President Biden’s term, which ended yesterday with a flurry of pardons, was marked by a pronounced commitment to building out America’s battery and EV infrastructure as part of a nationwide effort to curb global emissions. Last night President Trump issued a series of executive orders attempting to reverse these initiatives.
There will be other things to discuss this week so I’m going to try to limit the politics to today’s Morning Dump, which means you can skip this if that’s the last thing you want to read about. The way these things go, politics might come back up again, but I’ll do my best.
First, let’s talk about “energy” and the overall thrust of what our new President said last night. Then I’ll talk more specifically about the EV tax credit, which hasn’t disappeared yet. Nor has funding for more public EV chargers, although an effort is being made to stop public funds for chargers and new factories.
And, finally, we might as well talk about the tariffs for Mexico and Canada which… might happen?
Trump Wants To ‘Unleash American Energy’
If you’re in the mood, you can read the entire executive order from the new White House right here. It’s long and there’s a lot in here, so I’ll address some of it in a little bit. It’s important to start with the thesis:
America is blessed with an abundance of energy and natural resources that have historically powered our Nation’s economic prosperity. In recent years, burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations have impeded the development of these resources, limited the generation of reliable and affordable electricity, reduced job creation, and inflicted high energy costs upon our citizens. These high energy costs devastate American consumers by driving up the cost of transportation, heating, utilities, farming, and manufacturing, while weakening our national security.
It is thus in the national interest to unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources. This will restore American prosperity —- including for those men and women who have been forgotten by our economy in recent years. It will also rebuild our Nation’s economic and military security, which will deliver peace through strength.
The important lesson that the Trump Campaign seized on and the Democrats seem to have forgotten, is that people tend to hate inflation more than they hate unemployment. As the pandemic retreated, economic activity started to increase and, alongside supply disruptions and sanctions against Russia, combined to create a big swing in gas prices and, connected to that, inflation.
It is debatable whether or not the Green New Deal had anything to do with this, but President Trump is using this as a reason to expand drilling and energy production, much as he tried to do in his first term. The timing of this is interesting, as many projections seem to indicate that America has reached peak gasoline consumption, or at least is close to it.
Curiously, the Biden Administration’s policies and geopolitics actually led to America setting a record for energy exports and essentially becoming energy independent. As that didn’t overlap easily with Biden’s climate change message, there wasn’t much bragging about this.
Will America need more gasoline? Maybe. It’ll certainly need more energy if the incoming AI revolution is to occur, and that’ll require a mix of coal and nuclear (which Trump historically likes), as well as a lot of natural gas. How to get it?
It is the policy of the United States to encourage energy exploration and production on Federal lands and waters, including on the Outer Continental Shelf, in order to meet the needs of our citizens and solidify the United States as a global energy leader long into the future.
There’s a lot more here, including the reduction of regulations (somewhat bipartisan these days) and the search for more rare earth minerals used in batteries (mostly bipartisan). The drilling in public lands is one of those items that ping-pongs back and forth between administrations and is usually decided by courts.
The other big section here that’s going to be a sticking point:
[T]o eliminate the “electric vehicle (EV) mandate” and promote true consumer choice, which is essential for economic growth and innovation, by removing regulatory barriers to motor vehicle access; by ensuring a level regulatory playing field for consumer choice in vehicles; by terminating, where appropriate, state emissions waivers that function to limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles; and by considering the elimination of unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase by individuals, private businesses, and government entities alike by rendering other types of vehicles unaffordable;
To be clear, there is no federal electric vehicle mandate, as automakers are free to come up with any solution to meet stricter CAFE regulations. However, the only obvious way to do that is to make more electric cars. This gets even harder when you consider that California and 13 other states have what is effectively an EV mandate. The line about terminating state emissions waivers is targeted directly at California and will, again, probably end up with the courts to decide. A court heavily tilted towards conservatives.
Curiously, there’s also a bit here that’s extremely anti-wind because President Trump really doesn’t like wind power for whatever reason (he thinks they’re driving whales “crazy” for one). Trump has said he will declare a “National Energy Emergency” to deal with what he sees as major threats to our economy.
The Tax Credit Survives, For Now, But Could Be Changed
One of the biggest immediate impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act was the updates to the EV tax credit program that made a lot more cars eligible, and others ineligible. This is a popular program among EV buyers and something most of the car industry wants to keep.
It might be assumed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a huge supporter of Trump who was seen all over the inauguration furiously and awkwardly waving at people, might be worried about this. Probably not. I mentioned when this came up before that it’s bad for Tesla but way worse for everyone else to such a degree that it might ultimately be helpful for Musk’s company.
Let’s review the above, again, because this is what we have to go off of:
[C]onsidering the elimination of unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase by individuals, private businesses, and government entities alike by rendering other types of vehicles unaffordable;
Do the tax credits make electric cars cheaper? Absolutely. It also greatly incentivizes EV leasing as, thanks to an interpretation from the Biden Administration, almost every car and buyer qualifies if you lease it. Does it make gasoline-powered cars more expensive? Perhaps indirectly by encouraging investment by car companies that have to be offset elsewhere.
Like a lot of Biden priorities targeted by this executive order, the main piece has to be reversed by legislation. Republicans in Congress signaled to the Trump administration that it didn’t want a lot of these plans changed by an EO so that they could be removed in a larger bill to offset the cost of tax cuts.
Trump will, however, likely be able to use the lease exemption in negotiations with Japan, South Korea, and Europe, as automakers in all these countries rely on them.
EV Chargers And Plants Targeted
For various reasons, much of the Biden-era green legislation unlocked money for public EV chargers everywhere and new plants in traditionally Republican parts of traditionally Republican states.
Will this fact save those investments? The Biden Administration pushed out a ton of loans, including to Rivian and Stellantis, in the last few weeks. President Trump is attempting to thwart those investments as best he can.
Trump also directed agencies to pause disbursement of funds appropriated through two laws Biden signed — the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — including funding for EV charging stations. The infrastructure law allocated $7.5 billion to building out a network of public plugs across the country.
This is basically what President Trump promised in his campaign, though it might be less popular with Republican governors when it comes down to the details.
Trump Might Put A 25% Tariff On Mexico And Canada
That photo of the Volkswagen Beetle at the top of this piece is excellent, even if this photo of a Volkswagen Taos built in Mexico is a little more timely.
I mention that because President Trump said he might enact a new tariff on America’s neighbors because of what he claims is a flood of undocumented migrants and drugs coming across the border.
“We are thinking in terms of 25 percent on Mexico and Canada, because they are allowing vast numbers of people [into the United States,” adding “I think we will do it Feb. 1.”
The outcome of this is going to be potentially negative for all the countries as a previous President pushed through a renegotiation of the trade relationship between the three countries that ended up with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Which President? I’m trying to remember…
People are already starting to get nervous about this, including Volkswagen, as reported by Reuters;
“The Volkswagen Group is concerned about the harmful economic impact that proposed tariffs by the U.S. administration will have on American consumers and the international automotive industry,” a Volkswagen spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
“We value collaboration and open dialogue. The Volkswagen Group looks forward to continuing its longstanding and constructive partnership with the U.S. administration,” the spokesperson added.
Volkswagen is in real trouble here if this happens, as it’s been estimated in the same article that 65% of VW’s American sales would be uncompetitive. But what about Canada? This time from GM via Bloomberg:
Donald Trump’s tariff threats stand to hurt American economic interests because they would disturb automotive supply chains where the US is strong and drive up consumer prices, said the head of General Motors Co.’s Canadian unit.
“It is a disruption that is in no one’s interest, especially in the US,” GM Canada President Kristian Aquilina said in an interview.
About half of the cars sold in Canada come from the United States and conversely, for all of the talk above about American energy independence, we do require a lot of energy from Canada. Retaliation could make energy expensive, which is obviously the opposite of what President Trump’s plans are as stated.
What will actually happen? No idea.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Autopian reader Crank Shaft suggested this and, frankly, the Modern Jazz Quartet doing a “One Note Samba” is a nice and relaxing balm today.
The Big Question
Can we have a discussion about the new Trump Administration that’s civil and reasonable? Can we all air our opinions and challenge one another in a way that’s productive? We can give it a shot.
Top Image: Volkswagen
Sigh.
I’m going to keep it EVs.. Despite anyone’s opinions, electricity is the future, and EVs will be a part of that. People don’t seem to take the climate crisis seriously, so I’ll use the economy. Despite whatever funding we sink into production, there’s a finite amount of fossil fuel left. You can’t rationally explain to me why it won’t rise in price as it becomes scarce.
I’m personally not a huge fan of EVs, mainly due to the charging infrastructure limits. I like hybrids, and maybe that’s a good short term compromise. . But I realize electrification is the way the industry needs to go. Pushing it down the road another four years is just narcissism as a country.
Most colleges in the northeastern United States are pushing toward carbon neutrality by 2040. Microgrids, solar, heat pumps, geothermal. They are decommissioning the fossil fuel cogen plants as part of the process. I don’t necessarily think there’s any specific resistance in the auto industry toward electrification.
Well it’s a quite shitshow. But that was expected.
I’m most interested what the other mad man is up to. OK, Tesla is no longer eligible for the tax benefits so these changes mainly benefit them. But lately wonder if mr Musk has finally burned his brains with pressure and drugs. And new pet project is 5th Reich.
Interesting times…
I LOVE phrases like this because it’s an immediate tell on the person saying it. Your motives are ideological too, EVERYONE’S ARE.
We as a nation divorced Trump once , we remarried him knowing he was a abusive spouse,do we think it was going to turn out any different?
Trump lies and always has but from what I read he is a lot of fun to play golf with as long as you know he cheats and expects you to go along with his bullshit.
His pardoning of the traitors from Jan 6 affirmed that it’s ok to be a traitor as long as your Trumps traitor.
How any LEO ,military person or judge can look at that and still think Trump is ok is beyond me plus the rest of those that voted for him.
The rule of law means nothing to this monkey.
Whats amazing is that he gets support from the military,LEO’s,judges etc after pardoning those that attacked what I and most true patriots consider a sacred place on Jan 6 while injuring many LEO’s in the process.
They Disrespected our country and what Trump did is extremely disrespectful to the law abiding citizens of this country.
Exactly, well said.
Everyday I Thank God that He has his own version of “term limits.”
Every damn day…
Oh please, lol. You never gave a shit about that building before that day propagandized you. You know how I know this? No one gave a shit about that building, it was one of the least requested places to go on a tourist visit to DC.
No one wants to go see that boring ass paperwork factory.
What planet do you live on my Troll friend?
JFC.
Ouch! I thought we were cool, lol.
Anyway, are you gonna sit there and say you have a picture of you at the Capital building from ANY year in your life on your mantle, and refer to it as a “bucket list” moment?
You can be grumpy all you want, but don’t be a liar. That building is dull. They do have nice chairs to sit in, though.
Yes. I have been there many times.
I never thought you were cool though.
You call me a liar? Grow a brain child.
Grow up a little?
Have you been drinking again? For fucks sake, stay out of my lane, pal. 😉
Maybe get a life? lol. Child?
I just hope you aren’t drinking. I can overlook all of this nonsense, I just want you to be healthy.
Chill out on the insults, eh?
You want to know why people support the change? There is a MASSIVE difference between an everyday man showing up to work at an office building, and those people who wake up every day strapping a gun,or a fire nose nozzle, or a train key, or a pair of steel toes to protect other humans. It’s a monumental commitment and not just a lifestyle, but a dedication to helping others lives over their own. It’s literally a full time job. All day, every day.
These people talk, live, and dream their jobs, 24/7. This is worlds different (galaxies different) from the average Doe that goes into program code or fold shirts at the mall.
When one commits their entire being to doing a job properly (not just avoiding being fired, but actually committing to the cause), and they are told they can’t do it, and even if they do, it won’t matter…
That is why people are pissed. That’s why there needed to be a change. Our Country was actively fucking over our most selfless citizens in acts of performative Bollywood shows of false virtue, only to appease the least ones in danger.
It’s impossible to disrespect disrespect. When the best people in this country get shit on, they are gonna shit right back.
It’s up to you, and you alone, how many plies of toilet paper you choose to clean up your own mess.
Preach it brother
Biden pardoned cop killers at the last minute. Biden also pre pardoned his family which he claimed was not legal during Bidens transition time. Two sides of same coin.
Don’t forget the Doctor! The Doctor is in the clear.
I know this will end up on page 3 (ha) but the reality is this:
I’m going to die in the next 20 years. That is certain. So…
What do I want to leave the ones that bear my name with? That part is pretty simple. I want a force of assholes who will punch people in the face (on my behalf), rather than a bunch of shoulder-shruggers.
I want tough guys involved in any decision. Furthermore, I want Whitey Bulger v. Whitney Cummings. Nobody “needs” that horseshit.
We need boss men back in charge. Is this dude the “Boss”? Probably not, but it’s a start for my children’s future.
Looking at some of these comment threads, no. We apparently cannot have a civil and reasonable discussion about the new administration.
It is and will not be a civil and reasonable administration, so what’s the point?
Regardless of your feelings about the administration, the point is that we need civil discussion to help unite us and reduce polarization.
I find a lot of overlap between people who say “we all need to unite and be peaceful” and “trans people are subhuman and gays shouldn’t be allowed to interact with children.”
I’m not sure the point you are trying to make is
The point is that even I fall for bait sometimes.
It appears he is calling you a savage for trying to have a productive conversation.
And this administration will foster civil discourse? I’m not holding my breath waiting for that
Yeah, I’m not saying they will. But just because they don’t use civil discourse doesn’t give anyone the right to be divisive and hate on others.
Two wrongs don’t equal one right.
So, you are just giving up and gonna sulk about it all?
Yes. Plus I’ll vote. And gripe on chat sites
Unfortunately not. Ad hominem attacks and hasty generalizations that serve to divide seem to be the norm in “discussions” around politics.
It’s sad that some people have hatred or resent towards a person because of a different opinion regarding politics. Some people would rather be divided and throw insults then find common ground (like a love of cars.)
Unfortunately politics trumps cars for some people. It’s gonna be a long 12 years if people are this upset on Day #2.
“Politics trumps cars”
I hope we can appreciate the unexpected unintended pun.
Kind sir, I SALUTE you and your superior intellect!
Should I discuss music with Mark David Chapman?
I’d Imagine that would be a killer conversation.
We must have high tariffs against Canada to wreck their country. Once they are bad off enough, they’ll be begging us to let them become a US state. Once that happens we can freely drive our tanks across the State of Canada and right into Greenland. /s
When the guy who retweets racist conspiracies, is constantly on 4chan, and supports far right german political parties “waves awkwardly,” it isn’t an awkward wave, it’s a nazi salute.
We can only have civil and reasonable discussion when we call things as they are. Do not comply in advance.
Ironically, the “do not comply” folks are the same ones you are speaking against, lol/.
…burdensome and
ideologically motivatedscientifically informed regulations…FIFY
‘Murca doesn’t need no damn sky ants. Stoopid callage boiz.
It’s not, really, since the Green New Deal never happened thanks to bad faith strawman arguments from Republicans. Some of it ended up in the IRA, but the Green New Deal was DOA and could not have caused anything by itself.
There are plenty of arguments against the originally-proposed Green New Deal that didn’t require bad faith.
Yes but were those the arguments used?
I mean, the proposal as written was designed to make everyone to the right of AOC hate some part of it, so I suppose you could argue any of the arguments “were used” or none of them.
I think there’s plenty to blame Republicans for, both in the last administration and now, but the failure of the Green New Deal was bipartisan (and a good thing I might add)
If you Google Green New Deal I think you will find that basically every argument made against it was about things that don’t actually appear in the Green New Deal. There can’t be any meaningful discussion when one side is talking exclusively about things that aren’t being proposed.
I don’t honestly have strong feelings about it one way or another, but I do think it was a microcosm of the disfunction in our current government. The Democrats botched their communication horribly, and the Republicans lied out their asses. I guess it’s nice to know there are some things you can still count on in these interesting times. 😉
When the bill contains a standard lefty wish list of unrelated stuff like jobs guarantees, universal health care, affordable housing pledges, union requirements and so on, you don’t need to exaggerate to find real things to oppose.
Especially when it also explicitly rejects solutions like carbon taxes, geoengineering, nuclear power, and carbon capture.
I recognize that rhetoric like “banning hamburgers” received a lot of air time, but that wasn’t the primary reason the GND went nowhere IMO.
Why would anyone oppose affordable housing, health care, or jobs?
Carbon taxes, geoengineering, nuclear power, and carbon capture are very poor solutions.
The people who pay for others to have those things might oppose them?
Your opinions on the others are your own but I and many others don’t share them.
What people are paying for others to have affordable housing, health care, and jobs? Are you talking about taxes? That pay for shit that you want? You think taxes should only go to your priorities? It doesn’t make sense to you that what benefits others also benefits you?
There is plenty of verifiable data backing up my “opinions.”
I find it difficult to reason with people who think universal healthcare is a “lefty wish”, rather than the global standard for over half a century.
There are times when other people’s stupidity causes me pain, so I try to avoid exposure.
Yes, actually as someone who gets only one vote, I do.
I assure you no one else is voting with my priorities in mind.
Universal health care would be a worse deal for me and most others with health care through through their employer. In fact, it wouldn’t even be close. I lived in Europe under a universal health care system and didn’t find it better than what I had and have in the US.
Feel free to disagree, many do. Vote the way you please, I will also. But also don’t be surprised when things you assume to be self-evident aren’t.
I know I’m gonna regret engaging, but this^^ is either ignorance or straight-up lying.
Communist eastern europe, post-communist eastern europe, (4 different countries in) western europe over many years, those are times and places where I’ve experienced european healthcare, and none of those was in any way inferior to our current (US) healthcare.
Even after 2 decades of living here I still get occasionally baffled/horrified of how shit our healthcare can be. Like I already know the bar is on the ground, but somehow sometimes someone manages to dig a trench and drag it even lower.
And that’s as a man, I know plenty of healthcare horror stories from women that make me feel lucky for my gender.
Don’t know what to tell you man, I’m pretty damn satisfied with the insurance I have now, and I was paying upwards of 50% of my income in taxes in Belgium to support a welfare state I rarely had cause to use.
I’m certainly aware others have had worse experiences or have other priorities than I do but it’s pretty ridiculous to assume that *no one* could possibly find fault in a universal government run system or not think the trade offs are worth it.
If your employer is anything like mine, they are probably covering around 85% of the cost of your healthcare insurance, while you pay the remaining 15% of the cost. Better yet, the 85% employer contribution is compensation that is completely untaxed! Of course you’re happy!
But here’s the thing, though: not everybody gets that deal. For example, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, eight percent of workers covered by an employer plan have a yearly worker contribution of $12,000 or more. Yearly out-of-pocket maximums can vary dramatically. 24% of workers with an employer plan have a yearly out-of-pocket limit in excess of $6,000. Those numbers are easy to swing for those with six-figure incomes, but how affordable would a $12k employee premium contribution or a $6k yearly out of pocket be for somebody raising a family on a $50k income? Now add in other factors: Do you have a wide provider network? Will the insurance actually provide the contracted benefits, or will they weasel out by failing to pre-authorize the treatments prescribed by your doctor? For these reasons and more, it’s safe to say that a vast number of Americans are dissatisfied with the health insurance and healthcare system that we have. Why do you think there was such broad-based acclaim when Luigi did his thing?
Summary of Findings – 10480 | KFF
In every post in this thread I’ve made clear that I’m speaking only about my own experiences and that others may see it differently.
The only thing I’m pushing back against is the idea that universal health care programs are by definition desirable.
Any attempt to get it passed here has to contend with the idea that some 75% of Americans are satisfied with their employer-based coverage, and that we have an extreme aversion to raising taxes for anything, let alone by the amount necessary to fund Medicare for All.
https://www.ahip.org/news/articles/new-poll-strong-majority-of-americans-satisfied-with-employer-provided-health-coverage
https://www.crfb.org/blogs/would-medicare-all-require-middle-class-tax-hike
If there was a majority demanding these changes that’s one thing, but it can’t even clear a Democratic primary in the most left-wing electoral environment in history, let alone a majority of the country at any other time. And in any case, it has nothing to do with a Green New Deal, which was the original point of this thread in the first place.
I was curious about AHIP.org, so I poked around on their website. Here’s their “about AHIP” statement:
“AHIP is the national association whose members provide health care coverage, services, and solutions to hundreds of millions of Americans every day. We are committed to market-based solutions and public-private partnerships that make health care better and to help create a space where coverage is more affordable and accessible for everyone.”
Call me a cynic, but I don’t trust survey results from a lobbying group that admits to being committed to market-based solutions and consists of for-profit healthcare providers.
How about Gallup, as reported by the NYT?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/13/us/elections/health-insurance-polls.html
65% personal satisfaction this year, 81% in another survey last year, despite a much lower rating for “the system” in general. Very analogous to surveys about the economy. “I’m doing great, but the economy is terrible” et al.
Dude, lol. You are never going to convince the “woe is me” crowd.
I tried to speak common sense, it’s of no use. We can’t help the lost this way. They gotta find out on their own.
It’s sad in a way, but also productive.
Well, I disagree with your tax and healthcare priorities almost across the board, but I just want to thank you for having exactly the sort of civil discussions that we need to have about these things.
You’ve done a great job of describing your priorities, the point of view that informs them, etc. without resorting to anything exaggerated, aggressive, etc.
I don’t expect us to all just get along and magically find consensus overnight, but I do think rational, open minded dialog about what motivates our opinions and priorities is incredibly useful.
We can’t count on politicians to help us find common ground, because for the most part it’s in their best interests to keep us polarized. If we want to find any understanding of one another, it’s going to have to be more grass roots.
So, while I’m not immediately swayed by any of your arguments, I appreciate your honesty and rationality.
Thanks for the kind words.
I truly believe that people who resort to making things up, calling names, or using anger to try to win an argument have already lost it, whatever their case may be on the merits.
Absolutely!
P.S. As for the actual topics being discussed, I tend to agree with most “lefty” green goals, but I’ll freely admit that I don’t know the “GND” details well enough to argue for or against it. Even if I personally like a lot of the things you say they bundled into it (like unions and universal healthcare) I don’t like when legislation tries to bundle up a bunch of unrelated things and push them as a package. Let’s debate and legislate the individual issues separately instead of “sneaking” things in where they don’t belong. I’d love to pass green legislation, union legislation, healthcare legislation, etc… but it seems to me like those should be acknowledged as the separate issues they are, not bundled.
I think that finding alternatives to fossil fuel reliance should be an ongoing priority (and done right, it can be a good jobs creator, technology driver, etc.) Even if you’re not swayed by global warming alone, there are plenty of other ways that both burning and extracting fossil fuels creates pollution and damages environments. Not to mention the fact that it is a finite resource which will only get more expensive and more destructive to obtain in the future. But I also think it’s really hard to meet energy needs exclusively with wind, solar, etc. Seems to me like nuclear needs to stay on the table for the foreseeable future.
As for the cars themselves, I think that our recent all-or-nothing attempts to electrify all transport in a ridiculously short timeframe are naive and foolhardy. We can barely maintain our electrical grid infrastructure as it is, so even if we could build out a network of charging stations nationwide that is sufficient to meet people’s driving needs (which already sounds unlikely) we couldn’t possibly generate, much less distribute, that power reliably anytime soon.
Electric cars may well be the future… they seem pretty promising, and I can’t offer a better solution. But if that’s where we’re headed, we need a much more realistic roadmap on how we build ALL of the necessary infrastructure to support them, not just the chargers themselves.
With all due respect, a lot of people are paying taxes for others to benefit from those things, but are opposed to doing so because of excess, abuse, trust – among other reasons. So they vote accordingly, and that’s all one person can do.
Nuclear power is an excellent solution.
I just get the feeling that American Exceptionalism is about to meet the reality of 60 years of Globalization, and that’s going to really suck for us. The current administration and cabinet will be fine. We might be headed down to Hooverville 2.0, this time without the relief of heading down California-way. As that’s probably on fire.
Like the entire plan here is just to declare its 1955 again, get rid of some people, and hope for the best. Really is “Drill, Baby, Drill” going to save this? How many economical viable areas are we currently not drilling, two, maybe three? Is filling the North Slope full of wells really all that helpful? And when the demand for oil happens to be decreasing among traditional first world states.
And if I’m CEO of Global Corp., am I really going to bring manufacturing to the US, with a madman at the wheel. Like the ink just dried on NAFTA 2.0: Free Trade Bugaloo. And we’re all ready talking about 25%, for no apparent reason. And it took about three whole hours from swearing-in before co-headliner of the administration did his tribute to the Roman Empire, twice on live tv.
The whole squad has no cohesiveness. It’s like a Soviet Five Year plan, except they just wrote the summary as “we get all the money” and didn’t get around to the whole plan thing. Americas number one export is going to be corruption, various pump and dump schemes, and screw it, Ponzi schemes are probably legal now. It’s the economic equivalent of letting the inmates run the asylum, and unfortunately we’re the ones who will have to stand in the bread line. Maybe all those melting ice caps can make this entire place a swamp, soon literally and figuratively.
“…and screw it, Ponzi schemes are probably legal now.”
Hahaha as you write this, both Donald Trump and Melania Trump have released their own crypto coins based on nothing but “look, here’s where you dump your money if you want to bribe me and my family!”
I can’t tell if this is real or attempted humor, but I’d suggest this is a bad thing to even mention if you’re going to trivialize it. And given the context of the other bad things, that’s a lot. The video shows it was a Nazi salute. If you’ve ever seen footage from WWII Nazi rallies, you can’t equivocate. There’s no “oops, he did an awkward thing here; his bad.” His filter was off because he was highly dosed on Special K.
The result of the actions being taken since noon yesterday is going to make everyone hate the US.
Every Golden Visa I have seen has doubled in price as of January 1st.
I expect used EVs to depreciate faster and further, while new EVs will get more expensive (and less available). I hope that’s not the case, but I don’t see any way that these moves make used EVs more attractive or new EVs less expensive.
Well, to be fair, the groundswell against Golden Visas has been going on for several years, especially in Portugal, Spain, and a few others. Even Malta is tightening. The notion here isn’t retaliatory, it’s more about protecting real estate values from predatory money. I can’t exactly fault them there. OTOH, Hungary and I think Romania are relaxing some of their rules to make up the difference.
(nerdy aside, but we’re in the process of getting EU dual citizenship through Croatia thanks to my late grandma. It’s a long process, not guaranteed, and not cheap, but definitely cheaper than a Golden Visa…)
My wife is super pissed at me with the Portugal increase from $250k to $500k. I almost could afford the $250k, but no chance in heck at $500k.
Well, then you haven’t seen this one for St. Kitts…it may have risen in certain areas since Covid, but they were desperate then for money. It’s actually cheaper than the pre-era, and it’s arguably the best citizenship offer on the planet.
https://ciu.gov.kn/
That one is $600k for a single residence. Way above my pay grade and net worth.
Well, yeah, if you want to buy a whole ass house in the middle of the Caribbean and live there full-time. That kind of choice is a baller level no one is talking about. lol
During Covid, it was $125,000 to get the passport and the Dual. Now, it’s back to $250,000. Which is what it was before. I believe only Dominica is cheaper. At least down there.
Either way, that gets you visa-free travel to more countries than your US passport.
The point is, is that it hasn’t doubled everywhere, it just rebalanced in many places.
Good point. But, my wife wants out due to an event that happened to her that causes severe PTSD. Easier travel is not enough.
Hmm. That is a dilemma. In that case, Ireland is pretty lax about stuff.It’s not cheap, but it’s pretty bullet-proof if you can prove it.
Actually, if you can get ANY Euro citizenship, you are good to go for living anywhere full-time. There are also a ton of “work-from-home” options all over the world where the requirements are just full-time employment and a salary over $60k US.
This site is a good start:
https://www.globalcitizensolutions.com/get-second-citizenship/
My wife is all over that info. She has been trying to go the WFH in a remote country, but can’t seem to pull it off.
My current concern is that as time goes on, Americans will become less and less welcome outside of the US, making this path less friendly.
I wouldn’t worry about that part so much. The US is still the envy of the world and the monetary standard. Americans won’t be hated any more that we were 20 years ago, and man was the World pissed at us then, lol.
Your best bet is to look at the colonies under the monarchies of either the Dutch or the British. They got shit all over the place, lol
The first places to look would be the BVIs, the USVIs or P.R. Those places are a hop skip and a jump. I think Curaçao (Dutch) also is pretty easy, but I haven’t looked in a while.
Peru is also an excellent choice.
Also, I will add that in many places (like St. Kitts) the money is actually for the house/condo and the citizenship is just the gravy.
So, it’s not $600k for the passport and then you have to buy a place, it’s $600k (or whatever for a condo) for the property and then you just fill out some extra paperwork.
Hope this helps 🙂
I’m aware. My wife is pretty fluent in this right now, while I pay as much attention to not get in trouble. Thanks for the advice, though. There may be others less willing to discuss that we may be helping.
Need a rain coat in here.
“Tesla CEO Elon Musk […] who was seen all over the inauguration furiously and awkwardly waving at people”
Uh, that’s one way to put it, good grief. However, if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, or, rather, honks like a goose and steps like a goose…
He was just trying to show affection. It’s all he knows since that’s how his dad used to hug him.
Ha. Maybe his maternal grandparents as well. Reportedly they were members of the Canadian Nazi party in the 1930s and emigrated to South Africa specifically because they liked the aparthrid system there. Good grief.
what about the “unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor fossil fuels over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase by individuals, private businesses, and government entities alike by rendering other types of vehicles unaffordable”??
If we could have a civil conversation about the new administration, we wouldn’t have this administration. So we’ve got a bit of a catch-22 on our hands.
This, exactly this comment.
The important lesson that the Trump Campaign seized on and the Democrats seem to have forgotten, is that people tend to hate inflation more than they hate unemployment.
While reading that sentence, it occurred to me: unemployment is something that happens to someone else, while inflation affects me.
That’s it right there, that level of selfishness.
I’m old enough to remember the economy that the Republicans left Obama in 2008, now THAT was a bad economy. Unemployment way up, the stock market down, and people losing their homes.
Apparently the young male 18-29 demo (which flipped drastically from D to R in Trump’s two attempts) are exactly the sort of people to have little or no memory of the Great Recession.
The older I get, the more scared I am that people under 30 and over 70 are largely deciding the fate of all of us. Tongue in cheek, but also for real.
Holy crap, I haven’t seen you in a long time. Glad to see you here!
It reminded me of an editorial cartoon from the early ’80s recession, when the unemployment rate had spiked to double-digits because Paul Volcker’s Fed had boosted interest rates (also to double-digits) to fight inflation. It depicted a newscaster at his desk with a caption that read “Surveys have found that 87.3 percent of the population can live with 12.7 percent unemployment.”
When I see politicians bragging about unemployment numbers these days, I think of the line: “There are so many jobs, I’m working three of them!”. Low unemployment doesn’t mean much when the jobs don’t pay people enough to live off of.
I was talking to an auto factory worker recently and he talked about how his Grandfather was able to support his family with 1 factory job. For his parents, they both worked and had a good standard of living. Now him and his spouse both work multiple jobs and still can’t keep their heads above water.
Neither party is interesting in solving this by the way.
A good question for that factory worker (or anyone) is to compare how many TVs, how many boats, how many square feet of residence, how many cable channels, and how many square feet of tattoos he owns or hopes to own vs the same things for his grandfather. I’m not being facetious, but I very much suspect that virtually everyone two generations removed is a FAR greater consumer of material “needs” than their grandparents were.
“Neither party is interesting in solving this by the way.”
It’s this both-sides-do-it defeatism that allows rule by the billionaires, rule by the Republicans possible.
Look, the Democrats aren’t perfect, but there is one major political party that is highly supportive of raising the minimum wage, raising the collective bargaining power or unions over management, and eliminating the parasitic middlemen that is health insurance-for-profit and replacing it with something a lot more reasonable, like Medicare For All. And if someone asks the boilerplate-dumb kneejerk question of “How Will We Ever Pay For It?!?” The answer is this: with only part of the $25,572 that every family pays in average health insurance premiums to private insurance already, and then Americans can keep the rest. Where does everyone think the record profits health insurers are making is coming from? Sparkles and fairy dust?
I don’t know about y’all, but I’d rather be employed in an environment with a higher rate of inflation, than un-employed in a lower inflation environment. Who can’t figure that out? I guess that critical thinking skills are on the decline. It’s a good thing that the new administration isn’t looking to de-prioritize education. What’s that? They want to eliminate the Department of Education? We’re screwed.
“Can we have a discussion about the new Trump Administration that’s civil and reasonable?”
When the Trump Administration and its supporters refuse to be civil and reasonable at literally every turn, I don’t know why we should bother.
A real racist idiot.
Gulf of America? JFC!
I love hasty generalizations that serve to paint every single supporter of a party as dumb. This definitely helps unifying our divided nation.
I don’t know where you saw the word “dumb,” but now that you mention it…
Now that you mention it, they are pretty fucking stupid as well. Thanks for educating me.
You can’t play it both ways, because the activity you describe is exactly what Trump has done for the better part of a decade.
I’m not going to pretend that Trump hasn’t done the described things. He has. But the point is that hasty generalizations are wrong and divisive, and that no one should do them even if one person or party has.
Just because Trump has divisive rhetoric doesn’t excuse divisive rhetoric from someone who dislikes him or his supporters.
Trump voters are either ignorant rubes or actively selfish and bigoted, and at this point I don’t care which it is.
I can see you are very tolerant of people with different opinions . It’s not right to say that about every Trump voter, and it’s not right to say those things about Kamala supporters. At the end of the day, the majority of voters are your everyday person who wants what’s best for their country. No side’s supporters are some sub-human amber-turn-signal hating bigot.
I’m not tolerant of bigots whatever their reasons, no. Glad we cleared that up.
Ha! Boy, did you nail the biggest adjectives.
If you actively, on a daily basis, interacted with “Trump Voters” your tune would change. I live among and around “them” 24/7.
These are good people that want safety for their families, a good school, rational faith, and enough money to live.
If “you” are kind to “them”, “they” will do the same in return for “you”. It’s not that complicated.
The problem here is that “you” are making it difficult.
Someone who is kind to me but hateful to strangers for being gay/trans/brown etc is not a kind person. Someone who thinks climate change isn’t real and vaccines are a scam is an idiot. Someone who will vote for a bigot because they think it will make them slightly better off financially is evil. Thanks for playing.
Playing? Who’s playing? I’m trying to help you off the ledge, lol.
What you are imagining (and writing) is not real. It’s nothing like that. It’s only real if you decide that fiction is non-fiction.
Get a grip, bro. lol
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/21/president-donald-trump-executive-orders-list
Yup definitely not happening. And ignore the literal Nazi salute given by Musk at the inauguration. These people have showed me who they were time and time again, I’m done giving anyone the benefit of the doubt.
Why are you so obsessed with a mentally challenged gazillionaire? Do you know him? Does he call you at home?
You are more than free (kinda the point) to think what you want, but where you are going is delusional.
Most of those EOs are proper. Some are dumb, just like how Biden pardoned the DR. That shit is crazy.
There is no tangible difference in either parties policy, other than where the money is directed.
On a personal level, there is a HUGE difference in the state of one’s mental health if one fails to see this.
It’ll all be fine. Promise 🙂
I get it, you voted for Trump and want to pretend it wasn’t evil and that everything is gonna be fine. I hope you realize the error of your ways someday.
I didn’t vote for Trump, lol. At the end of the day, though, those folks are more right than the other hooligans are wrong.
Them’s the brass tacks. Nothing evil is going on. Other then you have lost your marbles.
….he doesn’t know that American manufacturers make cars in Canada and Mexico, does he?
He doesn’t know shit from shinola.
Even Navin Johnson knows the difference!
https://youtu.be/rDXN7T3-Jrg?si=Vk05TTYOdr6OfvTH
I’ll stick to the Mexico/Canada tariffs … so much of that would be in how the law (or executive order) is worded. Is it any vehicle with final assembly in said countries? A percentage of components manufactured in said countries and assembled in said countries? Parts and fully assembled vehicles? Are there bizarre loopholes making manufacturers ship subassemblies to a second location before final assembly to avoid the tariff?
None of these outcomes even with careful wording are good outcomes from a consumer choice perspective. Then amount of vehicles and parts manufactured in Canada and Mexico that are sold or used in the US is sizeable at minimum.
The thing I don’t get is there doesn’t seem to be a clear list of demands from the administration to avoid the tariffs. I’d understand more if the demand was “put 10% of your GDP toward fighting the drug trade and tightening your borders” … but there’s nothing clear or at least not clearly reported. Has anybody seen anything that lists specific demands to avoid tariffs on vehicles and/or parts?
If he was actually trying to solve the problem, then a conversation with those countries’ officials would be were to start – but that’s probably not really what’s going on, right?
And when the problem isn’t “illegal immigrants” bringing drugs over (because obviously it isn’t if you stop to think for a second) but rather US citizens primarily doing the smuggling, then again, there isn’t really a conversation to be had. It’s all posturing to distract from real problems by making up fake solutions.
he’s really good at giving his fanbase the speech and answers they’re looking for.
Most of them don’t even know there have been walls between Mexico and the US for decades, nor do they know illegal drugs keep passing through because there’s an all-time high demand from guess who? American citizens.
Cars “made” in Canada, and I think that means final assembly:
The two markets have been intertwined for decades. Content stickers on used cars lump US and Canada made parts together.
Cars “made” in Canada, and I think that means final assembly:
The two markets have been intertwined for decades. Content labels on new car cars lump US and Canada made parts together.
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
“You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Comes to mind frequently.
It saddens me that a sufficient percentage of humanity is quite comfortable never questioning their beliefs or understanding. The advent of the internet held a great promise of democratizing education, and I considered it the modern library at Alexandria. It quickly got corrupted, but you can still find incredible resources much faster now. Social Media on the other hand, seems like a net detractor.
To quote a conspiracy podcast I listen to; “we weren’t ready for the internet”. As you say, we hold nearly all of humanity’s information in our pockets, but it seems 49.9% of Americans couldn’t be arsed to pull it out and look.
Or they will pull it out and look until they find something that agrees with them. The problem with the availability of the internet is the difficulty of distinguishing good sources from bad. We don’t teach media literacy and it shows.
Yep, a lot of people will literally search till they find something, anything, that agrees with any biases/preconceived notions they have about a subject and then declare whatever they found as fact. The irony is that a lot of those people are the same ones who told us growing up (I’m 31) to not believe everything we read on the internet. And now you’ve got older (hell, younger too) folks falling for even the most ridiculously fake AI pictures and stories. The goal of finding more information shouldn’t be to confirm your biases but to more fully understand the situation. And it’s okay to say “I don’t know enough about this topic to have an informed opinion.”
Yeah, my parents were incredibly leery of the internet back in the 90s (and my mother is still very afraid of computer viruses), but they now parrot all sorts of easily disproven crap because they started using the internet but never learned how to evaluate sources.
And I know folks that grew up with Wikipedia who were told it wasn’t an acceptable source in high school. They weren’t told that the sources cited by Wikipedia could be checked out and used, or that Wikipedia articles are generally well-researched. As a result, a lot of people were taught to skip an excellent starting point and flounder about with inconsistent and unvetted search engine results.
With regards to Wiki; I’ve always taken the Francis Galton “wisdom of crowds” philosophy. He observed at a livestock show that while no one guessed a bull’s exact weight, the mean of the guesses was right. So while one person can ruin a Wiki entry, there might be 3 more ready and willing to fix it.
Oh, they look. But if all you ever look at is “Truth” Social then you’re not going to learn anything useful.
No one of any consequence is on that site, lol