Donald Trump, in His Own Words and Deeds
Donald Trump, in His Own Words and Deeds
We cannot let people grow numb to the things Trump says and does.Adam Gurri (Liberal Currents)
Overriding a Texas governor’s veto can be impossible. Lawmakers are trying to change that.
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/30170441
Lawmakers can override the governor’s vetoes only during the session in which the bills are rejected, according to experts’ interpretation of the law. But typically, governors veto bills after sine die – the last day of session.In 2023, Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a nearly record-breaking 76 bills and one budget item— widely seen as his way to punish members for failing to pass his priority bills. Just two bills were vetoed during the session, in the window that lawmakers could have voted to override them.
Now, some lawmakers want to change that process. A proposal by Sen. Brian Birdwell would amend the Texas Constitution to allow legislators to briefly meet after the regular session ends to reconsider bills that passed by more than two-thirds of members.
Texas lawmakers want an easier way to override vetoes
The state constitution’s legislative calendar — not a vote threshold — makes it hard to overrule the governor. Legislators are crafting an amendment that would make more overrides possible.Sameea Kamal (The Texas Tribune)
The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy
The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy
The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.Molly Redden (TPM - Talking Points Memo)
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Trump Chickens Out on Tariff Threat After Call With Europe
Trump Chickens Out on Tariff Threat After Phone Call With Europe
The president of the European Commission said she’d had a “good call” with Trump.Josephine Harvey (The Daily Beast)
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“I mean, we’ve set the deal. It’s at 50 percent,” he said at the White House.
Just not now. But we totally have a deal. 50% or we walk. In a month or two. Maybe longer. 50%, folks.
“Sir, this is poker.”
“Sorry, king me.”
“That’s checkers.”
“Go fish?”
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Not quite chickens out. He postponed it with 9 days (edit: 5 weeks - 9th of july). It does sound like he does not mean anything of what he says though. At this point I believe it's more of a market manipulation method to pump value into stocks before they get sold .
He can keep this up forever though as long as it makes him and his friends money
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The Commission President said that talks will begin rapidly. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
He's like a child that just learned a new phrase with the 'attention to this matter' thing lol
One good explanation is that Trump is using the tariffs to profit.
- Step 1: Announce a massive tariff, causing the markets to plummet.
- Step 2: With stock prices down, Trump and his minions scoop up cheap stocks.
- Step 3: Announce a temporary roll-back of the tariffs, causing the markets to rally.
- Step 4: Trump and his minions sell stocks and take their profits.
- Step 5: Rinse, repeat.
An alternative explanation is that Trump has poor impulse control and has a deep-seated need for attention, so he throws out massive numbers for tariffs. Then, stocks plummet and bond yields rise, raising grave concerns about the financial stability of the U.S.. Anyone in his administration with any inkling about economics panic, warn him of the potential for financial collapse and the end of his regime. Fearing for his own future, he then walks back the tariffs in an effort to attempt to mitigate the harm he has caused.
Honestly, I don't know which it is, but what I do know is that this tariff merry-go-round is not sustainable, and eventually the U.S. will lose all credibility and the money pulsing through our markets will seek saner grounds elsewhere.
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He's using tariffs as a sword to show off his power.
Tariffs is pretty much the most dangerous non-military weapon that the President can use without any legislative action. You are correct that his goal isn't chaos itself, but we would be remiss if we don't understand why Trump is using them.
Trump not only wants to look powerful, he wants to feel powerful. He is like a kid who knocks someone else's blocks down so that people can see he's in charge. Through his eyes, he sees someone else's suffering from his actions and then he can see the pain of those people as they look at him in disbelief. Trump is using tariffs as a stick to cause panic in those countries so that he can see them grovel at his feet.
That's why he doesn't care that it hurts his supporters. I would go so far as to say he wants his supporters to be hurt so that they can know that he's in charge.
This is authoritarianism. This is about him. Even if whatever trade deals come out of these tariffs are worse than they were before him, he claims victory because he forced the other side to the table.
Mexico and Canada famously came back to the table only for Trump to renegotiate a deal that they both were already going to do.
I honestly haven't kept track but it wouldn't surprise me if some of the smaller countries that are dependent on US sales have renegotiated their deals.
Why do they even entertain a call with him? What do we make that they can't digitally pirate? I know we export agricultural products, but is there anything else? And can they truly not develop their ag to make up for it? I assume corn is the dominant reason to keep talking to us, from my limited understanding of the market.
Just isolate us and be done with it. We're too toxic to be worth it.
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What's crazy is that he was just bragging about having a deal with them. He's so stuck on his tariffs that he's forgetting about "winning" or the appearance of winning. It he just finds an excuse to claim victory and end the tariffs, the average low-information American would believe him.
So he went back on having a deal. But now they have a deal again.
Now he looks like a weak loser.
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I think it's mainly about one thing: the US president is using his power to manipulate the stock market to enrich himself and his partners.
How did I come to this conclusion? Because he has done this repeatedly over the past six months.
This is organized crime, not politics.
Indeed. There are no leftist oligarchs, pretty much by logic and definition, which is a significant disadvantage in electoral oligarchy.
If populism is ever associated with right wing politics it is typically by design of the oligarchs.
Merz says Israeli actions in Gaza 'no longer justified'
He added he planned to hold a call with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to tell him "to not overdo it," though for "historical reasons," Germany would always be more guarded in its criticism than some European partners."But if lines are crossed, where international humanitarian law is really being violated, then Germany, the German chancellor, must also say something about it," Merz said.
Merz says Israeli actions in Gaza 'no longer justified'
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the fight against "Hamas terrorism" does not justify the suffering of civilians in Gaza. He no longer "understands what Israel is trying to achieve."Roshni Majumdar (Deutsche Welle)
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Yeah, dont believe a word coming out of Merz mouth, unless there is actual actions.
The new coalition plans to treat Israel "like a NATO partner" in arms exports, effectively removing any oversight and any chance to appeal against arms exports used for war crimes.
They also want to make further financial contributions to UNRWA "dependent on extensive reforms". Furthermore they want to remove funding from any scientific, cultural or education project that is deemed "hostile to Israel".
In February Merz told Netanyahu he would find a way to have Netanyahu visit Germany without the arrest warrant by the ICC being executed. The only way to do that is to defy the ICC. Just two weeks ago the German president Steinmeier invited the Israeli president Herzog to Germany and subsequently visited Herzog and Netanyahu in Israel too. Aside from shaking hands with a wanted war criminal, Herzog also is known for genocidal statements against Palestinians.
Just last week Germany opposed the EU to reevaluate the association agreement with Israel on the basis that the agreement requires conforming to international law and human rights.
The reason why Merz is saying something now is because Germany is getting more and more isolated. However so far Germany wants to only talk, while giving Israel the weapons, money and diplomatic cover to finish its genocidal onslaught.
Just like Israel will not react to any words and only understand concrete pressure, Germany will not wane from the side of Israel unless forced to do so. German politics across the spectrum from the Greens on the center left to the AfD Fascists embrace support for Israel and try to shift the blame of antisemitism on Muslim (or perceived as such) immigrants, while quietly or loudly enjoying the mass slaughter of brown people.
Also note how he is saying
"Harming the civilian population to such an extent as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism,"
Meaning all the extent before, including executions of medics, rape of prisoners and all the other atrocities are justified in the eyes of the German government.
He added he planned to hold a call with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to tell him "to not overdo it,"
So the destruction of almost all civillian infrastructure is acceptable. Displacing people dozens of times is acceptable. Starving people for 20 months is acceptable as long as it is done slowly...
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The reason why Merz is saying something now is because Germany is getting more and more isolated.
Yeah, I also don't believe anything a German politican says, but this is welcome news then, right? Opinion on the genocide seems to be turning in the EU?
Honest question, I can't see the wider opinions from my info bubble.
Things are shifting in the EU. It seems like the EU - Israel association agreement will not be prolonged and Spain is pushing for an EU arms embargo on Israel. As that would also exclude ships carrying arms to Israel to use EU ports, this would only allow Israel to receive arms either directly from ships passing through Suez or through its port in the Gulf or complicit regimes, especially UAE. This would drive up the internal pressure in Muslim majority countries around Israel to stop their complicity.
People are tired of Israels bullshit and more and more politicians wake up to the fact that they can only lie for so long, when they cannot even gain anything out of it for their people, but instead Israel expects them to pay up. The same could happen with the US where all Trump needs to do is check the accounts properly and see how much money Israel is costing the US and what for.
Without the US Israel is done. But already without the EU as a trading partner and logistics access Israel will become very unsustainable economically. If the US wants to cover that, they will have to pay up much more.
The problem with Germany is that now they are trying to carry outwards, what they used to do inwards. Keep talking about how they remind Israel to uphold international law, how they "put a question mark" to the statement that Israel is in compliance with the laws, how the situation in Gaza is truly horrible and they work towards a two state solution by negotiations, but how recognizing a Palestinian state would jeopardize this, how stopping weapon shipments to Israel would jeopardize it, how it is all Hamas fault anyways and all the other nonsensical talking points you have heard over the past years.
The key takeaway here is that they are claiming that "talking to Israel" is what would move things to improve, while they oppose taking action as "too drastic". It is good that they have to become louder in their words, but it is still meant to appease rather than to act.
I knew that after all, Eurovision is going to be the last straw /s
Seriously though, I can totally see the EU only being on board with unlimited support to Israel because they wanted to present a united front with the US, to give the US less excuse to leave the EU and Ukraine to its fate.
After Signalgate though, it showed how contemptous that relationship was, and how the US leadership views defending trade routes critical to the EU against the Houthis as a European task, despite the fact the danger to them came entirely as a result of the US-Israel alliance of the EU. I was totally thinking back then that this was not going to stand if these really are the cards, and there is no point for the EU to antagonise the Houthis just to please Trump for nothing in return.
“No longer justified.” Is what decent people said immediately after the IDF shot up that first hospital.
Anyone else here remember that far back?
If it is the same hospital, I am thinking of, there was a lot of fuzz about it and about where the missile came from. IDF blaming Hamas, then they said Hamas launched it and IDF intercepted it ending up on the hospital.. articles concluding that tracking the sound wave, the missile could only have been launched from Israel controlled territory...
Is this the one?
Auchtung:
Ze government of Deuchland has become very uncomfortable vith recent events, and have decided that we are going to focus on listening instead of talking.
Please do not ask us to opine further on ze ge-WAR.
Zat is all. Danke.
[Walks off without taking questions]
"No longer justified", "don't overdo it", "IF lines are crossed"!
Please tell me it's not only the pro-Palestine protesters in Germany who find this language absurd.
I spent a weekend dealing with a couple of Germans and I must say that in some things there is some kind of mental barrier and some kind of guilt pride that got smeared in my face more than once in 2 days, but we really need you to be better than this and I want to have faith you can be.
(There were also Israelis, but I stopped talking to them the second they introduced themselves as such.)
It got worse, if possible.
At some point I got in an elevator with them and one of them was judging me for getting in the elevator skipping one person in the queue (to my defense Romero's zombies move faster) and even the position I took in the elevator which was "not efficient".
Jokingly, I commented of all that sounding "so German" and immediately him and his colleague started saying "oh the Italian now will start saying..." and then bursted in the most chilling collection of German=Nazi stereotypes I ever heard.
I could only stare at them and wait for the elevator to end its run.
German politicians are now in the Delay, Distract & Dissemble stage.
I'm not sure it's at all possible for them to actually Act, even in the face of pictures of children dead from starvation.
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Trump’s foreign policy is not so unusual for the US – he just drops the facade of moral leadership
US foreign policy has previously zigged and zagged from isolation to imperialism. Woodrow Wilson entered the first world war with the the goal of “making the world safe for democracy”. Washington retreated from the world again during the 1920s and 1930s only to fight the second world war and emerge as a military and economic superpower.
Foreign policy during the cold war centered on countering the Soviet Union through alliances, military interventions and proxy wars. The 11 September 2001 attacks shifted focus to counterterrorism, leading to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq under George W Bush with justifications that included spreading democracy.
Barack Obama emphasized diplomacy and reducing troop commitments, though drone strikes and counterterrorism operations persisted. Trump’s first term pushed economic nationalism, pressuring allies to pay their way. Joe Biden restored multilateralism, focusing on climate, alliances and countering China’s influence.
As in many other political arenas, Trump’s second term is bolder and louder on the world stage.
Trump and Vance have sought to portray the “America first” policy as a clean break from the recent past. Human rights, democracy, foreign aid and military intervention are out. Economic deals, regional stability and pragmatic self-interest are in.
Trump’s foreign policy is not so unusual for the US – he just drops the facade of moral leadership
The US has zagged from isolation to imperialism, but Trump has ‘emptied the ethical and moral frame’ of diplomacyDavid Smith (The Guardian)
And that's why the brunch liberals hate him. Not because they're particularly against tax cuts for the rich and warmongering. Cutting safety nets for the poor. Stuff like that.
I Came to Study Aging. Now I'm Trapped in ICE Detention.
cross-posted from: jlai.lu/post/20071569
scholar.google.com/citations?u…
I Came to Study Aging. Now I'm Trapped in ICE Detention.
scholar.google.com/citations?u…
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Scenes of horror in Gaza as Palestinian child tries to escape the flames after school attack
Horrifying images have emerged from Israel's latest attack on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City, with a video purporting to show a young girl scrambling for safety after the classroom she was sleeping in was engulfed by flames.
In an 11-second clip shared on the messaging site Telegram, a young girl can be seen trying to make her way out of a burning classroom following a deadly Israeli strike on the Fahmi Al-Jargawi girls' school.
Health officials told reporters they had recovered the severely burned bodies of 31 people, including children, after the late-night strike.
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Are we already past the event horizon?
Yes. If Israel was forced to stop today and the aid flowed in from across the world it will take generations to rebuild. And there's no replacing the lives lost or history erased. This is a stain that will haunt us for the rest of our lives. And it should. After WWII the world proclaimed "NEVER AGAIN". But clearly that was a fuckin' lie. My taxes pay for this. This is a personal stain on me myself. And a shame that will never go away. And its our job to make sure it never goes away.
I dare not hope for any kind of justice. The perpetrators will never pay a sufficient price. And I don't just mean the rank and file troopers putting bullets in babies. I mean the financial backers. The social media cheerleaders. The obfuscating politicians.
I will never compromise on genocide. Not for all the money. Not under threat of death. This is evil. Period, There are no shades of grey here. There is no balance. This is apartheid, genocide, ethnic cleansing. And it is evil. The worst evil that the human imagination has yet to concieve. And its industrialized. People had to work up to this level of depravity.
Go to HR. Ask for a W-4. Change your withholding to $0.00.
Congrats. You're no longer paying taxes. You will still owe taxes. They'll come for you eventually. Maybe. If the country lasts long enough.
I converted a couple W4 jobs to 1099 and have stopped paying quarterly.
For the remaining W4 jobs I set a stupidly high allowance so that it reduced withholdings super low (I was wary of claiming EXEMPT because I didn't meet the koala-fications, but I feel like I could argue high allowance was a typo or miscalc).
I'm paying thousands less per month in federal taxes now. After a couple years of this and filing I obviously owe quite a bit, but they put me on a payment plan and at this rate it'll take over 10 years to pay back assuming I don't keep adding to the balance each year.
If/when they forcibly try to come for it, I'll hopefully delay, deny, dispose. That is even if they exist AND I'm still in the US by then.
Turkey and the F-35: Why the Return of the Fighter Jets Isn’t So Simple
U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly intends to lift CAATSA sanctions against Turkey and restore its participation in the F-35 fighter jet program. However, a major legal obstacle stands in the way - a provision included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020.
In 2019, Turkey faced U.S. sanctions after acquiring Russia's S-400 air defense system. While some sanctions under CAATSA can be lifted by presidential authority, Section 1245 of the NDAA explicitly prohibits the transfer of F-35 aircraft to Turkey as long as the country remains in possession of the S-400. Unlike CAATSA, this law does not provide the president with discretion to suspend the restriction unilaterally.
Legal experts within the Trump administration are reportedly exploring possible workarounds. For instance, if Turkey were to place the S-400 into long-term storage - either domestically or abroad - or transfer control of the system to a third party, such as the United States, the administration could argue that the condition of “possession” no longer applies.
Additionally, a separate bipartisan bill proposed by Senators James Lankford, Jeanne Shaheen, Tom Tillis, and Chris Van Hollen further restricts U.S. support for F-35-related activities involving Turkey. The bill bars the use of defense funds for transferring F-35 aircraft or technical support to Turkey, as well as building or assisting in the construction of storage facilities for the jets.
The only exception would be triggered if both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State jointly certify to Congress that Turkey no longer possesses the S-400, has provided reliable assurances it will not reactivate or reacquire the system, and has not purchased additional Russian military equipment since July 2019.
Thus, despite President Trump’s stated intentions to improve relations with Turkey and resume arms deliveries, including F-35 fighters, his administration faces serious legal constraints. These restrictions were partly the result of earlier actions taken by the administration itself, and reversing them now requires either congressional approval or complex legal maneuvers. This casts doubt on how quickly such plans can be realized, highlighting how current policy must contend with the consequences of past decisions.
CAATSA sanctions not the real obstacle between Turkey and the F-35 program
Although US President Donald Trump appears committed to lifting CAATSA sanctions and reviving arms sales to Turkey – including its acquisition of F-35 fighter jets – his administration’s legal teams are dealing with a challenge that is significantly …Lena Argiri (ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΕΣ ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ ΜΟΝΟΠΡΟΣΩΠΗ Α.Ε. Εθν.Μακαρίου & Φαληρέως 2)
While interesting, this article seems to assume we still live in a democracy with separate but equal powers.
Section 1245 of the NDAA explicitly prohibits the transfer of F-35 aircraft to Turkey as long as the country remains in possession of the S-400. Unlike CAATSA, this law does not provide the president with discretion to suspend the restriction unilaterally.
Trump will just do it regardless of the restrictions. Who would check him?
Congress will likely not do anything to check his powers if he violates the law on the books. I'm guessing the new bill mentioned won't go anywhere either, especially since Trump would need to sign it.
The courts probably will stop him, but Trump will just go appeals surfing until he finds a pliable maga judge.
DoJ/FBI will agree to not arrest individual contractors or military staff shipping parts and support to Turkey since the king's decrees take precedent over laws apparently.
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Proper headline:
“We Are Too Craven To Oppose Trump Directly and Tell You ICE is Killing, Raping, and Kidnapping People”
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Pants and don't like this.
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You don’t, but they don’t want you to know you can just change the URL a bit and never hit the paywall.
None of the news organizations in the USA deserve payment because they do not report news, they act as propaganda agents.
Meidas Touch is currently the best news source and they can be found on BlueSky, TikTok, YouTube, as well as their podcast.
As a Canadian this is why I'm appealed when people want to defund CBC.
Edit: appalled*
I generally find CBC to be pretty balanced and fair.
Much more than any alternatives.
I mostly given up on Meidas Touch, after years of videos proclaiming that Trump and the Republicans are going down hard. They do have some useful information, but it is embedded in a lot of editorializing that doesn't really do anything.
If you watch that channel, the Trump administration is on the verge of collapse, and it's too disheartening to find time and time again that it isn't.
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Those are very fair criticisms.
I think Meidas is trying to get the message out to the folks who are sub-sixth grade English skills and therefore they use more emotional content to connect with the folks who are…less intellectual/less able to really understand the depth of what is going on from a reading perspective. They also try to appeal to the Gen Z audience, which is definitely annoying but also necessary.
They do these things because that is where the left’s messaging fails- at emotional people, at Gen Z, and at lower education levels.
Aaron Parnas is doing a good job, and is a lot less emotional on his TikTok and Substack. He may be a good resource as well.
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I feel it, too.
I prefer to use neutral sources like actual actions, voting records, and other public information - but that is too complicated for the average American with a sixth grade level reading and emotional intelligence.
I am finding the level of education seems to be a bit higher on Lemmy than other platforms, so I am considering not recommending them here.
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Huh, so if I stand around near you with a big bowl, I can get some free organs? Sweet!
(also yes, the only good news reporting these days comes from random high-effort blog posts on Substack)
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We always knew Republicans considered scientists and academics their enemies.
It's in the Party platform I think.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
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Israel won't care until the west stops funding them
Stop supplying them with weapons
Stop condemning them but still giving them money
Prosecute them for the war crimes they're committing, and make them pay
They know that nobody will actually stop them, because they can claim to be victims of antisemitism, a drum they will beat forever, regardless of whether it's valid or not
The rest of the world is now cowed because of a bronze age fairytale
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It was a country created to give the west a permanent influence in the middle east
It made sense to put bullies and thugs at the helm, and nothing had changed since then
Israel is not a legitimate state and never was
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Laschet, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, said the new conservative-led government's "quiet diplomacy" and "clear words" to Israel were "more effective than constant resolutions and pithy slogans."
Yeah right. The fuck they are. And in effect he's saying the opposite of what the headline suggests.
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It is also blatantly false. Whenever Israel made some concessions in slowing down the genocide it was after a public threat by allied governments.
Germany has been sabotaging any effort for peace and is now claiming it would have been the one responsible if there is any success. It would be laughable if they weren't complicit in committing genocide.
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I'm lucky
I don't live in America
Thankfully a lone hero took out 2 of them.
We need to support more vigilante justice against Zionists, because that's all they're going to get.
Germany has always been a big supporter of Zionism: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haavar…
This is from before the Holocaust started, so I doubt the underlying reason for their support is guilt for the Holocaust.
Germany is ashamed for committing genocide 80 years ago yet now they are doing it again by sending weapons to Israel. And they are covering it up by criminalizing news about it.
I'm not saying their guilt is the reason for doing it again, I'm saying it makes no sense as they always said they would do anything to prevent it to ever happen again.
There's no shame, there's guilt pride. They are jumping right to that, not giving you an option of telling them they haven't repented yet or maybe that they are repenting the wrong way, or not repenting at all.
It seems really rare to meet an ashamed German.
They are not ashamed of Namibia, just like Belgium is not ashamed of Kongo. That whole "genocidal colonialism is past us" thing was wishful thinking, it was quickly assumed to be already fulfilled and now Europeans judge you for reminding them what their ancestors did and what their nations are doing now, just by Israel's hands or Turkey's or someone else.
Man who posted deepfake images of prominent Australian women could face $450,000 penalty
Sensitive content
Good
This shit needs to be stamped on, and hard
Man who posted deepfake images of prominent Australian women could face $450,000 penalty
Online safety regulator seeks heavy penalty, saying it reflects the harm caused and will deter others from making explicit deepfakesJosh Taylor (The Guardian)
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Very much so
Sadly, it often takes a case like this before the legal system takes notice
Don't let "perfect" be the enemy of good when the wheels are turning
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Is there a Lemmy server/way that doesn't require allowing javascript of a million other servers?
So, I am one of those old school types who mains with Firefox and Noscript. And also a filthy casual that just goes on lemmy.world. But half the images are broken because I'm expected to allow scripts on like 30+ sites to see most of the posts. I'm literally expected to allow /all/ the scripts from a domain just so I can see a dang picture behind the thumbnail. That's the entirety of the scripting needed. That seems ridiculous. Is there, I don't know, a server/way that makes it so I don't have to blanket allow all these scripts? To put it in meme form (not sure I'm doing it right, never seen the show): "It's an image of a banana Michael, what should it take, one Raspberry Pi running Docker?"
[EDIT 6/1/25 - thanks to everyone who commented on this. Screenshots: lemmy.world/comment/17403335 ]
For posterity. This is from today.Environment
Firefox Browser 139.0.1 (64-bit)
NoScript 13.0.8
All other extensions disabledA broken image, from Active on lemmy.world. Notably by a user named "Docker".
My noscript settings.
Absolutely. The vast majority of my sites do just fine when whitelisting only the primary domain. I consider it an essential add-on myself.
Lemmy is one of the few that needs a little babysitting, and it's only for the purpose OP stated.
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So, I agree with everything the other responders are saying. Whitelist the primary domain (and maybe a cdn domain that is hopefully nicely labeled) and a decent site should play decently. But it is also that I (generally) know when to pick my battles--or I at least keep my pointless battles to a small scope and fairly sporatic.
I'm asking for a solution to this from the lemmy community, not reddit or a big corposite. They would want a single domain or a few domains for opposite reasons than making the user happy: they would want to control the user experience and ensh**tify via dark patterns. I do not think we should need to blanket allow scripts from dozens of sites just to see images, that's the scope of this mini-battle I do not plan to fight beyond this post. I mention ensh**tification because I just happened to see this thetyee.ca/Culture/2025/05/26/… on this old.lemmy.world/?sort=Hot&list… (thanks, above suggester for reminding me of old.lemmy).
So open technology like the web is replete with disenshi**ifying add-ons. Ad blockers are running in more than half of all web browsers in the world. It's the most successful consumer boycott in human history, but there are zero ad blockers running in apps, because you have to reverse engineer the app first, and that's illegal under use of Bill C-11 and under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and Article 6, the copyright directive.
[Note, I censored those letters. I've been told you can swear on the internet, though.] One of my "old man yells at cloud" moments of late is when I have to deal with a very small company forcing an app down my throat when a website will do and the using of that company/service (and thus app) is being forced upon me by outside forces. If it's a small enough company, I will go through too many emails back and forth with their "CTO" telling them why it's a problem and why they should just have an app (a site that, yes, almost certainly would need javascript). Because that's the small act of protest some of us should be doing in my mind. That way the next time someone thinks, hmm, we could just do an app and only offer it, they'll then think, naw, there's going to be that one annoying customer, not worth it. Same with this issue, for me at least. I don't see why we /have/ to run javascript on secondary sites just to have a thumbnail and a resulting image. And I'm posing this, again, on lemmy not reddit. So, consider this my allowing myself a brief moment to yell at a cloud.
[EDIT: Escaped my asterisks. I worried there would be automatic markdown, but I didn't see the Preview button.]
GitHub - rystaf/mlmym: a familiar desktop experience for lemmy
a familiar desktop experience for lemmy. Contribute to rystaf/mlmym development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
Unfortunately with Lemmy 1.0 MLMYM (the software used to provide this UI) will have to be shutdown, unless the MLMYM dev re-appears or someone forks and maintains it.
someone forks and maintains it.
MrKaplan already forked it and is keeping it on life support for lemmy.world. I've been trying to make enough sense of it to fix several issues that have been bugging me for a while, and will contribute my fixes there if I can figure them out.
I've only got a few hours each weekend where I have good concentration + enough free time to work on it, and don't know the relevant languages (Go, Rust, TypeScript), so my progress is pretty slow... but I'm still poking at it.
GitHub - Fedihosting-Foundation-Forks/mlmym: a familiar desktop experience for lemmy
a familiar desktop experience for lemmy. Contribute to Fedihosting-Foundation-Forks/mlmym development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
Wow thanks for the info and the work. I don't use it much since 99% of my Lemmy use is on mobile and I prefer stock Lemmy for admin stuff, but I know at least a few of my users use it.
I'm going to see if that fork is something I can just drop in the docker compose file. That'll be awesome if so.
Do they intend to make it 1.0 compatible or is this beyond the scope right now?
the thumbnails now are even more clearly 4-pixel potatoes
pictrs's thumbnail parameter uses dumb raw pixel sampling -- which leaves something to be desired... It has other sampling options implemented (with resize, according to the docs), but they don't seem to accessible on my instance. You can remove thumbnail=96 if you want to get the image without that thumbnail sampling, at least.
make everything zoom 150%
I do this with my browser's UI (ctrl-plus keyboard shortcut in FF-based browsers works for me).
e.g. right side bar
[...document.querySelectorAll(".side")].forEach(sidebar => sidebar.remove())
You could also just adblock the element with class side.
remove thumbnail=96
Hey, that sounds like a great idea, I bet I could add that to ublock origins. And, yeah, zoom via ctrl plus is what I do (I'm not sure if it is remembered between sessions). As for the side bar, it does not bother me, it was just as an example of what an extension theoretically could do. Honestly, another extension should not be needed. Instead a lemmy /c/ or other repository for user hacks would be nice that you could put into ublock origins or other DOM manipulator. That removing thumbnail sampling looks awesome, will try it out next time I'm on desktop.
Yes.
PieFed uses very minimal javascript (it 95% works with JS entirely disabled) and you can access all the same communities and posts.
Try it at piefed.social or any of these other instances - join.piefed.social/try
Try PieFed - PieFed
Each instance (server) of PieFed shares content with each other and with the wider fediverse of Lemmy, Mbin, Mastodon and others. You can use any of the following instances to try out PieFed: Instance Location Notes piefed.social Europe feddit.PieFed
Voting, lol. Kinda important.
Dropdown menus. They're not really needed but life sucks without them.
Can't manually switch between dark and light mode (only automatically based on browser settings).
There's probably more but I haven't seriously tried to use PieFed for long without JS. Fundamentally it's built HTML and CSS first, with sprinkles of JS added on for funsies rather than the modern way of being all about JS.
<nav script="dropdown.js" style="dropdown.css">
<button onclick="toggleDropdown()">Menu</button>
</nav>Today:
// index.js
import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import './global.css';
import App from './App';
ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('root')).render(<App />);
// App.jsx
import Dropdown from './components/Dropdown';
import './App.css';
export default function App() {
return (
<main>
<Dropdown />
<br>Hello, world!<br>
</main>
);
}
// components/Dropdown.jsx
import { useState } from 'react';
import styles from './Dropdown.module.css';
import ArrowIcon from '../assets/icons/ArrowIcon.jsx';
export default function Dropdown() {
const [open, setOpen] = useState(false);
return (
<div className={styles.dropdown}>
<button onClick={() => setOpen(!open)}>Menu <ArrowIcon /></button>
{open && (
<ul>
<li>Option 1</li>
<li>Option 2</li>
</ul>
)}
</div>
);
}
Voting
You could support this by making vote buttons submit a form if JS isn't enabled. (That's what mlmym does.)
Can't manually switch between dark and light mode
Hmm... There are some pretty nifty things you can do with a hidden checkbox, label, and some clever CSS (e.g. html:has(#element:checked) + CSS variables -- though FYI :has is baseline 2023.)
Making it persistent would require some more effort -- e.g. form + cookies + server side style sheet selection, most likely. mlmym lets users change their theme w/o JS by submiting a form on the setting page. I'd have to think a bit if there's a good way to make it persistent across multiple requests for logged out users with a CDN caching things in between though...
only automatically based on browser settings
Doesn't actually work for me in a FF138-based browser w/ JS blocked via NoScript -- I always get light mode despite having a dark mode preference set. (Where do you have your prefers-color-scheme media query?)
Also, FYI I had to manually override font restriction -- otherwise all your buttons end up as tofu characters. (I think NoScript is being kind of unreasonably strict there by blocking first party fonts.) That's a papercut kind of issue, but figured I'd point it out in case it might save you some debugging time if you get confused NoScript users in the future.
Yeah I think it'd be worth getting the voting buttons working, those are pretty key functionality.
The icons being stored in a font is kinda problematic (some browsers choke, large font file) but on the other hand it's so great being able to set the color of them in CSS, which I found difficult when they are a SVG.
In piefed.social/user/settings there are two different compact modes to choose from, which shrink the images to varying degrees.
I don't know of any way to determine how JS-heavy a link is.
Login
This is the flagship instance of PieFed, an open source project for the fediverse. Also try another server.piefed.social
GitHub - christianjuth/blorp: Bl🪐rp Social – another Lemmy client nobody asked for. Web, iOS & macOS, and more!
Bl🪐rp Social – another Lemmy client nobody asked for. Web, iOS & macOS, and more! - christianjuth/blorpGitHub
like this
Fitik likes this.
Voyager for Lemmy
Voyager is a beautiful mobile web client for Lemmy. Enjoy a seamless experience browsing the fediverse.vger.app
Some instances host this themselves too.
Voyager for Lemmy
Voyager is a beautiful mobile web client for Lemmy. Enjoy a seamless experience browsing the fediverse.app.thelemmy.club
Using CSS anchor positioning - CSS: Cascading Style Sheets | MDN
The CSS anchor positioning module defines features that allow you to tether elements together. Elements can be defined as anchor elements and anchor-positioned elements. Anchor-positioned elements can be bound to anchor elements.MDN Web Docs
like this
TVA likes this.
This tbh.
I don't understand why is this not he standard for Lemmy and the Fediverse. We got here, among other things, to get away from the kind of crap enabled by JS-first web.
doesn't require allowing javascript of a million other servers?half the images are broken because I’m expected to allow scripts on like 30+ sites to see most of the posts
software like noscript is not exactly beginner friendly. you're expected to understand the impact of your blocking and what you are blocking. the only domain you need to allow JS from on lemmy.world is lemmy.world. standard lemmy-ui does not load any js or css from third party sources, only the domain where lemmy-ui is served. your noscript configuration is blocking the actual images, not javascript that would be required to load images.
edit:
to expand on this, even in tor browser in safest mode, lemmy.world works totally fine when all you do is allow JS from lemmy.world on lemmy.world:
My result?
"The American Dream" discuss.online - BROKEN
"We are way overdue for an open source 2d printer" sub.wetshaving.social - BROKEN
"We never stood a chance." ani.social - BROKEN
"literally useless" lemmy.blahaj.zone - BROKEN
"Anime Recommendations" lemmy.dbzer0.com - Works (the one you show)
nothing about this is cherry-picking. it's simply how lemmy works. there are no remote js sources. lemmy-ui even sets security headers that prevent loading js from third party domains.
honestly at this point I don't consider it worth continuing the discussion here, as it doesn't seem that you understand enough of what you're talking about, despite your claims of dealing with it for "years", yet you keep implying that i'm likely the one being wrong or even lying/misrepresenting things.
the second screenshot is from the same browser as the first, both are in firefox, using the tor browser variant in safest mode, which blocks even more than the average noscript installation in firefox. tor browser is a hardened variant of firefox esr. if it works in tor browser without loading js from third parties it'll very much do so in any other browser. the screenshot is from macos, which is probably why you're not used to it, but that's just what firefox on macos looks like. this is my standard firefox install:
besides, if lemmy was loading and executing javascript from other instances, this would be a massive security issue, which is yet another reason why your claim of loading js from other instances is ludicrous for someone who knows how these things work, at least when you keep insisting on it.
as i mentioned before, noscript is not an extension that is easy to use without some basic understanding of how websites work. if you've been having issues for years due to not understanding these things and how to deal with them properly that suggests that it'd probably be better for you to just switch to something like ublock origin with anti-tracking filter lists if you're not planning to spend some time learning how websites work and what the different types of blocked resources do.
i don't even see how you would be blocking images with noscript, as there doesn't even seem to be an option for it. unless of course you're confusing noscript with something like umatrix, which does allow blocking images by default as well, but it would also clearly show that there is media blocked and not scripts:
anyway, if you're truly interested in understanding these things and not just rant about them please do some research on the technology being used.
tor browser is a hardened variant of firefox esr.
I'm familiar with ESR. As I understand it, it is the version before (or more precisely a reflection of the version before) Mozilla switched to the newer version, breaking a lot of extensions that I liked in the process. As I remember it, it was a pretty deep departure (and many considered it too Chrome-y, was the same underlying engine on something like that). The newer version was more secure, but also more limited. I've played around with some ESR forks, but I do not use them normally/currently. That alone sounds like a pretty different environment.
screenshot is from macos,
Ah, now I see it. I've seen that in screenshots before. But yes, yet another case of different environments. And that's not even getting into other possible extensions.
your claim of loading js from other instances is ludicrous for someone who knows how these things work
I'm sorry if you thought I was "implying that I’m ... even lying". I just want to get environmental discrepancy issues out of the way first. Let's have best faith assumptions, like I will regarding the above sentence.
As for loading js, I took a screenshot, but I don't want to upload screenshots if not necessary. It was from a few days ago and does show many instances attempting to run scripts. Notably, after my post, I noticed that images were loading without needing to enable any javascript from other servers (didn't bother to check if they were still trying to, but I didn't permanently allow them, and images were loading). I can upload my screenshot, but only if you really want them. That is if it is something you need. My best faith understanding of our communication is neither of us want this to devolve into something unpleasant, and I worry about it getting there.
ublock origin ... umatrix
I have the former, tried the latter, but ultimately have stuck to a mix of ublock origin and noscript. Theoretically, one doesn't even need noscript, ublock origin can do it. But I am used to this mix. I can see by how many times you've mentioned it, that I need not remind you for how long.
not just rant
If this feels like ranting, then perhaps we do not engage further. However, if /you/ feel you would benefit, I am more than happy to. I do appreciate the time you put into your responses and what you have added to the conversation.
For posterity. This is from today.
Environment
Firefox Browser 139.0.1 (64-bit)
NoScript 13.0.8
All other extensions disabled
A broken image, from Active on lemmy.world. Notably by a user named "Docker".
My noscript settings.
Yeah. But in this case the Topics menu can be quite heavy as it lists every community that the current user is subscribed to. Instead of generating that menu (and sending it to the client) on every page load, when it probably won't even be used, PieFed makes an ajax call (only possible with JS) to retrieve the topics menu when it's clicked. Same for 'Feeds'.
This cut the amount of HTML being sent to the browser by around 50% (depends on how many communities you subscribe to but PieFed makes it extremely easy to subscribe to dozens of communities with a single click so many people have hundreds) and eased load on the server too. Some of the more under-powered instances run noticeably faster now.
Mentioned elsewhere, and a decent workaround. Doesn't do well with thumbnails, unfortunately.
[edit: someone below suggested removing the thumbnail sampling (I'll probably try via uBlock Origins). Honestly with that and a bit of zoom, might work fine. Will be testing it.]
Rate 'rigging' traders say they were scapegoated - now the Supreme Court will decide
The Supreme Court is poised to rule on the cases of two former City traders jailed for rigging interest rates, amid concerns raised by senior politicians that there may have been a series of miscarriages of justice.
If the traders are successful in their application - which is opposed by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) - it could lead to the quashing of all remaining convictions secured in nine criminal trials.
In criminal trials on both sides of the Atlantic from 2015 to 2019, 19 were convicted of conspiracy to defraud and nine were sent to jail.
As they served time, evidence emerged that central bankers and government officials across the world, including a top adviser at 10 Downing Street at the time, had pressured banks such as theirs to engage in very similar conduct to what they were jailed for – but on a much greater scale.
No central banker or government official was prosecuted.
Rate 'rigging' traders say they were scapegoated - now the Supreme Court will decide
Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo were among 37 City traders prosecuted for "manipulating" interest rate benchmarks.Andy Verity (BBC News)
Australian PM Albanese says Israel’s blockade of aid into Gaza is ‘an outrage’
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/30678096
Josh Butler
Sun 25 May 2025 21.56 EDT"In a press conference on Monday morning, Albanese said: “#Israel’s actions are completely unacceptable.”
“It is outrageous that there be a blockade of food and supplies to people who are in need in #Gaza … People are starving. The idea that a democratic state withholds supply is an outrage.”"
Australian PM Albanese says Israel’s blockade of aid into Gaza is ‘an outrage’
Josh Butler
Sun 25 May 2025 21.56 EDT"In a press conference on Monday morning, Albanese said: “#Israel’s actions are completely unacceptable.”
“It is outrageous that there be a blockade of food and supplies to people who are in need in #Gaza … People are starving. The idea that a democratic state withholds supply is an outrage.”"
Australian PM Albanese says Israel’s blockade of aid into Gaza is ‘an outrage’
Anthony Albanese says Netanyahu government ‘excuses’ for stopping critical food and medical supplies are ‘completely untenable’Josh Butler (The Guardian)
like this
Oofnik likes this.
For those unfamiliar with Prime Minister Albanese:
- Founding member and secretary of Parliamentary Friends of Palestine around 2000^[https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/05/29/protester-prime-minister-anthony-albanese-israel-palestine/]
- Complicit in the zionist regime's recent invasions and ongoing genocide in Gaza
- Australia trades with the regime, and arrested port protesters and members of the Maritime Union of Australia, including the leader of the Sydney branch
- Australia is the sole exporter of the F-35 bomber fuselage
- Australia repeatedly supported the invasion through UN voting
Protester to prime minister: A timeline of Albanese’s public stance on Palestine
Anthony Albanese has criticised student protesters. But he was once one too, attending a protest in 2000 where Israeli flags were burned.Anton Nilsson (Crikey)
I also lost quite a bit of respect for Penny Wong when she wasn't willing to condemn this at the outset: Israel's order to cut food and water from Gaza difficult to judge from afar, says Foreign Minister Penny Wong
Though to be fair, Dutton was never going to be a better option.
ABC News
ABC News provides the latest news and headlines in Australia and around the world.Jake Evans (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Though to be fair, Dutton was never going to be a better option.
Luckily we're not trapped in a two-party dichotomy, Liberal's opinions are slowly mattering less and less and minor candidates are getting more of the pie.
Lemmy's web UI formats it as a footnote[^1]^, I didn't realise other apps might not read that formatting:
Polls must have shown it's popular to stand with Palestine.
I like the Albanese government but it is very quiet when there is an issue that conflicts with the parties values or donors.
Head of US-backed Gaza aid group resigns, saying he will not abandon ‘principles’
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/30677633
Guardian staff and agencies
Sun 25 May 2025 22.46 EDT"The head of a US-backed private humanitarian organisation that is tasked with distributing aid in #Gaza using an #Israeli-initiated plan resigned on Sunday, saying that the operation could not fulfil its mission in a way that adhered to “humanitarian principles”.
Executive director Jake Wood announced his resignation in a statement from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), adding fresh uncertainty to the operation’s future."
Head of US-backed Gaza aid group resigns, saying he will not abandon ‘principles’
Guardian staff and agencies
Sun 25 May 2025 22.46 EDT"The head of a US-backed private humanitarian organisation that is tasked with distributing aid in #Gaza using an #Israeli-initiated plan resigned on Sunday, saying that the operation could not fulfil its mission in a way that adhered to “humanitarian principles”.
Executive director Jake Wood announced his resignation in a statement from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), adding fresh uncertainty to the operation’s future."
Head of US-backed Gaza aid group resigns, saying he will not abandon ‘principles’
Jake Wood’s resignation comes after the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation faced criticism from the UN and other aid groupsGuardian staff reporter (The Guardian)
These trigger happy American mercenaries are going to weaponize food distribution to help with the ethnic cleansing. I'm sure they will also shoot plenty of people in the process.
This is a Western sponsored genocide to protect their imperial interests in the region.
The Debt Is About to Matter Again
“For years, we lived in a world where there was basically zero risk premium on U.S. debt,” Jared Bernstein, the former head of Joe Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers, told me.
“In four short months, Team Trump has squandered that advantage.”
The Simple Formula That Explains Why the Debt Matters
When interest rates outpace growth, very bad things can happen.Rogé Karma (The Atlantic)
This article is mostly talking about an economics concept of “r vs g”, which the author describes as follows:
As long as a country’s economic growth rate (g) is higher than the interest rate (r) it pays on its national debt, then the cost of servicing that debt will remain stable, allowing the government to roll it over indefinitely without much worry.
I’m not an economist, but this seemed odd to me. I suspected the author might not understand economics and the concept might more complicated than they were making it out to be.
A quick search on “r vs g economics” seems to indicate that this author has no business writing about economics. Here is the first result I clicked on, which near the start of the article states:
One approach to assess the sustainability of federal debt was popularized by Olivier Blanchard, in his speech as outgoing American Economic Association president, in 2019. That paper was written during a period of low interest rates and noted the relationship between the interest rate on government debt (R) and the growth rate of the economy (G): R less than G could imply a stable debt trajectory. However, Blanchard, as well as other economists and fiscal policy experts, recognized that the framework only holds true when the deficit excluding interest payments is small, which unfortunately is not the current case in the United States.
That makes a lot more sense to me. The economics concept applies when the deficit is small. The US deficit is not small. Regardless of R vs G, a large deficit means that debt is becoming more of a burden, even if R is less than G. Yes, R getting closer to G or exceeding G increases the burden of US debt, but R vs G isn’t all that matters like the writer of this piece in the Atlantic claims.
…At least as far as I can tell… But it’s late, I’m tired, and I’m not an economist. I’d love to hear what one has to say about this article, even if they tell me I’m totally wrong.
What Is R Versus G and Why Does It Matter for the National Debt?
The combination of higher debt levels and elevated interest rates have increased the cost of federal borrowing, prompting economists to consider the sustainability of our fiscal trajectory.amymcleod (Peterson Foundation)
Arguably the deficit and level of debt doesn't matter either. After all, both have been higher in times gone by as a gdp ratio. So this is then a question of how much debt will a government be willing/allowed to take on?
Due to money not being backed by anything physical, debt itself is used as an inflationary measure in order to then lead interest rates, and is the biggest market leaver a government has. Adding more money (debt) to a relatively inelastic economy means that goods will cost more as market forces say there is more money for the same stuff. In the case of tax breaks, the theory goes that these companies will invest. But what is actually happening is Trumps mates are doing lay-offs and pocketing more and more profit.
So, Trump is showing his desire to make things cost more (something that negatively affects the bottom of the economy far more than the top) and by spending more on tax breaks instead of investment; he is literally stealing from the poor to give to the rich. And that's easily verifiable by asking: who ultimately owns the government's debt, and who is getting richer?
That's right suckers, Trump is taking his whole voter base for a ride
The US isn't the only country on the planet. The real question is what are other country's debt ratios, and how have those impacted their economies? And the answer is there are lots of countries with a similar debt ratio, and many with a higher ratio, and most of those are doing fine.
Of course, if (say, over a period of four years) the US replaced its healthcare system with universal single-payer, cut back on defense spending, and raised taxes on the rich, it might actually get back to a surplus.
But then some Republican would come along and squawk about the "people's money" and give it all away in tax cuts and just plunge us back into a deficit again.
What's amazing about this strategy is that it wasn't secret. They published it in the Wall Street Journal in 1974. It still worked. Similar to the "flood the zone" strategy; Steve Bannon straight up talked about it to the press in 2018. That also still works.
There's just one problem: you can't keep burning down the house around you and then blaming the people trying to stop it.
Right from one of those articles ("It's Time to Cut Taxes" by Jude Wanniski):
"The level of U.S. taxes has become a drag on economic growth in the United States," [Professor Mundell] says. "The national economy is being choked by taxes — asphyxiated. Taxes have increased even while output has fallen, because of the inflation. The unemployment has created vast segments of excess capacity greater than the size of the entire Belgian economy. If you could put that sub-economy to work, you would not only eliminate the social and economic costs of unemployment, you would increase aggregate supply sufficiently to reduce inflation. It is simply absurd to argue that increasing unemployment will stop inflation. To stop inflation you need more goods, not less."
Which is interesting, because the ultimate solution to stagflation--which was a problem that reared its ugly head in the few years before the article was published--was to do the "simply absurd". Paul Volcker as Fed Chair would eventually say fuck it, we're sending interest rates to the moon. That caused a spike in unemployment, but it brought inflation under control. Then you bring interest rates back down and unemployment sorts itself out.
It's harsh medicine, but it works. Kept capitalism going for several decades more. Of all the possible solutions to stagflation, this remains the only one that's been tested to work.
These people have been wrong for decades and fought against strategies that save their own economic system.
All of this is just so stupid, it's so unnecessary. There's no reason growth must be correlated with increased debt. The Federal government doesn't need to borrow money for anything, they create their own money. They don't need to go to people and say, "hey, lend me some of your dollars so I can pay for the army, or roads and bridges," they can just make more dollars. The US Federal government is a sovereign currency issuer, they make the money. You wouldn't need to borrow money from your friend if you had a legal money printer at home that could print an infinite number of dollars.
But I know, inflation. Yes, if the Federal government made a bunch of money and went around dropping it out of hot air balloons, inflation would go up. When people get money in their hands they tend to want to spend it, this causes increased demand, supply can't necessarily keep up with the sudden increase in demand and you get inflation. There's a pretty easy solution to this problem: don't print a bunch of money and just hand it out to people. Print it, and use it to fund infrastructure projects or public services. Put some of it in an account that can only be used to make payments to bond holders. I know the infrastructure projects would mean money being put into the hands of the people who work on those projects, but I doubt that would increase the overall inflation rate very much, and if it did you could always just pull back on the infrastructure spending when inflation was high and ramp it back up when the inflation rate goes lower.
When you print money, it devalues all the existing money because there’s more of it but the extra value it generates hasn’t materialised yet.
Guess who owns over half of all the money there is. Imagine how they would feel if you devalued it, and then imagine whose campaigns they would fund next time.
When you borrow money, you create a taxpayer liability that Americans have to work hard to repay, in addition to servicing the debt with interest payments.
Guess who neither pays taxes nor has to work harder to service federal debt. That’s right, and guess who funded your campaign. Are you going to let them down, or make the choice to screw workers a bit more?
When you print money, it devalues all the existing money because there’s more of it but the extra value it generates hasn’t materialised yet.
Money doesn't have value. Money is just a medium of exchange. It can be anything, a pebble, a shell, a small piece of metal, a piece of paper, or, most commonly today, digits in a computer. Things are what have value. Consumer products and services, raw materials, etc. Money is just a stand-in for those things. Simply increasing the amount of digits in the computer isn't going to suddenly increase prices. What would affect prices is if you transferred a bunch of that newly created money into everyone's checking accounts, all at once. That would lead to inflation, because, as I already said, if you put money into people's hands (or checking accounts) they're going to spend it. This would increase the number of dollars pursuing goods and services, but the amount of goods and services wouldn't increase right away, so there would be more money relative to the same number of things, and prices would go up. So, just don't transfer all of the newly created money into people's checking accounts.
Like I said, put some of it into an account that can only be used to pay bond holders. You know, the people the US Federal government owes all their money to. That money would trickle out of the Treasury department as the Treasury made payments to bond holders, it wouldn't just be some big, sudden cash infusion into the broader economy. The same is true of using the money for Federal infrastructure projects.
I'm not suggesting the Federal government should default on its debt. Not at all. They should pay back bond holders, at interest. All except one: the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve doesn't need to be paid back because they're the ones who create the money, and they can manage the creation of the money so that it doesn't lead to too high of inflation.
The relevant context is first Bretton Woods, then Nixon abandoning the gold standard, and the petrodollar arrangement.
Clearly the US dollar needed, and needs, international acceptance if it is to be global reserve currency. This is changing of course, and perhaps the US could abandon the late 20th century economic order entirely in one move as you suggest (more than they already are), but good luck buying stuff from other countries with dollars in that circumstance. What is North Korea's currency worth these days?
One thing I don't understand about inflation is why printing money increases it but borrowing money doesn't.
Either way you all of a sudden have $200 million dollars to spend, why does inflation care if that came from another country? The money is still the same, being spent the same, etc.
Eventually it needs to be paid back but that's not for a very long time so wouldn't inflation happen between now and then anyways?
Let's pretend there are only $100 in our imaginary economy which buys and sells a limited supply of 100 bricks at $1/brick. You ask to borrow $50 to buy 50 bricks, so a lender loans you $50, to be repaid with 10% interest. You work and are paid from the other $50 owned by others. Eventually, you pay back $55 (due to interest). There's still only $100 in the economy throughout this exercise, just the relative proportions owned by people change.
Alternately, the government prints that $50 and gives it to you (this is a gross oversimplification of quantitative easing). Now there are $150 in the system. The brick sellers know the government has done this and that you have more money, so they bump up their prices to $1.50 simply because they want the most money possible. $1 now buys less, 33.3% less.
"The assumption that what currently exists must necessarily exist is the acid that corrodes all visionary thinking."
- Murray Bookchin
False equivalency.
It's a good thing not everyone is as arrogantly resistant to new possibilities as you, otherwise human progress might cease entirely.
Funny because that's essentially what YOU did. You don't know what you're talking about, so you handwave away people that say that's not how it works, first with your quote and second with "false equivalency". And you miss the point. The whole point is your "idea" is as possible as a perpetual motion machine, except this time with essentially a money glitch.
And you're still at it! "Something something new possibilities!"
Dude you have no idea how it works. And worse is that you have no idea that you have no idea. And it gets even worse when you dismiss everything with your quote. And EVEN worse is that you attack people when they say that's now how it works. Ok that's enough for me. Ciao.
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There's a historical reason for it, but much of the financial press isn't thinking about how it's different this time.
A bunch of debt rating outlets downgraded the US in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Everyone said "eh" for a simple reason: where else were you going to go? Everyone's economy was slagging. Many countries tried austerity measures, particularly in the EU, but that didn't work. The US was the best of limited options for a low-risk/low-returns portfolio piece (which is what bonds are), and the downgrade just didn't matter.
Trouble this time is that it's obvious to everyone that the US has created the current situation for itself. Things weren't great for average people before, but you could gussy up the numbers and say things are fine if you didn't look too hard at the details. It now threw away the ability to do that. Nobody else is doing that, because it's dumb as fuck.
So now you get a bond rating downgrade when nobody else has that problem. Suddenly, it matters. The financial press isn't used to this situation and hasn't had to deal with the obvious yet.
Smoogs
in reply to Tony Bark • • •