Capitalism 101

According to a Bloomberg article, “‘Capitalism is an ideology of capital–the most important thing is the concentration of capital and to seek and maximize profit,’ Ocasio-Cortez said. And that comes at any cost to people and to the environment, she said, ‘so to me capitalism is irredeemable.’ Though she said she doesn’t think all parts of capitalism should be abandoned, ‘we’re reckoning with the consequences of putting profit above everything else in society. And what that means is people can’t afford to live. For me, it’s a question of priorities and right now I don’t think our model is sustainable.’” I understand why RepubliKKKlans and MAGA morons deride AOC because she is fearless and usually more right than wrong.

Capitalism 101: What is the ultimate goal of a capitalistic system? To what do individuals (people and firms) aspire in capitalism? Anyone? Anyone at all? Hint: a famous board game was created based on it. I realize that I am back in remedial 090-level college thinking for most Americans. The correct answer is a monopoly. In theory, free and fair markets should always be in direct competition, and the ability for everyone and anyone to be competitive according to their endeavors and industriousness should keep any one individual (or firm) from monopolizing. This is supposed to be the theory, at least! Clearly, we live in a different reality. Individuals and firms all too often do achieve monopolistic competitive advantages when markets are not well regulated — and even when they are. In short, our society thrives and prides itself on amassing more wealth (capital) than the other person. In some sort of demented fascination with wealth, stupid America admires and aspires to be like billionaires and mega-monopolies at the expense of others and, ironically, at their own expense. We are a society bent on self-centered greed, and capitalism is the perfect rat-race vehicle to achieve such aims because everyone thinks they will be the next Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. Everyone thinks they are the exception to the rule, not realizing American capitalism is doing more to keep them poorer than make them richer. This country relishes and rewards the zero-sum game. This is why the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer; this is why people want politicians to keep their hands off their capitalism, despite capitalism more generally failing them, and they are clueless as to why. But this is stupid f***ing America!

Capitalism can be saved, however. Democrats try to save it every 4-8 years, yet they are usually feckless attempts. RepubliKKKlans and MAGA morons ensure that America’s version of capitalism remains unfair and unbalanced. Conservatives want the average American angry, fighting amongst each other for scraps of the American dream, and fearful that a poor person is coming to grab that piece of bread from their hands, while RepubliKKKlans give more tax breaks to billionaires and corporations. RepubliKKKlans have the average American moron convinced that sh*t somehow rolls uphill. It’s not the rich and powerful making one’s life miserable and more difficult; it must be the fault of the poor and powerless beneath them. Welcome to stupid America, where voting against one’s own self-interest is raised to an art form that even Adam Smith would find astonishing!

To the Moon, Alice

From an Axios article, “‘When we think about the greatest things we have ever accomplished as a society have been ambitious acts of vision, and the “meh” is just worshipped now, for what?’” Well, somebody keeps nailing it! Her statement reminds me of the Apollo missions to the moon. Can anyone tell me why President Kennedy challenged the nation to go to the moon (and we accepted the challenge)? Anyone? Anyone at all? Why was this crazy and impossible vision so important to the U.S. that even after Kennedy’s death America preserved to be the first nation to put a man on the moon? Was there gold on the moon? Diamonds? Maybe a place to build a space base? Clearly, the purpose of the mission was not for wealth or national defense and certainly not for a profit. In the words of Kennedy, “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.” (Yet MAGA morons think traitor trump speaks English “good”; well at least he doesn’t say “bigly” anymore.) In short, we went to the moon for our national pride!

Now fast forward nearly 60 years since those words were spoken and we land in stupid f***ing America where being bold and aiming for the highest ideals is too hard for dumbass Democrats. Aspirations like the Green New Deal is not practical, just like going to the moon was not practical. RepubliKKKlans hate such lofty ideas because, well, they’re f***ing morons, while “meh” Democrats are not too far behind. Yup, let’s just keep doing nothing because it’s easy. Instead, traitor trump is the “pride” of America! F*** me! God! We are a pathetic country! Welcome to stupid f***ing America!

White Nationalist Rallies

From a Politico headline: “Advisers urge Trump to defer 2020 rallies.” His advisors are f***ing morons, just like traitor trump. He is a Scheiße show, and that is the way he and MAGA morons want it. Clearly, traitor trump is a f***ing moron and much of what he is trying to accomplish in office is failing, but RepubliKKKlans don’t care. For them, it is all about the Scheiße show. They love the rambling and rancorous rallies. They love his defiance, though it accomplishes nothing, except sticking it to (other) politicians and (allied) countries. They love his empty and pathetic bravado, though it’s embarrassing. They don’t care that he acts like an idiot because dumber people are incapable of recognizing a marginally smarter moron than themselves. He’s their stable genius. They don’t care that he’s lazy and that he’d rather rally than do the work of president because it matches their own slacking, apathetic work ethic. They don’t care that he is a racist, a bigot, a homophobe, a misogynist, a xenophobe, etc. Indeed, traitor trump is the exact image of everything that is wrong with this country, and his supporters love to look in the mirror when he’s on stage! Welcome to stupid America!

Economics, Baby Part I

From an article in the NYT, “America’s trade deficit in goods with the rest of the world rose to its highest level in history last year as the United States imported a record number of products, including from China, widening the deficit to $891.3 billion and delivering a setback to President Trump’s goal of narrowing that gap.” Fan-f***ing-tastic! I’ve been waiting for the right event to write a post about economics, and this report on the trade deficit is perfect in so many ways. Let me preface my comments by saying one of the few aspects of life that pervades all of society yet is little understood by the vast majority of people is economics! It is astonishing that such an important subject is so scantly understood by almost everyone in this country, beyond the supply-and-demand mantra. (I doubt most people can graph supply and demand curves.) While quantum physics, multi-variable calculus, and microbiology are examples of subjects that the average person can live without comprehending, economics is not if one wants to be an informed and useful voting citizen. Perhaps I expect too much. It should be critically important to everyone to grasp a rudimentary understanding of how individuals and firms (aka markets) and society (aka government) interact and allocate scarce resources–capital, labor, resources, and time. Morons of America fail to realize that economics is all around us every day and in every moment and in every decision. Unless we live in a limitless world then we cannot escape economics, yet most people have no clue what economics means. That, my friends, is the definition of a motherf***ing G.D. stupid America!

So, where to begin? First, as with every president, the state of the economy, in the short-term, is out of his control, until longer-term actions like legislation (e.g., tax cuts) and policy (e.g., tariffs and regulations) take full effect–usually 6-18 months from the time of implementation. In other words, it takes a while for any new administration to affect the economy, and traitor trump is firmly beyond the 18-month mark, so he, in short, owns this economy, for better or worse (and it is starting to show signs of weakness around the edges). Can you imagine how strong the economy might be if he knew what the f*** he was doing? Moreover, it drives me absolutely f***ing G.D. nuts when traitor trump claims (and others agree) he’s created the best economy ever in the first year of his presidency because at that point it really is still Obama’s economy; the only thing traitor trump can take credit for is not destroying the economy quicker! But morons of America don’t know any better because, of course, a $20.50 trillion economy (2018 estimate) turns on a dime! Naturally, MAGA morons believe traitor trump walked into the Oval Office, snapped his fingers, and then people suddenly started hiring more, buying more, and making more. F*** me! I’m surrounded by idiots of America.

Second, traitor trump pretends to know everything (indeed, more than anybody else) about the economy (e.g., “trade wars are good, and easy to win” or coal is making a comeback in America because he simply says so, never mind the economics of energy dictates that coal is no longer competitive with natural gas and oil–this is a continuation of a long-term economic trend, which he cannot reverse). Even before MAGA morons elected traitor trump he demonstrated no basic understanding of economics. He thought the economy could bend to his whim: he’ll fix the trade deficit by mere fiat or wishful thinking. Guess what? Sudden, capricious tariffs are not a way to fix the trade deficit. Because other countries will (and do) retaliate. So, here we are with Mr. Economics thinking he’s fulfilled one of his campaign pledges. Only he can correct the trade deficit because previous administrations were so dumb they let other countries take advantage of America by somehow letting us demand cheaper products from other countries like China.

Economics, Baby Part II

Third, he still doesn’t seem to understand the concept of a trade deficit. He acts as if it’s a perpetual amount of money that other countries owe us or that other countries are taking our money (presumably against our will), but in reality, all a deficit means is that we import more than we export, so a trade imbalance in and of itself is not a bad or a good thing, per se. It is simply one measure of economic activity and health, but according to traitor trump, it’s the single barometer of the nation’s economic acumen (or lack of it)–or in his own parlance how much America is getting “screwed” by other countries. The entire purpose of international trade is to leverage a national competitive advantage–in both directions. Typically, one nation provides to another nation some good or service that the home nation cannot do for themselves better or for cheaper or not at all. One hopes that the amount and extent of trade will be mutually beneficial (i.e., free and fair) to both countries. Anyone who has taken an international economics course understands this. I know, I know. I’m talking about a 400-level college topic to a remedial 090-level college algebra America. Because this country is stuck on buying cheap then we are China’s best, willing customers. That includes the traitor trump family (“allegedly”) where their merch is produced. The hypocrisy is astounding yet completely lost on MAGA morons and RepubliKKKlans.

Last, traitor trump has no motherf***ing clue how tariffs work. Whenever he discusses the topic he intimates that other countries pay for tariffs as if the Chinese government, for instance, must reach into its treasury and pay a penalty to the U.S. government. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tariffs are a tax that the importer pays to the home government. One could reasonably argue that some foreign companies may wish to cover (or that government subsidizes) the added tax expense to keep the total expense of exporting their products the same (and therefore competitive); it is one option for exporters. The more likely consequence is that the importing company absorbs the tax expense initially; however, the cost of the tax is eventually passed down to the end consumer. In other words, it becomes inflationary, and not only inflationary to the imported products but to domestic substitute products as well. Consider traitor trump’s brilliant steel tariff. Not only does it cost more to bring steel into the country, but it inherently incentivizes domestic steel producers to increase prices to match import prices. So when idiot traitor trump and MAGA morons think tariffs are only punishing other countries, it is in effect punishing the very same average American that his idiot supporters like to think he cares about (think farmers).

Traitor trump in all his stupidity unnecessarily set himself up to fail with his ridiculous economic and trade pledges, and MAGA morons and RepubliKKKlans are so f***ing stupid they believe whatever B.S. he is selling them as being easy: trade wars are good and winnable, 3-5%-plus annualized GDP growth, reducing the trade deficit, or cutting taxes and reducing the national debt. He keeps telling everyone that everything is just so easy to fix because, unlike himself, all his predecessors were just too f***ing stupid, so here we are in the midst of the presidency of the dumbest person ever to hold office and things are starting to show signs of cracking. Welcome to stupid f***ing America!

39% Stupid

A quote from the 5 March Quinnipiac University National Poll states that “39 – 58 percent [believe] that he [traitor trump] cares about average Americans.” I overlooked this in another post, but I think is fascinating and worthy of some commentary because it is an epitomic example of how a stupid country elected an idiot for president. I am not going back in time to find a contemporaneous poll before the presidential election that asked the same or similar question (i.e., does the candidate care about you/the average American). It is not an out-of-the-ordinary query and I think it is safe to assume that traitor trump was elected, in part, because he was above water on this point. In other words, at least 51% of morons in this country thought traitor trump cared about them/the average American. Un-f***ing-believable! So, most people thought a man who has never had a real job and inherited tens of millions of dollars from his father cares about them; a man who literally craps on a gold toilet cares about them; a man who owns a Boeing 757 jetliner cares about them; a man who is known to stiff his small business contractors cares about them; a man who thinks only rich people matter cares about them–the average person. I could go on. There was nothing before or during his presidential campaign that indicated traitor trump cared, concerned himself with, or even understood the problems and anxieties of the average American. Only MAGA morons and RepubliKKKlans could look at this morally bankrupt con-man and conclude, “Yeah, he’s for the average American.” Fast forward two years and only now some people are beginning to admit the obvious, but it’s not enough. Thirty-nine percent are still stuck on stupid! Welcome to stupid America!

Missiles for Morons

From an NBC report, “North Korea is pursuing the ‘rapid rebuilding’ of the long-range rocket site at Sohae Launch Facility, according to new commercial imagery and an analysis from the researchers at Beyond Parallel.” Of course, they are because traitor trump is a f***ing moron and has no f***ing clue what he’s doing. Didn’t he claim to have solved the North Korea nuclear threat already after the first summit? Yet here we are in stupid traitor trump world where this “master” negotiator was going to leverage his homoerotic fascination with another dictator to bring about world peace. (He was “nominated” for the Nobel Peace Price mind you. LOL.) Now we discover he has really accomplished nothing–not surprising–and North Korea is gearing up for missile testing again. Welcome to stupid America where MAGA morons think traitor trump is a stable genius while every other world leader constantly outplays his every move because they know he’s an idiot. Ugh! F*** me!

Stroke This Poll

A quote from the 5 March Quinnipiac University National Poll states, “‘When two-thirds of voters think you have committed a crime in your past life, and almost half of voters say it’s a tossup over whether you committed a crime while in the Oval Office, confidence in your overall integrity is very shaky,’ Malloy added.” Unfortunately, this should be a true statement, but this is stupid G.D. f***ing America, and America is proud of being so f***ing stupid. The MAGA morons voted for traitor trump in spite of his obvious corruption. The only people who didn’t vote for him are those smart enough to see through his scam, while everyone else is, well, a f***ing moron. The English language has not yet invented a word that adequately describes the level of stupidity of a traitor trump supporter! (Maybe I should create one. For example, a man shoots himself in the cock and balls [it actually happened], then someone could reply in laughter with: “That is trump-stupid!” or “That is MAGA-moronic!” But I digress.) It should be a true statement, but given traitor trump’s approval rating hovering around 42%, clearly, some find him to be a criminal and yet still doing a good job. Let’s be very clear about something: a criminal before he becomes president is still a criminal and by definition will not do a good job. But here we are with traitor trump making a lot of noise and fury while accomplishing little to nothing (except rolling back all the accomplishments of Obama), and still, too many people approve of the job he is “doing.” Welcome to stupid America!

Dear Leader

From a Politico article, “The president almost fired his DHS chief for repeatedly saying ‘no’ to him, but their relationship has turned a corner.” Well, of course, she did. Let’s be clear about something: the people that work for traitor trump are just as vile as he is, and they all bend to his dogma. RepubliKKKlans have no principles; it’s all about pleasing the Dear Leader. Welcome to stupid America, home of conservative and MAGA moron sycophants.

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Money, Mo’ Money

Per the NYT, “Intelligence officers, steeped in how Mr. Trump views the world, now work to answer his repeated question: Who is winning? What the president wants to know, according to former officials, is what country is making more money or gaining a financial advantage.” Yup, because complicated international politics can be easily reduced to winners and losers, profits and losses. Complicated concepts made simple for traitor trump and MAGA morons because thinking is hard. Just another day in Stupidville. Welcome to stupid America!