economics

One Fraud After Another…

by MyBaconPress

Wow, the latest report is that job growth is VERY low and unemployment is up. Whaddaya know? And remember, he fired the last person who put together that report and replaced her with a toady yes-man who would massage the numbers. So AFTER massaging the numbers, the best he could do was 22,000 jobs?!? My gods, I wonder what the real number is…

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Yeah, yeah, there’s crime everywhere. But the oh-so-clever trick that seems to be deceiving so many MAGA out there? He finds a city he doesn’t like (Democrat run, preferably black mayor) and announces it’s the worst, crime-riddled city in the world. (It isn’t.) He sends in a bunch of troops who do some gardening and stand around a while. Meanwhile, whatever work those troops were supposed to be doing goes undone. THEN Donny declares the city “cleaned up” and withdraws the troops.

Then he, wait, I hear a noise. Hang on. OH MY GOD, there are space aliens out in the yard. They’re killing all of my neighbors. It’s a horrifying bloodbath. We need a hero! Wait, I’ll get my pea-shooter. That’ll do it. BAM! POW! ARGHH! OOF! Oh, thank the gods, I got them all. They’re all dead. I, Mark Bacon, just saved the entire planet from a space alien attack with my trusty pea-shooter! You’re welcome. Gimmie my noble prize now.

See how easy that was? All I had to do was describe it. Now I expect adulation. MY story, after all, is every bit as true and accurate as all that “crime fighting” the First Felon is doing in target cities. And I didn’t only save a city from “crime.” I saved the entire planet from space invaders…

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I sure hope the video of that boat being blown up by the US off the coast of Venezuela is AI because if the video isn’t faked, the act is straight up murder, isn’t it? CAN you just blast a boat out of the water and declare it was full of drugs later? Quick question: what if it was a boatload of drug enforcement agents taking a load of seized drugs out to the deep ocean for disposal? What if it was Gilligan? The Skipper, too? A millionaire and his wife? What if it was a movie star? Or the Professor and Mary Ann?

The maladministration can’t describe the people on the boat. No info on the pretended drugs. How many people were aboard? Genders? Ages? How did they know it was a drug run? It was off the coast of Venezuela. How did they know it was going to the US?

I guess he’s STILL trying to look tough and I readily acknowledge my lack of a JD but I don’t know of any authority anywhere that allows the US to go blow up private boats for the “sin” of simply being in the water hundreds of miles to the south of the US. ‘Will murder to distract from Epstein,’ I guess…

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His lie during the campaign was that he would fix the economy on day one. HIS words, not mine. Of course, that lie blew up in his face and the economy started tanking. So he did what he always does, he lied about it. The worse it gets, the greater he declares it. Oh, and he updated his timeline. First the economy would boom later this year, then it became next year. Most recently, he has move the timeline to 2027 before the economy responds.

All he has to do is keep pushing off the timeline and MAGA will stay loyal and enthralled, so that’s what he’ll do. That boy NEVER delivers. He just pushes off the deadline and the deadline never comes. So by 2027, we should ONLY expect he’ll be promising happier days by 2028. But even at 2027? At the rate he’s going, at the rate prices are going up because of him, at the rate jobs are being lost because of him, businesses are being hurt because of him, income is down because of him do you think you’re going to be able to survive until 2027? I think it’s a fair question…

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Wealth taxes in Norway are under fire. In an effort to enlist the support of people who will NEVER pay the wealth tax, rich people have put out an advertisement with a little song. The message of the song is, “Don’t come to Norway, we will tax you till you’re poor, and when you have nothing left, we will tax you a little more.” Does that sound like anything you may have heard before?

“Tax the rich. Feed the poor. Til there are no rich no more.” That’s from ‘I’d Love to Change The World’ by Ten Years After. It’s not a risk. No one is talking about taxing rich people into poverty. But it’s a common lament from rich people – and people who pretend they might become rich like that some day soon. It’s ALWAYS a lie, but it gets sold to low information voters over and over and over again.

A wealth tax is a tax paid on the value of an asset. People pay taxes on the income from an asset but in most countries they don’t pay a tax on the value of the asset itself. So if you have a million dollars in stocks, you pay a tax on the dividends you receive but not the value of the stock themselves. A wealth tax fixes that.

It’s calculated by adding up the value of properties, savings, investments and shares, and deducting any debt. Private companies count as part of their owners’ wealth. There are discounts – for example, only 25% of the value of citizens’ primary residence is taxable. In countries where a wealth tax exists – and there are only three in Europe – it’s often the only tax the richest people pay – so it ensures they pay something.

Rich people like to pretend they’re “self-made.” They’re not. The closest you could get to an actual self-made millionaire would be an entertainer but even they have teams of people who help them. NO ONE is “self-made.” Rich people benefit from the societies in which they live. They get educated employees from the schools they don’t want to pay for, they move their goods on roads they don’t want to pay for, they get a stable society in which to conduct their business they don’t want to pay for, they’re protected by police and firefighters they don’t want to pay for.

We should have a wealth tax here in the US. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have each proposed such a thing but, of course, the rich have many minions in this once-great nation. And as we’ve all seen a million times, what we SHOULD do, we rarely actually do. It’s really rather embarrassing…

Pain For Thee, Not For Me…

by MyBaconPress

President Musk started it. He said that in order to get the national debt under control, people are going to have to go through some “hardship.” He KNOWS aggressive cuts to government spending are going to cause pain and suffering. He acknowledges the fact. His attitude? “Tough cookies.” It’s easy for him, of course. As the sometimes richest thief in the world, HE won’t feel a thing. Not even a twitch.

Sub-President Trump – the man being told what to do by Musk and The Heritage Foundation – has now endorsed that same idea. The work-a-day Joes are just going to have to feel some pain to get things back to right. Of course, sub-president 47 has a couple of coins to rub together, too. He won’t feel anything, either. No, all this ‘hardship’ is meant for the working class.

The LLC – that’s the “Lazy Leisure Class” – started buying tax shifts 40+ years ago. I call them tax shifts, not cuts, because whenever they pass a so-called “cut,” some of the lost revenue gets shifted to the working class. The rest is managed by cuts in service. For 40+ years, the working class have been taking on more and more of the leisure class’s tax burdens and losing services in the process.

Two adages I live by: 1) When your outgo is greater than your income, your upkeep will be your downfall. 2) Government decisions should be focused on which option best serves the largest number of people.

We’ve just gone over the first one. Tax cuts for the wealthy have long-since reduced the nation’s revenues to the point where we can’t meet our obligations. (That’s been the goal, by the way.) They’ve trimmed around the edges as much as they could. Now it’s down to the meat and potatoes so “people will have to suffer.” But what about the second one?

Which option best serves the largest number of people? It’s simply not true that there is only ONE choice – only ONE option to deal with this mess the wealthy have created. There are two. Yes, when revenues fall short, one CAN cut costs. But it’s often true that one can ALSO increase revenues, and in THIS case, it’s absolutely true.

If we follow the path of the LLC, 340 MILLION people (minus a handful of the super rich) suffer. And I DO mean, “suffer.” On the other hand, we could raise revenue by increasing taxes on the highest incomes. Under THAT idea, NO ONE would “suffer.” Such an increase would only hit people who wouldn’t even miss whatever got paid out.

It’s important to remember, for the leisure class, this whole conversation is purely philosophical. It’s about the idea that they don’t WANT to pay their fair share. It’s not a burden. They wouldn’t even miss it. They just don’t want to. (Or, they think their awesome, regal selves shouldn’t HAVE to.) But for the working class, this is increasingly becoming existential.

I think option 2 – raise taxes on the highest incomes – best serves the largest number of people. Honestly? I think we should go back to a 94% rate on everything over $2.5 million dollars. That was the rate in 1944 and 45. (Technically, it was 94% on everything over $200,000. The $2.5 million is that amount adjusted to today’s dollars.) The justification? War is expensive – and it is. Since the US has become a State of perpetual war, we should just set that rate and leave it there.

SO… based on this reality – and it IS reality – it becomes obvious that NOBODY has to “suffer” or bear “hardships” or feel any “pain.” But I would bet the working class is going to feel pain. We’re a country of morons, governed by rich, greedy morons. EXPECT the wrong decision. EXPECT to suffer – so they don’t have to…

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I’m not sure why this has to be said, but if you plan to bring a letter of reference to a job interview, perhaps don’t include references from people who have, themselves, been subject to scandal and/or discipline.

In an effort to lend credibility to the RFK, Jr nomination, a letter was presented to Congress, ostensibly from doctors, who think his moronic delusions about vaccinations and other things are just peachy, thank you very much. Except, they aren’t all doctors and many of those who are, um, actually WERE and those who STILL are have all faced disciplinary actions.

There may be a nicer way to say this, but it’s easy for morons to impress morons. “Doctors” who ignore valid science (I mean science supported by the scientific method, not someone’s “feels”) might well believe RFK, Jr is “on to something.” Most of us just think he’s ON something – and it isn’t something good. I suspect that worm ate more of his brain than he realizes, missing part of his brain and all.

Vaccinations save lives. Vaccinations do NOT cause autism. People who insist otherwise are expressing their luxury – the luxury of never having had to visit someone in an iron lung. Or even the luxury of not knowing what an effing iron lung is in the first place. You’ve been spared that knowledge by vaccinations. And now you want to despise the vaccinations that have done so much good for so many people? We heard it from Forrest Gump; stupid is as stupid does…

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Um… you DO realize, don’t you, that the trade agreement 47 is citing as SO unfair to the US is the actual trade agreement 47 negotiated with Mexico and Canada during his first maladministration, right? Now he’s inflicting tariffs on our neighbors and allies – and, yes, China, too. I HAVE noticed the Chinese tariff is somewhat lower. Is that because China makes all that cheap crap he sells to his believers?

He says he’s doing it because of the trade deficit and fentanyl. According to experts (read: people who actually know what they’re talking about) most of the fentanyl brought into America is brought BY Americans. Not Mexicans. Not Canadians, eh? Americans. So, THAT excuse is clearly bunk.

If he wants American companies to come home, he should repeal all those glorious tax benefits rich people bought themselves TO move their manufacturing overseas in the first place. He doesn’t need tariffs.

I’ll tell you this: I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a common thread in ALL of our national financial “problems.” The already grotesquely rich want more – and cannot be satisfied…

Just The Worst…

by MyBaconPress

I have to start by saying my heart goes out to Southern California. We, here in Northern California, have been through what they’re going through, now, and I know, without question, there are no words. I remember the panic of people in the moment. It’s all just a confusion of “Where do we go?” and “What, now?” I remember the stories people told, after, of how they made it out. I remember the stories about the people who didn’t.

I remember the wreckage. I remember the smell of the burned buildings lingering in the air for a long time. I know how they’re going to react to even the faintest smell of wildfire smoke in the future. And I was one of the lucky ones. I didn’t lose anything. I STILL react. They will, too. The buildings can be, will be, rebuilt. The precious mementos are gone forever. But Nor-Cal DID come back and SoCal will, too.

Stay strong, SoCal…

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When a Special Counsel finishes their job, they’re supposed to issue a report explaining, in detail, why they did what they did. That is, why they prosecuted (or declined to) and the details behind those choices. Jack Smith has written his report and turned it over to Attorney General Merrick Garland. Apparently, it’s in TWO volumes. The first is about the election interference charges 34 negated by getting back to the White House. The second is about the Classified documents he stole, I suspect to give to Putin. The question now is, should AG Garland release the report for public consumption.

I haven’t seen it, of course, but MY guess (and yours, I’d bet) is that the report just says something to the effect of, “We were GOING to prosecute because we have evidence enough to fill three trucks, but then The Felon “won” the “election” and is expected to abuse his authority to protect himself so we had no choice but to stand down.”

Puppet-elect Thirty-Four Felonies doesn’t want people to know what’s in the report about him, presumably because it says, “Oh, yeah, he’s as guilty as can be and here’s the evidence!” So, he judge-shopped. It didn’t take long. He knows he has Aileen “Loose” Cannon in the bag and, oh, hey! Lookee, here. He took his case to his corrupt, loyalist judge and she put a temporary injunction on releasing the report. She protected him again – and just in time.

It will buy him time, which is the loophole he used to slither out from under the charges in the first place. Once again, with the help of a corrupt judiciary, he’ll get away with it. This is what the “law” is going to look like going forward in this once-great nation. Sometimes, I think this whole thing is going to get very ugly…

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I read an article in the ‘Motley Fool’ about Social Security. It pretended Social Security is low on funds because of an imbalance in the difference between paying in and taking out. It didn’t mention politicians “borrowing” from the fund for other purposes, then not paying the money back as promised. Nor did it mention the cap rich people enjoy that protects some of their income.

It pointed out that, in an effort to confront the shortfall, Congress started taxing SS benefits. Again, nobody ever mentions eliminating the cap rich people enjoy as a solution. (YOU pay in to Social Security on 100% of your earned income. Rich people pay a tiny fraction of that percentage from their income. It is generally understood that lifting that cap funds Social Security nicely.)

I noticed Congress started taxing SS in 1983. Guess who was President, which party, in 1983. Go on, guess. Did you guess Reagan and the Republicans? That’s the right answer. In fairness, the taxes were adjusted to get more in 1993. Clinton was President. I know, he ran as a Dem, but I’ve long held that Bill Clinton was one of the most effective Republican presidents in decades. He got away with it by hiding in plain sight, as a liberal. But he signed and supported NAFTA. He “reformed” welfare. He killed the free press. He increased taxation on Social Security. There’s more. He was a con, like it or not.

The point, here, is that Social Security can be fixed easily by simply removing the cap rich people pay from their checks. If they pay into SS on 100% of THEIR paychecks, like everyone else does, we don’t really have a problem. No, of course the politicians are just going to tell you there’s no more money and nothing can be done so you lose, but they’ll just be serving their rich paymasters…

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Musk bought Twitter claiming he wanted free speech, then turned it into an insulting conservative misinformation machine that regularly censors speech. Zuckerberg, apparently, likes what he sees in Musk’s example and has decided to follow suit and eliminate the guardrails on Facebook, as well. First he eliminated news feeds almost entirely, then, when they come back, he has opened the door to conservative misinformation to flow freely?

I don’t call for boycotts, per se, because they’re dumb and don’t work dependably. (Besides, who would listen to ME?) But we CAN avoid doing business with companies we don’t like or trust whenever it’s possible, if we choose. My advice? Pay attention to who still advertises on X and avoid them if you can. As Facebook declines, it would be a good idea to do the same with whoever keeps advertising there.

The ONE thing we can count on about a fascist nation is that money rules the day. Always. Most of the Small Folk KNOW they’re Small Folk and don’t think of themselves as able to have an impact. But we can. Collectively. By all means, flee X for Bluesky, but pay attention to who keeps advertising on X (and now Facebook) and direct your dollars accordingly. If nothing else, we can keep them from gaining some of the money they’ll eventually use against us…

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MAGA doesn’t seem to have noticed, yet, but The Felon is already setting the stage for the expected economic collapse that will accompany Trump policies. As we all know, they see Biden as old. VERY old. (He is, too. No argument, here.) They see him as senile. (I’m still sitting quietly.) They see him as incompetent. (He has actually done a very good job…)

They ALSO see him as a mastermind genius capable of some very detailed, intricate, and complex planning. It really depends on what they need at any given moment. According to The Felon, the senile, mastermind, incompetent, genius has set an “economic time-bomb” meant to blow up at a precise moment. Specifically, the moment the inauguration ends.

We all know how trump works. He’s been bitching about the horrid state of the economy for four years. The minute he’s inaugurated, he’s going to start claiming Biden’s successful economy for himself. It will go from “Horrid!” to “Hurray!” in moments. If he was smart (yes, I SHOULD stop there) he would simply not touch anything and let the economy hum.

But, he’s not smart – and he doesn’t plan to do that, leave well enough alone. According to him, he plans to reduce government revenues while instituting a shiny new program that STARTS with an $80 billion dollar stake. That’s going to do some damage. He knows it. But he doesn’t want to be seen as doing the damage he plans to do. He NEEDS that blame to fall elsewhere and, of course, he chose Biden. Curiously, the damage won’t happen until Trump takes office and starts doing his thing.

By definition, that is NOT a time-bomb. A time-bomb goes off at a specific time. If one sets a bomb to blow up at, say, 2 pm on December 31st, that bomb blows up on December 31st at 2 pm – because it’s on a timer. It’s a “timed-bomb,” see? A bomb that waits for a specific trigger, like, say, moronic policies triggering an economic meltdown? That’s not a time-bomb because nobody knows WHEN it blow – or even if it will.

It requires a specific act, like tax cuts for the rich, side-by-side with a shiny new, $80 billion dollar deportation program. BOOM! There’s a reason Mr. 34 Felonies suddenly hates the debt ceiling – and it isn’t that he plans to lower the debt. (I’ve noticed the price of eggs has gone UP since the “election,” not down, despite his promises…)

It’s a standard con trick. They ALWAYS blame their own economic wreckage on the previous Democratic administration, and they ALWAYS take credit for the economic successes actually achieved by the previous Democratic administration. Once, they even blamed and INCOMING Democratic administration for their own failures. Yeah, the party of personal responsibility…