We bring back the great economist Scott Lincicome to separate MAGA myths from inconvenient facts on trade, trade imbalances, ChatGPT math, and getting “ripped off” by our (former?) allies.
This was so much better than the Megyn Kelly episode this week with TFC. She is more insufferable every time I listen, and I only listen when TFC is on. But she is getting worse with her interrupting and talking over her guests. And she is a Trump tankie. She is almost the Rachel Maddow of the right.
I wish I was surprised by her complete willingness to disregard due process when the discussions of the "mistakes" in deportations came up. She has a JD!
A lot of people trash Batya because she does nothing but regurgitate MAGA platitudes as evidenced in those moronic tweets Moynihan read off in this episode. One of these online commentators who will say “the elites” over and over again. Part of the “former members of the left” who somehow found their way with Donald Trump. The Female Dave Rubin.
She treats the “working class” like some monolith who are all just dying to get back to working in a factory. My dad worked in clothing manufacturing his entire adult life and it was no paradise!
Her latest article is titled “Finally Main Street Wins Over Wall Street” — this is Sarah Palin level hackery. I’m sure she’s a nice person and everything but holy hell. Not only is it hacky, it shows her massive ignorance on the economy.
I’ll never buy the nice person thing. These people aren’t nice they’re religious and trying to convince you to join their cult. In Batya’s case… when her leftist cult didn’t get uptake she switched to the far right cult that did. Nothing nice about these people trying to ruin our country by testing out their cult beliefs on the rest of us.
Who care’s if she’s nice, she is a totally psycho with crazy ideas. MM better not invite her back because she is “nice” and friendly. And why did The Free Press hire her instead of Michael? Throw her under the B.U.S.
I can't tell if this is going to be cathartic to hear an expert explain in excruciating detail how dumb this all is, or if it will just be more depressing.
Matt: "It's why we fucking exist." As exactly on point as anything I have heard expressed here since I began listening. Thanks, gentlemen, for existing, and you have a paid subscriber for as long as I draw breath.
tl;dr (but come on, it’s a graph) we do have a services surplus, but not enough to outweigh our goods deficit. I was actually surprised to see that we export about half as many services as goods. Maybe this reflects what Scott was saying about services facing more barriers.
So I don’t think including services would fundamentally change the Trump administration’s approach here.
Well apparently nothing was going to change their approach/absolutely regarded calculation method. But it would have changed the result on certain countries. They either willfully left out services (most likely since Trump and his cult her obsessed with the goods deficit only; aka manufacturing) or didn’t have the date for 2024 yet (most likely as services doesn’t post until 6-9 months of the following year). Since they were using the 2024 goods data… it wasn’t available yet.
At some point, you should have Batya on again to defend herself. I know she's probably too busy smelting pig iron in her backyard, but it'd be interesting to hear.
Idk if youve followed her at all lately, but she doesn't have a defense. She really has jumped into the clown car and just repeats how this is for the working man and hurts the elites. She doesn't provide evidence.
Did any of us ever say that? I said several times in several venues (including on The Megyn Kelly Show) that my preference was for Kamala to beat Trump.
Apologies for being wrong about your position. But, I heard at least one person stating they hoped Harris would lose the election. I'm not sure if it was Kmele or Moynihan or both, but it absolutely happened.
None of you were Trump fans, I understand that. All of you did downplay the importance of this election, laughing at the idea that Trump could put our democracy at risk and that's very much in play now. Moynihan was on Maher's show saying that there was no chance of that happening. And here we are.
Yeah Matt was always pretty clear he preferred NOT Trump. But Kmele in particular was pretty benign on whether or not there was an appreciable difference between the two. None of them approved of Trump (obviously) but they did a lot of hemming and hawing about whether or not one "bad" was worse than the other.
I'm seeing this type of governmental "firing" thing play out at my work, almost exactly what Kmele alludes to, and what concerns me is this: even at the base level of teaching, who is being pink slipped? Those who work at sites: teachers and staff who serve students every day and work ALL day long. What hasn't been discussed nor is even on the table in these "necessary budget cuts" is firing a single person at the district or county offices. The jobs there go unchecked, people come and go at all hours, "work" from home (one guy unknowingly has a neighbor who is the brother of a coworker and tinkers in his garage all day to the tune of 160K a year...is in IT of course and takes 5 days to respond to an email needing his help with classroom tech), take 3 hour lunches, have multiple people under them doing...not sure what.
Unions: are supposed to protect those in the union - their jobs, the money that goes into their hires, etc. I'm not sure what they're doing. Being mad, maybe? The jobs I'm seeing protected here - and probably at all levels - are the ones that have no oversight. The ones that do nothing all day, have several coordinators and directors and assistants and clerks and receptionists/gatekeepers around them. Forget the fact that ALL of them absolutely can work in other sectors besides education. They are paid the most. But sure, maybe those teachers and site staff will get hired back someday "when needed".
And this, friends, is why I fucking took the golden and resigned. Fuck. This. Shit.
This episode is going to be TARIFFIC!
I have been waiting for this one like my dog who begs for her 6pm dinner starting around 4:30pm.
Bruh SAME
Based and beautiful. MM needs low blood sugar for all episodes.
Liberation Day branding is some straight up North Korean shit.
Not enough holidays involve costumes. Just putting that out there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_Korean_propaganda_slogans
Wow, these are great. My favourite, ‘Never forget the U.S. imperialists, those wolves!’
Apt for Mahr's new rules last week: https://youtu.be/HS0pDwPkR60?si=3j9rAQ5JSi4uLNOj
This was so much better than the Megyn Kelly episode this week with TFC. She is more insufferable every time I listen, and I only listen when TFC is on. But she is getting worse with her interrupting and talking over her guests. And she is a Trump tankie. She is almost the Rachel Maddow of the right.
I wish I was surprised by her complete willingness to disregard due process when the discussions of the "mistakes" in deportations came up. She has a JD!
She should go join Trump’s fucking moronic squad of lawyers who argue this stuff in court. I have brain rot from just listening to their arguments.
A lot of people trash Batya because she does nothing but regurgitate MAGA platitudes as evidenced in those moronic tweets Moynihan read off in this episode. One of these online commentators who will say “the elites” over and over again. Part of the “former members of the left” who somehow found their way with Donald Trump. The Female Dave Rubin.
She treats the “working class” like some monolith who are all just dying to get back to working in a factory. My dad worked in clothing manufacturing his entire adult life and it was no paradise!
Her latest article is titled “Finally Main Street Wins Over Wall Street” — this is Sarah Palin level hackery. I’m sure she’s a nice person and everything but holy hell. Not only is it hacky, it shows her massive ignorance on the economy.
I’ll never buy the nice person thing. These people aren’t nice they’re religious and trying to convince you to join their cult. In Batya’s case… when her leftist cult didn’t get uptake she switched to the far right cult that did. Nothing nice about these people trying to ruin our country by testing out their cult beliefs on the rest of us.
Plenty of working class people have 401ks! It’s maddening!
Batya shit-crazy!
Who care’s if she’s nice, she is a totally psycho with crazy ideas. MM better not invite her back because she is “nice” and friendly. And why did The Free Press hire her instead of Michael? Throw her under the B.U.S.
Bingo
I can't tell if this is going to be cathartic to hear an expert explain in excruciating detail how dumb this all is, or if it will just be more depressing.
Strangely enough, it’s both!
My money (which is evaporating by the hour) is on depressing
Made the mistake of looking at my 401K. Lord have mercy! 😱
"Suck at dick was a good thing, I was being pro-gay" - MM 2025.
🤣🤣🤣
Trump ignoring one of the most important lessons Tropic Thunder taught us: “never go full retard”
You misspelled "never go full qangin"
Glad to hear y’all hit on the VAT stupidity. Holy crap.
Matt: "It's why we fucking exist." As exactly on point as anything I have heard expressed here since I began listening. Thanks, gentlemen, for existing, and you have a paid subscriber for as long as I draw breath.
Regarding services, I did some Googling about this yesterday and found this helpful infographic from the Wall Street Journal (not paywalled).
https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/what-to-know-about-the-u-s-trade-imbalance-in-charts-79b25c0b
tl;dr (but come on, it’s a graph) we do have a services surplus, but not enough to outweigh our goods deficit. I was actually surprised to see that we export about half as many services as goods. Maybe this reflects what Scott was saying about services facing more barriers.
So I don’t think including services would fundamentally change the Trump administration’s approach here.
Try and become as asset manager in China. Nightmare.
Well apparently nothing was going to change their approach/absolutely regarded calculation method. But it would have changed the result on certain countries. They either willfully left out services (most likely since Trump and his cult her obsessed with the goods deficit only; aka manufacturing) or didn’t have the date for 2024 yet (most likely as services doesn’t post until 6-9 months of the following year). Since they were using the 2024 goods data… it wasn’t available yet.
At some point, you should have Batya on again to defend herself. I know she's probably too busy smelting pig iron in her backyard, but it'd be interesting to hear.
It really wouldn't
Idk if youve followed her at all lately, but she doesn't have a defense. She really has jumped into the clown car and just repeats how this is for the working man and hurts the elites. She doesn't provide evidence.
She has to wear the beehive or I'm not listening.
I was not ready for the level of rage that washed over me when this episode made me start thinking about Trump’s moronic trade policy all over again.
Is it too early to start drinking?
I love listening to you guys, but will never understand how all of you somehow thought Harris would be worse than Trump.
When are you going to admit you were wrong about the election?
Did any of us ever say that? I said several times in several venues (including on The Megyn Kelly Show) that my preference was for Kamala to beat Trump.
Apologies for being wrong about your position. But, I heard at least one person stating they hoped Harris would lose the election. I'm not sure if it was Kmele or Moynihan or both, but it absolutely happened.
None of you were Trump fans, I understand that. All of you did downplay the importance of this election, laughing at the idea that Trump could put our democracy at risk and that's very much in play now. Moynihan was on Maher's show saying that there was no chance of that happening. And here we are.
Most definitely Kmele. He still gets a rise out of her having lost.
Yeah Matt was always pretty clear he preferred NOT Trump. But Kmele in particular was pretty benign on whether or not there was an appreciable difference between the two. None of them approved of Trump (obviously) but they did a lot of hemming and hawing about whether or not one "bad" was worse than the other.
Pretty obvious one is worse lol.
I don't think verbatim. But the vibe I got leading up to the election was that you guys were leaning DT... Nothing quantifiable
And I can't listen to MK so I missed that
Words > vibes.
If only!
Lol never. Anti-DEI > S&P 500
Only if you’re an academic without any investments.
I'm seeing this type of governmental "firing" thing play out at my work, almost exactly what Kmele alludes to, and what concerns me is this: even at the base level of teaching, who is being pink slipped? Those who work at sites: teachers and staff who serve students every day and work ALL day long. What hasn't been discussed nor is even on the table in these "necessary budget cuts" is firing a single person at the district or county offices. The jobs there go unchecked, people come and go at all hours, "work" from home (one guy unknowingly has a neighbor who is the brother of a coworker and tinkers in his garage all day to the tune of 160K a year...is in IT of course and takes 5 days to respond to an email needing his help with classroom tech), take 3 hour lunches, have multiple people under them doing...not sure what.
Unions: are supposed to protect those in the union - their jobs, the money that goes into their hires, etc. I'm not sure what they're doing. Being mad, maybe? The jobs I'm seeing protected here - and probably at all levels - are the ones that have no oversight. The ones that do nothing all day, have several coordinators and directors and assistants and clerks and receptionists/gatekeepers around them. Forget the fact that ALL of them absolutely can work in other sectors besides education. They are paid the most. But sure, maybe those teachers and site staff will get hired back someday "when needed".
And this, friends, is why I fucking took the golden and resigned. Fuck. This. Shit.