The Common Ills: The Snapshot

Friday, March 07, 2025

The Snapshot

Friday, March 7, 2025. Chump gets push back from the markets, JD Vance insults our ally, Senator Elizabeth Warren delivers in a hearing, DSA continues to attack the Democratic Party, and much more.

When this site started, we covered Iraq every day. We have moved on but we will cover Iraq as needed. When we covered Iraq, we covered the stories that needed to be amplified. Which meant we called out the NYT reporting on Falluja that was shoddy and incorrect. And we called it out in real time and raised questions about it. It would go on to win a Pulitzer but for those who know about Iraq -- and the use of White phosphorus -- it remains one of the most controversial bits of 'reporting' that THE TIMES ever published from Iraq. The Pulitzer should have been returned and that 'reporting' remains a nightmare though many try to avoid criticizing it because the writer is 'on our side.' I'm sorry, when you are 'reporting' on the killing of teenage males and you're letting the US military vet your copy, you're not on my side. We also covered the deaths especially when families were lied to and/or insulted. 'Brave' Australians like Luke and Caitlin are always a laugh to me because the words "Jake Kovco" were never typed by them. He's an Australian who died in Iraq. There was an inquiry into his death. The government failed him and failed his family. But, hey, Luke and Caitlin and you other cowards, keep calling out the US government and pretend that makes you brave while you stay silent about your own government.

I bring this up because someone will whine -- and they probably still will -- that I'm pulling in the next story for no real reason. You can say that but, again, we covered Iraq here daily and did so for almost 20 years. This next topic is something we would have covered then and we'll cover it now. Simon Thake (BBC NEWS) reports:

A Sheffield man whose son was killed in Iraq has condemned "glib" and "offensive" comments about overseas troops by US vice-president JD Vance.

Vance said an American stake in Ukraine's economy was a "better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years".

The comments were criticised by UK opposition politicians, who accused Vance of disrespecting British forces.

Bill Stewardson, whose son Kingsman Alex Green, 21, died in Basra in 2007, said Vance's comments "lacked common decency" and called on him to resign.

Mr Stewardson said Vance "epitomises everything that a statesman and a leader should not be".

He's created an international incident.

Grasp that.

Vice presidents do not normally do that.

And he's got no character. I get it, Miss Sassy was the Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger in Iraq. He didn't fight. He tries to act tough but he was just typing away in Iraq. While others were required to show courage.

And now he makes statements that insult our ally. If he had any decency or self-respect, he would say, "My goodness, I am so sorry that my words sounded that way. It was not my intent an, as a fellow Iraq War veteran, I certainly appreciate everyone who served there so I would like to say to Alex Green's family that I am sorry and wish I had used better and more precise wording."

He can't do that. He can spark an international incident but he's not mature enough and lacks the character required to say what is now needed.

As the US grows more hated and isolated thanks to Chump and Miss Sassy, Diane Brady (FORTUNE) reports:

Automakers got a one-month exemption yesterday from the 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico—a glimmer of hope that sparked a Wall Street rally. But Target CEO Brian Cornell and other U.S. retailers say they could raise prices on fresh-food imports within days. Canada and China have already announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, with Mexico promising to announce its plan by Sunday. Stock markets may reverse course and rally if investors cling to the hope that the global trade war will be no more than a “little disturbance,” as President Trump promised in his speech to Congress. Or not.

For CEOs, what’s next is the stuff of existential debate. Who knows what will happen in the coming days? But here are some takeaways from the trade war so far:

The damage is real – If current tariffs remain in place for three months, RBC estimates that the U.S. economy will see zero growth this year. Goodbye Trump bump. Hello, planning for a potential recession. For months, CEOs have talked about tariffs as a tactic and negotiating ploy to squeeze concessions from trading partners on other issues. Now, the threat is urgent and real, with an impact that could ripple across different industries. Cash-strapped consumers tend to cancel vacations, delay renovations, and skimp on expenses like healthcare. Consumer spending accounts for almost 70% of U.S. GDP—and Americans are nervous about the future right now.

And they're right to be nervous. Also at FORTUNE, Eleanor Pringle reminds:

When President Trump announced tariff hikes on China, Canada, and Mexico, his team reassured consumers that they wouldn't be facing the sharp end of the deal.

In fact, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went so far as to say he wasn't concerned about the 20% increase the White House had placed on imports from China, saying the nation "will pay for the tariffs because their business model is exporting their way out of this inflation. They will eat any tariffs that go on."

Likewise, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hinted that retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico wouldn't come to fruition, as "they have so much more that they sell to us than we sell to them."

He added: "It’s not even close, this is not a battle that we’re ever going to lose. The president knows it, he does have the cards, and he’s going to protect Americans."

If Lutnick was betting there would be little or no retaliation, it hasn't paid off. Canada has since responded with a 25% hike of its own on American exports, with Mexico adding it will announce tariff and non-tariff rebuttals later this week.

China also whacked 15% onto imports of key U.S. farm products, including chicken, pork, soy, and beef, as well as expanding controls on doing business with U.S. companies.

It seems the back-and-forth will raise prices for consumers, a further burden on purse strings which have already been stretched over the past few years by inflation and tight interest rates.

The bad news for Chump is that FORTUNE, et al don't care whether you get a honeymoon or not. They're not going to be intimidated. They're not Barbara Walters or Liz Smith where you can screech and scream and get your way. They're not the soft and weak 'news' reporters for THE NEW YORK TIMES who had decades to cover Chump and never alerted the people to the reality of him or of his family. Most readers of THE TIMES couldn't even tell you of the proximity to greatness the Trump family had before Chump was born but all that really happened is Trump betrayed. That is the story of that family.

The bad news for the average American is that they're not the focus of the financial press. (Though when they are, you can win a Pulitzer -- the human costs of the leverage buyout of Safeway, for example.) Their concern is Money. And Money's never respected Chump to begin with and they're not going to lie for him. And whenever Chump does something nutty -- several times a day -- with regards to our economy, I'm reminded of what Chuck Schumer said in January 2017 about Chump and the CIA, "Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you. So, even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he’s being really dumb to do this." The CIA are actually much kinder than the financial press.

Here's Lawrence O'Donnell from last night explaining the bosses that Chump has to listen to.

Lawrence has done outstanding work for years. Everyone can't say the same. I'm thinking of DSAer posing as a Democrat and I'm wondering what the hell he thinks he's doing? Like a good DSAer, he's just attacked the Democratic Party in a video and insisted that the party was not going to save us from fascism. And then, 13 hours later, he did a video slamming Dems for voting with fascists.

Well if they're not going to save us, as you already argued, why the surprise?

Oh, that's right.

You're not about truth and you're not about consistency.

You are about pimping lies and attacking the party.

Hate to break it to you -- and you're old enough that I shouldn't have to -- no one is riding to the rescue. We have to roll our sleeves and do it ourselves.

That's not me attacking the Democratic Party which is not fascist, by the way.

That's me acknowledging the system we live in. It's a system DSA loves to criticize but can't seem to effectively work with, work against or work around.

The Democrats in Congress are of many minds on how to push back on Chump. They test things and they try to see what works. I wasn't a fan of the 'bingo cards' -- I wasn't fan of them before this year either -- but it was a tactic and they tried it.

If DSA had a brain -- even one -- among it's almost 80,000 national members, they might grasp that we -- the people -- are the ones who push and push and push.

That means we push in our commentary. Against Chump.

Clutch The Pearls was the automatic stance of corporate media long before Cokie Roberts further pioneered it with "as a mother . . ."

The media can be a vengeful pack, but it is a pack that runs together.

Those of us online can say much more -- and should -- about Chump than those in elected office. We -- that even includes DSA -- need to be pushing the dialogue to the left. You know, like DSA forever claims that they want to push the Democratic Party to the left. That's what they said back in 1982 with the plan that they'd build their own party and their membership would soar.

Four decades later and they've gone from 25,000 members to almost 80,000 -- that's not soaring.

The media has a honeymoon period where they are reluctant to critique and assess the new president. It's the first hundred days. Chump has already seen that honeymoon begin to fade.

Dems in office are fighting back. They need to do more. They are testing other avenues and responses.

But we're the ones who have to do the hard work right now.

And, sorry to break it to you simple-minded DSAer, your attacks on the Democratic Party do nothing to help anyone. Like Uncommitted, it's a recipe for disaster.

Criticize the party. I do. But I don't call my political party a fascist.

It's not one, that language is not helpful, this is a time when supposedly we should pull together -- all of us.

Isn't that what Rashida Tlaib's groupies keep saying?

The time to pull together was before election day so there calls for all of us to pull together are laughable now.

But they keep making them . . . just like they keep attacking the Democratic Party.

I'm tired of it. The mid-terms are important and so is the next presidential election and we don't have time for DSA's desire to turn us into a Socialist country to excuse their nonsensical and repeated attacks on the Democratic Party.

We need to be focused. And don't come at me with we all need to pull together when you're on YOUTUBE calling my party a fascist.

Last night, Rachel Maddow spoke with Hampton Dellinger who demonstrated how one person could make a huge difference.

We have power and we have strength. The Black community is effectively responding with specific boycotts, for example. But then we usually do respond as opposed to the male and female Karens of DSA. Marcia notes three strong people standing out in last night's "3 patriots demonstrating real courage: Kayde Martin, Dr. Mary Brinkmeyer, Pete Buttigieg."

We The People can't sit back and wait to be rescued because that never happens. We have to be out here fighting for our country and for our future. (If the vile racism and sexism aimed at Kamala by our 'friends' on the left and aimed at Black women specifically means you are taking time for yourself, you continue to do that. You rejoin when and if it's good for you. I am appalled that all this time later Tlaib's groupies cannot apologize for their online attacks of Black women.) We need to model the courage we want to see from our representatives. We need to make demands of them as well.

But we really don't have time for Socialists in political closets attacking our party with one extreme judgment after another -- extreme and uninformed.

Here's Chris Hayes from last night calling for more from our party.

He's not kissing ass or pretending everything is turning up roses and rainbows. He's also not calling Dems fascists.

Let's get back to financials, Andy Kalmowitz (JALOPNIK) reports:

With the exception of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk has alienated himself from pretty much everyone else on Earth. Looking at recent Wall Street trends, it would seem his investors are giving up on him too. Shares of Tesla jumped 84 percent following November's Presidential Election — peaking just days before Christmas — as investors assumed Musk's car company would benefit greatly from his involvement in the government.

Welp, that isn't exactly going to plan. In Musk's incredibly high-profile role as the head of the Department of Governmental Efficiency, he has tried to impose massive cuts to spending that had already been approved by Congress, and he's laid off thousands of federal employees. This has not gone over well with the general public, and now Teslas shares are down 40 percent from their peak after the markets closed on March 5, according to CNN. Shares have lost over a third of their value since Trump took office on January 20, meaning it has lost nearly 90 percent of its post-election bump.

Welfare Queen Alien Musk continues to flounder. Ana Altchek (BUSINESS INSIDER) reports:

Elon Musk told investors to expect Tesla sales to grow this year — but plummeting sales in several countries are complicating that goal.

While Tesla's Model Y continues to be a top seller and UK sales were up in February, some of Tesla's sales figures in other markets looked grim — the kind of year-over-year drops that should worry the CEO.

Germany: -76%

Tesla's sales in Germany last month were down by 76% year over year, with 1,429 vehicles sold. Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority said overall EV sales in the country grew by about 31%.

Tesla's sales in the country also fell in January, when Musk endorsed the far-right AfD party ahead of a February 23 election.

Norway, Denmark, and Sweden: -42% to -48%

Tesla sales declined in several other European countries last month.

In February, Tesla sales in Norway and Denmark were down by 48% year over year.

Sales in Sweden declined by 42% year over year.

France: -26%

Tesla sales in France last month declined by 26% year over year: It sold 2,395 vehicles, though that was an increase from 1,141 Teslas sold in January. The country also experienced an overall decline in car sales of 0.7%, Plateforme Automobile said.

Teslas manufactured in China: -49%

Sales of Teslas manufactured in China also took a hit in February. The EV giant sold 30,688 China-made vehicles, its lowest number since August 2022. That represented a 49% drop year over year in China. Tesla's Chinese rival BYD recorded a 90.4% increase in vehicle sales that month.

The business community is tired of Alien Musk. Irina Ivanova (FORTUNE) notes:

Steve Wozniak is no fan of Elon Musk, he revealed—and that goes for the Tesla CEO’s cars as well as his current stint as President Donald Trump’s chief cost-cutter.

The Apple cofounder excoriated Musk during a recent interview, criticizing his management style at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“I don’t know what got into his head,” Wozniak told CNBC.

“Sometimes you get so rich at these big companies, when you’re on top, it goes to your head, and you’re the most credible person in the world, you’re the brightest, and you're gonna dictate what others will do.

“Bullying is the best way to think of it,” Wozniak said.

For more on Musk, see Elaine's "Get in bed with Chump and become a chump."

While the DSA YOUTUBE set was whining and carping and ignoring reality, Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered a moment that we should all be amplifying.

Video of Exchange (YouTube)

Washington, D.C. – At a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Dr. Michael Faulkender, President Trump’s nominee for Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, on Republicans’ “magic math” for their plans to cut taxes for the ultra-wealthy. Republican leaders are increasingly supportive of using a “current policy baseline” for their tax package to hide the true cost of their proposed $4.6 trillion tax package.

Congress’ independent scorekeepers have historically scored legislation using a “current law baseline,” which assumes that temporary tax cuts will expire and that extending those tax cuts will cost money. A current policy baseline, on the other hand, assumes that temporary tax cuts will not expire and that extending those tax cuts will cost $0. When pressed by Senator Warren on whether this gimmick actually produces additional revenue, Dr. Faulkender admitted, "I can't imagine that it would.”

Last month, Senator Warren sent a letter to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), which provides Members of Congress with revenue estimates for tax legislation. She pressed for answers on whether JCT has ever used a “current policy baseline” for official scoring purposes on the Senate floor, among other questions, to set the record straight on Republicans’ “magic math."

Ahead of his nomination hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Warren also sent a 32-page letter to Dr. Faulkender, pressing him to explain his views on his potential Treasury responsibilities.

Transcript: Hearing to examine the nomination of Michael Faulkender, of Maryland, to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
Senate Finance Committee
March 6, 2025

Senator Elizabeth Warren: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. So, President Trump had exactly one big legislative accomplishment in his first term: a giant tax cut for millionaires, billionaires, and massive corporations. In fact, it was so giant that a big hunk of it lasted only eight years and still cost $2 trillion. Now, the eight years are up, so Republicans want to do another tax cut for the ultra-wealthy, which Congress’ non-partisan budget scorers say is going to cost $4.6 trillion this time. Now, Congressional Republicans say they care about the deficit, so they have a plan to fix things up: repeal math. Here's their story: because they already had eight years of tax cuts that ran up the debt, Congressional Republicans claim that 10 more years of tax cuts will be free. They named this gimmick the ‘current policy baseline.’ They should have named it “magic math.” It is so nuts that when we need to figure out the cost of tax cuts, the Senate has never, never switched to it over using real math.

Now, Dr. Faulkender, if confirmed, you will play a role in whatever tax deal the Republicans put together. So let's talk about math,“magic math” and real math. Dr. Faulkender, does renaming tax cuts produce any additional revenue?

Michael Faulkender, Deputy Secretary-Designate, U.S. Department of the Treasury: Does renaming them–

Senator Warren: Yes, calling them something different. Does that produce any additional revenue?

Dr. Faulkender: I don't think renaming something changes—if it changes behavior, it has the potential to change revenues.

Senator Warren: Wait, so, are you saying renaming tax cuts produces additional revenue? Just renaming it?

Dr. Faulkender: I can't imagine that it would, unless it causes people to behave differently.

Senator Warren: Okay, I'll take that as no. Fair enough? Claiming that somehow losing $4.6 trillion in tax revenues is free is just plain nuts. Congressional Republicans are hoping they can fool people long enough to deliver giveaways to their wealthy donors before anyone figures it out. But at the end of the day, Republicans cannot repeal math. A bunch of tax cuts for billionaires will cost $4.6 trillion.

But congressional Republicans don't like that answer. So, I'm wondering, if they love magic math so much, I want to ask the same question in reverse. If the Republicans’ idea of magically not counting the cost of tax cuts for billionaires makes sense, what about not counting the cost of tax cuts for ordinary people? That is, for extending the Child Tax Credit?

Dr. Faulkender, according to Republicans’ magic math, if extending the tax cuts is free, shouldn't extending a temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit also be free?

Dr. Faulkender: Thank you, Senator. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act increased the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000, and so if we allow that tax cut to expire, it would mean that the child tax credit would go back to the $1,000.

Senator Warren: Right. So, the question I'm asking is, using Republican “magic math,” if it is free to extend tax cuts for billionaires, isn't it also free to extend tax cuts for poor kids?

Dr. Faulkender: Senator, I'm not familiar with magic math, but what I do know is that the American people look at the current tax code, what they paid last year and what they paid this year as the current environment. So, the question is, when we talk about extending it, I would argue that extending the TCJA is making sure that the American people don't incur a $4.5 trillion tax increase.

Senator Warren: So, you do think that renaming the tax cuts will produce $4.5 trillion in revenue?

Dr. Faulkender: No, Senator, I didn't say that it had any impact on the bottom line deficit. I'm just saying when you ask me what a baseline is, to me, the baseline is what I'm currently doing.

Senator Warren: I’m not asking you that. I'm asking you what it costs to put in $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. Look, if Republican “magic math” works, then why not extend it to everything we spend money on? How about the money we spent last year on roads and bridges or child care subsidies and the workers who process Social Security checks? Of course not. No one is going to do that.

Congressional Republicans want to use “magic math” to pass giant tax cuts, and then try to tell the American people those tax cuts cost nothing. Hard-working Americans understand that $4.6 trillion for a billionaire tax cut is not free. Congressional Republicans are trying to sell magic math so they can help billionaires, and fortunately, the American people are just not buying that.

###

Instead of amplifying that, DSAers spent the last 24 hours calling the Democratic Party fascists and that's why so many of us -- "us" being members of the Democratic Party -- feel we can not afford or indulge the DSA currently. They made their choice in the last election and it was to attack the Democratic Party which brought us another term of Donald Chump.

We can't afford the DSA and we certainly cannot trust them currently.

Let's wind down with Kate Woodsome (THE NEW REPUBLIC) tackling Jeff Bezos:

Billionaire Jeff Bezos has decided to use his newspaper to propagate an outdated story that Americans like to tell themselves: that economic freedom equals human freedom. The myth of meritocracy might be designed to inspire striving, but in a country with the greatest income inequality in the developed world, it does something more harmful. It threatens Americans’ health, gaslighting people to believe that unchecked capitalism delivers personal liberty, when decades of research show it shackles people to financial and emotional insecurity.

Bezos announced on February 26 that The Washington Post’s opinion pages will be “writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.” The paper will not publish any viewpoints opposing his priorities, he said, while adding, “Freedom is ethical—it minimizes coercion—and practical—it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity.” For an editorial section that long prided itself as a marketplace of ideas, and a newspaper historically dedicated to holding the powerful accountable, this edict by a union-busting business mogul engaged in a pay-to-play scheme with a president who disdains the Constitution is bad for journalism and democracy and, perhaps most personally, Americans’ mental health.

I worked at The Washington Post from 2017 to December 2023, establishing the Opinion section’s first documentary film unit and pioneering a column about mental health and society. In 2021, I covered the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol as part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. When I learned of Bezos’s editorial edict, I talked to former colleagues and learned of “heartbreak,” confusion, and anger in the newsroom. I also reached out to Post leadership for a comment on what defines “personal liberties and free markets” and who would be the arbiter of who deserved this freedom. No response.

[. . .]

The system Bezos is championing has enabled the rich to get richer faster and the working class to burn out more quickly. And the assignment he’s given The Washington Post opinion pages is to make his story look good. There is a dataset that gives it credence: Since the 2020 pandemic, the U.S. economy expanded at a solid pace, wages have grown, and more people are working. But if you widen the lens to look at health, well-being, and human flourishing—some people’s definition of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—the United States does “abysmally,” social epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson, a professor emeritus at the University of York in Britain, told me.

“The costs of the way the society works are absolutely horrendous,” Wilkinson said in an interview. “We must, at some point, get people to address that.”

Poor Jeff Bezos, paying with his soul.