Jackson Jambalaya

"What impact will President Donald Trump’s tariffs and Elon Musk’s DOGE layoffs and contract cancellations have on Mississippi? It’s too soon to tell, but the risks of major impacts are high."

"It’s too soon to tell, but the benefit of major impacts are high."
Fixed if for ya Fish. Mississippi is corrupt to the bone because its dependency of Federal cash that's likely not even needed....it's just been "arranged". If the U.S. Dept. of Education goes away, let's hope all the Federal Financial Aid does to. Then we'll see where Mississippi REALLY stands.

Eliminate the waste, and let's start over with what works, and what taxation is actually necessary - rather than "can benefit" someone.

Elon Musk needs to stay in his lane and get back to figuring out how to make starships and cars that don’t explode.

There should have been tariffs a long time ago. If we would have had honest politicians we would have had them from the start. We should charge the same tariff the other countries charge us. USAID should have been shut down long ago. I can see why democrats don't want it to end. Several politicians families were becoming rich from USAID. The Clinton's daughter had a big hand in the cookie jar. Just look at what she was paid for providing meals for the needy. What she was paid for one meal would keep any aid in Ms. full of food for a year. Obama was also sticking his hand in the cookie jar. He was being paid several million dollars each year. One of his daughters was right along with him to the tune of 1.5 million. They were not the only people doing it. Seems like most of the aid USAID was going to democrats and very little was making it to the people who needed it.

Are the majority of the people who actually pay income tax in Mississippi pushing to get rid of it? Or is this a solution without a problem?

I have family members who live in a major city in Texas, and their property taxes are outrageous.

Trump's policies are going to hit his voters the hardest. I wonder if all those red-state Trump voters who claim to "vote my wallet" will still vote their wallets in 2026.

Or will they twist and contort themselves to find a way to keep voting Republican with a straight face, because that's what they've been programmed to do.

Mississippi exports $14.5 billion a year. 76% of our businesses export. We import $21.8/billion. We import crude petroleum oils, petroleum bitumen, artificial limbs, and medical and science equipment.

Unfortunately, much of what we export is dependent on parts that are imported. This is one of the reasons why tariffs wars are dangerous.

Those we imposed tariffs know just as well as we do how to " return the favor". They know which products we need most from them.

We need to start using our common sense. We can't export medical equipment unless we get the medical equipment parts we need.

I'm all for us being as self-sufficient as possible but it was big business that wanted a " global economy" so they could get cheap labor. It did not happen overnight. The first industry lost was the textile industry. It first went South for cheaper labor and then to other countries. We were not smart enough like Great Britain to retain a sufficient textile industry and we even didn't know that sheep , like cows and chicken were important. We killed tobacco rather than finding other uses or markets.

The moral here is that politicians aren't economists . For reason's unknown , we no longer trust those who have spent their lives gaining knowledge and skills. We trust the politicians who think they know everything about everything because they learned to do two things well. They learned to be popular enough to get supporters who will bankroll them ( popularity is dependent on tell people what they want to hear rather than what they need to know and looking good and sounding good while they do it). Both parties succeeded in getting rich ( see what both have on hand). They pick the candidates to bankroll/ and sticking to the party platform is essential. They even flood a ticket with ringers they pay to weaken support for their opponents. They pick judges and they remove guardrails. Insider trading is alive and well again today as a result. We killed the once cheap television programming we had thinking we were protecting children from cable porn. Now we pay through the teeth just to watch television when every intelligent person and rich person knew small satellite dishes were just around the corner. We gave easier access to porn and we did it fooling Christians. Indeed, we made some preachers rich in the process.
We are let the barbarians in simply because they asked us to let them in with their promise that they really liked us and presented no threat. It's a pity. It's also now too late and by the time some of you get in, the damage cannot be undone. Other prosperous nations fell into the same trap.

@12:21 PM I am willing to pay more for stuff in order to deport the illegals, to cut off the flow of tax dollars to fun degenerate garbage pushed on kids, and finally, to owning the libs so hard you scream and run to your therapists to increase your Zoloft dosages!

We’ve got to move from a leftist government controlled economy back to what made America great, capitalism.

27 EU countries with well over 100 million more citizens than ours not being able to deal with Russia on their own pretty much tells us that their leftist system of government does not work. If it did, they would be steam-rolling Russia instead being the p___y’s they are, waiting on American tax payers to fix it for them.

The Bill Crawford’s of this world, like the know it all EU so-called leaders, have all of the answers. Spend, spend, spend, print, print, print, and let future generations pay for it.

@12:21, people like you have been a godsend to conservatives. You refuse to believe the average American doesn’t want the woke policies, open borders, reckless spending, weak foreign policy, etc. that have been forced on us the past four years. Your party is now leaderless and in disarray. Thank you - please keep it up and don’t change.

They begged for it, they didn’t even ask for a lube.

Politicians have many slush funds they can dip into. Notice how politicians nearly always get to be millionaires after they are elected. They sure do not make millions from what they are paid. Their is one slush fund that many do not know about. Many years ago we could see how much was in it but when it got large they stopped letting us know how much is in it. Just last year it grew by over 16 billion dollars. Either it got very large or they are draining it as fast as they can.

"I have family members who live in a major city in Texas, and their property taxes are outrageous."

People have to pay for government services, one way or another. If you eliminate the income tax you have to tax other things to make up the difference.

See under: "Free lunch", there is no such thing as a.......

America will be humming along soon.... like a starship.

12:37 proving once again that MAGAts will gladly eat shit if they think a liberal will have to smell their breath.

It's not fair to hold an economy against a president 60 days into office. There is almost nothing he can do short of war or something catastrophic to influence it to that degree. Usually it takes a budget or two to start taking effect, including tax hikes or tax cuts and those don't really affect the economy until a year or two after passage. I said the same thing when Obama was president.

A barrage of regulation or deregulation can affect the economy much more quickly.

Then there is always the FED who can cripple or raise it with interest rates. Need to get rid of the dual mandate.

My favorite little trick in the blame game was what Hannity pulled when Obama was president. We always use the U3 number. When BO assumed the purple, Hannity suddenly starts using U6 and shrieking how much worse unemployment suddenly was.

@12:27 what mississippi imports is billions in federal tax dollars stolen from more prosperous state. I say cut it all to zero and start over. In the highly transactional nature of the current administration, mississippi has to provide something of value to get something in return. We have little anyone wants unless it’s hogs, chickens, and folks living off the federal tit. So long suckers!

Bill “decimated”. Really ?

12:21...In Trump's first term my income went up and my net worth doubled. I'd like more of this "pain."

If you haven't read Crawford's column yet let me save you some time. It isn't about tariffs. It is more pro-Democrat Delbert Hosemann spam.

Whenever you hear leftists screaming 'caution' or 'slow down,' that's the very time to speed up and keep going. That's an affirmation things are moving in the right direction.

I hear you fish but the hand writing is on the wall. You know that Trump, Hannity and Fox are going to be moving the goalpost by the end of his first hundred days. This tailspin could work but it’s going to take more than 4 years. These guys will be long gone.

KF ---- really!!! Can't hold a President responsible for what he does in the first 60 days? Yes, you said can't hold the economy against him at 60 days, but what the President DOES that affects, and will affect, the economy is certainly to be held against him/her.

And besides, TheDon promised he was going to fix the economy on day one (of course, that was to be right after he spent his first 24 as a dictator). He was going to lower gas prices, and egg prices, among other things. But you say we can't hold him responsible when he promised he was going to fix it and that "HE" knew how?

Fact is, yes - it can't be done in the first 60 days and what exists today was largely already baked into the pie, despite the promises that TheDon made during the campaign. But you can hold him responsible for actions he takes that will affect the economy during those days and beyond, which is what it appears Crawford is discussing (not the economy as a whole, but the affect of Trump's actions on Mississippi's economy.)

Imposing tarrifs and the resulting effect is certainly to be placed on TheDon/Musk Presidency, both short term and long term; and if you haven't noticed KF, the economy has been dropping - not holding steady or rising - during the 60 days and that's before the tarrifs get into place.

2:59, No shit. That is exactly the point I was making. I just didn't feel the need to completely spell it out to grown-ups. I guess I was wrong.

Crawford ain't holding Trump accountable. He's only trying to shoot down the MS House tax bill. But, apparently, he's hooked you in the gill.

My guess is that some Republican Congress persons are praying that Democrats take the house or senate in 2 years. They don’t want Trump and Elon to succeed and need someone to fight them and someone to blame for this administrations failures. two months in and the stock market is volatile and no one knows what’s happening with tariffs. We’ve become a part of the new axis of evil. To their credit, Republicans are looking to 2028. Democrats can’t help themselves. If they flip either chamber they’ll fight Trump tooth and nail. Can’t help themselves. If they win in 2026, they’ll run on a platform of wholeness, open borders and trans rights in 2028 and lose bigly.

6:24 PM, you really need to try harder. Like Bill Ackman sarcastically told beta male silver spoon(er) hypocrite Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC one morning before the election, maybe 4 years from now we will have 2 presidential candidates to choose from that have never told a lie.

To be clear, our problem isn’t with people like you and Bill Crawford complaining about Trump, it’s your hypocrisy of not applying the same standard to your leftist Democrat buddies.


There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. Luke 12:2

There’s a reason Warren Buffett has Berkshire Hathaway investing in cash, it’s the most profitable play for a while. The economy is tanking along with our workforce and footing on the global stage. Trump has destroyed decades of work in a matter of weeks and he’s just getting started. Everyone knows he plans to declare Martial law, that’s when the real pain, both economic and physical, will really begin. Get your bunkers stocked, there’s not much time left.

Fair points, but no one expects Donald to tell the truth. Sure he lied, but that’s just what he does. You can’t hold Trump to what he says or does, it’s all about what’s truly in his heart. Only Donald and Jesus know what that is, and maybe Putin.

It was pretty funny watching Fox News carry Donald’s speech about the tariffs last week and watching the market tank in real time as he continued to flip and flop and then flip some more. The idiot doesn’t have a plan, he throws shit against the wall. Sometime it sticks and sometimes it ricochets back in his face.

I am not a die hard Trumper but people like 12:21 confound me.
PeePaw Biden nearly broke us all and your team chose the wokest liberal they could find as the alternative. And you still clearly cannot see that the country does not want your bonkers liberal agenda.
I am thankful many of your Democrat brothers were not blind and were able to see that we needed a drastic course correction.

Does Elon get a pass on his first 60 days also? Tesla’s stock sure is on fire, along with their showrooms and factories and cars.

KF, you are right except for the stock market which does react quickly...sometimes needlessly... to fear or optimism. There is a huge difference this time because of the rapid dismantling of government as well as ignoring laws that were passed as economic and government " guardrails". Nor has any President ( including Trump in his first term) appointed people who are proven loyalists but lack the experience and knowledge necessary for the job.
It is also unnerving that the three branches of the government are now controlled by Trump loyalists. There is no " loyal opposition" or anyone to "speak truth to power". Some of those in positions of authority have very troublesome personal histories. Indeed, Congress isn't really being consulted on anything other than to rubber stamp Trump's appointments( many of who would NEVER have gotten through Congress under any President ever. Congress aren't even asked to take actions .It's governing by Presidential degree with a congressional rubber stamp.

More than a little fear has been created as not worshipping Trump is as dangerous as not supporting the KKK just more subtle. Indeed, the Proud Boys make the Kluxxers look like unqualified cowards with their hiding under hoods. And, if you aren't a Trump worshipper, you are a RINO or a communist. That last one is really ironic since Trump's has had two wives who were born ,raised and educated in the Soviet Union and didn't have U.S. citizenship before marrying him.

We have now a one man, one party rule and since young Don has already expressed interest, one family rule with the inevitable dissolution of "parliament"( Congress is just a different version that's not all that different) is all but inevitable.

That some of you didn't see it coming is only because you never wondered how democracies and republics failed in the past so you missed the bellwethers. You became fans instead of citizens. Politics was never a game . But, instead of being good citizens which requires being well informed, you picked gurus/pundits to think for you. That, never in all of history turns, out well.

Buffet's Berkshire move to cash has been a slow and steady march for the past 30 years. It has nothing to do with Trump. Let us know when the black copters are flying over your house. Don't forget your Nigerian friend needs you to transfer those funds today.

The market is currently uninvestable. Only a fool would gamble with stocks at a time like this. We’ve never had an extremist like Trump who pushes for anarchy. Our country is falling and it’s not coming back unless equally extreme measures are taken to balance out this crazy. It’s going to be a painful decade that we may never be able to recover from. Thanks Donald!

And, if you aren't a Trump worshipper, you are a RINO or a communist.

Or a garden variety nutjob as evidenced by the droppings you continually deposit on the lawn here at JJ.

Private prisons are about the only industry that may see some growth in the following 4 years. Everything else is going down faster than Lauren Boebert at Hamilton.

Elon can’t really figure that stuff out, he’s just the money man taking credit for the engineers’ work. He can get back to pumping shit coins and pretending to be a scientist.

You got played like a fool because you took the word of a liar without verifying anything. Go ahead, tell us how much you think Chelsea Clinton was paid out of tax dollars. Same goes for Obama daughters, they didn’t get squat from USAID. The fact that you were so easily fooled by these blatant lies is a real issue. I’m not sure how we fix this level of stupid, but we have to try.

Has there ever been a weaker foreign policy than now? We are Putin’s bitch thanks to Donald. The world laughs at our stupidity.

Only a fool would gamble with stocks at a time like this.

Did you take all your relative pennies out? What a nonsensical comment.

12:21 here. I don't think I wrote anything that could be construed as endorsing the "radical left," progressives, or woke.

All I did was criticize Trump and the people who blindly follow and defend him. That, apparently, is all that's needed to be dismissed as a kook in the new normal of Trump's America.

I think some of y'all are just desperate for someone to fight with As far as I can tell, that's all your idol stands for: chaos and conflict.

There is nothing conservative about Donald Trump or those that support him. He is an extremist who has sent this country spiraling into chaos. His cabinet, congressional allies, and even the Supreme Court are compromised of thoughtless yes men who lack the courage to protect our country and constitution from the senile lunatic.

What I like is the commentary of abuse, lawbreaking, or baseless accusations vomited out by the delusional idiots that believe the mockingbird media. They, also, like their brother idiots in the mockingbird media, make accusation, after accusation, with nothing to back up their idiocy. What a feckless group.

I love it when they call Trump stupid, yet he gets the best of the democrats every time. What does that make the democrats?

This ZeroHedge Editorial is the best I have read so far about what Trump, Musk, and his allies are working to fix https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/trump-trying-push-us-recession and it should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention and not just consuming whatever their preferred media echo chamber is conditioning them to believe.

Thank you KF for giving me something to laugh about at lunch. I love reading these lefty clowns comments.

9:59AM for the troll award win! Because nobody, not even the most idiotic leftist Democrat, is dumb enough to really believe “the Proud Boys make the Kluxxers look like unqualified cowards with their hiding under hoods.”

The Proud Boys aren’t even in the same league of evil as the self-proclaimed Marxist BLM terrorists that murdered 8-year old Secoriea Turner in Atlanta during just one of their many riots.

@1:16 You actually read that drivel? I always just collapse those Zoloft lib rants. The best reads are the ones riddled with typos.

These are the guys taking it raw.

"This ZeroHedge Editorial is the best I have read so far about what Trump, Musk, and his allies are working to fix https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/trump-trying-push-us-recession and it should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention and not just consuming whatever their preferred media echo chamber is conditioning them to believe. "

Zerohedge?! Um, yeah...no echo chamber or "conditioning" there. Just pure Grade-A wackadoodle crapola.

Not as good at appealing to dumbasses by telling them what they want to hear even if it’s physically impossible and they have no intent to try. Wasn’t inflation supposed to be fixed day one? Instead, he started a trade war to make sure prices skyrocket? Some people would be upset they were lied to. Those who have built a personality out of their love for Trump are pot committed to the lies at this point. It’s tough to admit you were wrong when facing this situation, I doubt you’ll ever get there.

Like clockwork, Trump opened his stupid mouth again today and the market threw up.

If you didn't know, there was a correction coming in the stock market, sooner, or later, you're not smart enough to be gambling with stocks.

Whatever your personal political opinions might be, anyone with the slightest observational ability should be able to easily recognize many of Trump's readily-apparent and unarguably unfulfilled promises. Not only did his wall not get built in his first four years, Mexico told him to piss up a rope as far as paying for it. The war over Ukraine is actually ramping up, not ended. The Israeli-Palestine "conflict" is, again, not over and ramping up. The economy was not "fixed" on "day one."

He did pardon all the "January 6" people, many of whom had serious criminal charges hanging over them prior to January 6, and a fair number of them were back in trouble for other things essentially immediately after release (2 or 3, at least, have even been involved in shootouts with police).

Elon Musk's $100 _B_illion 2025 haircut isn't all directly because of Trump, but at least some of it is a direct result of playing footsie with him and some of it is because of Trump's tariff insanity.

At some point, a lot of folks are going to be forced to decide whether to believe Trump or their own lyin' eyes...and ears...even if, um, their score would be underwhelming on an intelligence test.

I think I’ll call this phenomenon A Clockwork Orange.

I’m from the future. The “correction” will last the next 1413 days. Hunker down and look out for your family until then, it’s about to get mental.

Trump won you sore loser. Get back in the basement and order some Door Dash on your mom's credit card.

Hey 10:06 PM, tell us who you would rather have as your next door/lives on your street neighbors - the Jan 6thers, or the Antifa and BLM rioters that did over a billion in damages and caused at least 25 Americans deaths…including the murder of 8-year old Secoriea Turner in Atlanta?

When this question’s answered, we know for sure why so many white liberals (those Malcom X so warned us about) hang out at private schools, live behind gates, or even so much worse, live in the Republican controlled suburbs, refusing to put their money where their hypocritical mouth is.

And, um, since you played the losing “intelligence test” hand, how about we “um” have an IQ test for all members of congress…let’s see how that one works out for your side?

"Hey 10:06 PM, tell us who you would rather have as your next door/lives on your street neighbors - the Jan 6thers, or the Antifa and BLM rioters...
...
...how about we 'um' have an IQ test for all members of congress…let’s see how that one works out for your side?"

I voted GOP for POTUS since Reagan, and for Trump the first time - not ashamed of it, but in hindsight I was wrong. Admittedly it was also a vote against Hillary, and I had hope that maybe Trump had matured. Again, I was wrong. What I do not do, or at least try my damnedest not to do, is make the same mistake twice much less repeatedly.

As to my neighbors, an interesting thing: all or nearly all of them are well-educated, financially comfortable folks. None are die-hard MAGA or "leftwing." All are pretty close to the center, obviously some lean right or left, but "moderate" would be as accurate a term as any. Notably, they represent about the same racial makeup as the general population of the US. I haven't asked them about that particular question, but I'm certain I know what they would say. It would be the same as my wife and I: we would not want ANY criminals or rioters as neighbors. That is what Jan 6 was, a riot, not an "insurrection," and among both it and the BLM riots were criminals committing criminals acts, not merely "protesting." The fact that the government went "all in" after the Jan 6 criminals and didn't really go after the BLM criminals is sad and wrong. But the failure does not make the Jan 6 criminals innocent. As an aside, whataboutism is a sure sign of ignorance and immaturity.

As to IQ tests for ALL candidate for elected office, I would strongly favor it. Unfortunately, it would not be Constitutional. I would agree that results would not be encouraging at all or for either "side." So on that, you are correct: my "side" - the citizenry of the US - the rich and poor of all color, hue, religion, orientation, etc. - would be and are daily the losers insofar as the unchecked ignorance. OTOH, we, collectively, get exactly what and for whom we vote (and yep, Trump lost in 2020 but Biden was no prize to say the least and Harris was and is an idiot of epic scale) so I suppose there is some consolation in that. The sad thing is that in a country as truly great and wonderful as the US, Trump and Harris were the only two choices.

6:37am for President.

Perhaps 10:06 would like to share some of the Biden admin's failures as well? There are many if you are actually being unbiased.

The open borders alone were enough to make even some of your most colorful rainbow hair crowd for the Orange guy as an alternative.

So while I am not blindly following any political leader, I am fine with giving Trump some time to un-do the mess that Kamala's word salad help create.

"Perhaps 10:06 would like to share some of the Biden admin's failures as well? There are many if you are actually being unbiased."

Shit, there isn't enough time or room allowed to list all of Biden's failures, and Harris made Biden look like a cross between George Washington, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Albert Einstein, Bill Buckley, and Chris Hitchens. But again, whataboutism - Harris' complete idiocy does not have any relationship to Trump.

"The open borders alone were enough to make even some of your most colorful rainbow hair crowd for the Orange guy as an alternative."

Yeah, about that. Trump and Ice Ice Barbie have managed to round up and deport...fewer illegal aliens since he was sworn in than equivalent periods when Biden was semi-sorta-in-charge. And with stunts like Guantanamo, the average per-head cost of those deported has been significantly greater.

"So while I am not blindly following any political leader, I am fine with giving Trump some time to un-do the mess that Kamala's word salad help create."

That's a load of bullshit. And yes, I'd say that to your face.

9:03 AM, one could assume if one is “intelligent” enough to NOT live in a Democrat controlled city, one should be “intelligent” enough to NOT vote for the Democrat candidate (Kamala Harris) that “praised the defund the police movement” (CNN).

Two kinds likely make up that vast majority of those having supported the defund the police movement: 1.) the low IQ unintelligent, and 2.) white liberals sending their kiddos to elite private schools and living behind gates, or in the Republican controlled suburbs, where their babies don’t have to worry about dying from stray bullets.

This isn’t rocket science, just put your money and your children’s lives where you mouth is.

4:52 - if you liked the restrained Trump that still had checks and balances, then you’re sure to love batshit crazy senile Trump with no checks or balances. The only thing that can stop Trump now is his own self restraint. This Trump shoots from the hip and sees what happens, he’s fafo embodied.

You should just put all your money in the markets. You can’t lose with Trump manning the rudder.

Don't the people complaining about the stock market know that the majority of trades are not made by humans? Humans are too slow. Computers are doing all of the buying and selling. The computers will buy and sell the same stocks thousands of times a day. If the price goes up 2 cents they will sell them buy back when the stock goes down 2 cents.

I believe you may be the commenter most detached from reality. Every single point you made was wrong. Democratic controlled cities are where the best jobs are located, assuming “one” is educated.

Currently, Trump is trying to defund the fbi, cia, courts, education, social security, lawyers, the military, pretty much every single service the government performs.

You did somehow manage to describe Trump pretty well with your description of who wants to defund the police: a low iq white liberal who sent their snot nosed kids to private schools while living in a democratic controlled city. I don’t think Donald will like you speaking so callously about him though, he keeps a list and checks it twice so you better shut the hell up about it or you may be deported.

Elon is getting what he deserves. It’s pretty similar to the Bud Light situation, only switching sides and a million times worse financially. Conservatives hate electric cars because they like to burn gas and pretend that global warming isn’t settled science. Liberals like electric cars because they are good for the environment and are more economical over the long term.

Elon decided to piss off every potential customer of Tesla in one fail swoop and he spent $300 million to do it. Only a total idiot would think spending that much money to abandon your core customers is a good idea. I’m starting to think these guys don’t know what the hell they are doing.

Listen children, it does not matter who you voted for, it does not matter what Biden did, it does not matter what Kamala would have done. Open your eyes. Look at today and the non-researched hatchet job this man is putting on this country. Yes, we need cutbacks, but in a measured way. He is having to take, pause, give back, because his minion Elon is just playing around! What has he got to lose but a few more billion!? He is destroying the economy, and yes we can judge now, because he was going to fix everything "ON DAY ONE!" And he is leading us straight into WWIII. My God!

The insanity continues:

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/11/trump-says-hes-buying-a-tesla-to-support-elon-musk-and-counter-illegal-boycott-of-ev-maker.html

The mental picture of Donald zipping around in a Tesla, looking for a charging station with a fire extinguisher, is pretty dang funny, and apparently, some idiot at Morgan Stanley got caught with a little too much Musk behind their ears. "BUY THE DIP(SHIT)! BUY THE DIP(SHIT)!" Translation: "Oh, please, Jesus in heaven, guide some muppet to save my ass and buy this dip(shit)..."

"Liberals like electric cars because they are good for the environment and are more economical over the long term."

That, plus we like to show everyone how righteous we are, expecting others to fall in line. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't appreciate that sort of thing.

Let's face it. At this point, Elon Musk is a professional Internet troll, and that's about it.

He got high on Dogecoin, and his ability to tweet it into something serious, and never sobered up. (I wouldn't underestimate the effect of all the drugs, either)

"...Dogecoin...something serious..."

Ah, yes. Offshore bank accounts, shell companies owned by trusts, bearer bonds, diamonds, and Dogecoin...the lynchpin quintet of the international old-school monied elite, oligarchs, and despots.

"Mr. X, as your primary double-secret advisor, I have to say you seem to be a little light on the dogbux. Maybe you should consider holding off on buying that box of pencils for one of the Canary Island holding companies and putting the entire $8.95USD into Dogecoin. Or even better, diversify and split it up...buy some $TRUMP, too..."

9:52: Shouldn't you be on the "legal weed" post?

Looks like we’ve got economics specialist(s) blessing us herein with their immense wisdom, all concerned about the stock market. Wonder if any attended Columbia University?

Since Bill Crawford didn’t address this issue, here’s a question for any and all of you financial experts:

During the last 12 months Trump was in office (1/20/20 – 1/20/21) you could buy a starter home in a Brandon subdivision at an average price of $134.82 per square foot. The last 12 months Biden was in office (1/20/24 – 1/20/25) that same starter home averaged 1.304 times that amount at $175.87 per square foot. Rents have soared as well.

So, what advice do you oracles have for young folk starting out (with little to nothing invested in the start market yet) that and are getting hammered with the additional 30.4% of housing cost, compliments of Bidenomics?

Asking for a young friend.

Trump v. Biden aside, here's some observations for your young friend (and any others who might be in such a position): endure the rent for the time being. Here's why. Markets are cyclical regardless of who or what party may be in power this or that year. The housing market was and is not purely or even largely a result of Biden's or Trump's "conduct," even if any POTUS' "conduct" does sometimes play some small tertiary role, especially with highly specialized regional markets. Look no further than housing prices in Florida, Austin, etc. for examples of how myriad factors came into play that had very little to do with the "conduct" of any particular POTUS, vs. the DC area since Trump/DOGE for a comparatively small region and market that is being strongly affected by "POTUS conduct."

As to prices in general, as many discovered circa 2008-10, what goes way, way up typically comes back down, and it is rarely a minor drop with a soft landing - "what goes up must come back down," as it is sometimes expressed. I don't track Brandon starter home prices, but I do track CRE and residential RE trends, and if I were going to bet on a direction today, I'd bet on a general downward trend for the next 18-36 months, other than in a few rare extremely desirable high-growth locations or hyper-specialized, very rare locations where the purchase price isn't really a large part (or necessity) in the purchasing decision. It has very little or nothing to do with Trump, GOP or Dem politics, Ukraine, DOGE, etc., it's the nature of cyclical markets, especially when a particular market - localized or generally - has seen recent outsized "out-of-norm" increases.

The caveats would be, first, interest rates, and second, insurance cost and availability. I doubt, but do not know, that obtaining insurance is a particular problem for Brandon starter homes, but the interest rate will affect the monthly payment, up or down. However, since the rise in the last few years, things appear to have mostly stabilized/plateaued, and with downward pressure rather than upward. But it is something to keep an eye on and in mind in the decision-making process.

9:15 AM, actions have reactions and Bidenomics record spending and printing during his 4 years played a huge role in inflating not just real estate. You did not need to be really bright to see it coming – before it happened.

Re: 2008-10, most have no clue at all what started the huge run up in housing prices pre-08. Brad Pitt et al failed to tell the entire Big Short story; that the banks found a way to appease the race hustlers in congress like Maxine Waters and Barney Frank, while attempting to pawn the risk off on others, before it spiraled out of control into other areas.

You probably can’t find the YouTube vid of Maxine Waters stating “We do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and particularly Fannie Mae, under the outstanding leadership of Frank Raines,” while prior to the meltdown, arguing with those that were against the insanity of making loans to people who could not afford to pay them back. Then Waters ends up chairing the Financial Services Committee. Cannot make it up.

Barney Frank was an advocate for using the government’s authority to force lower underwriting standards in the business of housing finance for most of his career; then he ends up being the co-architect of Dodd-Frank - to fix the mess he helped create. Again, cannot make it up.

The electorate today lacks the instinct we had in the 1980’s. Pain was required to fix what Democrats destroyed. Too many idiot professors and opinion writers have brainwashed the younger generations. They can make great grades, but lack the simple God givens instincts required to know – “that somebody’s got to pay.”

"The electorate today lacks the instinct we had in the 1980’s."

You mean cocaine and greed?

'...Brad Pitt et al failed to tell the entire Big Short story; that the banks found a way to appease the race hustlers in congress like Maxine Waters and Barney Frank...'

Clearly, you do not have much if any knowledge or insight about the situation, its causes, or the "hows, whys, and whos" involved. Maxine Waters and Barney Frank didn't cause "the financial crisis," and you didn't "know"/"see" everything that was going on or know all the reasons things were lurching uncontrollably toward disaster. No one knew or could have known everything, which was a major part of the problem. Yes, a fair number of (unconnected or largely-so) people saw this or that piece of a complicated convoluted puzzle, acted on it, and made money, but none knew or saw the whole mess nor did any claim they knew or saw it all. One notable thing which is relevant today and played a big role in the debacle was too many people, especially those on the credit-supply side, counting on or at least able to lie to themselves about RE prices only going up and that they wouldn't - couldn't - possibly go down.

For those who are interested in the topic, Google CDOs, CDSs, tranching, and rehypothecation, and get ready to do a lot of reading.