record-high Dow Jones and S&P 500, extremely low inflation, low unemployment, low interest rates and continual GDP growth. However, Trump seems positively impervious to those metrics this time around, if not outright hostile. Which begs the question, “Why the change?” One would only be comfortable, even outright pleased, with sharply declining economic metrics if that was ultimately the goal. This begs the question, why would Trump want to intentionally destroy the economy? When one examines what Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, have been doing since Inauguration Day, it becomes pretty clear. Under the guise of “eliminating waste, fraud and abuse,” Musk and his DOGE team have essentially taken a sledgehammer to the federal government, eliminating anything they don’t approve of on a whim. However, when one looks a little deeper, it becomes obvious that “eliminating waste, fraud and abuse” and making the government more efficient is merely a fig leaf for an entirely different agenda. According to data from the Treasury Department, federal spending in February stood at $603 billion. This stands in stark contrast to Musk’s claim of saving over $100 billion. While at the same time federal spending isn’t going down, Musk and Trump are eliminating entire departments of the government on a whim while also conducting mass layoffs of federal employees. Meanwhile, Musk is continuing to reward himself with enormous military contracts, something he doesn’t deem as wasteful or abusive of government funds. When looking at the bigger picture, it becomes apparent that Musk and Trump are trying to destroy the federal government through wide-scale layoffs and make it completely unable to fulfill even basic functions. For example, Trump and Musk have laid off half of the staff of the Social Security Administration, and for the first time in the history of Social Security, senior citizens have started missing their checks. The plan here is obvious: to make people think that Social Security no longer functions and to transfer those funds into the private market, away from the federal government, where it can be raided by oligarchs. This is why members of the Trump administration have been spreading the widely debunked falsehood that people who have been dead for 50 years or more are still receiving Social Security checks. It’s simply a pretext to do what they want to do, which is eliminate Social Security altogether. Americans have a true fight on their hands with their own government essentially performing a hostile takeover of its own population. Given how brazenly Trump and Musk are destroying the administrative state, it is not far-fetched to view seemingly head-scratching economic decisions as a deliberate attempt to dismantle the American economy. After all, in the event of an extreme economic downturn, Musk, Trump and other extraordinarily wealthy individuals are the only people in society who stand to benefit in any form or fashion. We are currently witnessing the complete destruction of the American administrative state, America’s global standing and its economic power by a group of completely self-interested, megalomaniacal robber barons. This is no longer a hypothetical but an immediate reality. It’s safe to say that most Americans, no matter what they’re political persuasion, will not approve of that reality once it is actually presented to them in living, breathing terms. However, the first step is understanding what is actually happening. We are seeing the destruction of both the rule of law and the Constitution in real-time, and the real question is, “What comes next?” Americans have a true fight on their hands with their own government essentially performing a hostile takeover of its own population. If there’s anything that can shake Americans out of a sense of complacency, it will be the coming years of true economic and social upheaval. America has been through many tough times before, so we can certainly weather these as well if millions of Americans are willing to unite. That remains to be seen. Personalized Financial Consulting for Your Business Growth Small Business Commercial Real Estate Government Fiscal Analysis & Legislative Advocacy Interested in working together? Visit www.ponderosaeconomics.com or call (505) 699-1841. Financial & Management Consulting Firm 15
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