Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Rasulis]

Inflation report came out today.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, headline consumer price index (CPI) accelerated in November to +0.3% M/M, the highest reading since April. Meanwhile, core CPI held steady at +0.3% M/M for a fourth straight month. On a Y/Y basis, headline CPI increased 2.7% in November, inching up from October's +2.6%. Core CPI climbed 3.3%, matching October.

The kicker. Grocery up 0.4% M/M from 0.3% M/M in October. Housing up 0.6% M/M. Those really hurt.

Will the Fed choose to operate for a while with a relatively stable inflation rate that is above its 2% target or redouble its efforts to meet the 2% target and risk pulling the rug from under U.S. economy.

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Elon all aglee that billionaires are exempt from environmental regulations

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is dancing with joy now that his new father figure Donald Trump has promised him that he will no longer have to abide by the pesky environmental rules that apply to lowly commoners.

On Tuesday, president-elect Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post that any "person or company" investing $1 billion or more in the US would "receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental [sic] approvals."

The initiative — if it actually happens, which is always a question with Trump — will also likely dovetail with his efforts to roll back environmental protections to pave the way for fossil fuel production.

As bad as it sounds.

That's why Musk supported him in the first place. SpaceX launches, XAI server locations and Tesla manufacturing are all subject to environmental restrictions. That's why they are primarily located in states with lax environmental regulations.

[Edge-]

Elon all aglee that billionaires are exempt from environmental regulations

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is dancing with joy now that his new father figure Donald Trump has promised him that he will no longer have to abide by the pesky environmental rules that apply to lowly commoners.

On Tuesday, president-elect Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post that any "person or company" investing $1 billion or more in the US would "receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental [sic] approvals."

The initiative — if it actually happens, which is always a question with Trump — will also likely dovetail with his efforts to roll back environmental protections to pave the way for fossil fuel production.

As bad as it sounds.

Wasn't Leon worried about global warming and the planet at one point? Now it seems like he's excited to speedrun humanities unliveability on earth because I guess he thinks SpaceX will be the one-way ticket to mars?

That being said, I question whether the executive branch actually has that authority. Donald is not known for being informed about how the government actually works.

[Kaleredar]

Wasn't Leon worried about global warming and the planet at one point? Now it seems like he's excited to speedrun humanities unliveability on earth because I guess he thinks SpaceX will be the one-way ticket to mars?

That being said, I question whether the executive branch actually has that authority. Donald is not known for being informed about how the government actually works.

Musk is an adherent of the “transhumanism” philosophy as well. The notion that achieving the singularity is the single most important goal for humanity, and that any and everything done to achieve that goal is ultimately morally correct.

Don’t need an environment if everyone is “living” in a computer, right? I’m sure he’s working diligently on how to set up the in-simulation economy so he can try and put himself at the head of that as well.

Of course, it could be that musk is ultimately just a flip-flopping moron who says what he thinks he needs to say at any given moment to make money. Or some combination of the two, who’s to say.

And it’s equally funny that no matter how badly earth is messed up climate-wise, it’s infinitely easier to just fix earth than it would be to try and terraform mars.

[Rasulis]

Wasn't Leon worried about global warming and the planet at one point? Now it seems like he's excited to speedrun humanities unliveability on earth because I guess he thinks SpaceX will be the one-way ticket to mars?

That being said, I question whether the executive branch actually has that authority. Donald is not known for being informed about how the government actually works.

He has the authority to make exceptions for US EPA regulations. Not state's. He can't help Musk in California. He could help him in states with lax environmental regulations and enforcement. Take XAI server in Memphis, Tenessee. The facility broke all kinds of environmental regulations on all kind of levels.

How Memphis became a battleground over Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer

[Edge-]

He has the authority to make exceptions for US EPA regulations. Not state's. He can't help Musk in California. He could help him in states with lax environmental regulations and enforcement. Take XAI server in Memphis, Tenessee. The facility broke all kinds of environmental regulations on all kind of levels.

How Memphis became a battleground over Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer

Damn, it'd be a shame of these exceptions ended up poisoning the folks and environments in a lot of these Republican states/counties and the people were left to deal with the consequences for decades. A real shame indeed.

[Rasulis]

Damn, it'd be a shame of these exceptions ended up poisoning the folks and environments in a lot of these Republican states/counties and the people were left to deal with the consequences for decades. A real shame indeed.

The factory that xAI now inhabits sits on 217 acres of land and has the possibility to add an additional 580 acres. The main building is 785,000 square feet (roughly the size of 13 football fields) and comes with a cooling tower, heavy electrical power feeds and is fully air-conditioned. Phoenix Investors, which is leasing the site to xAI, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Alongside the factory are at least 18 portable methane gas generators, which visibly emit a steady stream of hazy smoke into the air. These turbines help fuel the company’s AI.

They started to appear in June and have multiplied over the last couple of months. According to the Southern Environmental Law Center, it’s estimated these generators can provide enough electricity to power 50,000 homes. And they have the capacity to emit 130 tons of harmful nitrogen oxides per year, potentially making them a major source of the pollutant in Memphis.

His spaceship company SpaceX was fined for allegedly discharging industrial wastewater numerous times in Texas without a permit, according to a spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This was first reported by CNBC. The Boring Co., which is his underground tunneling business, was also fined in Texas for failing to get a permit to discharge industrial stormwater. And his electric car company Tesla was cited by California for 33 air quality violations.

Yup. He has given up on earth, and getting ready to start a new civilization on Mars.

[Edge-]

Yup. He has given up on earth, and getting ready to start a new civilization on Mars.

This is one reason I hate AI so fucking much. The power consumption needs are fucking incredible and dramatically out of scope and scale with what AI is capable of doing that's actually remotely productive beyond telling depressed kids to kill themselves or their parents or generate images of Black Nazis rofl.

[SAY HER NAME]

Elon all aglee that billionaires are exempt from environmental regulations

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is dancing with joy now that his new father figure Donald Trump has promised him that he will no longer have to abide by the pesky environmental rules that apply to lowly commoners.

On Tuesday, president-elect Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post that any "person or company" investing $1 billion or more in the US would "receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental [sic] approvals."

The initiative — if it actually happens, which is always a question with Trump — will also likely dovetail with his efforts to roll back environmental protections to pave the way for fossil fuel production.

As bad as it sounds.

Literally free for all for billionaires lol

[Rasulis]

More "leopard eats your face."

[Edge-]

More "leopard eats your face."

It'll be fun when they start facing consequences after another administration change and Republicans blame it all on Democrats. I just hope Democrats are loud about it and don't roll over and let Republicans do dishonest shit like claim credit for the federal dollars that things like the infrastructure bill they voted against was bringing to their state/district.

Democrats really gotta go into high gear printing "I did that!" stickers for Donald.

And while I'll feel bad about a lot of the individuals that suffer as a result of the vote of others in those states, there are a lot of folks who are likely to suffer who I won't feel bad about at all because this is literally what they were told they were going to be voting for and they voted this way anyways.

[fwc577]

Anything to get her out of the country and away from her (former?) fiance, Donald Jr., who is apparently galivanting around with a less plastic woman from Florida, apparently.

At least Ambassadorships are largely pointless posts where most of the work is often done by those "evil" career bureaucrats in the diplomatic service.

Crazy thing is, you look up her pre-surgery pics and she's a fuckin total smoke show. What an absolute waste.



Reminds me of AOC a little bit.

Edit: Well, maybe if AOC had an extra chromosome.

[tehdang]

More "leopard eats your face."

Paste both on the wall of the DNC election post-mortem meeting, and caption it with "We don't know how you feel about quality and selection because it doesn't really affect us, but we're pretty sure you should be more thankful!" The good news is that Democrats can be out of touch elitists, but the Republicans can also fail to make any good changes just like them.

[Edge-]

https://www.history.com/news/ronald-...ent-efficiency

Topical and interesting history article bout that time a Republican president created an agency/task force specifically with the goal of improving efficiency and reducing costs, led by wealthy private industry leaders.

And all it resulted in fairly few cuts as most required Congressional approval.

While he succeeded in implementing substantial cuts to federal tax rates during his presidency, spending reductions proved more difficult. By the time he left office, the annual deficit and national debt had tripled during his two terms in the White House.

His name was Ronald Reagan.

[SAY HER NAME]

https://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing...budget-outlook

Since this is something that Trump will extend and reoublicand endlessly complained about Bidenflation, Rrpublicans only through tax cuts injected 2 trillion dollars into the economy. And will plan to inject another 4 trillion.

[gondrin]

https://www.history.com/news/ronald-...ent-efficiency

Topical and interesting history article bout that time a Republican president created an agency/task force specifically with the goal of improving efficiency and reducing costs, led by wealthy private industry leaders.

And all it resulted in fairly few cuts as most required Congressional approval.



His name was Ronald Reagan.

That is the thing here. It is easy to cut tax rates. Depending on the people getting their rate cut, nearly every politician will try and pass it.

However, outside of some extreme hardliners, nearly every member of Congress will not cut spending that directly effects their constituents. That is why spending always passes. For a lot of GOP, quite a few of their districts are in areas where military bases are located. Or factories that actually make tanks, guns, ammo, jets or other military equipment. So as much as Musk will beg, plead, bleat, whinny or moo about cutting, he will have a far harder time getting much of much cut in the House, let along the Senate. Especially now since the house GOP literally only has a buffer of about 2 votes.

Remember the time Trump bitched and moaned that he was forced to sign a budget that he didn't like because Congress was going to override his veto because it involved the military? Pepperidge Farms remembers.

https://apnews.com/article/business-...1e26a366666257

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https://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing...budget-outlook

Since this is something that Trump will extend and reoublicand endlessly complained about Bidenflation, Rrpublicans only through tax cuts injected 2 trillion dollars into the economy. And will plan to inject another 4 trillion.

Tax cuts do not inject anything into the economy. They return funds to the people or corporations that benefit from them. However, outside of the poor or middle class, the rest of the tax cuts(which majorly effect only the rich or big corporations), they either go into bank accounts that don't do much of much or get returned to shareholders which, for all intents and purposes, do the exact same thing as get put into bank accounts.

[SAY HER NAME]

That is the thing here. It is easy to cut tax rates. Depending on the people getting their rate cut, nearly every politician will try and pass it.

However, outside of some extreme hardliners, nearly every member of Congress will not cut spending that directly effects their constituents. That is why spending always passes. For a lot of GOP, quite a few of their districts are in areas where military bases are located. Or factories that actually make tanks, guns, ammo, jets or other military equipment. So as much as Musk will beg, plead, bleat, whinny or moo about cutting, he will have a far harder time getting much of much cut in the House, let along the Senate. Especially now since the house GOP literally only has a buffer of about 2 votes.

Remember the time Trump bitched and moaned that he was forced to sign a budget that he didn't like because Congress was going to override his veto because it involved the military? Pepperidge Farms remembers.

https://apnews.com/article/business-...1e26a366666257

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Tax cuts do not inject anything into the economy. They return funds to the people or corporations that benefit from them. However, outside of the poor or middle class, the rest of the tax cuts(which majorly effect only the rich or big corporations), they either go into bank accounts that don't do much of much or get returned to shareholders which, for all intents and purposes, do the exact same thing as get put into bank accounts.

If you do tax cuts that are not accompanied by spending cuts, you are still spending the same amount as the government but with tax revenues to cover it. What you are doing is effectively injecting money into the economy.

[DarkTZeratul]

If you do tax cuts that are not accompanied by spending cuts, you are still spending the same amount as the government but with tax revenues to cover it. What you are doing is effectively injecting money into the economy.

But it's the spending that's injecting money into the economy, not the tax cuts. The tax cuts just add to the deficit.

[SAY HER NAME]

But it's the spending that's injecting money into the economy, not the tax cuts. The tax cuts just add to the deficit.

Ig my comment came off as supportive? A popular talking point was that Biden cauded inflation bc of gov spending. Conservatives dont really care abt gov spending as in fact balloon spending to cause inflation.

[Breccia]

Paste both on--

I openly accused you of supporting the dictatorial use of law enforcement to direct investigations against political rivals and you refused to answer. Either because you actually do, which is the default position for a Trump supporter and therefore your admission until otherwise noted, or because you're ashamed of the people and party you supported and voted for on purpose. Or maybe you're hiding from a direct debate. The term for that last one is "coward". Fortunately, I'm not calling you a coward. I'm calling you a supporter of dictatorship. You're free to call yourself a coward.

So you're not going to like this next one, either.

Trump just put Kari Lake head of the Voice of America state funded network.

to ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media

-- Trump, of someone who was sued for defamation for lying about her election loss and settled rather than face judgement.

The VOA was started in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda. Now, it's being headed by an election denier appointed by a conspiracy theorist.
@tehdang as per usual you support and applaud this move until you specifically and directly say otherwise. Your support of Trump is public and obvious, therefore, the assumption is that you support Trump unless you contradict such when specifically and directly asked in public.

[Edge-]

Trump just put Kari Lake head of the Voice of America state funded network.

Shame there are zero consequences for wasting years of court time with pointless, baseless lawsuits and there's actually zero consequence for it.

I do hope any remaining "moderate" Republicans are deeply uncomfortable with how things are shaping up.