“Ours is a large, diverse, dynamic and largely free-market economy that does not comport well with central planning.”
That worth a challenge flag:
1. 27% of GDP is either directly spent by government or spent with a heavy government hand (5% education,18% healthcare, 4% military / law enforcement)
2. Banking, which is foundational to the whole economic system, is both highly regulated and deemed too big to fail. Presently the big banks are GUARANTEED $200 BILLION profits with their inner deals with the FED.
3. Housing / Mortgage business, backstopped by the two big Effs. Hardly free market, and also too big to fail.
4. Electric power. Hmm, the supplier(s) are free market, regulated, and subsidized … everywhere and all at once. I get 6 separate charges on my monthly bill.
5. Virtually every other industry, through both good stewardship and the ability to digest their competitors, has devolved to where there are two main competitors controlling ~80% of market share. An example I stumbled into yesterday is the restaurant business on Hilton Head island. It’s shared between the CRAB group and the SERG group. https://hiltonheadcrab.com/
Given that we are already controlled, I agree with Trump direction to re-shore key industries, we need to pinpoint the controller. For three reasons. First, China, has planned and systematically executed takeover of most vital industries. And China is not done. Secondly, AI is going to wipe away 50% of white collar jobs, and we are going to need a place to put this surplus labor. I’m forecasting one of those, “first gradually and then all at once”, but dramatic changes are within 5 years. Rinse and repeat Third, gor 40 years the US has been able to import our deflation from China , Mexico, etc., underpinned by federal government that always spins more than it takes in. That’s not sustainable given demographic trends of the west and china.
So it’s the old Hobson’s Choice: pinpoint central planning by Dictator Trump and whomever follows in 2028, or Dictator Xi and ceding to China hegemony.
The American people must act While opposition is still allowed. The utter disregard for normal checks and balances is so unnerving that a sense of futility is creeping in to even our most ardent media. I keep asking myself what can I do? There’s also a paranoid fear that whatever we say will ultimately be leveled against us or our families. The old “don’t look back something might be gaining on you,” that Satchel Paige once warned, is becoming all too true. How do we fight back? Do we really wait for the mid-terms in the bleak hopes that the tide may be turned. Do we really really believe that our leadership will grow cojones in the next 19 months? Do you still believe in the Easter Bunny even after he was subsidized and appropriated by the billionaire class on the White House lawn? Now really is a time for all Americans stand up and smell the decaying roses!
Well so much for the shining city on the hill and this grand experiment. Like in China and Russia, there is no opposition tolerated. I can’t imagine what the cadets at West Point were thinking when Orange Mussolini started spewing his incoherent drivel…’I’m putting my life on the line for this turd?!’
He has drained optimism from our collective souls. The end will be ugly. But whose end is the question.
“Ours is a large, diverse, dynamic and largely free-market economy that does not comport well with central planning.”
That worth a challenge flag:
1. 27% of GDP is either directly spent by government or spent with a heavy government hand (5% education,18% healthcare, 4% military / law enforcement)
2. Banking, which is foundational to the whole economic system, is both highly regulated and deemed too big to fail. Presently the big banks are GUARANTEED $200 BILLION profits with their inner deals with the FED.
3. Housing / Mortgage business, backstopped by the two big Effs. Hardly free market, and also too big to fail.
4. Electric power. Hmm, the supplier(s) are free market, regulated, and subsidized … everywhere and all at once. I get 6 separate charges on my monthly bill.
5. Virtually every other industry, through both good stewardship and the ability to digest their competitors, has devolved to where there are two main competitors controlling ~80% of market share. An example I stumbled into yesterday is the restaurant business on Hilton Head island. It’s shared between the CRAB group and the SERG group. https://hiltonheadcrab.com/
https://serggroup.com/restaurant-filter/
Given that we are already controlled, I agree with Trump direction to re-shore key industries, we need to pinpoint the controller. For three reasons. First, China, has planned and systematically executed takeover of most vital industries. And China is not done. Secondly, AI is going to wipe away 50% of white collar jobs, and we are going to need a place to put this surplus labor. I’m forecasting one of those, “first gradually and then all at once”, but dramatic changes are within 5 years. Rinse and repeat Third, gor 40 years the US has been able to import our deflation from China , Mexico, etc., underpinned by federal government that always spins more than it takes in. That’s not sustainable given demographic trends of the west and china.
So it’s the old Hobson’s Choice: pinpoint central planning by Dictator Trump and whomever follows in 2028, or Dictator Xi and ceding to China hegemony.
Good points Paul. I appreciate an astute reader!
I liked the Grateful Dead topic much better.
Haha! Definitely more fun!
The American people must act While opposition is still allowed. The utter disregard for normal checks and balances is so unnerving that a sense of futility is creeping in to even our most ardent media. I keep asking myself what can I do? There’s also a paranoid fear that whatever we say will ultimately be leveled against us or our families. The old “don’t look back something might be gaining on you,” that Satchel Paige once warned, is becoming all too true. How do we fight back? Do we really wait for the mid-terms in the bleak hopes that the tide may be turned. Do we really really believe that our leadership will grow cojones in the next 19 months? Do you still believe in the Easter Bunny even after he was subsidized and appropriated by the billionaire class on the White House lawn? Now really is a time for all Americans stand up and smell the decaying roses!
Well so much for the shining city on the hill and this grand experiment. Like in China and Russia, there is no opposition tolerated. I can’t imagine what the cadets at West Point were thinking when Orange Mussolini started spewing his incoherent drivel…’I’m putting my life on the line for this turd?!’
Excellent column, Russ. A few hundred years ago you were probably Paul Revere.