Tesla's $350 price has a Price Earnings ratio of 125 which is crazy like four (4) times too high for the premium 30 PE ratio that Microsoft sells at but with Elon's politics Tesla's PE should be 20 with a price of $60

 

Does Elon Musk Still Care About Selling Cars?

Sickening

 

Trump Calls Zelenskiy a ‘Dictator,’ Broadens Ukraine Attacks

U.S. Objects to Calling Russia ‘Aggressor’ in G7 Statement on Invasion

“This will still come back to us,” she said. “It’s California.”

 

California’s Push for Electric Trucks Sputters Under Trump

The state will no longer require some truckers to shift away from diesel semis but hopes that subsidies can keep dreams of pollution-free big rigs alive.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon delivered a stark message on Friday about the future of her agency. Asked on “Fox & Friends” whether the United States “needs this department,” Ms. McMahon answered: “No, we don’t.”

 

Asked if U.S. Needs Education Department, Its Head Says ‘No’

You dummies, A shut down is exactly what Trump and his cohort Musk want

 

Bracing for a Shutdown Fight, Democrats Warn Their Votes Are Not a Given

Keep It simple Stupid

 

Trump Widens Trade Fight to Include Global Taxes and Regulation

     President Trump and his team are keen on imposing tariffs on imports but instead of a mercurial approach with a decision one day and a reversal the next it is suggested he and his administration first apply a KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach. First, have Congress make a new tariff law that eliminates all previous ones for a new one that simply charges 5% of the invoice value. Most importantly this duty should be on all imports on all goods from all countries without exception. Second, he should have his cohort Elon Musk eliminate the staff devoted to the implementation of the ninety-nine chapter U.S. Tariff Schedule and release them and their private bureaucrat followers to find employment in some other field. Additional tariffs could be applied by the executive branch to friend or foe and complicated or simple as they would like but never by modifying the fixed 5% rate passed by Congress applied to every country without exception.

In Connecticut I just experienced a $5,000 increase on last year's $15,000 combined home and auto innsurance. That 33% increase must be our contribution covering California fires and Florida hurricanes

 

Travelers Sees $1.7 Billion Pretax Catastrophe Losses From California Wildfires

Analysts have estimated the wildfires could cost the insurance industry around $30 billion

It's time to scrape off the bed of very large barnacles on our ship of state.

     President Trump and his team are keen on imposing tariffs on imports but instead of a mercurial approach with a decision one day and a reversal the next it is suggested he and his administration first apply a KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach. First, have Congress make a new tariff law that eliminates all previous ones for a new one that simply charges 5% of the invoice value. Most importantly this duty should be on all imports on all goods from all countries without exception. Second, he should have his cohort Elon Musk eliminate the staff devoted to the implementation of the ninety-nine chapter U.S. Tariff Schedule and release them and their private bureaucrat followers to find employment in some other field. Additional tariffs could be applied by the executive branch to friend or foe and complicated or simple as they would like but never by modifying the fixed 5% rate passed by Congress applied to every country without exception.

The U.S. Tariff Schedule is an arcane centuries old one with many duties determined by weight rather than value because the U.S. Dollar was not always a universal currency. As the principal of an import firm that represented Spanish Olive companies for three generations I have an intimate knowledge of the duty rate for pimento stuffed olives versus pitted, broken or whole olives. A knowledge that I am not certain is of value to our government and its customs officials reviewing an invoice to determine the duty charge after going through calculations that convert net number of kilos of olives in jarred product in palletized cases plus a checklist of duties to apply in from favored nations or the not so favored. Consider North Korea, a nation with an especially high duty rate for olives though I have never heard of an olive import from there.

Of course we have the special exception of California Style Ripe Black Olives which require a costly inspection by the USDA of each import of such style olives to make sure every load has the same bland innocuous flavor as the domestic product. But I digress since the olive import business is much simpler than many others, automobiles for example. I attended a symposium on duty compliance in Detroit and recall the outright laughter generated as I described the Customs challenges of the olive import business to the conference. Unfortunately the centuries old tariff schedule is no laughing matter and was best described by a colleague as being a bed of very large barnacles on our ship of state. It's time to scrape them off.

Good one! Trump killing carried interest and now this. Its a good day

 

   What Closing the De Minimis   Tariff Loophole for US Imports                from China Means

What effects have the US de minimis loophole had?

With the threshold as high as it is in the US, around 4 million small packages claiming de minimis exemptions crossed into the US every day in 2024. They often go unchecked before being transferred to a truck for delivery directly to the consumer’s doorstep.

This has helped give American consumers access to lots of cheap merchandise sold by ecommerce retailers in China such as Temu and Shein. But it’s also strained global supply chains, raised air cargo costs and swamped border enforcement efforts. What’s more, the packages are thought to be one of the growing ways illegal drugs such as fentanyl are smuggled into the country and how other goods enter the US in violation of rules against imports from regions known for human-rights abuses. The administration of President Joe Biden was well on its way to cracking down on de minimis abuses before he lost his reelection bid in November, so Trump’s ban wasn’t a complete surprise.

I got a Ford Mustang EV and you know what? I love it and its not supporting Elon, the meglomaniac

 Tesla Shares Set for Worst Week    Since Election as Sales Plunge

An excellent hit on the Billionaire perk

 

    Trump Takes Aim at Private Equity’s Favorite Tax Perk Again

• Trump says ending carried interest tax perk is a priority

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards must pardon my homage to Donald Trump but he is about to ruin our country just like the personal fortune he inherited.

Let me please introduce myself 

I'm a man of wealth and taste               

So have the courtesy

to make me your President 

                                      and lay our country to waste

Javier Milei spent 18 months campaigning on extracting the government from areas where it did not belong. Once in as President of Argentina he wasted no time in using bold strokes to reset expectations about the economy. The U.S. needs the same Milei-type preparation.

       Anti-red-tape evolution is under way

     Done right, deregulation could kick-start economic growth

Trump's 25% tariffs imposed on Canada and Mexico and only 10% on China makes one wonder who he thinks is our friend and who is our foe

 

To Trump, Tariffs Are Not a Means but an End

By David E. Sanger

David E. Sanger has covered five presidents, and recently wrote a book on the re-emergence of superpower conflict. He reported from Palm Beach, Fla.

Feb. 1, 2025