politics

Oh snap . . . I’m not falling for THIS (election year promises to eliminate Federal Income Tax).  

Photo above - If President Trump makes good on his promise to eliminate Federal Income taxes, will Taylor Swift buy an even bigger jet? Or just repaint the one she has? (disclaimer - Taylor Swift and the future Travis Kelce-Swift have not publicly taken a position in favor of eliminating income taxes).

There are a lot of taxes I’d like to see eliminated or rolled back. But the amount of media attention Trump’s proposal to eliminate income tax gets is disturbing and irresponsible. It goes beyond clickbait, since there is zero discussion of what happens next. (see MSN link below)

In yesterday’s column I highlighted 6 separate fees/taxes which California levies against a nightly hotel room. These were evidently the brainchild of politicians wanting to cash in on the 2026 World Cup tourism bonanza. (some of the taxes/fees predate 2026, of course).

Some taxes are regressive – they fall equally on everyone, meaning harder proportionately on the working poor. Or they’re PROgressive, meaning the poor are somewhat spared, and instead people with more disposable income are on the hook to a greater extent. A lot of Federal spending IS wasteful, but let’s agree we cannot do without highways, schools, national defense, and the Food and Drug administration. If there’s no federal income tax, either the national debt is going expend beyond the solar system (it’s already over the moon), or tariffs and fees – the regressive kind – hit even you and me even harder. Maybe both happen at once.

Sales taxes are regressive - we all go to the store. So are gasoline taxes. Social security taxes - you can’t escape these even if you’re a min-wage Starbucks barista high fiving because your tips are no longer considered taxable. I’m less concerned about alcohol, tobacco and firearms taxes, but obviously the working poor are big consumers of those items. At least if they live in the ‘hood, or in the rural misery belt, or someplace where it snows 8 months out of the year.

Trump promised voters that his every changing litany of tariffs would be paid by “someone else” instead of you and me. That’s absurd. There is no pot of gold Ford is sitting on. Or Rite Aid Drugs. Or Del Monte Foods. Or Pfizer. They all lost money, and a few filed for bankruptcy recently. In fact, in any given year at least 10% of the companies in our 401K accounts lose money.

So we’re paying those Trump tariffs through higher prices, and by shifting to cheaper alternatives. The $100,000 battery powered F150 is dead. The Ford Maverick compact pickup is ascendant 0 the base model. No need to tow 10,000 pounds when you're only picking up half a dozen bags of mulch at Home Depot.

There is no way ANY politician can come up with a credible way to replace income taxes. Our politicians can’t even balance the federal budget. We already have $38 trillion in national debt. Every day we go $8 billion further into debt. You could build an aircraft carrier for $8 billion.

Let me be clear: I don’t want to justify – or increase – federal income taxes on the basis of our ridiculous and unnecessary spending. No matter what kind of spending your own political party rants about. Both parties had an equal hand in creating our $38 trillion national debt.

I want to see politicians' plans for a balanced budget, rather than inane gibberish about eliminating income taxes.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

How much you’d take home making $250K a year if Trump eliminates income taxes

Photo below - remember this? Ask your mom or dad about it, if you were still a kid 20 years ago.

The places where you and I keep our money are NOT a private investment banks. We have presumably safe checking and savings deposits at places like Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo. However, all of those have been fined or placed under government restrictions for violations and unsafe practices at some point recently. Still, this as safe as it gets for ordinary customers like us.

But these institutions – and dozens of others – have mirror operations: Investment Banking. If some guy with a lot of money and doesn’t like what Bank of America pays as interest on a savings account, they can open an investment bank relationship. Returns will be higher. So will risks, since investment banks shower money on stuff which some regulators frown at. Those investment banks have waaaay different rules, and the money spigot – both in and out – can be turned off overnight. That’s what’s happening right now. (see link below)

“The last time funds blocked investors from getting their money back, Bear Stearns collapsed 6 months later” (direct quote from George Noble). This was, of course 2007-2008. But the crisis didn’t stop there. Practically every money center bank in America with FDIC insured deposits quickly ran into trouble. The government stepped in (President Bush) and started bailing everyone out – real banks, investment banks, wall street brokerages, Fannie Mae . . . even General Motors.

This bailout bonanza became known as TARP, and it cost taxpayers trillions. Historians are divided as to whether this really saved the entire system, or just the most reckless players.

There is no requirement for the government to rescue anything other than an FDIC insured bank. All the other TARP winners were outside of the orbit of US government obligation. Wall Street and automakers and everyone else who got a big check is probably still grateful.

So here we are again. Big shots who have uninsured deposits at risky institutions are demanding their money back. The investment bank managers are saying no. Blackrock/HPS Corporate Lending halted withdrawals when clients tried to withdraw $1.2 billion almost overnight. This is called a “bank run”, when clients become panicked that they will NEVER get their money back, and they run as fast as they can to the exit.

The current gulf war, skyrocketing oil prices, AI job impacts, and a possible global recession are triggering this bank run. Just like the collapse of the risky mortgage lending business did in 2007.

I’m conflicted at this point. Should I root for another nationwide financial bailout to save everyone, because everyone is too big to fail, not just a handful of money center banks? If that happens the national debt is going to the moon. If we refuse to bail out all the brain-dead bad investment banks and corporations, would that really risk the survival of legitimate banks which are regulated by at least 4 government agencies?

And does anyone really trust the Trump administration to (first) make a careful review of the facts and risks, and (then) chart a prudent course of action? This is the White House which recently showered lobster tails, sushi prep tables, and ice cream machines on the Pentagon because it didn’t know what else to do with unspent defense money.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Veteran fund manager George Noble warns that a private credit crisis may be unfolding in real time

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 - Wikipedia

Left Media Bias bigger than i realized. No matter how you measure (print media, online, page views, paid subscribers, followers, etc) US media leans heavily left, to an extent that surprised me. Most ways I tried back-of-the napkin math have right + right-leaning news sources being below 10%… and even the most generous assessments that include lost of neutral/other outlets still have left + left-leaning above 50% (meaning 5:1 liberal to conservative is the lowest estimate i could find).

Context

The US is pretty evenly split in terms of the two major parties:
> 45% of U.S. adults Republican-ish, 44% Democrat-ish Gallup 2022

Some sources

• Allsides Here’s Allsides review
  their media bias on Allsides.com here’s the site’s own assessment of its own bias
• Googling the top 25 most-subscribed news channels in the United States, and
• Even the more left leaning LLMS can’t help but point out this as a fact of modern media.

Takeaways

• First, this gives me empathy for Republicans. Many American conservatives feel like the underdog, regardless of how much power or influence they yield, because in a very real way, they’re not represented in a substantial part of the public narrative making machine—the media—proportionally. The perception of bias is true despite their being popular conservative outlets with sizable audiences, and as a result the left has influence on public opinion.Impact on Public Trust (but also how come Republicans aren’t better at getting media subscribers?)

• Second, how come Republicans, who are stereotypically thought of us as having more business acumen or money or something, are getting so handily beaten in the media?

• Third, I try not to get involved in politics because I’m scared of loosing connection or turning people off of the value of relatefulness because of my takes, even if they’re nuanced. We’re very good at otherizing people and forgetting to look at nuances. I’m certain I lack nuance. I don’t want a difference of political opinion to get in the way of our connecting. I started writing up this for the TTT email (which I ended up deciding not to send) but I realized others are deeply esconced in politics and way smarter and more educated in the field than I, so I decided to not go there. But here on uptrusting.com I think it’s a cool opporutnity to test; could also be a nice road to empathy, or self-empathy, depending on our identifications.

Experiment: How is whatever's happening serving the greater good? If we zoom out long enough, we can often see that massive setbacks created foundations for evolution. Eg:

• The great oxygenation wiped out almost all life on Earth, but also created the atmosphere.
• The extinction of the dinos paved the way for bigger mammals—and eventually humans.
• Industrialization put tons of people out of work and polluted like crazy, but coincided with some of the greatest quality of life increases in recorded history
• In Trump and a Post Truth World, Ken Wilber suggests that Trump’s 2016 win was one manifestation of evolution taking a step backward to correct the way the “Green meme” went unhealthy—because the one thing that Trump was coherent about back then was being anti-pluralistic.

What’s a thing in the world that you don’t like right now, and think is a huge step backward, that might also be a step forward? How so?

By design, this is an unverifiable experiment from a third person perspective. Since we can keep zooming out + everything is interconnected, we’ll probably never know for sure, even if we live for thousands of years. 

But by design, this is verifiable from a first person perspective: Does your experience improve or change in any way by the experiment? How so?

(note that this doesn't ask you to deny any suffering—such as the horror of the oxygenation event's great extinction, or stop trying to make things better. Like everything, this perspective can be misused. "Everything happens for a reason" is usually dismissive, "if there were a reason for this in the long run, what might it be?" is additive. Like allowing versus expressing, it's not about bypassing the difficulty but rather creating a larger container for it. Freedom comes through acceptance rather than resistance.)

#TTT 

Oh snap . . . I’m not falling for THIS (election year promises to eliminate Federal Income Tax).  

Photo above - If President Trump makes good on his promise to eliminate Federal Income taxes, will Taylor Swift buy an even bigger jet? Or just repaint the one she has? (disclaimer - Taylor Swift and the future Travis Kelce-Swift have not publicly taken a position in favor of eliminating income taxes).

There are a lot of taxes I’d like to see eliminated or rolled back. But the amount of media attention Trump’s proposal to eliminate income tax gets is disturbing and irresponsible. It goes beyond clickbait, since there is zero discussion of what happens next. (see MSN link below)

In yesterday’s column I highlighted 6 separate fees/taxes which California levies against a nightly hotel room. These were evidently the brainchild of politicians wanting to cash in on the 2026 World Cup tourism bonanza. (some of the taxes/fees predate 2026, of course).

Some taxes are regressive – they fall equally on everyone, meaning harder proportionately on the working poor. Or they’re PROgressive, meaning the poor are somewhat spared, and instead people with more disposable income are on the hook to a greater extent. A lot of Federal spending IS wasteful, but let’s agree we cannot do without highways, schools, national defense, and the Food and Drug administration. If there’s no federal income tax, either the national debt is going expend beyond the solar system (it’s already over the moon), or tariffs and fees – the regressive kind – hit even you and me even harder. Maybe both happen at once.

Sales taxes are regressive - we all go to the store. So are gasoline taxes. Social security taxes - you can’t escape these even if you’re a min-wage Starbucks barista high fiving because your tips are no longer considered taxable. I’m less concerned about alcohol, tobacco and firearms taxes, but obviously the working poor are big consumers of those items. At least if they live in the ‘hood, or in the rural misery belt, or someplace where it snows 8 months out of the year.

Trump promised voters that his every changing litany of tariffs would be paid by “someone else” instead of you and me. That’s absurd. There is no pot of gold Ford is sitting on. Or Rite Aid Drugs. Or Del Monte Foods. Or Pfizer. They all lost money, and a few filed for bankruptcy recently. In fact, in any given year at least 10% of the companies in our 401K accounts lose money.

So we’re paying those Trump tariffs through higher prices, and by shifting to cheaper alternatives. The $100,000 battery powered F150 is dead. The Ford Maverick compact pickup is ascendant 0 the base model. No need to tow 10,000 pounds when you're only picking up half a dozen bags of mulch at Home Depot.

There is no way ANY politician can come up with a credible way to replace income taxes. Our politicians can’t even balance the federal budget. We already have $38 trillion in national debt. Every day we go $8 billion further into debt. You could build an aircraft carrier for $8 billion.

Let me be clear: I don’t want to justify – or increase – federal income taxes on the basis of our ridiculous and unnecessary spending. No matter what kind of spending your own political party rants about. Both parties had an equal hand in creating our $38 trillion national debt.

I want to see politicians' plans for a balanced budget, rather than inane gibberish about eliminating income taxes.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

How much you’d take home making $250K a year if Trump eliminates income taxes

Politics self-assessment quiz from an integral perspective. I’m obsessively working on a course I’ve been trying to build for 4 years and have recently made big breakthroughs with. I’ve just completed the first draft of questions in the topic of politics.

Ideally, the way this would be scored is that people could rank all of the statements that are true for them, put as many responses as they want in a no way bucket, and put as many responses as they want in a I don’t get it bucket. I haven’t found a quiz builder tool that will let me build it that way yet, so in the meantime I’m using one that lets me randomize the order the responses are shown in and lets them rank the answers.

Here’s the first draft of the prompts, would love any and all feedback, support, and nit-picking!

What are your opinions and feelings about politics?

 M I personally don’t care, that’s just not where my focus is in my life.

 R I’ll stand firm until I die to defend my country.

 A I worry that things could be heading in the wrong direction.

 O The people with the best strategies will always win.

 G The efforts of good intentions are persistently threatened by corruption and greed.

 T The current political landscape shows me a mirror of my inner world, and the most impactful solutions start by looking within.

What are your priorities in how you interact with politics?

 M I’m not going to do anything that might make my people reject me.

  R As long as I can live my life the way I want to, we’re good, but as soon as someone tries to get in the way I’m going to fight for my rights.

 A I perform my civic duty, like voting, writing to my senator and staying aware of local politics, because that’s what a conscientious citizen does to maintain what matters.

 O I leverage connections and resources to move the cogs of the political machine in directions that support my endeavors.

 G I volunteer for causes that work to fix systemic flaws and care for those in need.

 T I trust the overarching trend that life has always had toward greater good, and I take action when needed.

What do you want or expect from politicians?

 M As long as me and my family’s lives stay the same, whatever they do is ok by me.

 R Take charge, get shit done, and don’t get in the way of what I want.

 A Protect our valued traditions and morals.

 O Make everything as functional as possible without getting in the way of progress.

 G Undo antiquated laws that systematically oppress and harm people, and create safety nets to ensure everyone’s basic needs will always be met.

 T Stay aware of societal patterns, and look for solutions that balance holding firm limits with honoring the current views of all who live here.

What are the keystones of our political culture?

 M I’m not really sure.

 R Honoring our forefathers who fought for our independence.

 A Maintaining law and order.

 O The system of checks and balances makes sure history doesn’t get in the way of innovation.

 G Legislation that protects people and the environment.

 T Public and private entities interacting to create policies that accurately represent the beliefs of the people.

When you talk about politics, where do you tend to come from?

 UL My feelings- what makes me feel safe and protected, and what makes me feel threatened.

 LL The people I love- what matters to them and will help them feel safe and protected.

 UR Data- polls, statistics, and effectiveness.

 LR Systemic impacts- how voting functions, ways laws are implemented, etc.

When you take in information about politics, what do you want most?

 UL Personalization- ask me questions and find out what matters to me.

 LL Connection- let’s listen to each other and see what we discover.

 UR Facts- I want to study what’s happening and why it’s happening.

 LR Structures- I want to explore the methods and protocols at work.

Looking for bridges in views about the second Trump administration. I'm currently aware of four views:

• This is the worst thing ever, I'm terrified
• This is the best thing ever, I'm thrilled
• I don't pay attention to politics, so far my life feels exactly the same
• Some of the changes seem pretty cool so far, but we'll see

Where are the middle grounds? I want to know how to build bridges in my personal connections when politics comes up these days.

Looking for bridges in views about the second Trump administration. I'm currently aware of four views:

• This is the worst thing ever, I'm terrified
• This is the best thing ever, I'm thrilled
• I don't pay attention to politics, so far my life feels exactly the same
• Some of the changes seem pretty cool so far, but we'll see

Where are the middle grounds? I want to know how to build bridges in my personal connections when politics comes up these days.

Looking for bridges in views about the second Trump administration. I'm currently aware of four views:

• This is the worst thing ever, I'm terrified
• This is the best thing ever, I'm thrilled
• I don't pay attention to politics, so far my life feels exactly the same
• Some of the changes seem pretty cool so far, but we'll see

Where are the middle grounds? I want to know how to build bridges in my personal connections when politics comes up these days.

Looking for bridges in views about the second Trump administration. I'm currently aware of four views:

• This is the worst thing ever, I'm terrified
• This is the best thing ever, I'm thrilled
• I don't pay attention to politics, so far my life feels exactly the same
• Some of the changes seem pretty cool so far, but we'll see

Where are the middle grounds? I want to know how to build bridges in my personal connections when politics comes up these days.

American Military Bases are basically socialist woke dream . I was talking to a former military brat just yesterday about her life growing up in US military bases around the world with a Colonel father.

She mentioned that food, housing, health care and education is all provided and equal. The 4 star general's kid goes to the same school as the private's kid. So the school has to be damm good to make sure they can get into the Ivy Leagues. She never knew anything about health insurance, when anyone was sick, they just went to the clinic and got care. Everything was equal and fair without money involved. She was surprised to learn what health insurance even was when she came to the US as a teenager. "You mean you don't just get taken care of when you're sick?"

Given the recent Prez/SecWar gathering the US military generals to say we're ending the "woke" era. Maybe they should also stop this socialist wet dream happening in hundreds of military bases worldwide.

Of course, there're downsides to the military and growing up in that system. Not to mention the difference of volunteering to risk sacrificing your life and getting benefits in return. Nonetheless, it does seem to validate that if you're doing a great social good then you deserve a strong social safety net.

Looking for bridges in views about the second Trump administration. I'm currently aware of four views:

• This is the worst thing ever, I'm terrified
• This is the best thing ever, I'm thrilled
• I don't pay attention to politics, so far my life feels exactly the same
• Some of the changes seem pretty cool so far, but we'll see

Where are the middle grounds? I want to know how to build bridges in my personal connections when politics comes up these days.

Engage or Enrage. It is likely that we have family members or friends that we differ with greatly when it comes to politics, healthcare, etc.  I am no different.  When the inevitable hot topic arises, do you recommend flight or fight, engage or enrage?  How do you respond when this occurs?

Engage or Enrage. It is likely that we have family members or friends that we differ with greatly when it comes to politics, healthcare, etc.  I am no different.  When the inevitable hot topic arises, do you recommend flight or fight, engage or enrage?  How do you respond when this occurs?

Engage or Enrage. It is likely that we have family members or friends that we differ with greatly when it comes to politics, healthcare, etc.  I am no different.  When the inevitable hot topic arises, do you recommend flight or fight, engage or enrage?  How do you respond when this occurs?

Engage or Enrage. It is likely that we have family members or friends that we differ with greatly when it comes to politics, healthcare, etc.  I am no different.  When the inevitable hot topic arises, do you recommend flight or fight, engage or enrage?  How do you respond when this occurs?