Breaking: Mass Killing of Civilians in Tehran A report that has just reached me from Nikan Hospital in northern Tehran, with the help of Starlink internet, indicates that a large number of protesters in Iran who were targeted with live ammunition have been transferred to this hospital. According to this report, the number of fatalities at this hospital is very high. After cutting off the internet, the Iranian regime has opened fire on people in the streets. https://x.com/esmaeils1169/status/2009591863016047095
Depressing. I hope we don't wake up to a nationwide bloodbath.
These are the kind of people another_richard would be telling off for being a wee bit troublesome to the state. I've enormous respect for anyone doing this in the US, Iran or elsewhere. Takes serious courage.
AOC: “I understand that VP Vance believes shooting a young mother of three in the face three times is an acceptable America that he wants to live in, and I do not. That is a fundamental difference between VP Vance and I. I do not believe the American people should be assassinated in the street.”
Breaking: Mass Killing of Civilians in Tehran A report that has just reached me from Nikan Hospital in northern Tehran, with the help of Starlink internet, indicates that a large number of protesters in Iran who were targeted with live ammunition have been transferred to this hospital. According to this report, the number of fatalities at this hospital is very high. After cutting off the internet, the Iranian regime has opened fire on people in the streets. https://x.com/esmaeils1169/status/2009591863016047095
Depressing. I hope we don't wake up to a nationwide bloodbath.
These are the kind of people another_richard would be telling off for being a wee bit troublesome to the state. I've enormous respect for anyone doing this in the US, Iran or elsewhere. Takes serious courage.
You seem oddly obsessed with my real world aligned comments.
Perhaps you might like to consider there's a difference between an authoritarian theocracy and a democracy with rule of law (highly imperfect though it is).
Does your tolerance to people being a wee bit troublesome to the state extend to the January 6th rioters or those protesting about, for example, covid restrictions ?
Or is just another case of "our protestors good, their protestors bad" to go alongside the "our lawfare good, their lawfare bad" and "our gerrymandering good, their gerrymandering bad" ?
Maybe he shouldn't have flat out lied to Congress in the first place.
And handful of Republicans discovered there's actually a limit to how far they're prepared to be humiliated.
I'm not holding my breath, and it's still unlikely, but it's not completely impossible they decide to do the same over Greenland.
Trump dials Collins with ‘profanity-laced rant’ over Venezuela war powers vote https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5682106-trump-collins-call-venezuela-vote/ ..According to two sources familiar, a fuming Trump dialed up Collins, the foremost Senate GOP centrist, during the vote aimed at blocking the White House from using military force against Venezuela. “He called her and then basically read her the riot act,” one Senate GOP member told The Hill, describing it as a “profanity-laced rant” on Trump’s end. The GOP member also noted that the call came “out of the blue” as the two do not talk frequently. A second source familiar with the call said Trump told Collins that the resolution, which passed, 52-47, was limiting his ability to do his job as commander-in-chief. “He was very mad about the vote,” the source said. “Very mad. Very hot.” A Collins spokesperson confirmed the call took place but declined further comment. The Hill reached out to the White House with a request for comment. Trump followed up the vote by posting on Truth Social that Collins and the four other Senate Republicans who backed discharging the resolution — Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Todd Young (Ind.) — “should never be elected to office again.”..
Maybe he shouldn't have flat out lied to Congress in the first place.
And handful of Republicans discovered there's actually a limit to how far they're prepared to be humiliated.
Trump dials Collins with ‘profanity-laced rant’ over Venezuela war powers vote https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5682106-trump-collins-call-venezuela-vote/ ..According to two sources familiar, a fuming Trump dialed up Collins, the foremost Senate GOP centrist, during the vote aimed at blocking the White House from using military force against Venezuela. “He called her and then basically read her the riot act,” one Senate GOP member told The Hill, describing it as a “profanity-laced rant” on Trump’s end. The GOP member also noted that the call came “out of the blue” as the two do not talk frequently. A second source familiar with the call said Trump told Collins that the resolution, which passed, 52-47, was limiting his ability to do his job as commander-in-chief. “He was very mad about the vote,” the source said. “Very mad. Very hot.” A Collins spokesperson confirmed the call took place but declined further comment. The Hill reached out to the White House with a request for comment. Trump followed up the vote by posting on Truth Social that Collins and the four other Senate Republicans who backed discharging the resolution — Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Todd Young (Ind.) — “should never be elected to office again.”..
Fascinating how Hawley was a massive Trump fan in his first administration.
Breaking: Mass Killing of Civilians in Tehran A report that has just reached me from Nikan Hospital in northern Tehran, with the help of Starlink internet, indicates that a large number of protesters in Iran who were targeted with live ammunition have been transferred to this hospital. According to this report, the number of fatalities at this hospital is very high. After cutting off the internet, the Iranian regime has opened fire on people in the streets. https://x.com/esmaeils1169/status/2009591863016047095
Depressing. I hope we don't wake up to a nationwide bloodbath.
These are the kind of people another_richard would be telling off for being a wee bit troublesome to the state. I've enormous respect for anyone doing this in the US, Iran or elsewhere. Takes serious courage.
You seem oddly obsessed with my real world aligned comments.
Perhaps you might like to consider there's a difference between an authoritarian theocracy and a democracy with rule of law (highly imperfect though it is).
Does your tolerance to people being a wee bit troublesome to the state extend to the January 6th rioters or those protesting about, for example, covid restrictions ?
Or is just another case of "our protestors good, their protestors bad" to go alongside the "our lawfare good, their lawfare bad" and "our gerrymandering good, their gerrymandering bad" ?
Of course you don't need to look to the USA or Iran to find people being 'a wee bit troublesome to the state'.
Here's someone:
A physiotherapist who prayed outside an abortion centre has been convicted of breaching a safe zone after refusing requests to move on.
Adam Smith-Connor was outside the clinic in Bournemouth in November 2022 where a public space protection order was in place.
The 51-year-old from Southampton denied failing to comply with the order, but District Judge Orla Austin said on Wednesday his actions had been "deliberate".
Smith-Connor was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 costs.
Just Stop Oil supporters have thrown soup over two Vincent van Gogh paintings, hours after two activists were given jail sentences for targeting one of the same works of art.
Three protesters threw an orange-coloured soup at Sunflowers 1888 and Sunflowers 1889 in the Poets and Lovers exhibition at the National Gallery in central London. They have been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage.
Earlier, Phoebe Plummer, 23, was given a two-year jail term, while Anna Holland, 22, got 20 months, for throwing soup over Sunflowers 1888 in October 2022.
Breaking: Mass Killing of Civilians in Tehran A report that has just reached me from Nikan Hospital in northern Tehran, with the help of Starlink internet, indicates that a large number of protesters in Iran who were targeted with live ammunition have been transferred to this hospital. According to this report, the number of fatalities at this hospital is very high. After cutting off the internet, the Iranian regime has opened fire on people in the streets. https://x.com/esmaeils1169/status/2009591863016047095
So Trump's bluff has been called. If it was a bluff. What does he do now?
A smart person would leave this to the Iranians to sort out. So we can presume that is not an option.
Start a war in Polynesia? Maybe Antarctic? Fist fight with the moon? Who can say where the wheel of fortune will fall.
US President Donald Trump has asked for at least $100bn (£75bn) in oil industry spending for Venezuela, but received a lukewarm response at the White House as one executive warned the South American country was currently "un-investable".
Bosses of the biggest US oil firms who attended the meeting acknowledged that Venezuela, sitting on vast energy reserves, represented an enticing opportunity.
But they said significant changes would be needed to make Venezuela an attractive investment. No major financial commitments were immediately forthcoming.
Trump has said he will unleash the South American nation's oil after US forces seized its leader Nicolas Maduro in a 3 January raid on its capital.
"One of the things the United States gets out of this will be even lower energy prices," Trump said in Friday's meeting in the White House.
But the oil bosses present expressed caution.
Exxon's chief executive Darren Woods said: "We have had our assets seized there twice and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we've historically seen and what is currently the state."
Breaking: Mass Killing of Civilians in Tehran A report that has just reached me from Nikan Hospital in northern Tehran, with the help of Starlink internet, indicates that a large number of protesters in Iran who were targeted with live ammunition have been transferred to this hospital. According to this report, the number of fatalities at this hospital is very high. After cutting off the internet, the Iranian regime has opened fire on people in the streets. https://x.com/esmaeils1169/status/2009591863016047095
So Trump's bluff has been called. If it was a bluff. What does he do now?
A smart person would leave this to the Iranians to sort out. So we can presume that is not an option.
Start a war in Polynesia? Maybe Antarctic? Fist fight with the moon? Who can say where the wheel of fortune will fall.
The Isle of Man is America.
They should not resist. If he wants it he will have it.
Maybe he shouldn't have flat out lied to Congress in the first place.
And handful of Republicans discovered there's actually a limit to how far they're prepared to be humiliated.
Trump dials Collins with ‘profanity-laced rant’ over Venezuela war powers vote https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5682106-trump-collins-call-venezuela-vote/ ..According to two sources familiar, a fuming Trump dialed up Collins, the foremost Senate GOP centrist, during the vote aimed at blocking the White House from using military force against Venezuela. “He called her and then basically read her the riot act,” one Senate GOP member told The Hill, describing it as a “profanity-laced rant” on Trump’s end. The GOP member also noted that the call came “out of the blue” as the two do not talk frequently. A second source familiar with the call said Trump told Collins that the resolution, which passed, 52-47, was limiting his ability to do his job as commander-in-chief. “He was very mad about the vote,” the source said. “Very mad. Very hot.” A Collins spokesperson confirmed the call took place but declined further comment. The Hill reached out to the White House with a request for comment. Trump followed up the vote by posting on Truth Social that Collins and the four other Senate Republicans who backed discharging the resolution — Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Todd Young (Ind.) — “should never be elected to office again.”..
Fascinating how Hawley was a massive Trump fan in his first administration.
As was MTG - it can be those who were the biggest fans who can feel the most let down.
Especially when they realise they're never going to be in the inner circle.
And even more so when they have ambitions of their own.
for much of history the boundary between the North and the South was considered to be the River Trent.
In the Roman period (or at least the conquest period of Roman Britain), the Trent and the Fosse Way marked the boundary between the military and civilian zones.
During the Hundred Years War, when Kings tried to raise taxes and men to fight in France, the counties along the south coast were exempt as they had a separate duty to raise taxes and men for protecting the coast from raids. Similarly anything North of the Trent was exempt as they had a duty to raise taxes and men to protect against the Scots. North of the Trent was bandit country.
I live just south of the Trent so on this score I would count as a southerner.
Breaking: Mass Killing of Civilians in Tehran A report that has just reached me from Nikan Hospital in northern Tehran, with the help of Starlink internet, indicates that a large number of protesters in Iran who were targeted with live ammunition have been transferred to this hospital. According to this report, the number of fatalities at this hospital is very high. After cutting off the internet, the Iranian regime has opened fire on people in the streets. https://x.com/esmaeils1169/status/2009591863016047095
Depressing. I hope we don't wake up to a nationwide bloodbath.
These are the kind of people another_richard would be telling off for being a wee bit troublesome to the state. I've enormous respect for anyone doing this in the US, Iran or elsewhere. Takes serious courage.
You seem oddly obsessed with my real world aligned comments.
Perhaps you might like to consider there's a difference between an authoritarian theocracy and a democracy with rule of law (highly imperfect though it is).
Does your tolerance to people being a wee bit troublesome to the state extend to the January 6th rioters or those protesting about, for example, covid restrictions ?
Or is just another case of "our protestors good, their protestors bad" to go alongside the "our lawfare good, their lawfare bad" and "our gerrymandering good, their gerrymandering bad" ?
Of course you don't need to look to the USA or Iran to find people being 'a wee bit troublesome to the state'.
Here's someone:
A physiotherapist who prayed outside an abortion centre has been convicted of breaching a safe zone after refusing requests to move on.
Adam Smith-Connor was outside the clinic in Bournemouth in November 2022 where a public space protection order was in place.
The 51-year-old from Southampton denied failing to comply with the order, but District Judge Orla Austin said on Wednesday his actions had been "deliberate".
Smith-Connor was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 costs.
Just Stop Oil supporters have thrown soup over two Vincent van Gogh paintings, hours after two activists were given jail sentences for targeting one of the same works of art.
Three protesters threw an orange-coloured soup at Sunflowers 1888 and Sunflowers 1889 in the Poets and Lovers exhibition at the National Gallery in central London. They have been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage.
Earlier, Phoebe Plummer, 23, was given a two-year jail term, while Anna Holland, 22, got 20 months, for throwing soup over Sunflowers 1888 in October 2022.
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
Breaking: Mass Killing of Civilians in Tehran A report that has just reached me from Nikan Hospital in northern Tehran, with the help of Starlink internet, indicates that a large number of protesters in Iran who were targeted with live ammunition have been transferred to this hospital. According to this report, the number of fatalities at this hospital is very high. After cutting off the internet, the Iranian regime has opened fire on people in the streets. https://x.com/esmaeils1169/status/2009591863016047095
Depressing. I hope we don't wake up to a nationwide bloodbath.
These are the kind of people another_richard would be telling off for being a wee bit troublesome to the state. I've enormous respect for anyone doing this in the US, Iran or elsewhere. Takes serious courage.
You seem oddly obsessed with my real world aligned comments.
Perhaps you might like to consider there's a difference between an authoritarian theocracy and a democracy with rule of law (highly imperfect though it is).
Does your tolerance to people being a wee bit troublesome to the state extend to the January 6th rioters or those protesting about, for example, covid restrictions ?
Or is just another case of "our protestors good, their protestors bad" to go alongside the "our lawfare good, their lawfare bad" and "our gerrymandering good, their gerrymandering bad" ?
Of course you don't need to look to the USA or Iran to find people being 'a wee bit troublesome to the state'.
Here's someone:
A physiotherapist who prayed outside an abortion centre has been convicted of breaching a safe zone after refusing requests to move on.
Adam Smith-Connor was outside the clinic in Bournemouth in November 2022 where a public space protection order was in place.
The 51-year-old from Southampton denied failing to comply with the order, but District Judge Orla Austin said on Wednesday his actions had been "deliberate".
Smith-Connor was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 costs.
Just Stop Oil supporters have thrown soup over two Vincent van Gogh paintings, hours after two activists were given jail sentences for targeting one of the same works of art.
Three protesters threw an orange-coloured soup at Sunflowers 1888 and Sunflowers 1889 in the Poets and Lovers exhibition at the National Gallery in central London. They have been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage.
Earlier, Phoebe Plummer, 23, was given a two-year jail term, while Anna Holland, 22, got 20 months, for throwing soup over Sunflowers 1888 in October 2022.
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
Breaking: Mass Killing of Civilians in Tehran A report that has just reached me from Nikan Hospital in northern Tehran, with the help of Starlink internet, indicates that a large number of protesters in Iran who were targeted with live ammunition have been transferred to this hospital. According to this report, the number of fatalities at this hospital is very high. After cutting off the internet, the Iranian regime has opened fire on people in the streets. https://x.com/esmaeils1169/status/2009591863016047095
Depressing. I hope we don't wake up to a nationwide bloodbath.
These are the kind of people another_richard would be telling off for being a wee bit troublesome to the state. I've enormous respect for anyone doing this in the US, Iran or elsewhere. Takes serious courage.
You seem oddly obsessed with my real world aligned comments.
Perhaps you might like to consider there's a difference between an authoritarian theocracy and a democracy with rule of law (highly imperfect though it is).
Does your tolerance to people being a wee bit troublesome to the state extend to the January 6th rioters or those protesting about, for example, covid restrictions ?
Or is just another case of "our protestors good, their protestors bad" to go alongside the "our lawfare good, their lawfare bad" and "our gerrymandering good, their gerrymandering bad" ?
Of course you don't need to look to the USA or Iran to find people being 'a wee bit troublesome to the state'.
Here's someone:
A physiotherapist who prayed outside an abortion centre has been convicted of breaching a safe zone after refusing requests to move on.
Adam Smith-Connor was outside the clinic in Bournemouth in November 2022 where a public space protection order was in place.
The 51-year-old from Southampton denied failing to comply with the order, but District Judge Orla Austin said on Wednesday his actions had been "deliberate".
Smith-Connor was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 costs.
Just Stop Oil supporters have thrown soup over two Vincent van Gogh paintings, hours after two activists were given jail sentences for targeting one of the same works of art.
Three protesters threw an orange-coloured soup at Sunflowers 1888 and Sunflowers 1889 in the Poets and Lovers exhibition at the National Gallery in central London. They have been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage.
Earlier, Phoebe Plummer, 23, was given a two-year jail term, while Anna Holland, 22, got 20 months, for throwing soup over Sunflowers 1888 in October 2022.
And does our choice have anything more than "our side good, their side bad" as a basis ?
You're seriously comparing these cases to people being shot in the face?
That was the question I was going to ask. I know America is different. But, from what I have seen if the individual(s) had been a problem then just get them arrested.
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
Which the US are able to do any time they like. Indeed they had far more troops up there in the past. They chosevto withdraw them. They don't need to.own the place to station military forces there.
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
Tariffs, controlling interest rates, imposing credit card rate caps, encouraging unions. We are so focussed on Trump's social conservatism we forget that his industrial policy is by British standards very, well...Bennite.
The GOP is now left-wing interventionist in industrial policy, and the Democrats with their tentative reachings to what they call "abundance" (removing restrictions and letting private enterprise generate lots of consumer goods) is now moving in an almost Thatcherite direction.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
Tariffs, controlling interest rates, imposing credit card rate caps, encouraging unions. We are so focussed on Trump's social conservatism we forget that his industrial policy is by British standards very, well...Bennite.
The GOP is now left-wing interventionist in industrial policy, and the Democrats with their tentative reachings to what they call "abundance" (removing restrictions and letting private enterprise generate lots of consumer goods) is now moving in an almost Thatcherite direction.
Also throw in he spends public money like it is going out of fashion. Whatever savings DOGE might have found are minute compared to all the extra spending Donald has signed into law.
...when I travel from Edinburgh to Bristol am I going east?
Yes. Well, South East.
The survey answers seem perfectly sensible to me. Human bodies have a middle, so why can’t countries. Why can’t people in the midlands be in the middle, like belly buttons and waistlines. why should there be no middle just a North South line.
Why should maps be north and south, when Maps have east and west,
Tolkiens maps were more east and west than North and South.
And surely it’s up south, not down? In Yorkshire we go up to London, don’t we, up to Cheltenham, up to Chepstow. South isn’t a down direction.
Old Welsh maps were aligned east west - which might explain why the Welsh word for South and Left is the same (De)
Quite surprised this morning that the front gate had frozen shut. Happened before but I couldn't move the latch at all. Luckily, was able to lift up the gate itself enough to open it.
Trump: "Europe is changing. Europe has got to get its act together. I love Europe, I guess I came from Europe essentially I had, I have— my roots are in Europe, but Europe is a different place... they have to be very careful with their immigration policy."
We're really not interested in the judgment of a senile authoritarian.
F1: 22 January meeting could be vital. Might see the Merc 'trick'/innovative engine banned, depending on what Red Bull decide (others oppose the Mercedes engine, Red Bull's partially managed to replicate the approach so may favour its continuation).
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
Bonkers. Corbyn bonkers.
It's all going a bit like Woody Allens's "Bananas". It seems only a matter of time before the dictator manqué will decree that the national language will be Swedish and makes right turns on red compulsory.
The US financial system cannot survive at its current levels if contract law is just going to be at the whim of the "morality" of a real estate crook.
This crap and yesterday's comments on US treasuries is going to make Liz Truss look like Gladstone. Even the large numbers of Trump supporters amongst the billionaires and on Wall St are going to find this erratic regime increasingly impossible to deal with.
In USD terms the IS markets are not reaching new highs, and even if they were, the market direction is never one way, no matter how many whales are out doing Trump's bidding. The weaker oil price will support things for a bit, but if investors begin to believe that they can no longer trust the US government then it will end very badly indeed. I am not buying this latest peak and am feeling increasingly defensive overall.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
Tariffs, controlling interest rates, imposing credit card rate caps, encouraging unions. We are so focussed on Trump's social conservatism we forget that his industrial policy is by British standards very, well...Bennite.
The GOP is now left-wing interventionist in industrial policy, and the Democrats with their tentative reachings to what they call "abundance" (removing restrictions and letting private enterprise generate lots of consumer goods) is now moving in an almost Thatcherite direction.
Also throw in he spends public money like it is going out of fashion. Whatever savings DOGE might have found are minute compared to all the extra spending Donald has signed into law.
He’s got more in common with the New York Mayor than first thought.
Iran are taking their lessons on how to deal with revolt from China in 1989, not East Germany, because they see how the former survived with brutal oppression, whereas the latter collapsed.
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
Trump: "Europe is changing. Europe has got to get its act together. I love Europe, I guess I came from Europe essentially I had, I have— my roots are in Europe, but Europe is a different place... they have to be very careful with their immigration policy."
We're really not interested in the judgment of a senile authoritarian.
"We". .... "Senile".... how arrogant.
I'm happy to acknowledge that you think Trump is in full possession of his marbles, and you believe his advice is something to be treasured.
And note that even you don't rush to contest "authoritarian".
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
Do you think Trump will let that happen. Isn’t this all about the mid terms ?
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
Do you think Trump will let that happen. Isn’t this all about the mid terms ?
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
I don't know if he can actually do it.
That said, I didn't think the President had the ability to levy taxes without the approval of Congress and he's done just that. (Unless, possibly, the Supreme Court says 'no'.)
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
They had a base. They all but abandoned it.
And Trump doesn’t want it for Europe’s security, anyway; he wants it for some combination of America’s security (somewhere to shoot down Russian missiles heading to the US from) and just because, for the lolz and the posterity.
Here most of it has gone already. I can see the garden.
It will be a sodden day, but I need to find some leanto-roof repair materials - since one of my Ts has a strip of 2-ply polycarb roofing which pushed through due to weight of snow and was bouncing up and down like Mick Gajjer's tongue.
This is one of those strange Planning Permission evading exceptions which is known as a "Covered Way". It is not a conservatory, not a garage, not a shed, not against a boundary, is an explicit exemption from Building Regulations (which do not define what it is), and has a door at each end, so is Permitted Development. There is also a "Covered Yard".
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
Do you think Trump will let that happen. Isn’t this all about the mid terms ?
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
I don't know if he can actually do it.
That said, I didn't think the President had the ability to levy taxes without the approval of Congress and he's done just that. (Unless, possibly, the Supreme Court says 'no'.)
He's also trying to do some form of quantitative easing without involving the Fed.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
Do you think Trump will let that happen. Isn’t this all about the mid terms ?
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
I don't know if he can actually do it.
That said, I didn't think the President had the ability to levy taxes without the approval of Congress and he's done just that. (Unless, possibly, the Supreme Court says 'no'.)
The question is the consequences for anyone that doesn’t, rather than the legalities of whether he can or can’t. Whether or not you have someone who knows, or is in with, the president is increasingly all that seems to matter in the US mafia business world.
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
They had a base. They all but abandoned it.
And Trump doesn’t want it for Europe’s security, anyway; he wants it for some combination of America’s security (somewhere to shoot down Russian missiles heading to the US from) and just because, for the lolz and the posterity.
Trump wants to go down in history, not just as any old President, but as one who expanded America's boundaries, bringing in Greenland and perhaps Canada. That would - he believes - secure his place in history as someone who reversed the decline of America, and returned it to its rightful place.
There are, however, a few problems with this.
The most import of which is Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs.
Most Americans (and Russians and Brits, etc) are more concerned with -you know- having the money to pay the mortgage.\
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
They had a base. They all but abandoned it.
And Trump doesn’t want it for Europe’s security, anyway; he wants it for some combination of America’s security (somewhere to shoot down Russian missiles heading to the US from) and just because, for the lolz and the posterity.
Trump wants to go down in history, not just as any old President, but as one who expanded America's boundaries, bringing in Greenland and perhaps Canada. That would - he believes - secure his place in history as someone who reversed the decline of America, and returned it to its rightful place.
There are, however, a few problems with this.
The most import of which is Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs.
Most Americans (and Russians and Brits, etc) are more concerned with -you know- having the money to pay the mortgage.\
But how much will posterity and the history books be concerned with that?
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
Do you think Trump will let that happen. Isn’t this all about the mid terms ?
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
I don't know if he can actually do it.
That said, I didn't think the President had the ability to levy taxes without the approval of Congress and he's done just that. (Unless, possibly, the Supreme Court says 'no'.)
He's also trying to do some form of quantitative easing without involving the Fed.
Here most of it has gone already. I can see the garden.
It will be a sodden day, but I need to find some leanto-roof repair materials - since one of my Ts has a strip of 2-ply polycarb roofing which pushed through due to weight of snow and was bouncing up and down like Mick Gajjer's tongue.
This is one of those strange Planning Permission evading exceptions which is known as a "Covered Way". It is not a conservatory, not a garage, not a shed, not against a boundary, is an explicit exemption from Building Regulations (which do not define what it is), and has a door at each end, so is Permitted Development. There is also a "Covered Yard".
Here most of it has gone already. I can see the garden.
It will be a sodden day, but I need to find some leanto-roof repair materials - since one of my Ts has a strip of 2-ply polycarb roofing which pushed through due to weight of snow and was bouncing up and down like Mick Gajjer's tongue.
This is one of those strange Planning Permission evading exceptions which is known as a "Covered Way". It is not a conservatory, not a garage, not a shed, not against a boundary, is an explicit exemption from Building Regulations (which do not define what it is), and has a door at each end, so is Permitted Development. There is also a "Covered Yard".
Typo: That should be "Mick Jagger's tongue".
Marianne Faithful’s Mars bar has entered the chat.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
Do you think Trump will let that happen. Isn’t this all about the mid terms ?
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
I don't know if he can actually do it.
That said, I didn't think the President had the ability to levy taxes without the approval of Congress and he's done just that. (Unless, possibly, the Supreme Court says 'no'.)
He's also trying to do some form of quantitative easing without involving the Fed.
Now, could this (possibly) get house prices moving up (with all the long term issues that creates)? Sure.
But it will cause a whole bunch of consequences.
As an aside, there are $12 to $13 trillion of US mortgage backed securities in existence. $200bn is therefore 1.8% or so of the total. While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are executing their purchases, the prices will no doubt move a little.
But what happens when the purchases are complete?
At that point, the market takes over again. Unless -of course- one believes the US government is willing to spend trillions of dollars fixing mortgage rates.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
Do you think Trump will let that happen. Isn’t this all about the mid terms ?
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
I don't know if he can actually do it.
That said, I didn't think the President had the ability to levy taxes without the approval of Congress and he's done just that. (Unless, possibly, the Supreme Court says 'no'.)
He's also trying to do some form of quantitative easing without involving the Fed.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
Do you think Trump will let that happen. Isn’t this all about the mid terms ?
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
I don't know if he can actually do it.
That said, I didn't think the President had the ability to levy taxes without the approval of Congress and he's done just that. (Unless, possibly, the Supreme Court says 'no'.)
He's also trying to do some form of quantitative easing without involving the Fed.
Here most of it has gone already. I can see the garden.
It will be a sodden day, but I need to find some leanto-roof repair materials - since one of my Ts has a strip of 2-ply polycarb roofing which pushed through due to weight of snow and was bouncing up and down like Mick Gajjer's tongue.
This is one of those strange Planning Permission evading exceptions which is known as a "Covered Way". It is not a conservatory, not a garage, not a shed, not against a boundary, is an explicit exemption from Building Regulations (which do not define what it is), and has a door at each end, so is Permitted Development. There is also a "Covered Yard".
Typo: That should be "Mick Jagger's tongue".
Marianne Faithful’s Mars bar has entered the chat.
Sadly, Marianne debunked the veracity of that story to my wife.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
Do you think Trump will let that happen. Isn’t this all about the mid terms ?
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
I don't know if he can actually do it.
That said, I didn't think the President had the ability to levy taxes without the approval of Congress and he's done just that. (Unless, possibly, the Supreme Court says 'no'.)
He's also trying to do some form of quantitative easing without involving the Fed.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
Do you think Trump will let that happen. Isn’t this all about the mid terms ?
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
I don't know if he can actually do it.
That said, I didn't think the President had the ability to levy taxes without the approval of Congress and he's done just that. (Unless, possibly, the Supreme Court says 'no'.)
He's also trying to do some form of quantitative easing without involving the Fed.
The instruction afaics is for Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae to spend their cash reserves on mortgage bonds.
That feels to me a modest parallel to him running down the reserves of social funding initiatives, which will stoke up problems for the future by being reckless now by creating false short-term perceptions.
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
They had a base. They all but abandoned it.
And Trump doesn’t want it for Europe’s security, anyway; he wants it for some combination of America’s security (somewhere to shoot down Russian missiles heading to the US from) and just because, for the lolz and the posterity.
Trump wants to go down in history, not just as any old President, but as one who expanded America's boundaries, bringing in Greenland and perhaps Canada. That would - he believes - secure his place in history as someone who reversed the decline of America, and returned it to its rightful place.
There are, however, a few problems with this.
The most import of which is Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs.
Most Americans (and Russians and Brits, etc) are more concerned with -you know- having the money to pay the mortgage.\
Trump already has the " worst President in History" title sewn up. I think he's going for " the worst ruler since Nero" special award.
Here most of it has gone already. I can see the garden.
It will be a sodden day, but I need to find some leanto-roof repair materials - since one of my Ts has a strip of 2-ply polycarb roofing which pushed through due to weight of snow and was bouncing up and down like Mick Gajjer's tongue.
This is one of those strange Planning Permission evading exceptions which is known as a "Covered Way". It is not a conservatory, not a garage, not a shed, not against a boundary, is an explicit exemption from Building Regulations (which do not define what it is), and has a door at each end, so is Permitted Development. There is also a "Covered Yard".
Typo: That should be "Mick Jagger's tongue".
Marianne Faithful’s Mars bar has entered the chat.
Sadly, Marianne debunked the veracity of that story to my wife.
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
They had a base. They all but abandoned it.
And Trump doesn’t want it for Europe’s security, anyway; he wants it for some combination of America’s security (somewhere to shoot down Russian missiles heading to the US from) and just because, for the lolz and the posterity.
Trump wants to go down in history, not just as any old President, but as one who expanded America's boundaries, bringing in Greenland and perhaps Canada. That would - he believes - secure his place in history as someone who reversed the decline of America, and returned it to its rightful place.
There are, however, a few problems with this.
The most import of which is Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs.
Most Americans (and Russians and Brits, etc) are more concerned with -you know- having the money to pay the mortgage.\
But how much will posterity and the history books be concerned with that?
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
They had a base. They all but abandoned it.
And Trump doesn’t want it for Europe’s security, anyway; he wants it for some combination of America’s security (somewhere to shoot down Russian missiles heading to the US from) and just because, for the lolz and the posterity.
Trump wants to go down in history, not just as any old President, but as one who expanded America's boundaries, bringing in Greenland and perhaps Canada. That would - he believes - secure his place in history as someone who reversed the decline of America, and returned it to its rightful place.
There are, however, a few problems with this.
The most import of which is Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs.
Most Americans (and Russians and Brits, etc) are more concerned with -you know- having the money to pay the mortgage.\
But how much will posterity and the history books be concerned with that?
Depends who writes them.
Is President Monroe remembered for his foreign policy, or for the first major economic depression in US history?
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
Do you think Trump will let that happen. Isn’t this all about the mid terms ?
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
I don't know if he can actually do it.
That said, I didn't think the President had the ability to levy taxes without the approval of Congress and he's done just that. (Unless, possibly, the Supreme Court says 'no'.)
He's also trying to do some form of quantitative easing without involving the Fed.
I think the real question we should be asking is why Donald Trump's behaviour has suddenly become even more erratic. Is it just the adrenaline rush of his successful kidnapping of Maduro, or is there something else going on? It could be as simple as a power struggle between members of the administration or as serious as his dementia entering a new and dangerous phase which his treatment hasn't caught up with yet.
Here most of it has gone already. I can see the garden.
It will be a sodden day, but I need to find some leanto-roof repair materials - since one of my Ts has a strip of 2-ply polycarb roofing which pushed through due to weight of snow and was bouncing up and down like Mick Gajjer's tongue.
This is one of those strange Planning Permission evading exceptions which is known as a "Covered Way". It is not a conservatory, not a garage, not a shed, not against a boundary, is an explicit exemption from Building Regulations (which do not define what it is), and has a door at each end, so is Permitted Development. There is also a "Covered Yard".
Typo: That should be "Mick Jagger's tongue".
Marianne Faithful’s Mars bar has entered the chat.
Sadly, Marianne debunked the veracity of that story to my wife.
She would say that, wouldn't she?
She was uite adamant. (MY wife was working her life story into a movie.)
My wife went to her internment in a church in a tiny village south of Oxford. Amongst the 30 or so mourners were Bob Geldof, Nick Cave and Courtney Love (my wife ended up sitting on her lap as the limited cars went to the local pub for the wake...).
Here most of it has gone already. I can see the garden.
It will be a sodden day, but I need to find some leanto-roof repair materials - since one of my Ts has a strip of 2-ply polycarb roofing which pushed through due to weight of snow and was bouncing up and down like Mick Gajjer's tongue.
This is one of those strange Planning Permission evading exceptions which is known as a "Covered Way". It is not a conservatory, not a garage, not a shed, not against a boundary, is an explicit exemption from Building Regulations (which do not define what it is), and has a door at each end, so is Permitted Development. There is also a "Covered Yard".
Typo: That should be "Mick Jagger's tongue".
Marianne Faithful’s Mars bar has entered the chat.
Sadly, Marianne debunked the veracity of that story to my wife.
She would say that, wouldn't she?
She was uite adamant. (MY wife was working her life story into a movie.)
My wife went to her internment in a church in a tiny village south of Oxford. Amongst the 30 or so mourners were Bob Geldof, Nick Cave and Courtney Love (my wife ended up sitting on her lap as the limited cars went to the local pub for the wake...).
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
It started in America (® G Brown)
Meanwhile how are they getting on with the Epstein shredding?
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
Tariffs, controlling interest rates, imposing credit card rate caps, encouraging unions. We are so focussed on Trump's social conservatism we forget that his industrial policy is by British standards very, well...Bennite.
The GOP is now left-wing interventionist in industrial policy, and the Democrats with their tentative reachings to what they call "abundance" (removing restrictions and letting private enterprise generate lots of consumer goods) is now moving in an almost Thatcherite direction.
Trump is clearly rattled on affordability/cost of living. More inflation to come...
Here most of it has gone already. I can see the garden.
It will be a sodden day, but I need to find some leanto-roof repair materials - since one of my Ts has a strip of 2-ply polycarb roofing which pushed through due to weight of snow and was bouncing up and down like Mick Gajjer's tongue.
This is one of those strange Planning Permission evading exceptions which is known as a "Covered Way". It is not a conservatory, not a garage, not a shed, not against a boundary, is an explicit exemption from Building Regulations (which do not define what it is), and has a door at each end, so is Permitted Development. There is also a "Covered Yard".
Typo: That should be "Mick Jagger's tongue".
Marianne Faithful’s Mars bar has entered the chat.
Sadly, Marianne debunked the veracity of that story to my wife.
She would say that, wouldn't she?
She was uite adamant. (MY wife was working her life story into a movie.)
My wife went to her internment in a church in a tiny village south of Oxford. Amongst the 30 or so mourners were Bob Geldof, Nick Cave and Courtney Love (my wife ended up sitting on her lap as the limited cars went to the local pub for the wake...).
I didn't realise you could be interned for misbehaving with a mars bar.
(Strangely, having only attended cremations for my entire life, 2 out of the last 3 funerals I have been to have been inhumations)
Breaking: Mass Killing of Civilians in Tehran A report that has just reached me from Nikan Hospital in northern Tehran, with the help of Starlink internet, indicates that a large number of protesters in Iran who were targeted with live ammunition have been transferred to this hospital. According to this report, the number of fatalities at this hospital is very high. After cutting off the internet, the Iranian regime has opened fire on people in the streets. https://x.com/esmaeils1169/status/2009591863016047095
Depressing. I hope we don't wake up to a nationwide bloodbath.
These are the kind of people another_richard would be telling off for being a wee bit troublesome to the state. I've enormous respect for anyone doing this in the US, Iran or elsewhere. Takes serious courage.
You seem oddly obsessed with my real world aligned comments.
Perhaps you might like to consider there's a difference between an authoritarian theocracy and a democracy with rule of law (highly imperfect though it is).
Does your tolerance to people being a wee bit troublesome to the state extend to the January 6th rioters or those protesting about, for example, covid restrictions ?
Or is just another case of "our protestors good, their protestors bad" to go alongside the "our lawfare good, their lawfare bad" and "our gerrymandering good, their gerrymandering bad" ?
Of course you don't need to look to the USA or Iran to find people being 'a wee bit troublesome to the state'.
Here's someone:
A physiotherapist who prayed outside an abortion centre has been convicted of breaching a safe zone after refusing requests to move on.
Adam Smith-Connor was outside the clinic in Bournemouth in November 2022 where a public space protection order was in place.
The 51-year-old from Southampton denied failing to comply with the order, but District Judge Orla Austin said on Wednesday his actions had been "deliberate".
Smith-Connor was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 costs.
Just Stop Oil supporters have thrown soup over two Vincent van Gogh paintings, hours after two activists were given jail sentences for targeting one of the same works of art.
Three protesters threw an orange-coloured soup at Sunflowers 1888 and Sunflowers 1889 in the Poets and Lovers exhibition at the National Gallery in central London. They have been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage.
Earlier, Phoebe Plummer, 23, was given a two-year jail term, while Anna Holland, 22, got 20 months, for throwing soup over Sunflowers 1888 in October 2022.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
Tariffs, controlling interest rates, imposing credit card rate caps, encouraging unions. We are so focussed on Trump's social conservatism we forget that his industrial policy is by British standards very, well...Bennite.
The GOP is now left-wing interventionist in industrial policy, and the Democrats with their tentative reachings to what they call "abundance" (removing restrictions and letting private enterprise generate lots of consumer goods) is now moving in an almost Thatcherite direction.
Trump is sort of combining strong nationalist policies with socialist-style economic policies.
Perhaps we should call him a national socialist? Wonder if there's any way to make that term a bit more catchy and shorter.
I think the real question we should be asking is why Donald Trump's behaviour has suddenly become even more erratic. Is it just the adrenaline rush of his successful kidnapping of Maduro, or is there something else going on? It could be as simple as a power struggle between members of the administration or as serious as his dementia entering a new and dangerous phase which his treatment hasn't caught up with yet.
I think in part the last week has been a smokescreen to shift atrention away from the Epstein Files and the 5th anniversary of the Jan 6 riots*, but it does look as if his capricious madness has reached new levels.
*It is quite noteworthy how restrained the Capitol police were. If they had been as trigger happy as ICE were with a Minnesota Mom there would have been hundreds of dead rioters. Perhaps it would have been better for America if they had.
I think the real question we should be asking is why Donald Trump's behaviour has suddenly become even more erratic. Is it just the adrenaline rush of his successful kidnapping of Maduro, or is there something else going on? It could be as simple as a power struggle between members of the administration or as serious as his dementia entering a new and dangerous phase which his treatment hasn't caught up with yet.
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
They had a base. They all but abandoned it.
And Trump doesn’t want it for Europe’s security, anyway; he wants it for some combination of America’s security (somewhere to shoot down Russian missiles heading to the US from) and just because, for the lolz and the posterity.
Trump wants to go down in history, not just as any old President, but as one who expanded America's boundaries, bringing in Greenland and perhaps Canada. That would - he believes - secure his place in history as someone who reversed the decline of America, and returned it to its rightful place.
There are, however, a few problems with this.
The most import of which is Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs.
Most Americans (and Russians and Brits, etc) are more concerned with -you know- having the money to pay the mortgage.\
Trouble is that Trump, Trump's people and the rest of America are at different places on the Hierarchy of Needs.
Lots of people anywhere are at "food and shelter", Trump's people are at "esteem" (from DJT) whilst the facepainted Franco[1] is at "self-actualisation".
One of the things democracy does is try to better align the interests of the top people and the common people by saying that the top people can only stay at the top of the common people are happy. That doesn't seem to be the plan stateside. Though regimes that combine socialism with nationalism are prone to "cut the price of X by decree" measures, which is why Spain has menus del dia.
I think the real question we should be asking is why Donald Trump's behaviour has suddenly become even more erratic. Is it just the adrenaline rush of his successful kidnapping of Maduro, or is there something else going on? It could be as simple as a power struggle between members of the administration or as serious as his dementia entering a new and dangerous phase which his treatment hasn't caught up with yet.
Yes, this is the important question.
The comparison between Trump and Herbert Hoover (1929-33) is instructive, imo.
President Donald J. Trump announces a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10% effective January 20, 2026.
There will be a couple of consequencues of this.
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
It started in America (® G Brown)
Meanwhile how are they getting on with the Epstein shredding?
Do not forget the extra half a trillion dollars on defence spending. That will keep American lathes turning.
I'm at the Reform rally at the Excel centre in London. So far this evening I've chatted with a couple of Hindu pensioners, a Tube driver, a soldier, a Christian youth worker, a millionaire property developer and a violinist. This absolutely chimes with all of the published polling. Reform is the party most like modern Britain. Unlike Labour it represents business and the working class. Unlike the Tories it can win in Wales, Scotland and the North. Unlike the LibDems it is actually liberal and democratic! I'm excited to be a small part of what @Nigel_Farage is building. A truly national party that is this fast declining country's last, best chance.
(I'm being carefully non-commital. I've dealt with Montie enough to have some respect for him, but I think that - like IDS - he has rather lost his roots, and moved too close to Danny Kruger type views.)
Yes. Wait and see. We are at an interesting point. It seems to me that fewer big names (TimM, Kruger) have joined than I would have expected.
This matters because, SFAICS, the plan is to have a battalion of truly talented people to do a quasi American style takeover of the civil, legislative and executive process in order to get stuff done. (This would include massive numbers of appointments to the Lords)
This needs the right people, and (even harder) it needs a coherent policy framework in order that once you have the battalion in place, Reform and the country know 'who we are, where we are going and how we are going to get there'.
I am not sure which is harder: Getting the huge team of the willing and able; or forming a coherent set of policy plans out of the internal contradiction which is the Reform history and support base.
Stacking the Lords just follows recent Labour and Conservative practice. Whether hundreds of Reform MPs (who must have been elected if they are to form the government) will be happy at being overlooked for promotion in favour of unelected cronies seems less likely.
I'm at the Reform rally at the Excel centre in London. So far this evening I've chatted with a couple of Hindu pensioners, a Tube driver, a soldier, a Christian youth worker, a millionaire property developer and a violinist. This absolutely chimes with all of the published polling. Reform is the party most like modern Britain. Unlike Labour it represents business and the working class. Unlike the Tories it can win in Wales, Scotland and the North. Unlike the LibDems it is actually liberal and democratic! I'm excited to be a small part of what @Nigel_Farage is building. A truly national party that is this fast declining country's last, best chance.
I've just learned that Goldfinger (as in the actor who played gold finger) was dubbed.
Mind blown.
Was Gert Frobe dubbed in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang too? The voice is uncannily similar.
In the Swiss Alps scene in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond masquerades as Sir Hilary. George Baker dubs Lazenby because Lazenby is not a very good actor.
Still, my favourite Christmas film, OHMSS. Diana Rigg had redeeming features that compensated for Lazenby's flaws.
It is the best Bond film.
Best script. Best locations, Best score. Best cast.
What's not to like?
I can see its merits, and it's not the worst, but it's not for me.
The plot is a bit inconsequential and meh to me. It seems to belong in The Avengers (in colour), a programme which I love, but it never makes me care in this film.
Lazenby was bad - especially the very long overdubbed bit where he's undercover. He wasn't a good enough actor to handle the layers of acting as Bond acting as Sir Hillary, so he just (about) acts as Sir Hillary.
I've just learned that Goldfinger (as in the actor who played gold finger) was dubbed.
Mind blown.
Was Gert Frobe dubbed in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang too? The voice is uncannily similar.
In the Swiss Alps scene in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond masquerades as Sir Hilary. George Baker dubs Lazenby because Lazenby is not a very good actor.
Still, my favourite Christmas film, OHMSS. Diana Rigg had redeeming features that compensated for Lazenby's flaws.
It is the best Bond film.
Best script. Best locations, Best score. Best cast.
What's not to like?
I can see its merits, and it's not the worst, but it's not for me.
The plot is a bit inconsequential and meh to me. It seems to belong in The Avengers (in colour), a programme which I love, but it never makes me care in this film.
Lazenby was bad - especially the very long overdubbed bit where he's undercover. He wasn't a good enough actor to handle the layers of acting as Bond acting as Sir Hillary, so he just (about) acts as Sir Hillary.
It does have good aspects as you mention.
Not a bad analysis, the plot of the film is faultless in following the novel though.
His justification? “If we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor,” Trump said.
Has anyone told him Alaska exists? And the country just across the Bearing Straight is....... (his favourite country).
I think the real question we should be asking is why Donald Trump's behaviour has suddenly become even more erratic. Is it just the adrenaline rush of his successful kidnapping of Maduro, or is there something else going on? It could be as simple as a power struggle between members of the administration or as serious as his dementia entering a new and dangerous phase which his treatment hasn't caught up with yet.
I think the confidence boost from the flawless capture of Maduro will have a lot to do with it. He now thinks that, with the power of the US military, he can do anything he wants.
Also, with the countdown to the midterms on, I would imagine there's an impetus from the Project 2025 folks to get as much done before then as possible.
And then, all this hyperactivity serves to distract from the Epstein Files.
I think the real question we should be asking is why Donald Trump's behaviour has suddenly become even more erratic. Is it just the adrenaline rush of his successful kidnapping of Maduro, or is there something else going on? It could be as simple as a power struggle between members of the administration or as serious as his dementia entering a new and dangerous phase which his treatment hasn't caught up with yet.
I think the confidence boost from the flawless capture of Maduro will have a lot to do with it. He now thinks that, with the power of the US military, he can do anything he wants.
Comments
https://x.com/Faytuks/status/2009709309014532487
These are the kind of people another_richard would be telling off for being a wee bit troublesome to the state. I've enormous respect for anyone doing this in the US, Iran or elsewhere. Takes serious courage.
Couldn't be clearer.
Perhaps you might like to consider there's a difference between an authoritarian theocracy and a democracy with rule of law (highly imperfect though it is).
Does your tolerance to people being a wee bit troublesome to the state extend to the January 6th rioters or those protesting about, for example, covid restrictions ?
Or is just another case of "our protestors good, their protestors bad" to go alongside the "our lawfare good, their lawfare bad" and "our gerrymandering good, their gerrymandering bad" ?
And handful of Republicans discovered there's actually a limit to how far they're prepared to be humiliated.
I'm not holding my breath, and it's still unlikely, but it's not completely impossible they decide to do the same over Greenland.
Trump dials Collins with ‘profanity-laced rant’ over Venezuela war powers vote
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5682106-trump-collins-call-venezuela-vote/
..According to two sources familiar, a fuming Trump dialed up Collins, the foremost Senate GOP centrist, during the vote aimed at blocking the White House from using military force against Venezuela.
“He called her and then basically read her the riot act,” one Senate GOP member told The Hill, describing it as a “profanity-laced rant” on Trump’s end.
The GOP member also noted that the call came “out of the blue” as the two do not talk frequently.
A second source familiar with the call said Trump told Collins that the resolution, which passed, 52-47, was limiting his ability to do his job as commander-in-chief.
“He was very mad about the vote,” the source said. “Very mad. Very hot.”
A Collins spokesperson confirmed the call took place but declined further comment. The Hill reached out to the White House with a request for comment.
Trump followed up the vote by posting on Truth Social that Collins and the four other Senate Republicans who backed discharging the resolution — Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Todd Young (Ind.) — “should never be elected to office again.”..
Here's someone:
A physiotherapist who prayed outside an abortion centre has been convicted of breaching a safe zone after refusing requests to move on.
Adam Smith-Connor was outside the clinic in Bournemouth in November 2022 where a public space protection order was in place.
The 51-year-old from Southampton denied failing to comply with the order, but District Judge Orla Austin said on Wednesday his actions had been "deliberate".
Smith-Connor was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 costs.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g9kp7r00vo
or another:
Just Stop Oil supporters have thrown soup over two Vincent van Gogh paintings, hours after two activists were given jail sentences for targeting one of the same works of art.
Three protesters threw an orange-coloured soup at Sunflowers 1888 and Sunflowers 1889 in the Poets and Lovers exhibition at the National Gallery in central London. They have been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage.
Earlier, Phoebe Plummer, 23, was given a two-year jail term, while Anna Holland, 22, got 20 months, for throwing soup over Sunflowers 1888 in October 2022.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c243v5m0r0lo
Should we applaud these people or condemn them ?
And does our choice have anything more than "our side good, their side bad" as a basis ?
US President Donald Trump has asked for at least $100bn (£75bn) in oil industry spending for Venezuela, but received a lukewarm response at the White House as one executive warned the South American country was currently "un-investable".
Bosses of the biggest US oil firms who attended the meeting acknowledged that Venezuela, sitting on vast energy reserves, represented an enticing opportunity.
But they said significant changes would be needed to make Venezuela an attractive investment. No major financial commitments were immediately forthcoming.
Trump has said he will unleash the South American nation's oil after US forces seized its leader Nicolas Maduro in a 3 January raid on its capital.
"One of the things the United States gets out of this will be even lower energy prices," Trump said in Friday's meeting in the White House.
But the oil bosses present expressed caution.
Exxon's chief executive Darren Woods said: "We have had our assets seized there twice and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we've historically seen and what is currently the state."
"Today it's uninvestable."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c205dx61x76o
Trump's going to need a new government in Venezuela to get things moving.
They should not resist. If he wants it he will have it.
Especially when they realise they're never going to be in the inner circle.
And even more so when they have ambitions of their own.
for much of history the boundary between the North and the South was considered to be the River Trent.
In the Roman period (or at least the conquest period of Roman Britain), the Trent and the Fosse Way marked the boundary between the military and civilian zones.
During the Hundred Years War, when Kings tried to raise taxes and men to fight in France, the counties along the south coast were exempt as they had a separate duty to raise taxes and men for protecting the coast from raids. Similarly anything North of the Trent was exempt as they had a duty to raise taxes and men to protect against the Scots. North of the Trent was bandit country.
I live just south of the Trent so on this score I would count as a southerner.
There's already an American military base in Greenland, but Trump says he won't defend it or Greenland from the Russians or Chinese unless he owns it.
I suspected this was the case already, but it's as clear as day that the US won't lift a finger to defend other NATO members.
We have to face this reality head on.
The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, declared his support of Donald Trump taking control of Greenland. "There is a strong argument for reinforcing Europe's security by putting a much greater representation of American forces... up in Greenland.":
It is rather difficult to get a fair trial or an appeal hearing if the arresting officer decided it was just simpler to shoot you dead instead.
@USDA is suspending all federal funding to the State of Minnesota — effective immediately.
Every time this baleful administration of wanna be low rent hitlers hacks away at their base should be rejoiced.
Every hour by the hour they lose votes.
The GOP is now left-wing interventionist in industrial policy, and the Democrats with their tentative reachings to what they call "abundance" (removing restrictions and letting private enterprise generate lots of consumer goods) is now moving in an almost Thatcherite direction.
Quite surprised this morning that the front gate had frozen shut. Happened before but I couldn't move the latch at all. Luckily, was able to lift up the gate itself enough to open it.
https://x.com/MercedesF1_Hub/status/2009572346982547467
The US financial system cannot survive at its current levels if contract law is just going to be at the whim of the "morality" of a real estate crook.
This crap and yesterday's comments on US treasuries is going to make Liz Truss look like Gladstone. Even the large numbers of Trump supporters amongst the billionaires and on Wall St are going to find this erratic regime increasingly impossible to deal with.
In USD terms the IS markets are not reaching new highs, and even if they were, the market direction is never one way, no matter how many whales are out doing Trump's bidding. The weaker oil price will support things for a bit, but if investors begin to believe that they can no longer trust the US government then it will end very badly indeed. I am not buying this latest peak and am feeling increasingly defensive overall.
"And because it will be phased in over 15 years, these benefits won't arrive until 2040 at the earliest."
It's a dynamic bloc.
Iran are taking their lessons on how to deal with revolt from China in 1989, not East Germany, because they see how the former survived with brutal oppression, whereas the latter collapsed.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/26/hard-brexit-plans-ex-m16-richard-dearlove-hacked-leaked-russians
Even if he does, that will have a big impact on the availability of consumer credit, which will knock-on to growth.
And note that even you don't rush to contest "authoritarian".
Firstly, some credit card companies at the lowest end of the market are going to go bust. They have delinquencies of 6-10% (as in they lose 6 to 10% of what they lend), and therefore charge 20% to compensate. If the rate they can charge has just been capped, while delinquencies don't decline (indeed considering the US job market right now, they might get a lot worse), then these companies will lose lots of money.
Secondly, credit availability for lower income consumers is going to decline. And, of course, consumers will look to find alternative sources of credit. So, I'd expect an explosion of high interest loans secured on low value cars. It'll be good for pawn shops too. And -of course- literal loan sharks.
It will also cause a rise in the savings rate, which is good for the US balance of trade. But it will be done off the back of the poorest of Americans. Things could get very difficult for some people.
No
Can he do it?
Probably. Nobody is willing to stop him.
Anyway he’s called for it, he cannot mandate it, or can he ? You’re in the US, you’ll know more than most of us on it.
That said, I didn't think the President had the ability to levy taxes without the approval of Congress and he's done just that. (Unless, possibly, the Supreme Court says 'no'.)
What happens in these circs? Can France derogate?
Here most of it has gone already. I can see the garden.
It will be a sodden day, but I need to find some leanto-roof repair materials - since one of my Ts has a strip of 2-ply polycarb roofing which pushed through due to weight of snow and was bouncing up and down like Mick Gajjer's tongue.
This is one of those strange Planning Permission evading exceptions which is known as a "Covered Way". It is not a conservatory, not a garage, not a shed, not against a boundary, is an explicit exemption from Building Regulations (which do not define what it is), and has a door at each end, so is Permitted Development. There is also a "Covered Yard".
Trump orders his 'Representatives' to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-orders-his-representatives-buy-200-billion-dollars-mortgage-bonds-2026-01-08/
What do you make of that plan ?
There are, however, a few problems with this.
The most import of which is Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs.
Most Americans (and Russians and Brits, etc) are more concerned with -you know- having the money to pay the mortgage.\
Now, could this (possibly) get house prices moving up (with all the long term issues that creates)? Sure.
But it will cause a whole bunch of consequences.
But what happens when the purchases are complete?
At that point, the market takes over again. Unless -of course- one believes the US government is willing to spend trillions of dollars fixing mortgage rates.
So - who is?
Possibly Vance too.
That feels to me a modest parallel to him running down the reserves of social funding initiatives, which will stoke up problems for the future by being reckless now by creating false short-term perceptions.
That's very ... erm ... Boris.
Washington National Opera latest to leave Kennedy Center after Trump takeover
https://x.com/Reuters/status/2009885457295786441?s=20
My wife went to her internment in a church in a tiny village south of Oxford. Amongst the 30 or so mourners were Bob Geldof, Nick Cave and Courtney Love (my wife ended up sitting on her lap as the limited cars went to the local pub for the wake...).
(Yes I believe you.)
(I would say that, wouldn't I
Meanwhile how are they getting on with the Epstein shredding?
(Strangely, having only attended cremations for my entire life, 2 out of the last 3 funerals I have been to have been inhumations)
Perhaps we should call him a national socialist? Wonder if there's any way to make that term a bit more catchy and shorter.
*It is quite noteworthy how restrained the Capitol police were. If they had been as trigger happy as ICE were with a Minnesota Mom there would have been hundreds of dead rioters. Perhaps it would have been better for America if they had.
Lots of people anywhere are at "food and shelter", Trump's people are at "esteem" (from DJT) whilst the facepainted Franco[1] is at "self-actualisation".
One of the things democracy does is try to better align the interests of the top people and the common people by saying that the top people can only stay at the top of the common people are happy. That doesn't seem to be the plan stateside. Though regimes that combine socialism with nationalism are prone to "cut the price of X by decree" measures, which is why Spain has menus del dia.
[1] Harsh on Franco, who was a pukka soldier.
NEW THREAD
The plot is a bit inconsequential and meh to me. It seems to belong in The Avengers (in colour), a programme which I love, but it never makes me care in this film.
Lazenby was bad - especially the very long overdubbed bit where he's undercover. He wasn't a good enough actor to handle the layers of acting as Bond acting as Sir Hillary, so he just (about) acts as Sir Hillary.
It does have good aspects as you mention.
Also, with the countdown to the midterms on, I would imagine there's an impetus from the Project 2025 folks to get as much done before then as possible.
And then, all this hyperactivity serves to distract from the Epstein Files.