Foreign aid
As the debate on foreign aid has been raging for some time, here’s a different approach to the subject of congressional appropriations. In the 1800s, a famous Congressman said, in effect, “while every individual has the right to give to whoever they want, we in Congress don’t have the right to give away the public’s money, no matter how sympathetic the cause.” He then offered to give a donation to the cause in discussion out of his own pocket if the other congressmen would also give out of their own pockets. End of debate.
— Jerry Floyd, St. Helena Island
A Green New Scam or not
It is interesting that President Trump has stated that “inflation is back,” and he thinks the rise in inflation is all due to “‘Green New Scam,’ I call it.” The Labor Department reports the consumer price index increased by 3 percent last month compared to a year ago.
There have been a lot of economic warnings that Trump’s proposed policies, including mass deportation, tariffs, and tax reductions are inflationary. The Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) stated that “the administration’s trade and immigration policy suggested restoring 2% inflation could take longer than expected.” The Fed has slowed interest rate reductions to compensate.
Mark Zandi (Moody’s) said that sudden hot inflation can have several causes, “the anticipation of the president’s economic policies, as they have resulted in higher inflation expectations, could be one driver.”
According to the U.S Treasury Department, the United States has seen a particularly strong Gross Domestic Product (GDP) recovery and is on track this year to reach the level that would have been predicted by the pre-pandemic trend. Global labor markets have not recovered as well.
Could it be that the “Green New Scam” was behind that strong GDP recovery? This is not “MAGA think.”
Is the Inflation Reduction Act a scam? A 2024 paper (Judd et al) suggests that our current atmospheric CO2 concentration (approximately 220 ppm) will eventually yield greater than 3 degrees Celcius in warming. Recent studies also suggest that the El Nino of last summer was equal to approximately 1.5 degrees Celcius of warming.
Who do you trust? Trump or science? Ignorance or knowledge (ignorantia or scientia)?
— Gerald Blount, St. Helena Island
