488 private links
Thomas Hornall
@Thomashornall
I’m British.
I recently spent 10 days in the USA for business.
And discovered the ocean between us isn't water.
It's mindset.
7 uncomfortable truths about US v UK culture:
The answer to inflation, say the authors, is discarding long-held misperceptions that helped bring on the current crisis. They include the notion that central banks can create prosperity by producing money “out of thin air,” and that economic “stability” requires “a little inflation.” For decades these ideas have been Holy Writ in Washington. Inflation shows why they’re misguided, and also why the heedless money-printing being pushed today by left-wing advocates of “Modern Monetary Theory” would lead us down the road to disaster.
Michael Shellenberger, who has been involved in breaking down some of the Twitter files releases, has posted a thread and an article about the World Economic Forum, ahead of its meeting in Davos this week.
Shellenberger says that the World Economic Forum is “fighting back against those who say it and its founder are seeking global domination through a ‘great reset’ aimed at stripping the masses of their private property, de-industrializing the economy, and making everybody eat bugs.” But Shellenberger takes apart that “defense.”
A WEF managing director claimed in August of last year that the “you’ll own nothing and be happy” meme was a conspiracy theory started by an anti-Semitic account on 4Chan. But that wasn’t true, since it was based on an article on the WEF website from 2016. The spokesperson mentions that article but downplays it as a “years old” opinion article.
The managing director also leaves out the subsequent video put out by the WEF in 2018 that makes it seem far less like a “years-old article.” While they deleted the page that had the video on their site, the video is still up on their Twitter and it’s a creepy, prospective look for 2030.
It was significant enough for them to put together this video that repeated the “own nothing” claim, as well as phasing down meat and eliminating fossil fuels. The video is a festival of all kinds of leftist aims in one place.
Shellenberger noted that if the WEF is calling on others to be transparent, why are they deleting their web pages and why aren’t they forthcoming about their own financial information?
Tridus Ars Tribunus Militum
17y
2,269
Subscriptor
but are roundly condemned in the cryptosphere as ethically dubious at the least.
... as opposed to what? There is no such thing as "ethical" crypto.
Seems to me like this was working as intended, except the people expecting to scam others got scammed instead and got mad about it. None of these things have any actual value.
As for the idea that this kid is an "entrepreneur" because he did a crypto rug pull... well that's pretty much why American business as a whole is in decline globally. It's not about creating sustainable business models: it's about profit today no matter what, and if the whole thing collapses later it's someone elses problem by then.
Literally everything about this screams "terminal decline of late stage capitalism" and "people are still suckers."
There is an objective approach that DOGE could apply that would substantially reduce the footprint of the federal government called CPI-X: A Novel Method to Decrease Spending and the National Debt.
In short, CPI-X (CPI minus X) would tether federal spending to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), using the CPI as a baseline, and accomplishing actual spending cuts via the “X” in the equation. The X-factors in CPI-X are derived from benchmarking the spending of the U.S. federal government, states, and other countries along 10 basic policy areas, such as defense, health, education, etc.
CPI-X was originally developed in the early 1980s and used to reduce spending under UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s privatization plan. In the 1990s, it was also utilized in Australia to regulate the pricing of public utilities. In both instances, CPI-X was successful.
Revolutionary reform concerning how the U.S. government functions and spends taxpayer dollars is long overdue. //
For instance, did you know the federal government does not even know precisely how many agencies and departments currently exist? According to the National Archives, the number stands at 435, whereas the Office of Personnel Management lists 646. //
C-K
3 hours ago edited
I was in the Federal government or a contractor for 23 of my 40 working years. The biggest problem I saw was an agency has to spend all the money it was allocated in a fiscal year otherwise their budget would be cut by the amount of underspend the next year. When large pieces of capitol equipment needs replacing or facilities need to be built or renovated, a separate appropriation over and above the annual operating budget must be approved.
Why not change the laws to allow agencies to “bank” underspend for X number of years in interest bearing instruments? This accumulated underspend plus interest could then be used to help offset future capitol expenditures.
Agencies having to spend all their allocated funds in one fiscal year is insane and leads to wasteful spending. //
Vahn Geo
3 hours ago
This is a smoke and mirrors plan. And its bullshit. A chainsaw and an axe are what is required. Period. //
S'Naut Right
3 hours ago
Formulaic paths to cuts are rife with opportunities for finagling. I dont like this idea, at all. Just straight with the broad axe, please. //
anon-umsv
4 hours ago
This is just another over-thought proposal of incrementalism along the same vein as the ridiculous Penny Plan. Slowly attempt to starve the swamp over 20 years to bring the budget down to $6 TRILLION, while the country is suffering from government bloat. No, Trump only has four years. He needs to ruthlessly attack the beast. Fight! Fight! Fight! //
surfcat50
4 hours ago
This would be a great idea IN ADDITION TO using the chainsaw during Trump’s term. ///
Also switch from baseline budgeting to zero based budgeting. Don't start with last year's budget, start from zero and justify each line item.
The Susu club is a universal feature of the Liberian workplace. Hardly any agency, trading firm, or NGO is without a Susu Club. The Susu club comes in two variety, the non-profit and the commercial. The non-profit is the more benign of the two. It is normally organized rather informally. The employees of a company, or even a section of a company agree to form a Susu club and will pay a certain amount of their salary to the club cashier every month. In an non-profit Susu, the percentage of the salary pledged tends to be higher than in a commercial Susu. The drivers of one NGO operating in Liberia pay 70 USD, about one third of their salary, into their Susu account every month. But every month one of them is the lucky one. He will receive the combined input of the other Susu members. In this particular Susu club the payout is 700 USD. The next month it is another persons term to collect the 700 USD. So, the Susu club is in effect, a revolving loan given by the paying members to the receiving member. The advantage for the member is that, once or twice a year, depending on the structure of the Susu club he gets paid 700USD instead of his regular salary of 250 USD.
Citizen_bitcoin
Jameson Lopp (@lopp) on X
Hospital bill for delivering a baby + 1 week recuperation in 1956.
Total: $107.55
The US is an outlier in healthcare costs, by almost a factor of two, while delivering comparable or inferior results.
…
US performance is generally comparable to, or poorer than, countries that spend much less. I could not find any significant health metric in which the US excelled over other first-world countries.
The Economist Changes Tune on Javier Milei: Actions Deserve ‘to be Watched Closely Around the World’
No one on the left liked the idea of Javier Milei winning in Argentina, especially The Economist.
The publication has changed its tune since Milei, who has been president for a year, has elevated Argentina with his libertarian ways.
Gee, maybe, just maybe, people should listen to us libertarians. //
Yes. Milei is a true libertarian who has embraced small government, free markets, and Austrian economics. That is why Milei is the only politician I genuinely adore and support. I cannot believe I am agreeing with The Economist:
The left detests him and the Trumpian right embraces him, but he truly belongs to neither group. He has shown that the continual expansion of the state is not inevitable. And he is a principled rebuke to opportunistic populism, of the sort practised by Donald Trump. Mr Milei believes in free trade and free markets, not protectionism; fiscal discipline, not reckless borrowing; and, instead of spinning popular fantasies, brutal public truth-telling.
—
What is fascinating is the philosophy behind the figures. Mr Milei is often wrongly lumped in with populist leaders such as Mr Trump, the hard right in France and Germany or Viktor Orban in Hungary. In fact he comes from a different tradition. A true believer in open markets and individual liberty, he has a quasi-religious zeal for economic freedom, a hatred of socialism and, as he told us in an interview this week, “infinite” contempt for the state. Instead of industrial policy and tariffs, he promotes trade with private firms that do not interfere in Argentina’s domestic affairs, including Chinese ones. He is a small-state Republican who admires Margaret Thatcher—a messianic example of an endangered species. His poll ratings are rising and, at this point in his term, he is more popular in Argentina than his recent predecessors were.
Milei practices what he preaches. //
Tiki | November 30, 2024 at 6:48 pm
Funny how the economist doesn’t mention how Kirchnerism (crony socialism) ruined Argentina.
There’s gonna be a major US-Argentine trade pact. Musk will be siting his southern hemisphere IT hub there. Watch to see who gets picked to be ambassador.
The Europeans/Internationalists want to lock us out of Brazil and SA, but Milei/Musk will to lock them out of SA tech.
Milei is powering an industrial renaissance via a deregulated oil industry.
Milei didn’t fall into the IMF trap.
Bernie Sanders
@SenSanders
·
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Elon Musk is right.
The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions.
Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud.
That must change.
12:07 PM · Dec 1, 2024. //
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
·
Follow
Gonna happen 😂
ALEX
@ajtourville
The IRS getting audited by the @DOGE
Embedded video
10:51 AM · Nov 27, 2024
We should never forget that the Plymouth colony was headed straight for oblivion under a communal, socialist plan but saved itself when it embraced something very different.
In the diary of the colony’s first governor, William Bradford, we can read about the settlers’ initial arrangement: Land was held in common. Crops were brought to a common storehouse and distributed equally. For two years, every person had to work for everybody else (the community), not for themselves as individuals or families. Did they live happily ever after in this socialist utopia?
Hardly. The “common property” approach killed off about half the settlers. Governor Bradford recorded in his diary that everybody was happy to claim their equal share of production, but production only shrank. Slackers showed up late for work in the fields, and the hard workers resented it. It’s called “human nature.”
The disincentives of the socialist scheme bred impoverishment and conflict until, facing starvation and extinction, Bradford altered the system. He divided common property into private plots, and the new owners could produce what they wanted and then keep or trade it freely.
Communal socialist failure was transformed into private property/capitalist success, something that’s happened so often historically it’s almost monotonous. The “people over profits” mentality produced fewer people until profit—earned as a result of one’s care for his own property and his desire for improvement—saved the people.
We have all heard of the Mayflower Compact, the set of laws that all agreed to live by, But it included something else. Before the Pilgrims left Holland, they needed to fund the trip. They found sponsors who would do just that. But their merchant sponsors in London and Holland required that the Pilgrims agree that everything they produced went into a common store, a common bank, and every family would be entitled to one share of the common store.
So, the Pilgrims got down to the business of living life in the New World. They cleared land, and they grew crops. The other part of the story we have heard was of the Pilgrims' first winter. Nearly half of them died of starvation, sickness, and exposure. The group's leader, William Bradford, who later became the governor of the colony, realized early on that the whole "common store" idea was a huge failure. He decided to scrap that portion of the Mayflower Compact and came up with another idea.
American Thinker @AmericanThinker
·
The Pilgrims' Abolition of Socialism (Photo Credit: Jenny A. Brownscombe) William Bradford delivered the Pilgrims from the ills of socialism to a healthy culture of economic freedom based upon individual property rights.
americanthinker.com
The Pilgrims' Abolition of Socialism
5:44 AM · Nov 28, 2024 //
Even though they didn't call it socialism or capitalism back then, the Pilgrims soon figured out that a common bank and collectivism were not going to work. It was only when they implemented the incentive to work and invest themselves in the land that they became prosperous, and it benefitted themselves and the Indians.
Makes you wonder, if we have only heard the "official" story of Thanksgiving for this long, what else have we only heard the "official" story of? //
Jill Savage @Jill_Savage
·
I looked forward to Rush Limbaugh telling us the true story of Thanksgiving every year. Let’s keep it going.
2:33 / 8:22
12:10 PM · Nov 27, 2024
Chavez-DeRemer has proven that she is not on the side of independent professionals or workers; she is on the side of union bosses and herself. Chavez-DeRemer is simply another union activist trussed up and planted to take control of the levers of power in order to destroy the independent contractor model and economic freedom for all Americans. //
Laocoön of Troy
an hour ago edited
We've had union-friendly Secretaries of Labor before. Even Republican ones. Elaine Chao and Elizabeth Dole were not particularly worker-friendly during their tenures. Former Consgresswoman Chavez-DeRemer is not unique nor is she politically powerful enuf to push a union agenda all by herself. I've never heard of her before this. She's a DEFEATED former Congresswoman from an insane clown possee radical lefty state. Trump is pretty unimpressed with losers...unless they bring something to the table. I'm not at all sure what Chavez-DeRemer brings to the table.
That having been said, Trump would be wise to at least consider the charges people are making against her. Trump might consider avoiding internal political fights within his Cabinet and with the Congress by pulling her nomination. //
ThatGuy81
4 hours ago
I don't want unions. They're unnecessary dinosaurs of the industrial revolution that serve no purpose other than to grift off workers, enforce nepotism, and hide bad workers from reprisal. I refuse to hand over another portion of my paycheck to line some idiot's pocket and if unions gain a foothold in this administration, it'll be the worst thing Trump can do against American workers. They're just the mafia by another name. //
SomeIdeas 2 hours ago
Randi Weingarten's approval confirms C-D is the wrong choice.
Bjorn Lomborg
Dr. Bjorn Lomborg researches the smartest ways to do good. With his think tank, the Copenhagen Consensus, he has worked with hundreds of the world’s top economists and seven Nobel Laureates to find and promote the most effective solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, from disease and hunger to climate and education.
The Copenhagen Consensus Center is a think tank that researches and publishes the smartest solutions to the world's biggest problems. Our studies are conducted by more than 300 economists from internationally renowned institutions, including seven Nobel Laureates, to advise policymakers and philanthropists how to achieve the best results with their limited resources.
Stewart's comment about "institutional thinking" is spot-on. Hicks is looking at the audit as an annoyance that she can ignore. In reality, failing multiple audits in a row should mean that dozens of careers come to an abrupt halt.
This video should put Pete Hegseth on notice that when he is confirmed, he will lead a morally broken Department of Defense that believes it is allowed to play by its own rules. He needs to take office in a way that makes Genghis Khan look like the Tooth Fairy. He needs to use the results of the last two audits to remove or reassign senior bureaucrats who can't be bothered to care what happens to the national wealth with which they are entrusted. //
Dan Hodges
2 hours ago
In order to solve a problem you first have to admit there is a problem. If you don't admit there is a problem than there is not a problem. This is how the brain of a bureaucrat works. Remember Catch-22. //
flyovercountry
2 hours ago
I would say the four star idiot, currently SECDEF, who left over a billion dollars of US military hardware in Afghanistan to the Taliban, is guilty of FWA.
FortCourage flyovercountry
2 hours ago
It was $80 BILLION left behind in Afghanistan……
Friday, Socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders used a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, to announce that he was willing to work with the incoming Trump administration to accomplish mutually beneficial legislation.
I look forward to working with the Trump Administration on fulfilling his promise to cap credit card interest rates at 10%.
He received a quick reply from Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley. "An anti-usury bill capping outrageous credit card rates," said Hawley, "ought to be a top priority of the next Congress." //
In my view, the number of times the government has intervened in markets directly and produced the intended result can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand. The obvious problem with a return to the medieval system of slapping usury laws on lenders is that when interest rates spike, banks lose the ability to adjust their interest rates. This, by definition, creates a drought in the credit market, which is quickly felt by commercial enterprises that rely on credit card transactions. If one is hellbent on regulating credit cards to save people from themselves, then allow a certain rate against the Fed's bank rate. //
Years ago, the Fed sponsored a study of the impact of usury ceilings:
Economic research clearly supports the current legislative moves toward deregulation of usury ceilings. The evidence on the impact of usury ceilings shows that they have not achieved their objectives. According to the empirical studies surveyed, usury ceilings have significantly reduced the availability of credit and created hardships for those who were supposed to be protected. Ceilings have encouraged lenders to use credit rationing devices such as higher down payments, shorter maturities, higher fees for related non-credit services, which increase the effective interest rate. They have curtailed the amount of credit available to lower income and higher risk borrowers, harming primarily those individuals whom the ceilings are intended to benefit. Finally, the lack of uniformity in usury laws across states has distorted credit flows and economic activity, favoring those states and regions which are less regulated.
What is worse, a guy holding a credit card that carries a 30% interest rate or his car breaking down and losing his job because he can't get to work all due to some well-meaning Karen in DC deciding it is more virtuous for him to be destitute than enrich some bank?
Trump needs to back off faux-populist issues like this. I understand the sugar rush of applause as well as the next guy, but cutting off credit card access from banks doesn't mean that poor people won't pay exorbitant interest rates.
How much does a payday loan cost? //
We have two parties here, and only two — one is the evil party, and the other is the stupid party. I’m very proud to be a member of the stupid party. Occasionally, the two parties get together to do something that’s both evil and stupid. That’s called bipartisanship. —M. Stanton Evans //
DaleS an hour ago edited
The graphes don't go back that far, but I'm old enough to remember when the federal funds rate (the rate when banks borrow from each other) was well over 10%. What do you suppose happens to the credit card market when credit card holders can borrow from the bank at a lower rate than they can borrow from each other?
Even if you thought an anti-usury law was a good idea, it would be madness to peg it to a fixed rate. I believe every card I've ever had (ignoring promotional rates) has been set at an offset on prime. Pegging the maximum interest to Prime+5 would still allow the banks to offer credit cards as a product no matter where interest rates go -- but it would be to a far smaller group of consumers. Markets work better than government. Lowering interest rates for everybody means that good credit risks lose their rewards, and bad credit risks lose their credit. This would not be a good thing. //
Musicman an hour ago
The Founding Fathers created a government that required consensus to get anything done. But don't confuse consensus with "bipartisanship." Bipartisanship means each Party gets something it wants. And often that means the two most extreme elements of our body politic--the far right and the far left--get something they want. It's also called log rolling. It's too often a compromise that benefits Washington insiders rather than the country. It's why we have a 35 trillion dollar debt.
A consensus is where you can get more than a pure majority, say 60 or 70 % of the people behind something. Or in the case of a Constitutional Amendment, 75% (of the states). Trump can reach a consensus without giving the Dems--or at least their left wing base--a damn thing. He just needs to get most Republicans and independents, and then a slice of the Democrat Party behind whatever he does. That is how to build a lasting movement.
DNC Staff Union
@dncstaffunion
·
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One day’s notice, no severance—the DNC fights for workers, just not their own.
Full statement below:
5:11 AM · Nov 18, 2024
This was apparently not your typical post-election culling of temporary staff; this seems to have hit people considered permanent staff, some of whom have worked at the DNC for a decade.
hagaetc.eth
@hagaetc
So I tried to build a tech company from Norway and here’s what happened:
- Two years of building without almost any money/funding, better part of a year without salary
- Raise VC and become one of Norway’s first unicorns
- Face unrealized gains wealth tax bill of many x my annual net salary. ofc the company is loss making and all the investors have preference shares so I can’t take out any money.
- Call out publicly that this does not make sense. Independent of level, taxation needs to happen when you actually make money.
- I move to Switzerland because no politician cares/listens.
- I still don’t get any tangible and sensible answers to my criticism of unrealized gains tax, BUT I do get put up on the “wall of shame” at the socialist parties offices…
I’m Norwegian and I love Norway but the socialist politicians are taking the country down a dark path. It’s a real life Atlas Shrugged. //
Alex Svanevik 🐧
@ASvanevik
·
17h
Here’s how insane things have gotten in Norway:
The Socialist Party has a “wall of shame” in their office with “rich people who have left Norway” - due to the outrageous taxes they’re now being charged.
Who do you find on that wall?
Startup founders like @hagaetc -
Jonatan Pallesen
@jonatanpallesen
Here in Denmark I know an early contributor to successful startups (Unity and more). One year their stocks rose, and the next they fell. This left him with a tax burden much larger than his wealth. He is now a million dollars in debt for doing this successful work.
Orwell2024🏒
@orwell2022
·
5h
Plain evil. And intentional. Socialists do not want a country with business owners and entrepreneurs, but a couple of large companies which they fully control.
Last month, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, J.D. Vance said he worried about the U.S. government bond market in the early stages of a Trump presidency. Because of Biden-Harris spending, the U.S. is adding about $2 trillion to the national debt every year, he said, and “The only thing that makes that serviceable is that interest rates are still pretty low.” If interest rates go much higher, say to 8 percent, “that can become a huge spiral that could take down the finances of this country.”
Vance said that international investors and foreign countries — beneficiaries of globalization — could try to take down the new Trump administration by selling U.S. government bonds, which would cause interest rates to rise sharply.
Robby Starbuck @robbystarbuck
If you weren’t sure Kamala Harris is a rabid ‘spend until we have no money left’ Democrat who would’ve turned our economy into something resembling Cuba or Venezuela, here’s your proof:
- Her campaign had $1 BILLION dollars.
- Her campaign ended with $20 million in debt.
9:57 PM · Nov 6, 2024
Fake News Filter @Jdanker22
·
1h
I'd love to see how much she paid Jlo, Cardi B, and John Legend for their limp endorsement speeches.
They could have fed the homeless for a whole year or something.
Isn't that how this works?