Elon and Trump Go Boom

[Aseahawkfan]

The Trump-Elon bromance is over. I'm sure no one saw this coming...

I'm surprised it took this long. I guess we'll see how this plays out as Elon can be a formidable enemy. Trump's sycophants will quickly turn against Elon. It looks like Musk must hate Stephen Miller as he took his wife when he left.

I imagine the Trump camp will push the Elon on drugs narrative, which anyone that invests in his companies or has listened to him knows he does. He smokes dopes, believes in psychedelics, and other drugs similar to Joe Rogan.

Let's see who takes the worst of this fight as neither one is known for backing down and both have immense resources to damage the other.

[Stream Hawk]

Here’s my brief political siting. It’s been popcorn all day. What a freaking s*** show.

[c_hawkbob]

They both have enough influence to permanently brand the other; one a druggie and the other a pedophile. This is good for neither but perhaps best for the rest of us.

The real winner might wind up being Vance. And the biggest loser the Republican party.

[River Dog]

Yeah, Musk has been at odds with Trump since he started imposing the tariffs that hurt his company Tesla so badly. I'm actually getting a kick out of this very public feud, especially this latest one about Trump and the files about Epstein.

But this is nothing compared to the damage that Trump and/or Musk could do to our country if they are left to their own devices. Having just spent a couple days at a very nice federal campground a long way from nowhere (10 miles from the Montana-Idaho border between Missoula and Lewiston) and where the USFS employees actually live near the campground, it reminded me how this experience could be destroyed forever.

[curmudgeon]

The 2026 season of TRUMPX is going to be lit!…….

[Aseahawkfan]

Yeah, Musk has been at odds with Trump since he started imposing the tariffs that hurt his company Tesla so badly. I'm actually getting a kick out of this very public feud, especially this latest one about Trump and the files about Epstein.

But this is nothing compared to the damage that Trump and/or Musk could do to our country if they are left to their own devices. Having just spent a couple days at a very nice federal campground a long way from nowhere (10 miles from the Montana-Idaho border between Missoula and Lewiston) and where the USFS employees actually live near the campground, it reminded me how this experience could be destroyed forever.

It could be destroyed forever not by Trump, but by the insane financial mismanagement of the nation. We paid 882 billion interest on the national debt. That is 13 percent of U.S tax revenues on the interest of the debt without paying down any of the principal. We paid 1.52 trillion or 22.4 percent on social security which is funded by a 13.2 percent tax broken down between the employee and the employer. The interest payment on the debt and the debt itself are funded by nothing but taking money from other programs to pay the bill the government has built up.

I'm betting both political parties have given up on paying the national debt and are triaging the interest until they bankrupt the nation or can inflate their way out of this and try to gain some stability with massive money printing while cutting at the same time, something neither party wants to do. Democrats don't like to cut spending, they just keep spending more. Republicans don't seem to want to increase taxes, they keep cutting taxes and pretending trickle-down economics works when it doesn't.

Given how American politicians must obtain support for campaigns and votes, they have no choice but to appease the rich who pay for the campaigns and appease the voters who provide the support to take office. This careful balance has led to bad management of the nation as it seems to attract people more interested in running the government like a business in the Republican Party or a charity in the Democratic Party. Neither way is a good way to run a nation.

The American people themselves are culpable themselves as they support both of these ideologies whether it's wealthy business people in the Republican Party funding campaigns or the left where wealthy environmentalists and social crusaders fund the Democratic Party. No one is much interested in sensible management of a nation and government that was meant to be responsible and stay out of the way unless they have to step in.

We're already headed for an iceberg labeled the national debt and the only way they can think to keep us from hitting it is keep adding water to keep the ship farther away but making water worth less and everything else on the ship cost more hoping wages keep up enough Americans can afford life. It's getting stretched more and more to the point it has to break. When that happens, national camping grounds will be pretty low on the list of concerns.

it's funny the number of folks that think the debt doesn't matter as the interest payments become a larger and larger portion of the federal budget as they keep expanding the debt. Both parties keep implementing policy that isn't good for the national debt which leads to economics that aren't good for working people. Pretty terrible path American politicians have put us on with the largest generation in history retiring and on fixed income when they have to inflate the hell out of the economy to have some chance of getting control of the debt or the interest payments will keep eating the federal budget. They seem to want to convince us all the tax-supported social security and Medicare is the problem while they keep running up the debt and spending irresponsibly on other areas of the government.

It's something to watch. I think America is either going to have to move to European style socialism with higher taxes or a third-world stratified nation of wealthy and poor as the middle class is destroyed by inflation and debt mismanagement by both parties due to both parties keeping Americans at each other's throats so working class Americans never gain the power to gain control of this situation in a way favorable to them. Younger generation seems to be realizing they are screwed.

[River Dog]

I don't disagree with anything you've said. The last POTUS to really care about balancing the budget and managing the national debt was Eisenhower. Since then, both parties haven't given a rip about it. Even Reagan increased the national debt with his tax cuts and military spending. Contrast that with Ike, who did not want to engage the Soviets in an arms race and was against the space program due to budgetary concerns. But the politicians are the product of the voting public. The root cause is the stupidity and gullibility of the American adult.

I see where Musk is walking back some of his comments about Trump. He deleted his tweet about the files on Epstein as they relate to DJT.

[Aseahawkfan]

I don't disagree with anything you've said. The last POTUS to really care about balancing the budget and managing the national debt was Eisenhower. Since then, both parties haven't given a rip about it. Even Reagan increased the national debt with his tax cuts and military spending. Contrast that with Ike, who did not want to engage the Soviets in an arms race and was against the space program due to budgetary concerns. But the politicians are the product of the voting public. The root cause is the stupidity and gullibility of the American adult.

I see where Musk is walking back some of his comments about Trump. He deleted his tweet about the files on Epstein as they relate to DJT.

Elon may be a genius at managing assets and with science, but his arrogance and temper are going to cost him immensely. Pissing off both major political parties is super dumb when his companies are heavily dependent on government assistance whether it's Tesla's reliance no EV credits and Space X generating revenue from N.A.S.A. It is showing that Elon's arrogance is making him think he's untouchable and he's starting to learn that is not the case.

Can you believe the national debt is at 13 percent of the federal budge of 6.8 trillion? That's insane. I wonder how many people run their household where they are paying 13 percent of their monthly income in interest while continuing to run up the debt to increase the interest payment? Almost a trillion in just interest is nuts.

[River Dog]

I don't disagree with anything you've said. The last POTUS to really care about balancing the budget and managing the national debt was Eisenhower. Since then, both parties haven't given a rip about it. Even Reagan increased the national debt with his tax cuts and military spending. Contrast that with Ike, who did not want to engage the Soviets in an arms race and was against the space program due to budgetary concerns. But the politicians are the product of the voting public. The root cause is the stupidity and gullibility of the American adult.

I see where Musk is walking back some of his comments about Trump. He deleted his tweet about the files on Epstein as they relate to DJT.

Elon may be a genius at managing assets and with science, but his arrogance and temper are going to cost him immensely. Pissing off both major political parties is super dumb when his companies are heavily dependent on government assistance whether it's Tesla's reliance no EV credits and Space X generating revenue from N.A.S.A. It is showing that Elon's arrogance is making him think he's untouchable and he's starting to learn that is not the case.

I'm not so sure that Musk is a genius. Although it does help to be smart, it's not necessary to be highly intelligent in order to be be a successful businessman. Donald Trump is living proof of that. It's kinda like that Kenny Rogers song about playing poker: Know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.

One of the few things that I do agree with DJT on is that Musk has gone nuts.

Can you believe the national debt is at 13 percent of the federal budge of 6.8 trillion? That's insane. I wonder how many people run their household where they are paying 13 percent of their monthly income in interest while continuing to run up the debt to increase the interest payment? Almost a trillion in just interest is nuts.

We spend more on the servicing of the national debt than we do on defense. The national debt has doubled in just the past 10 years. At some point, the chickens have to come home to roost.

[Aseahawkfan]

We spend more on the servicing of the national debt than we do on defense. The national debt has doubled in just the past 10 years. At some point, the chickens have to come home to roost.

They keep blaming social security, but without this insane debt social security and Medicare would be funded.

They need to both increase taxes and decrease spending to lower this debt. Most likely they'll choose the same path they did after World War 2...inflate the economy until the debt is a smaller proportion then hope they can get control of spending. Future generations will be paying double or more what we paid for the same things just like you and I pay way more for the same things.

[River Dog]

We spend more on the servicing of the national debt than we do on defense. The national debt has doubled in just the past 10 years. At some point, the chickens have to come home to roost.

They keep blaming social security, but without this insane debt social security and Medicare would be funded.

Social Security suffers from two basic problems: Increase in life expectancy and age demographics. People are living longer, and not enough younger workers are backfilling the jobs they're leaving. They have two basic choices: Cut benefits and/or raise taxes.

The easiest benefit to cut would be to take away the early retirement option and make everyone work until at least age 67. There are some smaller, incremental changes they could make, like giving people the option of deferring their benefit to later in life in lieu of a higher monthly benefit. That's what I did, deferred taking my SS until age 70, the max I could push it out. There's also rules about divorcees being able to collect a former spouse's SS that might not be as painful to cut, too. But they're going to have to make a significant increase in the payroll tax for both SS and Medicare to be fully funded.

They need to both increase taxes and decrease spending to lower this debt. Most likely they'll choose the same path they did after World War 2...inflate the economy until the debt is a smaller proportion then hope they can get control of spending. Future generations will be paying double or more what we paid for the same things just like you and I pay way more for the same things.

It's not going to happen under our current form of government unless a huge calamity happens, like a war or another Great Depression.

[Aseahawkfan]

It's not going to happen under our current form of government unless a huge calamity happens, like a war or another Great Depression.

The cutting spending and increasing taxes won't happen, but the inflation is going to happen. They're going to lie to you about it as they do it. Both parties will play hot potato looking to blame the other while they keep the plebes at each other's throats on Fox, CNN, and CNBC and whatever other news media is out there, then both parties will inflate, inflate, inflate. Anyone owning assets or businesses they can liquidate will be happy, those having to work for fixed wages and paying property and other taxes will cry since inflation with percentage based taxes are painful if your income doesn't increase to offset the higher taxes, cost of living, and the like.

I think they'll slow roll it as much as they can with periods of high inflation. It's going to happen. I don't see how the politicians have any other choice since they won't cut spending and raise taxes with sole focus of reducing the debt.

No matter how they do it, it will be painful to the American middle and working class.