Stagflation, the economy that dare not speak its name

 Here’s an interesting article on CNN’s website, So, what is stagflation, anyway, and why is it so scary?  by Elisabeth Buchwald. In it, Ms. Buchwald first defines “stagflation” – which is the dangerous condition that occurs when prices are increasing but the economy does not grow – and then explains why the Federal Reserve is trying very hard not to use the term. It seems that the markets are starting to show signs of stagflation (mostly because of Trump’s tariffs and other dumbass measures), but the Fed won’t use the terms for fear of spooking the markets even more than they are spooked already.

But, let us admit it. Stagflation is coming and it may be the new norm. That’s because under Trump, the public regulation of corporations is going to be largely jettisoned. That means that we’ll see more monopolies. Which means in turn that businesses will be able to increase prices without restraint while having no motivation to innovate or otherwise undertake the sort of investments that would grow the economy. In other words, all the conditions for permanent and universal Stagflation are present and obvious.

Thus, if we are honest and foresighted, we will say that despite the Fed’s best efforts, Stagflation is the future…whether the Fed says the word or not. And that’s because it is at the very heart of the Trump/billionaires’ program for the economy. And it is not an accident. 

Rather it, like the impoverishment of the middle class, is a goal. Part of the plan…

To extract all that can be extracted from our wallets. And giving ever less – eventually nothing – in return. 

Copyright©2025 Michael Jay Tucker

Hegseth and the Big Lie

So, as everyone knows now, Trump’s Head of the DOD, Pete Hegseth, accidentally sent US war plans to a journalist at the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg. 

What’s been interesting to me, though, is how the Administration, Hegseth, and their supporters are handling the situation. One of their responses is to claim that the incident did not occur. Hegseth said that “no one was texting war plans” and that Golberg is a “deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.” 

Meanwhile, on social media, I have seen postings from Trump supporters saying that the whole thing was a trap into which the liberal media promptly fell. (Though exactly what the trap was and how it worked is unclear to me.)

This looks like a strategy of overt falsehood. And, let’s face the grim reality, it could work. The Administration could just keep claiming that it didn’t happen, and, sure enough, the MAGAts of the nation will believe it. The Big Lie is a proven winner.

Of course, it may be that Hegseth will eventually be forced to resign. That would be a very good thing, indeed. But, in the end the real solution to the problem is teaching Americans to turn off Faux News and turn on their critical thinking.

Or, to put it another way, we are a nation desperately in need of civics classes in public schools everywhere and anywhere.  

"Who Will Protect Us From Our Protectors?"

Interesting article in the magazine Dissent, “Trump’s Antisocial State” by Melinda Cooper. In it, Ms. Cooper looks at the ways Trump and his minions are transforming the American government and comes to some distressing conclusions.

As everyone knows, or should know, the government of the mid-twentieth century (after FDR) at least tried to make things a bit better for the average American. It was redistributive, meaning it took a small percentage of the wealth of the very rich and injected that back into the society as a whole.

But, at the end of the twentieth century, a new generation of “libertarian” populists and conservatives reversed that, and we saw instead a system installed by which money was taken from the middle and working classes and transferred to the vastly wealthy.

Cooper argues that we are in the next phase of that process. Now, the systems and institutions that were originally set up to protect American citizens and immigrants have themselves been reversed. In the American Government v.2, those systems are meant to coerce and control the population, not keep it safe.

Thus we come to a new and fascinating phase in American history. This will be remembered as the age in which our guardians become, instead, our guards…and our nation a prison. 

Copyright©2025 Michael Jay Tucker

Earthquake In The Markets

Saw this interesting article in the Economist, “Beneath investors’ feet, the ground is shifting.” In it, the authors and editors say that investors are now on edge because the current economic downturn…call it a “Recession” to give it the right name…feels different from those in the past. Before, whenever there were problems on Wall Street or in bonds, they could flee to safe currencies (like the dollar) or stocks that usually weather downturns in the market with relative stability.

Now, that’s not true. The American dollar doesn’t seem safe, and the port-in-a-storm stocks seem threatened by unexpectedly destructive tides. And all this, of course, is the doing of Trump’s economic policy.

Which is interesting. The business community backed Trump this time around because CEOs thought the second Trump White House would be like the first, or, even like Ronald Reagan’s. They thought there would be stability in general, cost cutting in the government, and fewer taxes on The People Who Really Matter,  i.e., the Rich and Powerful. Or to be even more specific, on themselves.

Only, it didn’t work out that way. Trump’s economic policy is one of pure chaos. The oh-so-sensible Men and Women in Business are confronted with a world that is not predictable and is not stable. Their charts and plans and three month forecasts are increasingly useless.

One wonders, is this really what they wanted? Is this what they donated so much money to achieve? Is this why they bought newspapers, TV stations, and social media sites and filled the airwaves with fake news and genuine propaganda? 

My guess is…not. My guess is that they begin, slowly, to wonder at the value of their investment in Trump USA.

But, of course, it is too late now. They cannot undo what they have done. They have already given him, and those like him, absolute power.

A power which cannot be restrained by the law which they taught him to circumvent, by the courts which they permitted him to ignore, or by the votes they have suppressed.

A power which, now, like demons or earthquakes…

Will someday rise from below to consume them.

Copyright©2025 Michael Jay Tucker

They Will Not Listen

Like a lot of people on the Left, I eagerly read the stories in the press and online about Trump voters who have changed their minds. I read that they have “buyer’s remorse,” and they regret their vote.

But, come, let’s be honest. Those Trump voters who are genuinely disappointed in Trump, and who might vote for someone else in future (if we still have elections in future) are the few, the proud, and the brave. 

The rest…don’t give a rat’s ass. From their point of view, things are just fine, thank you very much. Women and minorities are getting dinged. Immigrants and “foreigners” are being deported. College professors and intellectuals are being ignored. Know-it-alls …like scientists and doctors…have been chastened. All the people they hate are getting a middle finger…or a fist…squarely in the face.

It’s what they want. It’s what they longed for for years and years.

If, in the process, they lose their health care, or they cannot feed their children, or they lose their jobs and homes, or they suffer poverty, want, and disease…

Well, no problem.

They still get to own the libtards.

And nothing else matters.

Nightmare in Gaza

So, here’s a question for all those folks who “abandoned Harris” and helped put Trump into the White House because she and Biden weren’t doing more to stop the carnage in Gaza. 

Have you looked at the news lately? Particularly stories like this one on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty site:  Hundreds Reported Killed After Israel Begins Deadly Strikes On Gaza, Lebanon, Syria.

If so, I’m curious. Are you still proud of your role in turning the White House over to a lying psychopath? Because if you are, then I’m a little frightened by your concept of morality.

And if you aren’t…

Well, in that case…

I wonder how you live with yourself. And with the memory of what you helped come to pass.

The End of The Ed

 Trump has signed an order effectively ending the Department of Education. Of all the awful things he could do, has done, and will do…this is among the worst. It means that generations of young Americans will not have the advantages which the Dept. Of Ed brought to schools across the country – particularly schools in the (all too many) poorer regions of our nation.

Thus, when historians look back on this lamentable age, I’m guessing that March 20 will be recorded as a tremendous, self-inflicted defeat upon ourselves. It will be December 7, but   without even the small grace of being simply the victim, rather than the aggressor as well.

It will be as if the planes will be flown, and the bombs will be dropped, by the very people who are being targeted.

Copyright©2025 Michael Jay Tucker

Notes From Epstein Island

This is a bit late to the game, but just in case you missed it…a couple of Minnesota Senate Republicans recently introduced a bill that would have defined “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as a mental illness. In other words, disagreeing or defying Trump would be considered madness.

For those with any sort of memory of history, that is chilling. It brings to mind the Soviet Union’s practice of defining critics as lunatics and locking them up in asylums. 

But here’s where the story gets some chuckles. One of the Republicans behind the bill was Justin Eichorn of Grand Rapids. And, according to several reports, the energetic Mr. Eichorn ”has been arrested for allegedly trying to solicit sex from a minor.”

It seems that Mr. Eichorn was online chatting with what he thought was a 16-year-old girl and suggested a meeting. But…oh, dear…it wasn’t a girl at all. It was a full-grown police detective.

My goodness. By golly. Rather a mess, don’t you think? 

Still, it is nice to know that there is a certain symmetry to it all. The man who attempted to define his opponents as mentally ill is alleged to have his own form of mental illness. And a fairly dramatic one at that. 

Pedophilia, that is. Or, if you prefer, gross criminal lust. 

Want some candy, little girl?

Could Anything Be More American Today?

So when I got home from my jog early yesterday morning, this newspaper was waiting for me. Could anything say “Trump’s America” than these headlines? Even if you discount the “Deportation” part of it, you have on one side the story of Texas arresting a midwife for “abortion” and on the other, the report of how our legislature is making it more difficult for shareholders and ordinary people to restrain the actions of corporations and CEOs.

In other words, meet the dystopian future…where people are regulated and Corporations are protected.