The president tends to get too much credit for a good economy and too much blame for a bad economy.  The Federal Reserve and Congress play a major role in the economy.  It is unfortunate that the federal government has this kind of impact at all, but that is the reality.

Still, there are ways that the president could help improve the economy, as long as the deep state allows it to some degree.  Obviously, it would be impossible for a president to improve the situation if he or she is assassinated or kicked out of office.

Regulations and Executive Orders

While the president shouldn’t be anything like a dictator, the fact is that we live in a regime where there are a lot of dictates coming from the executive branch.  Most presidents issue hundreds of executive orders while in office, at least since the beginning of the 20^th century.

Not all executive orders are similar in nature.  Some are really inconsequential.  Some may even be valid if it is a proper constitutional authority.  You can also have some really awful ones.

Think about the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates.  It immediately caused widespread chaos.  Companies had to administer programs to check vaccine status and to review exemption requests, or they had to make the decision to not go forward with any of it and possibly face the wrath of the federal government.  Meanwhile, there were millions of employees who had to fill out exemption requests or make the decision on whether to quit, be fired, or take a jab in the arm.  Also, think about all of the lawyer and court costs associated with this.

Most executive orders are somewhere in between the inconsequential and the highly disruptive.  But many of them add unnecessary red tape and make the American people less free and the economy less free.  They add up to a major burden over time.

Since executive orders by nature are issued without congressional approval, they can be repealed without congressional approval.  A president could repeal all consequential executive orders that interfere with the free market.

Even more important, the president has much control over all of the alphabet agencies of the administrative state.  While it might take Congress to defund the agencies, the president can appoint people and make directives to the point where the administrative agencies are not causing major damage.  The EPA and the FDA (as just two examples) aren’t highly destructive because of their budgets.  They are highly destructive because of the interference in the market economy from all of the regulations and dictates.

Taxes and Spending

While Congress ultimately controls the purse, the president can have a big impact.  The president can propose budgets.  The president can veto funding bills, which would then force a supermajority congressional override.

The president can also put out tax proposals.  Any simplifications or reductions can ease the burden on people.

Still, a massive reduction in spending is the key here.  The federal government is spending over $6 trillion per year, which is money and resources coming out of the market economy.  Some of it is simply redistributed, but it all has an impact.  Even if the money isn’t spent on imposing more burdens on us, the actual spending is a misallocation of resources no matter what.

Imagine if the federal budget were cut in half and we had over $3 trillion at our disposal for the market economy.  Even if you didn’t cut any taxes, we wouldn’t have the government spending those resources.  With drastic cuts in spending, tax cuts and tax eliminations would be sure to follow.

The Federal Reserve

While the president can’t directly control the Fed, there is no question that the president can have influence here.  We hear about “Fed independence”, but the Fed is a creation of the government.

The president gets to appoint the seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.  This includes the appointment of the Fed chair.  While they have to be confirmed by the Senate, there is no stopping the president from continuing to appoint members who will reduce the power of the Fed.

If the president is able to drastically reduce spending as discussed above, and the deficit mostly goes away, this also reduces the need for the Fed to create new money out of thin air and to manipulate interest rates downward.  Without a deficit, there is no need for the Fed to purchase any new government debt.

The Bully Pulpit

We should not underestimate the influence that a president can command.  If someone is elected president, there must be some kind of consent given by at least a substantial portion of the population.  If a president were elected on the basis of drastically reducing government spending and regulations, then the president would have something of a mandate.

Reagan used his bully pulpit in the 1980s to push through marginal income tax cuts.  The Democrats in Congress were overwhelmed with calls from constituents telling them to go along with the president’s tax cut plans.  They were essentially forced to support the tax cuts or else face the wrath of their constituents, particularly at the next election.

Even if Congress won’t go along, the president can make a speech to the American people laying out a plan to drastically reduce government spending and regulations.  If the president makes a good case, then it will mold public opinion.

Ultimately, to get less government interference and a better economy, we need public opinion on our side.  A president is someone who can explain to the American people that their lives would be much better off if we had a massive reduction in government.

Conclusion

This is fantasy land, at least right now.  Presidential candidates from the major parties are not laying out any plans for real government reductions.  Most politicians, with very few exceptions, are not willing to give drastic and specific spending cut proposals.

Still, it is important to know that while the president doesn’t have as major of an impact as what people think, the president could take many steps to help free up the market economy from the government.

Donald Trump holds some really terrible positions.  He is completely wrong on tariffs, which only serve to make things more expensive for American consumers.

Trump is terrible on the issue of Israel.  He speaks highly of Israel, while repeating the same platitudes we hear from others justifying mass murder.  They’ll say, “Israel has a right to defend itself.”  Or they’ll say, “Israel has to get the terrorists.”  But these slogans don’t justify intentionally killing innocent people.  They don’t justify blowing up buildings.  Yet, American taxpayer money is used to fund and arm the Israeli state.

Trump is a little better on other foreign policy issues, such as Ukraine.  He at least, rhetorically, says he wants a peace negotiation.  This is one of the main reasons the establishment hates him and fears him.  Trump is not pro war enough for them.

As bad as Trump is, I don’t get the feeling that he hates me.  He doesn’t hate middle-class America.  He doesn’t hate functional families.  The puppet masters who control Biden and Harris hate our guts.  They don’t even hide it very well any more.

Cheering on Trump

Even though I can’t stand Trump in many ways, they are for very different reasons than what I’m told from the establishment and its media.  I don’t believe any of the lies about Trump and Russia collusion.  Trump never said to drink bleach.  He never called white supremacists very find people.  He never incited a violent insurrection.  The only people who were murdered on January 6, 2021 at the Capitol were Trump supporters who were murdered by Capitol police.

So, even though I can’t stand many of Trump’s policies, it is hard not to cheer for him.  Just watching the slimeballs on television squirm will be a treat.  They will become even more unhinged and make up bigger lies.

The people out there with Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) are going to be seriously mentally ill.  Some of them will not be able to function in their day-to-day activities.

If Trump wins the election, the establishment will not just go after Trump.  They will go after his supporters.  They will go after anyone who didn’t support Harris.  They will tell us something like, “Well, it looks like a lot of America is made up of racists and people who hate women and who want to live under a Hitler-like dictatorship.”

I will hear it on MSNBC.  I will hear it on CNN.  I will see it on Facebook.  The people on NBC and ABC and CBS will say the same thing in a slightly more polite way.

If Trump wins or is winning on election night, I will have to tune into CNN and MSNBC just to hear the hysteria and vitriol.

The Punishment

While watching the hysteria of the Trump haters will be fun, it won’t be fun for long.  You have to wonder how the ruling elite will try to punish us.

Will it be riots in the street like 2020?  Will it be COVID 2.0?  Will it be a world war?  Will it be something completely new that we can’t anticipate?  Or will it be a series of smaller things?

There is also the economy, which isn’t looking good no matter what.  That could be a massive liability for Trump if he wins and takes office.  The one thing people hate more than high inflation is a depression.  It will be easy for the powers-that-be to tank this economy because it is already set up for a massive fall anyway.

If Trump loses, his supporters won’t go away quietly into the night.  At the same time, there aren’t going to be riots in the streets.  They won’t go into hiding, but the Trump supporters will be taken out of the spotlight.  The establishment media will only talk about Trump and his supporters to the degree that they challenge the election results and they need someone to blame for the problems in the world.

If Trump wins, it will be total chaos, especially if you listen at all to the establishment media.  The rhetoric might take a whole new level if that is even possible.  They will continue to lie constantly about Trump.  They will try to undermine him at every turn.  They will make up any accusations, no matter how ridiculous.

The ruling elite want to maintain the status quo.  After all, they have the money and the power, so why would they want anything different?  Donald Trump is a possible disruption to the status quo.  They will do whatever it takes to defeat that threat to the status quo.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

This isn’t just about Trump.  Many people have woken up.  20 years ago, there were a handful of libertarians who questioned the FBI, the Federal Reserve, the CIA, the military-industrial complex, the FDA, etc.

It is amazing how many people today on the political right don’t trust the FBI or the FDA.  Some of them are even starting to come around on the issue of war.

While Trump doesn’t advocate getting rid of the FBI or the FDA, he does, to some degree, symbolize opposition to the regime.

Breaking up is a hard thing to do.  It is especially hard when it is a $6 trillion monstrosity with a lot of special interests.

Dave Smith also used the analogy of a woman breaking up with an abusive boyfriend.  In the short run, it is easier and safer to just stay with the boyfriend.  When she leaves her boyfriend or announces that she wants to break up with him, this is when things get really messy.  His minor beatings from before could all of a sudden become major beatings.  It is a major threat to the woman’s safety.  Still, in the long run, it is probably better if she takes the risk and breaks up with him now.

Throwing off the ruling elites is not going to be easy or pleasant.  They are not going to go quietly into the night.  We are going to have to face chaos and violence beyond what we have seen in order for things to improve.  We are not to blame, just like the woman.  It is the abusive boyfriend who is the evil one.  We have to break it off and take the risk, even though it won’t be pleasant in the short run.

Conclusion

I live in Florida.  If Trump loses Florida, he loses the election.  Florida is no longer a swing state.

I will probably not vote for Trump, but I can still cheer him on.  If you favor Trump, you should want me to not vote for him.  I have never voted for a presidential candidate in an election who ended up winning.

No matter who wins, there is going to be chaos going forward.

Kamala Harris isn’t a particularly strong presidential candidate.  There is a reason that she dropped out of the 2020 primaries before the voting even began.  She just wasn’t all that popular or likable.

If Harris wins the presidency, she won’t be the dumbest person to have ever taken office.  Biden isn’t really dumb, although he has been known to have many gaffes.  The problem for Biden is that he is senile and took office at an old age.  Taking office at an old age doesn’t seem to be a problem for Trump because he isn’t senile.

George W. Bush was incredibly dumb (and probably still is).  Some thought he just acted like a goofball to come across as more likable and relatable.  That might be the case, but he is still dumb.  He is evil, but he just isn’t that intelligent of a person.  Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney are both evil, but it is hard to call them dumb.

I think of H.L. Mencken’s quote: “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

We already reached that point years ago as far as I’m concerned.

Scripted

It was insane to me that Harris agreed to do an interview with Fox News.  I don’t think she had a lot to gain from it, but there was plenty of downside.

The first question asked by Bret Baier was: How many illegal immigrants have been released in the country over the last 3 and a half years.

Harris responds, “Well, I’m glad you raised the issue of immigration because I agree with you.  It is a topic of discussion that people want to rightly have.”

She never answered the question, which is typical for her.  But do you notice that her answer didn’t even really make much sense in the context of the question?  Harris said “I agree with you.”  Baier never really offered his opinion on the matter in his original question.  You can tell that Harris was prepped for an immigration question, but she couldn’t even adapt the answer to fit the question.

There was talk of Harris doing an interview with Joe Rogan on his podcast.  I am begging for her to do it.  I want to see how many times she can say that she was raised in a middle-class family in a long-form interview.

Gaslighting and Projection

I have figured out that Harris and her puppet masters won’t simply lie about things.  They will purposely tell the opposite of the truth.  They will say things about Trump and others that are true of themselves.

In their one debate, when asked about immigration, Harris slid in a comment about Donald Trump barely having anyone attend his rallies.  This was obviously a planned comment.  Anyone who has seen a Trump rally knows it is the opposite of the truth.  If anything, it is Harris who gets small crowds and is only able to get big crowds by getting celebrity performers to show up with her.

It was still an interesting comment in the debate because everyone knew that Trump couldn’t let that comment sit.  So, he had to state the obvious that he has huge crowds while he used up his time on a question about immigration.

The Democrats and the establishment media like to talk about how Trump is a fascist and will act like a dictator.  They say he is a threat to democracy.  This is coming from an administration that invokes executive orders to mandate vaccines and forgive student debt.  It is coming from a party where the nominee was selected without a single vote cast for her.

Now they are saying that if Trump becomes president that he will prosecute his enemies.  In other words, he might do exactly what Biden’s “Justice” Department is doing to Trump right now.

Of course, this is the same group of people who blamed Trump in the leadup to the 2020 election for allowing riots and chaos in the streets that summer.  Let’s all remember that it was Kamala Harris who tweeted out a message to fundraise for the release of the criminals from the 2020 riots.

Conclusion

Kamala Harris is a total liar.  There was no possibility of an even somewhat honest person being the nominee. They don’t just lie now.  They project themselves.  They rely on the fact that half the country won’t do any of their own research or listen to any alternative media.

To be sure, Kamala Harris is a complete puppet.  She is completely replaceable by the next puppet.  The only qualification is that you repeat the official narrative and stick to the script.  Even being likable is optional these days.

Even for someone who vehemently disagrees with Trump on many issues, it is hard not to at least cheer for him.

It was only a short 4 years ago when much of the country was still in lockdown because of a so-called pandemic.  Even in 2022, there were still restrictions, and people were still being compelled to get a so-called vaccine.

I am still of the opinion that if COVID was not hyped by the government and its puppet media, then we would have barely noticed a thing.  Maybe there would have been a few headlines about having a worse than normal flu season and that elderly people should be extra cautious.

I will not forget the extreme damage that was done through the threatening violence of government.  Some people were prohibited from operating their business or going to their job.  Many people were prohibited from visiting loved ones, even those who were in desperate need of companionship and an advocate.

I will not forget the people who were mistreated (murdered) by the hospitals who just followed orders and did not give proper treatment to people who needed it.  Worse, the hospitals oftentimes gave sick people deadly drugs and threw them on a ventilator because that was the deadly protocol.

I will not forget that about 100 million people were told that they better get a medical injection in their arm or else they will not be allowed to work at their job.

This was a stunning level of authoritarianism, yet it has barely come up in the 2024 presidential election.

Washington DC Orders

It is true that the federal government didn’t issue the lockdowns.  It was done by state governors and city mayors and other local political entities.  Still, it was the federal government recommending the lockdowns, and it is hard to ever use the term “recommending” when it comes to the federal government.  It’s like hearing from the Mafia, “We recommend that you make a payment by Thursday.”

The federal government was giving a lot of bad guidance.  You could say they were constantly engaging in misinformation.  The government was paying hospitals to label everything COVID and put people on ventilators.  The government issued mask mandates for airplanes and federal buildings.  The government funded the so-called vaccines and marketed them, and of course, mandated them.

The people who did this to us are criminals.  They killed a lot of people and ruined a lot of lives.  Yet, it is barely a topic that is discussed.

2024 Politics

It is amazing that COVID has received such little attention.  The “vaccines” and the mandates have received almost no attention.  I think Trump mentioned the word “mandates” once during his debate with Biden.

Kamala Harris referenced COVID once to actually attack Trump.  She said something to the effect that the country suffered under Trump but then the Biden administration brought us through the pandemic.  This is a joke and complete projection.  Trump was bad on COVID for many reasons, yet it was obvious going into the 2020 election that Biden would be far worse.  Biden and his puppet masters exceeded all expectations on just how authoritarian they could be.

It is no surprise that the topic of COVID and the vaccines wasn’t brought up in the debates.  It doesn’t particularly benefit either candidate to do so, and it doesn’t benefit the debate “moderators” to do so.

Trump has done many interviews.  I don’t know he has been asked about COVID recently.  I do recall interviews farther back in time where he was given a little pushback and asked about lockdowns and vaccines.

Harris is doing more interviews now with the election a few weeks away.  She is already tanking in the interviews, but could you imagine how tripped up she would get if she were asked a tough question on COVID vaccines?  I didn’t expect anything from Fox News, but just imagine how bad Harris would have been tripped up with a question such as:

“Vice President Harris, under the Biden administration, an executive order was issued that required about 100 million Americans to receive a medical injection in their arm.  If they refused such injection, they would not be allowed to work at their job and feed their families.  Do you agree that this was the right thing to do by President Biden?  Do you agree that people should not be allowed to work and provide for their families if they do not agree to be vaccinated?”

She would have been a deer in the headlights.  She might have just walked off the set or had some kind of a seizure right on the spot.

Never Forget

The establishment media and the criminals who imposed these lockdowns and mandates don’t want to talk about it much these days.  We should never forget what was done to us by these tyrants.

There have to be millions of people out there who suffered greatly.  There are people who lost loved ones due to mistreatment (to put it kindly).  There are people who lost income during the lockdowns.  There are people who got depressed during lockdowns.  There are people who lost their jobs because they wouldn’t take a jab in the arm.  There are people who were injured after being compelled to take a jab in the arm.

There is really nobody speaking on their behalf right now on the national stage.  I can’t imagine any of these people would vote for Harris.  Perhaps they might vote for Trump as the lesser of two evils.

COVID hysteria and the mandates are still fresh in my mind.  I don’t know how many others still think about it.

In late May 2024, Chase Oliver was nominated as the presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party (LP).  It was a surprising outcome to say the least.  He almost lost to NOTA (None of the Above) on the last ballot after all of the other candidates had been eliminated.

If there is such a thing as a left libertarian, it is Chase Oliver.  He was apparently bad on COVID, and he is openly gay.  Personally, I don’t think being gay automatically makes you a leftist, but he wears it on his sleeve and has somewhat gone along with the so-called woke agenda.

If you ask Chase Oliver about policy issues, he does come down as mostly libertarian.  He seems to be genuinely anti-war, but it is always hard to know what someone would actually do if they attained political power.  There are some on the left who claim to be anti-war, but once they are in political power, they end up supporting the military-industrial complex.  At the very least, they end up emphasizing cultural issues while deemphasizing war issues.

When Oliver got the nomination, I said I would at least give him a chance.  I would consider giving him a protest vote if he said all of the right things on the major issues and generally avoided or deemphasized any issues where I don’t agree.

Still, if I am going to throw away my vote in protest, then the person better be pretty solid.  It isn’t like voting for the lesser of two evils.  I disagree with Trump on many major issues, yet I would at least consider voting for him as the lesser of two evils and a protest against the deep state.  If I am going to vote third party for someone who has no chance of winning, then that person better be solid on the major issues.  Otherwise, I can just write in someone like Ron Paul or simply not vote at all for president.

Nowhere to Be Found

I haven’t heard or seen a single thing from Chase Oliver or even about Chase Oliver for several months.  He is nowhere to be seen.  Maybe I am just looking in all of the wrong places.

I get emails from the national LP.  I think they mentioned Oliver in a few emails not long after the convention.  Most of the emails I get now talk about specific issues or about running candidates for local office or fundraising.

I know the LP leadership isn’t really a fan of Chase Oliver.  Many of the people are from the Mises Caucus and would have supported Dave Smith for president, but he decided not to run.  Angela McCardle (the LP chair) has not gone out of her way to campaign for Chase Oliver except to say that she encourages all leftists to support him.  There is a certain irony that the leftist libertarians (if that’s not an oxymoron), who absolutely hate Trump, actually helped Trump by nominating someone like Oliver.  He won’t be stealing many Trump votes.

I haven’t seen or heard of Chase Oliver anywhere, and I don’t think that would have been the case if the nominee had been someone different.  To be fair, I’m not sure that the establishment media would have had any LP candidate on.

I remember seeing Harry Browne on Fox News in 2000 when he was running.  That was before I was really familiar with him.  For all of the faults with Fox News, they do tend to be more open about having some diverse views on the network.  I have no idea if Chase Oliver has tried to get on the network.

I know Gary Johnson made some appearances on television when he ran with the LP.  He was on MSNBC when they had their little “gotcha” moment with Aleppo.

Alternative Media?

Maybe I can give a pass for not appearing on the corporate media.  But what about alternative media?  Has he tried to get on Joe Rogan?  What about getting interviewed by someone like Jordan Peterson?  What about Candace Owens or Patrick Bet David?  What about libertarians like Tom Woods and Dave Smith?

Part of me understands why Chase Oliver wouldn’t want to go into these environments and be challenged, but what do you have to lose?  Be a libertarian and maybe some of the audience will like you enough to throw you a vote.

Why is this guy acting invisible?  I genuinely don’t know.  I don’t know if he is just being shut out from the conversation.  I don’t know if he is scared to do any hard interviews.  I don’t know if his campaign team is just completely inept.  Maybe it is a combination of these things.

If Oliver had said all of the right things and emphasized the right issues on the campaign trail, I seriously would have considered throwing my vote his way.  But how can I even consider supporting someone who won’t even show his face?

Robert Kennedy Jr., in spite of some of his faulty positions, appeared almost everywhere he could when he was actively running for president.  Sure, his name helped him get to some of these places.  But he didn’t seem to be afraid to be interviewed by people who were going to ask him some tough questions.  He wanted the exposure, and he wanted to reach as many people as he could.

Good for the LP?

The fact that Oliver is barely visible at all is perhaps good news for the LP.  I don’t want people getting the impression that he is representative of a libertarian philosophy.  And since there are so many people committed to voting for or against Donald Trump, maybe it wasn’t the best time to have a strong LP candidate.  I also don’t want people voting LP for the simple fact that they can’t stand either of the two major candidates.  I want people voting LP because they actually favor greater liberty.

Hopefully we can get a good candidate and nominee in 2028 that will help advance the cause of liberty.  And maybe that candidate can actually show their face to people and be heard.

The latest CPI numbers came out for September 2024.  The CPI was up 0.2% for the month, while the year-over-year now stands at 2.4%.

The less volatile median CPI showed an increase of 0.3% for the month.  The year-over-year median CPI is 4.1%.

The general consensus from the financial media talking heads is that things are improving because this is the lowest annual price inflation reading we’ve seen since early 2021.

I can’t emphasize enough how a falling rate of price inflation isn’t any kind of great victory.  Sure, we could be showing a year-over-year increase of, say, 8%, which would be far worse.  But we shouldn’t act as if 2.4% is really good news, even if we are to believe the statistics.

The problem is that the 2.4% increase over the last year is on top of the even bigger increases we saw the two years before that.

Imagine a couple who had their house broken into 4 times last year.  This year, their house was broken into 2 times.  The husband announces to his wife, “Good news, we’re trending in the right direction.”  Meanwhile, they still haven’t recovered any of their stuff that was stolen from last year.

Car Insurance

This CNBC article gives a breakdown of the (price) inflation figures.  It shows eggs have risen almost 40% over the last year.  That actually doesn’t line up with my own personal experience.  I have seen egg prices rising again, but the worst I saw was in 2021 and 2022.

What does line up with my own experience is motor vehicle insurance, which is up 16.3% according to BLS data.  I expect this is felt by everybody who owns a vehicle that is insured.

This is a great example of where it is hard to measure price increases and how much they impact people.

Imagine a family that owns two vehicles.  Last year, they were paying $3,000 in annual premiums for insurance, which was already up a lot from the year before.  It went up by 16.3% in the last year.  It is now $3,489 annually.  That is an additional $489 they are paying from the year before, which was already a struggle.

An extra $40 per month doesn’t seem like a big deal, but that is the increase for just that one thing.  What if the family makes $70,000 per year and is living paycheck to paycheck?  That $40 extra per month for that one thing makes a significant difference.  Now start adding in the additional costs for food, homeowners insurance, health insurance, and the actual cost of a new vehicle or vehicle repairs.

If you have a family making an income of $20,000 per month ($240,000 per year), then those additional expenses are easily handled.  That extra $40 per month for car insurance isn’t nothing, but it doesn’t have much of an impact on the family pulling in $20,000 per month.

It is, however, a big deal for the family making $70,000 per year and already struggling to get by.

Who Does Price Inflation Hurt the Most?

There is no question that higher price inflation hurts the poor the most.  This includes people with a relatively low income.  But it has become such a problem in the last few years that price inflation is having a significant impact on middle class America.

We live in a world where it just seems like almost everything is expensive.  The cost of the average house or car is incredibly higher than it was.  If you want to get someone in your house to fix something, it will likely cost you at least a hundred dollars just for someone to show up at your door.

I remember when I could get an oil change for under $20 a couple of decades ago.  Maybe it wasn’t even that long ago.  I doubt there are many places that would do that now.

I know the price of eggs and peanut butter have risen dramatically over the last several years.  We get anchored to the new prices, but we shouldn’t forget what they were and what is being done to us.  Our living standards have taken a hit because of these reckless monetary and spending policies.

Government makes our lives much more expensive by taxing and regulating.  Of course, we shouldn’t forget the lockdown mania of 2020 either.  Still, the root of this is monetary policy, which is there to enable massive deficit spending by Congress.

This is what happens when the Federal Reserve creates trillions of new dollars out of thin air.  We are suffering the consequences of it now.  Until it is widely understood that this is the core problem, we will continue to suffer under it.

Sometimes we don’t know whether really egregious acts of the state can be chalked up to evilness or just incompetence.  Oftentimes, it is a combination of both.

There is nothing like a natural disaster to expose the incompetence and evil of government.  We are witnessing this with the response to the devastation of Hurricane Helene.

It is actually striking how similar it is to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that left much of New Orleans flooded.  There are certainly differences between the two storms and the reactions.  In 2005, Bush had already won reelection while Hurricane Helene happened right before a major election.  Still, the horrible responses to both events are similar, and it is obvious that nothing has improved over the last 19 years.

This isn’t just a federal government thing, although FEMA and the federal response is the biggest area of evil and incompetence.  But it is important to acknowledge that state and local governments can also hinder efforts to help victims by imposing bureaucratic red tape.

I saw a story of a man flying a helicopter.  He rescued a woman who was stranded and was going to go back for her husband.  The local bureaucrats told the helicopter pilot that he would be arrested if he went back to rescue the man because he hadn’t yet gone through the proper government channels.

If that wasn’t bad enough, there was some dumb woman who was trying to defend the decision.  I wish the person interviewing her had asked her the following:

“If you or one of your family members were stranded and your life was in imminent danger, would you tell someone not to attempt a rescue until they got it approved through the proper government channels?”

It is actually amazing that some people can be so dumb and evil at the same time.

Let Them Eat Cake

The response from Biden and Harris has also been dumb and evil.  You would think they might be smart enough to put on a good act.  Instead, Biden has seemed to just blow the whole thing off and say that people are doing well and that the government is responding accordingly.

Trump was politically wiser and visited Georgia shortly after the devastation.  He also promoted raising money for the people in need.

The establishment media is covering the effects of the storm more now, but it was surprising just how little they were covering it in the few days after.  It wasn’t just one town under water.  Most of the west coast of Florida running up the Gulf side had massive flooding with tens of thousands of houses ruined or sustaining significant damage.  Farther north, there was massive flooding from the rain and rising rivers.  The states most impacted were Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and South Carolina.  It even went up to Kentucky and parts of Virginia.  As of this writing, there are still people who are stranded and in need of help and some who are missing.

Imagine your own situation with your house.  Imagine just a foot of water gets into your main living space.  All of your appliances are ruined.  Your furniture is ruined.  Your kitchen cabinets are ruined.  Your floors and drywall are ruined.  And any personal stuff that wasn’t up high is ruined.

Of course, the flooding in many areas was far worse than a foot high.  In places like western North Carolina, houses and buildings were underwater.

But Biden and Harris don’t even try hard to empathize.  Remember that Georgia was a very close state in 2020 that was contested by Trump.  Biden actually won the state according to the official results.  You would have to imagine that there are some mad residents there who aren’t happy with the federal government’s response (or non-response) at this time.

Where are the Resources?

It’s bad enough that the government at all levels takes almost half of our income.  If we had a lot more wealth at our own disposal, then we would have better houses less prone to flooding over time.  And with more wealth, when a disaster does strike, it would be much easier to deal with.

It is even worse when FEMA actively prohibits private parties from attempting to deliver food or rescue help.  So not only do they take our money, but then they use that money to actively get in the way of rescue efforts.  Again, this is reminiscent of Katrina.

Some have been pointing out the money that has gone to illegal immigrants instead of going to helping the hurricane victims.  There have been a lot of loose numbers thrown around.  In general, I think it is a valid point.  At the same time, I think the money going to illegal immigrants is almost a drop in the bucket compared to what is sent overseas and spent on the military-industrial complex.

There has been something around a couple of hundred billion dollars spent on Ukraine to perpetuate the war there.  All of that money could have been used at home.

From a libertarian standpoint, we should get to keep the money we earn, so this isn’t a plea to have greater government welfare at home.  But it is still valid to point out that resources sent overseas can’t be used at home, regardless of whether it goes through the government.

If hundreds of billions of dollars weren’t being spent on funding Ukraine, Israel, and all of these other overseas adventures, then that money could be used at home, which includes helping victims of hurricanes.

The debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz certainly had a different flavor from Trump vs. Harris.  The “moderators” were still fully in the tank for the Democratic candidate in spite of claims that they weren’t going to “fact check”.

There were a few somewhat tough questions thrown at Walz, which he should have been prepared for, but wasn’t.  He definitely looked bad answering (or not answering) the question about him not being in China during the events with Tiananmen Square.

When Vance was first announced as Trump’s running mate, the talking points went out to the corporate media to use the word “weird” to describe Vance.  In some ways, Vance is a little bit weird, or at least a little bit different.  But I find the word is much more appropriate for Walz.  His mannerisms are weird.  His hands look like they are going to fall off when he waves to a crowd.  Even his stories and the way he told them came off as a little weird during the debate.  He has more in common with Kamala Harris than I thought.

In full disclosure, I didn’t see the entire debate, and I watched it somewhat out of order.  Still, I will say that Walz came across as more likable than I thought he would be able to pull off.  While his mannerisms and expressions are a bit strange, he did come across as down to earth and someone who wants to get along with others.  It is probably all a show, but not all politicians are able to fake it.

With Vance, he set out to not come across as belligerent or bombastic.  He was calm even when he went on the attack.  He even remained calm when challenging the media in front of him.  He was obviously trying to portray something different from Trump.  Perhaps the strategy was to appeal to some women and maybe some more moderate-type voters who are on the fence but don’t like Trump’s brashness.

The debate was surprisingly cordial, and it didn’t go unnoticed.  Some people are saying that is how it should be done.  Some are suggesting the tickets should be flipped because these two acted like the grown-ups.

Many Republicans Don’t Want Cordial

While there was a strategy for Vance to appeal to so-called moderates and swing voters, this isn’t what the hardcore Trump people want to see.  Don’t get me wrong here.  The Trump supporters approve of Vance’s performance.  But if Trump had acted this way in 2015 when he started his run, he wouldn’t have gotten the support he did.

The reason is that Republicans are tired of getting walked all over.  They are tired of Bush, McCain, Romney, McConnell, and all of these establishment politicians who would always tell them what they wanted to hear. But they would be polite about it and say things in a moderated way.  Once in office, they would throw a few bones to the base and then roll them on everything else.

Trump was a fighter.  He was the bull dog that they wanted.  They wanted someone who wasn’t afraid to be bombastic and say things that weren’t normally said by politicians.  This is why they initially liked him and supported him.  They trust that Trump will fight on their behalf.

This is an important point to realize for now and in the future.  The Republican base doesn’t like Trump in spite of his brashness.  They like him because of it.  They want an advocate who will fight on their behalf.

While the debate by Vance was fine in the eyes of Trump supporters, they don’t want Trump to start acting like this because it will be seen as a sign of weakness and compromise with the establishment.

Issues and Positions

There was nothing terribly surprising by what either candidate said.  We all knew there were not going to be any major deviations from the top of the respective tickets.

It is interesting that there was not a discussion about the hurricane that had just gone through and devastated millions of people with flooding.  Even if the moderators don’t ask, you can still bring it up.  It seems like more of a missed opportunity for Vance by not contrasting the tens of billions of dollars being sent to Ukraine while people in America have lost their homes and are in major need of help.  I don’t think Trump would have missed this opportunity, although he probably would have expressed it clumsily.

Vance did do a good job of showing empathy for middle-class America and the struggles they face.  He seemed to return to this theme.  Unfortunately, he always brought this back to illegal immigration or tariffs.

The whole obsession with tariffs by Trump and Vance is stupid.  It is just another tax.  Higher tariffs increase the prices we pay for consumer goods.  Why don’t they address the real problem of regulation, government spending, and the Federal Reserve?  They will sometimes mention spending and regulation in generalities, but they have no plan to significantly improve anything.

It goes without saying that Harris and Walz will continue to promote policies that harm the economy.

On foreign policy, both tickets are bad.  Trump and Vance are slightly better because they are sometimes critical of sending more money to Ukraine.  They at least speak of negotiating a peace deal.  It is hard to say what will actually happen if Trump is elected.

I am not impressed with any of the candidates.  The best you can say for Trump and Vance is that they might do less damage than Harris and Walz.

Will the Debate Make a Difference?

Overall, I would say that Vance won the debate.  I don’t think expectations were that high for either one, and I think Vance probably exceeded expectations.  Some voters may not have been familiar with him at all other than what they had heard from the media.

The VP debate doesn’t usually mean much.  It is interesting that this is likely the last debate.  The presidential candidates usually debate three times before the general election.  In this case, it is one.  Trump did it twice because he got played debating Biden early on.  Biden’s horrific performance early on allowed the Democrats to dump him from the ticket before the convention.

As with everything, it is a question of things on the margin.  For 99% of people, this VP debate meant nothing.  It wasn’t going to change their mind.  I’d be surprised if there are 1,000 people in America who actually flip their vote because of this debate.

At this stage, almost nobody is going to flip their vote.  Someone voting for Harris isn’t going to change to voting for Trump.  Someone voting for Trump isn’t going to change to voting for Harris.

Where it matters is people who might not vote or might vote for a third-party candidate.  It is possible that Vance could have moved the needle a tiny bit.  But even a fraction of 1% of voters makes a big difference in this election.  As with the last election, it is going to come down to a handful of swing states.

There are election shenanigans in every major election.  If Trump wants to win, he needs a big enough margin that any cheating in the big cities won’t matter.

Trump has been playing his cards right lately by visiting Georgia after the hurricane while the Biden administration just seems to blow it off as if it is no big deal.  It is a very big deal to those living in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

If Trump can survive any more attempts on his life, he is the favorite to win in November as of right now.  We don’t know what tricks are coming over the next four weeks.

Avril Haines is the Director of National Intelligence.  She is the person who informed Trump of threats to his life coming from Iran.

Haines is also a main player in promoting the idea that Russia was colluding with the Trump campaign to steal our elections.  To this day, she identifies Russia as the greatest foreign threat to our elections.

Haines was part of the CIA and the NSA under Obama.  She is associated with the evil agencies that libertarians should most distrust.

We are getting “information” from Haines and those in the deep state that there are threats from Iran to assassinate Donald Trump.

Brilliant Strategy?

It’s hard to say for sure that this is a lie.  There are certainly reasons that Iranian officials would have for wanting to kill Trump.  After all, Trump ordered the assassination of a top Iranian official when he was president.  It was one of the worst things that Trump did as president, and it risked leading to a war with Iran.

But the lying liars in U.S. intelligence are making this a story.  They probably have no actual evidence, just as was the case with the Russia hoax and almost every reason they give to go to war.  Even if there is some kind of threat to Trump from Iran, is there actually any significant risk of Iranians being able to carry it out?

But putting blame on Iran makes sense.  Many pro Trump people, who have become more skeptical of U.S. foreign adventurism, still buy into Iran being this big enemy of the United States.  If the U.S. government would stop sanctioning Iran, making threats, and funding their enemies, then Iran would have no reason to oppose the U.S. at all.

Some conservatives are getting suckered into this whole thing about Iran trying to kill Trump.  On the left, they will just repeat anything that is said by the establishment and the so-called intelligence agencies.  So, it seems a good majority of Americans will buy this claim that Iran is a major threat to Trump’s life.

This achieves many things for the deep state.  It unites people in opposing Iran.  It makes a convenient enemy for a possible future war or conflict.  It distracts us from the previous assassination attempts on Trump.  Most of all, if Trump actually is assassinated, it means that the deep state can blame Iran instead of itself.  Some Trump supporters may actually buy it, too.

Is Trump This Stupid?

The crazy thing is that Trump is actually repeating these claims about Iran trying to kill him.  It reminds me of when Bernie Sanders was running for president and the liars started saying that the Russians were attempting to help the Sanders campaign.

Instead of Sanders calling the whole thing ridiculous, he went along with it and talked tough about Russia not getting away with it if he is president.  That was so obviously out of the establishment playbook, just as this whole thing with Iran.

If the establishment can make up a narrative to downgrade a somewhat anti-establishment candidate, plus stir up war fever by making a foreign country out to be doing bad things, they are getting a two for one special.

Some will say that Trump is just playing along with the deep state, but why?  They have likely already tried to kill him.  Trump is putting his life at even greater risk by going along with this scam.

Does he not understand that by going along with this story that it gives an excuse for the deep state to assassinate him?  If Trump is killed, then they can just blame Iran, and even some Trump supporters will believe it.  The deep state can get rid of Trump and stir up conflict with Iran.  It’s a win-win for them.

If Trump has some kind of a deal with the deep state, it better have come after the attempt on his life in July.  Otherwise, he is being completely played.

The fact that Trump is actually going along with this supposed Iran threat really makes me doubt his capabilities or motivations for a second term.  He is either stupid, or he is making deals with the deep state.

Trump is risking his life even more now by going along with the same deep state actors that sold us the Russian collusion hoax.

The investment markets are playing tricks on the average investor.  Perhaps they are even tricking the professionals.  I’m afraid that some buy-and-hold investors are going to get a very difficult lesson in the coming years.

Some investors are too young to have ever experienced a true bear market in stocks.  Let’s take someone who is 30 years old (born in 1994).  When the 2008 financial crisis hit, this person was only around 14 years old.  When I was 14, I wasn’t paying any attention to financial markets or investments.  I was more concerned about what my friends were doing that afternoon and when my next basketball game was taking place.

Since 2008/ 2009, we haven’t had a bear market.  Maybe we technically had one in 2020, but the Federal Reserve was already at the start of creating trillions of dollars in new money before lockdowns ever began. The down market lasted about 2 months and stock indexes were hitting new highs before the year was over.

This was not a true bear market.  Maybe it fit the technical definition of one, but it was a false bear market experience.  It wasn’t a bear market where investments got absolutely hammered and there was negative sentiment that was widespread for a long period of time.

Even the 2008/ 2009 bear market turned around relatively quickly, but at least it was for a good solid six months.  Stocks hit their low in March 2009, but things were quite negative at that time.  Plus, the housing bust had a couple of more years to go before it bottomed out.

Even for those who are older, 2008 was a long time ago.  It was 16 years ago.  Americans tend to have a short memory.  They certainly have a short memory when it comes to politics.  There may be a few people out there who have the scars from 2008 if they lost their house in foreclosure or they were just about to retire with a big stock portfolio.  But for the vast majority, 2008 is a distant memory that didn’t greatly impact where they stand today.  And if it did, they probably didn’t take away a lesson to diversify out of the stock market.

Will the Next Downturn be so Kind?

We have had a few rough days on Wall Street more recently.  There was panic for a couple of days, and then stocks went back to just going up.  There has been more volatility, but the Dow and S&P are near all-time highs.

I follow the FIRE movement somewhat closely.  That stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early.  Many people in the FIRE movement advocate a buy-and-hold strategy in low-cost mutual funds or ETFs.  They say that stocks always go up in the long run.

The strategy of buy-and-hold index funds does not have to be a characteristic of FIRE or FI.  It just so happens that many of the leaders in the movement are advocates of this strategy.  You can still have the goal of FIRE or FI without using this investment strategy.

I have heard and seen comments from this community about the recent activity in the stock market.  I have seen similar comments repeated about staying the course.  I have seen people say that they waited out the little blips down and their portfolio is now up above where it was before.

But again, they are judging based on a tiny down move of around 5% or so over the course of a few days. This isn’t anything like seeing a 70% drop over the course of a couple of years.  These people are in a false sense of reality.  They think every time the market ticks down that it will just pop back up, and then they can share their wisdom on social media.

I’m afraid some of these people are going to be near suicidal if we ever have a hardcore bear market that lasts for several years.  Their entire basis for living seems to be on their wisdom and perseverance to hold index funds through the bad times and to watch how rich they will get later on.

I think most FIRE/ FI people will be better off if and when a major downturn happens, at least financial speaking.  They are smart not to have debt outside of a mortgage and they have money saved, even if it isn’t diversified.  Many Americans barely have any savings.  So even if stocks go down by 70%, you can still look at it that 30% of something is better than 30% of nothing.  It is the mental toll on these people that I worry about.

J.L. Collins and His Meditation

There is a video (or audio) of J.L. Collins helping people through a downturn in stocks.  Collins is one of the unofficial leaders of the FIRE community, and he certainly has a soothing voice.  He has this recording that is like a meditation session.  It is designed to calm you down when the storm hits and to ride out the storm without panic selling.

He reassures you that everything will be ok.  He tells you that this is just a temporary downturn and to stay the course.  In many ways, it is brilliant.

The only problem is, what if he’s wrong?  What if this isn’t temporary?  What if stocks don’t always go up?  What happens if it ends up like Japan where the stock market is lower today than it was at its peak in 1989?  Is 35 years considered temporary?

If we have a stock market crash of 70% that lasts several years, this is going to absolutely devastate the plans of many millions of people.  Even a crash of 50% will take a major mental toll on people.

Young Americans and Americans with a short memory have become accustomed to market rebounds for the last 16 years.  They think a drop of 10% is big, and they think it goes back up in a short period of time.  They have been correct up until now.  They will continue to be correct until they aren’t any more.

If you want to not lose sleep over your investments and also not live in a false reality, try something like the permanent portfolio.  There are no guarantees with anything, but it seems to be a lot safer than going all-in on stocks.