Well, Bonchie, old stud, let me tell you about working in industry vs being a general laborer: When I was in college, miners at that time made approximately 3-1/2 times my other option for summer work: turning the STOP/GO sign for the WV State Road crew. I worked summers in the coal mines and finished a 4-year degree with zero debt, medical school with a grand total of $12,000 - and that only because, exhausted, I took one summer off. I have a suggestion for you: stop writing and get a real job.
My experience was similar, attending college for nine months and working at Bethlehem Steel for three, which allowed me, the grandson of poor, uneducated European immigrants to become a lawyer. Good thing, too, because globalist economic policies (among other things the discussion about which I shall defer to another occasion) killed that business. When citizens come to be viewed by their rulers as mere economic units instead of human beings, the outcome is always tyranny, despotism and eventually, destruction of the social fabric.
More than one way to skin a cat, Jim. I took the academic path of least resistance in high scruel, and college at that point would have been pissing money away. (These days most college programs are pissing money away.)
My plan (not a plan) was: be stupid for a year, do military, get a great wife, go to college with a fine-tuned bullshit detector. GI Bill + wife with a job = zero debt
We think similarly, Jim. I waited a bit to start college. Had a well paying job as machinest. But I wanted more so my wife worked, and I worked the swing shift, started college full time with a carefully scheduled course load, and after an eternity I had an engineering degree with zero debt. It can be done regardless of what all the smart guys will tell you, especially the college advisors who are there to get you hooked on debt.
I went to college aiming to become a pharmacist because someone told me I'd be good at it. Then I spent a day shadowing a pharmacist and decided it wasn't for me. Took my four years of college and went to work repairing production equipment in a factory and became a master electrician.
A good electrician, plumber, HVAC tech or other tradesman can make good money, earn while learning and not be burdened with college debt.
I finished college with zero debt because I was working the whole time.
Wait! The United Auto Workers president praises President Trump!
Just seven months ago he said this:
“In 2024, we’ve got a choice. We can put a billionaire back in office and let him and his buddies get even richer. Or we can elect somebody who’s ready to stand with us. Somebody who’s walked a picket line.”
Yep, line workers, Fain was looking out for you wasn’t he? Trump said he could save the U.S. auto industry. Did Fain not believe him? Or did he not want to have it happen?
The working class is waving goodbye to the Democrats.
Despite Fain's comments, I believe the majority of UAW members voted for Trump/Vance. They could see the handwriting on the wall if the dopey Dems won. Pushing EVs that few wanted was killing the domestic auto industry which meant killing their cushy jobs.
This time the UAW workers were smarter than the United Miner Workers under Richard Trumka, who told the miners to vote democratic even AFTER the Dems said they would reduce and eventually eliminate the use of coal in America for the Holy Grail - the green new deal.
03/31/25: The American working class waved goodbye to the D's in 2016. 2020: Toss out the rigged election stats. 2024: Hello. And to this date, they haven't returned.
03/31/25: If you want to see an entire herd of these Frisbee-brains anxiously trying to make people forget what they'd said just hours earlier in the evening...
And if any further proof is needed as to our "elite" media being cowardly, low-IQ turds, take the time to read "Trump Derangement Began," by Catherine Forester; Self-Published ("Lightning Source LLC") (no copyright year ["2019"]; paperback).
It's a series of verbatim transcripts of the Election Night 2016 shows on ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN and Fox, and working for these Pravda outfits are the most craven and stupid people that you can imagine. Their idiocy is highly entertaining.
I suppose Fain is example #1 that elections have consequences. He's adjusted to the reality of the election. Would it be too much to imagine others so emboldened?
Businessmen make much better Presidents than politicians because they understand just how the economy works, and when it doesn’t. Kamala had no idea about economics because she hit the Peter Principle ceiling just after her affair with mayor. I, like many Americans who need a certain pharmaceutical to continue existing, was horrified when during Covid it was revealed that we outsourced all our drug manufacturing to China. This is a card they hold over us, and I hope the newly enriched drug manufacturers start making them here again or we’re really screwed.
There are quite a few wealthy Dem businessmen that I would not want to be President. The Trumpster is one of a kind. As Scott Adams would say "his skill stack is enormous".
A few months ago I did a little research on Trump's background. Even in New York City, he was an outsider, because he was from Queens, not Manhattan Old Money. And his roots actually are working class. His father did become a millionaire; but he started out working construction, building houses in New York during the 1920s. Selling the houses got him into real estate, and that's where he became rich. Trump's mother was an immigrant from an island off the coast of Scotland--a rural area, not a city. She landed in New York and worked as a maid for several years, until she met and married Trump's father.
Trump gets along well with working-class people. He can hobnob with them and get along fine. (Biden would try to mix with people, and end up yelling at them.) Here's an example: Back during the 2016 race, a county sheriff's deputy in Fla took an odd job doing security at one of Trump's rallies. He was standing guard out in a hallway, when Trump came out of his dressing room and handed him a cup of coffee. They talked for a couple of minutes, then Trump went back in his room. A bit later, a staffer brought the deputy a plate of doughnuts. I didn't get this story from the press; it came to me from my son--his wife worked in that county sheriff's office.
Today's column makes me realize that Free Speech is what brings "merit" to the domain of ideas.
JD Vance challenged Bonchie's ideas, and Surber fleshed out and solidified the argument, adding quotes from several other people plus his own thoughts on it. Free Speech is what enables the wide discussion of an idea, and in the "marketplace of ideas", the idea with the most merit usually wins. We are all better off for it when the most solid ideas take hold and affect how we run our country. And all of us citizens have our intellectual ability honed by watching or participating in the debate.
The Left has been waging war on "merit" for the past few decades. They attacked "merit in the realm of ideas" first by introducing the concept of "political correctness". Once they got people used to "judging" ideas by their "Leftist moral purity" criteria, they moved into shunning, judging, and avoiding any forum where competing ideas from the Right were voiced. Then, they tried to outright censor and control the free market of speech. Witness the chokehold they had put on the old Twitter--even throwing the President of the United States off the platform.
Probably the main reason the Left is currently collapsing, is that by putting "correctness" over "merit" in ideas, they got themselves into a little bubble of increasingly stupid ideas and insane ideology, to the point where most normal people are rejecting them.
Yay for the Freedom of Speech, and the way it preserves "merit" in the realm of ideas.
This is why I find Surber's column and the comments here so appealing. We are dealing with big, complex issues today in America, and there are many angles to them. Don Surber makes the opening presentation and argument, and then these daily discussions by all the commenters here bring out all kinds of valid and interesting points that really do put a topic under the microscope. And everyone gains a more solid and complete understanding. There is something freeing about (many of us) using a pseudonym and putting our thoughts out there to stand or fail solely on its merit (as somewhat gauged by the "likes" voting process). I feel that 99% of the thoughts shared here have substance and value (or are very witty and amusing!).
I don't see a pseudonym as "freeing", unless I need to worry about a vengeful Democrat neighbor who may plug up my gutter drains -- but even in Oregon I haven't had reasons to worry about such things.
I dropped out of Berkeley in the late 70s and moved back to LA where I grew up. I took a job in the stock room of a small high tech factory that paid twice the minimum wage, to start. Long story short, I voluntarily left 12 years later as a staff-level manager. Adjusted for inflation I was making low six figures, had Cadillac health insurance, and already had over $50K in a vested retirement fund that we tapped to pay off my wife's student loans and buy our first home. I was self-employed for the rest of my working life, which worked out very well, but the skills and disciplines I acquired by learning how things get made are the reasons I succeeded. I don't believe there is a substitute for the education I received by working in a factory, and pedantic retard is the best description I've heard for contemporary journalists who are clueless about the real world.
There were several, excellent, valuable, points in this piece, not the least of which was "It (a healthy nation) exists to protect and elevate its citizens. The economy must be subordinate to the nation, not the other way around." In my humble opinion, and after 76 years on this earth in business of several natures, we, the USA, must be self sufficient in everything - oil, computer chips, pharmaceuticals, workers, gold, silver, cattle, chickens, everything. "Walk softly and carry a big stick", said TR and, in this case, the big stick is independence of any other nation for anything. To be a world leader, you must be able to lead by example. We are finally taking steps to make that happen. May this revolution towards sanity and 'common sense' last 100 years after I am gone.
Well, I dunno, there will always be limits. The US doesn't really have the right climate for growing bananas; that's why we have Banana Republics down there. True, maybe we could grow them in Hawaii, but space is limited there, and as I understand it, better used for pineapples.
That said, maybe this is an argument for annexing a few central American banana republics, especially the one with the big jail and the other one with that canal ... and it seems a lot of the locals down already like the idea of being part of America anyway!
When I finished college in the 80s, I loved the idea of ‘Free Trade’ too. Reagan was the greatest, then came Patrician CIA Yankee Houston/Odessa ‘Oilman’ Geo Clampitt “Boy Howdy look at that grocery scanner thing” sell us out w HIS family financing China, running S&Ls, dumb one even made President and helped Preezy make it too.
With Trump opening my eyes to the total sham of ‘Free Trade’…. I remember a smart self-made Nut Job saying “That Giant sucking sound are American Jobs going to Mexico’. Live long enough and even college kids learn a thing or two….
Trump's approach to trade, with reciprocal tariffs, makes sense to me. As does the importance of specific key industries for national security as well as a robust work force with follow-on benefits. Suppliers to such industries as the auto and steel industry create even more jobs and skills than the "final product" makers.
That said, I also remember the intransigence of labor unions, similar to the arcane regulatory schemes enacted by our government. Work rules and the like DO limit efficiency and were part of why American corporations moved toward offshore production. In the nineties strikes prompted companies to move engineering staff to the lines (locked into factories, btw, so not home for months) to keep production going. No surprise that soon thereafter those operations were divested with huge impact to the labor force associated with the factory.
Excellent comment, NNTX. In my comment the other day I essentially said that the unions became too powerful and helped to kill industries. They blackmailed manufacturers who either gave in or suffered long strikes. Manufacturers weren't blameless, though.
Ridiculous work rules were definitely another issue. Waiting for an electrician to come in to plug a piece of machinery into an outlet for a minimum of 4 hours pay. I worked in the steel mills during summers in college and the guys actually told me "Slow down, kid. You're making us look bad." One of my friend's dad would call off so his buddy could "double up" and work 16 hours for the overtime pay. Then that guy would call off so my friend's dad could "double up" for his overtime. The same amount of production, but at increased cost. The only guys who hustled in the mill were the piece workers who got paid more for more production.
A subsidiary of my food manufacturing employer went on strike and the salaried people did the labor jobs in the plant until the strike was settled.
Unions became necessary when employers took advantage of workers early on and pushed for decent working conditions and safety, but the monster grew too big and powerful.
i believe the dems are trying to suppress the stock market. we'll see of course because it is over valued and in need of a correction. i am out of the market and have been for a time. at 77 i'm now strictly a cd and fixed equity type of guy. color me safe.
Something to think about. If we fought a WWII type war today and nukes had not been invented, we would lose. We have no manufacturing base today to shift from making typewriters, autos, steel, and aluminum to building firearms, ships and tanks as well as the myriad of other essentials necessary to carry out a war of attrition. And never forget the hard working men and women who were tough enough to make the change from manufacturing to war fighting. The flawed country we have today reflects the influence of the One World Order thinkers and how wrong they were. Just ask the EU how long they would last if someone like Russia attacked them. We have multiple generations of young people who were brainwashed to believe that if you didnt have the skills to be a doctor or lawyer or techie, then you were never going to make it and be successful. We essentially abandoned them. We are still doing so thanks to a corrupt education system. Education comes in many forms, not just four year programs. Education tailored to everyone can produce the plumbers, electricians and carpenters we need if we have the jobs here at home. Lets stop making China and India and others great again to the detriment of our own way of life.
As a bankruptcy lawyer, I watched in the 80’s as China came in to buy the liquidating industrial plants. One tough old client who couldn’t sustain his NJ foundry in the face of unions and environmental regs told me we would never be able to arm up for a war as we did in WW II.
Sad isn't it. We were all too ready to listen to the so-called bright people who said the future is in the clean, hi-tech information services and we should not be concerned about the loss of our industrial base. Natural evolution, you know. I would love to hear just one of those people tell us today they were wrong, but it wont happen. We convince ourselves something makes sense and refuse to admit our error. I doubt that will ever change but I am thankful that folks like Trump and some of his advisors are willing to buck the hierarchy and tell the truth about the reality of our economy.
I should have noted that the straw that broke the back of many of those firms was high interest rates, which sadly were necessary to halt the inflation of the 70’s. But that was not the fundamental reason for their failures.
as a lawyer...what's your take on the lower courts going after trump, the roberts and barrett (apparent) support of angenda, the relative silence from congress and what impact that is having on our economy in general? if you care to comment of course.
Where do I begin? Restore a requirement for 3-judge panels to enjoin government action on the grounds of unconstitutionality, which was repealed in 1976. Totally within Congress’s power.
The consequences of pretend free trade and the hollowing out of the West’s industries across the world, are coming fast and furious.
Germany’s newly elected, supposedly centrist government has recently totally capitulated to their Leftist parties solely to retain power. (Imagine Uniparty on steroids).
In short, they have literally given away the store to every lefty dream and scheme imaginable, up to and including changing their purported Constitution to require the country to become carbon-neutral by, I believe, 2045.
They have totally done away with their “debt brake” commitment, and have lavished billions upon billions of dollars to implement every kind of insane “green mandate”, into every facet of the country. They claim to have allocated some of this new slush-fund-from-nowhere towards infrastructure and the defense industry, which will inevitably run right up against every insane green regulation they can conjure to strangle it all in its crib.
They have created a circular firing squad out of their government guaranteed to decimate and crush the livelihoods of their citizenry, while the country falls headlong into ruin.
And why did the so-called centrist party agree to this suicide pact? So they could stay in power, or at least give the appearance of such. They sold out their people, to the extent they will probably even end up making the only German opposition party in the country illegal.
Add to all this, they will no longer be getting that free lunch from the US as they have for decades, which has been used to prop up their fake, self-righteous, virtue-signaling, delusional climate change-driven, socialist economy.
Europe is in free-fall economically, and making promises to Ukraine out of pure fairy dust that it has their back, merely to defy Trump’s efforts at securing a peace deal, prolonging that war, and daily amping up its dire consequences.
There is a reckoning coming, and sooner rather than later.
Without a doubt! The toughest thing I encounter every day is the notion that life will be a bed of roses shortly . Many people cannot fathom he economic pain we will have to endure in order to fix the deficit . As long as one is willing to work survival is easily obtained . The pain and grumbling will come from those not used to work .
Trump is turning this country around so fast it is making one’s head spin. Union bosses can see their workers coming back. The country can see good paying jobs coming back. Trump in his genius knowing full well the judiciary would try to slow him down, threw them firing government workers and deporting illegal aliens to cry about while he went on to Make America Great Again. Most of these frivolous lawsuits will be overturned. Those that aren’t will be gotten around some other way. Congress has gotten on it horse and working on a bill to restrict district judges reach. Congress can eliminate districts if it so chooses. For once the Republicans in congress seem to be sticking together. I guess the threat of primaries keeps them in line. Carry on…
The American economy is the greatest economic show on earth.
No wonder everyone wants in, and wants to bring their stuff to sell with them. So why shouldn’t we charge admission for people and products? The rest of the world has been profiteering on the backs of Americans for decades. It’s high-time they help pull the wagons.
As Pacheco the Ghost said, putting it slightly differently, the problem with free trade is that it never actually existed. I too used to buy the pious lectures by the likes of the Wall Street Journal editorial board (pre-Murdoch—god knows what they think now) and academic economists about the perils of mercantilism and how fueling trade wars just drives everyone into poverty. Therefore we should not impose tariffs on imports. Great theory except that China, Europe and everyone else never followed suit. They just took advantage of our suicidal liberalism, as does everyone, in all cases.
Donald Trump has railed against this since at least the early 90s, long before he ever even dabbled in politics, and it turned out that he, not the highly credentialed sages of the free trade religion, was right.
Thanks for mentioning mercantilism. What most people think of as capitalism is actually mercantilism. Instead of an invisible hand, mercantilism is a raised middle finger to consumers. The Dems are masters of rigging markets to favor their cronies.
"The economy must be subordinate to the nation, not the other way around."
Indeed. As an engineer in a highly profitable American OEM the pressure is immense within management regarding China and their communist ways of currency manipulation, et al.
Isn't it amazing to think that fitty years of mismanagement regarding China has finally led us to the point of: "We will sell you the rope with which you will hang yourself." The Bush family cartel legacy...
Well, Bonchie, old stud, let me tell you about working in industry vs being a general laborer: When I was in college, miners at that time made approximately 3-1/2 times my other option for summer work: turning the STOP/GO sign for the WV State Road crew. I worked summers in the coal mines and finished a 4-year degree with zero debt, medical school with a grand total of $12,000 - and that only because, exhausted, I took one summer off. I have a suggestion for you: stop writing and get a real job.
My experience was similar, attending college for nine months and working at Bethlehem Steel for three, which allowed me, the grandson of poor, uneducated European immigrants to become a lawyer. Good thing, too, because globalist economic policies (among other things the discussion about which I shall defer to another occasion) killed that business. When citizens come to be viewed by their rulers as mere economic units instead of human beings, the outcome is always tyranny, despotism and eventually, destruction of the social fabric.
More than one way to skin a cat, Jim. I took the academic path of least resistance in high scruel, and college at that point would have been pissing money away. (These days most college programs are pissing money away.)
My plan (not a plan) was: be stupid for a year, do military, get a great wife, go to college with a fine-tuned bullshit detector. GI Bill + wife with a job = zero debt
We think similarly, Jim. I waited a bit to start college. Had a well paying job as machinest. But I wanted more so my wife worked, and I worked the swing shift, started college full time with a carefully scheduled course load, and after an eternity I had an engineering degree with zero debt. It can be done regardless of what all the smart guys will tell you, especially the college advisors who are there to get you hooked on debt.
Nowadays, those sign turners make damn good money thanks to uncontrolled govt spending at all levels.
I went to college aiming to become a pharmacist because someone told me I'd be good at it. Then I spent a day shadowing a pharmacist and decided it wasn't for me. Took my four years of college and went to work repairing production equipment in a factory and became a master electrician.
A good electrician, plumber, HVAC tech or other tradesman can make good money, earn while learning and not be burdened with college debt.
I finished college with zero debt because I was working the whole time.
I love all these stories today of how people got their start in life.
Wait! The United Auto Workers president praises President Trump!
Just seven months ago he said this:
“In 2024, we’ve got a choice. We can put a billionaire back in office and let him and his buddies get even richer. Or we can elect somebody who’s ready to stand with us. Somebody who’s walked a picket line.”
Yep, line workers, Fain was looking out for you wasn’t he? Trump said he could save the U.S. auto industry. Did Fain not believe him? Or did he not want to have it happen?
The working class is waving goodbye to the Democrats.
Despite Fain's comments, I believe the majority of UAW members voted for Trump/Vance. They could see the handwriting on the wall if the dopey Dems won. Pushing EVs that few wanted was killing the domestic auto industry which meant killing their cushy jobs.
This time the UAW workers were smarter than the United Miner Workers under Richard Trumka, who told the miners to vote democratic even AFTER the Dems said they would reduce and eventually eliminate the use of coal in America for the Holy Grail - the green new deal.
03/31/25: The American working class waved goodbye to the D's in 2016. 2020: Toss out the rigged election stats. 2024: Hello. And to this date, they haven't returned.
03/31/25: If you want to see an entire herd of these Frisbee-brains anxiously trying to make people forget what they'd said just hours earlier in the evening...
And if any further proof is needed as to our "elite" media being cowardly, low-IQ turds, take the time to read "Trump Derangement Began," by Catherine Forester; Self-Published ("Lightning Source LLC") (no copyright year ["2019"]; paperback).
It's a series of verbatim transcripts of the Election Night 2016 shows on ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN and Fox, and working for these Pravda outfits are the most craven and stupid people that you can imagine. Their idiocy is highly entertaining.
I suppose Fain is example #1 that elections have consequences. He's adjusted to the reality of the election. Would it be too much to imagine others so emboldened?
03/31/25: If we can find and overturn the mossy, fetid rocks that they're now hiding under, that's a possibility.
Businessmen make much better Presidents than politicians because they understand just how the economy works, and when it doesn’t. Kamala had no idea about economics because she hit the Peter Principle ceiling just after her affair with mayor. I, like many Americans who need a certain pharmaceutical to continue existing, was horrified when during Covid it was revealed that we outsourced all our drug manufacturing to China. This is a card they hold over us, and I hope the newly enriched drug manufacturers start making them here again or we’re really screwed.
There are quite a few wealthy Dem businessmen that I would not want to be President. The Trumpster is one of a kind. As Scott Adams would say "his skill stack is enormous".
A few months ago I did a little research on Trump's background. Even in New York City, he was an outsider, because he was from Queens, not Manhattan Old Money. And his roots actually are working class. His father did become a millionaire; but he started out working construction, building houses in New York during the 1920s. Selling the houses got him into real estate, and that's where he became rich. Trump's mother was an immigrant from an island off the coast of Scotland--a rural area, not a city. She landed in New York and worked as a maid for several years, until she met and married Trump's father.
Trump gets along well with working-class people. He can hobnob with them and get along fine. (Biden would try to mix with people, and end up yelling at them.) Here's an example: Back during the 2016 race, a county sheriff's deputy in Fla took an odd job doing security at one of Trump's rallies. He was standing guard out in a hallway, when Trump came out of his dressing room and handed him a cup of coffee. They talked for a couple of minutes, then Trump went back in his room. A bit later, a staffer brought the deputy a plate of doughnuts. I didn't get this story from the press; it came to me from my son--his wife worked in that county sheriff's office.
Today's column makes me realize that Free Speech is what brings "merit" to the domain of ideas.
JD Vance challenged Bonchie's ideas, and Surber fleshed out and solidified the argument, adding quotes from several other people plus his own thoughts on it. Free Speech is what enables the wide discussion of an idea, and in the "marketplace of ideas", the idea with the most merit usually wins. We are all better off for it when the most solid ideas take hold and affect how we run our country. And all of us citizens have our intellectual ability honed by watching or participating in the debate.
The Left has been waging war on "merit" for the past few decades. They attacked "merit in the realm of ideas" first by introducing the concept of "political correctness". Once they got people used to "judging" ideas by their "Leftist moral purity" criteria, they moved into shunning, judging, and avoiding any forum where competing ideas from the Right were voiced. Then, they tried to outright censor and control the free market of speech. Witness the chokehold they had put on the old Twitter--even throwing the President of the United States off the platform.
Probably the main reason the Left is currently collapsing, is that by putting "correctness" over "merit" in ideas, they got themselves into a little bubble of increasingly stupid ideas and insane ideology, to the point where most normal people are rejecting them.
Yay for the Freedom of Speech, and the way it preserves "merit" in the realm of ideas.
This is why I find Surber's column and the comments here so appealing. We are dealing with big, complex issues today in America, and there are many angles to them. Don Surber makes the opening presentation and argument, and then these daily discussions by all the commenters here bring out all kinds of valid and interesting points that really do put a topic under the microscope. And everyone gains a more solid and complete understanding. There is something freeing about (many of us) using a pseudonym and putting our thoughts out there to stand or fail solely on its merit (as somewhat gauged by the "likes" voting process). I feel that 99% of the thoughts shared here have substance and value (or are very witty and amusing!).
Yes, yes, yes. I will agree with Bobby Junior later this week!
Well stated, TPG
Well stated, TPG. Thank you
Hear, hear! 💯🎯
Beautifully said, TPG!
I don't see a pseudonym as "freeing", unless I need to worry about a vengeful Democrat neighbor who may plug up my gutter drains -- but even in Oregon I haven't had reasons to worry about such things.
Ditto TPG ! Thanks Don for another great column !
GMTA !!
I dropped out of Berkeley in the late 70s and moved back to LA where I grew up. I took a job in the stock room of a small high tech factory that paid twice the minimum wage, to start. Long story short, I voluntarily left 12 years later as a staff-level manager. Adjusted for inflation I was making low six figures, had Cadillac health insurance, and already had over $50K in a vested retirement fund that we tapped to pay off my wife's student loans and buy our first home. I was self-employed for the rest of my working life, which worked out very well, but the skills and disciplines I acquired by learning how things get made are the reasons I succeeded. I don't believe there is a substitute for the education I received by working in a factory, and pedantic retard is the best description I've heard for contemporary journalists who are clueless about the real world.
by clueless journalists do you mean kaitlan collins? like that type of clueless?
tally ho.
She's their poster child.
indeed she is.
There were several, excellent, valuable, points in this piece, not the least of which was "It (a healthy nation) exists to protect and elevate its citizens. The economy must be subordinate to the nation, not the other way around." In my humble opinion, and after 76 years on this earth in business of several natures, we, the USA, must be self sufficient in everything - oil, computer chips, pharmaceuticals, workers, gold, silver, cattle, chickens, everything. "Walk softly and carry a big stick", said TR and, in this case, the big stick is independence of any other nation for anything. To be a world leader, you must be able to lead by example. We are finally taking steps to make that happen. May this revolution towards sanity and 'common sense' last 100 years after I am gone.
Amen! 🙏♥️🙏
Well, I dunno, there will always be limits. The US doesn't really have the right climate for growing bananas; that's why we have Banana Republics down there. True, maybe we could grow them in Hawaii, but space is limited there, and as I understand it, better used for pineapples.
That said, maybe this is an argument for annexing a few central American banana republics, especially the one with the big jail and the other one with that canal ... and it seems a lot of the locals down already like the idea of being part of America anyway!
When I finished college in the 80s, I loved the idea of ‘Free Trade’ too. Reagan was the greatest, then came Patrician CIA Yankee Houston/Odessa ‘Oilman’ Geo Clampitt “Boy Howdy look at that grocery scanner thing” sell us out w HIS family financing China, running S&Ls, dumb one even made President and helped Preezy make it too.
With Trump opening my eyes to the total sham of ‘Free Trade’…. I remember a smart self-made Nut Job saying “That Giant sucking sound are American Jobs going to Mexico’. Live long enough and even college kids learn a thing or two….
Trump's approach to trade, with reciprocal tariffs, makes sense to me. As does the importance of specific key industries for national security as well as a robust work force with follow-on benefits. Suppliers to such industries as the auto and steel industry create even more jobs and skills than the "final product" makers.
That said, I also remember the intransigence of labor unions, similar to the arcane regulatory schemes enacted by our government. Work rules and the like DO limit efficiency and were part of why American corporations moved toward offshore production. In the nineties strikes prompted companies to move engineering staff to the lines (locked into factories, btw, so not home for months) to keep production going. No surprise that soon thereafter those operations were divested with huge impact to the labor force associated with the factory.
Excellent comment, NNTX. In my comment the other day I essentially said that the unions became too powerful and helped to kill industries. They blackmailed manufacturers who either gave in or suffered long strikes. Manufacturers weren't blameless, though.
Ridiculous work rules were definitely another issue. Waiting for an electrician to come in to plug a piece of machinery into an outlet for a minimum of 4 hours pay. I worked in the steel mills during summers in college and the guys actually told me "Slow down, kid. You're making us look bad." One of my friend's dad would call off so his buddy could "double up" and work 16 hours for the overtime pay. Then that guy would call off so my friend's dad could "double up" for his overtime. The same amount of production, but at increased cost. The only guys who hustled in the mill were the piece workers who got paid more for more production.
A subsidiary of my food manufacturing employer went on strike and the salaried people did the labor jobs in the plant until the strike was settled.
Unions became necessary when employers took advantage of workers early on and pushed for decent working conditions and safety, but the monster grew too big and powerful.
i believe the dems are trying to suppress the stock market. we'll see of course because it is over valued and in need of a correction. i am out of the market and have been for a time. at 77 i'm now strictly a cd and fixed equity type of guy. color me safe.
Something to think about. If we fought a WWII type war today and nukes had not been invented, we would lose. We have no manufacturing base today to shift from making typewriters, autos, steel, and aluminum to building firearms, ships and tanks as well as the myriad of other essentials necessary to carry out a war of attrition. And never forget the hard working men and women who were tough enough to make the change from manufacturing to war fighting. The flawed country we have today reflects the influence of the One World Order thinkers and how wrong they were. Just ask the EU how long they would last if someone like Russia attacked them. We have multiple generations of young people who were brainwashed to believe that if you didnt have the skills to be a doctor or lawyer or techie, then you were never going to make it and be successful. We essentially abandoned them. We are still doing so thanks to a corrupt education system. Education comes in many forms, not just four year programs. Education tailored to everyone can produce the plumbers, electricians and carpenters we need if we have the jobs here at home. Lets stop making China and India and others great again to the detriment of our own way of life.
As a bankruptcy lawyer, I watched in the 80’s as China came in to buy the liquidating industrial plants. One tough old client who couldn’t sustain his NJ foundry in the face of unions and environmental regs told me we would never be able to arm up for a war as we did in WW II.
Sad isn't it. We were all too ready to listen to the so-called bright people who said the future is in the clean, hi-tech information services and we should not be concerned about the loss of our industrial base. Natural evolution, you know. I would love to hear just one of those people tell us today they were wrong, but it wont happen. We convince ourselves something makes sense and refuse to admit our error. I doubt that will ever change but I am thankful that folks like Trump and some of his advisors are willing to buck the hierarchy and tell the truth about the reality of our economy.
I should have noted that the straw that broke the back of many of those firms was high interest rates, which sadly were necessary to halt the inflation of the 70’s. But that was not the fundamental reason for their failures.
as a lawyer...what's your take on the lower courts going after trump, the roberts and barrett (apparent) support of angenda, the relative silence from congress and what impact that is having on our economy in general? if you care to comment of course.
Where do I begin? Restore a requirement for 3-judge panels to enjoin government action on the grounds of unconstitutionality, which was repealed in 1976. Totally within Congress’s power.
💯!.
Given the recent experience of Ukraine, it seem to me that even the EU could resist the Russians.
The consequences of pretend free trade and the hollowing out of the West’s industries across the world, are coming fast and furious.
Germany’s newly elected, supposedly centrist government has recently totally capitulated to their Leftist parties solely to retain power. (Imagine Uniparty on steroids).
In short, they have literally given away the store to every lefty dream and scheme imaginable, up to and including changing their purported Constitution to require the country to become carbon-neutral by, I believe, 2045.
They have totally done away with their “debt brake” commitment, and have lavished billions upon billions of dollars to implement every kind of insane “green mandate”, into every facet of the country. They claim to have allocated some of this new slush-fund-from-nowhere towards infrastructure and the defense industry, which will inevitably run right up against every insane green regulation they can conjure to strangle it all in its crib.
They have created a circular firing squad out of their government guaranteed to decimate and crush the livelihoods of their citizenry, while the country falls headlong into ruin.
And why did the so-called centrist party agree to this suicide pact? So they could stay in power, or at least give the appearance of such. They sold out their people, to the extent they will probably even end up making the only German opposition party in the country illegal.
Add to all this, they will no longer be getting that free lunch from the US as they have for decades, which has been used to prop up their fake, self-righteous, virtue-signaling, delusional climate change-driven, socialist economy.
Europe is in free-fall economically, and making promises to Ukraine out of pure fairy dust that it has their back, merely to defy Trump’s efforts at securing a peace deal, prolonging that war, and daily amping up its dire consequences.
There is a reckoning coming, and sooner rather than later.
Haha-- so many good phrasings--especially enjoyed "...slush-fund-from-nowhere..." and "...making promises to Ukraine out of pure fairy dust..."!!!
Germany has been the dark face in the woodpile for each of the previous two world wars. It is the instigator of a third.
How do you figure?
Without a doubt! The toughest thing I encounter every day is the notion that life will be a bed of roses shortly . Many people cannot fathom he economic pain we will have to endure in order to fix the deficit . As long as one is willing to work survival is easily obtained . The pain and grumbling will come from those not used to work .
Trump is turning this country around so fast it is making one’s head spin. Union bosses can see their workers coming back. The country can see good paying jobs coming back. Trump in his genius knowing full well the judiciary would try to slow him down, threw them firing government workers and deporting illegal aliens to cry about while he went on to Make America Great Again. Most of these frivolous lawsuits will be overturned. Those that aren’t will be gotten around some other way. Congress has gotten on it horse and working on a bill to restrict district judges reach. Congress can eliminate districts if it so chooses. For once the Republicans in congress seem to be sticking together. I guess the threat of primaries keeps them in line. Carry on…
The American economy is the greatest economic show on earth.
No wonder everyone wants in, and wants to bring their stuff to sell with them. So why shouldn’t we charge admission for people and products? The rest of the world has been profiteering on the backs of Americans for decades. It’s high-time they help pull the wagons.
As Pacheco the Ghost said, putting it slightly differently, the problem with free trade is that it never actually existed. I too used to buy the pious lectures by the likes of the Wall Street Journal editorial board (pre-Murdoch—god knows what they think now) and academic economists about the perils of mercantilism and how fueling trade wars just drives everyone into poverty. Therefore we should not impose tariffs on imports. Great theory except that China, Europe and everyone else never followed suit. They just took advantage of our suicidal liberalism, as does everyone, in all cases.
Donald Trump has railed against this since at least the early 90s, long before he ever even dabbled in politics, and it turned out that he, not the highly credentialed sages of the free trade religion, was right.
Thanks for mentioning mercantilism. What most people think of as capitalism is actually mercantilism. Instead of an invisible hand, mercantilism is a raised middle finger to consumers. The Dems are masters of rigging markets to favor their cronies.
"The economy must be subordinate to the nation, not the other way around."
Indeed. As an engineer in a highly profitable American OEM the pressure is immense within management regarding China and their communist ways of currency manipulation, et al.
Isn't it amazing to think that fitty years of mismanagement regarding China has finally led us to the point of: "We will sell you the rope with which you will hang yourself." The Bush family cartel legacy...
i have a red cap that reads: "make america great again" in russian and it was made in china. i love wearing it.
lol How fun!
oh yah. they'll ask: "is that russian?" me: "yup". "what does it say?". me: "guess". they always know...even the donks lol.
🤣
Apparently you weren’t alive in 2019 when you had the highest purchasing power of your life due to Trumps very correct policies.
Sorry, I misread your comment. Apologies.
solid way to post danimal28. keep on keeping on.
Don, are you ok or just so excited about DJT’s leadership that you couldn’t sleep last night?! Your email came through at 2am!
Accident
Don, I'm delighted to find that that my "comment" function is working again. Is it something you did, or the luck of the draw?
Glad I read the comments before writing one. No need tp be repetative.
Yeah. I noticed that, too.