President Donald Trump's United States of America

[kEiThZ]

We are about to see one of the only countries left on the planet with a positive birth rate

Inequality is catching up. But really, we should worry more about Canada competing with South Korea for the lowest birth rate in the OECD, before talking about the US.

musk probably realizes his main reason for having to cut social security is so that not only all the tax cuts he's giving can be afforded but also they can make up for the Lost tax revenue when they start taking even legal taxpayers out of the country because they don't fit the status quo

Musk, like a lot of people, is completely clueless about government finances. And in his Ketamine fueled ignorance, he also went down the Conservative rabbit hole thinking that "government waste" was a majority of spending. In reality, it's always been the poor, the military and old people. Out of a $6T budget, nearly $4T is old people and the poor, another trillion is the military and veterans. That leaves a trillion for all other government spending including interest. So when Musk started talking about cutting $2T, it should have been the first clue about how ignorant or malicious this crew was.

 

[W. K. Lis]

French MP demands the US 'give us back the Statue of Liberty'​

A French MP has called for the US to return the Statue of Liberty originally gifted by the French people to mark the centennial of American independence because the US no longer represents the values that led France to offer the statue.

France should take back the Statue of Liberty because the US no longer represents the values that led France to offer the statue, a French Euro-deputy said Sunday.

"Give us back the Statue of Liberty", centre-left politician Raphael Glucksmann said at a convention of his Place Publique centre-left movement.

"We're going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: 'Give us back the Statue of Liberty,'" he told cheering supporters.

"'We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home,'" he added.

The Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York City's harbour on October 28, 1886 for the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence as a gift from the French people to America. It was designed by Frenchman Auguste Bartholdi.

Paris does have a far smaller copy of the statue on a small island on the Seine in Paris.Glucksmann, a staunch defender of Ukraine, has strongly criticised President Donald Trump's radical change of US policy on the war.

He also took aim at Trump's cuts to US research institutions, which has already prompted a French government initiative to attract some of them to work in France

"The second thing we're going to say to the Americans is: 'if you want to fire your best researchers, if you want to fire all the people who, through their freedom and their sense of innovation, their taste for doubt and research, have made your country the world's leading power, then we're going to welcome them,'" continued Glucksmann.

Since Trump returned to the White House in January, his government has cut federal research funding and sought to dismiss hundreds of federal workers working on health and climate research.

Glucksmann also criticised far-right leaders in France, accusing them of being a "fan club" for Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who is spearheading the president's efforts to cut spending.

From https://www.france24.com/en/france/20250316-french-mp-demands-the-us-give-us-back-the-statue-of-liberty

 

[PL1]

French MP demands the US 'give us back the Statue of Liberty'​

A French MP has called for the US to return the Statue of Liberty originally gifted by the French people to mark the centennial of American independence because the US no longer represents the values that led France to offer the statue.



From https://www.france24.com/en/france/20250316-french-mp-demands-the-us-give-us-back-the-statue-of-liberty

While I get the sentiment, it was a gift, not a loan

 

[afransen]

Inequality is catching up. But really, we should worry more about Canada competing with South Korea for the lowest birth rate in the OECD, before talking about the US.



Musk, like a lot of people, is completely clueless about government finances. And in his Ketamine fueled ignorance, he also went down the Conservative rabbit hole thinking that "government waste" was a majority of spending. In reality, it's always been the poor, the military and old people. Out of a $6T budget, nearly $4T is old people and the poor, another trillion is the military and veterans. That leaves a trillion for all other government spending including interest. So when Musk started talking about cutting $2T, it should have been the first clue about how ignorant or malicious this crew was.

The US definitely has a fiscal problem, as their deficit has grown to unsustainable levels (1.83T is over 6.5% of GDP), even at a time with a robust economy and employment. While Social Security is perhaps too generous, I don't think you could cut enough from it along with Medicare to close the gap. They need to become a bit smarter about entitlement spending, and they need taxation that can support the level of spending that they have decided on. Perhaps a national value added tax could be part of the solution.

 

[just east of the creek]

The US definitely has a fiscal problem, as their deficit has grown to unsustainable levels (1.83T is over 6.5% of GDP), even at a time with a robust economy and employment. While Social Security is perhaps too generous, I don't think you could cut enough from it along with Medicare to close the gap. They need to become a bit smarter about entitlement spending, and they need taxation that can support the level of spending that they have decided on. Perhaps a national value added tax could be part of the solution.

Without disagreeing with any of the above, it behooves all Canadians to look at our own books. Very untidy, messy and troubling. This year a $61 billion dollar defecti to add to the federal governments, which stands at 1,263.2 billion dollars. Yes, the numbers are not quite as large, as the countries' economy is not, but the %'s run very similar in many areas. And do not forget to include this province in your look. For instance the provincial government rebates and supports hydro costs to the tune of about $6 billion per year adding to the projected 429 billion $ debt the province is flirting with.

IF you look at the larger industrialized countries debt to GDP ratio, the USA stands at 122%, France 111%, Canada and Spain 108%, the UK 97.6%, China 83%, Finland 75%, Germany 70%, South Korea 51%, Pol;and 49%, Australia 43%, Sweden 31% Turkey 29% etc etc (Figures from the World Pop Rev 2025)

 

[kEiThZ]

A huge part of why the US has done so well recently is that deficit spending. See Chips Act and Inflation Reduction Act. The problem with our deficits is that we really abused them. The Liberals ran over $100B in deficits before COVID. Most of that didn't go to infrastructure or defence. It went to more generous social programs. Essentially, they borrowed for consumption, instead of capital investment. And they turned this plan up to 11 during COVID.

All that said, Trump and the Republicans are now promising to do what the Liberals over here did. They can get away with it because they have the world's reserve currency though.

 

[kEiThZ]

Perhaps a national value added tax could be part of the solution.

The Republicans are on their way to passing more tax cuts. You think they'll pass a VAT?

They aren't there for fiscal responsibility. They are there to help the rich rob the country. It's really simple. The tax cuts favour the rich who buy more assets with their windfall. The middle class gets a few thousand back in tax cuts, but then faces asset inflation (competing with the rich for assets) and higher fees and declining services for everything. In the end, their wealth drops. The racism is needed to distract people. Can't really sell helping the rich rob the country without giving the poor and the middle class someone to keep them distracted. Hence, we're back to blaming immigrants.

 

[Northern Light]

A huge part of why the US has done so well recently is that deficit spending. See Chips Act and Inflation Reduction Act. The problem with our deficits is that we really abused them. The Liberals ran over $100B in deficits before COVID. Most of that didn't go to infrastructure or defence. It went to more generous social programs. Essentially, they borrowed for consumption, instead of capital investment. And they turned this plan up to 11 during COVID.

All that said, Trump and the Republicans are now promising to do what the Liberals over here did. They can get away with it because they have the world's reserve currency though.

While I agree broadly that Canada should have run lower, if not no deficits by the late 2010s......... I don't think the represents the Trudeau gov't spending profile, in a unique way, pre-covid:

Source: https://www.canada.ca/en/department...ions/annual-financial-report/2022/report.html

What you see is the number bumped up post 2008 financial crisis...and really moved very little thereafter under both Harper and Trudeau w/the latter being slightly lower, pre-Covid.

I think there was room for wiser use of government expenditure to be sure.........and frankly the raising of more revenue {or less intentional reduction of same.....recall that Trudeau lowered the middle income tax bracket from 22% to 20.5%) this on the heels of Harper having lowered the HST from 7 to 5%.

Those 2 moves alone account for virtually the entire federal deficit from 2009-2019.

 

[Northern Light]

The Republicans are on their way to passing more tax cuts. You think they'll pass a VAT?

They aren't there for fiscal responsibility. They are there to help the rich rob the country. It's really simple. The tax cuts favour the rich who buy more assets with their windfall. The middle class gets a few thousand back in tax cuts, but then faces asset inflation (competing with the rich for assets) and higher fees and declining services for everything. In the end, their wealth drops. The racism is needed to distract people. Can't really sell helping the rich rob the country without giving the poor and the middle class someone to keep them distracted. Hence, we're back to blaming immigrants.

Reading this made me think of the way Richard Baker et. al sucked Hudson's Bay Company dry........

It really comes across as parasitic..........in a very literal sense.

Sucking the life out of something, in the case of Private Equity, an otherwise viable if under-performing asset; in the case of the uber-rich, the U.S. as government and society.

Take everything you can, bleed it dry.....leave the husks behind for everyone else to fight over.

 

[kEiThZ]

While I agree broadly that Canada should have run lower, if not no deficits by the late 2010s......... I don't think the represents the Trudeau gov't spending profile, in a unique way, pre-covid:

View attachment 637342

Source: https://www.canada.ca/en/department...ions/annual-financial-report/2022/report.html

What you see is the number bumped up post 2008 financial crisis...and really moved very little thereafter under both Harper and Trudeau w/the latter being slightly lower, pre-Covid.

I think there was room for wiser use of government expenditure to be sure.........and frankly the raising of more revenue {or less intentional reduction of same.....recall that Trudeau lowered the middle income tax bracket from 22% to 20.5%) this on the heels of Harper having lowered the HST from 7 to 5%.

Those 2 moves alone account for virtually the entire federal deficit from 2009-2019.

How they got there is really irrelevant to me. What's relevant is that they didn't use that money in a prudent manner to bolster the country.

Especially after 2016 when the rise of populism in the US was obvious.

And they basically pissed away 2020-2024, hoping that the first Trump term was an aberration.

They made little to no effort to actually prepare the country for a more problematic US. At least when Chamberlain appeased the Nazis, he got the country re-arming to prepare for war. In his shoes, Trudeau might have launched a domestic dental plan in the UK.

Watching Carney basically approach this like war with a smaller cabinet and reaching out to conservatives and new democrats, you can see how this should have been handled.

 

[W. K. Lis]

From https://www.unilad.com/news/politics/truth-donald-trump-claimed-canada-highest-tariffing-nations-world-426703-20250316

Earlier this week, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to share a lengthy post about his thoughts on the neighboring nation.

The US president penned: “Based on Ontario, Canada, placing a 25% Tariff on ‘Electricity’ coming into the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.”

Canada is actually a low-tariff country compared to many others in the world.

The World Bank figures show that Canada had a lower average tariff rate than the US in 2022, and of 137 published countries, Canada was 102nd from the top in the most tariffed countries.