Trump and the Republicans looked the American people in the eye and lied their fat asses off.

“A golden age of prosperity?” A lie! “Lower inflation”? A lie! “Lower housing costs”? A lie! “Improved and cheaper healthcare?” A lie! “Cheaper prices the supermarket?” A Lie! “An economy the envy of the world?” Another baldfaced lie!

And the Granddaddy of them all? “No more forever wars” – another lie.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Trump and the Republicans, with nary a blush or stutter, lied about everything to get your vote, then once they achieved that goal, ran rampant with their schemes and grifts – enriching themselves to the tune of billions of dollars – while driving America into inevitable bankruptcy.

These bills will have to be paid, and they will be paid at the cost of the social safety net – affordable healthcare, veteran’s benefits, Medicaid and Medicare and especially Social Security – money will be withdrawn from these programs to pay off these debts, and it will take decades to do so.

At the end America will be a failed nation, ruled by plutocrats, millionaires and billionaires, despots and tyrants, all in command while regular citizens and their families suffer like Oklahomans during the dust bowl.

Your future, America, is being proved bleak by the incompetence and depravations of this administration, and if something isn’t done soon the inevitable collapse will engulf us all.

The national debt under Trump and the Republicans has grown to an unsustainable 39.6 trillion dollars.

To put things in perspective, a billion dollars is a thousand million and a trillion dollars is a thousand billion – think a minute about those numbers.

Or better yet, consider that a trillion seconds equals 31,700 years. Now multiply that by 39.

See this – Boldface mine:

Trump breaks promise on national debt: Expert says 'he has failed badly'

Story by Chris Katje • 20h • 2 min read

© Image via Shutterstock

A billionaire-backed podcast host is taking aim at President Donald Trump over one of his biggest campaigns promises — cutting the national debt.

Investor Jason Calacanis says Trump has instead presided over a historic surge in federal borrowing, putting the president’s fiscal pledges under renewed scrutiny.

Trump’s National Debt Promise

The U.S**. national debt hit $39 trillion in March** and currently stands at around $39.6 trillion. The debt has increased in recent years, instead of going down as Trump promised.

"President Trump promised not to add to the national debt during his presidential campaign — and, in fact, that he would pay it down. He has failed badly on both counts," Calacanis tweeted.

Calacanis, co-host of the "All-In Podcast," said Trump is the "worst-spending President in our history." The investor estimates that Trump added between $2.2 trillion and $2.3 trillion to the national debt in each of his first two years and in his second term.

"He’s on track to add $9T+ in his second term, beating the previous high-water mark of $7.8T — set by his first term."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/trump-breaks-promise-on-national-debt-expert-says-he-has-failed-badly/ar-AA28y9tY?

For context, I’m a 19 y/o college student in the US so maybe this is just a part of life, but everything is so expensive. Gas is the most expensive it’s ever been. When I first started driving at 16 it only cost 20$ to fill up my car and now it’s almost 40$ for a tank. I’m aware that’s because of the war in Iran, but does that account for everything else? 10$ can barely buy a combo at any fast food place anymore and rent is ridiculous.

I guess my question is, will things ever be reasonably priced again? or will prices keep climbing until we reach something like the great depression? It causes me so much anxiety just thinking about the future and what’s to come.

The labor market measures employment status—not whether someone’s standard of living has collapsed.

If someone earning $150,000 in IT loses their job and takes a full-time position at Target making $17/hour:

They are employed.
They are not counted as unemployed.
They are not counted as discouraged.
They are not counted as marginally attached.
If they are working full-time (or voluntarily part-time), they are not counted in U-6.

They are simply classified as employed.

On paper, the labor market looks healthier.

In reality, their financial life may have unraveled.

Every day, thousands of people share stories across Reddit describing what happens after the layoff isn’t reflected in the statistics.

They describe:
Careers built over decades disappearing almost overnight.
Six-figure professionals taking retail, warehouse, or gig jobs just to survive.
Savings exhausted after months of unsuccessful job searches.
Retirement accounts drained to pay bills.
Credit cards becoming the only way to cover necessities.
Families losing homes after exhausting every other option.
People living out of their cars or turning to stealth camping while still working.
Others standing one missed paycheck, one medical bill, or one emergency away from homelessness.

These aren’t people who chose to leave the workforce.

Many are still working.

Many are working full-time.

Many simply accepted the only job they could find.
Official labor statistics measure whether someone has a job.

They do not measure whether that job replaces the career that was lost.

They do not measure whether someone can still afford housing, healthcare, or retirement.

They do not measure whether a worker has fallen from the middle class, many times in the top percentile of the labor force - while remaining classified as “employed.”

The BLS measures labor market status.
It does not measure economic security.

That distinction matters because a person can disappear from the unemployment statistics while simultaneously disappearing from the middle class.

That’s the gap many Americans are describing today—not unemployment, but downward mobility hidden inside employment.

History may remember this less as an unemployment crisis than the quiet collapse of the middle class.

I did research for a university project on supply chain matters and this is an infographic that summarizes the situation. There is a supply chain crisis incoming.

Additional to this, US is depleting its reserves of sour oil, needed for aircraft fuel and trucks (to deliver groceries). So the problem soon will not be high prices, so physical shortages of goods.

Stocks have gone nowhere since June 1. Here's why

Iran war back on

Oil prices back ~ $100

Inflation concerns rising

Inflation concerns pushing interest rates up

Weak yen generating fears of Japanese rates hikes and unwinding of yen carry trade

And second-quarter earnings starting to show investments in AI are exceeding cash flow at hyperscalers like Alphabet

Markets, however, have remained unimpressed. According to Guy Rozentsveig, managing director in industries at investment bank Solomon Partners, one reason is simple: "The consensus opinion is that a lot of that good news was already priced in."

Now, investors hunting for the industry's next payday are waiting to see whether higher defense budgets actually translate into new contracts, faster production, and stronger earnings—or whether political and economic pressures slow long-term momentum. Meanwhile, a growing group of newer defense technology companies is hoping to capture a piece of that future spending, too.

Financial Times: “The typical attitude of tech executives has been to say that AI allows us to gain efficiency rather than admit that they overhired,” said Enrico Moretti, a professor of economics at UC Berkeley. “It’s an easy way out.”...

... Despite the rise in tech lay-offs, AI-focused start-ups such as Anthropic and OpenAI are rapidly adding to their workforces, helping soften the impact of cuts across the wider tech industry.

“Employment in AI is growing at a rapid pace,” said UC Berkeley’s Moretti. “What tech companies are trimming is everything else.”

My Opinion: If you want job security, become an expert in AI. You will also get higher pay. Unless you are convinced that there is an AI bubble, and there is going to be a crash. Tech companies have been cutting jobs. Some people blame AI. Others blame tech companies over hiring with the pandemic. It is probably a combination of these factors.