quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
I liked the Tucker - Treasury interview. Some eye opening points.

Secretary Scott Bessent definitely has his act together. Go take a look at a few Janet Yellen interviews after watching the Tucker interview of Bessent. You'll sleep a bit easier. The guy definitely has his act together.

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:

Chuck Schumer used the $5,000 number in a speech on the Senate floor.

Use this phrase to search:

"Chuck Schumer says tarrifs will cost $5,000 per person"

And you believe Chuckles?

Try this for his level of truthfulness, right from the horse's anus:



Or this headline from January 5, 2025:

quote:

Huffpost.com: Chuck Schumer Denies Misleading Public About Biden's Decline Despite Watching Proof On-Air
Schumer was confronted Sunday on NBC with footage in which he decried the idea of President Biden's cognitive decline as "right-wing propaganda."

And you believe anything that spews from that GDCs pie hole?

ETA: And the only way you pay $5K in costs due to tariffs is is you buy foreign made goods.

Back to tariffs. South Korea now sees an opportunity to go low or zero tariff. That will make Samsung more competitive than Apple, which makes everything in China. The more China holds out, the less competitive they will be.

China forces US and European companies to build factories in China to sell in China because tariffs and distribution costs essentially double the cost of anything imported. And many are Joint Ventures with Chinese companies that steal our I.P. and after a while will not need us anymore.

Maybe Japan will follow on cars because we really don't make much that fits their market (has to be right hand drive and small) so there isn't much to lose. But they will lose sales on cars still made in Japan.

Trump did this at the beginning of the 2nd quarter so the overseas companies can see the immediate effects on their cost of business and bottom line, but have time to make a deal and recover enough by the end of the quarter. They simply cannot have a quarter with 25% higher cost, they will all be in the red and their stock prices will tank.

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:

Talk to the senior officers and enlisted to see whether any senior military leader is competent, not cadets.

I have. Few have confidence in the SecDef. An E-9 described him as the LT in Vietnam who would have been fragged

I am a DoD contractor. Without exception, everyone I know in uniform and civilian service is of the same opinion: Hegseth is the breath of fresh air the DoD has needed since Bush(43) and Powell got us into an unnecessary war in Iraq.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
No no no. HE TALKED TO AN E9!!!!!

One that in true lefty fashion seemed to be more interested in killing one of their own than the enemy. Likely, a senior NCO that thinks killing officers they disagree with is somehow ok should never be in a position of power. (If that mysterious E9 actually exists. I’d say this is another CNN-esque “high ranking source speaking on the condition of anonymity”)

Sounds like he talked to Command Sergeant Major Tim Walz of the Minnesota National Guard.

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:
No being triggered. An observation

I got a first hand report from a number of midshipmen after Hegseth gave a talk at USNA last week. All of them had a common comment that he is grossly under qualified and clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing

Incredibly weak, and you know it. It tells us nothing of substance. Exactly why is he under qualified? Because he wants to make the military ready for its core mission, and not focus on social engineering?

quote:

Kennedy is a lunatic. That was a clear observation and unanimous from an earlier thread

Emotionally driven comment. "Clear and unanimous"? Again, you know it's not true. Wanting to MAHA makes him a lunatic? Wanting to hold Big Pharma accountable makes him a lunatic?
Believing the covid jab has done untold harm makes him a lunatic? I don't agree with him on everything, but calling him a lunatic is ridiculous.

How about the rest of the "incompetent" Cabinet? Except Rubio, of course. You called them out. So, defend your case, please.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...aOAAiKkC9f681mxGY%3D

Senate Passes Trump’s Agenda Budget Blueprint After Late-Night Voting Session

The resolution now heads to the House, where there are already warning signs that the blueprint could face hurdles.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate in the early morning hours of April 5 approved the budget blueprint to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda after a marathon voting session.

Under the rules of the reconciliation process, which is being used to pass the sweeping package, all amendments must be considered—leading to voting sessions that last well into the night, known as a “vote-a-rama.”

This time was no different, as the long vote series began in the evening on April 4 and continued into the early hours of Saturday. Lawmakers finally advanced the resolution in a 51-48 vote, which fell mostly party lines, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky both voting against.

The all-night session included votes on Democratic amendments that targeted Trump’s tariffs, the potential impact of the budget bill on the federal deficit, and seeking to limit tax cuts for the wealthy in the bill. They all failed.

With its passage by the Senate, the budget resolution—which resulted from weeks of bicameral negotiations—heads to the House.

Both chambers will need to pass the measure to move on to the next stage of the reconciliation process.

There are already warning signs in the lower chamber, where House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) oversees a slim and ideologically diverse Republican conference, that the Senate blueprint could face hurdles.

What’s Included

The budget blueprint was unveiled by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on April 2.
Most of its provisions aligned with what was expected from the package, including tax policy, federal funding for energy, defense, and the border, and spending cuts.

Its centerpiece is making permanent the income tax cuts included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which are currently set to expire this year.

Under the Byrd Rule, nothing in a reconciliation bill can be made permanent if it would cost the government money after a decade.

To align with this rule, Graham declared his authority to use “current policy” as the baseline to calculate the bill’s long-term impact.

This standard has been questioned by some as unrealistic and the use of current policy could still face a challenge by the Senate parliamentarian.
Aside from that, the package includes instructions for how much funding each chamber should provide for various purposes. At this stage in the process, those numbers are still allowed to differ to provide each chamber flexibility in drafting the legislation.

The bill orders the Senate to put up $150 billion for defense, while the House is ordered to provide $100 billion.

It also calls on the House and Senate to allocate $90 billion and $175 billion, respectively, for homeland security. Speaking in support of the bill on the floor, Graham said this funding would be used to reduce the influx of fentanyl, finish the border wall, and provide more detention bed space for deportees.

The Senate is ordered to find $4 trillion in spending cuts, while that figure is $1.5 trillion for the House. However, it’s likely that the House version will ultimately include steeper cuts of at least $2 trillion.

Medicaid

At the start of the reconciliation process, Republicans became divided over the inclusion of a provision ordering the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to find at least $880 billion in cuts—an amount that would all but necessitate cuts to the Medicaid program.
That issue has already been the rallying point of Democrats’ opposition to the package.

In a floor speech against the resolution, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said it would “eviscerate Medicaid.”

Concerns about the budget’s impact on Medicaid have also circulated among moderate Republicans.

For some purple district Republicans—particularly those in states like New York and California—any cuts to the entitlement could be political suicide.

Ultimately, these critics consented to the passage of an earlier draft of the resolution that included the clause, but have indicated that they may not support steep cuts in the final product.

Debt Ceiling

A clause related to the debt ceiling could also cause headaches in passing the bill through the House.
The debt ceiling describes the top amount of debt the federal government can take on. For many Republicans with a focus on the national debt, these measures are inherently unpopular.

The Senate resolution instructs the House to raise the amount by $4 trillion, and permits a raise of up to $5 trillion in the Senate version.

In the Senate, this was less of an issue, being a dealbreaker only for Paul. However, in the House, the $5 trillion top line could pose greater challenges.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told The Epoch Times this makes the legislation “dead on arrival” in the House, saying that members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus wouldn’t accept such a pricey increase.

What’s Next

The passage of the resolution marks another step in the lengthy reconciliation process.
To unlock the process, both chambers of Congress must pass an identical blueprint. The Senate resolution, which now goes to the House for consideration, resulted from weeks of negotiations between the two chambers.

With 220 seats to Democrats’ 213, House Republicans can spare just three defections and still pass the budget—a tall order for a package that could alienate both moderate Republicans and conservatives for different reasons.

Should the blueprint pass the House, work will be sent to committees to draft the legislation.

The final package passed by both chambers must be identical to make it to Trump’s desk.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
And you believe anything that spews from that GDCs pie hole?

ETA: And the only way you pay $5K in costs due to tariffs is is you buy foreign made goods.

Dood, I don't think anybody here believes anything that comes out of the fucker's mouth.

The point is that it's on MSM for the lemmings to hear. It needs to be rebutted forcefully, loudly and solidly. And not by party but by industry and the middle class.

When this fucker says "we didn't mislead Americans," Americans need to be shouting back "yes you did" and get this fucker to shut the fuck up.

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:

Talk to the senior officers and enlisted to see whether any senior military leader is competent, not cadets.

I have. Few have confidence in the SecDef. An E-9 described him as the LT in Vietnam who would have been fragged

We get it. You don’t like Trump but that doesn’t mean you get to say BS like that either.

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:
Who here actually believes the Cabinet heads are competent to lead the departments they have be nominated and put in place for?

I do.

So far, in varying degrees, I think they all are "competent" to lead their departments, including Hegseth, someone you seem to have a grievance with. Kennedy, Gabbard, Homan, Noem, Rubio, Patel, yes, all of them are great so far. But like many other jobs in life, it will take time, certainly more than 75 days to completely judge their performance because most reasonable thinking people know that to turn this country around will take more than mere months. But leaders like Noem, Homan, Hegseth have done more good for this country in 75 days than their predecessors did in four years.

But if you have some better ideas, maybe try to see Trump in the WH and give him your recommendations for doing a better job in cabinet selection.

snwghst, yes, you're entitled to your opinion, but you already know that, and something else you know is the kind of reaction your post would elicit, so don't act surprised.

That's the end of it. Let's move on.

What is the bar for considering cabinet members competent?
If you are comparing them to the Biden cabinet, all of Trump's picks are relative geniuses compared to the brain dead leftist hacks Biden selected. Not only that but they are actually doing things to help the country. The big Biden initiatives undertaken by his cabinet were Trans rights, Green scams and Iranian appeasement.

Guys, I said let's move on.

Has this assclown ever been right on anything? I really don’t think so


https://x.com/collinrugg/statu...583445191942478?s=46

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Guys, I said let's move on.

Thank you.

So the budget... the $4 trillion and the $2 trillion. Where do the DOGE cutbacks and clawbacks of funds come into this?


And clearly, there is a lot more fat to trim outta this pig.

Edited. Apologies Para I didn’t see your reply before writing mine.

Cool video, a clip from every year starting in 1980. Watching this reminded me of how much experience Trump has in the financial world, business, politics, entertainment, and especially dealing with the media. No other modern POTUS had the kind of real world experience Trump has.

We haven't even been into this tariff thing a week. I have confidence that Trump's negotiating skills and a whole set of moves planned for years in advance are being put to work and that not only are we gonna be fine, when all the dust settles, we're gonna be a lot better off for it. I'm not going to feel one way or another about it for at least a few more weeks, and I have a sneaking suspicion it will have proven to be the right move by a guy who has more experience with international business negotiations than everyone on this forum and all the talking heads on network news put together.

Every. Single. Thing. This. Man. Does. gets the power establishment absolutely riled up. Everything. It's why I voted for him three times!! If we somehow end up worse from this, it won't be because we were headed off a waterfall and he was just another stooge trying to make a buck before we went over like seemingly everyone in power for the last forty or fifty years has done. We owe so much money that it simply cannot be paid back, and my feeling is that desperate times comes for desperate measures. We can wait until it's too late, or we can shake the whole thing up and try and make a change now.

Have faith, gentlemen. Like it or not, we're in for this ride and the guy at the helm is trying to steer us to shore. Anyone paying attention over the last decade has been preparing as best he can for hard times, whatever that entails.

I agree we are in the ring now and the fight is ongoing. Trump is our guy, and the best way out is straight through. I'm taking a terrible beating in the market along with everyone else!

I'll take my beating now rather than being ruined later.