Trump / Musk (other than DOGE)

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I have a crush on Michelle Goldberg. I like her counterintuitive advocacy for Gaetz to be the AG:cool:

www.rawstory.com

'The worse, the better': Liberal NYT columnist makes the case for AG Matt Gaetz

While even some Republicans have flinched at the thought of confirming scandal-plagued former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to be America's top law enforcement official, liberal New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg is embracing Gaetz's nomination.In her latest column, Goldberg makes reference to...
www.rawstory.com www.rawstory.com
 
heelinhell said:
I have a crush on Michelle Goldberg. I like her counterintuitive advocacy for Gaetz to be the AG:cool:

www.rawstory.com

'The worse, the better': Liberal NYT columnist makes the case for AG Matt Gaetz

While even some Republicans have flinched at the thought of confirming scandal-plagued former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to be America's top law enforcement official, liberal New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg is embracing Gaetz's nomination.In her latest column, Goldberg makes reference to...
www.rawstory.com www.rawstory.com
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I have personally been saying "the worse the better" since November 6. The only thing that is going to wake people up to the rotten core of the MAHA political movement is to see their true plan - or in reality, fundamental lack of a substantive plan - for our country, and to experience what it will bring. My own suspicion is that Gaetz becoming AG then launching criminal prosecutions of the Clintons, Bidens, and Anthony Fauci would be a big strategic win for the enemies of Trumpism.

I hope they do a lot of things their crazy supporters have been clamoring for. My only misgiving is that the human cost of their project for government - the pain and suffering and even death - may be tremendous. But candidly in the long run I'd rather have that pain be as sharp and brief as possible rather than dragging it out like death by 1000 paper cuts. Dems should focus their efforts on minimizing the pain and the cruelty as much as possible, but if the Trump admin really wants to ram all this through with recess appointments, executive orders, and spurious legal bases, then freaking bring it on.
 
HeelingAg said:
Since we’re playing the salacious speculation game, I suspect Melania’s only real “need” is finding the next absurdly rich guy to fund her Bond villain lifestyle, and who better to attach to than reality’s closest facsimile of a Bond villain. Melania sees ttump’s decline and knows that gravy train has only so much steam remaining.
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She won’t leave him. She’s waiting for him to die. He’s likely planning the Presidential Funeral. She’s looking forward to being the grieving First Lady.

Meanwhile, she’ll negotiate appearance fees, an improved pre-nup (maybe call it a “post-nup?), and have affairs.
 
altmin said:
Also Musk offered WAY more than what the selling price ought to be because he is a genius or something. It was kind of their duty to the share holders to accept that deal, if you see the world through the pure capitalism lens.
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Directors' duties to the shareholders when deciding on an action like this (and most actions): they have to choose the course of action they think best for the company, in the exercise of their best business judgment in good faith. That's all.

The board could have rejected Musk's bid at that price, or $10 higher, or $20 higher and there would be no repercussions.

This is known as the business judgment rule, and it's one of the foundational principles of all corporate law. It's worth remembering the next time you hear some squirrely CEO say something like, "well, that might be a good idea but I have a duty to my shareholders to maximize profits." The latter part is false, and anything that the CEO genuinely believed to be a good idea would be an acceptable course of conduct so long as it wasn't self-dealing (or a couple of other types of actions that are similar to self-dealing).

Usually, "my duty to the shareholders" is just an excuse for not doing the right thing.
 
OK, the stock market didn't sour on the Trump presidency just because it had a bad week following an exuberant one. It may well sour on the Trump presidency, but we haven't seen that yet. I'm not putting any new money in equities, though.

I think the issue with the madhatters in the cabinet isn't only that it's showing Trump to be incompetent. It's that the rule of law is a foundation of any healthy economy, and these are people nominated for their lack of respect for rule of law. In addition, I think every rational investor should be, at least to some degree, sweating Trump's willingness to default on the debt. Since every one of his stupid intuitions seem to become official policy as soon as he utters them, it's really not hard to imagine Trump deciding that the way to combat inflation or win a trade war is to default on the debt and leave all those foreigners high and dry. Will he listen if someone tells him that most debt is held by Americans? I don't know. Does it seem like he's listening?

The other thing to consider is the effect of the recess appointment strategy. I would expect financial markets to panic and tank if Trump tries his Article II, section 3 trick of adjourning Congress. The currency of an autocratic government is ill-suited to be a reserve currency, and certainly Peronist economic policy would call into question the idea that the American economy is particularly resilient.

Again, it's not clear if anyone who knows things has his ear. Elon Musk? He seems to have lost his mind. Trump's Treasury Secretary? Maybe. If you want to avoid a financial collapse, you should be rooting for Lutnick to be Treasury Secretary. Guy's net worth is wrapped up in Cantor Fitzgerald, of which he owns a majority stake that is worth 10 figures. And Cantor Fitzgerald is a Wall Street trading firm, essentially. It's no exaggeration to think that in a worst case scenario, the value of that holding could fall to 10% of its current value or even less.
 
Agree that the market didn’t have a bad week solely because of the incoming president-elect, but it’s also likely true that this week, as Trump started making his cabinet appointments and as more and more Trump 2.0 policy aims have begun solidifying, investors are starting to realize that the incoming administration is going to be full of chaos, disruption, and volatility- all of which the markets aren’t generally fond. Pharmaceutical stocks, for example, fell yesterday immediately upon the RFK Jr. announcement.

I’m not worried that there’s going to be a stock market crash or anything. I do think there’s going to be a bear market soon. We have been due a correction, and Trump’s tariffs (and other idiotic policies) will probably hasten it. I personally don’t have any plans or desire to do anything other than continuing to pour lots of money into equities, but I also have an enormous risk and a very, very long time horizon before which I need my investment portfolio.
 
CFordUNC said:
Agree that the market didn’t have a bad week solely because of the incoming president-elect, but it’s also likely true that this week, as Trump started making his cabinet appointments and as more and more Trump 2.0 policy aims have begun solidifying, investors are starting to realize that the incoming administration is going to be full of chaos, disruption, and volatility- all of which the markets aren’t generally fond. Pharmaceutical stocks, for example, fell yesterday immediately upon the RFK Jr. announcement.

I’m not worried that there’s going to be a stock market crash or anything. I do think there’s going to be a bear market soon. We have been due a correction, and Trump’s tariffs (and other idiotic policies) will probably hasten it. I personally don’t have any plans or desire to do anything other than continuing to pour lots of money into equities, but I also have an enormous risk and a very, very long time horizon before which I need my investment portfolio.
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Sure, it's possible that the market is digesting this information. But in today's world, it's important to understand that so much trading is algorithmic. Big Pharma stocks fell upon the RFK Jr announcement? RFK Jr. can't do anything to affect Pharma's bottom line. But investors have AI programs to read news and trade on them. The algorithms are designed for very short-term use, which creates self-fulfilling prophecies. An AI program might see the news, connect RFKJ to anti-Pharm and then immediately sell. And why not? If everyone uses these same tools, the effect of the RFKJ announcement will in fact cause the stock to drop in the short-term, even if the fundamentals haven't changed.

A stock market crash is within the realm of possibility. In the past, markets have tended to weather the uncertainty of fights over the debt ceiling on the assumption that cooler heads will prevail. There are no cooler heads right now. So could the market utterly freak out if there's another debt ceiling stand off (especially if Trump is the one holding out, which seems likely)? Yes.
 
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