LIMITS ON TRADE DO NOT MAKE AMERICA GREAT. This is a horrible, anti-American, anti-capitalism statement to make. It sounds like something Bernie Sanders would say. Trump: “I don’t think a beautiful baby girl that’s 11 years old needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls … they don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.”
SOME PEOPLE SAY A MAN IS MADE OUT OF MUD. Multi-generational jobs on an assembly line don’t make America great. “This is the new model where you work in these kinds of plants for the rest of your life, and your kids work here and your grandkids work here.” – Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. This is modern day feudalism where multiple generations farm the same land and pay homage to their lord.
TRUMP IS IGNORANT ON ECONOMICS. Trade is win-win, it’s not a rip-off. Trump: “We were losing hundreds of billions of dollars with China. Now we’re essentially not doing business with China. Therefore, we’re saving hundreds of billions of dollars. It’s very simple.”
PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS. If you want to donate to PBS, NPR or FoxNews, then go for it. But don’t force the rest of us to do so.
BREAKING THE IDEAS THAT STOPPED HUMAN PROGRESS. Neil DeGrasse Tyson marveling at the discoveries of Isaac Newton before age 26. He called him the greatest scientist in human history. I agree, especially during a time when religion and irrationality dominated science and reason.
PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY IS GOOD. Some condemn the rich for wanting to get their hands on Social Security. This is wrong-headed thinking. Regular people should want to get their hands on their own money and invest it… using the same tools and strategy as the millionaires and billionaires. Imagine how much wealth the poor could build if 12.4% Social Security withholdings were put in an index fund for 40+ years. We could eliminate poverty.
STUDENTS HAVE TO PAY THEIR LOANS. Should students pay their fair share?
POPULATION SHRINKAGE. Elon Musk warns us about a declining birth rate. He has a point from an economic point of view. We need new people to grow the economy to benefit us all. But these proposals for govt cash or tax breaks for new parents is nonsense. The solution is waiting on the other side of the border… immigrants.
CAPITALISTS ARE NOT BLOCKING IMMIGRANTS. Free movement of labor is part of capitalism. Preventing workers from moving across borders is a govt policy and a violation of free trade.
MINDBOGGLING WHAT HAPPENED IN 1800s. During the later 19th century we saw a HUGE increase in the standard of living of the ordinary person. We saw great inventions including trains, planes, automobiles, telephones and more that benefited ordinary people. Human life spans expanded. Meanwhile these “robber barons” were flowering institutions like universities, museums and the arts with philanthropy. I’m not saying we need to go back to that time. Instead we need to bring back the positive ideas from that era and celebrate them. Sadly too many still condemn that period of time.
CAPITALISM HELPS PEOPLE. Free Trade is Win-Win. Free enterprise helps the buyer, the seller, the employees, the managers, the investors, the vendors, the family members and many other people.
SAN DIEGO FIRE RING HYSTERIA. The city of San Diego is warning that based on the mayor’s budget draft for the 2026 fiscal year, removing the beach fire ring program would save the city more than $135,000. This is a shiny object meant to stir up outrage from the citizenry. $135K is peanuts in the grand scheme of the City Budget. They just want you take your eye off govt employees and their compensation packages. Look up Washington Monument Syndrome for a more complete explanation of this strategy.
I MISS TIM RUSSERT. It didn’t seem to matter what your politics was, Tim Russert was always such a wonderful host on Meet the Press. Since his passing there has been a turnstile of different hosts going in and out. The latest is Kristin Welker. She’s solid on MTP, but she also gets plum interview opportunities including a recent exchange with President Trump after his first 100 days. Welker just has no gravitas. She had a list of questions and points to make, but it seemed that she jumped around too much rather than calmly focusing on specific topics and drilling down. One excerpt from the interview was Trump’s mentioning that “kids don’t need 20 dolls”. That’s a good one. It’s the kind of sound clip that can negatively resonate for Trump.