Attack on the Feds independence

[Handlebar]

Free speech? The previous administration was working with the tech companies to stifle speech but now has the gall to call others fascists.

NATO, we have been paying the lions share for that organization forever, during the first Trump admin he was mocked and derided by the media for dare suggesting that other NATO countries actually pay what they are obligated to pay, and if you are fearful of Russia maybe not buy oil and gas from them. But as soon as Ukraine happened by God they wanted us to clean up their back yard. Apparently, we should have asked for Greenland sooner, I cannot remember the Europeans having this much backbone before.
Powell has a cost overrun of over a billion if the reports are correct and spare me the "it is politics". Interest rates and fiscal policy have been nakedly political for a while now. I have no tears for the Federal Reserve or bankers in general. They were all quite comfortable watching the financial condition prior to 2008 and made sure through their backing that bonuses were still paid out in 2009-10

Democratic evolution has been just as drastic, they are quite comfortable with boys in your daughter's locker room and don't you dare say anything about you transphobic bigot, you deplorable who bitterly clings to outdated social morals and has limited education and information. Hell, I am prochoice but in Colorado and I believe Minnesota you can abort damn near to moment the baby starts to crown. A doctor yesterday during a congressional hearing could not confirm that men cannot get pregnant, but Republicans have evolved into total nonsense.

But fear not for I do not believe that Dems are losing in fact I think they are somewhat successful. We are just seeing the fraud associated with NGOs and weather you liked DOGE or not the spending associated USAID and other programs. But 99% of things that were pointed out never were cut so we will still be paying for things that we have no business paying. Congressional Republicans stood on their feet and applauded and then put everything back.

I am of the conclusion that the established parties are two sides of the same coin with outliers. Dems wanted illegals for the votes, Repubs wanted them for the cheap labor. Blue collar labor has watched salaries stagnate either through trade deals that benefited stock traders or a blind eye to an invasion of labor coming across the border. One thing that Trump has proved is that you just need to enforce the laws that we already had on the books we did not need a comprehensive new bill, that was nothing but amnesty for illegal crossing and a further incentive to keep coming.

My son enters the job force in a couple of years I fear that in many ways the deck is stacked against him and others

 

[Khunter]

 

[SaskHunter]

a few quotes doesn't make it like 1936....i'm not saying I agree with everything being done by this administration, but as soon as someone tries using the Nazi comparisons you loose me.

But it's more than slogans, it's the militarization of the State against its citizens, lack of due process, violent rhetoric, and so on. Making a parallel to the Nazis doesn't mean the US will start gassing people, but it does mean that a lot of things are historically similar to fascist takeovers. If you can't see the parallels, you are either disingenuous or lying to yourself.

At any rate, I would think a Canadian would be much more concerned about all the issues going on in Canada. But having lived in Canada for 6 years, one thing i learned is Canadians have almost no interest in Canadian issues. The media and politicians up there have done an amazing job at deflecting and focusing on the U.S. It's smart on their part.

I think your last point used to hold weight 10+ years ago, but not at all in recent years, since COVID anyway. Canadians are extremely concerned with Canadian issues, the biggest of all has been the constant economical and territorial threats coming from down South for the past year. I think it's very understandable that Canadians are obsessed with the US right now when we can't go a single day without a US gov't official talking trash about us, imposing tariffs, threatening our territorial integrity, or overall making fun of us. Having spent a lot of time in the US and having family down there, I guarantee your country would have taken severe actions against any other nation who would have made a fraction of the threats the US has made to Canada.

Pete Hoekstra, the US Ambassador to Canada, has been the biggest POS of them all. The man is spewing dangerous anti-Canadian rhetoric on Canadian soil, enjoying his sweet sweet diplomatic immunity. The fact that our gov't hasn't declared him persona non grata speaks volume to how tolerant we have been with this BS.

I know its hard for some to believe that we only want to maintain this friendship, we absolutely DO NOT want to join you. Though we are similar "people", we are still significantly different, annexing Canada would essentially mean annexing tens of millions of Democrats. I think some people are disillusioned and actually believe that becoming an American citizen equates winning the game of life, it isn't, standards of living in most 1st world countries is on par if not better than the US'.

Happy to see most of you are very concerned with what's happening, it just sucks that the rest of the world is just waiting for the next unhinged thing to come out of this admin.

NATO countries are literally deploying NATO troops, to a NATO country because of possible aggression from an original NATO member, wild! The Canadian gov't and Armed Forces are literally preparing for possible actions on our territory or another NATO ally's. The fact that these last two sentences are facts, not fiction, is beyond ridiculous!

 

[Irrelevant]

I made no comparison between what Clinton/Obama said and the crazy things Trump tries to get people to believe. If you read it again I doubt you will see the comparison you've claimed. I didn't.

Many in the Dem leadership are incredulous that Trump won even once and they lack any self-inspection to their contribution to that. I was pointing out some of the events that happened along the way that Dems seem to be oblivious to, either intentionally or by lack of understanding, that have caused them to lose touch with many of the voters they historically counted on.

Among the hardcore party Dems I encounter today, that same level of arrogance and condescension continues and they are just as oblivious. I provided an explanation of the problems Dems have and don't seem interested in fixing, not a comparison to Trump. Their inattention to their position is why they aren't going to save us from the problems of today, at least not in my view.

And none of it is letting the Rs off the hook for their contribution to the problems. The spineless Rs in Congress want to secure a political future by being a Trump bootlicker. They're a bunch of enablers who ten years from now will be embarrassed when asked to explain why they were so absent when their leadership was so badly needed.

I have no use for Trump, his unfit character, his disregard for the Constitution, or his group of spineless minions working the levers of power. Maybe a more accurate term for my feelings about him would be "despise." There are some of his policies I agree with, but I never have, and never will, vote for a person who I see to be as morally and ethically bankrupt as he is, a person who degrades every institution that has made America great, and is laughing as he wipes his ass with the US Constitution.

Rather that vote for either of the mainstream party nominees, since 2016, I've ended up writing in Condoleezza Rice and John Kasich for my Presidential/VP vote.

None of that is a comparison or an equivalency. It's two different accounts, about two different groups, taking two different paths, in the same race to zero, as explained through the lens of my lfie experiences.

I read it twice last night and once again this morning.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Obama had sent federal law enforcement to Dallas?
Or said, "He who saves his Country does not violate any Law."
Or, “I don’t need international law” and that his power is limited only by his “own morality”
What if Obama, Biden, or Hilary had said ole Charlie Kirk deserved it because of his politics, as the Cheeto did with Rob Reiner?

Those results would have been so vastly different that we likely wouldn't be pissing away time on HT to talk about it.

Sign me up for the status quo of the early 2000s. I'll take a two-party system that simply operates in pork to the current one based exclusively on violence and hatred. What's even worse is that I, like you, and I'm sure many, many others, actually like many of the things Mr. Spray Tan is doing. But a civilized society cannot allow civility to be extinguished. The normalization we've seen, and, again, the mental gymnastics used to equate the two "evils" is much worse for the durability of our republic than simple corruption and poor governance that we've seen since the start.

 

[brymoore]

Sign me up for the status quo of the early 2000s. I'll take a two-party system that simply operates in pork to the current one based exclusively on violence and hatred.

I miss the Reagan days when two parties negotiated bills. Both parties spent too much money but they did it civilly.

 

[Bonasababy]

But it's more than slogans, it's the militarization of the State against its citizens, lack of due process, violent rhetoric, and so on. Making a parallel to the Nazis doesn't mean the US will start gassing people, but it does mean that a lot of things are historically similar to fascist takeovers. If you can't see the parallels, you are either disingenuous or lying to yourself.



I think your last point used to hold weight 10+ years ago, but not at all in recent years, since COVID anyway. Canadians are extremely concerned with Canadian issues, the biggest of all has been the constant economical and territorial threats coming from down South for the past year. I think it's very understandable that Canadians are obsessed with the US right now when we can't go a single day without a US gov't official talking trash about us, imposing tariffs, threatening our territorial integrity, or overall making fun of us. Having spent a lot of time in the US and having family down there, I guarantee your country would have taken severe actions against any other nation who would have made a fraction of the threats the US has made to Canada.

Pete Hoekstra, the US Ambassador to Canada, has been the biggest POS of them all. The man is spewing dangerous anti-Canadian rhetoric on Canadian soil, enjoying his sweet sweet diplomatic immunity. The fact that our gov't hasn't declared him persona non grata speaks volume to how tolerant we have been with this BS.

I know its hard for some to believe that we only want to maintain this friendship, we absolutely DO NOT want to join you. Though we are similar "people", we are still significantly different, annexing Canada would essentially mean annexing tens of millions of Democrats. I think some people are disillusioned and actually believe that becoming an American citizen equates winning the game of life, it isn't, standards of living in most 1st world countries is on par if not better than the US'.

Happy to see most of you are very concerned with what's happening, it just sucks that the rest of the world is just waiting for the next unhinged thing to come out of this admin.

NATO countries are literally deploying NATO troops, to a NATO country because of possible aggression from an original NATO member, wild! The Canadian gov't and Armed Forces are literally preparing for possible actions on our territory or another NATO ally's. The fact that these last two sentences are facts, not fiction, is beyond ridiculous!

Its not just other countries.

I think a lot of people do not understand the scale of Trumps actions in my state and what some people are starting to grapple with here.

For all my life I have downplayed any need to arm oneself with a personal arsenal to defend against an oppressive government action.

I have long said we have laws and checks and balances in place to prevent that....including safeguards against using the military against its own law abiding citizens.... and in the worst case, enough LE and military would resist or lay down their arms before attacking their own.

That's out the window, the threat is real, checks are not being allowed by Republicans, and law abiding/constitution respecting people are wondering if they need to prepare for violent confrontation.

Never thought I would see anything remotely like what we are seeing happen, right here, right now.

 

[406dn]

I know its hard for some to believe that we only want to maintain this friendship, we absolutely DO NOT want to join you. Though we are similar "people", we are still significantly different, annexing Canada would essentially mean annexing tens of millions of Democrats. I think some people are disillusioned and actually believe that becoming an American citizen equates winning the game of life, it isn't, standards of living in most 1st world countries is on par if not better than the US'.

A few days ago, I came across an article that compared household wealth in the US compared to Canadian wealth. I did not find it just now, or I would have linked it.

The takeaway is that the US has a higher average net wealth, and Canada has a higher median wealth.

The US has more extremely wealthy people, and Canada has a more prosperous middle class.

This sort of thing is a result of policy, over a decent run of time. Canada, and much of Europe have higher tax rates, and the services that go with that. The US, since Reagan, has lower marginal tax rates, and more limited services.

People like Bezos, Zuckerberg, Gates, and others have been able to grow enormous fortunes. Musk is being mentioned as likely to become the world's first trillionaire. That would be one thousand billion dollars.

Over my lifetime, the bottom half of the US society has increasingly lost out. Their net worth is a pittance, if they even are above zero. That is the plight of over 150 million Americans.

The result of our policies is that half of our population is in survival mode.

I mentioned in an earlier post that my passion for field trialling pointing dogs from horseback, has taken me to Canada numerous times. One of the most striking things is that whatever poverty exists there, it is well hidden compared what I see here.

 

[SAJ-99]

NATO has been a leach for a long time. I don't want to exit NATO, but I think it's high time that the EU start paying up. Trump is right about that.

Fed independence? Do you recall them squashing valid inflation concerns during the last admin? I heard "transitory" for months/years - now they critique every move as "inflationary" - why weren't they independent enough to say that gov spending during Trump 1 and Biden would cause inflation? Gov spending more than it takes in causes inflation and always has.

The complicated stuff - like Iran? I openly criticized the admin for taking action against them. But in hindsight - I tend to think that was the correct move.

To me the right has moved - not "further right" but to a strange unhealthy imperialistic nationalism (tariffs, "america first", etc). The lefts certainly moved deep into their own strange places.

NATO- Yes, Trump is right. He is also repeating the same complaint every administration has had for the last 40yrs. Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama all of them. But you approach it like NATO has a checking account that all the countries put money into. That's not the way it works. It is % of GDP spent on defense. Since the start of NATO we have ALWAYS spent more on defense. Cold war, nuclear build up, etc. The situation got worse when Reagan decided to outspend the Russians to collapse the USSR economically. That worked. But after, while everyone else cut back on defense, we didn't. Our Congress just can't stop handing defense firms money. Recently what got Europe to step up was Putin invading Ukraine. Trump just increased our defense spending in OBBB and has proposed a $1.5T defense budget. Certainly a pipe dream, but even a small move means there is no way the rest of NATO can keep up. It just isn't mathematically possible.
The problem with Trump is he doesn't understand the concept of an alliance. This makes sense for a transactional guy with no real friends. To him, threatening allies makes complete sense to get what he wants. Unfortunately now we are in a situation where allies are very selective in the intelligence they share with us. So basically he made us weaker. See? Complicated.

The Fed- You are confusing being wrong about a forecast with being political. The Fed raised rates at the fastest pace since Volker in the late 70's. The market tanked and inflation cost Biden a lot of credibility and may have put Trump back in the White House. So political? In democrats favor? I just don' see it. Should the Fed work with Treasury? Yes. And they do. But you don't want them tasked with fixing problems caused by the Treasury, or Congress, or the President. You will pay the price. That is why independence is very important. Again. Complicated.

Iran and the middle east in general is mess. That isn't changing.

I agree that some of the left will espouse some weird ideas. But I think that group makes up the same percentage of its base as the MTG's and Boebarts make up for Republicans. Republicans problem is they have to embrace people who hate. That's the brand now. Old school conservatives (the non-racist ones) have largely left or just vote taxes. I do hope to see more independents. But that would require Americans to pay more attention in elections. I don't have much confidence in that.

 

[Big Fin]

I read it twice last night and once again this morning.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Obama had sent federal law enforcement to Dallas?
Or said, "He who saves his Country does not violate any Law."
Or, “I don’t need international law” and that his power is limited only by his “own morality”
What if Obama, Biden, or Hilary had said ole Charlie Kirk deserved it because of his politics, as the Cheeto did with Rob Reiner?

Those results would have been so vastly different that we likely wouldn't be pissing away time on HT to talk about it.

Sign me up for the status quo of the early 2000s. I'll take a two-party system that simply operates in pork to the current one based exclusively on violence and hatred. What's even worse is that I, like you, and I'm sure many, many others, actually like many of the things Mr. Spray Tan is doing. But a civilized society cannot allow civility to be extinguished. The normalization we've seen, and, again, the mental gymnastics used to equate the two "evils" is much worse for the durability of our republic than simple corruption and poor governance that we've seen since the start.

I agree with your comments, other than the implication that I'm equating, normalizing, or doing mental gymnastics. I suspect we share the same concerns of where we are at on January 16, 2026.

 

[SaskHunter]

A few days ago, I came across an article that compared household wealth in the US compared to Canadian wealth. I did not find it just now, or I would have linked it.

The takeaway is that the US has a higher average net wealth, and Canada has a higher median wealth.

The US has more extremely wealthy people, and Canada has a more prosperous middle class.

This sort of thing is a result of policy, over a decent run of time. Canada, and much of Europe have higher tax rates, and the services that go with that. The US, since Reagan, has lower marginal tax rates, and more limited services.

People like Bezos, Zuckerberg, Gates, and others have been able to grow enormous fortunes. Musk is being mentioned as likely to become the world's first trillionaire. That would be one thousand billion dollars.

Over my lifetime, the bottom half of the US society has increasingly lost out. Their net worth is a pittance, if they even are above zero. That is the plight of over 150 million Americans.

The result of our policies is that half of our population is in survival mode.

I mentioned in an earlier post that my passion for field trialling pointing dogs from horseback, has taken me to Canada numerous times. One of the most striking things is that whatever poverty exists there, it is well hidden compared what I see here.

Bottom line up-front: we pay a decent amount of taxes, but life is relatively worry-free. 10/10 recommend gov't funded through taxes, strong social programs.

27% of my overall gross income goes to taxes and I'm pretty damn happy with what I get in return, to name a few things: paid maternity leave (15 weeks prior to birth), paid parental leave (40 to 69 weeks after birth), paid paternity leave (5 to 9 weeks), free health care, subsidized daycares, free elementary and secondary schooling, cheap post-secondary studies, social security, Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance, etc. I also can't get fired because I called the President Prime Minister a .pdf protector.

I think something people don't understand is that if you make 260k, you don't pay a combined prov/fed tax rate of 47.5% for your total income (tax brackets below), it means that your earnings are progressively taxed per tax bracket, whatever % per tax bracket isn't tallied to the max for your gross income, your income is separated in tax brackets where that bracket is taxed at the bracket's rate.

We also don't have the American "hustle" culture where everyone seems to be overworked. We have strict employment laws and regulations to mandate federal $17.75/hour minimum wage (some Provinces at $19+), minimum paid vacations, sick leave, working hours, etc. We enjoy a lot of paid holidays and overall have a much better work/life balance. I remember on HT a few years back a thread where some members were mocking Canadians and our "aversion" to work and the numerous paid holidays we had, to this day I still don't understand the obsession with making work your life and entire personality. My job allows me to maintain the lifestyle my family and I enjoy, that's it, nothing more. I strive to be the last one in and first one out of work. My employer cannot use this against me as long as I complete my work during regular work hours, up to 37.5 hours a week, everything outside of that is over-time that my employer has to approve and pay me if I cannot reasonably perform my duties within these hours. There are obviously nuances with contractual work, shift workers, etc., but overall it's more or less the same. Yes, Canadians LOVE their paid time off to spend time with family, friends or afield!

Here are the Saskatchewan tax brackets for 2025:

• 10.5% on the first $53,463 of taxable income.
• 12.5% on the portion of taxable income over $53,463 up to $152,750.
• 14.5% on the portion of taxable income over $152,750.

2025 Federal Income Tax Brackets & Rates

• 15% on the first $57,375 of taxable income.
• 20.5% on the portion over $57,375 up to $114,750.
• 26% on the portion over $114,750 up to $177,882.
• 29% on the portion over $177,882 up to $253,414.
• 33% on the portion over $253,414.
  
  

 

[Bonasababy]

NATO- Yes, Trump is right. He is also repeating the same complaint every administration has had for the last 40yrs. Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama all of them. But you approach it like NATO has a checking account that all the countries put money into. That's not the way it works. It is % of GDP spent on defense. Since the start of NATO we have ALWAYS spent more on defense. Cold war, nuclear build up, etc. The situation got worse when Reagan decided to outspend the Russians to collapse the USSR economically. That worked. But after, while everyone else cut back on defense, we didn't. Our Congress just can't stop handing defense firms money. Recently what got Europe to step up was Putin invading Ukraine. Trump just increased our defense spending in OBBB and has proposed a $1.5T defense budget. Certainly a pipe dream, but even a small move means there is no way the rest of NATO can keep up. It just isn't mathematically possible.
The problem with Trump is he doesn't understand the concept of an alliance. This makes sense for a transactional guy with no real friends. To him, threatening allies makes complete sense to get what he wants. Unfortunately now we are in a situation where allies are very selective in the intelligence they share with us. So basically he made us weaker. See? Complicated.

The Fed- You are confusing being wrong about a forecast with being political. The Fed raised rates at the fastest pace since Volker in the late 70's. The market tanked and inflation cost Biden a lot of credibility and may have put Trump back in the White House. So political? In democrats favor? I just don' see it. Should the Fed work with Treasury? Yes. And they do. But you don't want them tasked with fixing problems caused by the Treasury, or Congress, or the President. You will pay the price. That is why independence is very important. Again. Complicated.

Iran and the middle east in general is mess. That isn't changing.

I agree that some of the left will espouse some weird ideas. But I think that group makes up the same percentage of its base as the MTG's and Boebarts make up for Republicans. Republicans problem is they have to embrace people who hate. That's the brand now. Old school conservatives (the non-racist ones) have largely left or just vote taxes. I do hope to see more independents. But that would require Americans to pay more attention in elections. I don't have much confidence in that.

I would agree and add this...that many dont appreciate, certainly Trumo and his admin/supporters dont.

The FED had to react to the actions taken during covid. The bail outs, the loans, the government hand outs...all that money inserted into peoples hands had the real potential to send the nation's economy into a tailspin.

The Fed is charged with supporting the economy and preventing such tailspins.

What so many forget is the actions Trump took himself to create the problem fircing the feds actions during his first administation. Now I think Trumps actions were mostly helpful ...though I might quibble with some actions (remember his Donald J. Trump checks we all received?). But they created a real potential problem the Fed had to address.

We can...IMO...have legitimate complaints...in hindsight...about the timing of the Feds actions.

But we cant dispute the fact that they were able to hold it together and prevent a tailspin.

Fast forward...the Fed was poised to ease up in a big way until Trump came in and forced the Feds hand again. His actions created a situation that pinned the Feds down, one that risked increasing inflation and poorer job markets.

These Trump actions increased the risk of lowering the Feds rate...easing his actions is the best way for Trump to encourage the Fed to lower rates.

Unlike the Feds actions during covid where both their and our president's actions were understandable and reasonable, today's situations blame has to look at the president's actions.

 

[westbranch]

On a more serious note, after seeing a few JD Vance interview clips I want to know how much we are spending on eyeliner on top of the already high spray tan budget.

 

[Irrelevant]

I agree with your comments, other than the implication that I'm equating, normalizing, or doing mental gymnastics. I suspect we share the same concerns of where we are at on January 16, 2026.

I know we agree on more than we don't. Yet...

I have hardened, for right or wrong, on the opinion that it is far, FAR more important to be able to weigh the two shit sandwiches and reach a conclusion about which one is better, even if only marginally, than it is to throw up your hands and declare them equally terrible. They are not.

Yes, both parties listen to the most extreme edges of their base. Yes, both are more concerned with winning than with the long term direction of the country. And yes, both are neck-deep in fraud and corruption, which I believe is intrinsic to politics and always has been. None of that is in dispute. But despite all of that, you still have to choose one or the other.

If you refuse to make that difficult choice and instead take the easier route—picking someone who has no realistic chance of being elected—you prevent any appreciable correction from ever occurring. In effect, you doom the country by opting out while convincing yourself you took the moral high ground.

If everything and everyone sucks, then what’s the point? That kind of defeatist mentality absolves you from the much harder work: sorting through the nuance, making a judgment call, and attempting to change the course, however incrementally. Declaring all options equally bad is not insight, it’s disengagement.

Is a pendulum swing ideal? No. Clearly not. But given the system we actually have, not the one we wish we had, it remains the best available alternative.

Edit: Sorry to pick on your BF, but I know you can handle it. I hope you have an excellent weekend.

 

[Handlebar]

These Trump actions increased the risk of lowering the Feds rate...easing his actions is the best way for Trump to encourage the Fed to lower rates.

I think your analysis is correct if Trump went back to playing the game the way previous administrations have done, they would have lowered.

Myself I am not interested in going back to the free trade-open borders- debt based economy ride that we have been on for the last 40 years. I don't think it has been conducive to a prosperous middle class. I am not interested in outsourcing everything to China. I realize that I open myself to being an isolationist, but I am ok with that, the model we have been using has not been beneficial to a great many. I am ok with higher prices at Wal Mart. One of the things that really struck me during Covid was just how little we make in this country.

 

[SAJ-99]

The good news is the orange man will talk in Davos next week. I'm sure it will be great, if he can stay awake. The topic is scheduled to be affordability. Place your bets on whether he reverts back to calling affordability a hoax perpetrated by Democrats or if he switches to "it was real" but he will magically fix the problem by the end of the year. I'm sure it will be filled with blame for Democrats and grievances against the rest of the World. I'm sure all the other countries will fully embrace the idea of how the US has really suffered the last few decades.

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/11/nx-s1-5639957/trump-affordability-hoax-economy-midterms

As President Trump Tackles Housing Affordability, Progress Emerges — and More Relief Is on the Horizon

As President Donald J. Trump advances bold action to address the housing challenges facing American families following years of rising costs under Biden,

www.whitehouse.gov

 

[RG300]

The good news is the orange man will talk in Davos next week. I'm sure it will be great, if he can stay awake. The topic is scheduled to be affordability. Place your bets on whether he reverts back to calling affordability a hoax perpetrated by Democrats or if he switches to "it was real" but he will magically fix the problem by the end of the year. I'm sure it will be filled with blame for Democrats and grievances against the rest of the World. I'm sure all the other countries will fully embrace the idea of how the US has really suffered the last few decades.

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/11/nx-s1-5639957/trump-affordability-hoax-economy-midterms

As President Trump Tackles Housing Affordability, Progress Emerges — and More Relief Is on the Horizon

As President Donald J. Trump advances bold action to address the housing challenges facing American families following years of rising costs under Biden,

www.whitehouse.gov

I only listen to NPR when i want to know how the enemy thinks.
They try to convince us that they are neutral but they are anything but that , if you listen closely.
They have an agenda & "sound" so convincing.....they are actually subtle & conniving tools used by the left & count on a
gullible public to advance the left's objectives & policies.

 

[Irrelevant]

The good news is the orange man will talk in Davos next week. I'm sure it will be great, if he can stay awake. The topic is scheduled to be affordability. Place your bets on whether he reverts back to calling affordability a hoax perpetrated by Democrats or if he switches to "it was real" but he will magically fix the problem by the end of the year. I'm sure it will be filled with blame for Democrats and grievances against the rest of the World. I'm sure all the other countries will fully embrace the idea of how the US has really suffered the last few decades.

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/11/nx-s1-5639957/trump-affordability-hoax-economy-midterms

As President Trump Tackles Housing Affordability, Progress Emerges — and More Relief Is on the Horizon

As President Donald J. Trump advances bold action to address the housing challenges facing American families following years of rising costs under Biden,

www.whitehouse.gov

This would be a great move. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/16/trump-investors-homes-family-offices.html

Stop treating our housing market as investment equities. I'd take it further. No trusts, corps, LLCs.

 

[Handlebar]

This would be a great move. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/16/trump-investors-homes-family-offices.html

Stop treating our housing market as investment equities. I'd take it further. No trusts, corps, LLCs.

I wonder what the impact of that and Freddie and Fannie buying mortgage bonds could be

 

[SAJ-99]

This would be a great move. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/16/trump-investors-homes-family-offices.html

Stop treating our housing market as investment equities. I'd take it further. No trusts, corps, LLCs.

Yeah, the downside of free market capitalism.
He will certainly get bipartisan support for it. Most analysis says it won't do much.
1- it is just large institutions (Blackstone, Apollo, etc) not smaller individuals/LLCs
2- those large owners don't account for much of the market. They own about 1% of SFH
3- They typically rent, and rental prices now are much cheaper than buying in most of these markets. It might choke off new rentals and increase the price of renting. The exact opposite of what you want to happen.
4- A lot of these institutions have been selling homes from their portfolios over the last 18mo and in those local markets (like AZ, FL, CO) where they own most of their homes, the home prices have either fallen or stagnated. That affects every other home in those areas.

My reaction is the same now at it was when Elizabeth Warren brings up the idea. This stuff is way more complicated in real life than it is in their head.
Same for capping credit card rates. Cap the rate and banks will reduce available balances for anyone with credit score below 700. You think something helps but it actually hurts.

I have similar reaction to Fannie and freddie buying $200B in MBS. It is more an attempt to signal and decrease the spread between the MBS and 10yr. Mortgage rates dropped on the announcement to 5.99% (spread got to long term average of 1.7%) but are now back closer to 6.20%.

The simple explanation. Everyone who needs money wants to borrow it as cheaply as possible and everyone with money wants the highest rate they can get. Kind of explains why the stock market is where it is.

 

[SAJ-99]

The good news from today is Trump hinted to Kevin Hassett he won't be the next Fed Chair. The market likes that.

https://www.reuters.com/business/trump-tells-hassett-he-may-want-keep-him-white-house-2026-01-16/