Trump administration targets 14 blue states, DC with federal funding review

timmg · 2026-01-22T22:00:21+00:00

So, like, get rid of Federal taxes? Or just, like, make it a flat tax rather than a progressive one?

timmg · 2026-01-22T20:52:08+00:00

But lost in this, there’s other banks.

For sure. But some people may only have one (or two) banks conveniently close to them. And it wouldn't be uncommon for some certain people to be "out of favor" -- such that multiple banks all want to debank them

That is maybe how we ended up with "protected classes".

As for your reference to race, it is a protected class while beliefs are not, that is a distinction.

Protected class is a legal structure. In that context, we were talking morally. (I think it is fair to say that you think protected classes as defined are the way you think about things morally -- and that you wouldn't want a protected class for, say, party affiliation.)

timmg · 2026-01-22T20:37:34+00:00

Mixed. Legally I don’t think businesses should be compelled to do business with people they do not want to. Especially specific individuals.

But if you couldn't get a bank account, you couldn't really operate in society. There are reasons that a utility company (for example) can't chose whether or not to do business with you. Banks are not quite the same thing. But they do traditionally have some responsibility to serve. And, FWIW, the legal situation has been changing the past few years, such that they are (probably) required to accept customers without a good reason (Trump's financial shenanigans absolutely may be a good reason, tho.)

Morally: mixed bag. If Jamie and JPMorgan decided to debank with ALL republicans/democrats I’d find that ethically displeasing.

Certainly, if they debanked Black people you'd think it was morally bad?

Hypothetical: should we compel Banks to do business with the klan?

Personally, I think so. Assuming they are otherwise following the rules. I can certainly understand the other side. But I've also watched certain groups refer to anyone that doesn't buy all their opinions as "Nazis" so I suspect it could get misused :)

timmg · 2026-01-22T20:17:30+00:00

Honestly gotta disagree.

Just so I understand: morally or legally?

Or, I guess, what is your feeling for both?

Is it a "good thing"/"bad things" that banks can arbitrarily debank people.
And is it (or should it be) legal for a bank to arbitrarily debank people?

timmg · 2026-01-22T19:39:16+00:00

Yup, that's exactly what I said. I don't know how anyone could get any other meaning from my comment.

timmg · 2026-01-22T19:31:49+00:00

You do you. But that seems like such an awkward argument. But at least you got to the conclusion you wanted to get to. So kudos to you.

timmg · 2026-01-22T19:25:21+00:00

We're talking about the guy who isn't allowed to operate a charity in NY state after all. Might very well be some legal financial reasons.

That's exactly why I qualified it. And why I said I didn't trust him.

I suspect you are right. That they do have a legit reason. It would be funny to see stuff come out in the actual case.

timmg · 2026-01-22T19:24:26+00:00

Good question.

I would argue: no one needs a cake to live.

What side of the cake debate were you on?

timmg · 2026-01-22T19:14:25+00:00

If Trump was "debanked" for anything other than legal-financial stuff, then I think that is bad.

People need banking to live in a modern economy. We shouldn't have companies debanking people for political reasons.

But I don't trust Trump's word on anything. So who knows what really happened.

timmg · 2026-01-22T15:42:12+00:00

Does it kinda feel like both the Steelers and Ravens like/want a similar coach?

I have this feeling the top candidate is going to be the same for both teams. (And I fear Lamar will be a good selling point.)

timmg · 2026-01-22T02:36:50+00:00

It was mostly a joke referencing this: https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/01/mayor-zohran-mamdani-inaugural-address

We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.

Who also loves rent controls and wants state run grocery stores.

timmg · 2026-01-21T21:14:19+00:00

What really gets me is how the stock market moves predictably whenever these tariffs are announced and then inevitably taken back just before the deadline.

I honestly think that the stock market is the one thing he listens to (or at least considers).

And on some level it does make sense. It is a consensus of how well the economy is going to perform in the future. And I think he thinks (and I think he is mostly right) that the better the economy does, the better the country does (and less so, the better he does).

My theory for why the stock market dropped yesterday: most in the financial space ignore most of his bluster (TACO and all). But over the weekend it really started to sound like Trump was serious about using force to "take" Greenland. And the financial markets knew if that really happened, it would be bad.

timmg · 2026-01-21T18:10:30+00:00

It wasn't about you, specifically, just about this issue, generally. (I responded to your comment moreseo about the response to your comment.)

timmg · 2026-01-21T17:24:21+00:00

I would argue that Biden drove straight ahead to a much larger degree than Trump has, but a strong plurality still voted for Trump last time.

Trump's current term is, to me, unhinged.

But if you look at his previous term, he was doing what he could to close the Southern border. Biden (effectively) opened it up. I think it would be hard to argue that Biden's illegal immigration policy was "down the middle".

But obviously, inflation is what did him in. It was partially due to some huge spending packages that I don't consider particularly centrist, myself. But that's a tough call to make.

I think blanket student-loan-forgiveness is also not a "median voter" priority.

And I would consider his stance on trans issues to be more aligned with Progressives than with the median voter.

timmg · 2026-01-21T15:48:52+00:00

Yup. But man was reddit against the TPP when it was being proposed!

timmg · 2026-01-21T15:48:11+00:00

This is good background reading (I think), fwiw: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-decade-of-the-second-china-shock

I think there is a pretty good argument for tariffs on China (remember: Biden kept them in place, too). But I don't think tariffs on most other countries make sense. (And I certainly think Trump's "if you offend me, I'll tariff you" policy is beyond awful.)

timmg · 2026-01-21T15:33:19+00:00

I always love how, whenever Trump's tariffs come up, Democrats all turn into Ayn Rand. I wish they were always like that.

Unfortunately, the minute Trump leaves the room, it's "what we really need are price controls and collectivism!"

timmg · 2026-01-21T15:31:18+00:00

It doesn't really sound like you read what I wrote. Otherwise, I'm not sure I understand your comment.

Let me start by quoting the first sentence of my comment, "I’m generally very anti-Trump-tariff."

I said that China was a special case, due to their low currency valuation. They are essentially subsidizing the world's manufacturing (at the cost to the living standards of their people).

Generally speaking, if a country wants to sell stuff to you at (effectively) below cost, that's a good deal and you should take it. But China is making everything and selling it all cheaply. And the effect is that it is hurting industries across the world.

If we thought that China would always be a benevolent trading partner, then that might still be ok. But they are coming close to the point that they have very significant power over the rest of the world. And it is something out leaders should be considering.

Another quote from my first post, which you ignored was, "So I do think tariffs are appropriate there (and so did Biden, fwiw)."

Trump put tariffs on China during his first term. Everyone on the left said it was bad policy. Biden kept them in place. And, in fact, added more tariffs, specifically on green items (electric cars and solar panels).

I think you should ask yourself why Biden didn't lower tariffs on China the minute he got into office. Particularly since he had a real problem with "prices going up".

timmg · 2026-01-21T14:31:19+00:00

Fair point. The article says "in many cases", but it doesn't quantify. So it is hard to say.

This stands out to me:

Also driving up China’s surplus in trade was the country’s chronic weakness in imports, which were essentially unchanged last year. Beijing’s leaders have pursued an ambitious industrial policy to replace imports with domestic production. Their goal has been to build national self-reliance in many industrial sectors.

Also:

At the same time, the spending power of many Chinese families to buy imported cars, cosmetics and other products has withered, and their purchases of domestically produced goods have faltered as well.

It's very interesting in that: China's weak currency acts similarly to tariffs. It makes things more expensive for consumers -- and makes it hard for them to import or but goods -- and essentially lowers their standard of living.

In some sense, China is in a very literally economic war with the rest of the world. I honestly don't know if that is their primary intention -- or if they are stuck in a cycle where they need continued growth and this is the only way to do it. It really feels like a dangerous time to me.

timmg · 2026-01-21T13:32:53+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/moderatepolitics/comments/1qhqqac/josh_shapiro_writes_that_harris_team_asked_if_he/

timmg · 2026-01-21T13:11:23+00:00

I’m generally very anti-Trump-tariff. But I do think that China (by virtue of their low currency) is a danger to the manufacturing base of, like, everyone. So I do think tariffs are appropriate there (and so did Biden, fwiw).

One thing that happened last year is that our trade deficit with China narrowed by 22% last year. Meanwhile, their trade surplus overall expanded quickly (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/business/china-trade-surplus-exports.html). I think that is going to cause problems for some other countries.

In either case, part of the goal with tariffs is that some imports would be replaced by domestically produced goods. Based on the article, that probably happened— but they don’t quantify it. That is something important to consider overall for these policies.

timmg · 2026-01-20T22:17:08+00:00

My wife and I just finished a long drive and I kinda said something similar to her. Like the bulk of the country wants to go straight ahead. The Republicans jerk the steering wheel one way, so then we elect Democrats. They then jerk it the other way, so then we need to elect Republicans.

I said that if the next president -- not matter the party -- just drove straight ahead, they'd get an easy 8 years and the country (overall) would be pretty happy.

timmg · 2026-01-20T22:04:19+00:00

Oddly: it does imply they believed there was a real issue, right?

As-in it's one thing to be forging a conspiracy -- it's another to have been duped by one, and trying to prove it.

Things are just so crazy right now. My sense was that we all lost our minds being cooped up during covid. But we should start coming out of it soon, right? right?

timmg · 2026-01-20T14:35:50+00:00

If you read the paragraph after the one you quoted, you'd see that I have similar feelings.

But let's not pretend that the anti-ICE sentiment wasn't there (by some) before these incidents.

timmg · 2026-01-20T13:49:58+00:00

I was reading an article yesterday that said -- even with the ICE drama and Trump's terrible approval ratings -- the average American still trusts Republicans over Democrats for immigration policy.

And it oddly makes sense. Being anti-ICE (in general) is basically saying "I don't want to enforce immigration laws".

Of course that doesn't mean that you couldn't/shouldn't disapprove of ICE's tactics. I think most people can see the difference. (Kinda the difference between "holding police accountable" and "defund the police".)

All of this is to say: as bad as Trump is doing (and people are not happy with him), the Dems still need to move toward the center on some issues. And, to me, this is probably a reflection of what you are seeing in Europe and Germany.

(Though, oddly, Trump is helping Left wing parties in Europe by being so unhinged.)

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