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Trump’s Tariffs

by | 1930, 2 Apr 25 | , , | 1 Comment

Ugh. Bad policy and bad politics.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday laid out the U.S. “reciprocal tariff” rates that more than 180 countries and territories, including European Union members, will face under his sweeping new trade policy.

 

Trump and the White House shared a series of charts on social media detailing the tariff rates they say other countries impose on the U.S. Those purported rates include the countries’ “Currency Manipulation and Trade Barriers.”

An adjacent column shows the new U.S. tariff rates on each country, as well as the European Union.

 

Those rates are, in most cases, roughly half of what the Trump administration claims each country has “charged” the U.S.

No, I don’t like tariffs. They are stupid policy. An argument can be made for reciprocal tariffs to create a fair playing field (with the hope that both countries back down), but even then it’s a risky policy playing with consumers’ money.

But even if the reciprocal tariffs were a good idea as a policy or a tactic, Trump’s timing is terrible. He is on a very short clock to get some big things done in terms of cutting government, cutting taxes, cutting regulations, etc. He needs Congress’ support for that and the Republican margins in Congress are razor thin. When Trump’s approval rating starts sagging because everyone’s 401(k) is crashing, those marginal Republicans will stray. Trump will not be able to help encourage party discipline if he’s a lame duck president with a weak approval rating.

Get the big stuff done in Congress FIRST. The play with international trade with tariffs if you want. As he’s doing it, even if some other countries do lower their tariffs and open up markets for American goods, it will take capital to invest in building the capacity to serve those markets. It’s much harder to get capital when we suck trillions of dollars out of the equity markets.

A Few Early Election Thoughts

by | 2125, 1 Apr 25 | | 1 Comment

Well, darn. It looks like the liberal will win the Supreme Court race. This will have terrible, long-term impacts on Wisconsin. The more pro-education candidate may yet win the DPI race. We’ll see. That would be a marginal improvement, but a win is a win. Thankfully, the Voter ID Amendment will pass. Huzzah. A few thoughts…

Wisconsin is a liberal state. It just is. It leans liberal by 5%-10%. Yes, those people are crammed into a few areas, but there are more of them. It was more even ten years ago, but migration (conservatives out to low tax states and liberals in to work/school in Madison) has changed it. A Conservative like Walker is unlikely to win a statewide race any time soon. A populist like Trump can pull it off.

The Supreme Court race was completely nationalized. This needed to happen for Schimel to have a chance, but it also obliterated the dynamic of a race about issues. It wasn’t about a liberal court usurping power and turning back the clock by illegally invalidating Act 10, Wisconsin’s abortion law, redistricting, etc. etc. etc. It became Pro Trump v. Anti Trump. And while Trump won Wisconsin a few months ago, it was against perhaps the second worse presidential candidate of all time. Crawford was even able to blunt the correct attack on her as a weak-on-crime liberal judge with a bunch of lies about Schimel’s record.

The liberals have won the recent supreme court elections with a proven formula. They run a woman. The abortion issue favors them and the liberal court smartly kept that issue alive for this election. And they overtly promise things to constituent groups – kill School Choice to the teachers; kill Act 10 to the unions; gerrymander districts for the Dem machine; who knows what else. Yes, she had proxies make the promises to keep her hands clean, but promises were made. You can hate the new rules or you can play by them.

The state Republican leadership needs to go. All of them. And they need to move the state party HQ out of Madison to a red area. They have one job – to win elections – and they suck at it. If they are going to get serious about winning elections, they need to absolutely gut the state party and get some competent people in there.

It is going to be interesting to see what happens to the voting patterns in a post-Trump era. He has a unique ability to activate the liberal base. I suspect that will get more difficult for Democrats when Trump is no longer on the scene, but that is likely several years away.

I’m disappointed in you, Wisconsin, but I understand you.

GOP Office Firebombed

by | 2024, 31 Mar 25 | , | 0 Comments

For all the talk of “right wing” violence, it is always the Left that resorts to violence as a political tactic.

The New Mexico Republican Party headquarters was targeted in a suspected arson attack on Sunday, according to party officials.

 

At approximately 5:56 a.m. on Sunday, Albuquerque Fire Rescue was dispatched to the headquarters for a reported structure fire, officials said.

 

The flames were brought under control within five minutes of their arrival and there were no reported injuries, fire rescue said.

Poll Shows Supreme Court Race in Dead Heat

by | 1803, 31 Mar 25 | | 0 Comments

Interesting.

I think everybody, including me, thought that Crawford was significantly ahead as recently as ten days ago. There is generally a structural 5%-10% structural advantage for liberals in Wisconsin in non-presidential elections. Crawford seemed to be cruising. Then, I think two things happened.

First, and most obviously, Republicans successfully nationalized the race with a Trump endorsement and Musk stepping in to support Schimel. This countered the money advantage of the liberals and began to activate the Trump base – which is not reliable in off-cycle elections.

Second, and more subtlety, the race for DPI began to narrow. The DPI has long been a fiefdom of the liberal teachers’ unions. It almost didn’t matter who ran against the union candidate, because they could turn out the votes in an April election to swamp anyone. But this year is different. The incumbent Jill Underly has been an abject failure. So much so that the normally Blue Wall of support is fractured. Governor Evers is tepid. Much of the Black electorate in Milwaukee is frustrated with her apathy toward educating black kids in their city. Even the liberal Madison State Journal endorsed her challenger, Brittany Kinser.

Kinser is a Democrat, but she has run as an open-minded education advocate. She reached out to Republicans, Conservatives, School Choice supporters, and others who passionately support education, but have been ignored by DPI for decades. She touched a nerve. Kinser’s campaign has brought out people to vote who are motivated by education, but not as motivated by a judicial race.

All of this has moved the momentum toward Schimel and Kinser. It’s not a pure Red coalition. It is a coalition of Conservatives, Populists, MAGA, parents, and people terrified of their property taxes skyrocketing when a liberal court strikes down Act 10. But while the momentum has clearly shifted, that doesn’t mean that the liberals won’t still win. Schimel and Kinser have a significant uphill climb to win, but I would rather be them right now than Underly or Crawford.

Get out and vote tomorrow if you haven’t already. This race will be razor tight. Every vote matters.

American Freed by Taliban

by | 1512, 29 Mar 25 | | 0 Comments

Good.

An American woman who had been detained in Afghanistan by the Taliban since February has been released and is in “good health,” according to a source with knowledge of the release.

Faye Hall was released Thursday “following a court order and with logistical support from Qatar,” which has been mediating on the US’ behalf, the source said. She was detained in the country on charges of using a drone without authorization.

“Hall was received at the Qatari Embassy in Kabul and has been confirmed in good health after undergoing a series of medical checks. Arrangements are currently underway for her return to the United States,” the source added.

An image of Hall sat alongside Qatari officials was shared on Saturday by Zalmay Khalilzad, the US’ former ambassador to Afghanistan.

“American citizen Faye Hall, just released by the Taliban, is now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home. Thank you, #Qatar, for your ongoing and steadfast partnership,” Khalilzad wrote on X.

Kohl’s Closes 27 Stores This Weekend

by | 1030, 29 Mar 25 | | 1 Comment

It’s a shame what’s happened to this once great brand. A large number of those stores are in California.

Kohl’s is closing a slew of stores across 15 states this weekend.

 

Back in January, Kohl’s issued a press release to announce its “real estate change for 2025,” revealing the company planned to close 27 “underperforming stores” this year. In addition, Kohl’s will be closing its San Bernardino E-commerce Fulfillment Center in California in May.

Tony Evers Backs Lower Educational Standards for Kids

by | 1846, 28 Mar 25 | | 2 Comments

He was never for the kids. He is always for the government bureaucracy. Always. Every. Singe. Time. Meanwhile, more and more Wisconsin kids will be disadvantaged because they can’t read, write, or do math like they should.

Gov. Tony Evers on Friday vetoed the legislation that would have restored learning standards and report card scores in the state.

 

“For many reasons, this is an untenable result for kids, for schools, and public education in Wisconsin,” Evers said in his veto message. “Most importantly, metrics for school scores and standards should be based on science, data, doing what’s best for kids, and improving student outcomes, not the whims of legislative party control or what is politically palatable for lawmakers in the legislature.”

 

The legislation would have restored Wisconsin’s standards to what they were the year before COVID, and realigned them with the Nation’s Report Card.

 

Wisconsin State Superintendent Jill Underly ordered the standards changed last fall. She claimed she made the change to “better reflect” what Wisconsin school kids are actually learning.

More Cuts to Federal Agencies

by | 2021, 27 Mar 25 | | 0 Comments

Keep it up.

Among the agencies absorbing stiff cuts are the Small Business Administration, at 43 percent, and HUD, at 50 percent, according to the memo, the Washington Post reported. 

 

Cuts at the Education Department, which Trump has asked Secretary Linda McMahon to pare by half, are expected to save $6 billion, with another $1.9 billion coming from cuts at the Justice Department through an 8 percent cut there.

 

The National Science Foundation, long considered funding favorite among members of Congress from both parties, is facing a 28 percent cut, while the Commerce Department is facing a 30 percent.

 

At the Treasury, which includes the Internal Revenue Service, cuts are projected to reach 30 percent. The Post reported Saturday that officials anticipate a drop in tax revenue of more than 10 percent, or $500 billion.

Trump Imposes 25% Tariffs on Cars

by | 2013, 26 Mar 25 | , , | 2 Comments

I think it’s funny that the reporter felt the need to call them “import taxes” instead of “tariffs.” They seem to think that readers are too dumb to know what tariffs are. They may be right.

Speaking of dumb, tariffs are dumb. Yes, I expected Trump to follow through on his promise to implement tariffs and I still voted for him for other reasons, but tariffs are dumb economic policy.

US President Donald Trump has announced new import taxes of 25% on cars and car parts coming into the US in a move that threatens to widen the global trade war.

 

Trump said the latest tariffs would come into effect on 2 April, with charges on businesses importing vehicles starting the next day. Charges on parts are set to start in May or later.

 

The president claimed the measure would lead to “tremendous growth” for the car industry, promising it would spur jobs and investment in the US.

 

But analysts have said the move is likely to lead to the temporary shutdown of significant car production in the US, increase prices, and strain relations with allies.

Governor Evers Proposes Massive Tax Increase Budget

by | 2034, 25 Mar 25 | | 0 Comments

Wow. He’s not even pretending any more.

The latest look at Gov. Tony Evers’ budget puts a price tag on just how much the governor hopes to get out of tax and fee increases, as well as new “collections” from the state.

 

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau released the report Monday.

 

“In summary, the changes included in the Governor’s budget would increase net taxes by $2,223,493,200, and would increase net fees by $356,301,800,” the LFB wrote. “In addition, it is estimated that measures…to enhance the collection of current taxes would generate an additional $189,420,400.”

 

“Gov. Evers told all of us during his budget address in February that he was going to cut taxes. Yet, about a month later, we are now finding out the actual truth: Gov. Evers’ budget proposal is irresponsible and unsustainable,” Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, said on Monday. “The good news is Legislative Republicans won’t let that happen and will work hard to craft a fiscally-responsible budget that both addresses our state’s priorities and delivers meaningful tax relief.”

 

LFB reported that Gov. Evers is proposing 14 different tax increases, and 28 proposed tax decreases.

Hamas Disperses Anti-Hamas Protestors

by | 2006, 25 Mar 25 | | 0 Comments

It’s good to see a bit of anti-Hamas activity in the heart of Gaza. That’s brave.

Hundreds of people have taken part in the largest anti-Hamas protest in Gaza since the war with Israel began, taking to the streets to demand the group step down from power.

 

Masked Hamas militants, some armed with guns and others carrying batons, intervened and forcibly dispersed the protesters, assaulting several of them.

 

Videos shared widely on social media by activists typically critical of Hamas showed young men marching through the streets of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza on Tuesday, chanting “out, out, out, Hamas out”.

 

Pro-Hamas supporters defended the group, downplayed the significance of the demonstrations and accused the participants of being traitors. Hamas is yet to comment.

23andMe Goes Bankrupt

by | 1907, 24 Mar 25 | , | 0 Comments

I have not been willing to send my DNA to someone to satiate my curiosity for exactly this reason. The DNA of millions of people is this company’s most valuable asset. They are going to sell that asset to pay the bills (if they haven’t already been doing so). Insurance companies, Big Pharma, and any number of other firms will pay for that data. Furthermore, they can sell it more than once. No thanks. I don’t need to know that I’m 27% Irish.

Genetic testing company 23andMe announced on Sunday that it has filed for bankruptcy due to low demand for its ancestry kits and after a 2023 data breach damaged its reputation.

 

The company, which has over 15 million customers worldwide, said it voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to “facilitate a sale process to maximize the value of its business.” 23andMe is seeking authorization from a bankruptcy court in Missouri to “sell substantially all of its assets.”

 

The company’s market value peaked at almost $6 billion after it went public in 2021, but 23andMe reported a 7% decline in revenue and losses of $174 million in the first nine months of its current fiscal year.

Hyundai to Invest in America

by | 0844, 24 Mar 25 | , | 0 Comments

Good news!

South Korean conglomerate Hyundai will announce a $20 billion investment in U.S. onshoring that includes a $5 billion steel plant in Louisiana, according to people familiar with the plans.

 

The plant is set to hire roughly 1,500 employees and will produce next-generation steel that will be used by Hyundai’s two U.S. auto plants to manufacture electric vehicles. The investment is expected to be announced Monday at the White House by President Donald Trump, Hyundai Chairman Euisun Chung and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.

Push to Exclude Soda and Candy from Welfare Purchases

by | 0842, 24 Mar 25 | , | 1 Comment

This is a fight worth having both for the health of people and for the tax dollars spent.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds from using them on certain candy and sugary drinks.

 

The bill directs the secretary of the Kansas Department of Children and Families to request a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program at the federal level, to exclude candy and soft drinks from SNAP benefits.

While we see this push coming from states (I think ten are moving the way of Kansas at the moment), we see a push at the federal level too. We also see an incredible push back.

It is beyond dispute that soda and candy are terrible for you. They are garbage calories that make you fat and sick. It is also beyond dispute that a free people should have the right to consume whatever they want – even if it is bad for you. We drink soda and eat candy because they are yummy, and that’s reason enough for a free people.

Opponents of restricting people from using their welfare to pay for soda and candy are arguing that it’s a freedom issue. We don’t want the government telling us what we can and cannot eat. Of course, this is the argument, but it is not the reason. Big Soda and Big Candy made a lot – A LOT – of money off of welfare recipients and they have orchestrated a well-funded campaign to preserve their revenue from the taxpayers.

But let’s take their argument at face value. First, this is not a case of government telling people what they can or cannot eat. This is a case of government telling people what taxpayers are willing or unwilling to pay for. If we ban the use of welfare for soda and candy, every welfare recipient is still free to purchase and consume those items just like people who are not receiving welfare. The difference is that they must now use their own money to buy it instead of the taxpayers’ money.

Second, the government already makes these distinctions. Today, welfare recipients may not spend their SNAP money on booze, fast food, cigarettes, vitamins, supplements, and any number of other things. This change would just add a couple of food categories to the list. I also think that we should add some things to the list of approved items. For example, grocery stores now offer many healthy prepared meal options that are prohibited. We should add those to the acceptable list. We still don’t want welfare to be used to buy dinner at Applebee’s or McDonald’s, but getting a rotisserie chicken or prepared meals from the grocery store should be fine.

The supporting argument for removing soda and candy from the acceptable list is twofold. First, they are terrible for you. Absolutely terrible. Taxpayers should not be paying for people to eat crap or feed their kids crap. It is impractical to prohibit all bad food and we don’t want the government to spend resources weighing in on the relative healthiness of eating habits from vegan to carnivore, but banning an entire category like soda is easy and helpful. Especially since the taxpayers also pay for the healthcare of many welfare recipients, the taxpayers have a moral and financial interest in helping them eat healthier.

Second, on principle, being on welfare shouldn’t be comfortable. We are a generous people and provide a robust safety net for those who fall on hard times and those who need a hand up. But that safety net is supposed to be temporary as people get on their own feet. We have spent a couple of generations destigmatizing welfare and ensuring that welfare recipients can enjoy a life as comfortable as those who are paying their own way. The result has been the advent of generational welfare families and a culture that sucks the productivity and dignity out of entire communities. To reverse this rot, we must make welfare uncomfortable again. People should WANT to work their way off of welfare so that they can enjoy the fruits of their own labor. People SHOULD feel some shame for living off the largesse of their neighbors instead of paying their own way. Being on welfare should not be seen as a way of life, yet that is exactly what it has become. Banning soda and candy would be a very small step toward reinvigorating our culture back to one of proud independence and self-reliance.

 

IRS Projects Dramatic Decline in Tax Revenues (I call BS)

by | 0805, 24 Mar 25 | | 0 Comments

Understand this for what it is… a bunch of IRS bureaucrats who want to thwart any downsizing of the IRS are floating fears. It is BS.

Officials at the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department are anticipating tax revenue to drop more than 10% by April 15 compared with last year, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing three people with knowledge of the situation.

 

The loss of tax receipts is expected as more individuals and businesses don’t file taxes or attempt to avoid paying balances owed to the IRS. The amount of lost federal revenue could top $500 billion, the paper said.

Officials said the prediction is directly linked to shifting taxpayer behavior and President Donald Trump’s cuts at the IRS, the Washington Post said.

 

Thousands are expected to lose their jobs at the agency as part of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency spending cuts. Experts have warned that the cuts during tax season could materially impact filers.

 

The Treasury Department told the paper the story was “sensational and baseless” and said the anonymous sources “should be dismissed out of hand.”

Do you notice the old pattern? Some anonymous “officials” feed this story to the Washington Post. The paper runs with it. Officials on record deny the story. The paper runs with it anyway without citing the source. We saw this over and over again during Trump’s first term. Don’t fall for it. If the sources aren’t named, it’s just leftist propaganda.

 

Treasury Secretary Prioritizes People Over Stats

by | 1210, 23 Mar 25 | , | 0 Comments

This is smart. One of the more frustrating things about the Biden Administration was when they would throw our BS economic stats as a counterargument to people sharing their economic woes.

The Treasury Secretary has candidly admitted that the GDP numbers that dominated the previous administration’s economic approach are not accurate.

 

[…]

 

When asked point-blank whether he believed that GDP numbers and nonfarm payrolls were accurate on the All-In podcast last week, Bessent replied: ‘No. They’re subject to big revisions over time.

 

‘I thought one of the big mistakes of the Biden administration was that they went with the numbers and not what the American people were feeling.’

 

The Treasury Secretary said the economic concerns of the public were dismissed as merely a ‘vibe-cession’ and that Biden told them, ‘you don’t know how good you’ve got it.’

 

Instead, Bessent said the Trump administration was going to ‘have respect for how [the public] feel and then we need to go back and look at what is causing this anxiety.’

 

[…]

 

Podcast co-host Palihapitiya praised Trump’s team for having a ‘better beat on the fact that this data is not as reliable as other administrations would say they were in order to do whatever it is they wanted to do anyway.’

 

Bessent agreed with the interviewer, saying that the Trump White House would not use data to justify their actions and instead listen to Americans when they express anxiety or financial hurt.

Trump Revokes Security Clearances from Old Politicians

by | 0826, 22 Mar 25 | | 4 Comments

Good. I mean, really, Hillary hasn’t been in office for 13 years. What possible value is it to the nation for her to have security clearance? And on the flip side, how much damage could she do to an administration led by a person she deeply, and vocally, hates?

“I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information,” Trump wrote.

 

He went on to name a list of 15 opponents and Biden-era officials, including Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who prosecuted Trump for fraud, as well as former president Biden’s entire family.

 

It is unclear what formal security clearance was possessed by some of the figures named in the memo. Trump had already announced his intention to rescind security clearance for Biden in February, and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said on March 10 that she had revoked access for Blinken, James and others per Trump’s directive.

Barring Biden from intelligence briefings is a tit-for-tat move after Biden banned Trump from accessing classified documents in 2021, arguing he could not be trusted because of his “erratic behavior.”

 

In the past, former presidents have been briefed on certain matters and allowed access to sensitive information as a courtesy, though they often have no formal security clearance.

 

Trump said in his memo Friday that he would also “direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals.”

Bidens Offer to Help Sagging Democrats

by | 1926, 21 Mar 25 | | 0 Comments

I support this. Bring back the Bidens!

WASHINGTON — Former President Joe Biden has told some Democratic leaders he’ll raise funds, campaign and do anything else necessary for Democrats to recover lost ground as the Trump administration rolls back programs the party helped design, according to people close to him.

 

Biden privately met last month with the new Democratic National Committee chairman, Ken Martin, and offered to help as the party struggles to regain its viability amid polling that shows its popularity has been sinking, the people said.

 

So far, Biden’s overture seems to have fallen flat. Democrats find themselves adrift, casting about for a compelling messenger.

Hispanic Americans and Legal Residents Support Trump’s Border Policies

by | 2115, 20 Mar 25 | | 0 Comments

It’s always funny when liberals “discover” that not all, or even most, Hispanics support illegal immigration.

MIAMI (AP) — In Hialeah, Florida, a city that’s 95% Hispanic, only three residents showed up at a recent city council meeting to speak against a partnership with the federal government to enforce immigration laws.

 

The police departments in Hialeah, where three out of four people were born abroad, and Coral Gables, with a majority of Hispanics mostly of Cuban descent, have entered into agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with very little visible pushback.

 

President Donald Trump’s doubling of immigration arrests and ramping up of deportations could have a disproportionate impact on South Florida, home to some of the nation’s largest communities of Cubans, Venezuelans and other Latin Americans. But reaction here to Trump’s crackdown has been far more muted than during his first term, reflecting both the rightward shift of Latino voters and a belief among some that restrictive border measures are necessary.

 

“I understand some people feel a little bit betrayed because most of us voted him in,” said Frank Ayllon, a 41-year-old sales representative from Miami. “I feel like a lot of these people are taking it very personal. And it’s not personal. It’s just that you’ve got to understand that this has been an open border for many years.”

Trump Moves to End Dept. of Education

by | 2103, 20 Mar 25 | , | 0 Comments

By any objective measure, the federal Department of Education has been an utter failure. Since its creation, educational outcomes have steadily declined while spending has exploded on administration and useless distractions. When something isn’t working, do something different. People who actually care about education understand this. People who care about government jobs never cared about education. We need Congress to act, but this is a good and necessary step. Huzzah, President Trump.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing officials to begin dismantling the Department of Education, a promise he made on the 2024 campaign trail.

 

“We’re going to shut it down as quickly as possible,” Trump said after signing the order on Thursday. “It’s doing us no good.”

 

Trump has long called for the department to be axed, a cherished goal of some conservatives, but completely shutting it would require an act of Congress, which is unlikely.

 

The move is already facing legal challenges from those seeking to block the agency’s closure as well as sweeping cuts to its staff announced last week.

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