If socialists understood economics, they wouldn’t be socialists. — Friedrich Hayek
Last November Americans overwhelmingly voted for three things — deportations, deflation, and DOGE, in roughly that order. They have been delivered to varying degrees but the serial ass-hattery on tariffs keeps clouding the agenda. The markets crave certainty and are unlikely to get it anytime soon. Meanwhile big MAGA influencers keep moving the goal posts in a futile attempt to make Trump’s tariff-philia seem sane. This week saw the claim that tariffs are not really taxes because we call them tariffs and not taxes. No, tariffs are a specific kind of transaction tax triggered when goods cross a border. Similarly retail sales taxes are transaction taxes levied when a retail sale is made to a consumer. The reason for the nonsense is plain: in all cases of transaction taxes they are passed on to consumers. Yet for now inflation remains in check, thanks to a big drop in services costs. In fact, the Fed might find itself hard-pressed to duck a rate cut by the end of the year. Onward.
Speaking of DOGE, a lovey-dovey White House presser this afternoon with Elon Musk and Trump marked an end to Elon’s service as a special federal government employee and an end to a dogged attempt by the Swamp to drive a wedge between the ADHD POTUS and the laser focused space tycoon. The correct frame is to understand that Hill Republicans were never going to act on DOGE findings until Elon rode off into the sunset. Yes, they are that petty and angry that Elon and his band of Adderall misfits in a matter of days delivered the fiscal oversight of the bloated federal state the GOP has promised, oh, since the days of the Tea Party. Even so expect the absolute bare minimum of DOGE cuts, so dependent on pork has the modern GOP become.
Interesting rumination on how the excesses of the PATRIOT Act and the GWOT were the necessary condition for COVID fascism in America. I think both PATRIOT and FISA must be repealed to return to anything like a level playing field between free speech and Spook State surveillance.
Today we had a lesson on how bad info will drive out good if the market for bad info is big enough. The Guardian rolled with a story claiming that Volkswagen was prepared to make a “massive” investment in making vehicles in the US as part of tariff negotiations with the US. This was picked up by mega MAGA outlet Breitbart which rolled with this triumphant hed:
The problem is that Volkswagen announced its $2b. EV investment long before Trump’s tariffs were a thing; long before Trump was even POTUS. As we detailed back in February, VW got an absurd deal to build its South Carolina factory with $1.3b. in subsidies back in March 2023. Since then it has been a parade of miscues, the latest being a $3m. fine for failing to manage stormwater runoff properly. An environmental fine for a subsidized “green” factory. That MAGA thinks was 4D-chessed into being by Trump. Just perfect.
More evidence that the FBI needs to be torn down to the studs and rebuilt. Repeated lies to Congress about Russiagate, no charges. I continue to hold — I have from the jump — that the only thing that can explain this sort of persistent criminal malfeasance is the belief or knowledge that a hack of HRC’s homebrew server resulted in the deaths of US assets, most probably in China. If so it would be the greatest counter-intel blunder in US history and motive to do anything to keep it secret. Including frame a president.
Background on how involved Team Clinton was in creating the Russiagate narrative.
