Sunday, April 19, 2026
I flipped on theTV for a few seconds and saw the end of His Kind of Woman.
A1951 movie staring Robert Mitchum, Jane Russel, Vincent Price, and Raymond Burr. Howard Huges was the big boss. The film ran way over budget because Hughes kept making changes and demanding odd things. This I learned from the host after the movie ended. He wrapped up by saying, “Which asks the question, ‘How does someone so erratic, so delusional, so incompetent become the boss?”
Yes, I wonder.
Thursday, April 16, 2026
I was struck by comments about Victor Orban and his economic plans, if you can call them that.
The Heritage Foundation praised them. Various Republicans and right wing groups said that Orban’s economic plans were their model, as did folks on Fox.
I don’t know what they saw in his plans. He destroyed the everyday economy of Hungary. It is stagnant and we are one tenth of a point better in the U.S. of A.
It reminded me of that Prime Minister in England, a conservative, who put forward an economic plan that was hailed by the same or similar group of folks that like Orban’s economic plans. She lasted five weeks, I think. The shortest time of any Prime Minister. Her economic plan was the main reason. It was a disaster. Right on it’s face. Yet, the same right-wingers and Fox praised it.
Why, I keep asking myself, are these people thinking that these very destructive ideas a good idea? I don’t know.
I think it comes down to a difference in philosophy. Put simply – Do you want a rising tide that lifts all boats or do you just want to get your boat off the beach and screw everyone else?
For decades the candidates in the Republican Party have used the phrase “tax and spend” derisively when describing Democrats. Yet it is the Republican Party, when in power that spends – much more than the Democrats. And, to make things worse, when the Republicans are in power they not only spend more, but they run up the debt. They don’t tax. They just spend. And when the Dems come in to clean up the mess they wail about the Deficit.
I heard Senator Ed Markey questioning someone from the GAO about the effect of the Big Beautiful Bill on our deficit. In ten years it will add thirty trillion dollars to the deficit. That bill alone will double our debt which will mean it will stand at double the amount of our whole annual economy. That is if we don’t get an uptick in interest rates, which is highly likely given the shaky nature of our economic house. The GAO guy said even a small uptick would blow the amount added to the deficit to fifty trillion.
When Biden left office we had the strongest economy in the world. Now? To quote our President, “People can’t believe…”
And don’t forget when Obama left office and before Trump came in we had a deal with Iran. Now? We have a war, which no one seems to know what for.
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
The point has been made that autocracy and corruption go hand in hand.
Paul Krugman pointed out that this can be tracked statistically. The biggest take away from the chart he showed was the comment in the chart that “no country is rated as both highly democratic and corrupt.”
Rachel Maddow pointed out that Victor Orban’s Hungary had anemic economic growth (.4%) and we in the U.S. under Trump are at .5%.
Then there are the charts showing that the worst states economically and educationally are all under Republican control. In the case of Texas it used to be #7 in reading under Democratic governor Ann Richards. Under the Bushs and Greg Abbott it has fallen to #47.
Every Republican president from Ronald Reagan on has increased the deficit, made the economy worse, and infringed our liberties. Yet, the Republican candidates keep blaming the Democrats for the messes that they the Republicans create. Or as Bill Clinton has said, “their big complaint about the Democrats is we don’t clean up their messes fast enough.”
Imagine if Trump while in office had done nothing, just let things go at their own pace. We’d have a deal with Iran. We’d be pushing Russia back on its heels in Ukraine. The economy would be booming. Health care and education would be increasing. Basic research would still be going on. Instead all those things are in decline.
Then there is Trump and Russia. Is he a tool of the Russians? Every indication is that he is. We’ve never learned about the server in Trump Tower that was communicating directly with a server in Russia.
Then there is Jeffery Epstein. Does anyone believe that a man who hung out with Jeff for over ten years, swapped birthday cards with innuendos in them and has been photographed with numerous underage girls and been accused by multiple women of sexual assault not know what was up?
Then there’s Trump’s latest speech where he said the world cannot believe what they are seeing. Indeed they can’t but they’ve learned.
The best indication of what people think of Trump is to look at the price of oil. During his latest speech the price of Brent Crude went up $8 a barrel.
We will be paying for this reckless, incompetent, corrupt insanity for decades.
I doubt we will ever get back to our standing in the world that we once enjoyed.