Stars, Stripes, & Soaring Debt

After calling a timeout in the trade war with China during a lakeside retreat by Lake Geneva—because nothing says diplomacy like overpriced fondue and passive-aggressive stares—the self-proclaimed ‘Treasurer in Chief’ spent the weekend spinning a tale that China had totally lost the trade war. Meanwhile, reality suggested otherwise: the U.S. President was practically bowing to Xi Jinping, perhaps after realizing that with global shipping grinding to a halt, Walmart shelves will soon start to look like a Soviet supermarket, and July 4th fireworks might resemble the pyrotechnic enthusiasm of Pyongyang on a budget.

WCI Shanghai to Los Angeles Container Freight Benchmark Rate per 40 Foot Box.

Anyone with a pulse and a basic grasp of economics knows tariffs are just taxes wearing a fake moustache—someone always pays, whether it’s the producer or the poor soul buying the product. But when producers can’t hike prices and the “Manipulator-in-Chief” decides to slap on price controls like a 1970s flashback, you’ve got to ask: is the U.S. auditioning for a guest role as Venezuela? Because last time we checked, price controls don’t create economic miracles—they create empty shelves, rationing, and a booming black market. And just when you think it can’t get worse, public confidence evaporates, prices skyrocket anyway, and suddenly everyone's nostalgic for when inflation only ruined your lunch bill.

Fresh off his diplomatic smoke show, the ‘Disruptor-in-Chief’ jetted to the Middle East, where he was gifted a $400 million second-hand jet—an upgrade to Air Force One, since Boeing’s been too busy with DEI checklists to build new planes. The highlight? A straight-faced claim that Qatar, with a GDP of $213 billion, will invest $1.2 trillion in the U.S. economy. Yes, you read that right. Either Qatar just discovered a vault of magic oil, or someone’s been borrowing economic math from the Hogwarts School of Fiscal Wizardry.

On May 12th, while the usual ‘Cokeheads’ suspects from the European Union were busy squandering yet another chance at peace in Istanbul—presumably in search of the perfect false flag to kick off World War III and extend their Malthusian-Keynesian reign, on the other side of the pond, the House GOP quietly dropped the draft of “One Big Beautiful Bill.” It’s a legislative buffet combining tax cuts, immigration reform, and just about every domestic agenda item into one oversized reconciliation sandwich.

Highlights include a 5% remittance tax to fund border security (complete with a refundable credit if you're a “verified” American), a rollback of Biden’s green tax credits (sorry solar panels, hydrogen dreams), and a tip-friendly tax deduction—assuming both you and your spouse have Social Security numbers and aren’t in an “untraditional” industry. Because nothing says “working class support” like a maze of red tape.

The bill also resuscitates Trump-era tax goodies—like higher estate exemptions and a modified SALT cap sure to annoy blue-state Republicans—while axing deductions for casualty losses, moving expenses, and other “miscellaneous luxuries” like living in a high-cost state. Other gems: a $4 trillion debt ceiling hike, tax-exempt MAGA accounts for kids, and an IRS crackdown that punishes leaks more harshly than fraud.

And yet, while the 47th president continues to campaign on slashing spending and debt—with the help of his Orwellian-sounding “Department of Government Efficiency”—the U.S. debt hasn’t budged an inch since January 20th. Not because spending stopped, but because Uncle Sam hit the debt ceiling 122 days ago and can't legally borrow a dime.

READ ON