I know this is not the point of your writing but, what these three are perpetuating is a massive stock manipulation. He as much admitted it when talking about Charles Schwab and another person were with him in the Oval Office. Congress won’t investigate because members of his party in Congress are in on it. America is being pillaged right in front of our eyes.
Trump is a renowned liar who often doesn't seem to know what the truth is. Why is it that people often cite him as a source when he says something they agree with?
I agree with you, whole heartedly. It was all a massive grift, never mind the damage to bonds and the dollar, our now teetering standing in the world, and the global economy. I'm hopeful that there is a long statute of limitations on insider trading scams so that Trump, et al. will add one more indictment (conviction?) to his rap sheet. China is going to kick our ass, shame Trump, and cost American consumers dearly. Watch closely what Don, Jr. and Eric have done in the last week with respect to getting in on the grift. Also, isn't it interesting that Trump fired the head of the SEC just before all this chaos ensued?
The man is INSANE…and is dragging everyone around him into his circle of insanity by demanding absolute fealty to his every whim, including the most impactful and important governmental departments and branches that have sway over just about everything ; Congress, Justice Dept, the Pentagon, the HHS, the SEC, IRS and on and on. He’s a Neanderthal, swinging his axe over his head, with the rest of us trying to get out of the way. When will someone invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office???
Then we get Vance, who is equally unfit, though in a different way. Jerry Weiss, on his substack "Feathers of Hope", advocated for a different approach he called "Remove Impeach Impeach". Simply put, it means first replacing Speaker Johnson with a moderate Republican. This necessitates Dems in the house carefully working to bring over enough Republicans so they can vote in a moderate as Speaker. There is a pile of evidence of malfeasance and crime to jointly impeach Trump and Vance. The Senate is close enough now, and enough Republican senators speaking against Trump that a finding of guilty is feasible. Especially if the Speaker, who would then become presisent, is a responsible moderate Republican. This is why Jerry recommends starting with that position first.
Jerry passed away a couple of weeks ago from cancer, but to the last he urged people to take this approach. It would reset the stage. When I first heard about this, I thought it was pie-in-the-sky, but as I watched the dynamics in Congress, I realized that this is a real possibility that may be unfolding right now.
We can help by calling to encourage our Dems in Congress to work with moderate Republicans on replacing Speaker Johnson to ensure that the 3rd in line is someone rational and responsible. I don't think that will be a heavy lift: Johnson is already incapable of managing his caucus.
Once one bows to Trump, they lose their integrity & people lose respect for them, & trust. All the money in the world won’t buy it back. But it appears that too many prefer money to reputation.
Thanks for the video with Mark. Y'all are so correct about universities kowtowing to Trump. Why would they do such a thing? He hates "the life of the mind," demeaning those who try to think deeply. I will be waiting to see what my alma mater does--it has been targeted. Cowboy up, y'all, because you can win. I think of the teenagers in Montana (Held v. State of Montana) who said the state constitution guarantees them to a clean environment--talk about guts! and standing up to a pinheaded Republican!
The capitulation of some (previously?) prestigious universities is very, very sobering. I hope the reasons why will be investigated in future. Money has to be part of it: those grants are lucrative, sustain departments, and employ many people. Is the focus on STEM in recent decades and the de-emphasis on the humanities a factor? What's the academic background of the top administrators?
Control of what is published has to be another part of it. Compared to the trillion-dollar/year spent on the military, I would think that the far better investment on research at universities would be less, but perhaps I'm wrong.
Interesting question! I also wonder how much of the subsidized research at universities is directly or indirectly related to defense one way or another. When I was a college undergrad (1969–1974), the connections were many.
Hence underfunding public education and getting rid of civics education....I have teenagers and I guarantee you most of their friends (who aren't stupid) know the three branches of government but NOT how they are supposed to work. If Trump prevails, they will need to know only one.
On the one hand, we have a twice impeached, criminally indicted, psychotic thug, a traitor who has gone unpunished for attempting a violent coup, a mad clown who is unleashing chaos and suffering to feed his insatiably voracious ego, a snake-oil salesman who is driving markets up and down at whim in order to grift on a scale that would beggar Croesus, a fascist who is snatching people off the street and spiriting them away to foreign prisons, a conman who is cancelling science while issuing open threats to the press and universities, a lackey who has compromised our security and is in thrall to a foreign dictator,... the list goes on an on. And yet: we still do not have a united opposition to speak with one voice against the insanity and to lead the way in overthrowing this grotesque regime.
If we do not act, we will be complicit in our own destruction.
I don't think what the orange sadist did was from insanity (though he is insane, IMO). He played us. Raise tariffs insanely high; crash the stock market; tell people/his billionaire friends to "Buy!"; then 4 hours later cancel the tariffs; stock market zooms. End result: billionaires become billions and billions of dollars richer.
Yes, although it was not so much the stock market that caused the U-Turn. It was the bond market. Normally during downturns bond market yields are down because there are lots of buyers wanting into the ‘safe haven.’ The bond market hasn’t been acting like that and then it spiked.
That means fewer investors trusted the bond market which represents a lack of confidence in the US economy & US government. That spooked Lutnick & Bessent who went to the Orange Menace with dire warnings.
I don’t believe he has ever remarked on the bond market before. He may not care about all of that — except it causes interest rates to rise. That increases the interest payments on the debt. The foreign countries he’s squeezing with tariffs own a lot of our debt through the bond market.
When the bond market crashes it is a sign that the global economy is heading that way. Even billionaires don’t want that.
Well, it is about all I understand about it 😊 Amazing he thinks they have to take what he is dishing out. Forbes is among those warning that foreign markets which operate after the US markets close show a lot of activity.
Like a dufus DJT said China’s economy is weak & they don’t have ‘cards’. Forbes thinks they have “cards”. From Forbes, April 9th —
“Just this week, the U.S. imposed a 125% tariff on Chinese goods, intensifying already fraught trade tensions. Hours later, the yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped from 4.1% to 4.5% — and it didn’t happen during U.S. trading hours. It happened in the dark, between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. ET, when Beijing was open for business.” —
Here is a graphic showing the largest foreign nations which are ‘owners’ of US debt.
Can't China just call in the nearly trillion-dollar debt which we owe them? Seems like that would show the orange sadist exactly who's boss. (I WISH I understood economics. I skipped that course in college. It seemed boring.)
Yes, so could Japan & others who hold sizable amounts of treasuries. I don’t think they want to tank the global economy & sink with it. It would be an epic disaster.
But Xi might like destabilizing the US bond market to make the Orange Menace back off while working to build new trade partnerships. A lot of prospects now that the US made it so expensive to export to us. This is the tone China is using toward the trump administration.
"You gotta trust Donald Trump in the White House...Let Donald Trump fix the American economy." In the words of the not-so-cowardly Lion: NO WAY, NO HOW!!
I want to see more law firms, universities, media agencies etc "team together" against this bullying fool. It's appalling that the avant-garde of the opposition are smaller firms, independent media and We the People.
I agree. Its instant profit for the insiders every time the market yoyos yet the bond are now ill and that is worse for the value of the dollar and its use as the world's base currency. If that changes to the Chinese yuan, every country will quickly demand payment of our debt which we can;t do unless China buys our dollars. They have the money to buy a lot of it because our companies have been using them for decades to make the goods we are buying because their labor is cheaper. Trump is flirting with Communist China buy our bonds and US in the process. Congratulations to the MAGA (Make Americans Gullible Again) idiots who worried more about the price of eggs than the future of their freedom and national and economic security
Yes, I’m not sure he’s ever paid attention to the bond market before. I am certain he paid attention when Lutnick and Bessent both went to him and explained if the bond market continues this way interest on the debt increases & then when the bond market collapses it will be followed by the global economy. They know it is a vote of no confidence in US businesses / economy & government for yields to climb like that.
Here is a graphic of the biggest ‘holders’ of US debt.
I know this is not the point of your writing but, what these three are perpetuating is a massive stock manipulation. He as much admitted it when talking about Charles Schwab and another person were with him in the Oval Office. Congress won’t investigate because members of his party in Congress are in on it. America is being pillaged right in front of our eyes.
Yes, even the erudite Marjorie Taylor Greene has bought stock. You are correct. It's just another of the con man's schemes to enrich himself.
Trump is a renowned liar who often doesn't seem to know what the truth is. Why is it that people often cite him as a source when he says something they agree with?
I agree with you, whole heartedly. It was all a massive grift, never mind the damage to bonds and the dollar, our now teetering standing in the world, and the global economy. I'm hopeful that there is a long statute of limitations on insider trading scams so that Trump, et al. will add one more indictment (conviction?) to his rap sheet. China is going to kick our ass, shame Trump, and cost American consumers dearly. Watch closely what Don, Jr. and Eric have done in the last week with respect to getting in on the grift. Also, isn't it interesting that Trump fired the head of the SEC just before all this chaos ensued?
Tristan Snell has pointed out that the NY AG has the authority to investigate insider trading on New York stock exchanges. Let's hope she does!
The man is INSANE…and is dragging everyone around him into his circle of insanity by demanding absolute fealty to his every whim, including the most impactful and important governmental departments and branches that have sway over just about everything ; Congress, Justice Dept, the Pentagon, the HHS, the SEC, IRS and on and on. He’s a Neanderthal, swinging his axe over his head, with the rest of us trying to get out of the way. When will someone invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office???
Then we get Vance, who is equally unfit, though in a different way. Jerry Weiss, on his substack "Feathers of Hope", advocated for a different approach he called "Remove Impeach Impeach". Simply put, it means first replacing Speaker Johnson with a moderate Republican. This necessitates Dems in the house carefully working to bring over enough Republicans so they can vote in a moderate as Speaker. There is a pile of evidence of malfeasance and crime to jointly impeach Trump and Vance. The Senate is close enough now, and enough Republican senators speaking against Trump that a finding of guilty is feasible. Especially if the Speaker, who would then become presisent, is a responsible moderate Republican. This is why Jerry recommends starting with that position first.
Jerry passed away a couple of weeks ago from cancer, but to the last he urged people to take this approach. It would reset the stage. When I first heard about this, I thought it was pie-in-the-sky, but as I watched the dynamics in Congress, I realized that this is a real possibility that may be unfolding right now.
We can help by calling to encourage our Dems in Congress to work with moderate Republicans on replacing Speaker Johnson to ensure that the 3rd in line is someone rational and responsible. I don't think that will be a heavy lift: Johnson is already incapable of managing his caucus.
Once one bows to Trump, they lose their integrity & people lose respect for them, & trust. All the money in the world won’t buy it back. But it appears that too many prefer money to reputation.
Thanks for the video with Mark. Y'all are so correct about universities kowtowing to Trump. Why would they do such a thing? He hates "the life of the mind," demeaning those who try to think deeply. I will be waiting to see what my alma mater does--it has been targeted. Cowboy up, y'all, because you can win. I think of the teenagers in Montana (Held v. State of Montana) who said the state constitution guarantees them to a clean environment--talk about guts! and standing up to a pinheaded Republican!
The capitulation of some (previously?) prestigious universities is very, very sobering. I hope the reasons why will be investigated in future. Money has to be part of it: those grants are lucrative, sustain departments, and employ many people. Is the focus on STEM in recent decades and the de-emphasis on the humanities a factor? What's the academic background of the top administrators?
Control of what is published has to be another part of it. Compared to the trillion-dollar/year spent on the military, I would think that the far better investment on research at universities would be less, but perhaps I'm wrong.
Interesting question! I also wonder how much of the subsidized research at universities is directly or indirectly related to defense one way or another. When I was a college undergrad (1969–1974), the connections were many.
I forgot about how we protested back in the VN war about that very issue!
"I love the poorly educated!" February, 2016 The people cheered. And I got chills.
Hence underfunding public education and getting rid of civics education....I have teenagers and I guarantee you most of their friends (who aren't stupid) know the three branches of government but NOT how they are supposed to work. If Trump prevails, they will need to know only one.
Why do people give their lunch money to bullies? Survival. They think it will buy them time for the bully to pick on someone else.
Universities make their name on research. It’s a big part of attracting other grants, endowments, students.
On the one hand, we have a twice impeached, criminally indicted, psychotic thug, a traitor who has gone unpunished for attempting a violent coup, a mad clown who is unleashing chaos and suffering to feed his insatiably voracious ego, a snake-oil salesman who is driving markets up and down at whim in order to grift on a scale that would beggar Croesus, a fascist who is snatching people off the street and spiriting them away to foreign prisons, a conman who is cancelling science while issuing open threats to the press and universities, a lackey who has compromised our security and is in thrall to a foreign dictator,... the list goes on an on. And yet: we still do not have a united opposition to speak with one voice against the insanity and to lead the way in overthrowing this grotesque regime.
If we do not act, we will be complicit in our own destruction.
I don't think what the orange sadist did was from insanity (though he is insane, IMO). He played us. Raise tariffs insanely high; crash the stock market; tell people/his billionaire friends to "Buy!"; then 4 hours later cancel the tariffs; stock market zooms. End result: billionaires become billions and billions of dollars richer.
Yes, although it was not so much the stock market that caused the U-Turn. It was the bond market. Normally during downturns bond market yields are down because there are lots of buyers wanting into the ‘safe haven.’ The bond market hasn’t been acting like that and then it spiked.
That means fewer investors trusted the bond market which represents a lack of confidence in the US economy & US government. That spooked Lutnick & Bessent who went to the Orange Menace with dire warnings.
I don’t believe he has ever remarked on the bond market before. He may not care about all of that — except it causes interest rates to rise. That increases the interest payments on the debt. The foreign countries he’s squeezing with tariffs own a lot of our debt through the bond market.
When the bond market crashes it is a sign that the global economy is heading that way. Even billionaires don’t want that.
Very good information to have. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain it to me!
Well, it is about all I understand about it 😊 Amazing he thinks they have to take what he is dishing out. Forbes is among those warning that foreign markets which operate after the US markets close show a lot of activity.
Like a dufus DJT said China’s economy is weak & they don’t have ‘cards’. Forbes thinks they have “cards”. From Forbes, April 9th —
“Just this week, the U.S. imposed a 125% tariff on Chinese goods, intensifying already fraught trade tensions. Hours later, the yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped from 4.1% to 4.5% — and it didn’t happen during U.S. trading hours. It happened in the dark, between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. ET, when Beijing was open for business.” —
Here is a graphic showing the largest foreign nations which are ‘owners’ of US debt.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-top-20-countries-holding-the-most-u-s-debt/
Can't China just call in the nearly trillion-dollar debt which we owe them? Seems like that would show the orange sadist exactly who's boss. (I WISH I understood economics. I skipped that course in college. It seemed boring.)
Yes, so could Japan & others who hold sizable amounts of treasuries. I don’t think they want to tank the global economy & sink with it. It would be an epic disaster.
But Xi might like destabilizing the US bond market to make the Orange Menace back off while working to build new trade partnerships. A lot of prospects now that the US made it so expensive to export to us. This is the tone China is using toward the trump administration.
— China's Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said today: 'Even if the U.S. continues to impose higher tariffs, it will no longer make economic sense and will become a joke in the history of world economy.' — https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14598389/Chinese-meme-machine-mocks-Trump-JD-Vance-AI-videos-factory-workers-Xi-Jinping-calls-Europe-join-forces-China-against-US-amid-tariffs-war.html
"You gotta trust Donald Trump in the White House...Let Donald Trump fix the American economy." In the words of the not-so-cowardly Lion: NO WAY, NO HOW!!
Oleaginous - perfect descriptor for Lutnick! 😉
Stock manipulation
Pretty much everything he does bears the taint of illegality. It's monstrous.
Great post, Steve.
I’m somewhat of an optimist. If we survive the chaos and deliberate destruction, he puts paid to the “put a businessman in the White House” fallacy.
Absolutely right, Steve. No one is invincible, if people unite in action.
But we must keep moving forward, through deeds, not just words.
https://open.substack.com/pub/albellenchia/p/whats-next?r=7wk5d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
And god bless Jamie Raskin, Adam Schiff and other Dems for pushing to investigate what certainly smells of insider trading.
I want to see more law firms, universities, media agencies etc "team together" against this bullying fool. It's appalling that the avant-garde of the opposition are smaller firms, independent media and We the People.
Who will tell the Emperor he has no clothes?
I agree. Its instant profit for the insiders every time the market yoyos yet the bond are now ill and that is worse for the value of the dollar and its use as the world's base currency. If that changes to the Chinese yuan, every country will quickly demand payment of our debt which we can;t do unless China buys our dollars. They have the money to buy a lot of it because our companies have been using them for decades to make the goods we are buying because their labor is cheaper. Trump is flirting with Communist China buy our bonds and US in the process. Congratulations to the MAGA (Make Americans Gullible Again) idiots who worried more about the price of eggs than the future of their freedom and national and economic security
Yes, I’m not sure he’s ever paid attention to the bond market before. I am certain he paid attention when Lutnick and Bessent both went to him and explained if the bond market continues this way interest on the debt increases & then when the bond market collapses it will be followed by the global economy. They know it is a vote of no confidence in US businesses / economy & government for yields to climb like that.
Here is a graphic of the biggest ‘holders’ of US debt.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-top-20-countries-holding-the-most-u-s-debt/