(cypto cont.)

The real significance of such blatant profiteering off the highest office in the land is what it reveals — not just about Trump but about the entire oligarchic enterprise he fronts for. It is likely to contribute to a vast wave of public alarm and disgust.

Just as Elon Musk is demonstrating how huge wealth can create enormous personal political power, Trump is demonstrating how enormous personal political power can create huge wealth.

Musk sank a quartet of a billion dollars into electing Trump, and was rewarded with a key spot as director of the so-called department of government efficiency, or DOGE (Dogecoin, itself a cypto token, has benefited from Musk’s vocal support) — creating vast conflicts of interest over crypto and Musk’s myriad businesses (X, SpaceX, and Tesla, which are regulated by federal agencies and also major government contractors).

This dynamic — great power creating huge wealth, and huge wealth creating great power — is central to the oligarchic takeover of America. And both are premised on the corruption of democracy.

Any wealthy person, corporation, or foreign leader wishing to curry favor with Trump now has a particularly easy means — just buy $TRUMP and $MELANIA cryptocurrency tokens.

The corruption will grow worse because neither Trump nor Musk has any sense of limits. Nor do any of the oligarchs surrounding them, such as David Sacks, who Trump picked to oversee his administration’s policies on crypto and artificial intelligence.

Like Musk, Sachs serves as a "special government employee,” which does not require Senate confirmation or full financial disclosure, and allows Sacks to maintain his business interests while influencing policy. Expect more conflicts of interest.

As crypto and banking begin to merge, bank deposits will become more vulnerable to movements in the crypto market, and banks more vulnerable to runs. That’s what happened at Silvergate and Signature, two crypto-focused banks which collapsed in 2023. Both were broken by a tumble in cryptocurrency prices that began in late 2021 and then reverberations from FTX’s collapse.

The biggest beneficiaries of all this are the highest rollers — the oligarchs who have been pushing crypto for years. And now Trump is in on it and stands to personally gain billions, as will those seeking to curry his favor by buying his coin.

American public doesn’t abide flagrant self-dealing. We don’t want public officials personally profiting by decisions that are supposed to be made in the public’s interest.

You may be thinking: “But Trump has been profiteering for years off his presidency, as have members of his family. And they’ve gotten away with it.”

True, but what’s happening now is much bigger and far more visible. It involves an entire industry (crypto), and conspicuous members of the American oligarchy who are investing in it, including the President and officials around him.

And it’s inherently risky. For oligarchs, the rise of digital finance provides large moneymaking opportunities. But for the rest of us, it increases the risk of another financial crisis.

Unbound greed combined with unconstrained power is an explosive combination. When the blowup comes, it will take Trump, Musk, and the oligarchy with it.

.....

Not to mention the global financial system with it; at which time China - concentrating on building the world's largest industrial capacity in the REAL economy (ie goods and services people actually want and need, not fake money with no intrinsic value) will likely assume the status of world 's most valuable economy.

Another pernicious effect on good governance caused by forcing government to borrow money from private sector individuals or institutions who must be repaid with interest:


Today we learn the Oz casino-based gambling "industry" is in trouble because   increasing regulation to stamp out criminal activity (money laundering, and harm to vulnerable socio-economically disadvantaged individuals) in effect makes the industry  'unviable'.

So Star - a huge employer - is close to running out of money.


Such are the joys of the greed-based,  neoliberal markets based on unethical practices.

https://www.forbes.com.au/news/investing/casino-operator-star-may-run-out-of-cas...

Star Entertainment Group  —backed by Australian gambling billionaire Bruce Mathieson—is facing the risk of running out of cash as the embattled casino operator struggled to raise fresh capital amid slumping gaming revenues.

"Entertainment", indeed....which  government (being "cash- strapped", according to mainstream 'balanced- budget' dogma)   relies on for revenue, hence Labor dragging its feet on gambling reform.

(cont)

The Business Council of Australia, the lobby group for corporate chief executives, is in favour of high immigration, arguing cumbersome planning rules were to blame for the housing crisis.

It is calling for the federal government to give incentives to the states to reduce the 'planning bottleneck' and fast track new housing developments, and speed up migration pathways for tradies.

The Albanese government and the states have vowed to build 1.2million homes over the five years to July 2029.

But  in the year to September, only 177,702 new homes were built, which was well short of the 240,000 annual target.

My comment: the BCA wants increased immigation, which no-one else (including Dutton) wants,  in a housing crisis and lack of infrastructure to support the increasing population.

And what are these Federal "incentives" to "encourage" new housing development,  which will not increase state government debt, while builders are going broke because of high costs, and consumers (first home buyers) can't afford the overpriced housing anyway - among the most expensive housing in the world.

Turns out the BCA is full of ideological crap, just not lying to the public, like Dutton. 

Put it to good use de-militarising Gaza and West Bank and prevent further upheavals and unnecessary killing.

(Alternet)

'Hell no!': Republican senators unwilling to follow Trump's order to end debt ceiling

Trump says he would end the debt ceiling circus - a regular happening in Congress, because "the Dems always want to raise the ceiling".    

In this instance, Trump is correct; the US treasury  can cancel  US debt at any time, provided the US government deals with  inflation correctly  - which Biden was doing: inflation halved in the last 2 years of Biden's presidency, even though  the debt-ceiling has been  continually raised for years.    

Frank wrote on Feb 7^th, 2025 at 8:10am:


Errors abound in dummy Sowell's statement, caused by his ignorance of the nature of fiat currencies (and ignorance of the nature of money in general). 

"A $100 bill would buy less in 1998 than a $20 bill in 1960".  This means that anyone who kept his money in a safe over those years would have lost 80% of it value".


1. Few people are brainless enough to do that, rather they invest their savings (or borrow) in productive enterprises;  and those many  people who are living paycheck to paycheck certainly can't do it anyway.

2. Savings generally earn interest which counters loss of value over time, in stable inflation environments.

3. The average wage generally purchases the same basket  of goods, over time (in a stable inflation, ie non-hyperinflation  environment).

" ...because no safe can keep your money safe from politicians who control the pringing presses" .

More errors abound:

1. Politicians aren't allowed to "control the printing presses" ; independent  central banks are authorised  to do it; but the CBs  charge interest on borrowings ("printed money") which the government must repay.  But most government bonds are sold to the private sector, who eagerly snap them up as a safe interest-bearing investment,  aka 'welfare for the rich' by MMTers. 

2. All money is "printed", normally by private sector financiers when they write loans for credit-worthy customers. - as thourougly examined in these pages.

Currency-issuing government OUGHT to be able to "print money", ie,  issue debt-free, national treasury-created money,   bearing in mind the resources constraint faced by governments, to avoid inflation.

3. Inflation has many causes, some which  render dysfunctional the one tool available to independent central banks, ie  setting interest rates;  eg lifting interest rates to kill inflation will increase rents (and inflation)  as  landlords try to cover higher mortgage expenses with higher rents.

The government's job OUGHT to be to  intervene in a nation's resource mobilization, alongside free market resource allocation,  while ensuring supply is always adequate to match spending (private or public), to avoid inflation.

Do try to keep up.

Interestingly, Musk's  determination to reduce government spending will harm the economy,  as sacked public sector workers are thrown onto the unemployment scrap-heap, reducing consumer purcashing-power in the economy (and forget the harm to aid recipents overseas, aid which is vital in the dysfunctinal global economy).   




 





      i

Frank wrote on Feb 7^th, 2025 at 12:46pm:


(While you have 'passed out'....) right on cue:  more on Musk's plans to cut government spending to "save taxpayer money".

(Raw Story)

Trump's USAID gambit backfires as American farms now threatened: report

President Donald Trump may have thought that defunding the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) would only hurt foreigners -- but it turns out he could actually be mistaken.

The Washington Post reports that shuttering the agency entirely "threatens billions of dollars the agency spends on American businesses and organizations."

In particular, the Post report notes that American farms are responsible for roughly 41 percent of all food aid provided by the agency and it adds that the U.S. government bought $2.1 billion in food aid from American farmers in the year 2020 alone.

"Purchases and shipments of U.S. food aid worth over $340 million — including rice, wheat and soybeans — have been paused during Trump’s foreign-aid freeze, according to officials and an email obtained by The Post," the paper reports. "That has left hundreds of tons of American-grown wheat stranded in Houston alone."

George Ingram, a senior fellow at the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution, emphasized to the Post that Trump's decision to shut down USAID is already having a "direct impact on American products and American jobs."

“The bulk of U.S. assistance is implemented through U.S. organizations,” he added. “A lot of the money starts out with American organizations staffed by Americans.”


Ouch - aka "shooting oneself in the foot"