he does lay out an accurate History:
Any politician who is not Conservative and no, he would never throw those people under the bus. The extent of Bill Bonner being AT ALL Conservative apparently begins and ends with Fiscal issues.
“The only reason that Bill likes Musk now is because he had a disagreement with Trump. A couple of weeks ago he was ignorant and a Trump crony.” Exactly!
All the graft, waste, and money laundering exposed by DOGE. No public outcry and no accountability for the perpetrators. Do you need any further proof that you live among willfully ignorant serfs and that the U.S. government is FUBAR. Yes, the big beautiful bill is an abomination, but that's ignoring the elephant in the room. The U.S. government is a complete utter abomination :-)
I’m surprised that Musk also doesn’t seem to understand only certain items can be addressed in this current bill. Trump has now sent a $9.4B plan to Congress to reduce spending based on DOGE recommendations. This will put the Dems on record……
I certainly understand people being dishonest, but the left is so insanely far from common sense….
And as many of us have mentioned, time for us to stop paying for the whole world, including those in this country getting a free ride.
BB is amazingly disingenuous on most everything he writes about.
Oh, and I’m so glad KJP has finally ‘seen the light!’
Argentina's economy is about equal to the State of Virgina.
Argentina at its ultimate best could not come close in comparison to the available resources and educated personnel of the 50 U.S. States... why is Bill trying?
You will own nothing and be happy? Think not! More like; you will own nothing and things will get extremely bloody. Best never forget; civilization is not the natural state of man :-)
Bill: Argentina is a much smaller country than the U.S. Also, they did/do not have the high industrialization as America. I do agree that spending more than you make will ‘eventually’ destroy the home. But thinking the last 50 years every political administration has done the same thing and the debt goes up. Trump is spending large amounts of money to undo much of the past mistakes. I am hoping once this happens, his administration will start reducing the deficit and debt. If this does not happen I will join the Musk camp. It will not be easy because our countries populace is highly dependent on people sucking the big breast. On the tariff issue, I would prefer that no country had a tariff and commerce would all be on an even scale.
Thank you, Bongo Bill, for that very interesting story. It is so relevant to what is going on today. I see toxic snowfall and giant bugs everywhere. Boy, that Trump is a madman, isn't he Bill? Tell us more. Will bug spray eliminate the orange plague? We need to know.
The win-win deal will (almost) never happen when politics is in the middle. For evidence, I will quote the ultimate politician, Joseph Stalin: "Economics is who gets what. Politics is who decides who gets what." And when someone has to decide, there will always be the attitude of envy getting in the way.
Because the nature of government is the promotion of ever more government, it incentivizes the wrong stuff. Soon you have an indolent, non-motivated, stagnant populace and decadent society and $37 trillion in debt from all the vote-buying in the form of social welfare programs, for which people will continue to vote. We are in the end times of this process. It's been spectacular in many ways, and the greatest irony of all is this: the country nominally founded on the enduring, codified principle of limited government is going to be the biggest governmental bust of all time! It is a genuine cautionary tale, but no one will learn from it. Best always. PM
That is the truly sad part: so much promise.
Moral of the story? Humans never learn nor change. This fact is why we need to be with people who think alike. If you love God, family and country, and you are surrounded by those same values, you’re much more likely to survive any kind of disaster better than being surrounded by democrats, who just love to eat their own…
Perzackly. If consensus government is to succeed, the group must be more like-thinking than not. We stagnated seriously in the 90s, and since then, all of our political energy has been devoted to one side trying to force its political will on the other. You see the results. Best always. PM
Tragically, the majority in both parties have been eating their young at all levels of democracy since it was first named by Aristotle, and in America for the past 100 years plus.
SL: How sad you have become. Please get help..maybe join a church or go for counseling. Even that statement is way beneath you!
Yes my sweet Dorothy, kind of the pot calling the kettle black 🤔 Conservatives get mad when you lie to them.
Liberals get mad when you tell them the truth.
SL: There's still hope!
💕
Genius summary. Thanks. Best always. PM
Talk about a downer of a column on what was already a dreary day in my little corner of paradise. Yet there is a reason post-apocalyptic books and movies endure...we have seen them play out over the course of history. I recently read that Stalin had soldiers sent to gulags at the end of the war so they could not come home and cause trouble. Bill's column raises the question of whether human nature is inherently good. If so, why aren't all deals win-win?
"Good" is subjective.
Stalin thought sending those soldiers to the gulag was good for his people.
Hitler thought eliminating Jews was doing the world a favor.
Liberals think exploiting borders and multiculturalism makes America great...
Yes brother, All extremely mentally unstable individuals. Especially the American leftards…
The mentally unstable individuals were created by both political parties.
The Constitutional Republic was never supposed to be a perfect system, the Founders understood changes would be needed to the government, while the basic framework of individual rights would not change. Ben Franklin was a realist when asked what form of government was created to replace the monarchy. "A republic, if you can keep it"
Franklin understood, the new republic would not be open to the unwashed and ignorant to take a hand in governing, all would be ruled over by an invisible hand (Constitution) used to support their individual rights above the masses. This new radical form of government would only survive with the active participation and responsibility of its citizens.
The republic started the decline when the first judge or government official strayed from the Constitutional framework. Wilson ended the republic with the formation of the Federal Reserve bank and the IRS which acts as the debt collector for the Fed. For the first time it became legal for the Federal government to place money in hands of private individuals. From that point it was simple buy off the Congress, which in turn bought off state and local government. The end result, today school board elections have citizen pitted against citizen.
The transfer of public funds into private hands has become so normalized so expected with the end result being: An apartment dweller in Scranton, PA is expected to pay for hurricane damage to 5 million dollar shore homes in Naples, Florida.
In the 1960's a homeowner took a chance building or buying at any shore community or in the tornado belt.
The government in my little part of suburbia (where we don't lock doors or windows and leave the keys in our cars), thought it necessary to purchase an armed personnel carrier equipped with what surely looks like a turret mounted cannon and a truck lettered "Mass Causality Response Vehicle". Might the local government know something the citizens should be told? Might I use my 2nd Amendment right to purchase a shoulder mounted grenade launcher or armor piercing bullets to defend my Constitutional rights against all aggressors foreign and domestic?
That ship has sailed.
Exactly brother!
Humans' natures are inherant - born in.
Some, like Jesus (the Christ), Gautama Sidhartha (the Buddha), Mohandas (the Mahatma) Gandhi, and many others just love to give. God-like.
Many, many want to stay in even exchange. Honorable.
Many others want something for nothing. Takers. They love to lie. Home wreckers.
Some few are sadistic, sociopathic perverts. We read and hear about them, but I have never met one face to face (to my knowledge.)
Bad things happen to good people - resulting in intelligent empathy. The good gain power to comfort and strengthen others, as the above-named did and do.
That's how it looks from the rock this frog is sitting on.
Overall Trade Deficits CUT IN HALF??! Hmmmm - according to Bill, this is a bad thing. The only downside I see is less overall Supply (temporarily), so yes, higher prices. But that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone - both sides have been harping on it for months. The flip-side is a greatly increased GDP, or an increase in the "stuff" produced in America. Again, hmmmmm.
Seems like the stupid plan that had no chance to work is starting to go down exactly as President Trump said it would. But I'm not naive - Bill and many here will refuse to see anything positive about this - or anything else.
"Down with America" - amIright?
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1930616741685588473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1930616741685588473%7Ctwgr%5E89b8c65c94168683287c0683331979d5291f4c69%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whatfinger.com%2F
Mr. S.E., I remember in the early part of the 20th Century when free traders like Bill, when free trade was being first criticized for taking away over a million jobs from American workers, would reply that a tough transition period was necessary, and that the tech revolution would replenish plenty of jobs and a Chinese middle class would be created that would overthrow their authoritarian masters. None of this has remotely occurred. Now Bill and other free traders are screaming about the difficult transition period per tariffs, for example, by spooking the stock markets. Hypocrisy anyone?
Bill's Big Beautiful Buddies are just pissed off that it's working, though he'll never admit it. The reality is that the policies are designed to help Main Street and Bill's BBB's care only about Wall Street and Real Estate.
Did you miss reality, Bill? Did you NOT see the excessive number of international tariffs which "stuck it" to the USA? Enough is enough! Time to even it up - at least a little! If I was in charge, I wouldn't try to "get it even" in one fell swoop but I sure as hell would start the process of bumping the tariffs. Maybe by, 20-25% of the current spread. Don't make anybody get their panties in a bunch. And don't advertise that we were going to bump it every year by the same %. Enough said. I need a coffee - wonder if its an import?
Ah just go for Black Rifle coffee.
Tariff imbalances are the price USA pays for the exorbitant privilege of having the World's (current) reserve currency.
Most of what USA inc makes these days is behind other countries apart from the vapour ware of social media meaning,with a few honourable exceptions, people in the rest of the world buy fewer US goods, not because of tariffs, but because they don't like them.
The price of tariffs is the $ falls off a cliff and the Chinese version of Ayn Rand writes a book ending "He raised his hand and over the desolate earth he traced in space the sign of the Yuan".
Apologies for my ignorance - which I don't deny.
The only reason that Bill likes Musk now is because he had a disagreement with Trump. A couple of weeks ago he was ignorant and a Trump crony. I wish Obama, Hilary, or Biden said that they liked the big, beautiful, bill. I wonder if Bill would throw his buddies under the bus. I think Bill, as usual, might be writing a little more into this than what appears.
All true. My only pushback is it seems Trump is really overreacting to Elon's comments. Trump sometimes just needs to shut up and move on. Picking a fight with Elon is unnecessary. Why not just agree with Elon that more needs to be done but that we can only do so much now, with more to come. That would smooth things over. But Trump has to be confrontational, it seems, even when it is unnecessary.
I don’t know why John, but Musk is ripping Trump apart pretty good. Almost like it’s a reality tv show 🤔…everything seems so scripted, like a B movie gone bad…
I have to admit, I haven't seen much of Musk's comments. But I still think Trump should let it go. He doesn't have to respond to everything.
John, Trump can’t help it: it’s the big-mouth blowhard ready-fire-aim northeasterner in him…
My thought exactly, brother. This feud really seems made-up. Not sure what the end game is and too exhausted to worry over it...
Saw a comment elsewhere this morning saying that Elon knows that Trump is in the Epstein files!
That will be a shtf moment haha
Apparently, yes, he has said as much about Trump, so not sure that this is some little made-up, designed to distract, made for the internet, spat, to earlier comments, based on what I've read. Some serious shit-slinging coming down the pipe I'd say
Wasn't expecting a happy ending with those two, but thought the marriage would make it beyond the honeymoon at least.
The President is probably thinking this hasn't been a great week, given, what I suspect was a "let's cut to the chase" conversation with Putin earlier.
The price for bringing leftards into your life 🤔…they can act like conservatives only for a
Limited Time until they transform back
Into themselves…
Yeah, no sh!t. Just look at Morning Joke, uh, I mean Joe.
That assh0le was a Democrat, switched to Repub to run for Congress in FL House Dist 1 (a Dem wouldn’t have stood a chance), and now is a hard-core TDS-suffering leftwingnut. Makes me want to puke that I voted for the turncoat SOB…
If Trump was in the Epstein Files, we would have known that YEARS ago. Puh-lease. Benny always gives a fair analysis - just the facts. He doesn't know either, but he does lay out an accurate History:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIr4IagCMVI
Who are Bill's buddies and why would he throw them under the bus?
Any politician who is not Conservative and no, he would never throw those people under the bus. The extent of Bill Bonner being AT ALL Conservative apparently begins and ends with Fiscal issues.
That's kinda the point of Bart's comment...
Nailed it, StarboardEdge!
“The only reason that Bill likes Musk now is because he had a disagreement with Trump. A couple of weeks ago he was ignorant and a Trump crony.” Exactly!
If you go back (and you won't have to go far), you'll find Bill predicted this scenario pretty much bang on.
Meh. It couldn't have been more obvious and a LOT of people from BOTH sides predicted what we are seeing now - here and elsewhere.
There's something on your nose? Or not - I don't care. This place is becoming very Predictable - and that is an audience killer....
Fraser, yes, Bonner did predict early on that Musk would wear out his welcome and there’d be a parting of ways.
The nastiness of the parting is actually entertaining 🍿🍿
All the graft, waste, and money laundering exposed by DOGE. No public outcry and no accountability for the perpetrators. Do you need any further proof that you live among willfully ignorant serfs and that the U.S. government is FUBAR. Yes, the big beautiful bill is an abomination, but that's ignoring the elephant in the room. The U.S. government is a complete utter abomination :-)
I’m surprised that Musk also doesn’t seem to understand only certain items can be addressed in this current bill. Trump has now sent a $9.4B plan to Congress to reduce spending based on DOGE recommendations. This will put the Dems on record……
I certainly understand people being dishonest, but the left is so insanely far from common sense….
And as many of us have mentioned, time for us to stop paying for the whole world, including those in this country getting a free ride.
BB is amazingly disingenuous on most everything he writes about.
Oh, and I’m so glad KJP has finally ‘seen the light!’
Ahhh-hahahahaha!
Have a nice day.
You are being way too kind calling Bongo Bill "disingenuous".
Argentina's economy is about equal to the State of Virgina.
Argentina at its ultimate best could not come close in comparison to the available resources and educated personnel of the 50 U.S. States... why is Bill trying?
He's trying because it allows him to make another negative evaluation on Trump.
Two books that fully illustrate where we are and where we are headed are 1984 and Lord of the Flies… Good luck!
You will own nothing and be happy? Think not! More like; you will own nothing and things will get extremely bloody. Best never forget; civilization is not the natural state of man :-)
Bill: Argentina is a much smaller country than the U.S. Also, they did/do not have the high industrialization as America. I do agree that spending more than you make will ‘eventually’ destroy the home. But thinking the last 50 years every political administration has done the same thing and the debt goes up. Trump is spending large amounts of money to undo much of the past mistakes. I am hoping once this happens, his administration will start reducing the deficit and debt. If this does not happen I will join the Musk camp. It will not be easy because our countries populace is highly dependent on people sucking the big breast. On the tariff issue, I would prefer that no country had a tariff and commerce would all be on an even scale.
Thank you, Bongo Bill, for that very interesting story. It is so relevant to what is going on today. I see toxic snowfall and giant bugs everywhere. Boy, that Trump is a madman, isn't he Bill? Tell us more. Will bug spray eliminate the orange plague? We need to know.
A great metaphorical piece of work , Bill Thanks .
This history lesson reminds Me of the Gulags. And that is not good!
The win-win deal will (almost) never happen when politics is in the middle. For evidence, I will quote the ultimate politician, Joseph Stalin: "Economics is who gets what. Politics is who decides who gets what." And when someone has to decide, there will always be the attitude of envy getting in the way.