Venezuela oil

When Hugo Chavez took power in Venezuela in 1999 the country was in an economic mess with 50% poverty rates and 30% inflation. The price of oil went from $12 per barrel to $120 per barrel by 2008. As the price rose Chavez nationalized the industry and instead of using the profits to properly maintain the industry, he used the money for social programs. Many of the management and engineers who worked for US oil companies left and oil production began to decline from 3 million barrels per day to less than a million in 2019. During this time Chevez died in 2013 and his friend Maduor took over. With the oil money flooding the country many social programs where installed but mismanagement and corruption set in and when the price of oil dropped the economy collapsed. Since 2014, eight million (20% of the population) people have fled the country with and estimated 2,000 still leaving each day. They killed the goose that laid the golden egg. It was the old story that socialism is great until you run out of the other guy’s money. The question now, is will the American oil companies be willing to come back and build up production.

Big tech money

A recent article from PBS represents a number of news outlets who are reporting on the shift of money from big tech. As billionaires' influence has grown, so too has skepticism. In a recent Washington Post/Ipsos poll, 58% of respondents said billionaires' spending on campaigns is bad for the country Now that the big tech money has moved from democrats to republicans, it is in the news. In 2024 Trump received $273 million mostly from Elon Musk who donated $242 million. Harris received $121 million mostly from Dustin Moskovitz who gave $51 million. The big shift was mostly caused by Musk. This is a turnabout from the 2016 election For every $1 that employees at the world's biggest technology companies donated to Donald Trump, they gave $60 to Hillary Clinton. The overall spending for the 2024 election was Trump $1.4 billion and Harris $2 billion. This was similar to the 2016 election where Clinton spent $1.2 billion and Trump spent $500 million.

CBS

The legacy news has come under attack for being blatantly biased towards the left. There has always been a slight left preference but in the past ten years the move has become more open. In response the new owners of CBS, Paramount Skydance, implemented right leaning changes. These include the hiring of Bari Weiss to balance coverage. According to the Washington Post she is a liberal who is uncomfortable with some of the far-left positions. She recently put Tony Dokoupil head of CBS evening news. He has said: "The point is that, on too many stories, the press has missed the story," Dokoupil said. "Because we've taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites and not enough on you. "He added that he feels similarly and vowed that, as the new host of "CBS Evening News," he would put the viewers' interests over politicians, advertisers and "the corporate owners of CBS. Many CBS employees are upset with this change, as they see a strong preference toward Israel, since both Weiss and Dokoupil are Jewish. For many liberals’ things like this represent a threat to democracy.

Voting

In March 2023 the new Driver’s License for All signed by Governor Tim Walz went into effect. It eliminated the need to show proof of legal residence in the United States to get a MN driver’s license. MN has an election policy that allows a registered voter to vouch for up to eight people seeking same day registration. The new voters need only show proof of residency and a driver’s license is acceptable. Here are the key points • State election officials acknowledged noncitizens with valid Minnesota driver’s licenses could vote under current laws, as confirmed during the October 14, 2025, House Fraud Committee hearing. • The 2023 'Driver’s License for All' law allows all Minnesota residents, regardless of immigration status, to obtain driver’s licenses, raising concerns about election integrity. • Minnesota’s voter registration does not require proof of citizenship, and Secretary of State Steve Simon opposed adding such requirements, citing voter disenfranchisement risks.

Small thorium reactors

China has a working molten salt reactor running on thorium. It has been in full operation since June 2024. It is only 2 MW but a 10 megawatt is under development. Most of the activity is in uranium power plants where a severe shortage is expected. Modern reactor fleets consume 180 million pounds of uranium oxide annually but mining only produces 150 million pounds. Add to that the fact that 70 reactors are under construction with 115 new reactors are in the planning stage. Once again China is out ahead of the pack as thorium is readily available in the waste of most mining operations. As the US moves toward small reactors the time is ripe to move to thorium. India with large supplies of thorium is looking for US help in developing small thorium reactors.

Failing up

There is a common phrase called failing up and a good example is the situation with the California unemployment scandal. California's pandemic unemployment fraud, costing tens of billions, was massive, involving organized crime, inmates, and identity theft, exploiting weak EDD oversight for huge payouts, leading to significant state losses and ongoing recovery efforts by task forces. An estimated 70% of the $40 billion in defrauded money left California, reaching transnational criminal groups in almost every country on the globe. During the massive COVID-era fraud at California's Employment Development Department (EDD), Julie Su was the Labor Secretary overseeing it, while Rita Saenz served as the EDD Director, both facing scrutiny for the multi-billion dollar losses, with Saenz resigning in early 2022 and Su later moving to a federal role. Acting Labor Secretary, the federal DOL under her watch seemed to excuse California's failures by allowing potential debt forgiveness for the state, sparking intense backlash and debates over accountability for the fraud while she served the Biden administration.

Common sense

Years before Trump ever entered politics, he used common sense to realize that the United States was being used by the rest of the world at the expense of the American taxpayer. The bureaucracy was so entrenched that it would require a new approach for the 21st century. The US was paying 20% of NATO plus supplying most of the troops to defend Europe from Russia while Europe was supporting Russia by buying their cheap natural gas. Meanwhile Europe was spending 1.5% of their GDP on national defense while relying on the US for protection as the US spent 3.75% of its GDP on defense. In real dollars the US was spending $900 billion while Europe was spending $300 billion. He recognized that other countries were using high tariffs to a maintain a favorable balance of trade while the US was running trade deficits. In addition, Japan relied on US protection as the US has 750 bases in 80 countries costing up to $100 billion per year. He understood that you could not have country that has a safety net and unsecure borders at the same time. He knew that the US could use its consumer purchasing power as a negotiating tool to achieve positive foreign policy with military power as a backup threat. He knew that wind and solar were not the answer and was opposed to closing nuclear plants. He continues these policies after he was elected.