An open mind is one of the most valuable qualities a person can have. For some reason, most people are unable to fake being open minded when discussing politics so it's a good litmus test.
So consider the following perspective. We've endured Trump once, with mediocre results. The world didn't end, and meanwhile he did not accomplish much of what he promised while putting on a clown show. But this time, I'm optimistic about the potential for our country for the first time. Not because of Trump, but because of some of his likely cabinet appointments. Elon Musk in particular.
Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, our government is headed for a debt crisis. Things will get slowly worse (inequality will increase while the government devalues the dollar to service its debt), but eventually, the crisis will come to a head and the government will be unable to service its debts without a massive devaluation ala Argentina, Weimar Republic, etc. We got a small taste of this after the pandemic response.
There is no conceivable way that an ordinary politician from either party could dismantle or even slow the growth of the immense bureaucratic rot bleeding our country dry. Nor can Donald Trump, as evidenced by his failure to "drain the swamp" last time.
But one of the few people who could is likely to get a major government efficiency appointment.
That's what I'm optimistic about. Not Trump, but the fact that he is now surrounded with competent people with good ideas. Prior to him being elected, a true national debt reckoning was inevitable at some point in my lifetime. Now, there is some non-negligible chance of pushing it past my lifetime or reversing it altogether.
There is the usual caveat that government debt does not work like personal debt, having a central bank and all. But then on top of that, I would add that even government debt does not work like government debt when the government is the United States government. Having the world reserve currency means they own the world, and devaluation means they siphon resources away globally.
This is bad if you are not American or it hurts some sense of fairness you might have, but objectively it's probably good for the US.
So consider the following perspective. We've endured Trump once, with mediocre results. The world didn't end, and meanwhile he did not accomplish much of what he promised while putting on a clown show. But this time, I'm optimistic about the potential for our country for the first time. Not because of Trump, but because of some of his likely cabinet appointments. Elon Musk in particular.
Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, our government is headed for a debt crisis. Things will get slowly worse (inequality will increase while the government devalues the dollar to service its debt), but eventually, the crisis will come to a head and the government will be unable to service its debts without a massive devaluation ala Argentina, Weimar Republic, etc. We got a small taste of this after the pandemic response.
There is no conceivable way that an ordinary politician from either party could dismantle or even slow the growth of the immense bureaucratic rot bleeding our country dry. Nor can Donald Trump, as evidenced by his failure to "drain the swamp" last time.
But one of the few people who could is likely to get a major government efficiency appointment.
That's what I'm optimistic about. Not Trump, but the fact that he is now surrounded with competent people with good ideas. Prior to him being elected, a true national debt reckoning was inevitable at some point in my lifetime. Now, there is some non-negligible chance of pushing it past my lifetime or reversing it altogether.