"Ukrainians understand what losing is like because they saw Bucha. They saw the bodies in the streets of Bucha. Israelis know what losing is like because they know that October 7 was a dress rehearsal for the Holocaust II. But we don’t really know what losing would mean. And young Americans absolutely have no concept. In fact, young Americans are so complacent about freedom that they’re basically against it now, which is a bizarre turn of events. "
To quote the President that changed everything for me, after being indoctrinated by University of Michigan for four years:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Couldn't agree more with Niall Ferguson. When Fukuyama wrote "The End of History", we all seemed to say "Whew, glad that's over." History has other ideas. America was always safe because our military capability and the global belief that we would use it was feared by our enemies. Given the pusillanimous withdrawal from Afghanistan, our drive to make the military "woke", our feckless behavior relative to Iran's aggression, the fact that we let a Chinese spy balloon hover our military installations unmolested, and the lack of a Southern Border for three years, I do not believe that America is feared any longer. There is a very real possibility that 2024 could be a year like none we have experienced before. I can only hope I am wrong.
Niall Ferguson is right. An aura of inevitability tends to creep in on Monday morning, and it should be a habit to remember those wins that were, in fact, close. World War II wasn't a given, and much closer than many realize. The release of Cold War spy files in the early '90s revealed that, shocker, there really were communist agents and traitors in the country working for its failure. And now we're supposed to win Cold War II when we won't even keep Thanksgiving parades and Christmas tree lightings orderly, let alone access roads to major airports?
Frank Luntz refers to First Lady Jill Biden as "one of our best in modern times." He left out that Dr. Biden is also a world-class physician. See say pwodway!
This was a FUN episode. I have to disagree with Tyler on inflation. While it's down year over year, prices are still very high. I always base it on the index ratio for the TIPS (treasury inflation protected securities) I bought on 4/15/2021 where the baseline index ratio was 1.00. On 12/31/2023, the index ratio was 1.17321. That means since April 2021 CPI has increased 17.321%. That's A LOT! Thankfully for 2023 the increase was only 3.685% because I have to pay taxes on that phantom income.
Yikes. Bummer. The cream is not rising to the top anymore. We are putting ourselves at risk as a country by allowing schools to operate graduating students far below grade level and far below international ranking. We are putting ourselves at risk by forcing our military to be injected with experimental vaccines which do not prevent transmission of a disease for which young people are at very low risk. We are putting ourselves at risk by allowing our environment and food supply to be saturated with chemicals banned in other countries. And why—after a “war on terror”which involved giving up significant individual rights—is our border suddenly open to millions, no questions asked? Biden is so arrogant, he doesn’t even try to justify it. In addition, why were thousands of competent firefighters and nurses and pilots fired for not getting vaccinated while non-citizens were allowed to stream unvaccinated into the country? Stop pretending this makes any sense. We have to stop selling off our future piece by piece. We need the best, brightest, and most ethical back. At this point we can’t afford anything less.
“Let’s just imagine that there is a Taiwan crisis and they send two aircraft carrier groups, and the Chinese just sink both the carriers”
————————————————————
Yes but remember how we saved 14% on low quality products for a while and closed all those gross factories?
I love how the bill for the actual cost of ‘free trade’ is coming due at the exact same time that David From is telling me that overthrowing the government of Russia is actually going to be quite cost effective.
Frank luntz has completely jumped the shark. Not a doctor Jill is a grasping greedy person who clearly doesn’t want to have to be alone with Joey. Hence she’ll never relax her grip on the WH. Dems are stuck with Joey.
How about a vow, nobody votes for idiots that support the government telling you how to live your life. Vote for freedom of thought and actions. No DEI or men are women, just vote for whoever says, you the American can decide your future and what you want to be.
You know about a year ago or so Instagram was seemingly trying to force feed the word "rizz" into my vocabulary. It was so aggressive in this behavior that I started actively flagging posts with the word in it. I am never up to date on lingo the kids are using, but this felt like the company itself was trying to make "fetch" happen for some nefarious corporate marketing proof to advertisers. I know it has an "origin" but I often wonder if you looked closer at that story of where it came from you might discover there is some historical engineering involved. The internet has me suspicious of everything these days :D
Matt Taibbi did a serious and ascerbic critique of Ferguson’s position, pointing out that more than 50% of Americans are tired of the endless wars and their costs. He lumped Ferguson in with the elites and hawks at the Hoover Institute who roll their eyes at the idea that average Americans ought to have a say in how their country is run. Generally I like Ferguson and the “Goodfellows’ podcast the Hoover guys do, but Taibbi made me think, and I tend to agree. Enough with the world policeman stuff. Fight your own damn wars.
Niall Ferguson is exactly right. Many Americans understandably want to "fix our problems at home", as if that's even happening, and they assume we can't do two things at once. That's not fair - our government disgraced us all in Afghanistan and slow walks aid to Ukraine, all the while botching COVID and abandoning any pretense of controlling our southern border. So it's clear our government can do multiple things at once.
To put Ferguson's point more plainly, Americans live in a fantasy land where they wear peace signs and are reflexively anti-war. Ah, the luxury of being children in a country that has not been invaded, its people slaughtered - one of the few on earth. OK, have it your way - let's say we withdraw from the rest of the planet and retreat to our shores... What happens?
First, look at all the items in your house. Most of them are from overseas. Well, that ends. Products become much more narrow, and scarce. We have money but little to spend it on. Inflation soars. With half of the S&P 500's marketplace gone and global financing shrinking, the Stock and Bond Markets both crash. Millennials favor experiences over things. But overseas travel narrows to places like Mexico and Hawaii as the rest of the world devolves into regional wars without the restraint of Pax Americana, no matter how imperfect it was. Our longstanding allies, lacking any deterrent, quickly develop nuclear, chemical and biologic weapons arsenals. Regional alliances and rivalries re-emerge, and war becomes ubiquitous as China takes Taiwan, South Korea "negotiates" with the North and an isolated Japan goes on war footing. Africa becomes a shooting gallery, and the Mideast erupts as Iran and Turkey fight to control the region. Israel fights for its life. Russia helps itself to its former USSR territories and then some, as Putin has long advocated. Europe does what Europe always does. Global warming ceases as a topic of conversation. In an increasingly dangerous world, the U.S. government becomes more authoritarian, because we can't risk the chaos we're seeing overseas. Who will be the targets of future crackdowns remains to be seen.
Yes, it's unfair we have to be the world's policeman. Yes, it's expensive. In fact, the whole thing is terrible. It's just that, in today's world, the alternative is worse. Much, much worse.
Niall Ferguson's scenario is something we all need to be thinking about. A major middle east conflict (nuclear?) would almost certainly involve the US in a big way (may be even with boots on ground). How many fronts can the US deal with at one time? A perfect storm, the time for Russia and China to make their moves.
"Ukrainians understand what losing is like because they saw Bucha. They saw the bodies in the streets of Bucha. Israelis know what losing is like because they know that October 7 was a dress rehearsal for the Holocaust II. But we don’t really know what losing would mean. And young Americans absolutely have no concept. In fact, young Americans are so complacent about freedom that they’re basically against it now, which is a bizarre turn of events. "
To quote the President that changed everything for me, after being indoctrinated by University of Michigan for four years:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Couldn't agree more with Niall Ferguson. When Fukuyama wrote "The End of History", we all seemed to say "Whew, glad that's over." History has other ideas. America was always safe because our military capability and the global belief that we would use it was feared by our enemies. Given the pusillanimous withdrawal from Afghanistan, our drive to make the military "woke", our feckless behavior relative to Iran's aggression, the fact that we let a Chinese spy balloon hover our military installations unmolested, and the lack of a Southern Border for three years, I do not believe that America is feared any longer. There is a very real possibility that 2024 could be a year like none we have experienced before. I can only hope I am wrong.
Niall Ferguson is right. An aura of inevitability tends to creep in on Monday morning, and it should be a habit to remember those wins that were, in fact, close. World War II wasn't a given, and much closer than many realize. The release of Cold War spy files in the early '90s revealed that, shocker, there really were communist agents and traitors in the country working for its failure. And now we're supposed to win Cold War II when we won't even keep Thanksgiving parades and Christmas tree lightings orderly, let alone access roads to major airports?
Frank Luntz refers to First Lady Jill Biden as "one of our best in modern times." He left out that Dr. Biden is also a world-class physician. See say pwodway!
This was a FUN episode. I have to disagree with Tyler on inflation. While it's down year over year, prices are still very high. I always base it on the index ratio for the TIPS (treasury inflation protected securities) I bought on 4/15/2021 where the baseline index ratio was 1.00. On 12/31/2023, the index ratio was 1.17321. That means since April 2021 CPI has increased 17.321%. That's A LOT! Thankfully for 2023 the increase was only 3.685% because I have to pay taxes on that phantom income.
Yikes. Bummer. The cream is not rising to the top anymore. We are putting ourselves at risk as a country by allowing schools to operate graduating students far below grade level and far below international ranking. We are putting ourselves at risk by forcing our military to be injected with experimental vaccines which do not prevent transmission of a disease for which young people are at very low risk. We are putting ourselves at risk by allowing our environment and food supply to be saturated with chemicals banned in other countries. And why—after a “war on terror”which involved giving up significant individual rights—is our border suddenly open to millions, no questions asked? Biden is so arrogant, he doesn’t even try to justify it. In addition, why were thousands of competent firefighters and nurses and pilots fired for not getting vaccinated while non-citizens were allowed to stream unvaccinated into the country? Stop pretending this makes any sense. We have to stop selling off our future piece by piece. We need the best, brightest, and most ethical back. At this point we can’t afford anything less.
“Let’s just imagine that there is a Taiwan crisis and they send two aircraft carrier groups, and the Chinese just sink both the carriers”
————————————————————
Yes but remember how we saved 14% on low quality products for a while and closed all those gross factories?
I love how the bill for the actual cost of ‘free trade’ is coming due at the exact same time that David From is telling me that overthrowing the government of Russia is actually going to be quite cost effective.
Frank luntz has completely jumped the shark. Not a doctor Jill is a grasping greedy person who clearly doesn’t want to have to be alone with Joey. Hence she’ll never relax her grip on the WH. Dems are stuck with Joey.
How about a vow, nobody votes for idiots that support the government telling you how to live your life. Vote for freedom of thought and actions. No DEI or men are women, just vote for whoever says, you the American can decide your future and what you want to be.
I will gladly share with Tyler today’s grocery bill. Then he can convince me my eyes are lying about inflation.
How is Jill Biden one of our best in modern times? Please explain.
I don't get it!
You know about a year ago or so Instagram was seemingly trying to force feed the word "rizz" into my vocabulary. It was so aggressive in this behavior that I started actively flagging posts with the word in it. I am never up to date on lingo the kids are using, but this felt like the company itself was trying to make "fetch" happen for some nefarious corporate marketing proof to advertisers. I know it has an "origin" but I often wonder if you looked closer at that story of where it came from you might discover there is some historical engineering involved. The internet has me suspicious of everything these days :D
Matt Taibbi did a serious and ascerbic critique of Ferguson’s position, pointing out that more than 50% of Americans are tired of the endless wars and their costs. He lumped Ferguson in with the elites and hawks at the Hoover Institute who roll their eyes at the idea that average Americans ought to have a say in how their country is run. Generally I like Ferguson and the “Goodfellows’ podcast the Hoover guys do, but Taibbi made me think, and I tend to agree. Enough with the world policeman stuff. Fight your own damn wars.
Frank Luntz has more confidence in Jill Biden’s good sense than I do.
(She married Joe Biden, just sayin’.)
Niall Ferguson is exactly right. Many Americans understandably want to "fix our problems at home", as if that's even happening, and they assume we can't do two things at once. That's not fair - our government disgraced us all in Afghanistan and slow walks aid to Ukraine, all the while botching COVID and abandoning any pretense of controlling our southern border. So it's clear our government can do multiple things at once.
To put Ferguson's point more plainly, Americans live in a fantasy land where they wear peace signs and are reflexively anti-war. Ah, the luxury of being children in a country that has not been invaded, its people slaughtered - one of the few on earth. OK, have it your way - let's say we withdraw from the rest of the planet and retreat to our shores... What happens?
First, look at all the items in your house. Most of them are from overseas. Well, that ends. Products become much more narrow, and scarce. We have money but little to spend it on. Inflation soars. With half of the S&P 500's marketplace gone and global financing shrinking, the Stock and Bond Markets both crash. Millennials favor experiences over things. But overseas travel narrows to places like Mexico and Hawaii as the rest of the world devolves into regional wars without the restraint of Pax Americana, no matter how imperfect it was. Our longstanding allies, lacking any deterrent, quickly develop nuclear, chemical and biologic weapons arsenals. Regional alliances and rivalries re-emerge, and war becomes ubiquitous as China takes Taiwan, South Korea "negotiates" with the North and an isolated Japan goes on war footing. Africa becomes a shooting gallery, and the Mideast erupts as Iran and Turkey fight to control the region. Israel fights for its life. Russia helps itself to its former USSR territories and then some, as Putin has long advocated. Europe does what Europe always does. Global warming ceases as a topic of conversation. In an increasingly dangerous world, the U.S. government becomes more authoritarian, because we can't risk the chaos we're seeing overseas. Who will be the targets of future crackdowns remains to be seen.
Yes, it's unfair we have to be the world's policeman. Yes, it's expensive. In fact, the whole thing is terrible. It's just that, in today's world, the alternative is worse. Much, much worse.
Niall Ferguson's scenario is something we all need to be thinking about. A major middle east conflict (nuclear?) would almost certainly involve the US in a big way (may be even with boots on ground). How many fronts can the US deal with at one time? A perfect storm, the time for Russia and China to make their moves.