Politics

[Altitude sickness]

Here is a simple pictogram on where we were headed economically before Trump’s first term and due to strong headwinds where we will eventually end up. Due to our borrowing and spending habits. I think the current money runs out in June. where we will borrow more to keep the government open.

The bull represents the economy trying to run off the edge of a cliff.

The steer wrestler represents the rough handling of the Trump team

 

[HookMeUpII]

This is an interview this morning. I don’t have a problem with his comments.

I can't get it to work but found it on YouTube. Playbook answers, nothing more.

Listen, don't get me wrong, I agree with the general message: We are unfairly being taken advantage of.

With that being said, do you pick a fight with the 10 schoolyard bullies all at the same time? Or do you pick your battles and fight them each at a convenient, and advantageous, time?

Bad strategy, at a bad time. Problem is, he's got a little over 3.5 years to get this done.

One viewpoint is: Get this over right away, so people forget about it come next election when we hope to elect another GOP leader.

Other viewpoint is: It's hurry-up and do too much at a very, very inconvenient time.

 

[HookMeUpII]

Here is a simple pictogram on where we were headed economically before Trump’s first term and due to strong headwinds where we will eventually end up. Due to our borrowing and spending habits. I think the current money runs out in June. where we will borrow more to keep the government open.

The bull represents the economy trying to run off the edge of a cliff.

The steer wrestler represents the rough handling of the Trump team View attachment 676350

You could be right, there's arguments supporting that. You could be wrong. Or we all could be partially right/wrong, in certain aspects.

Time will tell, I suppose. This definitely turned the apple cart over for sure. The only assurance in my mind is we at least have someone in office who a) knows where they are at any given moment and b) is a business person who, ultimately, cares about the bottom line.

 

[Doubleplay]

For what it is worth the last administration changed the definition of a recession. I guessing Trump will say something similar.

"Many economist, Nobel winners, very smart people, say that this isn't a recession, there are numbers and then there are other numbers, and the other numbers say this isn't a recession"

See no recession.

There’s one main definition of recession and it’s negative growth. Rest assured there will be recession with these dumb moves coming from the administration.

 

[Doubleplay]

You could be right, there's arguments supporting that. You could be wrong. Or we all could be partially right/wrong, in certain aspects.

Time will tell, I suppose. This definitely turned the apple cart over for sure. The only assurance in my mind is we at least have someone in office who a) knows where they are at any given moment and b) is a business person who, ultimately, cares about the bottom line.

Business person who has 5 bankruptcies in his past!

 

[HookMeUpII]

There’s one main definition of recession and it’s negative growth. Rest assured there will be recession with these dumb moves coming from the administration.

Q1 is showing -3.7 GDP from Atlanta Fed. I don't see this shaking out before Q3. So if you go by the old definition of two consecutive Q's of negative GDP....we will be in a recession by Q3.

If I was a betting man I'd have a good some of money on that right now.

 

[Brent in Az]

 

[steve white]

What will be the ultimate effect of DOGE? Will it just be to shine a light, will it be to curb entirely wasteful spending in the future, or could some of it be to recapture corrupt funds from the ones who took it. Come what may, I could sure sleep well at night if I knew the perpetrators of fraud were sleeping in a prison cell. And why could not ill gotten gains be clawed back the same as happens to drug dealers. I sort of put both on the same level.
If we can recoup some money, that will help with government expenditures. Ball is probably in Bondi's court on that?

On another note, I think some of the "sic'em" reaction to correcting Tarif imbalances with our trading partners is the emerging sense that we have not owned true friendship in certain circles--we have only been renting it.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Apparently there are indictments coming for politicians, kickbacks, corruption, etc. hopefully on both sides of the aisle because we all know it’s not Democrats only.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Someone asked earlier if the tariffs would impact Africa trophy shipping.

I reached out to trophy shippers, and their view is it will not raise prices

Good morning Mr. VanConant,

As of right now, the Hunting Industry is not being affected by the Tariffs, nor do we see it being affected. However, there is always that chance, but no, we do not foresee it as of now.

Thank you,

Shannon Clark Import Specialist

 

[OxfordTheCat]

What will be the ultimate effect of DOGE? Will it just be to shine a light, will it be to curb entirely wasteful spending in the future, or could some of it be to recapture corrupt funds from the ones who took it. Come what may, I could sure sleep well at night if I knew the perpetrators of fraud were sleeping in a prison cell. And why could not ill gotten gains be clawed back the same as happens to drug dealers. I sort of put both on the same level.
If we can recoup some money, that will help with government expenditures. Ball is probably in Bondi's court on that?

There has been no evidence presented, formally or informally, of any sort of fraud whatsoever by DOGE.
Nothing in Congress. Nothing to law enforcement.

Lots of wild and sensational tweets from Elon. That's about it.

There is zero evidence that any actual fraud exists.
So far the only conclusive evidence of any wrongdoing or violations of the law have been related to the actions of the DOGE team themselves.

 

[HookMeUpII]

Someone asked earlier if the tariffs would impact Africa trophy shipping.

I reached out to trophy shippers, and their view is it will not raise prices

Good morning Mr. VanConant,

As of right now, the Hunting Industry is not being affected by the Tariffs, nor do we see it being affected. However, there is always that chance, but no, we do not foresee it as of now.

Thank you,

Shannon Clark Import Specialist

Wasn't my gut reaction either. Most often, you're paying for the trophies and dip/pack or finished taxidermy on that country's soil. So you're actually paying for the product/good/service there.

Crating, shipping, etc is all a service performed on that soil.

 

[OxfordTheCat]

The earlier listing omitted the best ones from the list:

Finally, a US administration has the courage to take on those fat cats with their unfair trading practices in...
*checks notes*
...various remote and uninhabited island territories.

Clearly a ton of research, reasoning, and well measured thought went into these tariffs

 

[OxfordTheCat]

 

[OxfordTheCat]

... and in more tariff related revelations, the list of "reciprocal tariffs" has nothing to do with tariff rates at all:

https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/reciprocal-tariff-calculations
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93gq72n7y1o

"But if you unpick the formula above it boils down to simple maths: take the trade deficit for the US in goods with a particular country, divide that by the total goods imports from that country and then divide that number by two.
....
For example, the US buys more goods from China than it sells to them - there is a goods deficit of $295bn. The total amount of goods it buys from China is $440bn.

Dividing 295 by 440 gets you to 67% and you divide that by two and round up. Therefore the tariff imposed on China is 34%".

It's a measure of trade deficit, not at all linked to tariff rates other nations might have.
Entire thing is a deliberately misleading farce.

 

[Brent in Az]

There has been no evidence presented, formally or informally, of any sort of fraud whatsoever by DOGE.
Nothing in Congress. Nothing to law enforcement.

Lots of wild and sensational tweets from Elon. That's about it.

There is zero evidence that any actual fraud exists.
So far the only conclusive evidence of any wrongdoing or violations of the law have been related to the actions of the DOGE team themselves.

Hogwash.

DOGE has already stated that they are going to start investigating politicians that have gotten rich while serving in Washington D.C

Enlighten us as to what wrongdoing or violations that have been committed by DOGE?

I'll wait .......

 

[spike.t]

So how does this one work then?....

 

[Wheels]

Most of us have opinions on tariffs. Mine go back to macro and micro classes and learning about Smoot Hawley etc. in college. The Trump tariffs fly in the face of much of what I was taught.

What we do know is that over the decades countries have continued to add tariffs on America and in the interest of free trade, America hasn't responded. This has led to a hollowing out of America's manufacturing base and middle class. If not corrected this will ultimately lead to a country of haves and have nots. If that happens America will disintegrate internally. Many of us that hunt in Africa (AH) or aspire to, fall into the haves and probably don't notice what has happened to the rest of our fellow countrymen over the past thirty years unless we purposely get out of our enclaves and comfort zones.

Currently the entire trade situation is rotten at the expense of America and Americans. The Trump economic tariffs, evidently one half of what other countries are putting on America is long overdue.

Many American's initial reaction is just one side of the equation. Oh no, I now have to pay X% more for a product I use, while failing to consider how many nations will get in line and drop their tariffs allowing for American business to grow their exports.

None of us know for sure how these tariffs will work out in the end. What we do know is that the economic tariffs have been unbalanced for decades and this is a long overdue step in remediation. The old system was outdated, putrid and broken. Is there going to be pain and turmoil, definitely. No leader in my lifetime has given a second thought about addressing these issues prior to Trump. I for one am willing to see this through and give it a chance to reset international trade.

 

[Wheels]

There has been no evidence presented, formally or informally, of any sort of fraud whatsoever by DOGE.
Nothing in Congress. Nothing to law enforcement.

Lots of wild and sensational tweets from Elon. That's about it.

There is zero evidence that any actual fraud exists.
So far the only conclusive evidence of any wrongdoing or violations of the law have been related to the actions of the DOGE team themselves.

There will be no evidence unless/until indictments are made public. None of us know what DOGE has turned over to the FBI/DOJ, except for comments made by DOGE and Musk.

 

[Aaron N]

Here is a simple pictogram on where we were headed economically before Trump’s first term and due to strong headwinds where we will eventually end up. Due to our borrowing and spending habits. I think the current money runs out in June. where we will borrow more to keep the government open.

The bull represents the economy trying to run off the edge of a cliff.

The steer wrestler represents the rough handling of the Trump team View attachment 676350

The thing is that trump still projects a deficit yearly for the next ten budget years. Adding nearly 20T to the debt.