Trump says US should kill CHIPS Act, use the cash to cut debt Donald Trump has renewed his call for CHIPS Act funding to be cancelled, and suggests any remaining money be set against national debt. In a rambling speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, the US President reviewed many of the events that have already taken place under his administration, including a deal this week …
You could cut the debt quicker if you hasn’t included a renewal of USD4.5tn of ‘Trump tax cuts’ (for the wealthy) by pushing the Debt Ceiling up (again).
So much for ‘we will Balance the budget for the first time in 26 years’ the not SoTY Address was pure Tangoman showmanship of a Snakeoil salesman at the height of his game. The GOP lapped it up. Esp. The giving of a 12 year old boy with brain cancer membership of the Secret Service … Bravo!! Sir.
And if you don't sack the IRS agents that are trying to claw back the, estimated, $490+ Billion dollars in tax avoidance and fraud. The IRS has already lost 6,000 and stands to lose another 39,000 under Trump, so unless those 45,000 people are all making $11,000,000 a year, wouldn't it be better to keep them to recover the lost revenue, or is that the point, to stop the people investigating your fraud Mr. Trump?
"And if you don't sack the IRS agents that are trying to claw back the,"
Shhhhhh. It should be entirely possible to do without a lot of that staff. In numbers, at least. With so much going digital/online, how many people do they need to check returns? I'm also finding it hard to fathom that they don't already know the vast majority of the information I have to fill out on the bloody forms. My only hypothesis is they want me to make a mistake so I can be fined and charged interest on the fine as well.
Every cent from the DOGE massacre and tariffs will go to tax cuts for the rich. As the plan currently stands, those tax cuts will add 4 trillion to the national debt. The US needs to ramp up chip production as they'll be cut off from the leading edge once China invades Taiwan possibly leading to TSMC destroying their EUV machines.
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I didn't downvote. I'll assume it was a legitimate question, rather than a wilful denial of reality.
Anyway, from: https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/house-republican-budgets-45-trillion-tax-cut-doubles-down-on-costly:
"Households with incomes in the top 1 percent (who make more than roughly $743,000 per year) would get tax cuts averaging $62,000 a year, compared to only about $400 a year for households with incomes in the bottom 60 percent (who make roughly $96,000 or less).[2] Those at the top would enjoy a 4 percent increase in their after-tax incomes, roughly four times the 1 percent gain for households in the bottom 60 percent, according to the Treasury Department.[3]
But don't worry, they'll pay for it by cutting $880 billion from medicaid: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-republican-house-budget-resolutions-potential-880-billion-in-medicaid-cuts-by-congressional-district/
So, whilst Americans die, they can take comfort in the knowledge that some robber barron will be able to afford a 5th luxury yacht.
No, an order or two of magnitude more than the DOGE cuts will go to billionaire tax cuts. DOGE keeps posting inflated claims, the press fact checks them and finds all sorts of errors (somehow every error makes the number higher than it really is, fancy that) and they post corrections. Last I heard they aren't even up to $20 billion yet, despite Trump's lies about "hundreds of billions". Fox News and right wing media never fact checks him so he can make up whatever lie he wants and the red hat morons believe it.
Fortunately when Trump kills the economy between big poorly targeted cuts that paralyze the government, putting fear of deportation into migrants so they don't show up to pick the crops in California and Florida, and the disastrous tariffs no amount of right wing spin will be able to hide that fact, or be able to claim that it is somehow Biden's fault that the economy got much worse right after Trump took office. People feel it when everything costs more, when fruits and vegetables are scarce and high priced, and cars and houses cost much more than they did a year ago.
Unfortunately there is no alternative but major pain for the country to break the hold Trump has on his smooth brained followers, and the even smoother brained congresscritters who back him no matter what insanity he proposes from stealing Palestine, the Panama Canal and Greenland, openly siding with Russia to crushing domestic auto manufacturing.
The US is a big market, but it is smaller than the European market (in terms of consumers) and way smaller (on the same basis) than India or China.
We're now at a stage with cutting-edge technology in which the investment can only really be justified on the basis of a global market. Even the lowly automotive industry depends on world "platforms" for its economies of scale. While there may well be a security imperative to have manufacturing in the US (assuming you can also secure the entire supply chain), there's very little economic logic, particularly if you then can't export products profitably because of a perpetual trade war. Or your plants are embargoed owing to the occupation of Greenland.
If you're not going to give them money, why would they even bother - beyond some token announcements in principle to tide them over until the next administration (assuming there is one).
Logic, what logic.
My life intervened and I could not schedule the time to listen to hours of rambling and the clean up of my brain afterward.
I understood the speech was mainly, or exclusively, the narcissist saying praise to himself. There was no mention of any logic being involved in the speech, economic nor otherwise.
Knowing previous performances of the speaker, I would have been flabbergasted if there had been any logic in his speech.
You are against cutting the debt? Or you want these big businesses to get taxpayer money?
"We sat through the entire speech so you don't have to"
I guess you got to see the Democrats demonstrate how childish they are for the whole speech then! Did you laugh when the protesting old man with his cane got escorted out? Did you see the stupidity when they refused to applaud even for the no tax on tips announcement (Harris liked the idea so much she took it for her campaign)? Or even for the brain cancer survivor? I read they had little signs though and chose various colours for their respective grievances.
As Trump said there is nothing he can do to make them happy or smile. I guess they are not the party of joy now?
@Groo The Wanderer - A Canuck
"https://store.steampowered.com/app/320240/We_Happy_Few/"
I am gonna have to look into that game it looks entertaining. It sounds almost like the dystopia shouted for on the left (the commenters seem to have forgotten it was Harris's campaign message 'joy' however unhinged she ranted).
Why do I hear "Brain Damage" playing in the background of your posts? Just FYI, this occurred during the first (second?) State of the Union Address during the Biden Administration. And when I come across something that I am not familiar with I find that Google can be helpful. Being an American this does happen every once in a while when I read comments in The Register and other places.
> He doesn't like it when you suggest looking things up on the Web.
Exactly. The only source of truth he thinks you need is Breitbart, Fox, Alex Jones, and GB News.
The rest is all leftie pinko Russian propaganda... Oh wait. They're the good guys now. I mean leftie pinko Ukrainian propaganda.
@Gary Stewart
"And when I come across something that I am not familiar with I find that Google can be helpful. Being an American this does happen every once in a while when I read comments in The Register and other places."
I tried googling the contents of your comment and got nothing. I am not American so probably missed whatever Americanism or localised inference in your comment.
"Just FYI, this occurred during the first (second?) State of the Union Address during the Biden Administration."
It probably did I dont really care. For all the click bait, raging anti-Trump, screaming noooo, overdramatization output against anything Trump does I figured I would have a little amusement bringing myself down to the same level and posting about what happened during the speech. I dont know if there were stupid signs and grumpy old men with canes being escorted out under Bidens address and I dont care, its all stupid and childish to me.
But just look at the joy in response to my comment. So much joy from the party of tolerance and... well... joy. Dont they just feel unburdened by what has been?
> " I am not American"
Though anyone who didn't know that would take for granted you were, given your lockstep obsession with defining yourself in terms of the American political system and its right wing.
> "does I figured I would have a little amusement bringing myself down to the same level"
So by playing the low-rent troll, you were actually taking the high road and looking down on them? Sure you were.
Or maybe we'll follow Occam's razor and assume you're out of anything other than low rent trolling?
@AC
"Though anyone who didn't know that would take for granted you were, given your lockstep obsession with defining yourself in terms of the American political system and it's right wing."
You might notice the reg is on a US politics high at the moment. When it was more UK focused I was very much active on here about politics closer to home. Being 'right wing' is not exclusive to America.
"So by playing the low-rent troll, you were actually taking the high road and looking down on them?"
Taking the high road? How do you get that from my comment about bringing myself down to this level? I am obviously not saying I am taking the high road, I am clearly saying I joined in with the trolling. Did you really not understand that?
There's a difference between discussing American politics as an outsider and discussing it from an apparently personal viewpoint that still seems to think American politics, culture wars, and the concerns of its society in general are your own.
And you "joined in" with the trolling, but tried to give yourself a free pass with the implied excuse that the other side (supposedly) did it first, so *really* it was all their fault- not yours, of course- that you felt entitled to do so, wasn't it?
> What is odd is that Trump campaigned on bringing back jobs and manufacturing to America
Which makes St. Petersburg Lad here on point for applauding this move. Though his eloquence could use (a lot of) work. Guess when you're getting paid in rubles to post, you have to be efficient and copy paste from past "insights".
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@ChodeMonkey
"But Madam, they are laughing at you."
Out of everyone I would expect you to have better understanding. You used to be a coward troll and now (I do appreciate this) have a name while you continue your trolling. You know people are laughing at you for your stupid comments but you post it to get a reaction from others. But where you make an entire posting history of it, I only occasionally indulge in making the crowd scream nooooo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDYNVH0U3cs
Oh dear. We are not laughing at you specifically, but the entire MAGA/Trump following contingent. It's a sad laugh though, because we know that Trump's antics are going to take much of the rest of the world with him and his insane ramblings.
I do wonder what it will take for the MagaTrumpists to realise what is going on. Actually video of him shagging a dog? Or Putin shagging him? Or just the precipitous decline of America in the eyes of the rest of the world (except Russia, Russia loves Trump).
>I do wonder what it will take for the MagaTrumpists to realise what is going on.
Nothing. They yearn to be ruled and exploited by a strong male. King, boss, cacique, whatever.
The harder that guy hits them, the more excited they get. They gather together and titter amongst themselves:
"Man if Daddy is hitting us this hard and he likes us, imagine how hard he hits the others!"
Giggle. Giggle.
"You used to be a coward troll"
Say what now? ChodeMonkey is ChodeMonkey. They are eternal. They are down the rabbithole.
codejunky, on the other hand, appears to be suffering from PTSD: Post Trump Stress Disorder. One hopes they have their smelling salts to hand. Have you recently consulted your physician, Madam?
Should the orange twat be applauded for raping his country and turning the rest of the world against it just for his personal gain and that of his bestie?
And if you can’t see what he’s doing then you really are firmly in the “I’m a moron. Oh I know, I’ll vote for Trump” camp.
You DO know that Trump used to donate to the democrats but decided to run as a Republican because “republican voters are stupid and I’m more likely to win as a result”? (I admit I can’t remember the exact quote but it was basically that)
> you really are firmly in the “I’m a moron. Oh I know, I’ll vote for Trump” camp
Codejunky can't vote for Trump because they're not even American- they're based in the UK. (*)
They've always been one of those right-wing types that had a hard-on for the laissez-faire, pseudo-libertarian American right. But in recent years they- like others of that tendency- have gone full-in on the imported US culture war and associated propaganda that was originally aimed at- and defined in terms of- American society and politics.
To the point where, if you didn't know better, you'd hear them speak and assume they were American.
But they're not, and never were.
(*) I'm genuinely surprised they hadn't already emigrated to the US. Or maybe they tried and got rejected, who knows?
The Telegraph has been heading into "rabid right" territory for longer than that. I noticed that a few years ago, circa the Brexit/immediate-post-Brexit era, though maybe it's been getting worse?
I mean, don't get me wrong. It was *always* a right-wing, Tory-biased newspaper- there's a reason it was nicknamed "The Torygraph". But I got the impression its style was always a would-be-respectable, broadsheet Tory viewpoint, the paper you'd imagine some reactionary, retired colonel in the English home counties reading.
In recent years I've seen stuff like this come out of it that smacked of paranoid, conspiratorial echo chamber audience-pandering.
I remember mentioning discussing this with someone around that time and saying something like "Is it just me or was the Telegraph *really* always that bad?"
I've also seen others elsewhere comment that it started heading in that direction under the Barclay Brothers' ownership from the mid-2000s onwards.
Regardless, that seems to be the direction that political discourse has been heading in in recent years, and the comparison of the direction of the Telegraph with that of the right in general is understandable. It's open to question who's leading who, how much is audience capture and how much self-reinforcing feedback is involved.
I don't live in the UK. But if I did, I'd be chuffed at a party "conspiring" to get back into the EU.
Brexit has been a massive disaster, conducted on the basis of a 2% margin non-binding referendum. Polling indicates as such https://www.statista.com/statistics/987347/brexit-opinion-poll/
So would uncovering such intents be the sign of conspiracy theory thinking? As long as a party campaigned on that intent, once it was ready, why would it?
Equally true, I'd expect a true Brexity paper to think rather ill of it.
> I don't live in the UK. But if I did, I'd be chuffed at a party "conspiring" to get back into the EU.
That as may be, but the Telegraph isn't aimed at you, nor me for that matter. Even before it started becoming more conspiratorially extreme, it was always a paper stereotypically associated with right-wing, reactionary Tory voters. That's a demographic which has a significant overlap with the more established anti-EU tendency going back decades.
And remember that the majority of people in the UK- or more specifically, in England and Wales (but not in Nothern Ireland and especially not in Scotland where I live)- voted for Brexit and many "traditionally" Labour areas in the north of England were pro-Brexit and abandoned Labour in favour of the Tories in 2019.
So Starmer was absolutely paranoid about pandering to those people and not being seen to be anti-Brexit (even though Labour was nominally opposed to it at the time). And since, in recent years, the Telegraph has been heading in a more Nigel Farage-style direction and become more extreme, paranoid and conspiratorial, they're feeding that same mentality that Labour, despite their shameless pandering to Brexiteers, was secretly planning to betray "their" Brexit anyway.
"The Telegraph has gone full on la-la MAGA in the last few weeks too."
The Torygraph? I would have thought this nonsense would be more on the Faredge ("Reform" [sic]) demesne although the Tory opposition is apparently just as deficient upstairs.
La-La Ma-Ga Cha-Cha around the twist and dancing beyond the edge of reason?
Been drinking the Kool-aid I see.
"Or even for the brain cancer survivor?"
Have you done research? No? "Republicans quietly removed funding for pediatric cancer research through 2033 from a temporary funding bill" so took away funding for that kids cancer treatment.
All of MAGA really are lost and brain dead.
@James Hughes 1
"So, Trump is also shit at business? Who knew."
LMFAO!!! So the stupid cry is Trump wont pway hwis twaxis. Then I point out he pays more than the friggin socialist and now- Twump mwust bwe bwad at bwizinus.
There really is no way for the anti-Trump to ever be happy is there?
@graeme leggett
"In 2017 she got hold of a couple of pages from his 2005 tax return. Unfortunately it did not seem to prompt Trump to volunteer any further information."
And did you see her face as she hyped up this lie to a loud crescendo only to look like an absolute tool! And this is why the outrageous stupidity of lies only serves to help Trump. Surely it would be better to oppose him on facts, those will only serve to harm Trump and demonstrate actual problems. As I have said all along they need to stop making stuff up which ultimately makes them look like idiot liars and instead stick to the truth.
> Trumps tax returns which shows he pays more than that socialist Bernie
Assuming[1] he means Bernie Sanders:
Sanders net worth (which appears to be high for a socialist") is somewhere around $5 million[2]. Or is that $2 million?
Trump's is unknown, but is a little bit higher[3], shall we plump for $6.1 billion?
So, Trump pays more tax than Sanders and that is something you think is worth crowing over? Even using weird US-style numbering, the difference between 5 million and 6 billion is (take your socks off, you're going to run of fingers) - a fuckton, too bloody right Trump should be paying more taxes![4]
[1] well, in the absence of more accurate comment to refer to...
[2] Been trying to dig up the story about a US worker who lived frugally (single, no kids...) and managed to save $1 million dollars from a blue-collar job; it came up because, upon hearing that, someone who worked with him tried to steal his pay packet "because a millionaire doesn't it". Blast my eyes, I didn't save the URL to verify this - anyone? Sorry, besides the point, $5 million must mean There Is Something Going On...
[3] how far can one stretch an understatement?
[4] and if you are going whine that "net worth isn't income, you should only be counting income", oh, look, Trump's "worth" jumped up from $2.5 billion in 2024. And any other "arguments" about, say, "you only tax when the paper worth is converted into cash" etc - with that big a difference in net worth, just unearned interest on a pocket money account would be sufficient!
PS
Given the difficulty in even getting a number for Trump's net worth, I failed miserably to find anything usable about his taxable income; please feel free to provide some citations for that.
@that one in the corner
"Assuming[1] he means Bernie Sanders:
Sanders net worth (which appears to be high for a socialist") is somewhere around $5 million[2]. Or is that $2 million?
Trump's is unknown, but is a little bit higher[3], shall we plump for $6.1 billion?"
Oops I guess you slept through it- https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-team-tax-returns-rachel-maddow-2017-3
Not only did he earn more but he paid a higher income tax percentage than Obama or even Bernie.
You know your dumbass comment about me not liking to look stuff up- https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2025/03/05/trump_speech_scrap_chips_act/#c_5030485
Thanks for giving me a good laugh though idiot
Madam, have you tried coding html hyperlinks to make things easier for your intended audience? Note that you are not going to get far in the job market with apalling URLs all over your CV. (Or perchance you could change your name to codelessjunky?)
> Oops I guess you slept through it- (URL he can not figure out how to make clickable, never mind).
2005? You are still crowing about that figure from nearly two decades ago? Sigh, and I thought we were trying to discuss current events!
> Not only did he earn more but he paid a higher income tax percentage than Obama or even Bernie.
Yeeesss. That is how it works. There are little things called "tax brackets".
Just from the figures (that you seem unable to, you know, copy out in order to make your point coherently) from 2005, we hear that Mr. Trump paid $38 million in federal income taxes on reported income of $150 million, an effective tax rate of 25 percent, according to forms disclosed on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show. By claiming losses, Mr. Trump apparently saved millions of dollars in taxes that he would otherwise have owed..
Now that we know how far back you need to go to "make your point", let's see what Bernie reported (happy to do your job for you, looking things up) - ahh, they only go back to 2019, as this is the 10 year declaration required for release when nominated (whch is, of course, way, way more openness and honesty in releasing the tax returns than Trump was able to manage - until he was forced to and Trump’s tax returns released by House committee show he paid little in taxes). Never mind, Sanders hasn't been hiding, so we can find on OpenSecrets his 2005 disclosure filing to the House of Representatives (scroll down a bit). Earned income: $4041 pension. Plus $200 Credit Union interest and between $1000 and $5000 income from renting out a property. Let's call it $10,000. Against $150 million.
Hey, let's go wild. Bernie was only in the House of Representatives in 2005. By 2009 he was in the Senate. And we've got an actual tax return, not "just" the disclosure. And in 2009 his income had skyrocketed to $314,742.39, as he was now getting some wages/salary *and* we're now including social security benefits, as well as his pension and annuity. By comparison, Trump not only didn't pay a dime of tax in 2009, thanks to be a totally incompetent businessman (by his own admission, as he was the one claiming the losses) he claimed back $70.1 million plus over $2.7 million in interest as a refund of his federal income taxes paid in 2005–2007, on losses of over $700 million in 2009!
So, what are you left with to be oh so very, very happy about?
* 2005: Trump underpaid his taxes on $150 million income, versus Bernie's $10,000. And it is somehow a great win for you that the tax rates on those two sums are different! Even if you want to dispute Bernie's declaration as "not a tax form" and we have to take Sanders' 2009 income, again, you bloody well should be paying higher rates on $150 million versus $315,000!
* 2009: Trump CLAWS BACK his 2005 payment, plus interest (which is almost certainly the best ROI Trump has ever managed) bringing the total value of Trump as a taxpayer in 2005 to A NEGATIVE VALUE!
> You know your dumbass comment about me not liking to look stuff up
Yup. And I think that I've just demonstrated the value of my statement.
Thank YOU, codejunky, for the laugh. Oh, and I'd like to thank Trump as well, without whose ongoing efforts we'd have nothing to laugh at you about.
@that one in the corner
"Yeeesss. That is how it works. There are little things called "tax brackets"."
And so here is the original comment I responded to before you performed your stupidity-
@AC
"He could pay his taxes" - https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2025/03/05/trump_speech_scrap_chips_act/#c_5030928
I know you like to write a lot of stupidity for whatever reason but you agree with me in response to the AC but you feel you must somehow try to argue with me while actually saying nothing of value to the conversation.
I think we need a court jester icon
> Didnt Maddow [get*] Trumps tax returns which shows he pays more than that socialist Bernie?
In 2017 Maddow compared Sanders in 2015 to Trump in 2005 because that was the information then available. She found that Sanders' ~13.5% rate on declared income of around $205k was substantially less than Trump's ~25% on declared income of around $152m. I can't speak as to bracketing and therefore what either of them 'should' have paid but it is clear that in 2005 Trump most definitely paid his taxes.
However, when more of Trump's tax returns were leaked in 2020 the NY Times was amongst those observing that Trump paid no tax at all for ten of the fifteen years leading up to 2020 and paid only $750 (not a typo; no suffix intended) for two of the other five. In all cases because of declared losses.
@MrDamage
"Resigning, being impeached, or emulating Elvis's final moments would probably get them to crack a smile."
To be honest you might be right. It is pretty terrible that a major party in a democratic system is so violently hateful and spiteful. Just imagine how bitter and broken someone must be to have such hatred and in a large part for seemingly made up reasons.
For all the dislike of his policies maybe or even of the guy not being 'one of them' it is dark that they want his liberty and/or life taking from him. He even won a serious level of support in the elections that blew away the opposition, and yet I agree with you and that they seem to be so seriously dangerous/deranged.
Shows how much you understand economics. You give these companies subsidies or tax incentives to provide jobs, the CHIPS act is targeted to high tech to bring manufacturing to the USA, so the jobs will be well paid and you know what? Those workers in those high paid jobs pay taxes to the government. But here a better way to get some money in, go after the, estimated, $490+ Billion a year in tax fraud and avoidance that is carried out, mainly, by the biggest companies and top 1% of wage earners and force the companies that pay their fulltime employees so little that they still are eligible for social security to pay a living wage. For context, an estimated 70% of all social security recipients in the US are working fulltime on low wages, the biggest abusers of this are Walmart and McDonalds, Amazon was on that list until Burnie Sanders shamed them in to paying, at least, $15 p/h to all workers.
@cmb11
"Shows how much you understand economics. You give these companies subsidies or tax incentives to provide jobs, the CHIPS act is targeted to high tech to bring manufacturing to the USA"
I know that and have commented that elsewhere but what does that have to do with my comment? Tax incentives I get as it requires the private to risk their own money, I am less of a fan of subsidy because it is tax payer money at risk. If the jobs stay around and pay enough to eventually pay back the subsidy then it is an investment, unfortunately government is generally not good at investment.
"For context, an estimated 70% of all social security recipients in the US are working fulltime on low wages, the biggest abusers of this are Walmart and McDonalds, Amazon was on that list until Burnie Sanders shamed them in to paying, at least, $15 p/h to all workers."
That is an understandable issue which is also being balanced with McDonalds and Walmart replacing the many low skilled workers with machines that will cost the business less.
Much of what Trump talks about never comes to pass in any case.
You may not like this, but, in his first term he clearly did not understand how to use the powers of the office of President. He has clearly had four years of the Biden administration to work out where he failed to get his own way, and importantly how to prevail now he is back in power. As he said in his speech, he has accomplished more in 47 days than a lot of administrations did in 4 years.
Now, I accept that you may heartily detest what he has done, but you cannot deny that he has done a lot of things. In addition, he has learnt not to hire staff who will object to his policies, but people who will carry them out. He has over 46 months left in office, so maybe let's not get carried away with how he failed before and assume he will continue to fail in the future.
Now, I accept that you may heartily detest what he has done, but you cannot deny that he has done a lot of things.
The next time I come home and found my cat has ripped up the sofa cushions and shit on the carpet I won't worry about the damage, I'll just shrug and say he's done a lot of things.
Don't be silly. The article made the point that much of what Trump says never happens. I merely pointed out that Trump has learned from his past failures to 'get things done', and some of the ways he is going about getting his own way. Personally I think the vast majority of what he has done has been terrible and could even lead eventually to the breakdown of civil society and martial law in the USA. He still denies the effects of human activities on the climate, is effectively forcing Ukraine into a capitulation which will almost inevitably result in future invasion by Russia into whatever is left, is emasculating or even destroying essential safeguards for people and the environment in the USA and by pausing USAid probably killing thousands of innocent people. And he has only just started... Comparing this to coming home to find your cat has ripped up the curtains and the sofa cushions is nonsense. (Get it a scratching post.)
"forcing Ukraine into a capitulation which will almost inevitably result in future invasion by Russia into whatever is left
It's not "almost", it is certain. Putin wants to restore Russia to its pre-1914 borders, including Ukraine*, Belarus, Poland, Finland, etc, etc. If the US and Europe don't stand united with Ukraine now, it will happen.
*Yes, I do know that Russia didn't occupy all of Ukraine before 1914, but you think that will bother Vladimir?
> Putin wants to restore Russia to its pre-1914 borders, including Ukraine*, Belarus, Poland, Finland, etc, etc. If the US and Europe don't stand united with Ukraine now, it will happen.
I am sure Putin would like to. But given it has taken him three years to annex a sliver of Ukraine -- How long do you think it will take him to secure the rest?
And, if he tries, Nato won't be resisting with one hand tied behind her back.
Nato won't be resisting with one hand tied behind her back.
Trump has already stated that any involvement by NATO states should not be considered as covered by NATO guarantees. It may only be a matter of time before he announces his intention to withdraw from the alliance. This would leave him free to invade Canada and Greenland, and threaten Europe over any proposed no-fly zone over Ukraine once he starts supplying intelligence and weapons the Russia.
If Europe has to defend herself outside of Nato against invasion by Russia, even if America sides with Russia, they will.
As much as Putin might like an empire I don't believe he really wants to fight for it. I see a negotiated reset to the 2010s when Russia was looking to join the EU more likely.
But the rhetoric in Europe will have to dampen down for that to be feasible.
Peace or war - It's our choice.
May I suggest you reread the comment? The "lot of things" statement was not a statement on the quality of those things. It was a statement on the quantity of them. In fact, if you dislike those things, the quantity of them would be a negative and you'd hope, in the absence of getting things you did like, to have a person who was not capable of doing a lot of bad things. Their broader point was comparing the quantity of things accomplished to the last time that Trump tried to accomplish things and making predictions on the number of suggestions he makes which will be implemented rather than ignored. This is a relevant prediction if you think he does wonderful new things or if you think the actions he takes are likely to lead to disaster, because it predicts how much improvement or destruction you're going to get.
I have frequently compared the productivity of dictators. In most cases, the ones that are capable of doing a lot of things are the most dangerous ones. It isn't a positive thing if the things are bad.
"The next time I come home and found my cat has ripped up the sofa cushions and shit on the carpet I won't worry about the damage, I'll just shrug and say he's done a lot of things."
I am afraid with my cat there would never be a "next time" - a one way visit to the vet only because of the RSPCA it wouldn't be a sack and a brick.
That's the problem after the mayhem of January 6, 2020 a body bag with a dozen house bricks would have prevented this train smash.
"As he said in his speech, he has accomplished more in 47 days than a lot of administrations did in 4 years"
Angry German Mustache Man dismantled German democracy in 60 days
Will Orange Gibbering Horrorshow beat that record? It's beginning to appear he will
WRT Tump failures, so far he's suceeding in getting Canada to agree to do what they'd already negotiated with the Biden administration re border patrol and Mexico to agree to a 33% cut in border patrol numbers compared to what they'd agreed with the Biden administration
So. Much. Winning.
"As he said in his speech, he has accomplished more in 47 days than a lot of administrations did in 4 years."
True in some respects, although "accomplishments" has a ring of "good" about it and I'd be loath to call most of his "accomplishments" good. At least he didn't say "achievements" which implies something better than just good :-) "Acts" might be a better word with it's more neutral connotations.
That is Trump's S.O.P, he sees himself as King, Dictator, Supreme Ruler unbounded by laws and the Constitution. Even the four years since his last Presidency he has acted as if he is still unbounded by the laws and rules of the U.S, during his hearings and trial for violating the Classified documents laws.
A broken clock is right twice a day...
Corporate welfare is ALWAYS a mistake. And that's what the idiotic CHIPS Act is, corporate welfare.
Now, Stinky is obviously not against corporate welfare, it's a major part of his grift. But in this one case, he's right. That money should absolutely be spent, but it should go to things like making housing available for homeless people or healthcare for everyone, not handed to giant corporations. India and Indonesia know how to handle this sort of thing, laws that say "You WILL make X% of stuff here, or you won't sell your stuff in this country" - and it's worked, Apple is making iPhones in India and just agreed to invest $1billion in Indonesia so they'll be allowed to sell the iPhone 16 there.
Corporations are best handled with a stick, not a carrot.
> but it should go to things like making housing available for homeless people or healthcare for everyone, not handed to giant corporations
Ha ha, fuck no. That's all very nice, but you don't *seriously* believe that's where the money'll end up in this case, do you?
It'll go towards tax cuts for the rich- as usual, coming from populist hucksters who use the "we could spend it on our *own* people" line, but oddly never do- but especially in the case of the Trump regime and the super-rich that spent money bringing it to power in the hope of a much bigger payoff down the line.
> That's all very nice, but you don't *seriously* believe that's where the money'll end up in this case, do you?
If we're having a laugh at comments that imply naive assumptions, what makes you think Trump's inevitable rich-people tax cuts will be based on money that's coming from anywhere?
The federal deficit in 2016 was $585bn, having increased from $459bn in 2008. Excluding 2020 for the COVIDness of it all, by 2019 Trump had managed to increase that to $984bn. Not as bad as W Bush who managed to turn a $236bn **surplus** into a $459bn **deficit** but in the same ballpark.
The negligible cuts he and Elon are pretending add up to anything plus whatever he gets from tariffs will make no difference whatsoever to the tax cuts he doles out, and the federal deficit is only going to increase. The GOP is provably the party of fiscal irresponsibility.
[2020's number, for the interested: $3,132bn. But, again, too much global noise to attribute Trump with causing the 2019–2020 change]
Is a renewal of 100> tax credits on investment corporate charity too??
That just allows mega corporations to write down investments they were going to make anyway.
TSMC were lauded for their USD$100bn investment ‘not costing the US a dime’ and Apple’s similar ‘thanks Tim*’ USD$500bn … but that as capital investment if 100% tax deductible is effectively the US Taxpayer paying for it.
* Apple Tim … whose company has not made a single iPhone (2,5bn shipped) or iPad (400m shipped) ever outside of China or more recently India (who were lambasted for 100% tariffs on US Autos)
So he wants to reduce our dependence on foreign imports, but does not want to invest in domestic manufacturing. Trumpian "logic*" at it's finest. I would prefer these investments to be loans with collateral in the form of stocks that get repaid like GMs verses unfettered handouts like the ones to our domestic telecoms for internet access expansion that they promptly spent on anything but that.
Trump thinks tariffs are more powerful than they are. He sees them as triads of success because they hurt a foreign business, promote a domestic business, and earn money for the government. To give him his due, they do all of those things. However, they don't do all of those things equally, they don't last very long even if you keep them in place, and they come with some massive downsides which may outweigh all of the benefits if you use them on a whim. He uses them on a whim.
In this case, he seems to think that putting a tariff on imported chips will be enough to promote local production, and he would be wrong. The manufacturing can't be built anywhere near fast enough for that to be feasible. All he'll get is inflation on anything with a chip in it and anger and concern from Taiwan. There is no cheap way to make your country have a lot more semiconductor manufacturing capacity than it already does. As for loans, I don't know how well they would work. TSMC could already decide to build a fab in the US; they have or could get the cash, but they aren't choosing to for various other reasons. Your loan needs to have enough value to convince them to build the thing despite having another place they think would be more profitable to build it. That means you might have to give them a larger loan than a grant since it's not just about getting access to the capital. Basically the same problem, there is no cheap way to quickly make your country have a lot more semiconductor manufacturing capacity than it already does.
Given the current announced federal job cuts from DOGE and the indirect impact of these kinds of cuts*, the Americans are looking at somewhere in the region of 1 million people unemployed or on reduced income within the first quarter of his term. And that is before the effects of his bluster on his "allies" takes effect**
*Unemployed people don't have the discretionary cash to spend on bars, restaurants, taxis, haircuts, manicures, cinema trips, etc, etc.
**30% of foreign tourism and 40% of Kentucky bourbon sales are to Canadians. Those same Canadians who are pretty much now set on never buying American again... Another 20% of tourism is Mexicans. Some might see a potential issue here for the millions employed in tourism...
@Roland6
"Time is the real problem Trump has, while he can rapidly impose tariffs, building stuff and thus creating jobs is going to take time, significantly more than the 4 years he has."
I expect this explains a lot of the urgency in his actions at the start to get the best chance of coming to fruition. Governments dont really create jobs but they do destroy them. And the next President (whoever that may be) may go back to the failed policies of the last decade+.
I dont agree with the tariff thing. I think I kinda understand why he thinks it works that way but I dont think they will be a good thing for the US. Hopefully he can get the country back to growing and out of the emergency situation it is in. I dont know if it will work but at least he is trying.
> I expect this explains a lot of the urgency in his actions at the start to get the best chance of coming to fruition.
He has to move fast, as it’s not long before voters start to feel the impact of his actions…
> Governments dont really create jobs but they do destroy them.
As Trump is demonstrating…
> And the next President (whoever that may be) may go back to the failed policies of the last decade+.
The question is probably not whether the Democrats can or can’t do better but whether between them there is a space being created for a new force…
@Roland6
"He has to move fast, as it’s not long before voters start to feel the impact of his actions…"
Immediate actions yes but longer term effects take longer, as the reg had commented about TSMC coming online at the end of his term- https://forums.theregister.com/forum/containing/5029162
"As Trump is demonstrating…"
As all governments demonstrate. The aim is to do it less.
"The question is probably not whether the Democrats can or can’t do better but whether between them there is a space being created for a new force…"
I didnt mention it as Democrats, I dont have faith in Republicans either. We dont know who will be the next president nor if they will go on to blast the cash and keep the US in emergency measures.
> and keep the US in emergency measures.
I suspect that will be a given. What Trump has done is really show how messed up the Senate and Congress are, to the point that very little actually seems to actually be agreed and thus passed by both houses into law. Thus making the US effectively an elected dictator who gets things done by presidential decrees, which the next president can do whatever they like with…
"Trump thinks tariffs are more powerful than they are. He sees them as triads of success because they hurt a foreign business, promote a domestic business, and earn money for the government. To give him his due, they do all of those things."
I don't know about all of that. I just watched a news report about Canadian Liquor stores removing all US made liquor from the shelves. Given the way distribution works for liquor in Canada, that's huge. A candidate for PM is threatening a 100% tariff on Tesla vehicles should she be elected. She's come right out and pointedly said she IS targeting Elon personally. Many Canadians have already been boycotting US goods and if political candidates are leveraging the frustration of the populace, it could be very bad for the US. I wouldn't be surprised if more of Mr. Trumps associates are also targeted by government bans, high tariffs and contract cancellations.
Those would be some of the downsides I was talking about. Most of the time, tariffs have a bunch of those and don't do very much on the three supposed benefits. Often, one or more of those benefits aren't actually benefits. For example, if Trump puts tariffs on TSMC, that will hurt TSMC, a little, but A) it will hurt the US a lot more just by existing, B) it will not much help any US competitor, C) it won't drive semiconductor manufacturing to the US in the time he has, and D) there is no good reason to want to hurt TSMC anyway, so the one intended thing it does do is also bad. This leaves only one possible benefit of the tariff, the government revenues collected from all the people who still need chips made by TSMC and buy them with the tariff in place. That revenue is not worth the pain inflicted on all parties, and nor do I think he really cares about that measly revenue when he can just keep borrowing as much money as he wants. However, he doesn't understand points A through D, so he still thinks it will work.
Other tariffs occasionally have different cost-to-benefit ratios. In general, blanket tariffs will have a lot more downsides than targeted ones, and ones passed after consideration will make more sense than ones instated or canceled based on how you're feeling today. Sometimes, tariffs can be a useful tool, but like a lot of tools, you need to know what situation they're useful in and using them in most other situations is more likely to break things.
> I wouldn't be surprised if more of Mr. Trumps associates are also targeted by government bans, high tariffs and contract cancellations.
Given the attacks on Tesla US charging network, we can expect voters to also take direct action where they can.
The laugh with the Tesla attacks, is the probable involvement of MAGA supporters, given Trump has effectively said EVs are woke…
"Given the attacks on Tesla US charging network, we can expect voters to also take direct action where they can."
Since Elon is synonymous with Tesla by his own design, it's a visible thing to attack. Elon better have hired back enough of the Supercharger staff to be able to keep up with repairs.
So no chips money for semiconductor fab plants in the usa. Nobody will build a new fab in the usa. [Will tsmc complete the new usa plants?]
Taiwan will have no usa fab competitors. They are putting prices up. Take the money.
They may not need to destroy the euv machines. Pump dopant through the di pipes. Replacing the pipes will be a nasty job.
Is there lsd in the washington water supply?
Once Upon a Time the UK had a number of technology leading industries but a combination of mergers, sell offs and systematic under investment left them in a sorry state by the 1960s. Governments through the latter half of the 60s and 70s attempted to remedy this but the initiatives often fell short due to government often being unable to compete with fast talking executives and slick accountants. (....and where initiatives were successful they were quickly sold off cheaply to 'friends and family' after a change in government in the 80s).
Handing government cash, either directly or in the form of loan guarantees, is a formula for getting ripped off. I do agree that sometimes its necessary to prime the pump when there's a radical change in technology or where there's a significant social element involved but just handing corporations wads of cash is a waste of money. There's gobs of it about, anyway -- one of the banes of the current investment market is that there's too much money chasing too few solid investments which results in wild speculations as money chases 'the next big thing'. (Its also responsible for inflation, BTW.) This money needs to be directed into real investment and that's where government can intervene -- it has control of tax policy so it can nudge investment where its needed. (It won't because government's largely owned by speculators these days, but that's nothing new.)
We have a friend who owns a deLorean. Every time I see it I think (as an ex-UK taxpayer) "I own a chunk of that car...".
"I do agree that sometimes its necessary to prime the pump when there's a radical change in technology or where there's a significant social element involved but just handing corporations wads of cash is a waste of money."
There are usually many ways to "prime the pump" that don't involve pallets of cash. Many times it's government red tape that gets in the way and delays things to the point where it's much cheaper and quicker to do the project in another country. Why the heck else would you see so many hard drives with "Made in Malaysia" printed on them? It wasn't a country known for high tech previously.
That was funny. I mean, FFS it should have been funny looked at from either side of the Great Political Divide. But you still some downvotes. I wonder if the dowvoters were rabid MAGAs or just too young to know who Ponch and Jon are? Anyway, it made me smile a lot more than the Magnum P.I. remake did :-)
I'm just stunned that the American population and politicians are putting up with this Pumpkin Hitler tossing the entire game board and pieces of international politics and laws out the window for his own amusement and entertainment.
Good Universe, what does it take for you Americans to wake up to the factor that this disasterous decision you've made to elect this clown is destroying the nation and actually DO something about it, starting with initiating impeachment... and followed with prosecution for high treason and failure to abide and support the Constitution of the United States of America as he swore to do mere weeks ago!
Did you just wake up? No offense, but the majority of American voters, the vast majority in fact, either actively voted for him or sat on their hands with a "what, me worry?" shit-grin, because the other side didn't give them The Feels.
You're a Canadian, I would have thought you would know exactly what the idiocracy on the other side of the border is like by now.
There's this horrifying viral video that CNN did a few days ago with this US federal worker. The dumb bint actively voted for Trumpler - and throughout the entire interview it was pretty clear that the little sociopath was absolutely OK with the damage the new regime was doing to others. She was just shocked that it was now HER turn!, She wanted to get pregnant and thought that she would get IVF for herself under Trump, because of him protecting women's rights. Not some other undeserving woman! You can't make this shit up! You can probably still find the vid on CNN's YT channel.
> it was pretty clear that the little sociopath was absolutely OK with the damage the new regime was doing to others
Never forget that, in its original form "I never thought leopards would eat MY face" has the oft-omitted emphasis on "MY".
This wasn't simply an attack on people too blinkered or lazy to see the consequences of their actions. This was an attack on people who knew damn well what those consequences would be, and were okay with that because they took for granted *they* wouldn't- or shouldn't- be the ones affected.
As one Trump voter commented last time round, "He’s not hurting the people he needs to be".
So, yes. "Little sociopath" indeed. These are people that deserve absolutely no sympathy when the consequences of their vindictive, I've-got-mine choices come back to screw them over- quite the opposite.
Notice, by the way, that the hard-talking bullshitter Trump is backtracking on car tariffs. Because- guess what- it turned out that the entirely forseeable consequences of adding $10,000+ to the price of vehicles that most people can barely afford as it is (there being a massive shortage of affordable models over there), in a country where you actually *need* one to get anywhere was going to screw countless Trump voters over too.
Even the owner of a car dealership was whining that he was going to be unable to sell an $80,000 truck to the intended customer- or anyone else- for $100,000 and would end up stuck with it on his forecourt.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/5/2308193/-Jack-Daniel-s-CEO-whines-Canada-pulling-US-alcohol-off-store-shelves-is-worse-than-a-tariff
"In the spirit (pun intended) of fairness, I must add one thing in Brown-Foreman's [maker of Jack Daniels] favor. The company's PAC bundles political contributions from employees, retirees, and investors. In the 2024 election cycle, 67% ($185,194) of its disbursements to congressional candidates went to Democrats. Make of that what you will."
"Even the owner of a car dealership was whining that he was going to be unable to sell an $80,000 truck to the intended customer- or anyone else- for $100,000 and would end up stuck with it on his forecourt."
A bit of whinging since dealers of new cars have a stock that's on contingency, not their own money sitting on the lot as it is with used cars. They might get hit with transportation charges and fall back in line for more vehicles that have a chance of selling, but it's a risk they take by asking for high-value models to be on their lot.
Trump won 49.9% of the vote compared to Democrats 48.3% so a 1.6% majority which is small and not a clear mandate to make significant changes to anything. I am sure the mid-terms will give the house and senate to the democrats and then he will be a lame duck president, in addition to all the other things he is. However, can the World really wait that long....
"Trump won 49.9% of the vote compared to Democrats 48.3% so a 1.6% majority which is small and not a clear mandate to make significant changes to anything."
Yer not from around here, are ya?
US Presidential elections are not based on popular vote tallies. A "clear mandate" is a highly subjective concept and has little meaning. There are winners, there are losers and you may not know what you get until you open the box.
"No offense, but the majority of American voters, the vast majority in fact, either actively voted for him "
If you don't vote for a lizard, the wrong lizard might have gotten in.
The two main choices were both exceptionally poor. The also-rans were a zoo full of whack-a-doodles. The best that can be hoped for is Congress asserts itself and not continue to play the part of a door mat. They may need to first get rid of 11-term lifers with no manners that lost touch with the real world 10 terms ago.
.... putting up with this Pumpkin Hitler...
You shouldn't be surprised.
Nazism was Hitler's reskinning of Confederacy & Crow for German consumption with a side order of Eugenics and Flag worship (Americans were using that salute as part of their daily flag shagging exercise for decades before the Italians appropriated it) - it's all in Mein Kampf if you can stomach reading it
There were more Nazi party members (mainly German American Bund) in 1938 USA than there were in Germany. That Bridge that the Blues Brothers drive the Nazis off the side of was marched over by Brownshirts every Sunday throughout the 1930s and the German-American Bund was established there before moving to New York
Naziism was very enthusiastically supported by American Corporations and Captains of Industry
In December 1940, those corps/captains teamed up with American Evangelists with a stated mission of "destroying the Jew Deal" (yes, really) and taking America back to the social conditions prevailing before WW1
The Business Plot was only thwarted because the retired general the plotters attempted to make their figurehead blew the whistle when he was approached and in 1940 there were very real fears that Lindberg (Yes, that Lindberg) would attempt a coup to usurp the 1940 federal elections
American Nazis never went away. They just changed their labelling+flags and carried on as anticommunists.
Investigations showed that outfits like America First Committee and other groups were receiving funds from NSDAP (The Nazi party in Germany) - the House committee investigating unamerican activities was actually established to do those inquiries before being usurped by McCarthy and other American Nazis after the war
The current mess has been a VERY long time in the making. Donnie's father was high up in both the Bund and KKK, the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree (Fred Trump Sr was also a mafia bagman and Donald inherited that role, as the Australian Federal Police documented in 1986)
All that said, Trump's shenanigans are a distraction. The really dangerous stuff is happening elsewhere as efforts continue to gain majority control of 2/3 of American states. Once the Heritage Foundation have that, the entire USA constitution can be rewritten from scratch as they see fit - and the federal govermnent rendered entirely irrelevant
Excellent summary.
If you ever have the stomach and the nerves to visit the US Holocaust Museum and be left either sobbing on the floor or wanting to eradicate ALL of humanity as a huge mistake of evolution, they have an entire display section (room even, IIRC) on the US both before and during the time period of 33-45.
It does not paint a pretty picture as you've shown as well.
Once hamburglar crushs orange tango man's heart, and it can't come sooner, they'll all be voted out, no one will forget what they've done. south african hitler not being elected, firing FAA officials who were investigating Space X for safety violations. Then cancelling a FAA air traffic control contract with Verizon and giving it to, oh look, Space X.
Bent beyond all bentness.
Both are MASSIVE cunts.
So there may not be another free election.
Four of the Supreme Justices just explicitly broke the Constitution by insisting the US should not pay its debts in their "dissent".
So they absolutely won't protect any other part of it either - and yes, the 2nd Amendment will be gone too, whenever it becomes inconvenient for whichever guy is wearing the tanned orange skinsuit.
Once you let the leopards start eating faces, they won't stop.
That he wants to essentially, annex Canada. Claiming he won't remove the tarriff until they become the 51st state, which is clearly NEVER going to happen. And its clear he wants this so he can then stop them arming Ukraine because, again, he's a Putin puppet.
I fancy a portion of chips right now. With gravy.
Ew. I never understood why you'd go to all the effort of making nice crispy chips then make them all soggy and floppy with gravy.
Odd, very odd.
(Curry sauce isn't so bad - it's generally thicker and drier than gravy and you generally don't pout it all over them)
"Ew. I never understood why you'd go to all the effort of making nice crispy chips then make them all soggy and floppy with gravy."
Gravy, mayo, brown sauce, all good.
There's also the old sayin' "Don't knock it till ya try it".
Somebody shoves a plate of poutine under my nose better mind their digits.
Aww mannnnn. Now I'm hungry for chips with something on them and I have all three of the above ready for deployment. Hmmmm, all three.... good idea!
Wasn't the whole point of the CHIPS Act, and similar movements in the EU, to secure strategic manufacturing without the supply chain for anything with a chip in it being at risk if China finally decides to attack Taiwan?
If the USA doesn't want to expand its industry, other countries will, and it'll leave the USA vulnerable.
But I'm sensing a pattern with a lot of Trump's decisions leaving the USA vulnerable...
Who cares WHAT the USA does anymore in chips! They are no longer relevant to CPU and Memory chips! Sheeeeesh! I am using an all-Canadian, Full-ITAR-free, completely in-house designed and manufactured 128-bits wide combined-CPU/GPU/DSP/Vector processor on my desktop NOW and it works GREAT and BLOWS AWAY any Intel, AMD, Apple, IBM, Qualcomm or Huawei CPU out there! 2 THz at 50 PetaFLOPS sustained!
Yay Canada!
We Win The Chip Wars AND the Hockey Games!
NCA !!!! NCA !!! NCA !!!
aka North Canadian Aerospace
V
I am not a fan of this administration but I would like to see the end of government at all levels paying companies to build facilities. If they want to help, they can streamline the red tape involved in getting planning permission, permits and inspections. A favorite tactic of inspectors is for them to give a down-check over something insignificant that must be corrected before it can be signed off. That means paying another inspection fee to the locale for the re-inspection. It might also mean that the inspector has a boat payment coming up and the holidays drained their accounts a lot this last year.
I'm helping the corner shop owner deal with something like this now with another one of his stores. The city claimed they received some sort of vague complaint and required him to resubmit an entire package for a re-evaluation of his Certificate of Occupancy. In the US, getting a liquor license is time consuming and very expensive so it would be painful to just throw up ones hands and walk away. The cities know this and can put the screws on anytime they like and charge outrageous fees. Hiring a lawyer to file a harassment claim would be even more expensive. The cities know this as well.
Elon is supposed to be getting a big pile of free money to build another plant in Texas. The world's richest person is being paid by the tax paying citizens to expand their business to make even more money. The Tesla Shanghai plant was put up so fast as it was a Chinese government project. Planning was rational and done in partnership. Inspectors were onsite and signing off progress in real time so there were no delays. Materials were prioritized for the project along with making sure transportation was available so there was no idle time on site. (time wasted, not Eric).
Amazon was doing the same thing by inviting cities to bid for them to locate a new office block.
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