Understanding the US - Again

[Mort Walker]

My favorite person Tulsi Gabbard (she swears on the Bhagavad Gita) was cleared by the senate today 52-46. All Republicans present voting in favor of Gabbard. Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., did not vote. I hope she quickly stems the rot of the Intelligence Bureau and the targeting of individuals inimical to the Deep State dictates.

Awaiting confirmation are Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Trump's pick for health and human services secretary and Kash Patel head of FBI.

Added later: a good interview by Bret Baier of DJT on a wide ranging topics. Quite good worth a listen.

youtube.com/watch?v=07UtZXVg_ks

This was a vote of cloture. That is an end to debate about Tulsi Gabbard for DNI. The actual vote on her confirmation will be on Wednesday 12 Feb 2025. I think the Trump team wants her confirmed before Modi arrives. Trump will introduce his cabinet to Modi. It will be great if Tulsi Gabbard is head of DNI. I only wish Kash Patel would be confirmed by the time Modi arrives with the greetings of Jai Shri Krishna!

[williams]

It is going to be interesting. I see mixed signals from the Trump Admin. Some policies seems to be India friendly, but some of it seems a bit against Indian interests. Hopefully MEA can navigate the nuances and get the best out of this relationship. We cannot afford to loose the economic momentum to the whims of the new administration.

[williams]

Thinking out a plan for debt reduction by the US:

Currently US has 36 T in debt. The first thing the Govt should do is bring down borrowings to zero, i.e live within their means, expense equals revenue. This will immediately cause a different perception about the US debt. No further debt increase.

For the actual debt, consider this: there are 22 million millionaires and around 756 billionnaires in the US. Roughly each of them needs to fork out 1.5 million to swat out the debt of 36 T. Give it 10 yrs times and it becomes 150,000 per year each, billionaires fork out 1.5 million per year each. Now what these people get in return could be a tax holiday for the amounts they gave after 10 yrs. In other words they pay forward tax now for a rebate later on. When the debt is swatted out, payments on interests for the debt is gone, so this could be a good deal for all concerned. Just a thought. Of course the govt can open a hundi to swat out the debt so anyone besides millionaires/billionaires can contribute.

Same can be applied for India's debt. Being govt debt free is a good thing for the world.

There is good debt and bad debt. If the money is used to build infrastructure and human capital, then it is good in the long run. However a lot of US debt is accumulated on wasteful spending. It is hard to control such spending since the legislators who needs to control it have a stake in such spending This is both for their political survival and personal gain.

[bala]

Thinking out a plan for debt reduction by the US:

To continue on this theme, I found this which is quite timely.

Elon Musk and DJT discussing the debt with reporters.

youtube.com/watch?v=cAgVYfvAYRc

The current deficit is approx $2T and that is not sustainable. The interest payments exceed the defence budget which is around $800 B. This is crazy according to Elon & Trump. I am sure that Elon will find that at least 1/2 of the 2T deficit is due to waste/fraud, someone is stealing this money. The sleeze and kickbacks are humungous and some fat cats in the US are living of tax payers money. Over time DJT is going to close the gap between income vs expense. Just this effort is worth electing the Repubs and they should get a few more terms to clean up this mess.

[vijayk]

Most of the Dem friends in my whatsapp group are sh1tt1ng bricks over Trump and Elon. It's non-stop hate/cry/whining.

How do neutral folks (if there are any) feel?

[A Deshmukh]

Thinking out a plan for debt reduction by the US:

large debt is a problem. but if it is backed by assets then it becomes sustainable.

apart from efforts to reduce costs and debt, it looks like,
US is also working to increase the asset size: Panama Canal, Greenland, Gaza, constant hints on Canada, Ukraine lands, Afghanistan/Balochistan.

[drnayar]

Thinking out a plan for debt reduction by the US:

Currently US has 36 T in debt. The first thing the Govt should do is bring down borrowings to zero, i.e live within their means, expense equals revenue. This will immediately cause a different perception about the US debt. No further debt increase.

For the actual debt, consider this: there are 22 million millionaires and around 756 billionnaires in the US. Roughly each of them needs to fork out 1.5 million to swat out the debt of 36 T. Give it 10 yrs times and it becomes 150,000 per year each, billionaires fork out 1.5 million per year each. Now what these people get in return could be a tax holiday for the amounts they gave after 10 yrs. In other words they pay forward tax now for a rebate later on. When the debt is swatted out, payments on interests for the debt is gone, so this could be a good deal for all concerned. Just a thought. Of course the govt can open a hundi to swat out the debt so anyone besides millionaires/billionaires can contribute.

Same can be applied for India's debt. Being govt debt free is a good thing for the world.

There is good debt and bad debt. If the money is used to build infrastructure and human capital, then it is good in the long run. However a lot of US debt is accumulated on wasteful spending. It is hard to control such spending since the legislators who needs to control it have a stake in such spending This is both for their political survival and personal gain.

Absolutely, the expenditure pot is leaking like a seive.. you can't do anything without fixing it first. Almost every us department looks riddled with corruption

[bala]

Absolutely, the expenditure pot is leaking like a seive.. you can't do anything without fixing it first. Almost every us department looks riddled with corruption

Absolutely agreed. All US Depts have huge personnel bloat, a safe figure is twice as many folks there when the whole dept can be reduced to just a few with automation/AI/etc. DJT is offering a generous severance package to leave. Even worse is money shuffled from one to another and the actual end use for which it is meant, is never expensed. The money goes to some other entity connected to the US Deep State. This is looting a la BritShitRaj style. Elon and DJT will unearth all these wastages. They will be stopped immediately (no wonder the affected are wailing tears and yelling hoarse in public media). Many depts can be just closed period, no use for them like USAID, Education dept. Take the states which are funded for pet projects like California High Speed, 120 B a major portion is federal funds from transportation dept. Colassal fraud, money has been siphoned off by Gov. Nuisance of Kalifornia for dumbocrats projects. A massive amount has gone towards illegal immigration, housing them in hotels (owned by the Deep State), etc. The people of the US will wake up one day and read that 1 T has been fraudulently wasted by the US Govt Budget and those are the obvious ones. There are other wastages that would take a very long time to unearth.

[KL Dubey]

Most of the Dem friends in my whatsapp group are sh1tt1ng bricks over Trump and Elon. It's non-stop hate/cry/whining.

How do neutral folks (if there are any) feel?

First of all, BRF is not a place to discuss US Democrat vs Republican partisan perspectives. Posters don't really need to know about your Whatsapp group and your Democrat/Republican friends.

As for "neutral", it depends on perspective.

For most "neutral" Indians sitting in India: A country like USA with $35T debt, "massive corruption", and demographic pressure should logically collapse in due course. This would end western dominance and further accelerate the return of Bharat to a pole position.

For most "neutral" Indians that have some personal interest in the US (i.e. living in US, American children/family, etc): USA should focus on being stable, prosperous, innovative, industrious, and a good citizen in the international community - abandon overreach/global dominance desires. So, money should be spent on becoming all the above things, and money should not be spent on global dominance.

My personal "neutral" opinion is from the latter standpoint. To reduce debt and abandon global dominance: DOD and MIC should be drastically cut to about $300 bn/yr from the existing $850 bn/yr. Anything that supports an "aging" population and "public charges", ie. legacy burden, should also be whittled down by at least $700-800 bn/yr. This will save well over $1.3 tn/year. On the other hand, continue and increase spending on universal education, workforce development, science and R&D, and overall sustainable/responsible development with an "all resources" approach.

[Jay]

For most "neutral" Indians sitting in India: A country like USA with $35T debt, "massive corruption", and demographic pressure should logically collapse in due course. This would end western dominance and further accelerate the return of Bharat to a pole position.

For most "neutral" Indians that have some personal interest in the US (i.e. living in US, American children/family, etc): USA should focus on being stable, prosperous, innovative, industrious, and a good citizen in the international community - abandon overreach/global dominance desires. So, money should be spent on becoming all the above things, and money should not be spent on global dominance.

Amen!

[bala]

This was a vote of cloture. That is an end to debate about Tulsi Gabbard for DNI. The actual vote on her confirmation will be on Wednesday 12 Feb 2025.

Thanks mortji.

The Vote is in: The senate vote was 52-48 mostly along party lines, though Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined Democrats in opposing the confirmation.

So it is a done deal.

This Sen. Mitch McConnell is a snake and a deep state operative.

Now I am awaiting the fireworks Tulsi is going to unleash as DNI.

Added later: RFK Jr gets cloture vote of 53-47 as HHS.

[SRajesh]

Dubeyji
I like what you are suggesting
But it is like getting off the Tiger after riding it for decades!!
Tiger might turn around and eat the "Fat Controller'
Or the Chinese will feed him to the Dragon!!
And IMHO therein lies the problem : MAGA with Immunosuppresants is not sustainable in the long run and nor is MAGA on steroids
Lets see what Trumpwa will do.

[chetak]

This was a vote of cloture. That is an end to debate about Tulsi Gabbard for DNI. The actual vote on her confirmation will be on Wednesday 12 Feb 2025.

Thanks mortji.

The Vote is in: The senate vote was 52-48 mostly along party lines, though Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined Democrats in opposing the confirmation.

So it is a done deal.

This Sen. Mitch McConnell is a snake and a deep state operative.

Now I am awaiting the fireworks Tulsi is going to unleash as DNI.

Added later: RFK Jr gets cloture vote of 53-47 as HHS.

bala saar,

It may be stale news but I am glad to hear it

US Senate Confirms Appointment Of Tulsi Gabbard As Director Of National Intelligence

Gabbard is now the US Director Of National Intelligence and was appointed after Republicans fell in line following a pressure campaign by Trump allies, including Elon Musk.

[drnayar]

source : https://x.com/liz_churchill10/status/18 ... 0128852006

[bala]

US Senate Confirms Appointment Of Tulsi Gabbard As Director Of National Intelligence

Here is good picture of US President Donald J. Trump before the swearing in of Tulsi Gabbard as DNI of US



and/or watch YT: fast forward to section wherein Tulsi is sworn in by Pam Bondi the AG of US.

youtube.com/watch?v=ZZF1j9ErdRM

Jai Shri Krishna

[KL Dubey]

Dubeyji
I like what you are suggesting
But it is like getting off the Tiger after riding it for decades!!
Tiger might turn around and eat the "Fat Controller'
Or the Chinese will feed him to the Dragon!!
And IMHO therein lies the problem : MAGA with Immunosuppresants is not sustainable in the long run and nor is MAGA on steroids
Lets see what Trumpwa will do.

That is true. But also the Chinese dragon is a paper dragon bloated in size but hollow inside. This fellow has been running with its own "tiger tail", i.e. started faking economic statistics and many other statistics (population, labor force etc) 25-30 years ago...once they started it is not possible to stop doing it every year By now the PRC economy size is falsely bloated to more than 2X its actual size. And the population is found to be getting old and weak much faster than was projected earlier.

So its possible that both these fake fellows will stop playing games and quietly slink away, or they may decide that the other is weaker and have a final go at each other. Soon after, the "real" tigers and elephants from Indian jungles will rule.

PS: in USA the youth are becoming weak and exhausted from drugs, weed, vaping etc...and in china there is weakness due to excessive masturbation and video games (https://nypost.com/2017/08/25/excessive ... -military/)

[KL Dubey]

Gabbard is now the US Director Of National Intelligence and was appointed after Republicans fell in line following a pressure campaign by Trump allies, including Elon Musk.

Whatever her ideology may be, she is the first Hindu to attain a cabinet rank position in a US sarkar, and deserves the appreciation of Indians and Hindus. Let's hope things go well.

Before that, the first Indian-American to attain cabinet rank was Nimrata Randhawa. That appointment did not go well.

[Vayutuvan]

Anything that supports an "aging" population and "public charges", ie. legacy burden, should also be whittled down by at least $700-800 bn/yr.

The only way this can be done is through forced euthanization a la Logan's Run. People are living longer exactly because a lot of money had been spent on Health sciences, cleaning up the environment, renewables, pharma, and such. There is no go but to keep on exploiting the world resources. It is like Kalki 2898. California is the top of that inverted pyramid with tip resting on the natural resources of the world, especially Africa and South American continents, Saudi Arabia/Qatar/Iran/Iraq/UAE and Australia, and Chinese labor (for the time being).

GOP or DNC, this is not going to change anytime soon.

The only way out is to accelerate the development so that humanity starts exploiting near planets and solar system itself.

[Vayutuvan]

Now what these people get in return could be a tax holiday for the amounts they gave after 10 yrs. In other words they pay forward tax now for a rebate later on.

Bala ji, this sounds similar to "the lockbox" idea they had for during Clinton/Gore era for SS and Medicare/Medicaid. Over the years, they never stopped raiding that supposed lockbox for spending on bridges to nowhere. What is the guarantee that a progressive-left group doesn't take control of the Congress and presidency and break all the promises to the millionaires and billionaires? Most of the millionaires have their money locked up in their houses and probably already retired or close to retirement. I doubt they would have a cash flow of 50K PA leave alone 200K if you want them to dish out 150K PA for ten long years.

Most of the billionaires' monies are in stock or options possibly. It looks like an unworkable plan at the outset. One has to do detailed analysis including finer division - not just two classes of folks.

[bala]

PM Modi ji is in US. He meets DNI Tulsi Gabbard. More here in this YT:

youtube.com/watch?v=XE_firF4Dpk

Tis a good start for Modiji with a friendly DNI Tulsi Gabbard.

[bala]

Bala ji, this sounds similar to "the lockbox" idea they had for during Clinton/Gore era for SS and Medicare/Medicaid. Over the years, they never stopped raiding that supposed lockbox for spending on bridges to nowhere. What is the guarantee that a progressive-left group doesn't take control of the Congress and presidency and break all the promises to the millionaires and billionaires? Most of the millionaires have their money locked up in their houses and probably already retired or close to retirement. I doubt they would have a cash flow of 50K PA leave alone 200K if you want them to dish out 150K PA for ten long years.

Most of the billionaires' monies are in stock or options possibly. It looks like an unworkable plan at the outset. One has to do detailed analysis including finer division - not just two classes of folks.

Vayu ji, thanks for your response, I wanted some feedback on my proposal. Even if say they paid 25K i.e. 1/6 which is not that much per year, it would reduce the deficit substantially. On promises: it would be hard for the dems to go back on a law since there would 1 million law suits filed in courts and the litigants would win their paid amount back. Tricky slippery slope. The 36 T debt is untenable, Musk has mentioned that many times. The US needs to stamp it out and the only way is to get their population to pay it off over some time period. The 36 T was stolen effectively by the US deep state operators.

[Agasthi]

After the success of MAGA, the next logical project for USA should be MAWA (Make America White Again).

[chetak]

Don't be fooled #USAID

[JE Menon]

PM Modi ji is in US. He meets DNI Tulsi Gabbard. More here in this YT:

youtube.com/watch?v=XE_firF4Dpk

Tis a good start for Modiji with a friendly DNI Tulsi Gabbard.

Good omen. The first world leader she meets after her confirmation, literally wearing the same clothes as during her confirmation, is Modi. Must have happened just after in fact.

[bala]

Yes, continuing on the theme of national security, Modiji meets Mike Waltz the US national security adviser to US President Donald J. Trump.

Mike Waltz meeting Modi and having some discussions.
youtube.com/watch?v=uH9kzYg3sdU

[bala]

The Senate on Thursday confirmed, 52-48, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary in a near party-line vote. Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was the lone Republican who opposed Kennedy. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Senate Health Committee and a medical doctor, had expressed concerns about Kennedy’s nomination, however, the senator said he would vote for Kennedy.

// my comments: the republican party should admonish Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. McConnell also was the only member of the GOP on Wednesday to vote against Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be Director of National Intelligence.
// hope RFK Jr gets to the bottom of Dr. Fauci, ex-head of NIH and the China connection for Kungflu (Covid). This guy is a disgrace in hiding evidence on Kungflu. The US apparently was involved in setting up maximum security labs in China. Also Pfizer and Moderna hugely profitted from vaccines whose efficacy is dubious.

[Mort Walker]

Notice in this trip by the PM to the US - the number of hit pieces on India, BJP & Modi in western media has nearly dried up in places like the NYT, WaPo, CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg and others. I think DOGE & killing off USAID has had an impact. Indian rags like The Wire & The Quint seem to be subdued, but that’s more likely after getting beat up from Delhi elections.

[drnayar]

Notice in this trip by the PM to the US - the number of hit pieces on India, BJP & Modi in western media has nearly dried up in places like the NYT, WaPo, CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg and others. I think DOGE & killing off USAID has had an impact. Indian rags like The Wire & The Quint seem to be subdued, but that’s more likely after getting beat up from Delhi elections.

the ecosystem is well in place, its just a matter of time for the likes of Soros to start funding them... the ecosystem needs to be destroyed forever

[Jay]

Dismantling of USAID will obviously have impact on "paid sources" within the news ecosystem, but a quick google search still shows hundreds of these results. At this time, trump is a bigger boogeyman than Modi for these westers news orgs and I hope it stays that way. Trump sucks of attention from whichever direction and this is nothing new.

[vijayk]

Wire, Guardian and OCCRP funded orgs are still going strong

[bala]

RFK Jr was sworn into office and DJT is present. Hear RFK Jr speak on his journey and conviction about healthcare and science. He praises DJT as a transformative president who will correct the corruption and abuse of many institutions (e.g. USAID was started as humanitarian component under his uncle JFK but transformed to something sinister/diabolic by vested interests) and right the course of America.

Tis a great start. The courage of your conviction will help you go to great heights (BTW, Sri Krishna in BG says the same thing).

youtube.com/watch?v=Zl3rdiYszAU

[drnayar]

looks like trump is putting up reciprocal tariffs for ALL countries incl India

[Mort Walker]

looks like trump is putting up reciprocal tariffs for ALL countries incl India

That’s actually a win as many people were expecting Trump to specifically target India. At least he’s upfront about it unlike the Dems & RINOs. I think Team India (MJD) are ready to cut a deal with Trump.

[bala]

Ok the one YT people were waiting to see: PM Modi and President Trump meeting at the Whitehouse. There is some Q&A by reporters. EAM Jaishankar and US Sec of State Marco Rubio are present.


youtube.com/watch?v=JYDmxnt_82k

[Rakesh]

VIDEO: https://x.com/IndianTechGuide/status/18 ... 1714819334 ---> "I met a governor of an Indian state. She said her most important investment is in the US—her children. If you look at the number of children of senior officials from India in the US, it tells you something about the relationship," says the former US ambassador to India.

https://x.com/AlexeiArora/status/1889646715860345255 ---> A former CIA officer revealed that the most attractive incentive you can give to someone to get them to betray their country and become an informant: Give their children admission to an elite U.S. college.

[Mort Walker]

Doug Burgham Sec of Energy was there too. Trump offers lower price oil & gas to India, which then forces Russia to lower prices.

[chetak]

[vimal]

looks like trump is putting up reciprocal tariffs for ALL countries incl India

That’s actually a win as many people were expecting Trump to specifically target India. At least he’s upfront about it unlike the Dems & RINOs. I think Team India (MJD) are ready to cut a deal with Trump.

An upfront tariff is better than thousand cuts via USAID.

[Cyrano]

Do these tariffs include IT services exports? That will make lot of people unhappy.

Do we tax US big tech?

[bala]

Not really current topic but it became one because US President DJT pardoned Rod Blagojevich a former Illinios Gov, a democrat. Here with Tucker Carlson, he talks about his saga which he had to endure including imprisonment due to Obummer. Rod wrote a book on his ordeal and now Rod is with DJT.

youtube.com/watch?v=NDP6St8p7dk