Within the next few months, there might not be reliable economic data compiled by government agencies any more. Private counterparts who wants to fill the gap/tell the truth will be threatened and vilified, too. Be prepared.
I'd change "might" to "will." Lutnick's already talking about changing how GDP is measured. The lie machine will have to go into overdrive to produce enough sunshine and rainbows to cover up for how the orange criminal is driving the economy into the ground.
Makes sense, in a sick way: If you're not getting the measurements you want, make your own yardstick and measure again. Or as one of my professors in business school said, "You get what you measure. And if you pay for what you measure, you *really* get what you measure."
We'll be needing a latter-day Izzy Stone to trawl through thousands of govt. docs. in an attempt to discover the truth, which is a rare commodity in the tRump era.
With closings of visitor centers and reductions of jobs at National Parks, combined with the hateful atmosphere that the Trump Administration has created, it’s very likely that the number of foreign visitors to the US will plummet and with it the spending that those visitors would have done.
Canadians have cancelled trips for sure and I imagine there is a lot of European travelers who are doing the same.
Also, some vacationers may be worried they would be harassed by immigration and skip us.
When i lived in AZ, it was often mentioned in the news that a very large number of our tourists actually came from Mexico....so....I rather doubt they will want to come here.
If I didn't live here I wouldn't visit! Wonder how successful Trump efforts to encourage tourism to Russia will be? Visit! You may be detained, consider gulag life a good weight loss opportunity!
It's interesting you mention Assad. His people in Syria are still combatants I understand. Since he was ousted, the slaughter has intensified.
Will there be another irony like Saddam? The flip side of Saddam was despite being a delusional nationalist, it might be that those nations (Iraq, Syria, etc) are in a developmental phase that demand a strict authoritarian for any stability at all.
If the final score is reckoned in morbidity and mortality, i.e. human suffering vs. ideology, would allowing Saddam to keep his nonsectarian autocracy have ultimately lowered the stats? If Carter let Gorbachev keep Afghanistan, would we have Putin?
No easy answers. Was an Assad necessary for some degree of stability? I guess we'll see. We keep getting hoist on our own petard.
Yes Andrew. Just imagine, Rubio (who must be regretting every day selling his soul) said there’s will be amazing economic opportunities for US business in Russia. Never mind that its economy is smaller than Chile’s; which CEO is going to dare ask an employee to go there, even for a visit to suss out those “opportunities”? Brittany Griner anyone? Evan Gerscovich?
Dear Will Liley, A question: are Republicans capable of experiencing remorse? It’s been so long since I saw it happen, just thought it might be wise to ask.
Yes, amazing that if you run a good clean customer-oriented business, the Russian mob will steal it through thuggery. Ask the oil company owner guy that Putin threw in jail, then stole his business. (I forget his name.)
You've got it right about the thug thing. It's a thug nation now.
By coincidence I have been watching Adam Curtis' BBC documentary series on the transition in Russia from communism to democracy to autocracy, called Trauma Zone on YouTube. 8 or 9 episodes. Offbeat but absorbing. Explains where the thuggery came from.
We usually rent a Condo on Lake Superior for a week in the Summer. We are trying to rent it on the Canadian side of the Lake this year to show support for our Canadian brothers and sisters.
Completely and thoroughly understandable. I would do
the same—. especially since I’m not exactly feeling welcome HERE and not sure what Canada would be like. (Surely they don’t think we all feel and act like the Orange Terror!)
Canadian here-even amidst our anxiety about the impact of tarifs on OUR upcoming jobs reports, a ferocious buy-Canadian campaign and a drop in planned vacations in the US, resulting in reductions in scheduled flights south by our airlines, many of us cannot contain our mirth at the ignorance and incompetence of both Trump and his economic "planners". Case in point: 25% tariffs on ..potash!!! Surprise! 80% of potash used in vital American fertilizer comes from..Canada! Panicked farmers (many of whom voted Trump, for example 57% in Kansas) complain! Where else can you get potash? Belorussia? OK reduce tarif to 10%. All in the space of a few days. If this were a scenario in a film it would be dismissed as completely incredible. Canada is experiencing a patriotic rally I haven't seen in my lifetime, and that includes in my home province of Québec, usually at least somewhat ambivalent. Pas maintenant! Good luck USA…you will need it.
My finger on the pulse of Canada (I can see it from my PNW island!) is all my editing colleagues on social media, and they are great, eloquent sources for links and commentary. I appreciate that they (and you) don't tar us all with the same brush. Hands and hearts across the border!
I hope Ottawa is preparing for the worse. Recent reporting is that Trump is getting ready to foment a border dispute. He’s serious about acquiring Canada. Hope he doesn’t start shootjng, but you fellas need to be prepared.
As an Albertan now living in Ontario, much though I was annoyed by right-wing Albertan grumbling when I lived here, I must protest that only a small minority in Alberta (a noisy minority, but sill a distinct minority) are actually sepaatist - way more are regionalist and resentful of Ottawa (rightly or wrongly) but few are actually separatists. Only 20%, according to recent polls, support joining the US - Danielle Srmith's problem (her own fault, but still her problem) is that separatists and Trumpists make up a significant percentage of her electorate.
Yes, 1/5 is too high! And not to bicker, but I worry when people imply that they are all of Alberta, in part because that is what the right-wing likes to claim too. Perhaps my biggest political bugbear when I lived in Alberta was right-wing Albertans insisting that they had 100% support from Albertans. Progressive Conservatives (of all tendencies) would win 60% of the vote, and of course way more than 60% of the seats. But right-wingers would then talk as if the small number of NDP and Liberal seats didn't exist, the much larger number of NDP and Liberal voters didn't exist or weren't real Albertans, and that all voters for the Progressive Conservative party were as far right as they were. The difficulty that they had accepting Rachel Notley's victory in part originates with tendency; and so I think it is important not to reinforce these beliefs.
In the past, when I was in the mood for propaganda, I'd watch RT.
But these days, if I want to hear quality Russian disinformation, I just have to pay attention to what spews out of the mouths of the highest elected officials in the land.
I yearn for the days when I could choose whether or not to listen to Russian propaganda. Instead of having it presented as what now passes for Republican policy. If such a thing can still be said to exist.
But please don't forget that it was the Devil who was in the details (attributed to architect Mies van der Rohe) until the Reagan administration. At that point major financiers got caught for ignoring certain details, like elementary parts of the securities law, and some of them actually went to prison! Or what were also called Federal country clubs. An outrage, that led to the current phrase.
My understanding is that the government employees being fired are « with cause » meaning that they can’t collect unemployment and therefore won’t be reflected in the numbers? How many people are we talking about? I’m seeing numbers like a planned 80,000 at the VA- about 15% of their workforce, 7,000 at the IRS, closing down the Department of Education at how many? USAID, thousands worldwide- because they hire foreign nationals at the local wage to do actual aid distribution, how many at the CDC?, NOAA…also cuts to employees at Social Security and Medicare /Medicaid, the Park Service. So possibly 150-250,000 people.
They are suing because the layoff notices were a LIE about their performance. But it takes time, and meanwhile they have trouble collecting unemployment.
That is SO MEAN! The cruelty is the point, don't forget!
“My understanding is that the government employees being fired are « with cause » meaning that they can’t collect unemployment “. Horrible if true. The cruelty is the point.
One day I watched over 500 employees summarily fired after lunch and escorted from the building. Florida unemployment is a nightmare of red tape and low benefits by design. Because the Fascist here always side with the employer. Always.
It's true many of the fired feds cannot collect unemployment benefits, but the BLS survey is not simply a report on how many people are collecting unemployment compensation. It is a household survey with multiple questions about each member of the households surveyed and their employment situation during a sample week. Anyone unemployed during the sample week would be listed as unemployed whether or not they collected benefits. (For February, the sample week was February 9 - 15).
And then they'll start screwing with the way they count the numbers, so we'll continue to be gaslit while apartheid musk and his tool suck the country dry.
Instead of using data from the Enterprise Survey (New jobs created) look at the data from the Household Survey.
Working Population increased by 162K
Labor Force DECREASED by 385K
Number of employed DECREASED by 588K
Unemployed INCREASED by 203K
Number “Not in the Labor Force” INCREASED by 546K
This is just after one month (actually 3 weeks) with Donald at the helm. The two surveys do always agree but this difference is of concern. I hate to wait until next month to see if a trend is starting.
“there has been a surge in imports as companies race to get stuff into America ahead of Trump’s tariffs”
We had been on a waiting list (in Utah) for a new Prius Prime for two years and had been told it would be another 12-18 months. Suddenly in the first week of January we got a call that the dealer had our car. They seemed as surprised as we were by the sudden turn in events.
This is what I have been expecting, as well, with inventories and I think you mentioned this in a live interview yesterday, as well, about the business "hording" to get ahead of tariffs. This stocking up probably spilled over into at least the first 6 weeks to 2 months of the year, because Trump had the tariff pauses, which caused even some individuals, (like me) to check their stockpiles again that I had created, after he won the election.
My pantry and woven goods look a bit covid like and I have been pricing some durable goods, and I assume many consumers may be, as well, and purchasing them to get ahead of the steel and China tariffs. I did much of my stocking up in Nov and Dec and black Friday with a new phone, etc.
I have heard some retired neighbors talk about "finally" making what they consider their final car purchase, as well (assuming the car may live longer than they do, or longer than they can drive) but I wonder if a lot of people of working age are more worried about having any added monthly payments in case we get a recession, which is super likely.
However, most other business decisions have largely been frozen due to uncertainty, I would imagine.
So, yes GDP growth may or may not go super negative when it comes in, but if it is not, it will probably be low and bolstered mostly by inventory purchases one can assume.
Just my ten cents. I mean dime, since pennies are apparently toast.
I truly think that those who are paying close attention, didn't want this, and are very alarmed have had plenty of examples of why to be alarmed. They don't want more lists of bad things. Rather, they want to hear what the plan is and how to get ready to act, and what that is going to look like. They need an actual strategy. And they just aren't interested in sending more dollars to the money beggars. Holding some signs outside a Tesla dealership is not going to impede the coming authoritarian takeover.
We need people with hands on experience to workshop all the various scenarios, from "It all just goes away on its own", to "Citizen resistance met with police state murder, being disappeared in the night, and gulags." and everything in between.
What are we going to DO? A plan, in advance, please.
And don't tell me to just call my MAGA congressman.
It would be nice if someone had a ready made plan for us all to execute, but unfortunately nobody does. Resistance groups, such as 50501 and Indivisible, are forming around the country. Join. Participate. That's where a successful resistance begins.
We can look at Germany 1933 for ideas, but US commentary and political climate is much more critical than it was then.
In the 1930s, the press, including NYT & Jewish papers were all saying, "But he certainly won't do (X,Y,Z)!" US Democrats and a good portion of the commentariat know there's no bottom to this hole, unless we act.
The opposition to US Fascism is broad & deep, and who knows what the critical camel-back breaking straw will be.
Even if hundreds of suits can't stop all the (illegal??) cuts & firings, it seems to me a CR that changes nothing in the budget, eg, fully funding USAID, would be a good thing.
Not paying taxes due on April 15th. I realize I'll probably get a letter with fees, penalties + interest before May 15th when more IRS employees are laid off, but how far am I willing to go and raise a stink about it in the media? This is the party of anti-tax, btw.....
I'm going to cautiously weigh in and say you should pay them if you can. If you plan on being a serious dissenter then you should start trying to keep a low profile. I'm certain they are already working on algorithms that can crunch up and digest all that raw data they grabbed, with the intention of scoring out who is anti-Trump and how loud, and matching it with ways they can come at you with things like tax returns. They want to target people for punishment and condemnation, but even worse to extort people into spying and snitching on their friends and associates in any kind of resistence.
It's what they are hoping to do. Don't make it easier.
Within the next few months, there might not be reliable economic data compiled by government agencies any more. Private counterparts who wants to fill the gap/tell the truth will be threatened and vilified, too. Be prepared.
I'd change "might" to "will." Lutnick's already talking about changing how GDP is measured. The lie machine will have to go into overdrive to produce enough sunshine and rainbows to cover up for how the orange criminal is driving the economy into the ground.
Makes sense, in a sick way: If you're not getting the measurements you want, make your own yardstick and measure again. Or as one of my professors in business school said, "You get what you measure. And if you pay for what you measure, you *really* get what you measure."
This is all very Soviet of them.
Judy Shelton wrote a book about it…
We'll be needing a latter-day Izzy Stone to trawl through thousands of govt. docs. in an attempt to discover the truth, which is a rare commodity in the tRump era.
Assuming King MAGA doesn't revoke the FOIA.
I hadn’t thought of that. Of course!
With closings of visitor centers and reductions of jobs at National Parks, combined with the hateful atmosphere that the Trump Administration has created, it’s very likely that the number of foreign visitors to the US will plummet and with it the spending that those visitors would have done.
Canadians have cancelled trips for sure and I imagine there is a lot of European travelers who are doing the same.
Also, some vacationers may be worried they would be harassed by immigration and skip us.
When i lived in AZ, it was often mentioned in the news that a very large number of our tourists actually came from Mexico....so....I rather doubt they will want to come here.
Last week I cancelled airfares for a 3 week trip in September from New Zealand to the USA.
Travel agencies in Denmark specialized on US as destination reports 50-55 pct drop in demand and laying off staff - a tiny datapoint
If I didn't live here I wouldn't visit! Wonder how successful Trump efforts to encourage tourism to Russia will be? Visit! You may be detained, consider gulag life a good weight loss opportunity!
And you could even rub shoulders with Bashir Assad !
It's interesting you mention Assad. His people in Syria are still combatants I understand. Since he was ousted, the slaughter has intensified.
Will there be another irony like Saddam? The flip side of Saddam was despite being a delusional nationalist, it might be that those nations (Iraq, Syria, etc) are in a developmental phase that demand a strict authoritarian for any stability at all.
If the final score is reckoned in morbidity and mortality, i.e. human suffering vs. ideology, would allowing Saddam to keep his nonsectarian autocracy have ultimately lowered the stats? If Carter let Gorbachev keep Afghanistan, would we have Putin?
No easy answers. Was an Assad necessary for some degree of stability? I guess we'll see. We keep getting hoist on our own petard.
Yes Andrew. Just imagine, Rubio (who must be regretting every day selling his soul) said there’s will be amazing economic opportunities for US business in Russia. Never mind that its economy is smaller than Chile’s; which CEO is going to dare ask an employee to go there, even for a visit to suss out those “opportunities”? Brittany Griner anyone? Evan Gerscovich?
Dear Will Liley, A question: are Republicans capable of experiencing remorse? It’s been so long since I saw it happen, just thought it might be wise to ask.
Public remorse? It's been awhile hasn't it?
I'm sure behind closed doors they're all furrowed brows.
Ah, yes, serious”furrowing”, that’a the answer.
Yes, amazing that if you run a good clean customer-oriented business, the Russian mob will steal it through thuggery. Ask the oil company owner guy that Putin threw in jail, then stole his business. (I forget his name.)
You've got it right about the thug thing. It's a thug nation now.
By coincidence I have been watching Adam Curtis' BBC documentary series on the transition in Russia from communism to democracy to autocracy, called Trauma Zone on YouTube. 8 or 9 episodes. Offbeat but absorbing. Explains where the thuggery came from.
I’ve been there, the fear of Putin is palpable, and most people just want to be left alone to live their lives.
You can try visiting Canada. We see trumpism as an opportinity for our tourist industry.
We usually rent a Condo on Lake Superior for a week in the Summer. We are trying to rent it on the Canadian side of the Lake this year to show support for our Canadian brothers and sisters.
Thank you. Canadian here.
This Canadian was planning to spend April in Arizona.
Now going to Europe instead.
Completely and thoroughly understandable. I would do
the same—. especially since I’m not exactly feeling welcome HERE and not sure what Canada would be like. (Surely they don’t think we all feel and act like the Orange Terror!)
Europe is far better under any circumstances. Arizona has too many open-carry cowboy and girl cosplayers there.
Canadian here-even amidst our anxiety about the impact of tarifs on OUR upcoming jobs reports, a ferocious buy-Canadian campaign and a drop in planned vacations in the US, resulting in reductions in scheduled flights south by our airlines, many of us cannot contain our mirth at the ignorance and incompetence of both Trump and his economic "planners". Case in point: 25% tariffs on ..potash!!! Surprise! 80% of potash used in vital American fertilizer comes from..Canada! Panicked farmers (many of whom voted Trump, for example 57% in Kansas) complain! Where else can you get potash? Belorussia? OK reduce tarif to 10%. All in the space of a few days. If this were a scenario in a film it would be dismissed as completely incredible. Canada is experiencing a patriotic rally I haven't seen in my lifetime, and that includes in my home province of Québec, usually at least somewhat ambivalent. Pas maintenant! Good luck USA…you will need it.
My finger on the pulse of Canada (I can see it from my PNW island!) is all my editing colleagues on social media, and they are great, eloquent sources for links and commentary. I appreciate that they (and you) don't tar us all with the same brush. Hands and hearts across the border!
I hope Ottawa is preparing for the worse. Recent reporting is that Trump is getting ready to foment a border dispute. He’s serious about acquiring Canada. Hope he doesn’t start shootjng, but you fellas need to be prepared.
As an Albertan now living in Ontario, much though I was annoyed by right-wing Albertan grumbling when I lived here, I must protest that only a small minority in Alberta (a noisy minority, but sill a distinct minority) are actually sepaatist - way more are regionalist and resentful of Ottawa (rightly or wrongly) but few are actually separatists. Only 20%, according to recent polls, support joining the US - Danielle Srmith's problem (her own fault, but still her problem) is that separatists and Trumpists make up a significant percentage of her electorate.
Yes, 1/5 is too high! And not to bicker, but I worry when people imply that they are all of Alberta, in part because that is what the right-wing likes to claim too. Perhaps my biggest political bugbear when I lived in Alberta was right-wing Albertans insisting that they had 100% support from Albertans. Progressive Conservatives (of all tendencies) would win 60% of the vote, and of course way more than 60% of the seats. But right-wingers would then talk as if the small number of NDP and Liberal seats didn't exist, the much larger number of NDP and Liberal voters didn't exist or weren't real Albertans, and that all voters for the Progressive Conservative party were as far right as they were. The difficulty that they had accepting Rachel Notley's victory in part originates with tendency; and so I think it is important not to reinforce these beliefs.
My daughter lives in Alberta and she’s no Trump fan. But she was born and raised in BC. Maybe it needs early exposure!
It's obvious that you'd never make it as an economic pundit. That was way too clear and concise.
I must now go fill up on meaningless but serious-sounding blather from other sources.
You're mean going to watch Faux News?
Sadly, no.
In the past, when I was in the mood for propaganda, I'd watch RT.
But these days, if I want to hear quality Russian disinformation, I just have to pay attention to what spews out of the mouths of the highest elected officials in the land.
I yearn for the days when I could choose whether or not to listen to Russian propaganda. Instead of having it presented as what now passes for Republican policy. If such a thing can still be said to exist.
Yeah, I know the feeling, all too well.
The devil is always in the details. Thanks for educating us.
But please don't forget that it was the Devil who was in the details (attributed to architect Mies van der Rohe) until the Reagan administration. At that point major financiers got caught for ignoring certain details, like elementary parts of the securities law, and some of them actually went to prison! Or what were also called Federal country clubs. An outrage, that led to the current phrase.
Always my favorite reading of the day. Thank you!
I start my day with Paul & Heather Cox Richardson & cup of coffee & feel well informed.
Look into Robert Hubbell, Timothy Snyder, Rebecca Solnit, Carole Cadwalladr. You'll never get a lick of work done! ;^)
Also Qasim Rashid
Thank you! I’ve taken a screenshot of your comment to look them up later!
My understanding is that the government employees being fired are « with cause » meaning that they can’t collect unemployment and therefore won’t be reflected in the numbers? How many people are we talking about? I’m seeing numbers like a planned 80,000 at the VA- about 15% of their workforce, 7,000 at the IRS, closing down the Department of Education at how many? USAID, thousands worldwide- because they hire foreign nationals at the local wage to do actual aid distribution, how many at the CDC?, NOAA…also cuts to employees at Social Security and Medicare /Medicaid, the Park Service. So possibly 150-250,000 people.
They are suing because the layoff notices were a LIE about their performance. But it takes time, and meanwhile they have trouble collecting unemployment.
That is SO MEAN! The cruelty is the point, don't forget!
“My understanding is that the government employees being fired are « with cause » meaning that they can’t collect unemployment “. Horrible if true. The cruelty is the point.
You are correct if you leave a job voluntarily or shitcanned then you fall off the radar.
No way - I was unaware of that, if true that's utterly horrific.
One day I watched over 500 employees summarily fired after lunch and escorted from the building. Florida unemployment is a nightmare of red tape and low benefits by design. Because the Fascist here always side with the employer. Always.
Thanks for explaining that. Does it include people who are sole proprietors as well? They are not allowed to collect unemployment.
Skunk Musk and his punks might be claiming with cause - but they're not saying what the cause is, because there isn't any.
It's true many of the fired feds cannot collect unemployment benefits, but the BLS survey is not simply a report on how many people are collecting unemployment compensation. It is a household survey with multiple questions about each member of the households surveyed and their employment situation during a sample week. Anyone unemployed during the sample week would be listed as unemployed whether or not they collected benefits. (For February, the sample week was February 9 - 15).
And then they'll start screwing with the way they count the numbers, so we'll continue to be gaslit while apartheid musk and his tool suck the country dry.
MACA (morons and cretins again) are driving the bus now. It's on a steep downward slope that ends with a bottomless cliff.
Did John Prine have a song about that? Or was it a lake?
The calm before the storm.
Instead of using data from the Enterprise Survey (New jobs created) look at the data from the Household Survey.
Working Population increased by 162K
Labor Force DECREASED by 385K
Number of employed DECREASED by 588K
Unemployed INCREASED by 203K
Number “Not in the Labor Force” INCREASED by 546K
This is just after one month (actually 3 weeks) with Donald at the helm. The two surveys do always agree but this difference is of concern. I hate to wait until next month to see if a trend is starting.
...and he's just warming up in the bullpen.
“there has been a surge in imports as companies race to get stuff into America ahead of Trump’s tariffs”
We had been on a waiting list (in Utah) for a new Prius Prime for two years and had been told it would be another 12-18 months. Suddenly in the first week of January we got a call that the dealer had our car. They seemed as surprised as we were by the sudden turn in events.
Thank you!
This is what I have been expecting, as well, with inventories and I think you mentioned this in a live interview yesterday, as well, about the business "hording" to get ahead of tariffs. This stocking up probably spilled over into at least the first 6 weeks to 2 months of the year, because Trump had the tariff pauses, which caused even some individuals, (like me) to check their stockpiles again that I had created, after he won the election.
My pantry and woven goods look a bit covid like and I have been pricing some durable goods, and I assume many consumers may be, as well, and purchasing them to get ahead of the steel and China tariffs. I did much of my stocking up in Nov and Dec and black Friday with a new phone, etc.
I have heard some retired neighbors talk about "finally" making what they consider their final car purchase, as well (assuming the car may live longer than they do, or longer than they can drive) but I wonder if a lot of people of working age are more worried about having any added monthly payments in case we get a recession, which is super likely.
However, most other business decisions have largely been frozen due to uncertainty, I would imagine.
So, yes GDP growth may or may not go super negative when it comes in, but if it is not, it will probably be low and bolstered mostly by inventory purchases one can assume.
Just my ten cents. I mean dime, since pennies are apparently toast.
I truly think that those who are paying close attention, didn't want this, and are very alarmed have had plenty of examples of why to be alarmed. They don't want more lists of bad things. Rather, they want to hear what the plan is and how to get ready to act, and what that is going to look like. They need an actual strategy. And they just aren't interested in sending more dollars to the money beggars. Holding some signs outside a Tesla dealership is not going to impede the coming authoritarian takeover.
We need people with hands on experience to workshop all the various scenarios, from "It all just goes away on its own", to "Citizen resistance met with police state murder, being disappeared in the night, and gulags." and everything in between.
What are we going to DO? A plan, in advance, please.
And don't tell me to just call my MAGA congressman.
It would be nice if someone had a ready made plan for us all to execute, but unfortunately nobody does. Resistance groups, such as 50501 and Indivisible, are forming around the country. Join. Participate. That's where a successful resistance begins.
Think globally, act locally.
We're in new territory here for the US.
We can look at Germany 1933 for ideas, but US commentary and political climate is much more critical than it was then.
In the 1930s, the press, including NYT & Jewish papers were all saying, "But he certainly won't do (X,Y,Z)!" US Democrats and a good portion of the commentariat know there's no bottom to this hole, unless we act.
The opposition to US Fascism is broad & deep, and who knows what the critical camel-back breaking straw will be.
Even if hundreds of suits can't stop all the (illegal??) cuts & firings, it seems to me a CR that changes nothing in the budget, eg, fully funding USAID, would be a good thing.
Educate me if I'm wrong?
Not paying taxes due on April 15th. I realize I'll probably get a letter with fees, penalties + interest before May 15th when more IRS employees are laid off, but how far am I willing to go and raise a stink about it in the media? This is the party of anti-tax, btw.....
I'm going to cautiously weigh in and say you should pay them if you can. If you plan on being a serious dissenter then you should start trying to keep a low profile. I'm certain they are already working on algorithms that can crunch up and digest all that raw data they grabbed, with the intention of scoring out who is anti-Trump and how loud, and matching it with ways they can come at you with things like tax returns. They want to target people for punishment and condemnation, but even worse to extort people into spying and snitching on their friends and associates in any kind of resistence.
It's what they are hoping to do. Don't make it easier.
Thanks, Paul. I really appreciate your insights and how well you share them.
He's working very hard to destroy/damage our economy, so just give him time!