Facts and figures

WH Policy Director Stephen Miller on Fox: “The economy was on its deathbed when President Trump came into the Oval Office.”

Elon Musk’s AI app Grok was asked if Miller’s quote was accurate: “Based on key indicators, the economy performed strongly under Biden with average unemployment at 3.6% (2022-2023), inflation down to 2.4% by late 2024, and real GDP growth of 12.6% over his term. Currently (Aug 2025), unemployment is 4.2%, inflation 2.7%, and Q2 GDP growth 3.0%, but job gains slowed amid tariff impacts. Overall, Biden's era showed better stability in jobs and prices.”

The Telegraph: “Trump may have delivered a booming stock market, but economists warn he is pushing many sectors into recession. His working class MAGA support base will be the worst hit. Trump has succeeded in splitting the US economy in two: while Wall Street and Silicon Valley are booming, the rest of the country is suffering a redneck recession. The working classes who helped Trump return to the WH are now suffering. Many companies are also struggling. Small businesses, which do not have the cash reserves or economies of scale to absorb policy shocks, have been the hardest hit by Trump’s tariffs. On top of the trade war, small companies are also wrestling with Trump’s immigration crackdown and cuts to govt grants.”

Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi: “Manufacturing is in recession. Construction is in a deep recession. Transportation and distribution is in recession. Wholesaling is in recession. Retail is holding on by its thumbs, it’s very close. The industries that are going to get nailed, they’re the kind of working class, low-to-middle income kind of job.”

[...]

John Arensmeyer, CEO of the Small Business Majority: “Small businesses are just being hammered by these tariffs. The tariffs themselves are cutting into their profit margins, but also it’s the uncertainty.”

Meanwhile, Trump was maniacally posting on Truth Social: “IT’S MIDNIGHT!!! BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TARIFFS ARE NOW FLOWING INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!”

Later: “Tariffs are flowing into the USA at levels not thought even possible!”

  Meidas Plus

Fucking insane.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): “Tariffs are nothing more than hidden taxes, and it’s KY’s bourbon industry and farmers who are left footing the bill. We’ve never supported a higher sales tax, so why back tariffs that punish already struggling Americans? The time has come to put a stop to these job-killing, industry-crushing taxes before they do even more damage.”

Rand's party isn't listening.

An analysis of SEVIS and State Dept data predicts a potential 30–40% decline in new international student enrollment, contributing to a 15% drop in overall enrollment this fall. Such an outcome would deprive local economies of $7 billion in spending and more than 60,000 jobs.”

Treasury Sec Scott Bessent went on MSNBC and was interviewed by Eugene Robinson, who was the first one able to get anyone from the admin to admit that US importers are paying the tariffs: “Q - Who writes the check to the Treasury? Bessent - Well, the check is written to the person who receives it at the dock at the US. Q - So the tariff is paid in this country by the importer, right? Bessent - Yes, but the exporter could decide to lower the price to lower the cost.”

Or sell to another country.

Reuters: “Spain is no longer considering the option of buying US-made F-35 fighter jets and is choosing between European-made Eurofighter and the so-called Future Combat Air System (FCAS). The F-35 is manufactured by US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. The govt had earmarked 7.24 billion in its 2023 budget to buy new fighter jets.”

Trump said he is now considering a 100% tariff on Spain since they are part of BRICS and not covered by the agreement with the EU. Except that they are NOT part of BRICS and are in the EU.

We're fucked.

Breaking Free

The [BRICS] group of emerging economies signed the long-anticipated document to create the $100 bn BRICS Development Bank and a reserve currency pool worth over another $100 bn. Both will counter the influence of Western-based lending institutions and the dollar.

The new bank will provide money for infrastructure and development projects in BRICS countries, and unlike the IMF or World Bank, each nation has equal say, regardless of GDP size.

  RT

Damned commies.

The BRICS bank will be headquartered in Shanghai, India will preside as president the first year, and Russia will be the chairman of the representatives.

[...]

The $100 billion crisis lending fund, called the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), was also established. China will contribute the lion’s share, about $41 billion, Russia, Brazil and India will chip in $18 billion, and South Africa, the newest member of the economic bloc, will contribute $5 billion.

The idea is that the creation of the bank will lessen dependence on the West and create a more multi-polar world, at least financially.

“This mechanism creates the foundation for an effective protection of our national economies from a crisis in financial markets," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Thinking ahead (and back).

Russia has also proposed the countries come together under an energy alliance that will include a fuel reserve, as well as an institute for energy policy .

Gang of 8 Becomes G-7

Seeking to isolate Russia, the United States and the world’s other leading economies moved to indefinitely cut Moscow out of G-8 meetings on Monday, including canceling an economic summit that President Vladimir Putin planned to host this summer in Russia.

[...]

U.S. President Barack Obama huddled with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan for an emergency meeting of the G-7.

[...]

[He] was expected to face resistance from some European officials. Russia is one of the European Union's largest trading partners, and officials fear that the still economically fragile continent could suffer if Moscow retaliates, particularly by curbing oil and gas supplies.

  alJazeera

I’m not really understanding what it is they want Putin to do. Crimeans voted to become a part of Russia. Do they want him to deny them? I haven’t even been able to ascertain whether it’s true that Russia has invaded Ukraine – or as this article puts it, they are warning Russia against escalating its “incursion” into Ukraine. But perhaps they are talking about Russian forces in Crimea when it was part of Ukraine?

At any rate, Russia isn’t claiming any concern about getting booted from the G-8.

"If our Western partners think that this format has outlived itself, then so be it," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"At the very least, we are not trying to hold on to this format, and we see no great tragedy if it [the G-8] does not meet," he told reporters after holding concurrent talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Ukraine's interim Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya on Monday.

[...]

"So what we want to do is take the G-7 as a platform to coordinate the national actions that we're taking and then to work with our European partners as they formulate responses through the EU and European Council so that we have the strongest unified voice in imposing sanctions," said Ben Rhodes, U.S. deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, at Monday's press briefing.

"The more we coordinate the designation of individuals and entities and potentially sectors of the Russian economy, the more that's going to have an impact on Russia," he said.

That sound you just heard was the laughter of all of Cuba.

In another attempt to isolate Russia, Obama held a separate meeting Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

I bet that went well.

In a counterpoint to Obama and the other G-7 leaders, a group of five major emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — issued a statement Monday opposing sanctions and urging nations to work through the U.N. instead. The so-called BRICS nations said hostile language, sanctions and force do not "contribute to a sustainable and peaceful solution."

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Perhaps the confusion is only on the part of the alJazeera journalist. The Guardian has a little different nuance.

As Russian troops appeared to mass on Ukraine's eastern border, the G7 statement hinted at much broader sanctions if Russia made further expansionist moves.

"We remain ready to intensify actions including co-ordinated sectoral sanctions that will have an increasingly significant impact on the Russian economy, if Russia continues to escalate this situation," the statement said.

[...]

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, shrugged off the loss of G8 membership as being inconsequential. "The G8 is an informal club, with no formal membership, so no one can be expelled from it. If our western partners believe that such format is no longer needed, so be it. We aren't clinging for that format and we won't see a big problem if there are no such meetings for a year, or a year-and-half," said Lavrov after his first meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Deshchytsia.

The Ukrainian embassy in The Hague said in its account of the meeting: "Lavrov stressed that Russia has no intention of using military force in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. The two sides agreed to hold emergency consultations at the level of the ministries of foreign affairs and the ministries of defence of both countries in the case of exacerbation of the situation."

[...]

Leaders from the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan met in The Hague as the G7 for the first time since Russian was brought into the group in 1998 to seal east-west co-operation and lay the cold war to rest.

  Guardian

So is this their way of telling us that the cold war is back on again?

As for the Chinese leader’s response:

US officials acknowledged that Xi had given little by way of formal response to the request, but the Chinese leader appeared to go out of his way to emphasise a warm and personal relationship with Barack Obama, heaping praise on the US president's wife and daughters who have just visited China and jokingly conveyed Michelle Obama's greetings to her husband.

”Let’s not talk about it.”