It looks like the administration is doing everything it can — including whimsical tariff threats — to make the value of the US dollar and US bonds go down.
Once again an imparcial, thoughtful, honest analysis of a basic issue affecting all of us. It contradicts the wack-job, partisan, self-interested fake “analyses” of our political “leadership” who only want to make themselves and their friends even more wealthy by any means possible. Let’s see how the true believers here disparage Bill—finally with some facts not just with name-calling and insults.
Are we to ignore your own "name calling" (e.g. "whack=job partisan") and simply "channel" imaginary name calling from anyone making any challenge at all to the basis of what Bill purports here?
Neither this newsletter nor any of our dully elected government leadership should be confused with a High School football game.
Bill has his partisan side and also his role as investment analyst. As is the case with any partisan viewpoint which is allowed to dictate events, one can only be correct when the political stars align with ones' own prejudiced views. Pure serendipity, not to ever be confused with analytical objectivity.
The facts are well established and fairly clear; Look up the term "export taxes" and educate yourself on the myriad policy avenues available - especially to top-down dictated economies. How the trading world actually works, Ed
Amplification of a perspective that holds tariffs as having a simplistic one-to-one impact on consumer prices only has the benefit of getting what is bovine approval from those whose own lack of understanding is being taken advantage, Essentially, hate inspired, lacking in nuance and therefore, any legitimate and useful insight. what actually transpires with the fullness of time is their adversary - whether acknowledged or not - credibility is either gained or lost.
I only seek to encourage that part of Bill's own understanding that would recognize this. That this understanding and raw intellectual curiosity would, at some point in time, inspire him to fulfil his role as economic analyst and seek to provide an explanation as to why the worst predictions for out-of-control tariff driven consumer inflation has only been realized in energy cost to the average consumer. One quite obviously driven by the last administrations, ill-advised "Green New Deal". A policy designed by politicians.
To allow for the possibility for this current businessmen staffed administrations, whose lodestar is experience coupled to common sense, with quite divergent policies (on trade & energy), to sprout green shoots of renewal.
Beautiful Mr Burns! Mr Ed continues to come off as the old, confused man he is. Bill is evidently in this same confused state of mind. Mr Bonner has basically been nothing but a travel agent his entire life, who has dabbled in the wealth inherited from family. Most can make money from money if they’re gifted with half of a brain. It’s those of us who were born with nothing, that have worked for our own success, that you want “advice” from. Not travel agents. Going forward, the more President Trump continues to win, the more demented the insane left will become. And taking their advice on anything is just as insane as their policies🤔
Bill Bonner is a great writer and is at the van of a great group of analytical minds. Still, he’s just a man like the rest of us - partisan warts and all. That’s OK, as long as we all agree to exchange our ideas on fact alone. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Look no further than Trump being castigated and Biden’s past performance being elevated with so many contravening facts now firmly in place. At some time, expect historians to weigh in. Most are probably in shock at the moment.
Yes Ed, I love Bill and the wonderful family he has created. You can always tell a man’s success by his family. In that fact, Bill is very successful. Myself, along with many millions of Americans, are witnessing the truth. Not the corrupt lies from the party of mental illness, but the truth, on the ground. If president Trump continues on his winning streak, America truly has the potential to end the leftist revolution, and MAGA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I don’t subscribe to Bill for his political opinion. I subscribe to entertain his financial analysis. Particularly, that which is rationally substantiated by history. I take it all in and then run it though my own, proprietary sensibilities.
Can you name 3 things Trump is doing or has even TALKED about doing to create the prosperity we voted him in for? As the whole world knows, he talks a lot so my request should be easy.
You see Mr Ed, Americans voted President Trump in not for individual “prosperity”, but to save our nation from the leftist enemies, foreign and domestic. I can write many of president Trumps successes, but they will all fly way over your head. Especially since you’re not capable of seeing them yourself. And yes Ed, the whole world does know the incredible job President Trump is doing, and the globalist/communist/party of mental illness are all 💩💩 themselves😊 Yes Ed, you voted wisely, so sit back and enjoy the show🍿🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
1. Economic Policy and Growth…President Trump's focus on tax cuts, deregulation, and pro-business policies has stimulated economic growth, created jobs, and boosted consumer confidence. Maybe not to the psychotic left, but to the rest of America.
2. National Security and Foreign Policy… In an increasingly complex world, national security remains a top priority. President Trump's approach, which includes strong military funding, BORDER SECURITY, and his America First foreign policy, resonates with those of us who believe that safeguarding the nation from external/internal threats and ensuring sovereignty is vital for a secure and prosperous America, while continuing to end conflicts around the world 🇺🇸 🇺🇸🇺🇸
3. Judicial Appointments and Rule of Law… The long-term impact of judicial appointments will shape American society for generations. President Trump's selections of conservative judges are crucial for upholding our constitutional values and addressing key issues like abortion, gun rights, and immigration. The judiciary's role in maintaining the rule of law and protecting individual liberties is seen as fundamental to the health of democracy. A health the party of mental illness poisoned and tried to destroy. But you know the rest of the story Mr Ed. 🤔
President Trump is doing something no other president has been able to accomplish for too many decades. Beating the globalist/communist/progressives/demented democrats(all the same 💩) at their own game 💪🇺🇸
Your excellent comment skillfully points out my hypocrisy and provides a better rationale than Trump does for the downward spiral our country is in. You understand the economic value of controversy. He concentrates on blaming previous administrations for the collapse of our nation’s economy while employing their same cowardly protectionist tactics: “poor us, we can’t compete anymore”. Trump seems even worse, however, even fixating on scapegoating of the weakest among us: 1) foreign workers (especially on farms—unbelievable stupidity as farm products are one of the few areas the US was still competitive), 2) artists (destroyed Kennedy Center and tried to destroy Jimmy Kimmel); 3) writers (don’t dare have a different opinion); 4) foreign investors and visa holders (steals land owned by Chinese and prevents entry of new ideas, even from countries moving forward—not backward like USA); 5) populations recently liberated from ancient religious prejudice and oppression such as gay people and free thinkers; 6) opposition parties and leaders for minor issues using his unique Supreme Court trapdoor.
At the SAME time he has failed to make any industry more competitive internationally. His 2017 steel tariff made one company more valuable while making virtually every consumer product and industrial activity MORE expensive and LESS competitive worldwide. Simultaneously that temporary security squelched innovation in the steel industry and US automakers have bankruptcy staring them in the face as b he continues the same protectionist policies this time. He is so much into himself that he seems to have no concepts of cause and effect, something Bill clearly understands.
You are truly a twisted, indoctrinated person who does nothing but add to our problems, while arrogantly thinking you are the smartest in the room. Hey perfesssser - your boy O'hammed blamed Bush for his own shortcomings for 6+ years of his 8-year dance of destruction, then your second favorite moron, TraitorJoe, destroyed all the good that Trump#1 HANDED to him, while laughably blaming the former President the whole time.
Sad for you that we are all not as STUPID as your side of the aisle and their supporters - but please carry on. The Country and the world are waking up....
And his approval ratings are mostly down, not up. I certainly haven’t said that I regret NOT voting for Harris. Maybe Trump will manage to do something positive before he passes? And maybe he will even be strong enough to hold back the human butchers of Israel and his fanatic and super-greedy son-in-law.
I’ve been at this as a Process Plant Estimator for fifty years. Power Plants, Bio-Pharma, Oil & Gas, etc. My BS meter is one that is highly sensitive. Trump has a narcissists personality, which grates a bit - but he’s making unusually prescient moves. Let’s give the devil his due, eh?
Can you tell me one or, say 3, of these “unusually prescient” moves? You’ve done power plants. The future is all about electricity, and while China, which barely had a power line 40 years ago, has now surpassed us in electric generation with plans to replace coal plants with nuclear, the Trump regime won’t even allow Nevada the right to generate electricity via nuclear power right next door to BOTH the only legal disposal site in the country AND the site from which the government conducted at least 5 (five) atomic bomb tests which I witnessed as a teenager. Spending a few hundred billion building a dozen nuclear facilities there (instead of using that land to teach pilots how to bomb entire countries and creating the US as Pariah Nation #2) could ALONE add a trillion dollars/year and millions of jobs to our economy. Just catching up with China might give some of the dreamers here something real to talk about.
Harry Reid oversaw the construction of the Nevada Disposal site but then turned around to prevent the Yucca mountain site to be used, after it was built. Trump is fully supportive of his “all of the above” approach to energy platforms including new generation nuclear. Here’s a perspective from a guy who’s been immersed in the power space for decades. -New gen nuclear will be the choice but out about 7 to 10 years. Meanwhile, natural gas turbines combined with HRSG and BESS storage for efficiency. However, solar will be suitable only for residential and commercial, with EV transportation fleet to fullfil the role of a distributed battery storage system and wind will only be built occasionally. Like geothermal, only suitable under certain conditions. Face it, once we go nuclear as the baseload energy platform based on scale, efficiency and lifecycle cost. The huge, controversial solar fields and, especially offshore wind farms will be understood as unadvisable. China is an entirely different “kettle of fish”. Quite literally for me “been there, done that” as I was on the team that gave them our coal power technologies ten to fifteen years ago.
You’re right about Reid, but I’d point out that, if were still alive, he would definitely NOT agree with those on this site characterizing me as a dyed-in-the-wool leftist. We disagreed on most issues but I now appreciate his constructing of the disposal and always admired, appreciated and actually briefly worked with him on gay rights legislation (that Trump’s Supreme Court seems poised to devastate)!
Ed, in the interest of brevity, let me simply point out two contravening facts. The first is the over reach with the inference of “gay bashing” Please note that Trumps cabinet is staffed by several openly gay office holders in very prominent and highly visible positions of power. Obviously chosen on purely meritocratic criteria - no DEI required. I sense that you are in need of scrubbing your hand-me-down talking points. I’m also quite sure that a much longer dialogue between us would point up other similar areas of assumption requiring some recalibration as well. For my part, I would suggest a discussion on Universal Healthcare, as the current government shutdown banner issue on the Democrat side is all about cuts to ACA and Medicaid. Are you aware that Trump had written of his support for Universal Healtvcare? His year 2000 book “The America We Deserve” staked out his position. Now wouldn’t it be far more productive for our entire nation to have a media that sought to question him on this issue than to have you and I jousting over false talking points as introduced by that media? Perhaps we’re all not that far apart after all…
Well, I’ve given him steel (non) inflation, the (non) gay-bashing and I assume his news shows are celebrating the ME peace initiative success. As a bonus item, Trump defenestration of the Iranian nuclear threat to Israel as well as “the big Satan” should suffice. For extra credit, his detractors can ruminate on the implications of a six month old administration having done all of this and wonder how much of Trumps approach can be extrapolated into other currently troubled regions as I imagine Putin, Xi and the mullahs are doing right now.
The bombs Trump and his predecessors have given the fanatics in Israel is probably the basis for the world-wide hatred of both countries, one of which was admired universally until recently. Just look at the 190-2 votes in the UN—that US created and benefited from immensely. No more. Trump and Biden turned love into fear, soon to become hatred if things don’t change.
Thank you, Bill! But even that one shows the folly of Trump’s economic war against the world: while China now produces 70% of one of the world’s most used commodities (and probably 90% of its innovation), no one outside the US buys from its one phony, non-competitive company. The US used to be the world leader but it’s already completely lost its markets and threatens to take down the entire US auto industry. That will happen when Americans question why they have to pay $40,000 ford cars that cost $15,000 in China. The whole political system will be threatened when the US consumer says no to this political racket
My Engineering News Record inflation index (end August 2025) cites 0.0% increase in construction materials costs as forecasted through end of 2025. Overall Building Cost Index of 2.7% inflation. Here, once again, no visible signs of unusual inflation.
A October update to the ENR data shows an increase to 3.6% for “Building Cost Index”. However, a closer read shows the more recent increase is entirely due to domestic Labor inflation (not material imports). Labor inflation due to demand from an increase for the technical talent needed for reshoring manufacturing, AI Data Centers, etc. Labor cost in general, due to the inflation generated in 2022 from the IRA, now having worked through the entire economy due to the huge increase in energy cost.
Let’s continue to work with Ed and all TDS affected voters. At some point they have to reflect on the fact that they’ve been lied to by their trusted sources, simply based on a factual examination of what has transpired. Here, we can talk about Hunters laptop, Russian collusion or, most recently, the prediction for out of control inflation from Trumps tariff negotiations. The trend here is that reality is gaining on a litany of lies by Dems and their media lackeys. At some point, people with intelligence will come to resent being used, thusly. Probably won’t want to admit to it publicly, but in the privacy of the voting booth, we’ll see it.
What did he inherit? Seems to me like his hands were tied. Here's a non-PC but hard truth: labor is fungible. So, if one guy will work for $3.50/hour and the other guy MUST have $50/hour (gross cost with "benefits", social security overhead etc.), who has the advantage and who gets the work? President Trump is trying to find a way to keep things manageable and going. Do you think you could do it better? If so, share with the group. Best always. PM
And we can compete in a modern economy.Labor is a percent of cost for product and services has been declining dramatically. The 350 wage, it's half.What our minimum wage was just a year ago. Guess where those jobs have gone.... They're going to automation. When the plants left the United States for China, they didn't take the bricks and a beat up concrete floors.They built new, hence the technological advantage.It's not at all about payroll.
China and China’s workers support automation and new technology. They understand the value for their children and grandchildren, even if those measures harm their short-term interests. That’s one of dozens of reasons why China is beating the US at nearly every measurement of well-being/prosperity. Its goal over the next 5 years is to extend life expectancy by one year. That’s in China. Life expectancy in thr US is probably dropping 1 year every 5 years and certainly encouraged by Trumpian dictates.
I do like the Chinese people I’ve met and worked with and I know their nation advances in leaps and bounds - but they’re not supermen. They have some major structural problems within. Our own nation is well equipped to excel and surpass and not just survive. Impossible without the right leadership - but Trump has breathed life back into our model. I see you’re not a fan, but please stand by. The next three plus years will be fascinating.
I’ve never met a Chinese person who even claimed any sort of superiority. They aren’t like us Americans and get a lot of power from their ability to “turn the other check” and eschew any breast beating—unlike us white Judeocristians who obviously know everything and expect acknowledgement of that obvious verity from others.
Hey, Billy Boy. Have you seen what's going on in the Middle East re Gaza? You know that Middle East situation that you endlessly excoriate Trump over for his policies. Just wondering if you could give us an update.
🤫 shhhh…don’t wake him. He will just wake up to the nightmare that President Trump keeps on winning 🤫 He may even have to move back to America, after Europe falls…due to his globalist beliefs of course 🤔
In the case of China the tariffs, to the extent they are implemented, would appear to be more about weakening China than strengthening America. To the extent they are not implemented they may simply be a negotiating tactic(for something, hard to tell exactly what). China has been waging 5th Generation Warfare, the smokeless battlefield as Xi calls it, against America for decades now. Most all Americans, including this one, do not fully understand the depth and breadth of Chinese strategy and tactics against America in this century. What we do know is that America has grown weaker by every measure, thanks in part to the maneuvers of the CCP inside America. Perhaps the tariff battle hurts both countries. The question might be which country suffers the most?
The Nobel Peace Prize winner that nobody heard of before from Venezuela, was an opposition party candidate to Maduro, has most likely been a CIA asset for a good while, and is a Zionist that said she will move the Venezuelan Embassy to Jerusalem. Now think about what’s going on in Venezuela. Connect the dots!
If you think this has anything to do with drugs, pivot !
Gee whizz! All of a sudden it seems that the reason for gold's big move is finally realized. DEBT!!! That's what this old man has been stressing all along and it's not because I have multiple degrees in Economics from major universities. It's just what the good Lord gave all of us "common sense". Now, let me make another pronastication. When the big boys that are invested in and hyping that garbage "crypto" begin to realize that "gold" is money and everything else is some form of currency, they will start selling that crap and fleeing to gold like a herd of Buffalo running from a group of Comanche indians. For any of you youngsters into crypto, I sure hope I'm wrong but for whatever it's worth you've been warned.
Well here’s your economy, folks, a magic show run by con men with stage fright. Trump’s got one hand up Xi’s sleeve, the other hand down your pockets, and we’re supposed to clap while the stock market vomits 900 points in one night. Tariffs at 130%? That’s not a policy, that’s a ransom note. And this whole “don’t worry, it’ll be fine with China”? That’s like your drunk uncle saying, “I can quit anytime I want.” Sure you can, but meanwhile Fort Knox is on fire, the dollar’s melting like an ice cube in hell, and bananas, bananas, are your economic canary in the coal mine. This isn’t capitalism, it’s a sketch written by Kafka.
The “TACO trade”? Cute acronym, but really it just means the president throws tantrums, the market shits itself, and CNBC tells you to buy like it’s a Macy’s clearance sale. The Jeff in Dublin’s talk, yeah, that guy’s basically saying, “Hope you like gold, because dollars are toilet paper now.” Which is funny, because I can already see a hedge fund manager at Goldman wiping his ass with $100 bills and saying, “Look honey, we’re diversified!”
The dollar’s down, gold’s up, Trump’s yelling at China…you know, it’s weird, I heard the same thing happened at my bookie’s once. Yeah, he said, uh, “Don’t worry about Vinny, it’ll all be fine,” right before Vinny broke both his legs with a tire iron. And you know, America wants to bring back manufacturing…yeah, that’s good, sure, back to the Vietnamese working $3.50 an hour right. I can’t even get a sandwich for that. So yeah, buy gold, I guess. Unless you’re one of those guys who buys bananas. Then you’re screwed.
Someone please tell the Trump Line that you can’t grow bananas in Cleveland, and tariffs won’t bring back factories, they’ll bring back soup lines! The Dollars falling, China’s laughing, and we’re arguing about finding TACO trades! Gold at $10,000! Are you kidding me? Buy it now, bury it in your yard, eat it if you have to! Because in 5 years you’ll be paying $30 for a banana smoothie and sucking off a Vietnamese factory worker just to get a job!
We can't become banana rich and our jobs that supported families at 1 time are now in Vietnam paying $3.50! So America give it up and just enjoy your Walmarts and Dollar Generals..........NOTHING CAN BE DONE! History started this morning!
Plenty of times I feel no need to comment because you and a couple others sum things up so nicely! So thank you for that!
The, we can't grow bananas like Brazil or Vietnam pays 3.50 an hour for OUR jobs with a "DEAL WITH IT" attached in the form of "there is now way we're going to compete with that and WE Don't want to"....tells me Bill is on the cusp of not being invited to his cocktail parties, when he's back in Baltimore! Tune in tomorrow for further analysis on the history of Oct.14th 2025 and ignore what led up to that day....beside Aug 1971!
PS, tomorrow is Charlie Kirk's 32nd Birthday for the normal and rational amongst us!
If anyone actually thinks any foreign government will actually pass through a "$3.50 an hour wage rate" to American consumers, I have a bridge spanning Wall Street to Beijing to sell you.
Still waiting for a serious discussion as to the true nature of volatile trade, vis' a vis' third world economies. In particular, any foreign nations command economy with one eye on our USA consumer market pricing structures and their other hand on the controls of their fiat export taxes,
The foreign governments ARE passing their cheaper wage rate through, and they have been doing it for 40 years, which is the about the last time I could buy an American-made shirt and pants. We can't compete with the Third World on price. That's obvious. Where does the Third World sell their products? Without our market, nowhere. Over half the world "enjoys" a $3.50/hour "economy", so they can't buy like a $50/hour economy can. On what can we compete? Technology, innovation, research, and, yes, demand. Who can absorb a 20% "hit" better, an economy based on $3.50/hour or an economy based on $50/hour? At this point, sadly, shenanigans and gimmickry are to be expected, given our refusal to stop deficit-spending! So, really, the game becomes how long we can keep it going. This isn't solely a "Trump" problem. Every, single one of us has a hand in it. We elected and empowered deceivers who got rich while we paid for it. Best always. PM
My point is that the "$3.50 wage rate" is not the sole delineator of export costs for goods. It's simply a subset of cost. On top of which "export taxes" are imposed.by governments.
These export taxes are malleable - their workers wage rates are not. China uses these "export fees" to price their goods competitively in foreign markets while generating revenue for their government. Understood correctly, the revenue from export taxes are how China pays for its military as well as most government expenses.
Export taxes also are able to function as a "relief valve" of sorts as they can be adjusted up or down quickly, simply by government fiat, in order to offset things such as foreign tariffs while still maintaining a competitive profile in foreign consumer markets.
There's a reason why your shirts are only slightly less than domestic shirts or shirts imported from other third-party exporters. Export taxes, adjusted down, are the reason why we haven't seen the one-for-one inflation to imported goods that so many, now having fallen quite silent, had so onerously predicted from Trumps tariffs. QED.
There’s no better system to put a floor under them than capitalism - warts and all. A Progressive tax system should only strive to care for the old & sick and those unable to care for themselves. All others are needed to pull the wagon or pay a price in lost credibility. .
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed something a little different about the tenor of Bill's essays lately? I'd say it started maybe a couple weeks ago. I'm not talking about the substance, but the prose, the style of the writing. It's almost as if ... I don't know, maybe just my imagination, but had to ask ...
Like maybe the Adjustment of Medications finally resulted in a rationale, stable person and the real Bill Bonner came back? Probably. My guess would be that Elizabeth and a raging case of TDS took over for about a year and a half or so - and we paid the price in something besides the price of subscription.
But I could be totally wrong - Mrs. Bonner could well be more Conservative than I am....
When I look at my wife’s diamond in its gold ring, 1726 gold sovereign, my inherited first edition stamp collection, I guess I should think of wealth and security from fiat paper 10 dollar notes. Somewhere in the loop of buying electric power, food at Costco or health services from my doctor, there is a mental pragmatic disconnection.
I guess I am really not very intelligent, just a very simple dude after all…
Once again an imparcial, thoughtful, honest analysis of a basic issue affecting all of us. It contradicts the wack-job, partisan, self-interested fake “analyses” of our political “leadership” who only want to make themselves and their friends even more wealthy by any means possible. Let’s see how the true believers here disparage Bill—finally with some facts not just with name-calling and insults.
Are we to ignore your own "name calling" (e.g. "whack=job partisan") and simply "channel" imaginary name calling from anyone making any challenge at all to the basis of what Bill purports here?
Neither this newsletter nor any of our dully elected government leadership should be confused with a High School football game.
Bill has his partisan side and also his role as investment analyst. As is the case with any partisan viewpoint which is allowed to dictate events, one can only be correct when the political stars align with ones' own prejudiced views. Pure serendipity, not to ever be confused with analytical objectivity.
The facts are well established and fairly clear; Look up the term "export taxes" and educate yourself on the myriad policy avenues available - especially to top-down dictated economies. How the trading world actually works, Ed
Amplification of a perspective that holds tariffs as having a simplistic one-to-one impact on consumer prices only has the benefit of getting what is bovine approval from those whose own lack of understanding is being taken advantage, Essentially, hate inspired, lacking in nuance and therefore, any legitimate and useful insight. what actually transpires with the fullness of time is their adversary - whether acknowledged or not - credibility is either gained or lost.
I only seek to encourage that part of Bill's own understanding that would recognize this. That this understanding and raw intellectual curiosity would, at some point in time, inspire him to fulfil his role as economic analyst and seek to provide an explanation as to why the worst predictions for out-of-control tariff driven consumer inflation has only been realized in energy cost to the average consumer. One quite obviously driven by the last administrations, ill-advised "Green New Deal". A policy designed by politicians.
To allow for the possibility for this current businessmen staffed administrations, whose lodestar is experience coupled to common sense, with quite divergent policies (on trade & energy), to sprout green shoots of renewal.
Beautiful Mr Burns! Mr Ed continues to come off as the old, confused man he is. Bill is evidently in this same confused state of mind. Mr Bonner has basically been nothing but a travel agent his entire life, who has dabbled in the wealth inherited from family. Most can make money from money if they’re gifted with half of a brain. It’s those of us who were born with nothing, that have worked for our own success, that you want “advice” from. Not travel agents. Going forward, the more President Trump continues to win, the more demented the insane left will become. And taking their advice on anything is just as insane as their policies🤔
Bill Bonner is a great writer and is at the van of a great group of analytical minds. Still, he’s just a man like the rest of us - partisan warts and all. That’s OK, as long as we all agree to exchange our ideas on fact alone. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Look no further than Trump being castigated and Biden’s past performance being elevated with so many contravening facts now firmly in place. At some time, expect historians to weigh in. Most are probably in shock at the moment.
Yes Ed, I love Bill and the wonderful family he has created. You can always tell a man’s success by his family. In that fact, Bill is very successful. Myself, along with many millions of Americans, are witnessing the truth. Not the corrupt lies from the party of mental illness, but the truth, on the ground. If president Trump continues on his winning streak, America truly has the potential to end the leftist revolution, and MAGA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Do you have any evidence that your idol, Bill, believes that Trump is on a “winning streak”?
I don’t subscribe to Bill for his political opinion. I subscribe to entertain his financial analysis. Particularly, that which is rationally substantiated by history. I take it all in and then run it though my own, proprietary sensibilities.
😳
Can you name 3 things Trump is doing or has even TALKED about doing to create the prosperity we voted him in for? As the whole world knows, he talks a lot so my request should be easy.
You see Mr Ed, Americans voted President Trump in not for individual “prosperity”, but to save our nation from the leftist enemies, foreign and domestic. I can write many of president Trumps successes, but they will all fly way over your head. Especially since you’re not capable of seeing them yourself. And yes Ed, the whole world does know the incredible job President Trump is doing, and the globalist/communist/party of mental illness are all 💩💩 themselves😊 Yes Ed, you voted wisely, so sit back and enjoy the show🍿🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I simply asked for 3 specific examples. You’re at 0, with meaningless dialogue—much like your hero.
1. Economic Policy and Growth…President Trump's focus on tax cuts, deregulation, and pro-business policies has stimulated economic growth, created jobs, and boosted consumer confidence. Maybe not to the psychotic left, but to the rest of America.
2. National Security and Foreign Policy… In an increasingly complex world, national security remains a top priority. President Trump's approach, which includes strong military funding, BORDER SECURITY, and his America First foreign policy, resonates with those of us who believe that safeguarding the nation from external/internal threats and ensuring sovereignty is vital for a secure and prosperous America, while continuing to end conflicts around the world 🇺🇸 🇺🇸🇺🇸
3. Judicial Appointments and Rule of Law… The long-term impact of judicial appointments will shape American society for generations. President Trump's selections of conservative judges are crucial for upholding our constitutional values and addressing key issues like abortion, gun rights, and immigration. The judiciary's role in maintaining the rule of law and protecting individual liberties is seen as fundamental to the health of democracy. A health the party of mental illness poisoned and tried to destroy. But you know the rest of the story Mr Ed. 🤔
President Trump is doing something no other president has been able to accomplish for too many decades. Beating the globalist/communist/progressives/demented democrats(all the same 💩) at their own game 💪🇺🇸
And keeps on winning 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Southern border.
"...and educate yourself..."
Did you really just say this to a flaming leftarde? C'mon man. Get real.....
Your excellent comment skillfully points out my hypocrisy and provides a better rationale than Trump does for the downward spiral our country is in. You understand the economic value of controversy. He concentrates on blaming previous administrations for the collapse of our nation’s economy while employing their same cowardly protectionist tactics: “poor us, we can’t compete anymore”. Trump seems even worse, however, even fixating on scapegoating of the weakest among us: 1) foreign workers (especially on farms—unbelievable stupidity as farm products are one of the few areas the US was still competitive), 2) artists (destroyed Kennedy Center and tried to destroy Jimmy Kimmel); 3) writers (don’t dare have a different opinion); 4) foreign investors and visa holders (steals land owned by Chinese and prevents entry of new ideas, even from countries moving forward—not backward like USA); 5) populations recently liberated from ancient religious prejudice and oppression such as gay people and free thinkers; 6) opposition parties and leaders for minor issues using his unique Supreme Court trapdoor.
At the SAME time he has failed to make any industry more competitive internationally. His 2017 steel tariff made one company more valuable while making virtually every consumer product and industrial activity MORE expensive and LESS competitive worldwide. Simultaneously that temporary security squelched innovation in the steel industry and US automakers have bankruptcy staring them in the face as b he continues the same protectionist policies this time. He is so much into himself that he seems to have no concepts of cause and effect, something Bill clearly understands.
You are truly a twisted, indoctrinated person who does nothing but add to our problems, while arrogantly thinking you are the smartest in the room. Hey perfesssser - your boy O'hammed blamed Bush for his own shortcomings for 6+ years of his 8-year dance of destruction, then your second favorite moron, TraitorJoe, destroyed all the good that Trump#1 HANDED to him, while laughably blaming the former President the whole time.
Sad for you that we are all not as STUPID as your side of the aisle and their supporters - but please carry on. The Country and the world are waking up....
SE, with people like Mr Ed, you just can’t fix STUPID.
Sounds like he has a suite at the Kennedy center. TUT TUT and what not don't you know...
And his approval ratings are mostly down, not up. I certainly haven’t said that I regret NOT voting for Harris. Maybe Trump will manage to do something positive before he passes? And maybe he will even be strong enough to hold back the human butchers of Israel and his fanatic and super-greedy son-in-law.
I’ve been at this as a Process Plant Estimator for fifty years. Power Plants, Bio-Pharma, Oil & Gas, etc. My BS meter is one that is highly sensitive. Trump has a narcissists personality, which grates a bit - but he’s making unusually prescient moves. Let’s give the devil his due, eh?
Can you tell me one or, say 3, of these “unusually prescient” moves? You’ve done power plants. The future is all about electricity, and while China, which barely had a power line 40 years ago, has now surpassed us in electric generation with plans to replace coal plants with nuclear, the Trump regime won’t even allow Nevada the right to generate electricity via nuclear power right next door to BOTH the only legal disposal site in the country AND the site from which the government conducted at least 5 (five) atomic bomb tests which I witnessed as a teenager. Spending a few hundred billion building a dozen nuclear facilities there (instead of using that land to teach pilots how to bomb entire countries and creating the US as Pariah Nation #2) could ALONE add a trillion dollars/year and millions of jobs to our economy. Just catching up with China might give some of the dreamers here something real to talk about.
Harry Reid oversaw the construction of the Nevada Disposal site but then turned around to prevent the Yucca mountain site to be used, after it was built. Trump is fully supportive of his “all of the above” approach to energy platforms including new generation nuclear. Here’s a perspective from a guy who’s been immersed in the power space for decades. -New gen nuclear will be the choice but out about 7 to 10 years. Meanwhile, natural gas turbines combined with HRSG and BESS storage for efficiency. However, solar will be suitable only for residential and commercial, with EV transportation fleet to fullfil the role of a distributed battery storage system and wind will only be built occasionally. Like geothermal, only suitable under certain conditions. Face it, once we go nuclear as the baseload energy platform based on scale, efficiency and lifecycle cost. The huge, controversial solar fields and, especially offshore wind farms will be understood as unadvisable. China is an entirely different “kettle of fish”. Quite literally for me “been there, done that” as I was on the team that gave them our coal power technologies ten to fifteen years ago.
It is happening with SMR'S
https://rationaloptimistsociety.substack.com/p/whos-winning-the-smr-race?utm_source=post-banner&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true
You’re right about Reid, but I’d point out that, if were still alive, he would definitely NOT agree with those on this site characterizing me as a dyed-in-the-wool leftist. We disagreed on most issues but I now appreciate his constructing of the disposal and always admired, appreciated and actually briefly worked with him on gay rights legislation (that Trump’s Supreme Court seems poised to devastate)!
Are you truly this ignorant? Asking for a friend.
Ed, in the interest of brevity, let me simply point out two contravening facts. The first is the over reach with the inference of “gay bashing” Please note that Trumps cabinet is staffed by several openly gay office holders in very prominent and highly visible positions of power. Obviously chosen on purely meritocratic criteria - no DEI required. I sense that you are in need of scrubbing your hand-me-down talking points. I’m also quite sure that a much longer dialogue between us would point up other similar areas of assumption requiring some recalibration as well. For my part, I would suggest a discussion on Universal Healthcare, as the current government shutdown banner issue on the Democrat side is all about cuts to ACA and Medicaid. Are you aware that Trump had written of his support for Universal Healtvcare? His year 2000 book “The America We Deserve” staked out his position. Now wouldn’t it be far more productive for our entire nation to have a media that sought to question him on this issue than to have you and I jousting over false talking points as introduced by that media? Perhaps we’re all not that far apart after all…
Ok, let’s do steel.
That's only one he wants everything in threes.
Well, I’ve given him steel (non) inflation, the (non) gay-bashing and I assume his news shows are celebrating the ME peace initiative success. As a bonus item, Trump defenestration of the Iranian nuclear threat to Israel as well as “the big Satan” should suffice. For extra credit, his detractors can ruminate on the implications of a six month old administration having done all of this and wonder how much of Trumps approach can be extrapolated into other currently troubled regions as I imagine Putin, Xi and the mullahs are doing right now.
The bombs Trump and his predecessors have given the fanatics in Israel is probably the basis for the world-wide hatred of both countries, one of which was admired universally until recently. Just look at the 190-2 votes in the UN—that US created and benefited from immensely. No more. Trump and Biden turned love into fear, soon to become hatred if things don’t change.
Thank you, Bill! But even that one shows the folly of Trump’s economic war against the world: while China now produces 70% of one of the world’s most used commodities (and probably 90% of its innovation), no one outside the US buys from its one phony, non-competitive company. The US used to be the world leader but it’s already completely lost its markets and threatens to take down the entire US auto industry. That will happen when Americans question why they have to pay $40,000 ford cars that cost $15,000 in China. The whole political system will be threatened when the US consumer says no to this political racket
My Engineering News Record inflation index (end August 2025) cites 0.0% increase in construction materials costs as forecasted through end of 2025. Overall Building Cost Index of 2.7% inflation. Here, once again, no visible signs of unusual inflation.
More specific to steel: -1.0% for Aluminum sheet, - 0.1% for Reinforcing bar, -1.4% for Stainless sheet and a whopping +0.3% for Wide Flange members.
A October update to the ENR data shows an increase to 3.6% for “Building Cost Index”. However, a closer read shows the more recent increase is entirely due to domestic Labor inflation (not material imports). Labor inflation due to demand from an increase for the technical talent needed for reshoring manufacturing, AI Data Centers, etc. Labor cost in general, due to the inflation generated in 2022 from the IRA, now having worked through the entire economy due to the huge increase in energy cost.
Ed, you have some serious TDS.
That comment was for Ed U not Ed B.
Let’s continue to work with Ed and all TDS affected voters. At some point they have to reflect on the fact that they’ve been lied to by their trusted sources, simply based on a factual examination of what has transpired. Here, we can talk about Hunters laptop, Russian collusion or, most recently, the prediction for out of control inflation from Trumps tariff negotiations. The trend here is that reality is gaining on a litany of lies by Dems and their media lackeys. At some point, people with intelligence will come to resent being used, thusly. Probably won’t want to admit to it publicly, but in the privacy of the voting booth, we’ll see it.
Brilliant!!!!
Agree. Trump's legacy, already bad, appears to be destined to become worse
What did he inherit? Seems to me like his hands were tied. Here's a non-PC but hard truth: labor is fungible. So, if one guy will work for $3.50/hour and the other guy MUST have $50/hour (gross cost with "benefits", social security overhead etc.), who has the advantage and who gets the work? President Trump is trying to find a way to keep things manageable and going. Do you think you could do it better? If so, share with the group. Best always. PM
And we can compete in a modern economy.Labor is a percent of cost for product and services has been declining dramatically. The 350 wage, it's half.What our minimum wage was just a year ago. Guess where those jobs have gone.... They're going to automation. When the plants left the United States for China, they didn't take the bricks and a beat up concrete floors.They built new, hence the technological advantage.It's not at all about payroll.
China and China’s workers support automation and new technology. They understand the value for their children and grandchildren, even if those measures harm their short-term interests. That’s one of dozens of reasons why China is beating the US at nearly every measurement of well-being/prosperity. Its goal over the next 5 years is to extend life expectancy by one year. That’s in China. Life expectancy in thr US is probably dropping 1 year every 5 years and certainly encouraged by Trumpian dictates.
I do like the Chinese people I’ve met and worked with and I know their nation advances in leaps and bounds - but they’re not supermen. They have some major structural problems within. Our own nation is well equipped to excel and surpass and not just survive. Impossible without the right leadership - but Trump has breathed life back into our model. I see you’re not a fan, but please stand by. The next three plus years will be fascinating.
I’ve never met a Chinese person who even claimed any sort of superiority. They aren’t like us Americans and get a lot of power from their ability to “turn the other check” and eschew any breast beating—unlike us white Judeocristians who obviously know everything and expect acknowledgement of that obvious verity from others.
Yes, quit being so smug and hateful and don’t be afraid to compete.
You’re an idiot also!
Brilliant!
Hey, Billy Boy. Have you seen what's going on in the Middle East re Gaza? You know that Middle East situation that you endlessly excoriate Trump over for his policies. Just wondering if you could give us an update.
🤫 shhhh…don’t wake him. He will just wake up to the nightmare that President Trump keeps on winning 🤫 He may even have to move back to America, after Europe falls…due to his globalist beliefs of course 🤔
My morning coffee was cold.
Damn that Trump.....
Quite the conversation going on today. If I may say just one thing . True capitalism works . I think Ayn Rand defined it best.
In the case of China the tariffs, to the extent they are implemented, would appear to be more about weakening China than strengthening America. To the extent they are not implemented they may simply be a negotiating tactic(for something, hard to tell exactly what). China has been waging 5th Generation Warfare, the smokeless battlefield as Xi calls it, against America for decades now. Most all Americans, including this one, do not fully understand the depth and breadth of Chinese strategy and tactics against America in this century. What we do know is that America has grown weaker by every measure, thanks in part to the maneuvers of the CCP inside America. Perhaps the tariff battle hurts both countries. The question might be which country suffers the most?
You’re truly disgusting!! You’re TDS needs clinical help and your news source, CNN proves you’re anti American so stay in your foreign countries
Well, he doesn't always quote CNN. The other day he quoted "Mother Jones". So, how's that for fair and balanced?
Are you able to name three things that the UN has done well and to the good, as partners with USA?
The Nobel Peace Prize winner that nobody heard of before from Venezuela, was an opposition party candidate to Maduro, has most likely been a CIA asset for a good while, and is a Zionist that said she will move the Venezuelan Embassy to Jerusalem. Now think about what’s going on in Venezuela. Connect the dots!
If you think this has anything to do with drugs, pivot !
Yup - 100%.....
Gee whizz! All of a sudden it seems that the reason for gold's big move is finally realized. DEBT!!! That's what this old man has been stressing all along and it's not because I have multiple degrees in Economics from major universities. It's just what the good Lord gave all of us "common sense". Now, let me make another pronastication. When the big boys that are invested in and hyping that garbage "crypto" begin to realize that "gold" is money and everything else is some form of currency, they will start selling that crap and fleeing to gold like a herd of Buffalo running from a group of Comanche indians. For any of you youngsters into crypto, I sure hope I'm wrong but for whatever it's worth you've been warned.
The hell with bananas. They weren't commercially available until relatively recent. Abraham lincoln was the first president to "see" an orange.
Well here’s your economy, folks, a magic show run by con men with stage fright. Trump’s got one hand up Xi’s sleeve, the other hand down your pockets, and we’re supposed to clap while the stock market vomits 900 points in one night. Tariffs at 130%? That’s not a policy, that’s a ransom note. And this whole “don’t worry, it’ll be fine with China”? That’s like your drunk uncle saying, “I can quit anytime I want.” Sure you can, but meanwhile Fort Knox is on fire, the dollar’s melting like an ice cube in hell, and bananas, bananas, are your economic canary in the coal mine. This isn’t capitalism, it’s a sketch written by Kafka.
The “TACO trade”? Cute acronym, but really it just means the president throws tantrums, the market shits itself, and CNBC tells you to buy like it’s a Macy’s clearance sale. The Jeff in Dublin’s talk, yeah, that guy’s basically saying, “Hope you like gold, because dollars are toilet paper now.” Which is funny, because I can already see a hedge fund manager at Goldman wiping his ass with $100 bills and saying, “Look honey, we’re diversified!”
The dollar’s down, gold’s up, Trump’s yelling at China…you know, it’s weird, I heard the same thing happened at my bookie’s once. Yeah, he said, uh, “Don’t worry about Vinny, it’ll all be fine,” right before Vinny broke both his legs with a tire iron. And you know, America wants to bring back manufacturing…yeah, that’s good, sure, back to the Vietnamese working $3.50 an hour right. I can’t even get a sandwich for that. So yeah, buy gold, I guess. Unless you’re one of those guys who buys bananas. Then you’re screwed.
Someone please tell the Trump Line that you can’t grow bananas in Cleveland, and tariffs won’t bring back factories, they’ll bring back soup lines! The Dollars falling, China’s laughing, and we’re arguing about finding TACO trades! Gold at $10,000! Are you kidding me? Buy it now, bury it in your yard, eat it if you have to! Because in 5 years you’ll be paying $30 for a banana smoothie and sucking off a Vietnamese factory worker just to get a job!
We can't become banana rich and our jobs that supported families at 1 time are now in Vietnam paying $3.50! So America give it up and just enjoy your Walmarts and Dollar Generals..........NOTHING CAN BE DONE! History started this morning!
"History started this morning!"
True dat - but only here at BPR and ONLY when our host is talking about anything Trump.....
Plenty of times I feel no need to comment because you and a couple others sum things up so nicely! So thank you for that!
The, we can't grow bananas like Brazil or Vietnam pays 3.50 an hour for OUR jobs with a "DEAL WITH IT" attached in the form of "there is now way we're going to compete with that and WE Don't want to"....tells me Bill is on the cusp of not being invited to his cocktail parties, when he's back in Baltimore! Tune in tomorrow for further analysis on the history of Oct.14th 2025 and ignore what led up to that day....beside Aug 1971!
PS, tomorrow is Charlie Kirk's 32nd Birthday for the normal and rational amongst us!
If anyone actually thinks any foreign government will actually pass through a "$3.50 an hour wage rate" to American consumers, I have a bridge spanning Wall Street to Beijing to sell you.
Still waiting for a serious discussion as to the true nature of volatile trade, vis' a vis' third world economies. In particular, any foreign nations command economy with one eye on our USA consumer market pricing structures and their other hand on the controls of their fiat export taxes,
The foreign governments ARE passing their cheaper wage rate through, and they have been doing it for 40 years, which is the about the last time I could buy an American-made shirt and pants. We can't compete with the Third World on price. That's obvious. Where does the Third World sell their products? Without our market, nowhere. Over half the world "enjoys" a $3.50/hour "economy", so they can't buy like a $50/hour economy can. On what can we compete? Technology, innovation, research, and, yes, demand. Who can absorb a 20% "hit" better, an economy based on $3.50/hour or an economy based on $50/hour? At this point, sadly, shenanigans and gimmickry are to be expected, given our refusal to stop deficit-spending! So, really, the game becomes how long we can keep it going. This isn't solely a "Trump" problem. Every, single one of us has a hand in it. We elected and empowered deceivers who got rich while we paid for it. Best always. PM
My point is that the "$3.50 wage rate" is not the sole delineator of export costs for goods. It's simply a subset of cost. On top of which "export taxes" are imposed.by governments.
These export taxes are malleable - their workers wage rates are not. China uses these "export fees" to price their goods competitively in foreign markets while generating revenue for their government. Understood correctly, the revenue from export taxes are how China pays for its military as well as most government expenses.
Export taxes also are able to function as a "relief valve" of sorts as they can be adjusted up or down quickly, simply by government fiat, in order to offset things such as foreign tariffs while still maintaining a competitive profile in foreign consumer markets.
There's a reason why your shirts are only slightly less than domestic shirts or shirts imported from other third-party exporters. Export taxes, adjusted down, are the reason why we haven't seen the one-for-one inflation to imported goods that so many, now having fallen quite silent, had so onerously predicted from Trumps tariffs. QED.
Best always to you as well, Paul.
And wait till those folks want a flush a toilet and a real floor... Like they see on American television and the internet.
There’s no better system to put a floor under them than capitalism - warts and all. A Progressive tax system should only strive to care for the old & sick and those unable to care for themselves. All others are needed to pull the wagon or pay a price in lost credibility. .
“Shenanigans and gimmickry are to be expected.” No truer words have been said.
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed something a little different about the tenor of Bill's essays lately? I'd say it started maybe a couple weeks ago. I'm not talking about the substance, but the prose, the style of the writing. It's almost as if ... I don't know, maybe just my imagination, but had to ask ...
Like maybe the Adjustment of Medications finally resulted in a rationale, stable person and the real Bill Bonner came back? Probably. My guess would be that Elizabeth and a raging case of TDS took over for about a year and a half or so - and we paid the price in something besides the price of subscription.
But I could be totally wrong - Mrs. Bonner could well be more Conservative than I am....
Question Bill: who is buying all the Dollars being sold? Is it the gold miners?
When I look at my wife’s diamond in its gold ring, 1726 gold sovereign, my inherited first edition stamp collection, I guess I should think of wealth and security from fiat paper 10 dollar notes. Somewhere in the loop of buying electric power, food at Costco or health services from my doctor, there is a mental pragmatic disconnection.
I guess I am really not very intelligent, just a very simple dude after all…