President Trump

Metal Biker said:
I've gone from being worried in 2025 to being deathly afraid about 2026!
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I actually think the fractures in the MAGA coalition are becoming more apparent. And I live by two simple, if contrary, rules: 1) when you hear something bad, it’s always worse than it appears and 2) nothing lasts forever and balance is usually restored.

You know the term “cautiously optimistic”? Well, I fucking hate it. I prefer “cheerfully pessimistic.”
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
I actually think the fractures in the MAGA coalition are becoming more apparent. And I live by two simple, if contrary, rules: 1) when you hear something bad, it’s always worse than it appears and 2) nothing lasts forever and balance is usually restored.

You know the term “cautiously optimistic”? Well, I fucking hate it. I prefer “cheerfully pessimistic.”
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Love it!

I shall be making cheerfully pessimistic my new mantra for the coming new year.
 
LOL

www.independent.co.uk

Jim Beam shutting down bourbon production at Kentucky distillery amid Trump’s tariffs

Trade war with Canada has contributed to a significant decline in U.S. liquor sales
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk

Industry group Distilled Spirits Council of the United States said that U.S. spirits exports plummeted 85 percent, falling below $10 million in the second quarter of 2025, which CEO Chris Swonger blamed on “persistent trade tensions.”

That's how you MAGA no doubt!!

but honestly THIS IS A BIG FUCKING DEAL!!!!

Other countries may find they like other spirits more than bourbon, and sales will never return to pre tariff levels. I know if I was Canadian, bourbon would be on my permanent 'get fucked' list.

And honestly Companies once shut down are not going to come back! I guess it's good for Europeans though.. you can sell more Scotch, Gin, Brandy, Wines etc.
 
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Oh and for someone who wants to do their part.. when you buy shoes or cricket bats.. avoid New Balance.. they're the "official shoe" of white powder puffs.

qz.com

Pro-Trump white supremacists have called New Balance sneakers “the official shoes of white people”

The American sneaker manufacturer New Balance has gotten itself into a thorny situation.
qz.com qz.com

www.bostonglobe.com

New Balance founder gave nearly $400,000 to Trump - The Boston Globe

Jim Davis, founder and chairman of New Balance, sent a $396,500 check to Trump Victory in September, according to records.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

I was watching the ashes and there were a few cricketers with New Balance bats! Annoying as hell.

At least the Aussies use Kookaburra!
 
Blue_Lightsaber said:
LOL @ Dumbass Turds like Dax777

www.independent.co.uk

Jim Beam shutting down bourbon production at Kentucky distillery amid Trump’s tariffs

Trade war with Canada has contributed to a significant decline in U.S. liquor sales
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk

Industry group Distilled Spirits Council of the United States said that U.S. spirits exports plummeted 85 percent, falling below $10 million in the second quarter of 2025, which CEO Chris Swonger blamed on “persistent trade tensions.”

That's how you MAGA no doubt!!

but honestly THIS IS A BIG FUCKING DEAL!!!!

Companies once shut down are not going to come back! I guess it's good for Europeans though.. you can sell more Scotch, Gin, Brandy, Wines etc.

Other countries may find they like other spirits more than bourbon, and sales will never return to pre tariff levels. I know if I was Canadian, bourbon would be on my permanent 'get fucked' list.
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I make a point of trying very, very hard not to read comment sections on news stories, but made an exception for the WSJ article on Trump shutting down the largest offshore wind project in America due to “national security concerns.” Hundreds of jobs will disappear; energy costs will go up; share prices of wind-energy companies and adjacent suppliers fell; anyone thinking about making a major capital commitment to a project like this in the U.S. will think twice as long as this man is President. Literally no one in the comments section — usually filled with MAGA supporters — understands or supports this.

He doesn’t care.
 
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Tango man starts going on about "we must have Greenland".
As others have said its another pure deflection tactic, but it still astounds me how he is allowed to get away with comments in his speeches without being directly called out. Especially when they are so blatantly ramblings.
"They say Denmark had a ship there 300 years ago, well we must have had a boat or ship there"!!!!!
FFS, your country isn't even 250 years old!

Next line will be..."Someone suggested it be renamed Trumpland, not me of course, it was someone very intelligent"
 
Phil1 said:
That's quite the last paragraph coming from an (adopted) American!!
Might be a bit of truth to it but not sure anyone in the UK is quite ready to be lectured about what's gone wrong from someone from your neck of the woods.
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No lecture, just firsthand observations of someone who grew up in and around Manchester and now watches and reads the trials and tribulations from afar.

I spend HOURS AND HOURS talking about the world while traveling it, including much of Europe. It has absolutely nothing to do with the clusterfuck that is 2025 America and the global embarrassment that is Donald Trump.

But, if it makes you feel better about England to laugh and point at America, knock yourself out.
 
cheekybids said:
Imagine you sold your house 35 years ago, made a nice profit & decided to go into rented & live off the profit & now after paying rent, you’ve got no money left & now you’re in debt, the rental is a shit hole, the landlord puts the rent up & refuses to fix it up. That’s the uk.

Only it wasn’t a house, it was

• British Rail
• British Petroleum
• British Airways
• British Leyland
• British Shipbuilders
• British Steel
• British Gas
• Electricity industry
• Water authorities
• Telecommunications (Post Office → BT)
• National Bus Company
• National Freight Corporation

Then there’s all the public buildings that need renting back.


There’s more that I can’t remember then compare with Norway sovereign wealth fund £1.6trillion.
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You didn’t discuss the mentality of the Norwegians, people or politics, but listed a litany of grievances about renting vs buying???

I remember when Britain really did feel great. Maybe that was the naïveté of youth, but I simply don’t recognize the country anymore. The contrast between new and old, clean and decrepit, vibrant and tired has never been more stark.

In many respects, I’m sad to see what I see when I return, especially given what I see when I travel. There are few positive comparisons.
 
threespires said:
Interestingly the UK has a higher percentage of people who are self-employed and/or in micro-businesses than the US. This doesn't suggest to me a country whose primary problem is one of people who think the world owes them a living. The percentage of people dependent solely on benefits is however higher than the US but not at a level that can explain our woes. Given the massive changes in employment patterns since the 70s the majority of British people have just adapted, primarily because they've had to. Do some people take advantage of our welfare system? A small percentage yes, but the nanny state thing is really a construct designed to push an agenda that minimises the states ability to interfer with unfettered profiteering. Unless of course things go pear shaped at which point the state is very handy for a bailout.

Personally I think the reason there's an increasing appetite for nationalisation (including from people who wouldn't previously entertain it) is simply because people no longer see large companies as behaving reasonably or responsibly. Civilisations often go tits up when the elites push it too far and take the piss out of ordinary people a bit too much. We're potentially heading there. Even though you, and I, are not in favour of laissez-faire capitalism it'd actually be better than what we currently have at the moment which is rigged rather than truly free markets. A sort of head's I win tails you lose form of capitalism. The issue is that there's lots of research now to suggest that truly free markets are theoretical rather than practical constructs. They always end up distorted. At which point you have to ask the question who do we prefer to rig or control the markets? Most of the companies running our national infrastructure have shown themselves to be utterly incapable of being trusted.
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Can’t argue with much of that, nor would I want to, as I think it helps lay bare the lack of public-private partnership, when and where it could create significant wins for all.

I am a firm believer in guardrail capitalism, where the rules are established and understood by all, and everyone understands the reasons for the guardrails.

As a significant investor in the Stock Market, and thus owner of a number of the companies under discussion, I can appreciate the need for profits to not be the sole motivator for any product or company. But, that said, we don’t seem to be able to find that happy medium, as the pendulum lurches wildly from limit to limit.

In many respects, the Germans seem to have found, or at least generally accepted the need for, workers rights, including a voice in the leadership of a company. These kinds of partnerships, while incorporating societal goals, where the profit motive is not the primary, or sole, objective, feel like a healthy balance for all concerned.

And, while they may not be a panacea, one cannot let perfection be the enemy of the good, even while seeking that level of performance.
 
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cheekybids said:
You need to look at the cycle of money & how it’s distributed. The taxpayer money that went into pay wages was returned through spending. After privatisation it’s removed from circulation in the uk economy. Then you can look at how much costs have now gone up & that’s more money taken from the uk economy.
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Turning nationalization into a windfall for overseas corporations seems the height of shortsightedness, but then humans never lack that!

However, at the lower income levels the “cycle of money” has always had a greater multiplier effect than the higher incomes.

Not insignificantly, though, that multiplier effect can be very positive for a generally self-contained, self-sustaining population. Sadly, though, even though every penny might be spent creating a potential multiplier effect, the siphoning off of not insignificant portions of that to imported, low quality, poor utility, products and services often devalued the sacrifice of those monies, and nullifies potential multiplier effects by the siphoning off of those monies to the country of export.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
Can’t argue with much of that, nor would I want to, as I think it helps lay bare the lack of public-private partnership, when and where it could create significant wins for all.

I am a firm believer in guardrail capitalism, where the rules are established and understood by all, and everyone understands the reasons for the guardrails.

While as a significant investor in the Stock
Market, I appreciate the need for profits to not be the sole motivator for any product or company. That said, we don’t seem to be able to find that happy medium, as the pendulum lurches wildly from limit to limit.

In many respects, the Germans seem to have found, or at least generally accepted the need for, workers rights, including a voice in the leadership of a company. These kinds of partnerships, while incorporating societal goals, where the profit motive is not the primary, or sole, objective, feel like a healthy balance for all concerned.

And, while they may not be a panacea, one cannot let perfection be the enemy of the good, even while seeking that level of performance.
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I have no problem with capitalism, until it breaks those trusts you rightly highlight.
Unfortunately, we seem to have a range of politicians who are desperate to withdraw from human-rights and worker-rights legislation, and who are lobbied by investment funds to keep that narrative going through their media channels.

If a commercial business pays people well, pays its taxes, upholds the law, and takes care of the environment then I have no problem. If it breaches those codes of right and wrong, and makes billions of pounds in sales from the UK consumer but then diverts its profits through tax-havens then damn right I have an issue with that business, and we seem to have too many of those, allowed to get away with it by politicians linked to the same behaviours.
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
You are correct, that they arguably aren’t industries per se, but the overarching principle still applies - some things are better run by the state, and the provision of a road network isn’t just about producing goods to the lowest unit price in the best interests of competition.
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They are services for which we spread the cost in order to provide everyone with the shared benefit. However, if you never used them and your next door neighbor was using them all the time…yet paying a small fraction of the cost you endure, you might feel miffed about that.

That’s exactly what happens with these public services paid for with tax monies…the wealthy neighbor subsidizes the less well off neighbor. We have (generally) accepted this construct for those essential services for which we all need their protection, yet have no idea when.

I’m not sure how well that readily transfers to the socialism vs capitalism argument, but I’ll grant you we all need water and electricity, and can even prosper from a robust public transportation system. However, I would remind you that the more you want, the more money is usually needed, because bloat and bureaucracy reduce the very profits one hopes would make these services self-sufficient.

It’s a dog chasing its tail, catching it, biting it, and realizing the game is all fun and games until someone gets hurt…physically or financially. Or, as Maggie put it, “it’s a great idea until you run out of other people’s money.”
 
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oldius said:
I have no problem with capitalism, until it breaks those trusts you rightly highlight.
Unfortunately, we seem to have a range of politicians who are desperate to withdraw from human-rights and worker-rights legislation, and who are lobbied by investment funds to keep that narrative going through their media channels.

If a commercial business pays people well, pays its taxes, upholds the law, and takes care of the environment then I have no problem. If it breaches those codes of right and wrong, and makes billions of pounds in sales from the UK consumer but then diverts its profits through tax-havens then damn right I have an issue with that business, and we seem to have too many of those, allowed to get away with it by politicians linked to the same behaviours.
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While some of that is subjective feelings, I’d venture the problem is not the company using whatever tools are at its disposal to avoid diverting its revenues to places it would rather avoid, but the laws that allow it to happen.

Now, tell me again…who writes the laws?!

And we have found the problem!

Here in the States, the money in politics since the Citizens United SCOTUS decision has overshadowed the grassroots politics of yesteryear and us destroying what little was left of the republican democracy that we rely on to choose our politicians and the cesspool in which they operate!
 
ChicagoBlue said:
You didn’t discuss the mentality of the Norwegians, people or politics, but listed a litany of grievances about renting vs buying???

I remember when Britain really did feel great. Maybe that was the naïveté of youth, but I simply don’t recognize the country anymore. The contrast between new and old, clean and decrepit, vibrant and tired has never been more stark.

In many respects, I’m sad to see what I see when I return, especially given what I see when I travel. There are few positive comparisons.
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It wasn’t very clear what you were asking. As you first questioned when has Nationalism worked I assumed we were continuing in that vein & you needed an example of how privatising has impacted the UK. Many years ago I worked for a nationalised company & they employed people who are likely unemployable now, opening envelopes, post room, janitors, salary & pensions. These people are cut out when privatised so lose their worth & are now on benefits.

The mentality of Norwegians is they don’t want to see their neighbour suffer so they are happy to pay taxes to ensure everyone is ok. Their economy allows them to have very rich people but those less fortunate should still have dignity.

They’ve come a long way from raping & pillaging ;)
 
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