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Watch out Gramps! ICE is out to get you!

What out Gramps! ICE is out to get you!

The left’s strategy on immigration is focused on turning illegals into victims. Here what they are saying. Every illegal arrested by ICE is an innocent. Every illegal is now a hardworking person with a devoted family. Illegals who are now imprisoned awaiting deportations are mistreated, deprived on medications and malnourished. ICE is a bunch of brown shirted masked terrorists grabbing people off the streets, raiding places of work willy nilly. Legal residents are being harassed. ICE is profiling. Here is what one advocate says “The Trump administration’s first six months of immigration policy are a case study in unimaginable cruelty that makes no distinction between legal immigrants and the undocumented, that targets undocumented people who have been here for decades, and that uses brute force police tactics to intimidate communities.” “The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is raiding churches, courthouses, and schools and locking up undocumented grandmothers. The Homeland Security Department is revoking the protected status of tens of thousands of legal immigrants, clearing the way to deport people who have lived here for more than 20 years.”

The left having lost being able to open the borders to all comers is now diligently trying to keep those who entered illegally here by lying and misinformation.  It appears to be working as polls now show shifting opinions on illegals. Once supportive, now polls show only 35% of Americans surveyed approve of how the administration is handling illegal immigrants. Of course, I wonder how the questions were phrased. I bet the questions were written so as to evoke a certain response.

But the media is compliant and doing its best to sway public opinion away from the deportation of illegals. The Department of Homeland Security is trying to counter the false stories in the press but must make a concerted effort on social media to tell its story because the mainstream media will not. Here are just a few of the false stories debunked by Homeland Security:

“ICE Facilities are Overcrowding and Inmates are Starving with No MedicalAssistance”

“Less than 10% of Immigrants taken into ICE Custody since October had Serious Criminal Convictions”

“A Massachusetts High School Illegal Alien was Held in Solitary Confinement”

“ICE is “Racial Profiling” – Resulting in U.S. Citizens being Arrested”

“DHS Provided No Advance Notice to Los Angeles Police Department Prior toEnforcement”

“ICE Targeted Nannies at Parks”

“ICE Arrested a 6-Year-old with Leukemia at an LA Immigration Court”

“ICE Raid on the Home of a Pregnant Lady”

“DHS Agents Entered UCLA Medical Building”

“ICE Tried to Stake-out the Dodgers’ Stadium, but were Denied Access”

“ICE Failed to Provide a Pregnant Illegal Alien with Medical Care, Causing aMiscarriage”

“ICE Targeted Youth Shelters in Florida”

“DHS Deported a Father after a Traffic Stop”

What about the headline “Trump Administration Deports 82 Year Old Pennsylvania Grandfather to Guatemala?” That too was false and was a hoax. Also the story of the grandmother being locked up involved a woman who was “documenting the detention of asylum-seekers with the group Detention Resistance in San Diego.” She was arrested for pushing an officer – which of course she denies and was cited for assault. Or famously the reporting on Abrego Garcia the “kindly Maryland family man” illegally deported to El Salvador? Or the stories of democrat politicians trying to visit detention centers housing illegals? 

The question is why would anyone believe anything reported in the media? According to Gallup, America’s trust in the media is at a historic low. A Gallup survey found that only 31 percent of Americans still believe that the media “fully, accurately and fairly” reports the news. Attention: that 31 percent is delusional. I don’t believe any of it – including Fox. 

ICE needs to constantly combat the media disinformation. But it needs some help from the Trump folks. Stephen Miller should keep his mouth shut. He reeks of wanting to deport every illegal regardless of circumstance. I hear nothing positive from him. No suggestion of a migrant worker program. No suggestion of any thought but ship them out. It was also a bad look for the administration when it revoked the temporary protected status of 300,000 Haitians given by Biden in 2024. The total number of Haitians given protected status by Biden is around 500,000. The first group of Haitians came after the devastating earthquakes of 2022. The latter group was fleeing the takeover of the country by gangs after the president fled. The in 2025, Trump revokes the legal status of the Haitians along with 30,000 Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans. I think many if not most of us would sympathize with anyone living under those regimes.

Then there is the ugliness of Trump moving to deport the Afghans who aided the Americans and fled the country when the Taliban took over. These too came to the country under temporary protected status and are now facing deportation. I know that Miller has talked about Biden’s abuse of the temporary protected status program, but blanket expulsions seem a bit harsh. Mind you the optics of kicking these people out while waiving all restrictions to bring in a bunch of white South African farmers is a bad look.

Fed funds target rate, ICE sit-ins and the new GDP numbers

Fed funds target rate, ICE sit-ins and the new GDP numbers

The Fed funds rate

Ok I was wrong. I thought the Fed would flip off the president by lowering the Fed funds target rate by 25 basis point. Instead, the Fed’s Open Market Committee stood defiant and voted to keep the rate unchanged. Boy I bet Trump is having a cow. However, this time the vote was not unanimous. Trump’s appointees not named Powell dissented. One, Christopher Waller had gone public advocating a 25 basis point drop which was not a surprise since Waller would like to be appointed the next Fed chairman. The other dissent was Michelle Bowman which was a bit of a surprise since she has always supported tighter monetary policy while resisting rate cuts. Since Trump has already appointed her to be vice chair for regulation, one wonders why the change of heart. Could she, too, want to be named Fed chair? Regardless, this is a bad sign. The Fed board now looks partisan. But at least keep in mind that when Harry Truman appointed William McChesney Martin chair and expected the Fed to accommodate him, once installed Martin went his own way causing Truman to regret his appointment. It will be interesting to see if the next Fed chair goes his or her own way once nominated.

The Baltimore sit-in 

Speaking of nominations, both Maryland senators are on the Senate Banking Committee which vets the Fed nominees. Both were involved in a sit in at an ICE facility in Baltimore. Pardon me but I don’t understand these stunts. The democrats must have polling that tells them to go make fools out of themselves. Remember the one where the mayor of Newark was arrested and a congresswoman was indicted for interfering with law enforcement?  Then there was the one in Los Angeles where a bunch of democrat congressmen showed up at an ICE facility and were denied entry. One whined “The Trump Administration blocked my colleagues and me from conducting our congressional oversight duties into the reported abuses and neglect that is taking place at this facility.”

At all these facilities, the democrats are reading from the same script. In Baltimore, one of the congressmen said “We were not allowed entry, so we had to stand outside, bang on the door, and ultimately sit in front of the door. “Finally, a director came out and explained to us that she had been given direction not to allow anyone, member of the House, Senate, or anyone into the facility.” So the dems show up and are denied entry and stage a sit-in. All the while, the deportation czar Tom Homan issued a statement saying that the dems are protecting felons, rapists, murderers and other bad types – like Abrego Garcia? Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen embarrassed himself with that one and not surprisingly was one of those sitting in at the Baltimore facility. Of Van Hollen, Homan said “He’s an embarrassment to the position he holds.” Homan further said that Van Hollen did not hold demonstrations regarding the “record numbers” of women and children being sex trafficked, fentanyl deaths or terrorists crossing the border.” Of course not. It will be interesting to see what questions he and fellow sit-iner Angela Alsobrooks ask at the Fed chair’s confirmation hearing.

Can numbers lie?

Get ready for some weird economic numbers and even weirder statements from the so-called experts. This last quarter’s GDP numbers are in and show solid growth at 3%. The Trumpers are doing high fives and are saying that the economists were wrong. The previous quarter GDP fell 0.5 percent. Just like the employment numbers have to be dissected to discover that while job growth grew, private sector employment fell, what is the story about the swings in GDP? It’s the tariffs. When GDP fell it was because businesses stocked up on imports in the face of increasing tariffs. This past quarter, because of the tariffs, imports fell a staggering 30 percent. The GDP accounting measures domestic production so importing goods subtracts from GDP because the production of those goods was abroad. So if Trump wants to show strong GDP growth he should increase all tariffs to 1,000 percent! But like the employment numbers, the other numbers point to a slowing economy. Private domestic investment fell 16 percent. This is likely from companies that use imports as an input.  Private domestic final purchases also slowed to just 1.2%.  Inflation rose 2.5% which is still above the Fed’s target of 2 percent. Some wag said that in order to appease Trump that the Fed should simply raise its inflation target to 3 percent and then cut rates.

So let’s wait and see. It looks like instead of 10%, Trump’s universal tariffs will be 15 percent. Trump’s deals with Vietnam, the UK, Japan and the EU have imports at 15 percent and exports at zero. Why the president wants Americans to pay more for foreign goods while they pay less for ours is pure mercantilism. After all the deals are done with the major trading “partners” let’s see if the administration didn’t spike the ball before crossing the goal line.

Random thoughts #65

Random thoughts #65

Trump keeps crowing about foreign countries investing in the US. Japan has agreed to invest $500 billion. The EU has agreed to invest $600 billion. Where do you think the $500 billion from the Japanese and the $600 billion from the EU come from? It will be part of the US dollars the countries accrue through the sale of goods to the US. When the investment occurs, our trade deficit will widen. Won’t somebody tell the president that the only way that the trade deficit will decline is if the foreigners buy American exports. If instead of buying more US goods, when the foreign countries use those dollars to invest in the US then the trade deficit will increase. Since Trump thinks that trade deficits endanger national security, why is he making the deficit larger? Instead he should demand that the countries buy more US exports instead of investing it in this country.

Hulk Hogan just died. I met him once. I was in a Crown room at the Atlanta airport when he walked in wearing his signature cut off tee shirt and a bandana, totally in violation of the dress code. I guess he was always in character and who was going to tell him that he couldn’t come in?

Pinnacle and Synovous banks have announced a merger. Two of my former students are presidents of Pinnacle banks and a University of Georgia classmate, Jim Blanchard, was the CEO of Synovous who converted it from a sleepy bank in Columbus, GA into a financial powerhouse, By the way, at the same time in Georgia’s College of Business were three US senators, Reagan’s OMB secretary, Jimmy Carter’s chief of staff, the chief economist of another major US bank, the Synovous CEO and of course me.

Trump toured the Federal Reserve building to inspect the renovation. Trump said that the cost was $3.1 billion. Powell corrected him saying it was $2.7 billion but Trump, insisted that it was $3.1. Basically, who really cares? That cost overrun is within budget in government spending. What was interesting is that Powell did not back down to Trump. Not exactly friends, these two.

The Fed’s Open Market Committee meets July 30-31 and my guess is that it will lower the Fed Funds target rate by 25 basis points just to further tick Trump off who wants them to lower it by 350 basis points. (a basis point is one-one hundred of a percent).

Trump should just shut up about Powell. His term ends in May 2026 and Trump can pick some lackey to take his place. That senate confirmation hearing will be a must see. You think the democrats lose their minds on a Trump supreme court nominee? Wait until you see how badly they will go off the deep end in this one. Elizabeth Warren is no longer on Senate banking so it will be interesting to see who takes up her mantle – Chris Van Hollen maybe? Tennessee’s Bill Hagerty is on the committee and Louisiana’s John Kennedy will provide comedic relief. Tim Scott is chair,

France just announced that it will recognize a “Palestinian state.” Problem is they didn’t know where this so-called “state” is located. I guess if the French can ever find it, they would be able to recognize it. Bon soir le etat, Britain is also making noise that it will recognize it too, if it can find it. Since Trump objects so vehemently why doesn’t he threaten to double their tariffs?

Some dems are trying to stop the Blue Angels from participating in Seattle’s Seafair. There is a billboard claiming noise pollution and damage to their precious climate. Some looney woman is suing the Blue Angels accusing them for killing her cat with their noise. Of course, they can’t come out and say that they hate America. If these folk were serious about jet pollution– which they are not – they would be suing every leftist owner of a private jet to park it. Wouldn’t they? They also could down the street and protest Boeing.

When the Supreme Court ruled on Trump’s immunity from prosecution, the left had a cow. “This decision by the Supreme Court today is a travesty and perhaps the most dangerous judicial opinion from our Supreme Court in generations. By smooth and naive legalese, these partisan justices have created a framework for a President to commit any acts he or she chooses.” “This opinion is nothing less than a blueprint for a lawless dictator to take root in the Oval Office of the White House.” “The Supreme Court’s ruling gives expansive immunity to a corrupt president who purports to use acts within his official authority to conspire to overturn a lawful election.” What are they saying now that Obama has been accused of treason by Tulsi Gabbard for initiating the Russia hoax? Gabbard says that their silence speaks volumes. President Trump said that Obama has immunity and should thank him. “He owes me big. Obama owes me big,” 

Indeed he does. I have said this before that the democrats should be helping Trump explore the limits of the executive rather than fighting him at every turn. The next democrat who is president will thank Trump and of course the Trump supporters who are then will be resisting the same actions of a democrat when one is in the office.

Trump: A threat to democracy in the tradition of all presidents before him

Trump: A treat to democracy in the tradition of all presidents before him

I have a very close friend who hates Donald Trump. Anything that Trump does is bad, evil and dictatorial. Trump has no redeeming qualities. Yet when I gently remind him of the terror inflicted on Biden’s enemies during Biden’s term, my friend does his best to tell me those comparisons are irrelevant. They may be to him but not to me. Joe Biden turned us into a banana republic – with apologies to bananas. He raided Mar-a-Lago. He arrested over 30 of Trump’s confidants. He raided the home of a person who had just protested at an abortion clinic. He forced his trans/gay/woke agenda on public schools, universities and the military. He and his cohorts tried to keep Trump off the ballot though grand jury indictments, lawsuits, intimidation and threats. Biden and his supporters kept yelling that Trump was a threat to democracy while they were upending its very foundations themselves. Biden’s “Justice” Department accused Trump of mishandling classified documents while old Joe had them safely ensconced in his garage. Then there was January 6 where the democrats did all that they could do to link Trump to the crowd that invaded the Capitol. Biden was doing his best to kill the American dream leaving the southern border wide open to who knows what. Now the dems are whining that Iranian terrorists may strike the US from within when they were the ones who let them walk across the border in the first place. Biden sic – ed the attorney generals of New York, New York City and Dekalb County Georgia on Trump to no avail. Trump claims the election was stolen and there are still a lot of people who believe him given all the shenanigans that occurred on election night. Biden’s actions motivated Trump’s base and kept him in the race for retaking his office. One would have never thought Trump as a sympathetic figure, but Biden succeeded in making him one.

People likely remember the major speech in which Biden accused Trump of being a threat to democracy. That was in a national broadcast and was one of the most chilling speeches ever made by a US president. Trump in his usual tit for tat accused Biden of being the threat. Trump said, “He’s been weaponizing government against his political opponents like a Third World political tyrant.” “Joe Biden is not the defender of American democracy. Joe Biden is the destroyer of American democracy. “It’s him and his people. They’re the wreckers of the American dream. The American dream is dead with them in office.” 

Now Trump is in power. All Biden wanted to do was to shove trans, DEI, LGBTQ and the environment-industrial complex down our throats. Trump is in power. He is busy reversing all of Joe Biden while bringing the rest of the world to its knees. His “Justice” department is starting to hand out payback to Adam Schiff, James Comey, and all the others who conspired against him. – even Barack Obama. Biden may have turned us into a banana republic and now Trump has done nothing to change that. In fact, he has doubled down on it. There are his chaotic and weird tariffs. Then there is the rule by fiat in which the congress is bypassed (shades of Obama) as executive orders are issued. Whereas Biden targeted protestors at abortion clinics, payday lenders, debt collectors and Trump supporters, Trump is going after those who went after him. He is also targeting those who provide legal support to the illegal community. He has attacked law firms that provide assistance to illegals. These firms are now declining to take cases due to pressure from the White House. Lawyers face loss of security clearances, federal contracts, and referrals. In March 2025, Trump issued a memorandum that sic’ed his “Justice” Department on immigration lawyers that in the government’s view, take on “frivolous, unreasonable, or vexatious litigation.” Wow. Doesn’t that apply to almost action taken against Trump? This memorandum targets attorneys who represent illegals, challenge the government’s immigration policies, or oppose the administration on immigration. I don’t know about you but I find this as disturbing anything foisted on us by the Biden cabal. So we are still a banana republic, only this time the bananas come with tariffs and bellicose tweets. 

Whereas Biden was only a petty despot, Trump is acting like a full-fledged one. Trump has shut down the border and is deporting illegals en masse. Is he denying habeas corpus? Maybe but I am not an attorney. A court ruled his tariffs illegal – which they are – but Trump has ignored it while waiting on a decision from the Supreme Court. The MAGA-verse applauds the tariffs and anything and everything done by Trump. They are standing by their man through thick, thin and Epstein. All the while, Trump is showing that he can disrupt world trade. He can devalue world currencies – including our own. He can move world markets. He can even get Coca Cola to change from high fructose sugar to cane sugar even though he only drinks Diet Coke (12 a day). He is even trying to get the Washinton Commanders and Cleveland Guardians to revert to their old names of Redskins and Indians. No item too small to show the power of this president.

No democrat stood up against Biden because they were all on board with his suppression of democracy. Now it seems like you have to be a republican from Kentucky to stand up against Trump. Sorry MAGA-verse, but a threat to democracy is a threat to democracy even if you like those who are currently being threatened.

The Swiss adopt the Harold Black Solution

The Swiss adopt the Harold Black Solution

Over 30 years ago I started writing an article in the business pages of a local newspaper. Almost from the very beginning, I offered a solution to curtailing congress’ and the president’s spending excesses. It was to have total federal spending grow at no rate greater than the previous year’s growth in real GDP. This would constrain government spending since real GDP grows at an annual rate around 2.6% while government spending grows around 5.5% per year. Thus, the ever increasing deficits are a result of government spending growing at a rate faster than that of private sector growth. If my solution were adopted, if need be the president could declare a national emergency and ask the congress for a one year emergency appropriation that would have to be approved by a two thirds vote in both houses.

Republican presidents, starting with Ronald Reagan, would endorse a tax cut without a spending cut arguing that the resulting economic growth stemming from the tax cut would generate increased revenues to offset the fall in tax collections, thereby decreasing the deficit. That has worked on occasion but Reagan did not envision presidents like Donald Trump whose increase in spending would offset the tax cuts. Anyway, that’s a poor way to run an economy. It may ruin it instead.

The Swiss when faced with the same budgetary difficulties decided to adopt a variant of the Harold Black Solution. They passed a constitutional amendment to limit the rate of growth in federal government spending to a timeline average of tax revenues (as opposed to changes in GDP). The Swiss call this a “debt brake.” Adopted in 2001, government spending has fallen from an annual growth rate of 4.3% to 2.6%, The result is a reduction in the government’s debt burden from 34% of GDP to less than 20%. Mind you the US percentage is now over 100% and climbing. Enacting the Harold Black Solution is not a balanced budget amendment. There will still be a federal debt, albeit a shrinking one. But it will be a debt that is manageable rather than one that continues to grow unfettered.

The Swiss politicians like all national politicians found it hard to control spending. However, the Swiss people voted 85% to enact the debt brake. I suspect that something similar would happen here. All state legislatures balance their budgets. Voters grouse about having to balance their household budgets while the federal government keeps increasing the debt burden. I have little doubt that if put to a national plebiscite that we would have a vote similar to that of the Swiss. I also have little doubt that the state legislatures would endorse such an idea as well. Only the national politicians are forced to be gutless. It is the classic Prisoner’s Dilemma where doing the right thing will cost you your job. Again no one ever got voted out of office by wanting to spend more money.

So it is time to amend the Constitution. There is little chance that the congress and the administration will muster the will to stop out of control government spending. If republican control of both houses of congress and the presidency only add to spending, it is time to quit wishing that they will get a backbone. Anyway, even if this bunch did do something, it could be easily undone by a future congress and a future president. The only viable solution is a constitutional amendment. 

It would probably be difficult to get such an amendment initiated by the congress where it would take a two thirds vote of the House and the Senate. I doubt if the democrats would favor any cut in the growth in federal spending. It would likely be filibustered in the senate. Rather the proposal would have to come from the states where two thirds of the state legislatures (34 of 50) would have to endorse it. Then once proposed, three fourths (38 of 50) state legislatures would have to approve it. Note that the state legislature vote need only be simple majority and not two thirds. There would be a seven year time limit. I think that there is a high probability of adoption by the states, even those controlled by democrats. Since they have to have budget discipline at the state level it would be rather easy for them to demand the same at the national level. This would take the pressure off of the individual congressman or senator who would favor a reduction in spending but would not have the guts to propose it.

To be fair, several national politicians have proposed Swiss brake type legislation. Representatives Kevin Brady of Texas, Mike Braun (R-IN) and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) have a various times introduced similar legislation. Of course it failed to pass. Anyway, the fatal flaw was that even if it had passed, it could have been repealed by a subsequent congress. However, a constitutional amendment cannot be easily repealed one enacted. Over the history of the United States there have been over 12,000 proposals to repeal a constitutional amendment. It has only succeeded in repeal of one – the 18th Amendment (Prohibition).

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Tennessee initiated the proposed amendment and ratified it at the state level. At the federal level its delegation to Washington – only Steve Cohen would likely not sign on – could introduce the proposal to amend the constitution. Let’s get with it. Let us end this crisis by considering a 28th Amendment – modestly called “The Harold Black Solution.”

BTW, in case you are wondering why I didn’t just endorse the Swiss debt brake it is because tax rates are enshrined in the Swiss constitution and are essentially invariant. Here in the US, the tax code changes every year given the whims of the congress which would allow it to render a Swiss type debt brake useless because congress could keep spending ever more by changing the tax code yearly.

Here comes the tariff rebate checks?

How can the President’s tariff revenues be used? 

The President has justified his tariff mania by saying “Deficits pose a threat to national security,” “other countries heavily subsidize their exports,” “other countries impose punitive tariffs on the US”, “other countries don’t allow US products into their country”, “we need to bring manufacturing back into this country,” “we need to balance trade,” “we need to stop fentanyl”, “it will help balance the budget,” “it can replace income taxes,” “I’ve decided for purposes of fairness that I will charge a reciprocal tariff,” “retaliation,” “tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again.” Whew! Did I leave out anything?

I am not going to dissect all of that but I was wondering if you were wondering what Trump is going to do with the revenues from the tariffs? The Congressional Budget Office estimates that in the coming fiscal year that tariff revenue could reach almost $1 trillion ($942 billion). The Trumpers are probably doing high fives but it is likely that the CBO figures are an overstatement. Actual imports are falling and with it will fall tariff revenues. Higher prices mean less quantity demanded and less quantity demanded leads to a lower supply of goods imported which in turn means lower tariff revenues.

What could Trump do with the money coming from the tariffs? Could he subsidize US exports to compete with subsidized imports? Could he lower income taxes dollar for dollar for the tariffs collected? Could he use the money to build much needed new merchant marine ships? Could he use it to eliminate all taxes collected from active duty military? Trump said that the tariffs will be used to “put America in the green.” So could tariffs be earmarked to reduce the federal debt? Or how about using the tariffs to offset decreases in revenues from the tax cuts? Or using the tariffs to compensate US farmers and exporters from the losses incurred through the retaliatory tariffs of others? Lately, he is talking about sending checks out to the public, “We have so much money coming in, we’re thinking about a little rebate.” Can Trump do any of this?

In a word, no unless he gets a special appropriation from congress. When the tariffs are collected they go into the Treasury’s general fund and become indistinguishable from any other revenue source. All dollars are fungible. Only congress can allocate monies from the general fund and not the president. Trump can say that he is going to rebate the tarrifs but he cannot do it. That would take an act of congress and to date Trump has not issued any instruction to his congressional minions on how he would like to see tariff revenues used. Of course he could tell congress that the next budget will be less by the projected intake of tariffs. Fat chance.

In the meanwhile, the great tariff shakedown tour continues. Japan has agreed to a 15 percent tariff on their goods. That means that Ford and GM should transport their Mexican and Canadian vehicles though Japan where they will be assessed 15% rather than 25%. Then Trump is crowing that the Japanese deal includes a commitment by the Japanese to invest $500 billion in the US. Someone needs to tell the president that foreign investment inflows are counted as an increase the US trade deficit. Yikes! Does that mean that the increasing US trade deficit caused by the Japanese investment will cause Trump to further increase tariffs to try to reduce the deficit that was increased by the Japanese agreement? Does this make sense to anyone other than Trump? Can anyone who has the president’s ear have the guts to point out this madness? Does anyone else have the vision of an emperor with no clothes?

Again, if somehow Trump’s reasons come to pass then I will be among the first to issue mea culpas. My PhD advisor, the great Karl Brunner, would hammer into his students that there are always exceptions or else economics becomes a tautology and becomes a useless collection of axioms. So are Trump’s the exception to all history? Could Adam Smith and every economist not on Trump’s payroll be wrong? I seriously doubt it but I always have said “prove me wrong and I will adopt your opinion.” That goes too for the president and his tariffs.

BTW, I thought the International Court of Trade ruled that Trump doesn’t have the authority to enact tariffs. So is that opinion not binding?

Pimping the Cybertruck

Pimping the Cybertruck

Tesla sales continue to fall. Revenues have fallen 23 percent since the start of the year and the company just reported a fall in profits of sixteen percent. The left is gleeful that the market is putting it to Elon Musk who quite honestly is just plain weird – like many geniuses. But the entire EV market is down. Used EVs are down around 5% from last year while used internal combustion vehicle prices are up 5.2%. Sounds like EVs are running out of gas. 

Speaking of EVs, Lucid the EV that gets all the raves from the car magazines is suing my home state of Georgia to be able to sell direct to the customer. Seems like in Georgia, new cars can only be sold by a dealership. A few years ago the state did a special carve out for Tesla. Now Lucid wants one too. I guess the law exists to protect dealers from competition from the internet. Suppose you could go online to buy your car and have it delivered to you, wouldn’t that imperil dealerships? But doesn’t that just apply to cars that have existing dealerships? Consider a startup like Lucid with no dealerships. In order to sell cars in Georgia, they would have to establish dealerships which would be timely and costly. Tesla does not have dealerships. Rather they have showrooms where one can look at models, order a car, buy one on the lot, or pick up a car. Maybe Lucid will do the same. But for now they just want to be able to sell a car direct to the consumer. Seems to me that not allowing Lucid to do so is in constraint of trade. 

Go to any Tesla showroom and look at all the cybertrucks sitting on the lot. Clearly a bust. Sales are down 50 percent from the same period last year. The woes of the cybertruck are well documented. There has been a recall of all 2024 and 2025 models. The stainless steel panels may delaminate at the adhesive joint causing the panels to separate from the vehicle. The doors don’t often align. There are warnings from the high voltage system, critical steering issues, system malfunctions, loss of “system redundancy”, vehicles can suddenly lose electrical power, steering and propulsion and drivers may be unable to apply the parking brake. There were also alerts for degraded adaptive drive control plus automatically disabled traction, lane departure avoidance, stability controls, degraded adaptive drivee control plus automatically disabled traction, lane departure avoidance, stability controls and door latches that don’t work.

Also, the vehicle just looks weird. I know Musk likes being different but maybe the cybertruck which looks anything but a truck is just too off putting. I wonder what is the cargo capacity in its hidden truck bed. I did see an article in which a cybertruck was towing a 7.000 pound Airstream. The truck had a range of 137 miles. Not ideal unless you just want to take short trips or make a lot of stops on longer ones.

Clearly it is time for Musk to spin off Tesla and sell his car company to a company that knows how to make cars. Musk seems more interested in Space X and trying to get his self-driving technology to work. He is late to the game. Waymo seems to be making a better product. Musk’s efforts have resulted in more accidents and videos show his robotaxis braking suddenly or going straight through an intersection from a turning lane and driving down the wrong side of the road. One observer said “The system has always had highly erratic performance, working really well a lot of the time but frequently making random and inconsistent but dangerous errors. This is not a system that should be carrying members of the public or being tested on public roads without trained test drivers behind the wheel.” Tesla’s Full Self-Driving function is being investigated by the Feds. There have been issues as to how the function has responded in low-visibility conditions causing several accidents, including one that was fatal. Surely, Musk’s dustup with the president doesn’t have any relation to the increased scrutiny of Federal authorities – right?

 Despite the problems with its self driving software, Tesla is offering the $12,000 option free with a purchase of a new cybertruck. Some car magazines call this an act of desperation. Maybe that will induce some people to buy the weird looking truck but I have another idea. What to do about the ugliness of the cybertruck? I wrote about pimping a Nissan Leaf to sell it to the brothers. Well what about pimping the cybertruck? Why not offer a free makeover to new customers? Maybe potential buyers are not attracted to the silver metal look. I don’t know about you but I would not want to have a vehicle that looks exactly like all the others. The silver is difficult to paint but Tesla does offer a color wrap for around $8,000. Remember the show “Pimp My Ride” where you could get your car’s looks upgraded? Well how about Musk offering to pimp your cybertruck for free by giving away your choice of a color wrap? Maybe if EVs weren’t so ugly then sales would improve. Why not try it with the cybertruck?

Tomato Sandwiches, Cane Sugar and Fox’s Trump Apologists

Tomato Sandwiches, Cane Sugar and Fox’s Trump Apologists

I have said before that I had never heard of tomato sandwiches until recently. I read where they were a southern staple which was a surprise to this son of southern red clay, born and raised in Georgia. Not to sound like Al Sharpton but I guess that it was a white southern thing, since confirmed by my white friends. The absence of meat baffled me so I assumed that the sandwiches were eaten by the poorer folk on the paler skin side of town. But I was told that no, it was a favorite at tea parties held by genteel southern matriarchs. One writer even romanticizes the simple concoction. “The tomato sandwich, a seemingly simple culinary creation, holds a special place in the hearts (and stomachs) of many. It’s more than just sliced tomatoes between bread; it’s a nostalgic bite of summer, a taste of home, and a testament to the beauty of fresh, seasonal ingredients.” Oh please!  Well what is going to happen to the consumption of tomato sandwiches when Trump’s 17 percent tariffs on Mexican tomatoes kicks in? Is the demand elastic or inelastic?  BTW they made with white bread and mayonnaise (which of course is also white).

Seventy percent of tomatoes consumed in this country are grown in Mexico. Most US tomatoes are grown in Florida. One wonders if this is Trump handing out a favor to Ron Desantis? There is something called the Tomato Suspension Agreement (of course there is) that stipulates not to place anti-dumping fines on Mexican tomatoes if the growers agree to price minimums. Mexico did not violate the deal but with Donald Trump, no excuse is necessary to slap on a tariff. Florida growers say that Mexico’s lower labor costs and less stringent regulations have created an uneven playing field. But of course, they are just making an excuse. The Wall Street Journal says “Mexico’s tomato boom is driven by technology. Growers south of the border have adopted greenhouses that carefully control water, temperature and nutrition, usually located at high altitudes. Much of this tech was developed in Canada, but American growers have been slow to deploy it. The Agriculture Department found in 2023 that 88% of greenhouse tomatoes consumed in the U.S. were shipped from Mexico.” 

I have no idea why US tomato growers have been slow to innovate. Now they have even less incentive to do so. With less competition expect the price of tomatoes to go up. Mexican greenhouses specialize in vine-ripened tomatoes, while Florida tomatoes are typically grown in fields and picked green. I don’t buy tomatoes and I am wondering if American tomatoes are labelled “Produce of USA”? Whether prices will go up enough to reduce the consumption of tomato sandwiches is an empirical question. If there is a blowback on an increase in the price of tomatoes the surest way to get Trump to rescind the tariff will be for a bunch of irate elderly stately white women to picket the White House. Trump would fold like a house of cards. 

But I am confused. Almost on the day that Trump hits Mexican tomatoes with a tariff, he waxes rhapsodic about Mexican Coca Cola which is made with cane sugar. Trump says that Coke with cane sugar tastes better than Coke made with high fructose sugar. Mind you Trump drinks up to 12 Diet Cokes a day so what does he care about the taste of regular coke? Coke responds that it will introduce a separate line of sodas that will substitute cane sugar for high fructose sugar. The US sugar growers – mostly in Louisiana – are ecstatic with vision of seeing increased demand and higher prices.  

Did you know that some Costcos sell Mexican Coke (at almost $40 for a 12 pack)? A cheaper alternative would be Jones soda which is available at most grocery stores.

When I was young we used to be able to get sugar cane from Cuba in the grocery stores. I have fond memories of chewing sugar cane. It was one of the joys of summer. I guess the sugar growers in Louisiana don’t produce enough product to replace the Cuban sugar cane now missing from our stores. Currently the US puts a quota on imported sugar – to the chagrin of the Brazilians. Will Trump lift that quota if the demand for cane sugar soars? While the Louisiana sugar growers are giving each other high fives, the corn growers are grumbling. They say eliminating corn fructose sugar will eliminate thousands of US jobs. The Corn Refiners Association (yes there is such a thing) says to no one’s surprise “President Trump stands for American manufacturing jobs, American farmers and reducing the trade deficit.” “Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.” 

Chill corn growers. No one is talking about replacing high fructose sugar. The US does not produce enough cane sugar to replace the corn based stuff. Trump would have to exempt Mexican sugar from tariffs and possibly the quota on Brazilian sugar. So both sugars will be available with additional demand by producers for the sugar cane growers. Personally I don’t care since I do not drink soft drinks, diet or otherwise. But I do read labels and won’t buy a product with high fructose sugar. Maybe that is why at age 80 I have only had two filings.

Trump versus Rupert Murdock and the Wall Street Journal

Fox is so full of Trump apologists it is downright embarrassing. What are they all going to say now that Trump is suing their boss after praising him only a few months ago? Then Trump said “We’re bringing in the most talented people in the world. By the way, we just– unrelated, but we have two of the most talented people in the world, the legendary Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison.” Trump said Murdock was “an amazing guy” and in a “class by himself.” That was in February. Now its July and Trump is suing Murdock and the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion over a rauchy 50th birthday card published by the Journal that allegedly Trump sent to Epstein. Trump never a fan of the Journal tweeted “We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal.” In addition, as the president eloquently put it “The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein. These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.” I guess Murdock is no longer “amazing” and in a “class by himself.” Now what are the Trump praisers on Fox now going to say? Would Murdoch fire them if they keep making excuses for Trump and praising his every deed – no matter how dumb?Should be interesting.

Breaking News! NCUA Board Members ordered Reinstated

Breaking News!

US District judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, has ruled that Trump’s firings of the two democrats, Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka, from the NCUA Board was illegal and has ordered them reinstated. What is important about this ruling, as I have indicated in the past, is that it explicitly means that Trump cannot fire a sitting governor of the Federal Reserve, including chairman Jerome Powell. Just like at the Fed, the members of the NCUA Board are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate to fixed terms – in the case of NCUA 6 years. I was appointed by President Carter to the first NCUA Board created by a congressional act – the Financial Institutions Act of 1978. Ali wrote in his opinion “The overlap in powers wielded by the NCUA Board and the Federal Reserve, and their common role as financial regulators, supports the conclusion that Congress can insulate NCUA Board members from at-will removal.”

The administration had argued that Trump had the authority to fire the appointees and the courts had no authority to order their reinstatement. Although Trump had fired other appointees and those firings have been upheld by the courts, NCUA was the only agency structured like the Fed with congressional granting of independence from the White House. Maybe this will end Trump’s incessant whining about threatening to fire Jerome Powell. One can only hope.

Prior to the establishment of the NCUA Board, the agency was governed by a single administrator that served at the pleasure of the president. Harper, ironically was appointed by Trump in 2017 to an unexpired term and named chairman by Biden in 2021. Harper’s term as a board member expires in 2027 while Otsuka’s term expires in 2029. When Trump was elected, Harper stepped down as chairman but kept his seat as a board member. Trump then appointed the republican member Kyle Hauptman as chairman. What is interesting is that the NCUA Board has generally had two members of the same party as the president. Since both Harper and Otsuka are democrats it may be that Trump would then try to fire only one of them and appoint a republican arguing to be following the intent of the congress.

The Justice Department may not appeal to the Supreme Court given its earlier ruling regarding the Fed. Perhaps the only recourse is for the president to urge congress to re-write the laws governing appointments to independent agencies like the Fed and NCUA. However, the likelihood of passage is slim given the senate filibuster. So sorry Mr President but nice try.

How can California mandate the sale of only cage free eggs?

How can California mandate the sale of only cage free eggs?

It took an act of congress to repeal the California mandate banning the sale of gas powered vehicles in the state. Given that it took congress to undo the mandate, I presume that it was another act of congress that gave California the power in the first place. Let’s consider what has happened. California’s mandate said that in 2035 and thereafter, no gas vehicles could be sold in the state. I guess that this would mean that California residents who would then go out of state to buy a car could no longer get them registered in California. I also presume that the sale of used cars would have be permitted. This is ironic because if the move to ban the sale of new gas cars is predicated on the environment, perpetuating the sale of older gas cars would mean keeping vehicles that pollute more on the streets. I also presume that Californians would be prohibited from buying used cars and registering them in the state. If not, this would lead to a common practice in China, now being addressed by their government, in which a new car is registered and sold as used. That way, Californians would be able to buy a new “used” car and register it in the state.

Was California given an exemption to legislate that only cage free eggs can be sold in the state? Since the California market is so large, out of state egg producers who wanted to sell in the state were forced to comply with the California regulation. This was one of the reasons why egg prices were so high especially in California where customers can not purchase the cheaper non cage free eggs. There is something called the Egg Products Inspection Act (no kidding), which bars states from requiring “the use of standards of quality, condition, weight, quantity, or grade which are in addition to or different from the official Federal standards.” Huh? Doesn’t that mean that California violated the Egg Act by imposing conditions that are “different from the official federal standards” if it wasn’t granted a waiver? That is egg-actly what it seems to me. So Trump’s Department of Justice has just filed a suit to roll back California’s cage free egg mandate. This will give Californians a choice like the rest of us. Did you know that Turkey exports about 70 million eggs to the US each year but when the avian flu hit, they sent 420 million? Are these eggs cage free? Are they allowed in California?  Is Trump putting a tariff on Turkish eggs? Obviously they constitute a threat to national security.

I had never seen cage free eggs in the stores before the California mandate. Now they are in every store along side eggs produced by hens in bondage. There is now a market for cage free eggs. Some folks will buy them because they cite animal cruelty reasons. Others contend that cage free eggs taste better. A certain brand of brown eggs used to be my favorite before the avian flu caused those eggs to disappear from the shelves. They are back but I am now buying a brand’s extra large white cage free eggs – instead of their brown ones because they are cheaper and I cannot taste any difference. They are egg-cellent.

So I wonder why the Californians can’t be like the rest of us. My state did not try to ban gas vehicles but left it up to us what type of vehicle we choose to buy. It did not ban the sale of caged chicken eggs either. Yet cage free eggs are on the grocer’s shelves offering us a choice. Banning the sale in the state of those products would be akin of Tennessee saying that no whiskey other than Tennessee whiskeys can be sold in the state. Georgia would ban out of state peaches and Florida could ban out of the state tomatoes (or get Donald Trump to do it for them). Clearly these acts would be in violation of Federal law. So why is California allowed the banning of eggs that are not cage free? Isn’t it time for California’s chickens to come home to roost?

I am personally appalled that some chickens are stacked inside a cage for their egg laying life. But cage free does not mean free range. If the hens are kept in barns where one square foot is available per hen, it qualifies as cage free. Still not an ideal situation if you sympathize with the hens. However, “free range” is no panacea either. Free range simply means that the hens have access to an outdoor space. But there is no rule dictating what constitutes an outdoor space like its minimum dimensions. Some observers say that even if an outdoor space is available that it is so unappealing that the range free chickens don’t venture outside making them no different from those that are cage free. I guess that the most humane conditions would apply to pasture-raised chickens – but watch out for the coyotes. 

I am also appalled at the living conditions for chickens raised for the table. When I see the trucks stacked with chickens piled on top of each other going to slaughter, I have images of my people stacked inside a slave ship shackled together living in filth. At least we were not being sent to become food. But I do eat chickens that are not organic, free range or cage free. 

When I was growing up, my grandparents raised chickens at their Georgia farm. They were certainly free range. They wandered all over the place but stayed mostly close to the house. They would be pecking all over the place. My grandfather gave them open access to the bottom of the outhouse where they engaged in solid waste disposal. I don’t remember how the eggs or the chickens themselves tasted. But my sainted mother to her dying day bemoaned the taste of modern eggs and chickens.

Maybe one day I will stop eating chickens and their eggs like I have done with red meat. I have not eaten any red meat other than what I kill myself since 1971. When I was at the farm growing up, I loved to follow my grandfather around when he was hunting. He hunted small game there being previous few deer and no turkey in Georgia in those days. I loved his dogs which were kept outside in a pen and existed only for hunting rabbits. I stopped hunting when I went to college and only started hunting again after my grandfather died in 1971. I vowed that going forward that I would only eat the meat that I had killed myself. I only eat venison and wild game that I harvest. I do eat the fish that I decide to keep although most times I catch and release. I did not start eating chicken again for almost 20 years and started back because of not wanting to impose my diet on my other half when we  started dating. But I am seriously thinking about stopping again. Maybe if one day I move back to the farm I will get some chickens. I can raise my own meat and produce my own eggs. Then I will stop buying processed chickens and mass produced eggs – cage free or not.