All of a Sudden
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@kjayhawks what in the hell are you talking about???
I’m not OK with disgusting acts by anyone! That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever read. Hate to burst your bubble, but I’m registered Independent. Don’t give a crap if they’re Republican, Democrat or Alien. Keep your weird prejudices to yourself.
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@Crimsonorblue22 Thank you!
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It used to be that the only thing that caused me to yell at the TV was the stupid calls by the refs in the B12. But it turns out, watching Trump’s speech filled with gloating, scapegoating, self-adulation and flat out lies actually got me yelling at the TV more. That’s saying something.
I have a lot of passion for KU Basketball and I guess I react whenever I see poor decisions and unfairness… Whether it’s the refs or the president.
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@bskeet I could only “like” your post one time, unfortunately.
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Trump’s a piece of shit… but he’s OUR piece of shit.
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It is a very interesting time right now that’s for sure.
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His base doesn’t care but I was somewhat amused at the basics of the federal budget he just totally made up
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Who’s this Trump person people are talking about?
Do they mean President Ass-Face?
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@kjayhawks Yep. Interesting… 1939 was an interesting time too.
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@FarmerJayhawk Oh, it’s totally amusing and good theater…until I stop and reflect on the real lives that are being affected and how it’s no joke to them. A lot of these folks are innocent citizens who are simply collateral damage that Tornado Trump has zero regard for.
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@bskeet I’ll say this it, I don’t agree with all of the crap but I do like the idea of having the information of where all of our tax money is being blown. Read an article last week that talked about how we spent 200 million testing monkeys to see if they were more sexually active on cocaine, spoiler they were. We all know for fact the US government is one of the worst corporations in the world. Any business ran under their practices would be done in 6 months. Literally the most inefficient on the globe
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That study sounds suspect to me too… I imagine if I lived in the 1920s and someone said “Go review the government research and get rid of the stuff that seems stupid,” I would look at the research on molds as expendable. Of course, that would have been tragic since that research lead to penicillin. (It was actually discovered in London, but hopefully you get my point.) Studying mold turns out to have been a good thing to study even though it might have looked like a pretty dubious thing to study.
Research… Science works this way… Some studies go no where. Others lead to something consequential. Not every study is going to lead to a revolutionary product like penicillin. Science requires following a lot of ideas. It’s expensive and time consuming. Fortunately, the US has been blessed with the resources to invest in lots of research over the last 100 years and it has led to a steadily better standard of living for its citizens and, in many cases, the global population.
Anyway, the bigger point: I’m all for scrubbing out excessive spending on widgets and over-priced projects – but I’d like there to be some due diligence by people with knowledge of the domain. I’m pretty sure that is NOT happening. There is no telling how many babies are being thrown out with the bathwater right now. It’s preventable.
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As for the US being one of the worst corporations in the world – I’m no economist or political scientist, but based on my limited knowledge, the US is NOT a for-profit business. The analogy of the US being a for-profit business is a false premise.
The US is a government. It’s closer to a non-profit if the analogy must be pushed, but it’s better to not try to fit it into either of those models. The practices of running a for-profit or non-profit business are different from running a government and mapping business practices wholesale onto a government is dubious.
That said, it SHOULD have fiscal responsibility and accountability. (I think that’s what Congress is supposed to do, but I’m no political scientist…) I think it is obvious that it should not operate in an ever-deepening deficit.
That said, I’ve heard others explain that the rules are different for governments and particularly for the government that owns the standard global currency. Again, I’m no economist, so I’ll leave it there.
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@bskeet it’s sure as hell profitable for politicians, shit Bernie Sanders is a career politician that came from nothing but is worth millions and has several vacation homes. The Bush, Clinton and Obama families all are worth hundreds of millions that they weren’t before getting into politics. Elizibeth Warren gets paid $200k but all the sudden is worth $100 million. Sounds a little fishy doesn’t it? Go spend a day at the DMV or IRS and then get back with me about how efficient our government is. I’m not political science major either, it’s just odd how everything the government touches turns to dog shit. College used to be affordable for most then the government got involved. Housing used to be a lot more affordable til the government start subsidizing it. Speaking of the early 1900s did you know we didn’t have income tax til 1915 and it was only supposed to be for a few years to help the war effort. Oddly enough we still had universities and roads before hand. It’s crazy to think a nation that started a war for independence over a 2% tax on a drink beverage is now taxed to nearly 50%. Our politicians tho boy they sure live high on hog, how many times a week are we buy fuel for Pelosi to fly from Cali to Washington. The government is one big party friend and we ain’t on the guest list.
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I’ll add in some questions about the billions we spend on foreign aid. Did you see helicopters from France or Great Britain dropping off supplies after the hurricanes and flooding in the Carolinas? How after the wildfires in California? Did you see the UN sending their choppers and planes? I’ve helped a lot of people out in my day in a lot of different ways. It’s a great thing to do I’d like to think some of those same people would help me out when they could. I think about it like this, my neighbor across the street has a son that mine plays with often. I would gladly help them if they needed it but I wouldn’t starve my own family to do so. Couldnt imagine sending my kids to school with holes in their shoes and starved while giving most my money to them so their kids could get clothes and a hot plate? Where does that make sense? We still have people living in tents in the Carolinas and California but fuckem I guess.
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@kjayhawks So, this is a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with what I said.
I didn’t say the government was efficient. I’m not saying that politicians are not corrupt. I didn’t say anything about foreign aid or the cost of universities or taxes.
So… I’m not really going to battle on this stuff… because politicians ARE corrupt.
But corruption is not a partisan thing. A lot of your points seem to be partisan examples.
I would say we may have a difference of opinion regarding whom to trust to fix corruption. I don’t trust a guy who operates consistently on the edges of the law and, in my estimation, has a history of crossing the line. I don’t trust the guy who has a track record of bankrupt businesses.
I’m watching the market tank as I type. Seems like its more like “Make America 1928 Again”.
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@bskeet well I did get off the rails a little, it won’t ever get fixed IMO. Everyone’s dirty and has their own agenda paid by some company. Our government employees should wear sponsor suits like they do in nascar then we’d know who was funding them at least.
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Both my wife and I have jobs largely affected by DOGE layoffs. While moving things to the state level makes sense for a lot of things, it seems there is no real plan to move things to the state level, only to ax the federal government now while people involved suffer the consequences. I’d give the idea a B, execution an F, and motivation an F.
It isn’t political when it’s directly screwing with your life. Just throwing this out there.
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@approxinfinity it screwed your life?
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@Crimsonorblue22 in the process of screwing with it. The hatchet job on HHS and FDA.
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I dont mean life in the sense of the body. Fun etymology fact I just learned:
The word “life” originates from the Proto-Germanic word “*lībą,” meaning “life, body,” which in turn comes from the Proto-Indo-European root “*leyp-” meaning “to stick, glue,” and the related word “*lībaną” meaning “to remain, stay, be left”.
The glue is dissolving but to what do we stick?
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Together?
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@Crimsonorblue22 i like that.
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Today’s absolutely bonkerstown tariff announcements won’t help. I’ve already seen GDP forecasts significantly downgraded for the year. It’ll be a bloodbath.
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Free markets have a pretty good track record for 70 years. Apparently it wasn’t enough.
Greed. It will bring us all down.
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We are only 2.5 months in. There is so much more stupidity left to come.
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Am I the only one who thinks they’ll never be able to retire because the psychopath president keeps trying to bankrupt this country? I mean, financially as well as morally.
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@nuleafjhawk did you protest today?
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@Crimsonorblue22 I guess I didn’t know that was a thing. BUT - I’ve been protesting every day since he was elected.
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It’s been a trip knowing A) my folks are very proud of me going to graduate school for economics and teaching it at a good school and B )saying everything I know about macroeconomics and trade is wrong
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@FarmerJayhawk believe me, I get it. I was an international trade lawyer for 30 years. This is akin to watching a frustrated 8 year old try to fix a computer by hitting it with a hammer
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State Department ruling on South Sudan could impact basketball players. The US is revoking the visas of all South Sudan passport holders. One of the most prominent names that could be affected by this and potentially face deportation is Duke center Khaman Maluach whose family fled South Sudan during the Civil War over there amd grew up in Uganda. Malachi is expected to be a top 10 pick in this year’s NBA draft so this is something worth keeping an eye on.
Whatever personal feelings you may have towards Duke, it sucks to potentially see a kid like this be denied his dreams because of that Oompa-Loompa in the White House.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 yes, some things are more important than my dislike of Duke. My hatred of KY for example. And the Oompa-loompa
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@HoraceZontal said in All of a Sudden:
@FarmerJayhawk believe me, I get it. I was an international trade lawyer for 30 years. This is akin to watching a frustrated 8 year old try to fix a computer by hitting it with a hammer
Maybe you should copyright that.
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@bskeet if you can do good illustrations, there’s a great political cartoon there. I wish Herblock was still alive
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@HoraceZontal 100%. This situation sets my creative mind ablaze. I’ve been thinking of a lot of potential cartoons – Trump as Alfred B Neuman “What? Me worry?”
Or an oblivious Trump supporter yelling “Let’s Go Brandon!” on the stock exchange amid a sea of stares from angry traders and Trump sheepishly whispering “Not right now.”
Or running the TV set to Bloomberg Business Channel on mute while putting Genesis “Throwing it All Away” on repeat play.
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Any lawyers out there in KU Buckets-land? I was just wondering if we can file some sort of class action lawsuit against “you know who” to repair some of the emotional and financial devastation he’s caused in the past few months. Maybe we could hire Willie Gary???
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@FarmerJayhawk said in All of a Sudden:
It’s been a trip knowing A) my folks are very proud of me going to graduate school for economics and teaching it at a good school and B )saying everything I know about macroeconomics and trade is wrong
Well you probably learned all of that at some liberal university so you’re wrong. Dumb DEI degrees you got there. Your professors were probably Hamas supporters who can’t use the right bathroom.
And obviously you don’t even understand what they’re trying to do. Trump is playing 75D Chess because he is brilliant. He’s simultaneously ending China’s backdoor trading through Vietnam, lowering the interest rate to refinance the debt, cutting taxes, eliminating capital gains taxes, balancing trade, bringing manufacturing home, getting more fair tariffs from everyone else, and he can do all of that while he wins his Senior Club Championship.
Dear leader is much more smarterer than you.
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This is fantastic. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen someone troll themselves.
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Trump is so proud of his business acumen in using bankruptcies that he thinks tanking the US economy will allow us to eliminate the national debt.
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David Brooks offers an intellectual conservative perspective on Trumpism that resonates strongly with me (a moderate)
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@bskeet A great article. Thanks for sharing!
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@bskeet I just got done reading it, right before clicking over here to see what’s going on. Very gratifying to finally see other people reading The Atlantic. Also known as Signal Live.
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@mayjay Finished recently a book by Tim Alberta an Atlantic writer. Some hard takes on the Christian Nationalism that’s taken over many parts of the evangelical church. I don’t read the Atlantic Per Se.
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@wissox Tim is a great reporter. He was raised in the church then worked for National Review and The Atlantic.
