Category: Trump

The Real Cost of Job Losses

SDA regular commenter, David Murrell, shared an interesting tip about what American auto workers are saying about General Motors moving production from Oshawa to Indiana:

Rich LeTourneau is blunt as he sets down his beer on the union hall bar, located just a stone’s throw away from the General Motors plant in Fort Wayne, Ind. where he’s put in 38 years.

I respect Canadian unions, I respect the Mexican union. We didn’t raise our hand and say … ‘I’ll take what you guys got.’ That decision was made way above our head, he told CBC News.

But when the company comes to me to increase volume, I’m not gonna tell them no, either, because it’s job security for my people, and hell, if I can corner the market, I will.

LeTourneau is the bargaining chairman at United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2209, which represents GM workers in Fort Wayne. This is where GM is adding 250 temporary jobs to build Chevrolet Silverados — work that has also been happening in Oshawa, Ont. but is being scaled back.

[Nearly] Live from the Oval Office Today

Today, Mark Carney met Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Here are some snippets:

Could someone please do a wellness check of Andrew Coyne. After seeing Carney’s glowing praise for Trump, did Coyne’s head spontaneously explode?!?

Golden Era?

I’m skeptical that revaluing gold would change much in the finances of the US government, or any other government for that matter, but I’m curious to hear what SDA readers think.

Here’s my take: despite a legislative quirk that pegs the dollar price of gold at a ridiculously low level, I’m quite certain that the creditors to Uncle Sam have already pegged it implicitly at it’s true dollar price. It’s as if your farm was valued at $2 million and you owed $1 million, but your balance sheet hadn’t been updated in years. It’s quite likely that your creditors would have already recalculated that balance sheet for you, or they would not have lent you the money in the first place. Readjust your balance sheet and you will find that you still owe $1 million.

US gold re-marking would have implications for both the Treasury & Fed balance sheets.

  • US Treasury: assets would rise by the value of the gold re-marking & liabilities would rise by the size of gold certificates issued to the Fed.
  • Federal Reserve: assets would rise by value of gold certificates & liabilities would rise by a crediting of cash in the Treasury cash balance (Exhibit 4). And here is the punchline: the Fed balance sheet impact would look like QE though no open market purchases would be required & Fed liability growth would initially be in TGA.

In other words, the best of all words: a QE-like operation, one which see the Fed quietly funnel almost $700 billion in cash to the Treasury… but without actually doing a thing!

Now Is The Time At SDA When We Juxtapose!

May 23, 2024: Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy insists immigrants make US neighborhoods safer: ‘It is the truth’

Sept. 19, 2025: A boxcutter-wielding Guatemalan man accused of violently raping a young jogger in New Haven, Connecticut last month is an illegal immigrant who has already been deported twice.

So far, there is absolutely no word from Chris Murphy about this illegal immigrant rapist let loose in his state.

“The biggest investment package of its kind in British history.”

‘You are amongst friends’ – Keir Starmer

@HansMahncke This is just incredible when you recall that only a few years ago Donald Trump was a a canceled man, banned from TV, erased from social media, his videos scrubbed, and his name forbidden in polite society. And now here he is being honored at a state banquet in Windsor Castle.

Elbows up.

Press conference Live feed.

JD Vance

A while ago, probably in 2017, I appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox show to talk about God knows what. Afterwards a name I barely knew sent me a DM on twitter and told me I did a great job. It was Charlie Kirk, and that moment of kindness began a friendship that lasted until today.

Charlie was fascinated by ideas and always willing to learn and change his mind. Like me, he was skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. Like me, he came to see President Trump as the only figure capable of moving American politics away from the globalism that had dominated for our entire lives. When others were right, he learned from them. When he was right–as he usually was–he was generous. With Charlie, the attitude was never, “I told you so.” But: “welcome.”

Charlie was one of the first people I called when I thought about running for senate in early 2021. I was interested but skeptical there was a pathway. We talked through everything, from the strategy to the fundraising to the grassroots of the movement he knew so well. He introduced me to some of the people who would run my campaign and also to Donald Trump Jr. “Like his dad, he’s misunderstood. He’s extremely smart, and very much on our wavelength.” Don took a call from me because Charlie asked him too.

Long before I ever committed (even in my mind) to running, Charlie had me speak to his donors at a TPUSA event. He walked me around the room and introduced me. He gave me honest feedback on my remarks. He had no reason to do this, no expectation that I’d go anywhere. I was polling, at that point, well below 5 percent. He did it because we were friends, and because he was a good man.

When I became the VP nominee–something Charlie advocated for both in public and private–Charlie was there for me. I was so glad to be part of the president’s team, but candidly surprised by the effect it had on our family. Our kids, especially our oldest, struggled with the attention and the constant presence of the protective detail. I felt this acute sense of guilt, that I had conscripted my kids into this life without getting their permission. And Charlie was constantly calling and texting, checking on our family and offering guidance and prayers. Some of our most successful events were organized not by the campaign, but by TPUSA. He wasn’t just a thinker, he was a doer, turning big ideas into bigger events with thousands of activists. And after every event, he would give me a big hug, tell me he was praying for me, and ask me what he could do. “You focus on Wisconsin,” he’d tell me. “Arizona is in the bag.” And it was.

Charlie genuinely believed in and loved Jesus Christ. He had a profound faith. We used to argue about Catholicism and Protestantism and who was right about minor doctrinal questions. Because he loved God, he wanted to understand him.

Someone else pointed out that Charlie died doing what he loved: discussing ideas. He would go into these hostile crowds and answer their questions. If it was a friendly crowd, and a progressive asked a question to jeers from the audience, he’d encourage his fans to calm down and let everyone speak. He exemplified a foundational virtue of our Republic: the willingness to speak openly and debate ideas.

Charlie had an uncanny ability to know when to push the envelope and when to be more conventional. I’ve seen people attack him for years for being wrong on this or that issue publicly, never realizing that privately he was working to broaden the scope of acceptable debate.

He was a great family man. I was talking to President Trump in the Oval Office today, and he said, “I know he was a very good friend of yours.” I nodded silently, and President Trump observed that Charlie really loved his family. The president was right. Charlie was so proud of Erika and the two kids. He was so happy to be a father. And he felt such gratitude for having found a woman of God with whom he could build a family.

Charlie Kirk was a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him. I am on more than a few group chats with Charlie and people he introduced me to over the years. We celebrate weddings and babies, bust each other’s chops, and mourn the loss of loved ones. We talk about politics and policy and sports and life. These group chats include people at the very highest level of our government. They trusted him, loved him, and knew he’d always have their backs. And because he was a true friend ,you could instinctively trust the people Charlie introduced you to. So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene. He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.

I was in a meeting in the West Wing when those group chats started lighting up with people telling Charlie they were praying for him. And that’s how I learned the news that my friend had been shot. I prayed a lot over the next hour, as first good news and then bad trickled in.

God didn’t answer those prayers, and that’s OK. He had other plans. And now that Charlie is in heaven, I’ll ask him to talk to big man directly on behalf of his family, his friends, and the country he loved so dearly.

You ran a good race, my friend.

We’ve got it from here.

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