A Big Ugly Mess
Republicans in the House and the Senate will tell you that this bill, which is the cornerstone of Trump’s domestic policy agenda, will spark US GDP growth, strengthen the US abroad, and make our country stronger. I want to take those individually and how so many people live in an alternate reality.
GDP Growth
I view the obsession with GDP growth in this country similarly to my nighttime fly-catcher. See there’s a very enchanting purple light, that attracts flying insects. When the flying intruders get close to that light, there isn’t a Shangri-Lah of treasure, there’s a spinning vortex of air that sucks the flies into a turbine at the bottom that either chops them up or traps them there to eventually whither away into a slow death. I love the way this fly trap works, no matter how hard the flies try to avoid it they can’t. And yes, I view our obsession with GDP growth to be the same thing. We focus so much on GDP, thinking that a tax cut will spur job creators, or cutting spending will somehow make the country grow faster. But in reality, we get sucked into a death spiral of trash policy.
Look at the estimates from a smattering of different groups:
Is this bill worth it? A half-percent of extra growth over a decade - oh goodie. Who needs rural hospitals, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, but hey I get an extra child tax credit and a savings account to use for them as well. Can't wait for my boys to take all that money and give it to Barry Weiss's University, for a lecture series from Andrew Tate's on Alpha Male Studies.
A Strong America Abroad
I’ve never been one to be a “oh the debt” kind of person. I’ve been known to flirt with some MMT ideas if we used deficit spending to build roads, bridges, and maybe even a high-speed train? As we’ve referenced on the show, Ray Dalio wrote a book (here’s the video) called Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order. He researched what goes into how a country rises and falls.
Just look at that decline... wealth gaps, printing money, large debts, internal conflict, weak leadership... good thing we have none of those things happening! When we have a piece of domestic legislation that adds trillions to the debt, it means we print more money, and the world will lose confidence in us. There are more options than ever before to create economic trading blocks that will weaken the US’s standing in the world. Yes we’re a huge consumer, yes we’re the best trading block, but that will not last forever.
A Strong America at Home
The people that voted Trump into office will lose most. Already we’re seeing his own supporters get deported. Members of my own diaspora, possibly some of the most stubborn people in the world, still support the President while their family members get hauled away. Thankfully the criminals that hangout at Home Depots will not be terrorizing families anymore. The nanny’s taking care of children at parks, will not be selling them into sex trafficking. And double thankfully, this bill adds $200B to ICE making it one of the largest military’s in the world (bigger than Italy, Israel, Brazil, and the Netherlands!). Even conservative economists will tell you that immigration is key to the economic prosperity of a country. But hey, we can do this on our own folks!
So send this to your friend who live in an alternate reality because this piece of domestic legislations has geopolitical consequences. The cruelty of its domestic decisions aside, it’s the incompetence of how it handles the very thing Republicans said they were the right people to handle… the economy.
In other news
Netanyahu is Meeting with Trump (today)
Just a couple of peacemakers meeting about peace. Of course, peace, bomb dropping peacemakers. Apparently these two are going to meet today to discuss a potential ceasefire in Gaza – Trump wants it, but no surprise Bibi does not.
Trump has another Trade deadline this week
More deadlines from Trump's trade war this week. Liberation Day is turning out great for everyone, forecasts are up, up, and up!
This week
Make sure to listen or watch us for our Friday new episode drop.