Deportations

In recent days the argument has been made that it is OK to deport illegal migrants after they have had due process. Some estimate this would take many years since there are more than 10 million illegals in the country. This was not always the case. As the number of illegal crossings increased the number deported without due process increased. In 1995 1,400 migrants were subject to nonjudicial removal representing 3% of total deportations. By 2012 that number had increased to 313,000. Here is a quote from AFL-CIO in 2016. Obama Administration’s Crackdown on Immigrants Ignores Due Process and Creates Communities Filled with Fear Obama used something called rocket docket where nonjudicial removals are fast tracked sometimes involving a single border agent who acted as judge and jury. Many had no lawyer and no chance to appeal. In 2016 the ACLU stated that the US has a proud tradition of affording everyone due process but a judicial review showed that in 3 out of 4 cases that did not happen when deporting illegal migrants. A report from UCLA law school in 2023 said, tens of thousands of children have been ordered deported, most without legal representation or a fair day in court.

Revolution

In the 1950’s the US produced 60% of the worlds consumer goods. These were things like appliances, electronics, clothes and cars. A lot of innovation led by research and development gave rise to the industrial base that produced these goods. This meant good paying factory jobs where wages went up each year a little more than inflation and the American dream became a reality. Beginning in the 1970’s and accelerating in the 1980’s and later, foreign markets began to compete with the US, most notably China especially after China entered the World Trade Organization in 2000. Take the case of widgets. The US was making most of the widgets but China first off, stole the technology (intellectual property) and then used cheap labor including child labor and sometimes slave labor to lower cost. They had no worker protections regs or environmental regs and used cheap coal energy which polluted their cities. The government provided cash incentives and also manipulated the currency to help lower cost. The widgets produced in the US cost $1,200 but those imported from China cost only $1,000. The free market being what it is, caused the US consumers to buy widgets from China. US companies quickly saw the price difference and begin to ship production to China to take advantage of the lower cost. In time the US widget industry was replaced by imports. Enter Trump. His goal was to bring back manufacturing jobs. Recall that in October of 2012 Obama said, “manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back, no matter who’s president”. Trumps plan is to place tariffs on widgets, so that they will cost more, which means the US consumer will pay more but if the tariff is 30% then the Chinese widgets will cost $1,300, which is more than the US made widgets. As the US builds new facilities with the latest technology, aided by AI, the cost of widgets will be less than China’s and the US consumer will once again buy American. During the time of transfer there will be disruptions and markets will jump around while things adjust but long term the industrial base will expand and once again American companies will be making American widgets, for American consumers and the good jobs will be back. The establishment will fight this since companies have been making profits at the expense of the working people. If Trump is unable to make this change, then things will reverse back to the old ways of globalization and the working people will once again go back to low paying jobs. This is revolutionary but is not likely to succeed because too many forces are against this change. Globalization has put profits into companies and the workers suffered. It is the old story. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

Crimes

The recent event of the arrest of a Milwaukee Judge has exposed a tension between the federal and state governments. Some cities have declared themselves to be sanctuary cities which means they will refuse to help the federal government, in this case ICE, to arrest illegal migrants. This can be seen as passive resistance and acceptable behavior. This judge, however, went a step further and took active steps to interfere with the ICE agents by hiding the suspect. Federal Crime of Assisting or Instigating Escape – 18 U.S.C. § 752(a) Clearly, in the United States, it's a crime anywhere to provide someone assistance who is attempting to escape from lawful custody.

New jobs

The reindustrialization of the United States is underway. Many manufacturers are bringing production back to the US to reduce supply chain vulnerabilities and improve logistics. This trend is being further accelerated by initiatives like the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. The push for fare tariffs has encouraged foreign investment in manufacturing. The US Department of the Treasury reports that manufacturing construction spending has doubled since the end of 2021. New plants use the latest technology and along with AI will have significant increases in productivity which will provide good jobs without putting pressure on inflation. A 2024 Cato Institute survey found that 80% of Americans believe the country would be better off with more manufacturing jobs. This is one of the best ways to unify the country. There will be growing pains while this transition takes place but long term it will help the working people, who have been hurt by globalization.

War

Through out history wars usually ended when one side decisively won. This happened in the Civil War and WW 2 but not since. Korea ended in a stalemate that has yet to be resolved. Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Gulf Wars just petered out and it looks like that will be the case in Ukraine. That was the history of the Middle East dispute between the Jews and Palestinians but the events of Oct 7 changed that. It now appears that Israel is determined to destroy Hamas and win the war once and for all. They are no longer deterred by the threat of nuclear retaliation which has been the reason that countries around the world have not sought total victory

Unity

There is an opening in the door for unity in the US but will the parties go through the door. Most agree that illegal migrants should be deported but not how Trump is doing it. Most agree that the border should be secure but not the way Trump has done it. Most agree that manufacturing jobs should be brought home but not the way Trump is proposing. Most agree that the Ukraine War should end but not the way Trump wants. Most agree that tariffs should be fare but not the way Trump is going about it. The problem is that those who disagree with the Trump methodology are not proposing alternate means. Instead, they want to use the old method of tax and spend. They want to take from the rich and give to the poor. Most people would rather have a job that pays a living wage with benefits and forgo the public assistance and this can be achieved by bringing manufacturing back home. The average person does not want to be dependent on government largess. They prefer to be self-supporting.

Change

It would be possible for both parties to get together for the good of the country but they have to accept change. Starting with areas of agreement and working toward common goals. Striving for peace instead of war. Invest in rehabs not jails. Educate students for jobs. Support equal rights for women. Government investment in childcare. Safety for the elderly. Bringing jobs back home. Path to citizenship for migrants. Deportation of criminal migrants. Tax on the super-rich. Increase child tax credit. Privatize social security. Eliminate capital gains tax break. These are some of the many things that the democratic candidates for president could be pushing but they are more interested in concentrating on Trump. After he is out of office things may be different.

Capital gains tax

Warren Buffet has said that his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does which is true but this is often reported as she paying more tax that he does. This difference is because she pays income tax on wages and he does not receive a wage but lives on dividends which are taxed at a lower rate. A single person earning one million dollars in MN would pay 37% in federal tax and 9.85 state income tax. In addition, they would pay $10,000 in social security tax and $23,500 in Medicare tax. They would also pay a 3.8% surtax on The net pay on one million would be $466,000. The same person living on dividends of one million would pay 20% capital gains plus a 3.8% surtax and net $762,000. This compared to the $466,000 paid by the capital gains. A tidy $300,000 savings. This is why many feel that the capital gains tax should be eliminated. The three members of the Walmart family own 3 billion shares and the annual dividend is one dollar per share so they receive one billion dollars each and each pays $230 million in tax as capital gains. If they had to pay ordinary income tax, they would pay $520 million so this tax break saves each family member $290 million dollars per year. The family donates $1.7 billion per year to charity. This reduces their tax due by $130 million. This leave each with $300 million

Working voters

Many in the democratic party feel they lost the low- and middle-income group because they did not clearly explain their policies but they are mistaken. Over the past 50 years, the incomes of low and middle-income workers in the U.S. have seen a slow and uneven growth, with the middle class experiencing a decline in its share of national income. While median income for middle-class households has increased, the share of total income they hold has decreased, indicating a widening income gap. This slow growth was particularly evident for workers in the bottom 90% of the wage distribution, with and annual growth of only 0.5%. Specifically, the top 1% of earners have seen their share of total income more than double, from 9% in 1975 to 22% in 2018, while the bottom 90% have seen their income share fall. Today the top 10% of the population holds 70% of the wealth. This was the result of globalization and Trump is trying to reverse that process and bring back the lost jobs. It is the establishment who opposes this and they are fighting Trump on every point. Even politicians who claim they are for the working man are opposing Trump. One of the first steps in bringing jobs back is to have fair trade which means equal tariffs which will lead to no tariffs.

Wind mil blades

All of the nuclear waste that has been created since the start of the nuclear age can be buried in a football field 30 feet deep. A football field is 1.4 acres. Wind mill blades are not biodegradable but are buried anyway. In one location near Sweetwater TX there is a 30-acre site where 5,000 blades are stored. That is 6 times the space needed for storage of all the nuclear waste. While a precise number of stored wind turbine blades is difficult to pinpoint, studies estimate that between 3,000 and 9,000 blades are decommissioned annually in the US, with this number potentially increasing to 10,000-20,000 per year by 2040. The average weight of a wind mill blade is 10,000 pounds It's difficult to give an exact number of discarded wind turbine blades currently in the world, but estimates project a significant amount of blade waste by 2050, potentially reaching 43 million metric tons. That would be 860,000 blades taking up 5,000 acres of land for storage.

Capitalism

Biden passed the Chips and Science Act for $280 billion designed to bring chip manufacturing back to the US and the $1.2 trillion dollar Infrastructure Bill to rebuild America. This was government money pouring into the private sector. So far in Trumps term he has received promises from both foreign and domestic companies to invest $5 trillion in the US economy. Under Biden’s approach government debt increases but private investment increases GDP without increasing debt. Bringing jobs back home, reshoring, will create economic growth without increasing debt. This is the basis of capitalism.

Nuke power

The Infrastructure Bill, passed under Biden, authorized $1.2 trillion in spending with $550 billion for new investments. Halfway through the five-year plan about 38% of the money has been spent. Over the years, a lot of criticism of National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) has been that it’s unnecessarily burdensome and slows down projects, especially energy development. This has been and still is one of the main reasons why nuclear power has been in decline. These problems which include arbitrary standards, politicized enforcement and protracted litigation have stymied nuclear power development. There are 80 anti-nuclear groups active in the US and they still hold sway over the government. These government regs have been so restrictive that several large companies are planning to develop nuclear power stations using private funds. Their concern is not environmental but their need for power to operate their data centers.

Ukraine settlement

The war in Ukraine continues as Biden said, for as long as it takes. Of the four parties involved, Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the US only Trump is interested in a peaceful settlement. The latest news says that Trump will offer a settlement that basically cedes Crimea and the Donbas regions to Russian with a guarantee that Ukraine will not be admitted to NATO in return for Russia pulling out their forces. If this is not acceptable then Trump will pull US support and consider this a European War. In time Russian forces will take more and more territory and Ukraine will ask the US to arrange for a settlement. The longer the wait the more Ukraine will have to give up. Right now, Zelensky believes that Europe will provide the money and weapons but Europe is under economic stress because of the lack of natural gas so that is not likely to happen. For as long as it takes is a few years and by that time there will not be much left of Ukraine not to mention all of the lives that will be lost. It will be just another Afghanistan or Vietnam. Years of war with little to nothing to show for it except but a lot of dead.

News

The term independent media is used to describe what is not main stream and can best be experienced on podcast. The hope was that this diversity of views would bring more clarity to news. Instead, what has happened is that certain podcasters, who have achieved success as judged by the number of paid watchers, have chosen guest who espouse their view points and now represent the same system as the main stream press. The average consumer of news must now choose a variety of podcast to come up with a wider view of issues. Many of these podcasters are consider experts because of their formal education or perhaps they wrote a book but the ordinary person who uses common sense can often times, have a clearer understanding of issues. Regardless of the news source the average Joe must rely on his own life experience to search for the truth.

DEI

The concept of DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) is in the news as Trump sets policies designed to end DEI. In order to better understand what is happening, it is helpful to look back to the 1960’s. It started when President Johnson instituted affirmative action for federal jobs. President Nixon reaffirmed the idea and in time, while not explicitly mandated by law, the implementation of Title VII, coupled with executive orders and court cases, led to the widespread adoption in private industry. In 2023 the Supreme Court ended affirmative action in education and this spread quickly to other areas. In response to these changes the idea of DEI gained prominence as a way to work around the law and then Trump stopped the idea by using executive action. The original intent was to right past mistakes but the people who were affected had little to do with the past. Ask a person if they feel in any way responsible for the way native Americans were treated by the colonist and you will get a blank stare. Ask the same question about slavery or Jim Crow laws and once again, a blank stare. An attempt to correct past discrimination with new ways of discriminating is not acceptable to most people.

AOC

The latest political star on the horizon is 36-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). She is charismatic, photogenic and articulate and she has appeared on the scene at just the right time. Her schtick is as old as civilization. She will take from the rich and give to the poor using government to decide who gets what. This then allows those in charge to redistribute funds in a manner that will secure future votes and thus maintain power. The timing is perfect since the US now has the greatest wealth gap in history. Is a CEO worth as much as 300 workers? Is a quarterback worth as much as 400 nurses? Is a singing star worth as much as 500 teachers? Is a hedge fund manager worth as much as 600 police officers? While she spends much of her time denigrating Trump, her platform which is rarely mentioned, deserves some attention. She is for Medicare for all, a house for every family, investing in peace not war, rebuild union jobs and guarantee federal jobs, invest in rehabs not jail, offer citizenship to undocumented migrants, replace fossil fuels with wind and solar, educate students for jobs, support women’s rights with equal pay, free childcare and parental leave, expand protection for LGBTQIA and economic safety for the elderly. For most Americans this is a solid platform and these issues deserve national debate.

Change

Out of sight, out of mind is an old adage that best describes the modern environmental movement in the United States. The environmentalist close their eyes to the mining of minerals in China where the ground water is poisoned and the air is polluted. Coal fired power plants spew CO2, along with nitrates and sulfates into the air causing respiratory problems and acid rain while the Yellow River, the water source for 150 million Chinese, is being contaminated with heavy metals like arsenic, antimony, mercury and lead. In Africa children are mining cobalt and in South America Native Indians are moved out to mine lithium in order to build electric cars. These environmentalists do not want mining or coal plants in the US and thus they are farmed out to other countries. Meanwhile Americans continue to build bigger houses further away from work while they water and fertilize their one-acre yards both at home and their lake cabin while they fill their garage with SUV’s and pickup trucks parked next to their four wheelers, mowers, trimmers and edgers and boats. Factories were closed and sent to pollute in China and the good paying manufacturing job was replaced with cheap TV’s. Corporation profits rose while working people watched their incomes drop. CEO’ saw salaried clime dragging up all managers while the working people saw their wages stagnate. All of this is changing and it is causing a lot of turmoil. How this will end is still up in the air.

Children

The latest uproar over Trump was caused by his suggestion that the country needs more babies and the government should design policies that encourages bigger families. One of the best ways to do this is to provide people with good, high paying jobs with benefits. This is what reshoring is all about. Bringing manufacturing back home is good for jobs and good for national defense by making the country self-sufficient in critical items. When governments try monetary incentives to promote more children, they usually don’t work but it they want to try something, a $5,000 child tax credit would be a good place to start.

Canada

Canada’s relationship with the US is much like the European country’s relationship with the US. First off Canada spends 1.37% of its budget on national defense while the US spends 3.75%. This means that Canada is relying on the US for protection and then they use the savings to help pay for national healthcare. They also, using various types of tariffs, run a $60 billion dollar trade surplus with the US.

Article 88

Presidents are not the only group defying the law. The Army has suspended a Wisconsin training base’s first female commander after discovering portraits of President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been flipped around to face a wall. Contempt toward officials under Article 88 of the UCMJ takes place when a commissioned officer of the United States Armed Forces uses contemptuous words against officials of any branch of the U.S. government or any state government. Yes, retired military officers are subject to Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), including Article 88, which criminalizes contemptuous words against certain officials. This means they can be court-martialed for violations of the UCMJ, even while retired, although the extent of their freedom of speech is a subject of debate

Courts

President Trump continued to deport certain criminals despite the court saying he must stop. Later the Supreme Court ruled that Trump could deport migrants to El Salvador after due process. President Biden cancelled student loan debt even though the court said he did not have the authority. Jun 30, 2023 — The justices ruled that the Biden administration overstepped its authority last year when it announced that it would cancel up to $400 billion in student loans. Sep 4, 2024 — Since March 2021, the U.S. Department of Education has canceled almost $190 billion in student loan debt through 5 programs It appears that presidents have learned to just go ahead with their programs and worry about the legality later. No one is asking these students to give back their forgiven loans. In Bidens case this remains even after the Supreme Court said he did not have the authority.

College

Harvard University is in the news because they are private and receive federal funding. They have a large endowment and most of the earnings on their investments are tax free because they are considered nonpolitical. This is somewhat disconcerting since polls show that 80% of the professors are liberal or very liberal. The other 20% are mostly in science, engineering and business meaning that all most all teachers in polysci are liberals. Hillsdale College is a private school that takes no federal funds and is very conservative. The average cost at Hillsdale is $33,189 while the average cost at Harvard is $51,147. Stanford University, another private school, has an endowment of $38 billion and gets $2 billion per year from the federal government. Stanford has only 22% White students and the average cost is $80,000 mostly paid by scholarships. Nearly half the students pay only $14,000 per year. At Stanford, unlike most Ivy League schools, the majority of students major in STEM.

Cut the fat

A typical congressperson is between a rock and a hard place. They recognize that deficit spending in the long term is detrimental to the economic health of the country but they are unable to take the steps necessary to solve the problem. If they propose cutting some benefit to their constituents, they will be primaried and lose the next election. If they propose new benefits they will be reelected. To propose new benefits without increasing revenue means adding to the debt. The common solution is to tax the rich but the rich control much of the campaign financing. The best way out, is to offer new benefits and pay for these by cutting the fat but it must be some body else fat, as witnessed by the opposition to DOGE. Trump is willing to stick his neck out because he is a one term president but the rest of the bureaucracy is not so willing and he cannot succeed without help. His program will likely result in lots of turmoil for a while and then everything will return to the old ways. The country will survive and grow because of the reshoring of manufacturing. The country will grow in spite of the government. It is growth that offers the chance to reduce the deficit but there will be the congress who will want to use any new revenue, to provide more benefits not to apply to the debt. This takes things back to the beginning rock and hard place.

Hegseth

Pete Hegseth, the new Secretary of State, is learning the hard way what Trump discovered in his first term as president. There are people within the bureaucracy that will leak any information that they see as detrimental. It forced Trump in his second term to be very open when ever possible. There are those in the defense department who do not like the changes that Hegseth is proposing and will do what they can to oppose his agenda. Other agency leaders should take note, that bureaucrats who have spent their lives aligning themselves with the status quo, will not want to change and thus will take steps to block any new approaches to government. These individuals or groups will be championed by the people in the press who also want to maintain the status quo. It can be very difficult, it not impossible, to change a system as large as the federal government. This is especially true when talking about cutting staff and budgets. This is the job of congress but they are unable or unwilling to carry out their oversight responsibility.

Wealth

When the market rises, many reports are issued about how the rich are getting richer but not so much when the market goes down. The top one percent have a combined wealth of $50 trillion dollars, which represents 30% of the total wealth held by US households. Since the market is down 20%, the top 1% have lost $10 trillion dollars and the rest of the investors have lost one trillion. The last bear market occurred in the summer of 2022. A bear market is defined as a drop of 20% or more. While policies are needed to close the wealth gap, this is not an appropriate vehicle. It would be better to find ways to raise the wealth of the working people by providing good paying jobs. As globalization fades into history, manufacturing jobs will return to the US, bringing with them the badly needed aforementioned good jobs. This means a complete turnaround from the economy of the past 50 years and will be difficult, painful and likely impossible.

Homeowners

After the war and gaining momentum in the 50’s was the idea that home ownership represented the American Dream. The government stepped in to determine what could be done to increase home ownership. It quickly discovered that there was some discrimination in home loan applications and this revealed something called “red lining”. Banks had certain requirements which included a 20% down payment and the monthly payment plus interest plus taxes and insurance must not exceed 28% of gross income. Low-income people would come to the bank to quickly discover they did not qualify for a loan. In time the loan officers realized that most of these people were from certain areas and these were usually where Blacks lived. This led to the practice of drawing a red line around certain parts of the city where these people would automatically have their loans rejected. In 1994 President Clinton signed into law the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act. This allowed bank examiners to threaten banks that did not offer loans on an equal basis to all people. This was combined with new FHA loans which allowed the purchase with only 3% down while raising the income need to 36%. This led to a large increase in home ownership. Under Clinton home ownership rates reached historic highs. While the overall homeownership rate increased in the 1960’s, this trend was not universally beneficial and led to significant disparities in the foreclosure rates, particularly for minority homeowners. It meant that the new rules allowed many people to receive home loans who could not afford the monthly payment and they lost their home. This disproportionately happened to Black families. This process was to repeat itself in the 2008 mortgage crisis on a more severe level. As of March 2008, an estimated 8.8 million borrowers – 10.8% of all homeowners – had negative equity in their homes, a number that is believed to have risen to 12 million by November 2008. By September 2010, 23% of all U.S. homes were worth less than the mortgage loan. Approximately 10 million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure during the 2008 financial crisis and once again Black and Hispanic homeowners were disproportionately affected by foreclosures, losing their homes at a higher rate than White homeowners. One-third of these lost their job and for many that meant losing their health insurance.

Pslestine

There is a new kind of prejudice raising its ugly head in the world. It’s based on the old concept of colonialism where rich and powerful countries took advantage of poor countries. This new type of racism is called the oppressors vs the oppressed. The current example is in Gaza. Even though the people of the Middle East and North Africa are considered Caucasians, those living in Israel are generally lighter skinned than those living in Palestine although there are many exceptions. This then lends itself to the idea that White people are oppressing Brown people. This dispute started in 1948 when Israel was declared a state and it reignited the 1,300-year-old battle between the Jews and Muslims. The religious battled changed to a political battle and now has taken on racist tones. It will take a herculean effort to bring about the long sought two state solution. The latest idea to get the rich oil countries to rebuild Palestine is the focus of the newest approach.

Common sense

Many feel that the slogan Make America Great Again was very successful but it is about to be replaced with Common Sense. This is the result of many democrats who want to stick with cultural issues and a mindset that anything anti Trump is good. They are on the unpopular side of many issues including trans women in sports and locker rooms, sex change on minors, schools keeping secrets from parents, special treatment for certain groups and drag queens in schools. Add to that opposition to ending the war in Ukraine, securing the border, deporting migrant criminals and fair trade. The Trump administration claims to be the party of common sense and most citizens agree.

Trial

On September 30, 2011, a hunting party of US drones found its quarry while flying over the desert in Yemen. They fired Hellfire missiles at the vehicle carrying Anwar al-Awlaki, a New Mexico–born, firebrand cleric, whom the Barack Obama administration accused of being an operational leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The killing of al-Awlaki was the result of a multiyear operation involving the CIA, Joint Special Operations Command, and allied foreign intelligence services. That same morning, President Obama heralded the strike as a counterterrorism success. But ten years after al-Awlaki’s death and twenty years after 9/11, the United States must reconsider the precedents and prospects of its drone wars. This was the killing of an American citizen without a trial.

Europe

The United States is largely credited with saving Europe during WW 2 and they may be called upon to do it again. European countries chose to go green and decided that wind and solar were better for the earth than fossil fuels and except for France, reduced nuclear power. Next, they chose to stop buying natural gas from Russian when the Ukraine War started. Now they are faced with losing their US military protection and US tariffs. Trump has an opportunity to step in and put Europe back on a solid economic course. He can negotiate a peaceful settlement to the War and reopen the Nord Stream natural gas line from Russia, keep the US defensive safety net over Europe, equalize tariffs to open US markets to Europe and remove sanctions on Russia. This will not only help Europe; it will reopen trade with Russia for grain and raw materials and save Ukraine from going down the road to destruction.

Fed chair

Members of the federal reserve are nominated by the president and approved by the senate and serve for 14 years. The fed chair is appointed by the president and serves a four-year term and can serve another four-year term. Current law does not give the president or congress the authority to dismiss a chairman before the end of a term. There is a loop hole in the law in that the president can remove a fed member, including the chair, for cause. One definition of cause is in cases of neglect or malfeasance. The Supreme Court would decide what these terms mean.

Spending

Congress is responsible for oversight but they have lost control. The results can be seen in the many unexplained expenditures by different agencies now being exposed by DOGE. A likely reason for this is that the government has gotten so large that congress cannot keep track of what is happening. The president does not have control over how agencies spend the funds allocated to them by congress but he can expose waste and fraud and then ask congress to act. By doing this the president has opened Pandora’s Box and the people are seeing the many odd expenditures, things like $365,000 spent by the National Endowment for the Arts to promote circuses in city parks. There are many such projects which might be acceptable if the country had a surplus but not when there is a $36 trillion deficit. While what Trump is doing will eventually be shot down by the Supreme Court, the hope is that it will force congress to carry out their responsibility by appointing a DOGE like group to help them dig into these odd programs. This will be difficult because the establishment wants to maintain the status quo. The Gramm Rudman Hollings Act of 1985 tried this but in a few years, congress passed new laws to negate the Act. Trump is trying a different approach by having the cabinet heads appoint agency managers who will cut the fat. Even getting rid of the old managers is an uphill battle so real changes are not likely. The chances are that after this initial blowup, everything will go back to the old ways and the excess spending will continue.

Covid

It is time for a review of the Covid which started in early 2020 and ended in late spring of 2023 or more than three years. While it normally takes ten years to develop a vaccine the Covid vax took less than one year. By the time that Biden took office on January 20, 2021 more than 36 million doses had been distributed and by the end about 80% of the US population was vaccinated. From mid-March of 2020 to the fall of 2021 many businesses closed and schools closed in March of 2020. The schools lost nearly two years and students fell behind and have not yet recovered. A critique of the Covid rules exposed a number of misconceptions. First, many feel that closing schools was a mistake since children were rarely affected by the virus. Only one tenth of one percent of Covid deaths were children under age 18 and these were almost exclusively children with preexisting conditions. In an attempt to get more people vaxed the government gave out misinformation including saying that if you were vaxed you would not get the virus and you would not spread the virus. Then the government compounded the err by shutting down opposing opinions on social media and even threatening people who espoused such ideas. The use of paper masks was deemed effective in reducing the spread of the vax but not so with children. The six-foot rule meant that classrooms could only hold 12 or 13 students, so many had to work from home by computer. The origin of Covid was in dispute. At first it was from an animal to human transfer but as more information became available it appears it most likely came from a lab. Once again, people who suggested the lab were said to be spreading misinformation. Thousands of workers lost their job because they refused to get vaxed. This included many in the health field like nurses along with teachers and military personnel. This created some controversy because while these people were losing their job, millions of illegal migrants crossed the border without being vaxed.

New jobs

Many people see the entrance of AI, as robots causing automation that replaces humans with machines and thus the loss of jobs. While this on the surface is true, looking deeper tells a different story. It takes engineers to design an automated plant but it takes workers to build the robots that build the end product. It also takes humans to run the automated plant. It is the same when an architect designs a building or a bridge. It requires workers to do the actual construction. There will be many new jobs for workers but they will not be so labor intensive such as ditch diggers but there will be a need for machine operators and many trades people like electricians and plumbers. All of these changes will mean increased productivity and that allows for increase wages without causing inflation. Many jobs like making computer chips will be handled by people right out of high school with on-the-job training. Since 1960, US productivity has grown at a 2% compounded annual rate, meaning workers are now producing 250% more than in 1960. This growth will increase with the efficacies caused by new factories and AI.

Social security

The case for privatizing social security. Part 1 SS takes 6.4% of your check and the employer matches that. Of this amount 2.2% used for disability claims and survivor benefits for children and spouses. This leaves 4% to invest or double that including the employer contribution. If a person age 62 had a life time average earnings of $30,000 they would receive $1,400 per month. The average person will collect for 20 years. To purchase a life time income of $1,400 per month would cost $200,000. If a person invested this in a private account and earned five percent interest, he would have $215,000 or enough to purchase his own pension of $1,400 per month. If invested in the stock market which averaged 10% over the past 100 years, he would have $650,000. If he then invested this in a CD at 5%, he would receive $2,700 per month and maintain his $650,000 principal to pass on to his heirs. Part 2 The private social security money would be invested in a program similar to the federal employee savings plan started in 1986. The money would be after tax and accumulate tax free. There would be three account options including a fixed account, stock account, and a bond account. The money could not be touched until age 62. Part 3 The plan would start January one of next year. Any person who turns age 25 would automatically enroll and his funds would be sent to the new saving account. In 37 years, everyone would then be transferred and social security would end. Part 4 Each person would own their account and any money left after they die would pass on to their heirs. This would eliminate the current racism which allows White people to collect more than Blacks because of life expectancy. Part 5 It will be an economic boom as it will add billions to the stock market allowing companies with additional funds for growth.

Debt

While 50% of people pay zero income tax, every worker pays payroll tax (social security tax). One way to close the income gap is to remove the payroll tax on the first $25,000 of earnings and pay for this by raising the current limit on payroll tax from $160,000 to $400,000. This will remove the tax from the lowest quintile and increase the tax on the highest quintile. Another way to close the gap is to increase the child tax credit to $5,000. A family of four could earn $120,000 and pay zero income tax. Remove the payroll tax cap and that would pay for this benefit. Eliminating capital gains tax would bring in $30 billion per year. A recent proposal is to increase the top tax rate from 37% to 40% for people earning more than one million and use that to pay for the child tax credit. All of these proposals are ways to redistribute income and not one is used to reduce the deficit. It appears that closing the gap is more important than lowering the debt.

What not how

The activities of the Trump administration are seen from two different angles. Basically, people like what Trump is doing but not how he is doing it. Border crossings are down dramatically but not as much as Trump says. Fair trade is desirable but not the way Trump is achieving it. Reducing the US place as policeman of the world is the way to go but not by deserting our allies. Bringing manufacturing jobs back home but not by using tariffs. Deporting criminals is good but must be done in a more orderly fashion.

Dream

A wish list for the US and the world Negotiate a peaceful settlement to the Ukraine war and have the European Union countries provide the funds needed to rebuild the country using construction companies from Europe and labor from Ukraine. Put an end to Hamas and have the rich Arab oil countries finance the rebuilding of Gaza using Israeli construction companies and Palestinian labor. Secure the border to stop the attacks on women and girls crossing Mexico, to find the estimated 300,000 missing children, to reduce the fentanyl deaths to young Americans and cut off the money to the cartels, deport the convicted criminals and set up work permits for the remaining migrants leading to green cards leading to citizenship. Use tariffs as a means to achieve fair trade which will lead to zero tariffs. Continue to bring manufacturing jobs back home to save transportation cost, shorten supply chains and produce products at home for national defense purposes. Promote the use of nuclear power to replace wind, solar and fossil fuels. Push to narrow the income gap by promoting the $5,000 child tax credit, no tax on overtime and TIPS, no tax on social security for those with other income less than $100,000 and increase tax brackets on those earning more than one million per year. Use small nuclear reactors (SMR’s) to get hydrogen from water using electrolysis and use hydrogen for transportation. Then the world will be carbon free. Use SMR’s to desalt sea water and grow crops in the desert areas and feed the world. Long term. Privatize social security

Guilty or not

As I watched the saga of the Trump campaign unfold, I was mindful of the situation faced by a defense lawyer in a typical criminal trial. The district attorney has the power of the state behind him which includes almost unlimited resources and money. The state can use many lawyers, investigators and experts and question anyone concerned and most witnesses are afraid of the police. The defense lawyer must rely on the resources of the defendant, which in Trumps case, were substantial and allowed him to escape prison but not before the prosecutors tagged him with four felonies. After the election Trump moved from defendant to prosecutor but many of those in power remained and were suspect in the eyes of Trump. He set about to remove any left overs that in his mind could not be trusted. Some were obvious, having made public statements about Trumps guilt but others acted behind the scenes. These were the people who leaked uncomplimentary information to the press. Anti-Trumper’s see this as revenge and the pro Trumper’s see it as retribution. Most people would rather forget about the past and start solving problems. Trump will likely do some of both.

Citzens

The Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in “Citizens United” enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections. In simple terms it stated that money was speech and could not be limited under the First Amendment. The left leaning Guardian News said, The US supreme court has delivered a fresh blow to the Democrats, already reeling from their stunning defeat in the Massachusetts Senate race, by opening the floodgates to huge corporate funding of campaigns for or against presidential and congressional candidates. Since then, not has been said about Citizens United but results of the past three elections have been surprising. Election Candidate Committee Outside Money Total 2016 Clinton $580 million $363 million $943 million 2016 Trump $314 million $333 million $647 million 2020 Biden $1,044 million $580 million $1,624 million 2020 Trump $774 million $314 million $1,088 million 2024 Harris $1,151 million $842 million $1,993 million 2024 Trump $464 million $985 million $1,429 million Total spent in the last three elections by party. Democrats $4,560 million Republicans $3,164 While total expenditures have risen sharply, most of the increase went to democrats. There is not much opposition to Citizens United in the news anymore. The power of money in politics has declined as the number of voters increased.

Private schools

Harvard University was in the news because the government is holding up their money until they make changes. Many people are surprised to find out that private schools are getting government money. “Stanford, Northwestern and the Ivy League universities have collected a combined $33 billion in taxpayer-funded grants and contracts and another $12 billion in tax breaks on their endowments over the last five years, according to new data from OpenTheBooks.com. One of the reasons that this is of concern to certain people is because many of these same people opposed giving government money to private K-12 schools.

Bail

The argument for no bail is that bail adversely effects poor people but that changes when it come to murder cases. In these cases, bail is sometimes set at a very high amount but that does not preclude rich people from getting out on bail. In one well known case OJ Simpson was given bail. The old argument against those with lesser means, is that they could not afford to leave the country but that is not the case with the rich. Several high-profile cases demonstrate how wealthy individuals have received bail despite serious charges. Examples include Bernard Madoff, who posted a $10 million bail while awaiting trial for his Ponzi scheme. Similarly, Robert Durst, a real estate heir, had a bail of $3 billion set after his arrest for murder. Other notable examples include Michael Milken, who received a $250 million bail for securities fraud. These people were given bail even though they had the means to leave the country. In fact, Robert Durst did just that although he was later captured and sent to prison.

Hedge funds

The phrase, “moral hazard” first came to my attention in the 1980’s S@L scandal. This cost the government $125 billion ($485 billion in todays dollars). S&L’s were lending money to finance homes and business and when interest rates rose they could not recoup their investments and many went bankrupt. The problem was further exacerbated when the government, because of political reasons, slowed the funding to save these companies. Next came the mortgage crisis of 2008 when banks made loans without proper due diligence and millions of home owners found themselves under water and the government stepped in with a $700 billion dollar cost. The country is now facing another situation with hedge funds. These funds have used extreme leverage to dig up cash to buy companies and now they are in need of cash to pay the interest on their debt. They are starting to look for assistance from the government. This is from an article written on 4/15/2025 BREAKING: Fed Preps $2T Bailout as Hedge Fund Trade Implodes Notice the trend. $485 billion to $700 billion to $2 trillion. The phrase moral hazard means the investors keep the profits and when things go bad the government picks up the tab. It will be interesting to see of the Turmp administration handles this case differently.

Bailouts

As globalization moved the US away from manufacturing, it opened the door to new ways of making money. It was not by making things but just moving money around. This led to leveraged buy outs, hedge funds along with mergers and acquisitions. In a hedge fund a group of investors pool their money and use that to buy and sell businesses. They increase their buying power by using their cash as collateral to get larger loans, a process called leveraging. When things are going well this allow them to amplify their profits but when things turn down it creates large losses. When that happens, they have to come up with cash and often times they are leveraged so high, they are unable to do this and go into default. Many of these hedge funds now find themselves in that position and will be looking for a government bailout, similar to what happened in the 2008 mortgage crisis, where the government bailed out the big banks. These funds were popular because they were not regulated like public funds and many took risk that would not have been allowed, if they were public because public funds are monitored by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Now they will once again reap the profits when things are good and expect the government to cover their losses when thing go bad. This type of government activity causes what is called a “moral hazard” meaning people will take higher risk, knowing they are covered in case of loss

Kei

The effect of tariffs can be dramatic as illustrated by the chicken tax. In 1960 President Johnson imposed a 25% tariff on all pickup trucks in retaliation for countries taxing US chicken products. This became known as the chicken tax. This stopped almost completely the import of pickups. In 1992 NAFTA allowed imports of pickups from Mexico and Canada but only 7,000 were imported from outside of North America while three million were made in North America. Japan produces a small pickup called the Kei. These can be imported to the US without tax if they are 25 years old or older. The cost would be 3 to 5 thousand depending on condition. Last year 7,000 were imported which was up from 1,500 in 2018.

Power

The Trump administration is fast tracking the approval of new gas fired power plants for companies to build turbines next to their operations, to take pressure off the grid. Fifty new units have been approved so far with more on the way. These plants include the newest technology for both the power source and the latest turbines. These new facilities will produce more electric power at lower cost and lower carbon emissions. These are in addition to the small nuclear reactors being developed by the major social media companies. If the US is to double its industrial base this extra electric power is a necessity.

Trade

As the Trump revolution gets underway, those opposed are not the real problem. The loyal opposition is composed of the legacy press, the democratic party, big business, the big financial institutions, Silicon Valley, social media and the Washington bureaucrats. These groups are the globalist who see their way of life being turned on its head. The big problem Trump will encounter will be the very group he is trying to help. These are the ordinary people on Main Street. They live paycheck to paycheck and want and need immediate gratification. These are the people who will be asked to accept short term pain for long term gain and it is not in their DNA. The only chance Trump has is to create a new country in a short time. If he should, by some miracle, bring about enough change before the democrats take control of congress, he may have some momentum in his final two years to get over the hump. Trump has deviated from the path that all presidents since Reagan have followed and that is to kick the can down the road and the best example is his approach to trade.

Oil

You can tell the world is changing. On Morning Joe this morning, Joe was concerned about the low price of oil and its effects on oil company profits. He pointed out how this will cause problems in red states like Louisianna that rely on oil for state revenue.

Jobs

Last night someone asked why anyone would vote for Trump and I was reminded of something I wrote after the 2016 election. Joe is a school teacher with 20 years on the job. He goes to work every day in rather pleasant surroundings, it’s warm in the winter and cool in summer. He earns the average wage and has a good pension, health insurance, vacation, sick leave, holidays, group life insurance and disability insurance. Every year Joe sees his mortgage go down and his pension go up. Things are good for Joe and he voted for Hillary. Jim worked for Bethlehem steel. He too had a good job with all the benefits that Joe had but then China dumped cheap steal on the market and Jim’s company went out of business. Jim had to accept a job that paid less than half of his old wage and had very few benefits. Every four years some new face would run for president and tell Jim he would bring back the good jobs but it didn’t happen. After thirty years of false promises along came Trump. He was a disgusting person but Jim was willing to try anything. Much to Jim’s surprise his real wages went up for the first time since he lost his steel worker’s job. Jim along with many working people voted for Trump and they now lean toward republicans. Will Trump be able to bring back the jobs that Obama said were not coming back? Only if the country joins in with Trump but don’t count on it.

Gap

Last night our local school district held a meeting open to the public to go over their plans and about 90 people attended. Before I went, I did a little research and found that there are 3.1 million K-12 teachers and added on top of that are 5 million staff. The US spends more per pupil than any other country except Luxemburg. In 1950 the student teacher ratio was 27 to 1 and today it is 15 to 1. The schools, especially in the suburbs, look like the Taj Mahal with the best equipment money can buy. The results are that test scores have declined since 2000 and the gap between Blacks and Whites is too wide. Black students have more discipline problems, higher drop out rates and lower graduation rates. The first question is what are all those staff people doing. Part of the evening the attendees were asked to go to the black board and select what they thought should be the emphasis on education and there were 5 categories. Far and away the most important choice was academics. People felt that the basics of reading and writing should be at the top. This was on peoples minds since a recent report said that only half of MN students can read at grade level. From my personal perspective the two biggest problems facing the country today are the education gap and the wealth gap.

Climate

Lindi Li is in the news because she was a Biden supporter but early in 2023, she began to question Biden’s cognitive ability and was shunned by the rest of the party. Like several others she is writing a tell all book about Biden’s decline. She was born in China and came to America with her parents when she was five years old. She is of particular interest to many, not because of her political beliefs but for her outspoken opinions on climate change. She says she knows from her grandparents the problems associated with pollution in China and is a strong proponent of wind and solar. She is an intelligent lady with a good education but seems to be unaware of the pollution caused by the mining, processing and disposing of the materials needed for windmills and solar panels. It appears she had a knee jerked reaction against fossil fuels without investigation of what wind and solar would do to the environment. It seems there are many others like her, people who want clean air and water but never take the time to look further into the issue. It is easy to understand those who chose the new green deal for political reasons but not those who are totally concerned about the climate. It is almost as if they were taken in by those telling part of the story and are now unable to change their initial opinions.

China

China has responded to Trumps tariffs with tariffs of their own. One interesting item on their agenda is rare earths. This will put pressure in the US to start mining their own rare earths, something that is long overdue. China will suffer in a trade war because in 2024 China exported $439 billion to the US while the US exported $144 billion to China. China is already suffering from sever economic problems. Their birth over the past 40 years has declined and they now have too many old people and not enough young to support them. They overbuilt their housing units to the point where the values of homes have declined and in China that is where most people invest. Wages have increase in China to the point where many companies are now moving to places like Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico and Indonesia. Bain & Company reported that 69% of surveyed companies planned to reduce or completely exit their business operations in China by 2024 While the US is self-sufficient in food and energy China must import 33% of its food, 40% of its natural gas and 71% of its crude oil. While the US is concerned about its 122% debt to GDP ratio, China is sitting at 375%.

Rich and poor

After 50 years of globalization the American people have voted for change. The wealth gap became so large that the average person finally realized what was going on. In the United States, the top 10% of households hold roughly two-thirds (around 67%) of the total household wealth, while the bottom 50% holds only a small fraction (around 2.5%). As wealth increased so did influence and the super wealthy were able to institute policies that allowed them to keep and increase their wealth. The top one tenth percent represented by 215,000 people had an average wealth of $30 million and the top one hundredth percent of 22,000 people had an average wealth of $140 million. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. While the rich have their lobbyist to protect them the poor rely on their congressman for protection but congress has let them down by allowing the rich to determine policy. The people now want to take back control of the government and they started with the Trump election. The globalist has the press, Silicon Valley, the bureaucracy, social media, big business, the intellectual elites and the hidden power brokers on their side and are opposed by the citizens with their votes on the other side.

On shoring

The practice of off shoring manufacturing jobs had its beginnings in the late 70’s and 80’s but accelerated with the NAFTA free trade agreement of 1992. For those old enough to remember the presidential debates, where candidate Ross Perot said about NAFTA, the giant sucking sound you hear is the sound of jobs moving to Mexico. Next came Chinas entrance into the WTO in 2001 and this resulted in the transfer of millions of jobs and hundreds of thousands of companies moving part of their operations out of the country. The devastation to American industry can be seen in the rust belt states of middle America. This has resulted in large corporate profits and an income and wealth gap. In the United States, the top 10% of households hold roughly 69% of the total wealth, while the bottom 50% hold only about 3%. This basically transferred both income and wealth from those people who worked for wages to those who worked for salaries. It was the middle- and lower-income groups that got hurt the most. This whole process was called globalization and Trump is trying to reverse this by bringing jobs back home. By March, foreign companies committed to $3 trillion in new investment in the US. One incentive that government can use to bring home jobs is tariffs. For many years tariffs have worked against the US but this is changing but not without disruptions. Those who are adversely affected will try to old onto the old ways and the fight is now on between the globalist and the proponents of on shoring.

Germany

With tariffs in the news, it is time to compare Europe with the US or more specifically Europe’s big manufacturing country, Germany, with America. For many years the US has run trade deficits while Germany has had trade surpluses. Germany’s national debt is 62% of GDP while the debt in the US is 122%. Germany spends 1.5% of GDP on defense while the US spends 3.7%. Germany spends .87% of its GDP on interest on the debt while the US spends 3.0%. Germany is in a much better economic position for three reasons. First, they rely on the US for their national defense. Second, they have high tariffs on all goods from the US. Third, they have a trade surplus meaning a small national debt. All three of these advantages are only possible because of US foreign policy. Germany wants the EU to consider using its most powerful tool to retaliate against Trumps trade war. Germany’s leaders still hold out hope that a free-trade agreement could follow Trump’s tariff “mania.” The ball is now in their court. Germany is representative of Europe and for almost all of the countries of the world.

Fat waste

There were protest around the country this weekend, as people came out to object to the way Trump was cutting government. They said it was the responsibility of congress to cut. While this is true, the congress is not only responsible for the budget but also for over sight. In other words, the job of congress does not end when it allocates money to some agency, it includes a follow up to see how the money is spent. Congress has failed to follow up and government spending, which was 15% of the GDP in 1950 is now 37% and has resulted in a $36 trillion dollar debt. One of the top priorities of each congress person is to get reelected and this makes it difficult for them to control the spending. If a congressman goes before his constituents a says he wants to cut the fat from government, everyone agrees but not their fat. If he tries that he will be primaried at the next election by someone who promises not to cut the fat but will add more fat. Trump is trying a new approach by bringing in an outsider, Musk, who is not concerned about being reelected and willing to cut the fat. Mistakes are made because it must be done before the next election. There is another hurdle because it is Trump. In the 90’s Clinton cut the federal work force by 400,000 and there was no protest. It is the same old story. People all understand that there is waste in government and they want it to stop but not if it means cutting their benefits. -- When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. -- Ben Franklin.

Trade

It’s time to take a closer look at tariffs. First off, the best situation is to have free and fair trade which under the best conditions means no tariffs. If that is so then why do so many countries have tariffs and why is the US entering the tariff scene. The answer is all about the word fair. China wooed American companies by using low prices. Over the past 50 years American companies discovered that they could produce products in China at such low prices that they could even absorb the higher shipping cost and make more money than producing goods in America. How China was able to do this is something that was rarely considered by US companies. To start with their labor cost were cheaper, sometimes even using slave labor but over time that difference narrowed. China did not have the environmental restrictions nor the worker protections that the US has. China used government subsidies to lower production cost and China manipulated their currency to promote cheap exports. All of these things resulted in unfair trade practices. China had a simple plan that worked quite well. They would use the above mention advantages to produce products below manufacturing cost and flood the world markets with these cheap goods. In time they would run competitors out of business. This hurt US manufacturing. One example is the steel industry. Before 1970 the US made more steel than any country in the world. This year the US will make 80 million tons of steel and China will make one billion tons. This means that the steel used in the US to produce US cars is made from Chinese steel. This same thing happened in many products and the US lost much of its industry. This is about to change as the end of globalization is bringing industry back to America. Tariffs are being used to accelerate this process. The establishment in the US has profited handsomely from this global trade at the expense of the US worker and they are fighting to maintain the status quo.

Fair trade

Karl Marx said that capitalism would fail because the proletariat (poor) doing all the work, would rise up against the bourgeoisie (rich) and move to a socialist type government, where the people owned the businesses. Then along came Henry Ford and did something that Marx had never thought possible. Henry was paying $5 per day in 1914 when you could buy a new Ford for $260. Marx, in is wildest dreams, never thought that the workers would be able to buy the products they made. This opened the door to what came to be called a consumer-oriented economy and it stayed that way for 80 years, while the country built up the biggest middle class in history. Then starting in the late 60’s things changed. Manufacturing jobs were sent overseas and corporations and financial institutions took control of the economy. During these past 50 years the democratic party, long considered to be the working man’s party, became the party of the rich white educated and the working people now look to Trump for help. He is reversing the trend of the past 50 years and is bringing good jobs back home. He is telling the other countries that the US will no longer be the world’s policeman and that they must have fair (reciprocal) trade agreements.

Revolution

In years past most companies sold stock to get money for growth but in recent years companies have turned to private equity firms like Blackstone and Carlyle. The advantage is that private equity firms are not subject to government oversight. Thus, they can offer a higher return with lower risk and that in itself should be a warning. A public company can be quickly evaluated by its stock price but with private equity the public must rely on managements value. As the number of private equity firms end up in bankruptcy the public trust is waning and the growth in this area is declining. This decline is part of the Trump revolution. The economy is moving away from the trend toward finance back to the old ways of manufacturing. The influence of the big banks will also lessen as smaller banks begin to make business loans. Big corporations will rely less on mergers and start to build new facilities which means more emphasis on manufacturing. For people who were adults in the 50’s and 60’s this will be a return to the old days but for most people this will be a new experience.

Trade

A good example of the unfairness in tariffs can be seen with the difference between the US and Germany when it comes to auto imports. The US charges a 2.5% tax on German auto imports and Germany charges a 10% import tax plus a 19% value added tax. In the United States, the Cadillac Lyriq is available from $58,590 but customers in Germany, where the EV has just been launched, will have to pay almost $30,000 more for one. The new Trump proposal increases the US tariff to 25% but it still leaves the US in and unfair situation. Other European countries also have tariffs plus value added taxes. Almost all of the US trade partners are charging higher tariffs than the US and Trump is attempting to minimize the difference while still giving other countries the advantage. These other countries are not happy as they see Trump’s fair-trade policy as unfair to them. This is an attempt to reduce the one trillion-dollar US trade deficit. The plan is to encourage other countries to lower their tariffs which in turn will allow the US to lower tariffs and in the long run have lower tariffs for all countries.

War

During the three-year Ukraine War more than one million have been killed or injured but the battle rages on. The war has resulted in widespread destruction, displacement and a humanitarian crisis, with millions facing food insecurity, lack of basic necessities and trauma, while also causing significant damage to infrastructure and disrupting education and healthcare. Meanwhile those in the West are safe in their homes and the military industrial complex racks up the profits as they restock their weapons of war. The West has contributed $287 billion to the war effort. Grain exports are down resulting in food shortages in Africa. Natural gas is cut off from Europe resulting in a 400% increase in utility cost and a two-year recession in Germany. Recent polls show Americans favor continued support for Ukraine even if it prolongs the war. It appears that they agree with Biden’s, as long as it takes, plan.

Change

As the Trump revolution gets underway, it is time for a review of how we got here. It began at the end of WW 2 with the formation of the United Nations followed closely by NATO. The 50-year cold war signaled a change in the world order with the US being at the top of the heap. As the battle between communism and capitalism took hold, technology led the way to automation and increased productivity. The next step was the movement of industrial jobs to lower wage markets like China. As manufacturing moved out the service economy filled the gap and this opened the door to the modern American financial business. This brought low inflation and low prices for imported consumer goods but it was a death blow to good paying manufacturing jobs in the US and Europe. While the wealthy people and large corporation saw their fortunes rise the working people saw their wages stagnate. Companies began moving over seas and taking the jobs with them. Our country has suffered from rising income inequality and chronically slow growth in the living standards of low- and moderate-income Americans. This disappointing living-standards growth—which was in fact caused by rising income inequality—preceded the Great Recession and continues to this day. The policies of Biden, American First and Trump make America Great, have attempted to reverse this trend and those who have profited from the global economy are fighting against these changes.