Baffled European

Tag: more trade war

  • Corruption powers

    Apparently you can have a private dinner with the President of the USA for a “donation” of $5 million, although it is not clear where this money goes. He has also suspended a law that forbids USAians from bribing foreign governments. This sets the tone for his government.

    It’s weirdly consistent the way all anti-fraud and anti-corruption agencies across the USA are being closed down. It runs across government and through each department.

    I reckon it’s certain that most of the members of the criminal cartel have had run-ins with all these agencies in the past. Now the mob is in charge, they are out for revenge. On this level, I understand why they are doing it.

    At the same time, in the real world, they are reducing government services across the board, even though the demand for those services has not changed. So how do you get access to these rare services? You pay a bribe. The official has no problems in accepting this, assuming they don’t demand it up front, because there are no comebacks.

    Somehow I see this as an accelerated corruption drive. The USA is a fairly honest and corruption-free society. These measures seem designed to corrupt everything as quickly as possible.

    Even if congress were to remove this maniac tomorrow, it would take years to unpick the mess he has caused. The more this corruption sets in and becomes endemic, the longer it will take.

  • Freedom of speech

    One of those minor calamities today, in which most of a pizza topping, but none of the base, landed on a hot pizza stone. I will have to scrape that thoroughly to atone.

    Meanwhile in the USA it’s great to have protests against the disaster that is befalling the country, but authoritarians don’t like protests. As a result they are paying particular attention to silencing their critics.

    The easy stuff is things like the climate institutes. Maga doesn’t want to hear about subjects like this, why should we pay for it then, so just shut them all down and the problem goes away, simple.

    Other institutions like universities rely on government money but can’t be got rid of so easily. They are therefore being extorted to either ban student protest or become more racist. They will make a bold stand this time, but they will be worn down over time. That’ll sort itself.

    What do you do with the rest of the population?

    There have been a series of blatant violations of the First Amendment, arresting people merely for expressing an opinion. I presume the courts will sort these cases out fairly. As they will to the others that the government arrests in order to harass, threaten and quieten. The point is the arrests.

    The present government will continue to terrorise its opponents until people stop criticising them, or until somebody powerful enough tells them to stop it. Which is going to happen first?