I know Trump won't mess with his pals Putin and Xi. Hegseth and Trump have assumed the position and are taking it up the ass from Putin, and Xi will gladly join in. There are your "leftist pals" you are seeking.
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I know Trump won't mess with his pals Putin and Xi. Hegseth and Trump have assumed the position and are taking it up the ass from Putin, and Xi will gladly join in. There are your "leftist pals" you are seeking.
Ordinarily I wouldn't support the federal government getting equity in private companies. Reeks of socialism. But, if done right, with proper restraints and limits and VERY IMPORTANTLY the federal government i.e. the US Treasury i.e. US taxpayers getting equity without any real say on how the company operates in its daily operations then this can be a very good thing. I wouldn't trust any democrap administration doing this...and yes, this now establishes a precedent where future dem administrations will do it too...but I do trust Trump's administration. We (taxpayers) invested real money into Lithium Americas (LAC) essentially buying shares, and that is okay. But current deals being negotiated by the White House may result in federal government equity without having to purchase shares. The exchange is permits issued to companies, favorable operations status...the kinds of things only the federal government has the authority to do.
This is Trump "thinking outside of the box" and generating revenue for the US Treasury.
All from the "assumed position" you placed him in!Quote:
Originally Posted by dawg80
He only hates Trump regarding anything Ukraine or Z. Pretty much loves Ukraine more than America.Quote:
Originally Posted by DawgyNWindow
I tell it like it is. That's why I have 100% credibility.
Where's it written that we have to agree 100% with everything someone else does? Yes, I disagree with Trump's position on Ukraine/Putin. So, does that mean I have to disagree with everything else he does? Apparently, some of you have buried your heads in the sand and just blindly agree with Trump...and I suppose others...no matter what they do. Not me. I have opinions/thoughts all my own and don't kow tow to anyone carte blanche.
But, if some of you prefer to check your brains at the door and just follow along, well good for you. :icon_roll:
On a day when Trump has earned accolades for the Gaza thingy, he has to f**k it up with absolutely stupid comments about Witkoff "not having a clue what he was doing" when "negotiating" with Putin. Wow! I know Trump loves Putin and doesn't give a flying flip about Ukraine, but he should at least try to pretend a little. Made himself look totally inept and retarded in the eyes of the rest of the world, and this from allies and adversaries alike. And, to joke about it too.
Trump essentially admitted to the world: I sent in a clueless clown, LOL!
Pakistan has invaded Afghanistan and are slaughtering Taliban fighters. Latest reports show over 600+ Taliban thugs killed, and Pakistan has lost 70 KIA and a like number wounded. The fighting is fierce. Pakistani units have seized three villages and wiped out 10 Taliban border posts, killing all the fighters stationed at them. There is no sign the fighting is slacking up.
So! will Trump do his magic and make this his 10th successful ending of a war? He has said nothing, and in fact, the media seems to be ignoring this conflict. Maybe...Trump is waiting to allow Pakistan to kill more Taliban thugs. No need to be in a hurry to end this "war", eh.
Perhaps this is why Trump has not uttered a word about Pakistan's invasion of Afghanistan. Seems Trump has negotiated a deal to buy RE's (Rare Earths) from Pakistan in direct opposition to an agreement Pakistan inked with China several years ago. Beijing has gone nuts, threatening Pakistan with all kinds of economic sanctions, and other threats. It's an initial $500 million deal with more transactions planned for the future.
"Rare Earths" some call REMs "Rare Earth Minerals" and now more often referred to as REEs "Rare Earth Elements" are absolutely 100% critical to all kinds of products and industries. I'm sure everyone is familiar with how important REEs are. But, I just watched a video documenting, more accurately, the whole REE world situation. First, and I did not know this before, but "Rare Earths" are not as "rare" as I thought. Probably some of you were in that same boat. It's not so much the raw materials, the elements, it's the processing of these elements making them useful to actual use that is, presently rare. In fact, until very recently, China controlled 100% of ALL heavy REE processing and 90% of light REE processing. The video I watched gave the history of how that came to be. Most of you can guess how/why this happened. Yep! stupid climate and environmental mania caused the US and other western nations to shut down all REE processing plants. Back in the 1990's Slick Willy sold out the US with the final nail in the coffin allowing Chinese companies to buy American REE processing companies...in exchange for huge campaign contributions to his 1996 re-election campaign. The Chicoms promptly closed the last two plants in the US, one in California and the other in Minnesota. Obviously, those two lefty whacko states gladly went along with the closing of those "polluting" plants.
The Chicoms have now weaponized their control over the processing REE market. They can, quite literally, shut down ALL the world's key industries. They demonstrated that by cutting off Japan for just 3 months, back in 2010. That crippled Japan's auto and electronics' industries. Took years for them recover. This should have been a warning to the West, but obummer was president at that time and did nothing.
Well, Trump is taking steps. The US Federal government has entered into agreements with private business to reopen the processing plants in California and Minnesota, and it is happening! India recognized the danger and is going full speed ahead developing their own REE processing industry and have just inked a deal with Saudi Arabia to build plants. The EU wants a piece of the action, and a meeting is scheduled between the US and the EU soon.
Oh, and this tidbit about Greenland. Seems there are HUGE deposits of REEs under the ice in Greenland. The Chicoms, wanting to maintain control of REEs, bought the mining rights to huge chunks of Greenland's deposits, with no plans to develop it, but just to keep it off the world market.
As usual (for sure the last 4 years), China has been playing chess while we play checkers, or even marbles. China seems to always be planning ahead on so many items that seem to be petty to the rest of the world, but are essential for both the present and the future. They don't have to play by the same rules as us. The dumbocraps have got us into a mess on many things, with "climate change" being the worst of all. Obummer, Slick Willie and Sleepy Joe and the cast of supporting actors need to be held accountable, but I'm not holding my breath.
Trump to meet Putin in Hungary. I don't get it. Putin is playing Trump trying to buy time and mostly to keep the US from actually taking sides with the rest of the Free World against Russia...really, the Putin regime.
I won't say Ukraine is "winning" the war, but Russia sure as hell isn't either. Things are steadily getting worse for Putin/Russia, and the situation has mostly stabilized in Ukraine. The gallant Ukrans have actually been winning on the battlefield lately, earning some reverses and taking back territory. And Ukraine has now destroyed 40% of Russia's oil refinery capacity. Ukraine has FINALLY!! started targeting Russia's power grid in earnest too. It has flipped in that time is now on Ukraine's side.
So...where does this place Trump/US? If Trump continues this policy, then Ukraine and Europe (although they have very little room to talk too) will tell the US to go take a hike when the rewards for Ukraine's victory start getting handed out. Most importantly among those rewards will be access to the REE deposits in Donbas. Trump needs to be playing this differently, which includes stop cozying up to that piece-of-shit Putin.
Tariff rebates? Any opinions/comments?
For me, I'd rather see us pay down the national deficit...can't even begin to think about paying down the national debt until the annual deficit becomes a surplus. That's a better use of any windfall from tariff revenue.
BUT!! if Trump wants to provide some payouts, then do it this way. First, it has to be means-tested. Only households with total income of below...say $75K or so should be eligible. And then wait until much closer to the 2026 midterms to send them out. That would effectively help to "buy votes" for the GOP. It could be denied officially, while winking at it through clever marketing. Congress really, by law, has to approve of such payments. Often, like presently, Congress parks its authority at the door and allows the POTUS to make financial decisions. Congress does control the purse strings, via our Constitution, but it can allocate such authority to the executive branch if it wants to. In this case, with the very important 2026 midterms looming, Congress needs to take back that authority and make a big show of it, as the GOP all vote to provide checks to those in need and the democraps all voting against it. Bam!!!
I should be a political strategist...:rolleyes:
how about we just stop taxing the american people for the goods they import? :icon_roll:
That sounds great, in theory.Quote:
Originally Posted by arkansasbob
But the tariffs and non-tariff barriers imposed by other nations have been punishing the American people for years, giving other nations a competitive advantage in their own own country to provide goods and services to their own people. So they have been getting to export their crap to us for next to nothing while we did squat.
And then there's the competitive advantages our government has given foreign economies to produce goods at a fraction of the cost of what we can produce them for here in the US. You know, stuff like OSHA regulations, EPA regulations, child labor laws, minimum wage laws, etc. Many/most of the nations shipping cheap products into the US don't have many of those pesky things hampering them.
SO who loses? The American worker and the American economy, because not only do our businesses lose by trying to compete with their hands tied by our government, those that tend to succeed move their production overseas to take advantage of the lax labor and business rules.
It's why there are fewer and fewer people that are able to afford these cheap imported goods, and the middle class has shrunk so significantly. At a minimum, tariffs should equal the costs of our government regulations here in the US PLUS whatever tariffs other nations put on our goods abroad. Then the playing field is level and our workers, and middle class, can thrive.
I was in the timber industry in 1980's when President Reagan threatened Canada with huge tariffs on their timber flooding US markets. The Canadian government was subsidizing their timber on the stump and American forest companies couldn't compete. The tariffs were never applied because Canada backed off and started playing fair.
Except when that cheap Canadian timber first hit the US markets US companies on the production side, like sawmills and paper mills, bought up all they could, fully stocked out their yards THEN complained loudly!
I think this is the clip of Reagan talking "favorably" about tariffs as a "sometimes necessity but normally do not serve free trade" that Ontario edited into that marketing video that riled Trump up.
Speaking of Canada, I did not know how bad the Canucks have been screwing us all these decades with unfair tariffs. So happy we have a real POTUS now.
so our government does things that make manufacturing in the US more expensive, which predictably leads to americans buying cheaper goods manufactured overseas, and the solution is to tax americans so that we can't have affordable goods no matter what? it doesn't help anyone to do that, and it's a massive tax that most people would not be applauding if it were coming out of their paycheck directly.Quote:
Originally Posted by DawgyNWindow