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There is nothing neo liberal about this. You can't say the US government has ensured absolute hegemony of neo liberal principles while it tarrifs the entire world and completely goes again all liberal values.
Also there is nothing socialist about industrial policy or public investment so no idea Why he's bringing up these two terms.
Maybe im missing something? What do people think socialism and neo liberalism are?
You are missing a non-US perspective.
Neoliberalism is very specifically a breed of political thought that came about with the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Jimmy Carter that seeks to create new markets out of previously held government bodies in the name of austerity or protectionist principles and cuts help for disadvantaged people. Think privatization of government service, liquidation of government assets under the guise of saving taxpayer money, removing restrictions/protections on the consumer market and manufacturing sector and dissolving the welfare state or services that soften the blow of being unemployed or unable to work.
Neoliberalism is often used by people on the right to describe the "Progressivish Liberal identifying party of the hour" but it is inaccurate. While Democrats flirt with Neoliberalism under the guise of courting people who like tax cuts Republicans are straight up Neoliberals. Basically old school liberalism believes in a body of rights, a reasonably unrestricted market and a democratic system of governance. Neoliberalism believes first and foremost the market will sort everything out (or is a scam so that people in government can sell it off peicemeal for personal kickbacks.)
Neoliberalism is incompatible and kind of the exact opposite of socialism which seeks to expand sectors of public protections and publicly held wealth.
It's like hijacking a plane pre-9/11. Everyone knew you just followed along because the hijackers wanted something. Then 9/11 happened and hijacking the plane WAS what they wanted.
Tarriffs pre-Trump always were to pressure a change in some policy. Then Trump came along and tarriffs were the policy. But instead of World Trade Center collapsing, it is now just World Trade.
the only issue I take with this analogy is the comparison of an awful person that will kill millions to some terrorists.
It is like 9/11 but in the sense of the entire law book going out the door by using the excuse of "combating terrorism" and ending up where we are now.
Back when the Patriot act was laudly applauded and institutions like ICE were deployed to violate laws people knew this was going to be the end station.
Totally. Never let a crisis go to waste.
And if there's no crisis, invent one.
On 9/11 they had all the documents and bills ready to go. Sure was very convenient timing.
They knew OBL was planning something, all they had to do was sit back and let it happen.
That's, actually, a very insightful way of putting it. It genuinely seems to be like that.
likely to resort to violence [...] to hold onto power
Oh good, then we can crush them without remorse. I do so love unambiguous villains.
What’s wild about the Trump tariffs is that they are not coupled with any industrial policy or public investment strategy that could plausibly deliver US re-industrialization. The result is that the tariffs will likely accelerate US industrial decline and general economic degradation.
It is truly fascinating to watch. Trump has so thoroughly purged socialist ideas from his economics departments, and has ensured such absolute hegemony of neocon principles, that his administration is incapable of conceptualizing and implementing even *basic* industrial policy that could deliver on the Executive Branch’s own stated goals.
Total self-delusion. The billionaire ruling class has no idea what to do, they are completely adrift. And this is dangerous because they are likely to resort to violence and geopolitical bullying in a desperate dying bid to hold onto power.
I think a better way to "reindustrialize" would be making wages paid to any domestically employed employee's wage, who isn't in the executive class, tax deductible, all coupled with a tax hike on corporations, assuming there's a workplace shortage.
All of that ignores this is happening intentionally
I have a very hard time believing that the super wealthy are some mega conspiracy masterminds, and not just some greedy morons who self-destructive because they can't see past next quarter's profits.
The most rational explanation I have heard is that they are just well dressed hoarders. Acquiring more wealthy is an attempt to smother the bad feelings with the pleasure of "success". But the pleasure of success is fleeting and the goal posts move every time. So they keep chasing "success" and hoarding wealth to make the bad feelings go away. But that will never heal their emotional issues, so they will never stop.
Oh, it’s absolutely a pretty severe mental illness. The fact that we raise these very damaged people up on a pedestal and celebrate them doesn’t speak very well of our society.
"If a monkey hoarded more bananas than it could eat, while most of the other monkeys starved, scientists would study that monkey to see what is wrong with it. When humans exhibit this same behavior, we put them on the cover of Forbes magazine."
There's a lie they told me: you want the rich people to stay in your country, and that's why we make accommodations for them with reduced taxes and free money. In fact it's the opposite: tax the hell out of them and redistribute their bananas.
They’re actually quite poorly dressed considering how much time and money they have
I recently tend to think they are actually at their wits' end.
A few of them might be, but politics are like fines--inconsequential to the super rich. The disgustingly wealthy can just bail when things get bad. And if sabotaging an entire nation gets them more money in the next quarter, they'll do it.
It’s not a mystery at all. It’s dark enlightenment that they proudly espouse whenever they can. Destroy the state and have a bunch of tech bro kings with little kingdoms.
Currently the best way to bring back industrial potential is to create state owned enterprises and have your own four year plan to either grow your SOE or establish infrastructure for private companies.
Oh, and, devalue the shit out of the USD if you want any kind of private investment.
It’s not even that it wasn’t coupled with a public investment strategy, but it was coupled with trying to get rid of existing investments like the CHIPS act that are desperately needed.
I would say this was sabotage if it didn’t reek of pure incompetence. What else would you expect from a man that bankrupts casinos.
There's a certain type of person that is actually willing to shrink the pie as long as they get the largest part of it. You can criticise neoliberals for a lot (and you should), but their stated goal was to grow the economy and lift all boats that way. Obviously they ended up creating a system where most boats had holes in them, but they did lift the tide.
Trump is going to shrink the world economy, but him and his friends will end up owning an even bigger part (percentage wise) of US assets than anyone before. It's basically going to turn into post-communist Russia. Trump is the Yeltsin figure, the American Putin is waiting in the wings somewhere.
Trump is the Yeltsin figure, the American Putin is waiting in the wings somewhere.
I am pretty sure that hopeful dick bag is wringing his hands in plain sight attempting to dismantle everything already.
Tariff policies are coupled with betting on stock markets. And so far the profits are bloody insane!
Yup that sounds right
Next comes the blue wave reaction in midterms. Trump's policies continue to fail, but MAGA persists. Liberals get suckered into thinking electoral politics will save them.
Then the '28 election gets "stolen" (thanks to their utter failure to govern responsibly), Trump refuses to leave, and things break down from there. He'll probably get talked into actually letting states secede if they try, they've just gotta be the last guy to talk to him before he goes in front of the media (I won't say press anymore because his pool is not journalists). Boom, policy.
Of course, secession would be incredibly stupid of any governor to try. But those are the people he's putting in power while he threatens the rest with the Feds.
Dark times coming people
A lot depends on how far the Supreme Court lets the Trump administration go with blatant law breaking. The veneer of system unity across multiple branches of government would give them a much better chance of avoiding '28 elections entirely, but if they are faced with the choice of following at least some critical laws or abandoning the veneer of lawfulness, it really increases the chances of a "divided they fall" scenario.
It also depends on whether MAGA coalesces around a successor. Factions with different visions of government have agreed to work together with Trump as a figurehead. If they don't path to Trump term three, the successor selection is another opportunity for internal infighting to break their grip on power.
Scary times, and horrible unnecessary suffering for huge numbers of people on the way, but I still see hope to come out of it without the country disbanding.
Dark times are already here.
I mean, yes, but not widespread starvation and disease amidst civil war. This is still the early stage of collapse. The overture setting the themes for the rest of the show.
If California were somehow allowed to secede peacefully, I think their economy is strong enough that they could survive independently. Pretty much any other state though, I don’t see how it could work.
California could. New York could until the city is completely underwater, but it wouldn't have to, New England will band together more or less. They'll do okay, Canada will probably offer to protect them, if they dont join completely. Like I said, I see the Bible Belt turning into Confederacy 2. A Mormon state might erupt around Utah. Hilariously, I'd expect most of the border states to join Mexico, after a good quarrel.
Flyover states... idk but I wish you luck
That's what they mean when they say fascism is capitalism in decline.
Just like the NAZIS.
Because this regime and all associated with it are NAZIS.
Time to start calling them what they are and preparing to deal with them the only way that NAZIS are to be dealt with.
I feel like even that is giving them too much credit. They're like wannabe Nazis, but not even smart enough to nationalize steel and auto industries.
Not forgiving the Nazis anything, and most of the "nationalization" amounted to confiscation of private (I think frequently Jewish) property. They were a hundred percent anti-socialist, but I guess they had one or two real economists floating around, so they didn't completely shoot themselves in the foot economically, like the Americans under Trump seem to be doing.
The nazis privatized a lot of things, save for public healthcare, which is pretty much the only thing the right talks about in case when they need to prove "the national socialists were in fact, socialists" somehow.
The nazis privatized a lot of things …
Oh I wonder why that isn't brought up more, what with right wing governments and their love of privatizing utilities.
Hungary's Fidesz even managed to do it in a way they can communicate it to different audiences that they have both nationalized and privatized it, by selling it to a Hungarian oligarch, but buying back 25% of it immediately to nationalize the losses. Fidesz managed to get a lot of former old tankies as voters by saying they're boing to build a "work-based society".
What dreadful perfidy. I guess the socialists and communists weren't fooled, at least? What a debate that must have been.
Nazis did Gleichschaltung, which wasn’t as much about owning, but about control. They centralized stuff, subverted and merged organizations. But indeed they also expropriate a couple of groups and looted other countries. That usually became national or party property. But people also took stuff for themselves. And they also destroyed property … like book burnings. The Nazis didn’t do well economically. It was part of their plan to loot and exploit other countries. German economy became most efficient when there were already fights on German soil, which means they didn’t work as efficiently as possible before that. England did a lot better due to having John Maynard Keynes on their side.
"Fascinating to watch"
Buddy millions will die...
Tragedy is fascinating. Aristotle knew it, every actor since knows it, historians know it.
The right ones will die if everyone ARMS UP and accepts that we are dealing with NAZIS.
Yeah, it's like a traffic accident.
That "likely" is doing extremely heavy lifting there. That's akin to saying "it's likely the sun will rise in the east in the morning."
Canada needs to prepare for war... against America of all fucking places.
Please just eat yourselves and leave us alone.
It always makes me so happy to see Jason on here. He was one of the TAs in my anthro program in college.