Trump – who promised Americans a $5,000 DOGE rebate and that tariffs would replace income taxes (and the IRS) – is now dropping hint that he’ll temporarily suspend the 18.4 cent federal gas tax, to reduce the costs imposed by the stupid, evil war he started. This would something along the lines of the mafia thug offering you a crutch (singular) after he breaks both your legs.
As of May 13, the average cost – nationally – of a gallon of gasoline is $4.51 – up 25 cents in just the past five days. It is now very close to being twice as expensive as it was just five months ago, before Trump started this stupid, evil war which hasn’t ended and which Trump seems determined to continue. Having done that, Trump now proposes to “lower” the cost by 18.4 cents per gallon. That is the sum and total of the federal tax on gasoline. So, instead of paying $4.51 per gallon, Americans would only be paying $4.33 per gallon (which is what they were paying last week, it’s week worth pointing out).
Let’s do some math.
Eighteen cents off the price of unleaded regular at $4.51 amounts to about a 4 percent “discount.” Looked at from another angle, if the federal gas tax were not factored into the current price of a gallon of gas, the “savings” – assuming a typical 12 gallon fill-up, the capacity pf the average small car/crossover – would amount to about $2.16 per tankul. Assuming one fill-up per week, that “savings” increase to $8.64 per month and to $103.68 annually.
On the other hand, the all-year average “savings” – $103.68 – just about pay for two fill-ups at the “lowered” cost of $4.33 per gallon. You might have enough left over to pay for a (small) bag of chips.
Oh, thank you massa!
You is a good massa!
Even if all motor fuels taxes – federal and state – were rescinded, then “savings” would amount to about 50 cents per gallon, this being the (roughly) average/national add-on cost of federal and state taxes on motor fuels. In other words, it would amount to next to nothing – relative to what we’re paying. Unless you consider having to pay $4 per gallon (which is about what it woul;d be without any fuels taxes) something other than paying through the nose for what used to cost about $2.80 per gallon before Trump decided to start this stupid, evil war with Iran. Which has turned out to be (effectively) a war on the American working and middle class, the very people who bought Trump’s spiel about lowering energy costs by (his words) 50 percent. That’s substantially more than the 4 percent reduction he proposes that doesn’t begin to change the triple digit increase he says is “worth it.”
Does it not remind you of the chocolate ration being “increased” by Big Brother in 1984?
Also, does anyone wonder what tax will be increased to make up for the loss of the 18.4 cents per gallon the feds currently collect every time we buy a gallon of gas? Put another way, does the federal government ever rescind a tax that is not replaced by some other tax? And – in this case – it’s a tax that’s perhaps the one legitimate one, in that it’s more a user fee than a tax. It is not something you have to pay unless you use the roads, in which case you are simply paying for a thing you actually use. In this way, it is very much unlike all the other taxes, which are extracted from you even if you do not use the things they go to pay for. Motor fuels taxes are also anonymous. You do not have to file self-incriminating forms with the government.
At any rate, the problem remains:
If the federal motor fuels tax is rescinded, who will pay for “the roads”?
Well, we will – just via some other tax. A mileage tax, for instance. It is possible this dangling of the suspension of the federal gas tax is another bait-and-switch operation. Promise the rubes one thing and give them another, good and hard.
This mileage tax thing has long been a want in certain quarters for a long time, because it would do more than just generate “revenue.” It would justify further monitoring. The government would have to impose odometer reading checks, probably done electronically – and automatically – in the same basic way that a “smart” meter tells the power company how much electricity you’ve used. The government would be able to know when you drove, too. This information could and probably will be used to restrict your driving – by jacking up the mileage tax you are forced to pay when the government decides you’re driving too much during “peak times.” Again, very much of a piece with the way “smart” meters can be (and are being) used to charge more for electricity used during “peak times” and to restrict electricity use during “peak times.”
Probably, the mileage tax will end up costing us even more than federal motor fuels taxes, too.
How about Trump just issue us all those $5,000 rebate checks he promised? That’d actually help Americans struggling to pay for this stupid, evil war he started.
Which is of course why those checks will never get sent.
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Yes I do Robert. If I mention him, no 1 knows what I’m talking about, or they rush to conclusions, Anti Septic….blah blah blah.
Greetings fellow traveller. I’ve read him for years now.
Love it gas goes up basically $2 per gallon but the dear leader will save you the few cents off give me a break
Eric, you haven’t even starched the surface with insane cost that is crippling the USA. Tariff, I manufacture and packaging I could once get in the U.S. from a number of sources is gone. Thanks due to a large Wall Street bank buying up many packaging manufactures and selling them off to venture capitalists who took them apart selling the pieces. I was forced to buy expensive plastic injection molds in China and have my packaging made there with no real savings. I have hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on Trumps Tariffs. The SCOTUS was of no help and Trump had a fit slapping an extra 10% on the tariff. Obamacare damages businesses with high cost with employee health care cost. Monthly! Trump ran twice on ending Obamacare. His war is costing American businesses dearly in higher cost with about everything. Big Point: 90% of the private sector employees work for small businesses and those small businesses employ 14 or fewer employees. Trump hasn’t a clue how bad he is for millions of Americans. Leading to the question, does he even care? His actions say no, he doesn’t care.
You’re right, Pat –
As a case in point: The 2026 Subaru Outback I am test driving this week has a base price that is $5,000 higher than last year; largely due to Trump’s tariffs.
I think we can say that El Trumpo was never a real politician. He didn’t come up through the ranks. He’s a defacto politico but he still has to play the political game. We can further assume that all politicians are the same. Liars, untrustworthy and without much back bone or scruples or integrity. Left-o-crat or Retardican…makes little difference. The fact remains that government is a soul-sucking beast grinding ahead without any limits. For every tit they gives us, they are going to tat us on the head double or triple. El Trumpo is not the savior. The government cannot be saved…it is a cesspool of unbounded corruption and they can keep their $2.50 a week and shove it you know where.
Eric, remember how car sales fell sharply in covid? It may happen again. Look at this chart – current sales are not much above the covid lows:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DAUTOSA
Here is a plausible scenario:
Trump attacks Iran –> Iran hammers the Gulf states oil facilities –> sending oil and gas much higher –> Gas in the USA then goes to 6, 7. 8. 10 bucks a gallon.
Every car on every lot becomes unsaleable. No one is going to want any car under 40 mpg, which is about all ICE engined cars. Dealers and car companies go bankrupt by the hundreds.
while this happens, the world loses confidence in US Treasuries, stagflation sets in, interest rates go up and up in a recession
food prices keep rising, huge protests this summer, with $8 gas, summer vacation is canceled for many people
unemployment spikes, deficit spending goes up, more confidence is lost, interest rates go up more
the rich get richer and poor people starve
this sets the stage for revolution
That summary seems about right to me, Jack –
See today’s Diaper Report….
enjoy the maga shithead you voted for
Anon,
You’re apparently one of those people who never makes a mistake and so cannot accept that others sometimes make mistakes. Even when they own up to them.
As I have repeatedly explained: I voted for Trump out of desperation. I let my dread of Harris and my hope that Trump was the lesser evil – get the better of me. I was wrong about Trump and have acknowledged this.
It is apparently not enough for someone like you, who never makes mistakes.
Hello, Eric. Anon reminds me of the boss or co-worker that will never, ever remember the 99 things you did par excelente. No, they will always remember that one thing you did wrong. And, like a dog, he will rub your nose in that sh– to remind you how imperfect you (and everyone else is), but him. Also, with “friends” like him, who needs enemies? Having Heels Up Harris as president right now? God help us!
Amen, Shadow –
There’s a low viciousness in that. I’m always ready to forgive anyone who makes a mistake and owns up to it. I hope the same decency is extended to me when I make a mistake. What’s intolerable to me are people who refuse to ever admit they made a mistake – and denounce others for making mistakes, even when they have admitted them and apologized for them.
YJ conspiracy theorist extraordinaire says, do you remember when Bibi Netanyahu visited Trump last year 6 times?
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Donald Trump seven times during Trump’s second presidential term before the outbreak of the recent war with Iran. Six of these meetings took place during official visits to the United States, while one took place in Israel.”
It was reported by Iran they struck Netanyahu’s residence killing him and his brother and bunch of generals on March 2nd.
Then we saw a dozen fake Ai videos of NutjobYahoo, confirming he was dead, yet Israel denied it.
Israel lost the war, why hasn’t Netanyahu gone to Washington and Congress to demand a ground invasion? Because he is dead. So Israel was going to send President Herzog
“Israeli President Isaac Herzog canceled his in-person visit to New York City for the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) commencement on May 19, 2026,”
Hal Turner – “Israeli President Isaac Herzog has canceled his trip to New York next week due to ‘circumstances preventing the visit at this time’ – Yedioth Ahronoth.
The IDF will enter the maximum state of alert, starting tomorrow, when Trump leaves China”
—————-
Orange dumbass went to China and was humiliated, China didn’t give Trump squat and won’t budge on Iran. Trump will return mad as hell and accept Israel’s demands to strike Iran in Operation Epstein Sledge Hammerstein.
Trumpelforeskinstein was the Trojan Horse to bring in the jeworldorder technofascist plantation state where you can’t take a shit without asking permission and paying a tax on it. That’s what the data centers are for, Harry…a digital surveillance gulag. Vaccines and wars to kill Goyim. The time to speak up and fight back is now or it’s slavery to jewbankers.
speaking of foreskinstein, did you see this? Bris ritual is now making it to larger audiences
Secular Talk YT channel
TRUMP DEFENDS THE S*CKING OF BABY D*CKS (I SWEAR THIS IS NOT CLICKBAIT) | The Kyle Kulinski Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DolxlBuH6lY
Ah, a youtube channel with 2.25 million subscribers, helmed by a blonde haribo troll, which only releases 8-9 videos a day, with unmentionable clickbait titles, which for sure are not clickbait, confirming your take (and every other giant psyop channel on youtube’s take) that the tail wags the dog, and rabid antisemitism is the only take. Dude this is such a pollution of Eric’s forum..
I am not sending you anymore jewish candies, because you already ate all of the last batch and the sugar high is not serving you well.
Bottom line:
Every Jewish male has had his dick sucked by another male, at least once.
Hi Adi,
It’s a disgusting subject, but isn’t that also true of every circumcised (gentile) male? It’s a really strange thing.
You read Les Visible don’t you?
Never hold your breath for a Trump promise. Trump is long on promises and short on delivery, and Orange Clown no care – because he is a con man using your trust to do illegal, evil, immoral, criminal, unconstitutional things like war on Iran for Israel. Trump killed 172 little school girls in Operation Epstein hammer, then blamed Iran.
IMO the war is not over, which means gas prices have not topped out yet. The reason the war is not over is because Orange MIGAturd is a Golem operated by Israel. Trump is owned, he is a Zionist whore, he traded the Office of the Presidency for being a dutiful treasonous criminal thug for Israel, which he loves. Bibi says he wants a ground invasion, Trump must comply or be assassinated or impeached.
A ground invasion of Iran would be a slaughter of our troops. Trump no care how many Amerikans have to die to keep his fat ass out of jail. Trump only cares about Trump, and his money, and his prestige. You can just shut the hell up and die for Israel. You no like? Trump will call you a traitor. He may even sue you. He is a vicious, mean-spirited, intentionally hurtful, and malicious – and a mother fucking evil vengeful prick. Trump reminds me a lot of Yahweh, the Jew god in the Old Testament, a father figure who loves to kill and demands total loyalty or else.
MTG just found this out, she was Trump’s biggest cheerleader until one day she signed the bill to release the Epstain files. Trump threatened to kill her son, called her a traitor, told her those people in the files were his friends. She resign and is literally moving out of the country to Costa Rica where Trump’s goons can’t kill her family.
Trump is a master of deception and propaganda – he is a bald faced liar who gaslights the world with his over the top threats. Trump has mastered the art of lying as a confidence man, he is a skilled orator which connects with the common man, who loves his vulgarity. Trump makes you feel he is your friend, on your side, all the while planning on serving the megadonor class, like Miriam Adelson who lined his pockets with hundreds of millions.
Back in 2016 I warned the world (via my now shuttered blog) that Trump was an Israeli firster. This was no genius on my part, I simply read his July 2016 AIPAC speech, which you can read right now, and decide for yourself if Trump was a known quantity way back, 10 years ago, before his first election win:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/donald-trumps-full-speech-to-aipac/
Never forget, Trump works for Israel and doesn’t give one fuck about you, your finances, the price of fuel, or food. As far as Trump is concerned, you only exist to serve Israel, and soon Amerikans are about to find out how big of traitor Trump is when he attacks Iran again.
Thank you, Massa! Yassa! Yassir! Massa is so good to us! Yassa! Yassa! Who else would give us some’a dem crumbs that fall from dey table?! Course, we’ll have to to fulfill l’il higher quotas in da field, cuz after all, Massa gotta git his money from somewhere, to do all the great things that he always be doing…uh, for our own good, of course. Yassa! Yassa!! I mean, you wouldn’t oughta want Massa not ta be ebble to help free all them poor slaves on that other plantation, where ‘they don’t have it as good as we do’, would ya?
Still waiting for our American Kei cars, too.
I guess we knew he was a bullshit artist after his first term, but he still manages to disappoint (except Miriam Adelson, I guess, she actually gets what she wants from Trump – for reasons I presume are *completely* unconnected to Roy Cohn’s and/or Jeffery Epstein’s respective extensive libraries of blackmail videos of people, which are totally not stored in some Mossad vault in Israel).
Does anyone know what the “data centers” are for? There’s so many of them planned, yet there is already way too many for everything. This many data centers are not needed so what are they really for, or are they not really data centers? This is nuts. They’re taking electricity away from people … for what??? The only thing I can guess is that they’re just a big scam, and they won’t end up being used at all.
Now Murcas got its own Zelensky.
Gas stations will not lower the price of gasoline if fedgov suspends its 18.4 cents per gallon tax. Not even a meager savings for you and me at the pump.
Twenty-some years ago the South Carolina legislature decided that every in-state college student with a C or better average should receive (an additional) $1000 of the taxpayers’ money per year. As I recall, every college in the state raised its annual tuition by $1000.
You are correct, sir.
No, they sure won’t, StraitGate. In fact, many of them might actually raise their prices that 18.4 cents just because they realize we are already paying that, and hey, why not give that money to them (states) instead? When I was at the gas station earlier this week, right after I filled my tank, they were raising the prices (across the board) twenty cents.
Wonder if chyyyyna’s Xi will be less than polite in telling trump that he’s screwing the whole world with his stupid and evil zionist war? Frankly, I was hoping Russia & China would forward deploy strategic assets (bombers, fighters, ballistic missiles, etc) as a warning to knock this shit off.
Me too, MH,
I would love to see a fleet of tankers escorted through the Persian Gulf by a few Chinese/Russian warships, and dare Uncle to try stopping them. I noticed China recently told a few of their companies to ignore US sanctions; now if only the rest of the world would grow a spine and collectively tell Uncle to pound sand and stuff your “sanctions” up your a$$ we would all be the better for it.
Why are you assuming the politicians and oligarchs in Russia, China and everywhere else are in opposition to what the US and Israel are doing? They participate in Bilderberg, World Bank, IMF, Rothschild-aligned central banks, too.
BINGO!
Tolls on surface streets are coming. It isn’t a question about the tech as much as the system integrator companies making it all work.
Meanwhile, “massa” gave us a reprieve on the upcoming wi-fi router ban and extended the time that the manufacturers are allowed to provide software update support for their previously sold devices.
https://www.sdxcentral.com/news/fcc-grants-router-reprieve-extending-software-update-waivers-to-2029/
The greatest failure of the Information Age is the illusion that plug-and-play actually works. “Just take it home and plug it in. It just works!”
Meanwhile at the office there’s an entire department devoted to keeping the network lights flashing. But at home? “No way! I’m not paying for some geek to come in and update my router’s firmware! What’s a zero day attack?”
Most people (EP autos readers excluded) wouldn’t do their own plumbing or try to work on their HVAC system (hell, most of them couldn’t find the air filter), yet everyone just plugs anything they want into their network connection and then wonder why the Internet is full of bots that are used to wreck havoc on certain web sites. Or just live with dead spots in the wifi, computers that take ages to start and TVs that are Trojan Horses for spyware.
It didn’t have to be like this. It didn’t have to be like this at all.
The internet was the greatest advance for liberty and had the most potential ever, and what did Joe average do with it? Porn, shopping, and social media.
Now I don’t mind some porn and some shopping, though mail order and VHS met both wants quite well.
But the idea that the petty bickering humans have always done deserved the amplification of social media, was such a useful tool for the control freaks, that on balance we would have been better off without it.
Bullshit. I was heavily involved in the internet during the 90s and it was always obvious that IP and Mac addresses were a direct pipeline to the control grid.
True enough, but before the big brother infrastructure caught up, there were tons of truly free speech spaces. While digital anonymity was always a pipe dream, for a while it didn’t matter.
Yup, I enjoyed them all, but knew it wouldn’t last long. I had a website called ‘Oddities and Strangenesses’ celebrating the bizarre stuff that was out there at the time.
When ever was the Internet private?
IP addresses were assigned and well known in the IPv1/2/3 days since everyone knew everyone anyway.
Even after they came up with IPv4 the registration it was Jon Postel keeping a notebook of which network was which. When the IANA was established the DDN-NIC (DoD) kept the records of who was assigned IP addresses and this persisted until 1998, when ICANN took over the root network and then it was/is the Commerce Department with those root records.
Anonymity has always been to obscure yourself by spoofing or using a sacrificial host to break the registration chain. Either way the privacy only occurs if the host doesn’t advertise, log activity or otherwise de-anonymize.
Your ISP is well known to ICANN and they’re going to always give you up. Blocks of IP that aren’t assigned domestically may have more or less tracking but ICANN still knows who’s got the block of addresses.
Internet routing and cell phone are no less or more private than your house address or land line phone number ever was. That information was printed annually in a big yellow and white paged book and no one thought twice about that.
Hi D,
Yes, but when you left your house (back in the day) no one knew where you were unless you told them. It was wonderful. Today, the phone knows where you are – and so does your modern car, by the way. So the government-corporate nexus knows where you are, too.
The “government-corporate nexus” = FASCISM.
Jusy sayin’!
A friend just bought one of those streaming boxes that gets you everything for “free”. He was showing it to me and telling me how great it is. I asked him if he has any firewall protections on it. He didn’t know. He just plugged it in, and it started working. Maybe it’s harmless but I wouldn’t be so sure.
Unfortunately, willful ignorance is everywhere.
“…does anyone wonder what tax will be increased to make up for the loss of the 18.4 cents per gallon the feds currently collect every time we buy a gallon of gas?”
The debt, which went from $5 trillion in 2000 to $39 trillion today, will be increased. At this point nobody gives a fuck about the debt. $40 trillion, $50 trillion? $100 trillion? Meh.
Nobody in either party is actually trying to balance the budget or pay down the debt, and if they did it would cause an economic catastrophe.
The strategy of the (((Federal Reserve))) is to get interest rates back down to zero and to print more money to inflate the debt away, thereby fucking the middle-class American consumer and saver.
This cannot be overstated. The debt is irrelevant as its already too big to be repaid. It is so far out of the realm of working people that they can’t and won’t pay it. This was actually true 20 years ago, we had a gift window where you could load up on gold, silver, and tangible assets. But at this point, $5000 gold is mostly out of reach of most people, and $100 silver is a tough sell. Manufactured goods like guns and ammo are easy to make, and take space and maintenance.
Yukon Jack in a recent post pointed out that with gold at 5k, gas should be around $11/US gallon.
We’re well into the exponential part of the curve, our hyperinflationary collapse is here. The next couple years promise to suck. We’re surfing the biggest wave, if we wobble we’re gonna eat coral.
Conveniently, “the strategy of the (((Federal Reserve)))” now will be led by ‘Kevin Warsh,’ just Senate-approved to succeed a long list of prior tribesmen such as ‘Alan Greenspan,’ ‘Ben Bernanke,’ ‘Janet Yellen,’ and the like. What a cohencidence! More and more Americans are crossing the Noticing Threshold™.
Young Kevin will supervise the final foreign looting of the failed US empire, as it enters its tertiary Weimar phase and begins implementing soft default. You’ll still get your $2,500 Social Security check, but it will barely pay for a couple of steaks, a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of toilet paper (the ass-wiping kind, not the Federal Reserve Note variant).
Just in the past three (3) years, the Washington DC entity (ZOG, that is) has forked over at least $60 billion to insatiable little Shitrahell, consisting of $30 billion in direct appropriations and another $30 billion of in-kind military mercenary services since February 2026.
Israel is our
misfortunelost fortune.[Article begins by discussing how Warsh apt will benefit his father-in-law] “If Ronald Lauder is the head of the family Warsh married into, Stanley Druckenmiller is head of the family Warsh built. The relationship between Druckenmiller and Warsh has been described by people who know both as “close to father-son…Druckenmiller is one of the most successful hedge fund managers in modern American finance. He worked alongside George Soros at Quantum Fund from 1988 to 2000, earning the firm roughly $1 billion in 1992 on the trade that “broke the Bank of England” by shorting the British pound against the Deutsche Mark….Sen. Warren wrote directly to Druckenmiller, requesting that Duquesne release Warsh from the confidentiality agreements so the Senate could examine his sources of wealth before voting. Neither Warsh nor Druckenmiller responded to the letter. The Senate voted anyway…Druckenmiller is, by occupation, a macroeconomic speculator. The single most reliable source of macroeconomic information in the United States is the Federal Reserve. The Fed’s decisions on interest rates, the dollar, and the balance sheet move asset prices across every category Druckenmiller trades including equities, currencies, commodities, sovereign bonds. For fifteen years, Druckenmiller has employed Warsh as a partner and advisor, paid him millions in fees, and placed roughly $148 million of Warsh’s wealth into vehicles Druckenmiller personally controls. As of May 15, 2026, Warsh will be the man making the Fed decisions Druckenmiller trades on.
“Druckenmiller has another protégé in government, Scott Bessent. When Trump began assembling his second-term cabinet in late 2024, Druckenmiller publicly endorsed Bessent for Treasury Secretary. His endorsement, as reported by the Washington Post, was characteristically blunt: “He seems to get along with George Soros and Donald Trump. What else do you need to know?” Trump nominated Bessent and the Senate confirmed him.
One billionaire hedge fund manager’s two closest professional protégés now run, between them, the two most powerful economic policy institutions in the United States government. Is this really a conspiracy theory?
How Warsh at the Fed benefits him: The Treasury Secretary and the Federal Reserve Chair are the two principal architects of U.S. macroeconomic policy. Treasury sets fiscal policy and administers sanctions; the Fed sets monetary policy and regulates banks. The two institutions are designed to operate independently of each other so that fiscal and monetary policy can serve as mutual checks. With both seats occupied by men who share a single mentor, and who have, between them, hundreds of millions of dollars of personal wealth managed by that mentor, that institutional separation is a formality. Druckenmiller now has direct lines into the two bodies whose decisions most affect his trading book. Bessent’s Treasury controls the joint U.S.–Ukraine investment fund that processes Lauder’s lithium revenues. Warsh’s Fed controls the cost of capital that determines whether those extraction projects pencil out.
[Article goes on to discuss how Warsh apt benefits Lutnik, Witkoff and Kushner]
“Kevin Warsh’s confirmation on May 13, 2026 as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, became possible only after a Justice Department investigation against his predecessor, opened on the day Warsh was nominated, was withdrawn.
“This is not a Federal Reserve appointment in the institutional sense the country has understood the term for the last hundred and twelve years. It appears more like a transfer of authority from a public body to a private network,conducted through the formal mechanisms of Senate advice and consent, and accomplished without a single illegal act….The Federal Reserve was designed to be the one part of the United States government that no president could pressure, no donor could buy, and no dynasty could inherit. As of today, the president nominated his college friend’s son-in-law. The donor manages a hundred and forty-eight million dollars of the new chair’s personal wealth. And the dynasty, by marriage, now extends through the chairman’s office of the central bank of the United States of America.
“The Fed is no longer independent, it is now a family business.”
https://ddgeopolitics.substack.com/p/the-family-business
IMO USG is now a (Jewish mob) family business–and not only the USG: Gaza, Venezuela (oil and gold deposited in accounts overseen by Trump).
It also occurs to me that since the US “dollar” (usually $100 bills) is the global currency, that the printing (if spent in America) is more likely to f@$k the rest of the world as a collapse will hurt them more in the short term. (They value the “dollar” higher and have economies nominally much smaller than the US).
When it hits a quadrillion, then I’m having a big freaking bonfire and a bunch of drinks. Because why not?
Not sure if this is relevant or not…
About 25 years ago I wanted to make a small purchase from one of the shops at the airport after landing in Madrid. The gal would not accept US dollars, only euros. That surprised me a little. Spain wasn’t Mexico.
Morning X.
Politicians know that if they ran a balanced budget and ensured that only basic and required services were funded they would never get elected. That is why they tax and spend on projects that no one can afford whether they are needed or wanted by those that pay for them. Politics is primarily a popularity contest and telling people the truth doesn’t make you popular or electable.
I live well within my means and ask people why their standard of living is dropping whilst GovCo has spent trillions on programs that do not benefit them. The normal response I get is that I’m too negative. Apparently telling them to suck it up buttercup is also deemed not helpful either. 🙂
In an article at Lew Rockwell’s site two weeks ago, Ryan McMaken of the Mises Institute wrote an article titled We are Living in the Fourth American Republic — making an analogy to France’s Fifth Republic dating from 1958. ‘The constitution itself—that is, the one ratified in 1788—hasn’t been in force for a very long time,’ accurately observes McMaken.
Unfortunately McMaken flubbed the dating of America’s successive republics, leaving both overlaps and long gaps. Here is an amended timeline:
First Republic (1776-1789) The Articles of Confederation were usurped by the Federalists, who laid the foundation of the Leviathan state.
Second Republic (1789-1865) Ape Lincoln destroyed an essential check on federal power — the right to secede — and created the ‘United State’ at gunpoint.
Third Republic (1865-1913) Woody Wilson ended the gold standard by creating the Federal Reserve, destroyed states’ role in Congress with popular election of Senators, and instituted the fedgov income tax, giving it larger resources than the states.
Fourth Republic (1913-1971) After repeated wars (WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam), Nixon ended the Third Republic’s vestigial gold standard in August 1971, inaugurating a global ‘full fiat’ era marked by endemic inflation.
Fifth Republic (1971-present) Nixon made a corrupt ‘nuclear ambiguity’ deal with Israel’s Golda Meir, which survives to this day. Excessive Israeli influence began in 1971 and expanded in 2001 with 9/11, kicking off a generation of zionist permawars.
Today, the Fifth Republic is teetering under the delusional Orange Flake and his disastrous attack on Iran. Likely the Sixth Republic will begin in 2029, implementing full communism under a suitable New Deal-style euphemism. Tick tock, Trumptard. You are so over.
“Tank bottoms” warning for this July 4th – https://markashryock.substack.com/p/the-window-is-2026-what-the-data
Compelling enough to me that I am squirreling away rice for myself, layer pellets for the chooks. If nothing breaks this July 4th, I’ve saved $ by buying now what will cost more in 2 months. The timing of the whole thing (250 years) is eerie.
350million people getting 5k each is around 1.7Trillion. Creating this out of thin air will result in another round of mass inflation. Your 18.5¢ gas discount will leave even more potholes unfilled as billions are lavished on Ukraine, Israel and the arms manufacturers.
Pat Buchanan wrote of Empire vs. Republic and that we can’t have both so we better choose Republic. He also pointed out that Capitol Hill is Israeli occupied territory. He was called names and shunned from “Polite Society”. We’re now suffering the consequences of ignoring his vision.
Hi Mark,
Absolutely. Though these were supposed to be rebates – money saved – not “stimmy.” I’d sure like to get back the taxes I was forced to pay last year….
Buchanan said a lot of things, just like Trump, but what did he do? Buchanan began as a WFB boy/YAF same with Roger Stone. Stone got Buchanan to run in 2000 and it was all a dirty trick to destroy the Reform Party that cost Bush Sr. the 1992 election. WFB’s gift to his fellow Yalie, CT denizen, CIA and oil buddy. WFB/NR first to attack Buchanan as anti-semite. And we all know what Bush did in 2001/911. WFB/NYC Roy Cohn.
“This circus ended any possibility of Perot belatedly entering the race-always a major Bush concern. Russell Verney, the first national chair of the party and Perot’s closest ally in it, says Buchanan launched a state-by-state delegate war, purging the Perot leadership “to make sure Perot didn’t come in.” Bay Buchanan agrees, saying an unusual party rule would’ve permitted a last-minute convention switch to Perot. The bloody battle led to a convention walkout, legal challenges that cost Buchanan ballot status in states like Michigan, and a Perot endorsement of Bush. Buchanan says he just “played out the hand” after that. He raised $7.1 million before his nomination and less than half a million afterward. He handpicked a John Birch Society vice-presidential candidate who’d claimed workers compensation for a mental disorder. He dumped $10 million of his matching funds into an invisible media buy by a Texas company that did mattress commercials. In the final week he spent two days in Alaska. He went from blasting Bush as “the Prince of Wales,” unequipped for the presidency, to declaring after the election: “I’m glad we didn’t take Bush down with us.” He assured the Voice that he did in fact vote for himself, adding: “It didn’t make any difference in Virginia.”
https://italkyoubored.wordpress.com/2014/02/15/roger-stone-pretty-reckless-is-going-straight-to-hell-part-eight/
P.S. Germany went from an Empire to the Weimar Republic. It’s the debt, stupid. IMO, we’re already there.
‘What tax will be increased to make up for the loss of the 18.4-cent federal gasoline tax?’ — eric
None, for now. The bankrupt fedgov’s bankrupt Highway Trust Fund repeatedly has faced insolvency. Since 2008, Clowngress has authorized $275 billion in general fund transfers to it. Now more will be needed.
Since the bankrupt fedgov runs a structural deficit of $1 to 2 billion annually, general fund transfers require more borrowing — more issuance of Treasury debt. And — whoops! — the interest rate paid on 30-year Treasury bonds just blew through the 5 percent Maginot line yesterday!
Nota bene, the Highway Trust Fund is no special case. Likewise, in less than a decade, the big entitlements — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — will exhaust their trust funds too.
But wait, there’s more: these trust funds are filled with sketchy ‘non-marketable Treasuries’ — that is, IOUs the government wrote to itself. As Social Security redeems them, the Treasury is obliged to — you guessed it — market real Treasury debt to the public.
So we have scams layered atop other scams, piled higher and deeper.
The bankrupt fedgov is erected on a foundation of chicanery, insolvency and fraud. Like a fool maxing out his credit cards for one last desperate roll of the dice in Vegas, the US fedgov is locked in a doom loop, incapable of reforming its self-destructive behavior.
Once again, Giant Meteor in 2028 is revealed as the only candidate with a credible plan: just end it already!
https://votegiantmeteor.com
Let the old timers riot when the social security payout isn’t worth a loaf of day old bread. It’s not like they have any mobility left after all the decades of eating corn syrup and pesticides.
(Of course I’m one of the old timers who will be affected)
But then what’s next? Methinks I’ll probably live long enough to see “real socialism” attempts in the US. Canada is already far down the red primrose path. There will be some violence here and there, but for the most part I think the rapidly aging population will just let it happen. Then they’ll die off, maybe with the help of a morphine drip, and the Millennials will enslave the Gen Z kids while jockeying for power positions in the new DS party.
That seems about right, RK –
Us Gen X’ers may see some SS “benefits,” for a few years. Then the “benefits” will be ended or rendered worthless and then you’ll have this huge cohort of people pushing 70 who are too old to work who still need to eat. I suppose they could all be euthanized as useless eaters. The Millennials who come next will be in an even worse position, most of them, because not only did they also get raped by FICA “contributions,” they (unlike GenX) had a much harder go of it saving anything because the cost of owning a home and so on got beyond their means right around the time they would have been in the market for a home. They were also the first generation to be in serious hock for college debt. We GenX’ers were able to pay for our school while we went to school because it was still inexpensive to attend a state school trough the ’80s. Most of us at least started out in life without huge debt hanging around our necks.
The GenZ kids will inherit this bag of shit. They will either have to pay for it all or they’ll vote for socialism for all. Guess which it’ll be?
Who bankrupted student loan debt to finance fresh skin art?
Hi Rain,
The tattoo thing is baffling to me. I understand people ave different tastes – and if that’s your thing, fine. But it seems that almost everyone under 35 has tattoos, often full sleeve/leg tattoos and I just don’t get the appeal.
I’m the odd biker out, no tats. Off for a big ride in ‘87 my buddy told my naive wife he’d send me home with a tat.
Back home Sunday night “You didn’t get a tattoo I hope!”
“Sure did, a barber pole!” (Unzips pants, wife starts to faint). She is so fun to tease, the naivety is too much to resist.
I once told the wife I was going to get black diamonds on the back of it…
When it’s time to get one, if that time ever arrives, you’ll know.
A good tattoo is original, and captures a piece of your soul — and a little bit of your artist, too.
US Social Security “benefits” are already being rendered worthless; fedgov’s cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) have long been designedly less than actual inflation. Over the last 25 years, the average annual COLA has been +2.56%. Over the last 10 years: +3.11%. The last 3 years: +2.83%.
Has the cost of groceries gone up 2.83% in the last 3 years?
That’s 2.83% annually, on average, for the last 3 years?
Compounding fedgov’s last 3 annual COLAs yields an overall increase of 8.7%. My wife says that groceries have gone up a lot more than that since 3 years ago.
I’m wondering about that. When the boomers die off, they’re going to leave a lot of assets to a much smaller GenX and especially GenZ (grandkids) cohort. Govcorp will be broke, despite snatching inheritance taxes from the deceased, but GenZ might not be quite as broke and subservient as imagined. There are signals in the zeitgeist that young men might not be quite as compliant as imagined.
On the other hand, history has seen this cycle before. We’re still digging up hoards of gold and silver coins from previous civilizational collapses – obviously they weren’t useful to survival in the now.
The solution is baked into their intended fix, which is currency default and CBDC. The dollar can’t continue forever circling the drain. Ron Paul popularized the problem in 2008 but he and many others have been warning us since the 1970s when Nixon finally shut the gold window for good. The dollar has been flirting with disaster ever since and just seems to keep on surviving. I honestly think they are surprised at the resilency, it’s borrowed time but a nice bonus. Maybe so much so they’re lulled into complacency. One can hope. In any case one of these crashes is going to be the tripwire to null-and-void everything. Oh sure, we see you’re up to your eyeballs in debt and if you want to keep your house and car all we ask is you sign over all your assets. Boom, transfer of the last remaining shreds of wealth so all the Gen-X and Millenials inheritance is vacuumed up by the banks and governments. You’ll own nothing and be happy. They means the equity in homes and the IRAs that are still out there. The 1% is on paper wealthy because that wealth is a derivative of the stock market. There’s preferences built into bankruptcy that means junior creditors (you and me) are going to get screwed in widespread defaults.
Read or watch The Great Taking.
https://thegreattaking.com/the-documentary
Simple answer is a debt jubilee. There was strong bipartisan support for student loan forgiveness, it will rear its ugly head again when the Democrats take back the congress. When it goes through and the world doesn’t end (because it won’t be a true jubilee where the banks take it in the crotch, it will be debt from the treasury), they’ll try it again with means-tested mortgage debt, hospital bills, pretty much anything that anyone voting Democrat Socialist will have done to themselves.
If we cant have the giant meteor, there are options:
https://youtu.be/j1Yq1qNuppA?si=ftPTAtJGvkls-opc
Or my personal favorite:
https://youtu.be/exlMw5vOefw?si=a6iRT5e5Farrtq_n
(yeah, theyre AI generated, but still…)