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
·
Follow
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?
CoachDeb
a day ago
My electricity bill went UP on average over $120 a month.
My grocery bill went UP on average over $260 a month.
My car insurance bill went UP $180 a month.
My health insurance went UP $200 a month.
My county just raised my taxes $276 a month.
Every single expenditure has gone UP; Gas, Oil changes, Car repairs, Plumbing repairs, Everything!
I am paying over 6% interest for an overpriced new gasoline powered car, factoring in half of the cost of my neighbors useless EV (Big Auto isn't going to eat those losses).
The entire middle class has taken a huge hit. This election should not even be close.
Vote early and take 10 people with you.
You could double your money in five minutes by buying a Birkin handbag at your local Hermès boutique and then flipping it. But getting your hands on the world’s most sought after purse is a lot more complicated than it sounds.
A basic black leather Birkin 25 costs $11,400 before tax at the Hermès store. Buyers can walk out and immediately give it to a handbag reseller like Privé Porter in exchange for $23,000 in cash. Privé Porter will then sell the Birkin on Instagram or at its Las Vegas pop-up store, possibly on the same day—box fresh, with receipt—for up to $32,000. All this for a bag that analysts estimate costs Hermès around $1,000 to make.
The unusual economics of the Birkin have upended the normal balance of power between shopper and store worker. At the Hermès boutique, it is the buyer who kowtows. Some of the wealthiest women in the world have brought homemade cookies to the store to cozy up to their sales assistant. They have offered tickets for Beyoncé concerts, trips to the Cannes Film Festival in a private jet and even envelopes stuffed with cash—all to get their hands on a Birkin. //
The Birkin turns 40 this year and is maturing into a phenomenon. To carry one is to signal that the wearer can afford to drop anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 on a handbag. It appeals to the limelight-seeking Kardashians, who own extensive collections, but also to European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who is often photographed on her way to meetings carrying a Birkin. //
Shoppers seem to lust after the Birkin because it is rare, expensive and well made. There is no better status symbol for those who want to display their wealth. And the hunt involved in getting one might be the whole point. Wealthy shoppers tolerate waiting at the Hermès store in a way that wouldn’t be acceptable in other areas of their lives.
Trump War Room @TrumpWarRoom
·
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "This is the party, the Republican Party, of common sense... We need borders, we need fair elections, we don't want men playing in women's sports, we don't want transgender operations without parental consent."
2:57 PM · Oct 15, 2024 //
Trump War Room @TrumpWarRoom
·
BLOOMBERG: Are those who claim your policies will drive up inflation wrong?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "I had four years of no inflation."
🫳🎤
1:23 PM · Oct 15, 2024 //
Trump War Room @TrumpWarRoom
·
TRUMP: "There are no tariffs."
HOST: confused
TRUMP: "No, there are no tariffs — all you have to do is build your plant in the United States and you don't have any tariffs. That's what I want."
AUDIENCE: applause
🔥🔥🔥
1:05 PM · Oct 15, 2024 //
Trump War Room @TrumpWarRoom
·
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "What does the Wall Street Journal know? They've been wrong about everything. So have you, by the way... you've been wrong all your life on this stuff." 🔥
1:22 PM · Oct 15, 2024 //
Trump War Room @TrumpWarRoom
·
Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait: Just for the record, The Economic Club of Chicago and Bloomberg invited Vice President Harris to a similar interview. She has declined.
12:52 PM · Oct 15, 2024 //
Karoline Leavitt @kleavittnh
·
Standing ovation and huge applause for President Trump following his interview with Bloomberg at the Chicago Economic Club!
The crowd absolutely LOVED it!
2:06 PM · Oct 15, 2024 //
Outerlimitsfan redstateuser
5 hours ago edited
Exactly. Which is why I chuckle when some on our side get so bent out of shape sometimes.
Trump sometimes like to use mean names and insults.
Those on the other side are trying to throw him in prison and assassinate him. //
Claudius54
6 hours ago edited
Trump is the Energizer Bunny!! Pennsylvania yesterday. Economic Club of Chicago today ... New York rallies, California rallies ... which threaten to tilt him the national popular vote ... and possibly wet blanket all the post-election lawfare that Marc Elias has in the works.
"Just to top it all off, Kamala Harris, who claims Trump is "hiding," was invited, but she refused."
She flat out just doesn't have the energy to keep up with him.
Sandy-like the beach I can be Claudius54
3 hours ago
The Energizer Bunny being hunted by Wiley Waltz. Vewy vewy quietly.
I'm over the left pretending like it cares about the human race when it consistently exhibits a disdain and sometimes hostile attitude toward it. All the venerated minds that the left holds in high regard, seem to think that humanity is killing the planet, chiding and lecturing us about our use of fossil fuels and claiming we've stolen the hopes and dreams of future generations. //
As Susie Moore reported on Sunday, Elon Musk and SpaceX are making huge advancements all the time, bringing humanity closer and closer to being a space-faring species. In an incredible display of technological advancement, SpaceX was able to catch a Super Heavy booster with "Mechazilla" arms. An engineering feat that will go down in history as one of the greatest achievements in space travel. //
Of course, there are people out there who are so shortsighted, they see these advancements as negatives. They see it as billionaires wasting money that could be used for other things like feeding the hungry, saying that if the world does end, then the only people who will be able to leave are the billionaires building these rockets.
Dr. Grouf @DGrouf
·
Government efficiency to billionaires it means taking from the poor and enriching the wealthy and their servants, which is what this sob is going to do, people keep getting poorer while these b@stards keep building their net worths and wasting societal wealth on flying rockets.
Elon Musk @elonmusk
I hope I am able to serve the people in this regard. It is sorely needed.
10:37 AM · Oct 14, 2024 //
Sci-fi author Devon Erikson put it beautifully in his post on X:
Devon Eriksen @DevonEriksen
·
This is what will matter 1000 years from now.
Not your politics. Not your stupid tantrums about who platformed who on some website. Not your incomprehensible desire to send NASA's entire budget to the third world.
This guy reignited the Space Age.
He spent his own money,… Show more
Instead of fighting over little patches of land, we will have an infinite 3d volume. Enclose it in steel, pump it full of air, spin it, and it's a habitat. Instead of scratching tiny scraps of metal out of the crust of one planet, we will break down entire asteroids and smelt them. Instead of drilling for hydrocarbons and turning water wheels, we will harness entire suns, split the atom, and eventually draw our fuel from the substance that makes up 99% of the entire universe. None of your local, temporal Earth politics matter compared to this. This is more important than pride parades and abortions, more important than tribal conflicts in eastern Europe and southwest Asia, more important than tensions with Russia and China. //
If the left truly cares about people like they say, or pretend they do, then with every successful advancement, every launched rocket, every person sent to space by a private company, they would whoop and cheer... but they aren't. It should make the left's ideological foundations morally suspect.
Jon from Richardson 75080
2 minutes ago
On the other hand, FOX News had a reporter reporting on striking dock workers. He asked the group how many were going to vote for Trump. ALL BUT ONE HAND WENT UP. The one guy who resisted was not going to explain why. //
Political-Paige
2 hours ago
Any mention of the fact that the ILE strike ended about 3 hours after DeSantis did a presser that he was sending in the FL Nat'l Guard to secure and "restore operations" in Florida's many ports?
He folded the paper tiger faster than an origami contest.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) climate disclosure rule posts real problems for public companies. The SEC’s mission is to do facilitate capital formation and maintain market efficiency, but for the first time in its 90-year history, the SEC has injected political risk factors into its traditionally principles-based disclosure framework.
Leading up to the new rule, the SEC buckled under pressure from left-wing special interests to impose the first environmental disclosure mandate on public companies. If the SEC’s final rule is allowed to go into effect by the courts, it will be a financial disaster for the public markets. //
The climate rule will require most large and mid-sized public firms to report annual and quarterly disclosures that account for an endless range of climate risk factors. This translates to approximately 3,488 firms spending upwards of $628 million on direct disclosure costs and millions on indirect costs.
Consequentially, firms will need to expend great resources hiring climate scientists, ESG experts, lawyers, and accountants to properly prepare their disclosures for SEC review, neglecting the time normally spent on enhancing their market value.
Corporate boards will lose much of their discretionary decision making, forced to prioritize environmental risk factors over purely financial concerns. In its place, corporate boards must infuse speculative climate science to determine which climate risks warrant inclusion in their SEC disclosure.
With the SEC’s 12 new climate disclosure categories, investors will be spammed with a flood of confusing and potentially contradictory environmental data. This will undermine the ability of investors to navigate the actual meaningful risks in the markets or assess the health of a company. The doom and gloom of climate risks will imperil sensible financial analysis. //
As many as 25 state attorneys general have pursued two lawsuits against the SEC for exceeding its statutory authority and violating the major questions doctrine by promulgating climate regulation.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals was chosen by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate nine challenges into one case against the SEC. Soon after, the SEC halted the rule’s implantation to fend off its legal challenges.
The SEC is in the unenviable position of trying to defend the indefensible. //
Mandatory climate disclosures represent an undemocratic form of ESG policymaking that neither Congress nor the U.S. electorate actually approved.
Brother Mikey @BrotherMikeyX
·
"I will cripple you, and you have no idea what that means. Nobody does."
Harold Dagget, Chief Negotiator for the International Longshoremen Association, threatens to cripple the US economy with IMMINENT port strike.
In a recent interview, Harold explains the impact of what will… Show more
11:09 AM · Sep 30, 2024 //
Lest you think Daggett is a humble man of the people, here's a look at his cushy lifestyle:
Despite his eminent blue collar credentials, the union baron earned $728,000 last year from the ILA, plus another $173,000 as president emeritus of a local union branch, Politico reported.
He previously owned a 76-foot yacht, the Obsession, and has been spotted by his members riding in a Bentley, according to The New York Times.Mr. Daggett can well afford a long, drawn-out strike, but many Americans will suffer greatly because of it.
Sunny @sunnyright
·
Taft-Hartley is federal law.
The president has decided he doesn’t believe in certain federal laws because they hurt his political allies.
The media has no follow-up questions.
Jeff Stein @JStein_WaPo
President Joe Biden: I don't believe in Taft-Hartley
Image
9:18 AM · Oct 1, 2024
anon-hldg veritas Wisco
11 hours ago
"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that deficit spending for fiscal 2024 will reach a staggering $1.9 trillion. This comes on top of the $7 trillion added to the federal debt under Biden, bringing us to the highest level of indebtedness in our nation’s history, surpassing the previous high during World War II.
"Biden’s insatiable deficit spending has not only lit the fuse on record inflation but has resulted in the highest interest rate hikes in a quarter century. The cost just to service our national debt has increased by $540 billion, or 153%, since Biden took office. Those net interest expenses represented 9% of federal revenue in 2021 and are projected to double to 18% in 2024 and rise to 23% in 2034.
"Massive federal spending along with failed economic policies under unified Democratic control of government caused inflation to climb to 9.1% in June 2022. Inflation is still sticking at levels well above the Federal Reserve’s target for reducing interest rates.
"In total, prices have risen nearly 20% since Biden became president, forcing families to pay more than $17,000 more per year, or $1,400 per month, for the same goods and services. Sadly, inflation has grown faster than income over the last three years, reducing real wages by 4% since January 2021."
"Op-Ed, Washington Examiner: Biden’s Cruel Economy," Washington Examiner, July 11, 2024.
"This Survey Says Consumers Are Fed Up. The annual poll from Forrester Research showed a third consecutive year of rising customer dissatisfaction with brands whose price hikes, smaller-sized products, lower quality services, and annoying chatbots."
"This Survey Says Consumers Are Fed Up," Inc., June 18, 2024.
For years, Argentina imposed one of the world’s strictest rent-control laws. It was meant to keep homes such as the stately belle epoque apartments of Buenos Aires affordable, but instead, officials here say, rents soared.
Now, the country’s new president, Javier Milei, has scrapped the rental law, along with most government price controls, in a fiscal experiment that he is conducting to revive South America’s second-biggest economy.
The result: The Argentine capital is undergoing a rental-market boom. Landlords are rushing to put their properties back on the market, with Buenos Aires rental supplies increasing by over 170%. While rents are still up in nominal terms, many renters are getting better deals than ever, with a 40% decline in the real price of rental properties when adjusted for inflation since last October, said Federico González Rouco, an economist at Buenos Aires-based Empiria Consultores.
The hard truth is that Harris has no plan. She thrust herself into the presidential race after tossing Joe Biden aside with full intention to coast to victory without having to define anything she'd actually do as president. Because of a compliant press, she's largely gotten away with it, but the truth always manages to slip out eventually. A Harris presidency would be a meandering disaster run by political insiders that bounce from one Democrat administration to the next. Americans can reject that or suffer the consequences.