The trouble with all these forced absences from the blog is that inertia sets in and it’s hard to overcome it. I had a comparative handful of posts last year vs my first few years. One of my New Year’s resolutions this year is to finally reverse course on my writing and truly get into gear.

What that means for WordPress specifically, I’m still not sure. There’s narrowing down topics to start with, and just trying to decide if all the fake followers and social media mentality is worth it all.

Ever since I got the PPC back up and running though, the BIG question is, as the topic says, where to even begin with topics here.

California is burning, AGAIN.

The politicians are ALL passing the buck and trying to exploit the situation for personal gain… YET AGAIN. I could spend a month just debunking all the lies and passing of the buck. Governor Newsome and the local administration are blaming everyone but themselves, mostly each other though. One fire department leader was fired after detailing how the mayor mismanaged the department and it’s budget. Of course they’re all pointing finger at that person as a scapegoat now.

Any wonder we left the state? California may be the only place on the planet that makes Washington DC look honest and sane.

Speaking of which… There’s Trump and his cronies trying to blame everyone from homeless and illegal immigrants for starting the fire to Governor Newsome for supposedly blocking sending water South via the state’s canal system.

I personally wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out PG&E was responsible yet again.

Regardless, the Trump water blocking accusation is a bald faced lie. Newsome, like every state politician, never met a drop of NorCal water that he didn’t want to ship to LA to buy votes. That whole “Delta Smelt” lawsuit by environmentalists was an effort to keep LA & the capital from draining the entire Sacramento river delta to provide Beverly Hills with more water for it’s lawns. Meanwhile, farmers are being told they can’t plant crops due to water shortages. The California central valley used to be a huge source of food for the country.

That’s a tangent though. Point is, Trump and his buddies are lying to try to exploit and manipulate their base. This coming from somebody who dislikes Gavin Newsome even more than Trump.

Well, now that the fires are impacting a wealthy SoCal neighborhood, MAYBE something will finally be done to correct the situation.

Then There Was The Orange Man…

Here’s where I REALLY don’t even know where to begin.

I’m not surprised he won the election. His fearmongering regarding the economy was world class. While I hate Hitler comparisons (they’re trite and cliche; a cheap way to try to shut down a debate usually), the combination of fearmongering and scapegoating China, Latinos and the homeless, labor and environmentalists for the the economy and everything else is literally right out of the playbook Hitler used to get elected Chancellor of Germany in 1933. In truth, it’s nothing new, but the extreme it was taken to, along with the disinformation merits the 1933 comparison.

And let’s see… On the foreign policy side, since winning election, Trump has threatened to invade Panama and Mexico, annex Canada and buy Greenland. There’s a repeat of his past rhetoric regarding China also, BUT Trump has vowed to work with China to end the TikTok ban.

I doubt anything will happen with China. Billionaires are addicted to cheap and slave labor, which China provides in abundance. More than likely, Mexico will bear the brunt of the blame for the loss of American jobs just like it did during Trump’s last term. Softer target than a country that manufactures the vast majority of everything sold in the US, and even manufactures military equipment for us. Nevermind how much of our debt they’ve also bought.

On the domestic front, Trump plans to do away with every environmental, labor and business regulation he can. Much of this is promised on day one via executive orders, so what happens later today and tomorrow will tell the tale of how the next 4 years will go.

On the surface, I understand the appeal to the average idiot. Less regulation makes it easier for companies to make money, which means more hiring and a better economy.

HOWEVER…

We live in a society where people can’t even remember scandals and disasters from a few years ago, much less real history.

People forget that most of the regulations put in place by the government were the result of major abuses by corporations. Long hours, little pay and unsafe conditions for workers. And if you got crippled on the job, you were just tossed aside by your employer, society and the government.

People forget the acid rain of the 1970s, or how Lake Erie was so toxic and polluted it caught fire. It wasn’t the only body of water to have that happen. The skies over major cities were orange-brown from the smog. Los Angeles air quality back then:

That’s no photoshop. I saw it firsthand when I went to Disneyland as a kid.

Deregulating investments and doing away with the Fed… Anybody remember the housing bubble? The student loan crisis? Those are what happens when the government completely takes the brakes off an industry. Those are just more recent examples.

Cassandra Speaks: The Past Will Repeat Itself.

Beyond those more recent examples, there’s the reality that Trump wants to do away with regulations that were put in place after the Great Depression.

What’s that going to lead to if successful? A repeat of that collapse, along with the government bailing out all the mega-corporations that are “too big to fail” while taxpayers foot the bill and starve.

Here’s how it’ll go down. Trump will wipe out regulations, do away with the Federal Reserve, etc. The economy in the short term will shoot up like a rocket. Jobs, money and credit will be plentiful. BUT, it will be the creation of the biggest bubble in history, one that crosses into almost all industries.

The tariffs that Trump is proposing will result in retaliatory tariffs and other countries just deciding not to buy our products. That will assist in the bubble bursting all the sooner, and the economy will come crashing down because all the protections that were designed to prevent it will be gone or weakened to the point of virtual nonexistence.

If it sounds far-fetched, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 is pretty much identical to the 20% tariffs that Trump wants to slap on Canada, Mexico and others. That resulted in the retaliation I’m predicting to repeat also. The end result was no country could sell goods outside it’s borders. Tell me again how history won’t repeat itself if Trump is able to completely run amok.

Personally, I’ve gotten cynical enough over the years that I believe it’s a deliberate plan. People got rich after the housing bubble, and now it’s very hard for people to break into the housing market. The mega-banks got their bailouts, bought out their competition and now community banking is all but dead. If you look at all the bubbles and bailouts over the past few decades, there’s a history of excessive risk and bad business practices. BIG short term profit, followed by a crash where the government bails the businesses out. Privatizing profit while subsidizing loss.

I think Trump’s billionaire buddies want to take that whole scheme to the next level. When the smoke clears, they’ll be richer, getting government bailouts, and left in control of even more of the economy. If you think I’m wrong about their lust for power, do some research on the rise of Cyberpunk style corporate cities.

As for the Cassandra Speaks part… I’ve got a knack for seeing doom coming clearly, just like Cassandra. There are still quite a few variables in play, including if Congress, the Supreme Court and the public have the spine to stand up to some of Trump’s crazier ideas. Right now, things are not looking good for the long term however.

Treat the next year or two as the feast before the famine. Hope for the best but prepare for the absolute worst. If they time it right, the implosion won’t occur till shortly after the 2028 elections and they’ll blame it on whatever Dems win.

The thing is, people have a bad habit of of doubling down on a belief after they’re shown they’re wrong. This habit was briefly featured on the most recent episode of “The Irrational”. It’s kind of an perverse version of the ‘sunk cost fallacy’ for the ego.

It’s part of why politicians have such an easy time manipulating people, and those same people are so quick to scream ‘fake news’ when confronted with something they don’t like. In an ideal world, people would research the made up water bill that Trump cited and see there’s no such legislation. Just like when Newsome claims fires all start on Federal land, they’d get a map and see that the Feds only control the High Sierra.

SRA is state managed land BTW. Bottom line; the foothills and below are not generally owned or managed by the Federal government.

Long story short though, things are not going to get better until people start paying attention, get news from multiple sources and research things fore themselves instead of regurgitating talking points for the two major parties.

Right now, people can name all the Kardashians but can’t tell you who their congressperson or city council member is, much less how they’ve voted. TV and music is more important to the average schmuck than the people they’ve given power over their lives. That never works out well. A huge part of why the Roman Empire collapsed was that bread and circus were enough to keep the public complacent while the politicians and elites ran amok.

When nobody cares enough to get involved, at least not beyond a ranting tweet, society is destined to fall apart because a society depends upon it’s individual members.

Well maybe except this: