Monthly Archives: March 2025

Why Economic Ignorance Matters

America’s election of Donald Trump–horrifying and destructive as it was and is–was part of a global lurch to the Right, and that lurch can be attributed to one over-riding factor: a negative reaction to immigration. There are a lot of moving parts to that reaction, but I want to focus on one inarguable element of MAGA’s hatred of (certain) immigrants–a hatred that blinds the economically-ignorant to the predictable consequences of mass deportations.

Racism has always been the central part of Trump’s appeal, and his promises to “protect” the border have, accordingly, focused on the southern border. When he talks about limiting illegal immigration, it is quite clear that he is talking about poor brown and Black people, not the rich, or the stray Canadian or Norwegian.

The promised massive deportations have yet to occur, but early reports reflect two “Trumpian” realities: his disregard for legal and constitutional niceties, and his ignorance of the way the economy works. It isn’t just his love of tariffs that illustrates that ignorance; he clearly has no comprehension of the importance of both legal and illegal immigrants in selected sectors of the economy.

In his first few weeks back in office, Trump has consistently ignored the law, so it isn’t surprising that early “roundups” have frequently crossed the constitutional line. As Paul Krugman recently noted, “if you make it clear that respecting the rights of the accused is a liberal, DEI thing, of course some ICE and Border Control agents will run wild. Basically, anyone with brown skin will be at risk of at least temporary detention.”

And speaking of risk, even though the number of immigrants arrested is small so far, Krugman and others point out that  the raids that have occurred have already inspired widespread fear.  Some workers have stayed home rather than coming to work. Others have returned to their home countries. And some businesses have even laid off valuable employees for fear that they may be raided.

In the linked essay, Krugman offers charts documenting the likely economic impact of widespread deportations, beginning with the fact that almost 1 in 5 U.S. workers is foreign-born. Most of those are here legally, but unauthorized immigrants make up around 5 percent of the work force.

Losing a large fraction of these workers would be a serious blow to the economy, especially because immigrants, legal and not, play a much bigger role in some industries and occupations than they do in the economy as a whole.

Agriculture is the most striking example: Immigrants — many of them undocumented — make up most of the farm labor force.

Push those workers out, either by actual deportation or detention or simply by creating a climate of fear, and just watch what happens to grocery prices.

About a quarter of construction industry employees are immigrants — 40 percent in Texas and California — but this number rises to 31 percent if you look only at “construction trades,” i.e., people who actually build stuff as opposed to working in offices or marketing. And the immigrant share is much higher in particular trades.

So at a time when Americans are still angry about the price of groceries and, with more justification, about the unaffordability of housing, Trump’s immigrant crackdown seems set to hobble food production and home construction.

Krugman notes that Trump can probably call off most of his threatened tariffs, granting exemptions in return for concessions benefitting him personally, but his constant, ugly screeds against (certain) immigrants have played into racial hatreds that can’t easily be reined in.

I have previously posted about the gap between immigration facts and the fallacies that allow MAGA bigots to use migrants as a handy wedge issue. As I said then, if anyone harbors doubts about the GOP’s entirely political approach to what the media routinely calls the “border crisis,” it should have been dispelled when Republicans abruptly walked away from a bipartisan proposal that–after difficult negotiations–had given them pretty much everything they’d been demanding, so they could use the “border crisis” as a campaign issue.

And speaking of the border–most of the 11 million immigrants who are here illegally flew in and overstayed their visas.

America’s anti-immigrant hysteria is central to today’s White Christian Nationalism. Of course, there has always been a nativist streak in America; Ellis Island was first established to keep “undesirables” from entering the country. “Give me your tired, your poor, your masses yearning to breathe free” was Emma Lazarus’ response to the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Know-Nothing Party was formed largely by people who feared that Irish Catholic immigrants would take jobs from God-fearing Protestant “real Americans.”

We haven’t come very far, and MAGA wants to take us back……

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What Could Go Wrong?

It really isn’t possible to keep track of the lawsuits being filed against the blizzard of Trump/Musk assaults on government and the rule of law. Suits have been filed by state Attorneys General, unions representing government workers, and a wide range of non-profit organizations challenging indiscriminate and uninformed “slash and burn” tactics.

It remains to be seen whether this lawless administration will comply with court rulings–and how far the rogue and corrupt members of the Supreme Court majority will go to accommodate Trump.

In the midst of all this is a lawsuit filed by Public Citizen, representing the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) demanding “an immediate halt to the massive and patently illegal invasion of privacy being carried out by Elon Musk’s “DOGE” at the U.S. Treasury Department.”

The organization has described he basics of the lawsuit. 

The Treasury Department possesses sensitive personal and financial information for millions and millions of Americans who send money to or receive money from the federal government.

Federal laws protect such information from improper disclosure and misuse — including by barring disclosure to individuals who lack a lawful and legitimate need for it.

But instead of protecting Americans’ private information as required by law, Scott Bessent — Trump’s jillionaire Treasury Secretary — allowed DOGE full access to the data.And he punished the Treasury employee who — in accordance with his job duties and the law — tried to protect that information from improper access.

The lawsuit charges that “the scale of this intrusion into individuals’ privacy is massive and unprecedented.”

The complaint cites the legal framework for access to this information–the laws established by Congress to protect the information–and the fact that DOGE has ignored that framework and those laws, including the Privacy Act of 1974 and several IRS statutes.

A similar suit has been filed by attorneys general of 19 states who asked for–and received– an emergency temporary restraining order blocking Elon Musk and DOGE team from accessing Treasury payment systems. That suit alleged that allowing DOGE to view information maintained by Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS) violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The lawsuit noted that the payment files in question contain “sensitive personally identifiable information,” or PII, like bank account numbers, as well as “Federal Tax Information (FTI)” protected from unlawful disclosure under Code Sec. 6103 and “Automated Clearing House (ACH) data.”

During Trump’s first term, Americans were spared the effects of several potentially disastrous measures by the overwhelming incompetence of Trump’s cabinet, which was composed of cronies who had no idea how government worked and routinely ignored the legal processes necessary to accomplish their goals. (And those inept cronies look like geniuses compared to the collection of predators, toadies, nutcases and ignoramuses of Trump II.) 

During his first term, Trump largely obeyed the various adverse court rulings triggered by that ignorance. This time, there are sobering indications that our mad rulers–having neutered Congress– will also ignore the courts, eviscerating the Separation of Powers which is foundational to the nation’s legal system.

Currently, courts have issued decisions blocking DOGE from access to the sensitive, private information contained in Treasury’s files; the extent of DOGE’s compliance is, however, unclear.

 I shudder to think what a group of self-important 19-to-24-year-olds might do with the bank account information of millions of American citizens, let alone the other personal financial information in those files. But even if those IT interns are more trustworthy than they appear, respect for individual privacy is an important social good.

As one essayist has noted, 

In an era where digital footprints are ubiquitous and personal data is often treated as a commodity, the concept of privacy has never been more critical. Despite common arguments that dismiss privacy concerns with the assertion, “I have nothing to hide,” the importance of privacy extends far beyond concealing wrongdoing.

Respect for individual privacy is an essential element in keeping personal information from being misused. The more information that is available about an individual, the easier it is to exploit it via identity theft, phishing attacks, and other forms of cybercrime. 

The last paragraph of that linked essay is particularly applicable to the threat posed by Trump/Musk:

Accepting the “nothing to hide” argument can lead to the normalization of surveillance, resulting in a society where constant monitoring is the norm. This shift can erode the checks and balances that prevent abuses of power. In such a society, the line between public and private blurs, and the potential for governmental or corporate overreach grows, threatening the liberties of everyone, regardless of their behavior.

No kidding….

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How We Got Here….

I recently came across a quote–I’ve misplaced the source–that summed up the conundrum that keeps so many of us up at night.

Nothing mattered, in the end. Not the probable dementia, the unfathomable ignorance, the emotional incontinence; not, certainly, the shambling, hate-filled campaign, or the ludicrously unworkable anti-policies.
The candidate out on bail in four jurisdictions, the convicted fraud artist, the adjudicated rapist and serial sexual predator, the habitual bankrupt, the stooge of Vladimir Putin, the man who tried to overturn the last election and all of his creepy retinue of crooks, ideologues and lunatics: Americans took a long look at all this and said, yes please.

How did that–how could that– happen? 

There are really two imponderable questions involved: one, what motivated his supporters to ignore those very obvious facts about him, plus the disaster of his first term, and return him to the Oval Office? And two, what led millions of Americans to conclude that there was no need to inconvenience themselves by going to the polls?

This blog has spent a lot of time and pixels on that first question. The superficial answer is that the Republican Party is no longer a traditional political party–it has become a White Christian Nationalist cult. The more difficult question is: why? What is it about White Christian Nationalism that is so appealing to some people that they are willing to overlook all the demonstrable deficits enumerated in that opening quotation, and support a man who lacks a single redeeming human quality? (He isn’t even one of those evil men whose despicable behaviors are covered by charm or distracting good looks–his physical appearance and personality are both repulsive.)

As regular readers of this blog know, my answer to that first question is the deep-seated racism that is America’s original–and continuing– sin. Throughout our history, far too many people have chosen to “other” those who look or pray differently. Today’s Christian Nationalism is a modern version of the attitudes that motivated and justified slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow, and  periodic eruptions of anti-Semitism. Christian fundamentalism feeds the persistent misogyny that allows MAGA folks to joke about sexual assaults and dismiss the significance of predatory sexual behaviors. 

There are clearly a lot of unhappy people who want to blame some “other” for their disappointments and failures–many more than we like to recognize. If there was any doubt about the immense role of racism in support for Trump, his anti-DEI rampage should have eliminated it.

But what about the second question? What failure of American life explains the significant number of people who simply didn’t bother to vote? Some of them probably didn’t want to choose between a Black woman and a clown–they shared MAGA’s biases, but detested Trump, so they opted out. Others were undoubtedly victims of the multiple vote suppression tactics employed by GOP operatives. But those two categories can’t explain the large numbers of no-shows.

Over my 21 years of teaching, I reluctantly concluded that America’s schools have failed their most important function:  citizenship education. The nation’s public schools weren’t established simply to teach the three Rs–they were also, and importantly, intended to be constitutive of a public–to turn out informed citizens who understood the system they inhabited, and recognized that membership in a polity involves civic responsibilities. (Voucher programs–as I’ve noted– wage war on that civic mission of the schools, and undermine efforts to forge a united citizenry.)

For too long, too many Americans have been–civically speaking–dumb, fat and happy. They’ve accepted the benefits of living in a free society without worrying about their obligation to maintain it. They’ve ignored politics, followed favored celebrities rather than civic or political leaders, dodged such civic duties as jury duty and voting, and complained about paying their taxes–all while assuming that police and fire departments would continue to protect them, that their Social Security checks would appear on their due dates, that the National parks would be open when they wanted to visit…expectations that are currently at risk.

If there is any bright side to the Trump/Musk destruction currently being waged, it is that people are being awakened to the fact that the maintenance of a stable government and civil society requires them to be informed participants–that they are not guaranteed an effortless free and livable society, and that continued progress toward realization of the American Idea is not inevitable. 

If and when enough good Americans eject the clowns, buffoons and bigots installed by our megalomaniac co-Presidents–if and when We the People regain control of our governing institutions, rebuilding civic education should be a first order of business. 

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If you want to understand the disastrous budget Republicans are trying to pass–and the process they’ll need to negotiate to do that–I will be doing a Zoom interview of Economics Professor Denvil Duncan from 7:00 to 8:00 tomorrow night, for the Central Indiana Indivisible chapter. You can register here.

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Us Against The World

Before the shameful bullying session in the Oval Office, President Zelensky sent a memorandum to Trump, in which he detailed the numerous talks between Russia and Ukraine since 2014– talks that resulted in twenty cease-fire agreements, every one of which Russia violated. 

Sentient Americans–a category that excludes MAGA Republicans–know that Trump has absolutely no understanding of history or diplomacy, not to mention a lack of competence that those in his clown show of an administration clearly share. Consequently, the United States is going down the path of the British Empire, which was once a global power covering around a quarter of Earth’s land surface and ruling over 458 million people before it lost its dominance. Perhaps our own nation’s decline would have occurred in due course in any event, but the would-be autocrats busily demolishing our democracy have certainly accelerated the process.

A newsletter I receive (link unavailable) has reported on the reactions of our (former) allies to the embarrassing spectacle.

After Trump and Vance’s disgraceful Oval Office ambush of President Zelensky, major world players just came out to defend Ukraine and Zelensky:

– POLISH PRIME MINISTER DONALD TUSK: “Dear Zelensky, dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone.”

– PRESIDENT OF LITHUANIA GITANAS NAUSEA: “Ukraine, you’ll never walk alone.”

– Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen: “Dear Zelensky, Denmark proudly stands with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.”

– FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUAL MACRON: “There is an aggressor: Russia. There is a people being aggressed: Ukraine. We were all right to help Ukraine and sanction Russia three years ago and to continue doing so. We, that’s the Americans, the Europeans, Canadians, Japanese, and many others… Because they are fighting for their dignity, their independence, for their children, and for the security of Europe.”

– PRESIDENT OF MOLDOVA MAIA SANDU: “The truth is simple. Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia is the aggressor. Ukraine defends its freedom—and ours. We stand with Ukraine.”

– SWEDISH PRIME MINISTER ULF KRISTERSSON: “Sweden stands with Ukraine. You are not only fighting for your freedom but also for all of Europe’s. Slava Ukraini! ”

– INCOMING GERMAN CHANCELLOR FRIEDRICH MER: “Dear Zelenskyy, we stand with Ukraine in good and in testing times. We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war.

– CROATIA’S PRIME MINISTER ANDREJ PLENKOVIĆ: “Croatia knows from its own experience that only a just peace can last. The Croatian Government stands firm in its belief that Ukraine needs such a peace – a peace that means sovereignty, territorial integrity, and a secure Europe.”

– FINLAND’S PRIME MINISTER PETTERI ORPO: “Finland and the Finnish people stand firmly with Ukraine. We will continue our unwavering support and work towards a just and lasting peace.”

– ESTONIAN PRIME MINISTER KRISTEN MICHAL: “We stand united with Zelenskyy and Ukraine in our fight for freedom. Always. Because it is right, not easy.”

– IRELAND’S DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SIMON HARRIS: “Ukraine is not to blame for this war brought about by Russia’s illegal invasion. We stand with Ukraine.“

– LATVIA’S PRESIDENT EDGARS RINKEVICS: “Ukraine is a victim of the Russian aggression. It fights the war with the help from many friends and partners. We need to spare no effort for just and lasting peace. Latvia stands with Ukraine”

– PRIME MINISTER OF THE NETHERLANDS DICK SCHOOF: ”The Netherlands supports Ukraine as firmly as ever. Now more than ever. We want a lasting peace and an end to the war of aggression started by Russia. For Ukraine and its people, and for Europe.”

– PRIME MINISTER OF LUXEMBOURG LUC FRIEDSEN: “Luxembourg stands with Ukraine. You are fighting for your freedom and a rules based international order. ”

Trump and MAGA may live in an alternate reality, but Europe doesn’t.

Rational Americans are appalled by Trump and Vance’s fact-free, transactional assault on a country fighting for its democratic sovereignty. (In the wake of that embarrassing display of pro-Putin bullying, Vance took his family to Vermont to ski, where thousands of outraged protesters lined the streets, calling him a traitor and telling him to go ski in Russia.)

Republicans, however, continue to pander to Trump’s cult.

Indiana’s odious governor, Mike Braun, issued a statement characteristically at odds with reality, saying: “President Trump and Vice President Vance are showing the world what strong, accountable, America First leadership looks like.” Senators like Lindsay Graham are scrambling to adjust their beliefs to Trump’s fantasy world. (Graham’s old friend John McCain is undoubtedly spinning in his grave at Graham’s policy U-Turns.)

Today’s elected Republicans fall in one of two–and only two– camps: clueless/fanatic White Christian Nationalists and spineless sycophants.

When the megalomaniacs said they were going to “move fast and break things,” too few voters understood that what they were breaking was America.

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If you want to understand the disastrous budget Republicans are trying to pass–and the process they’ll need to negotiate to do that–I will be doing a Zoom interview of Economics Professor Denvil Duncan from 7:00 to 8:00 on Wednesday night, for the Central Indiana Indivisible chapter. You can register here.

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Heroic And Principled

When I was growing up, in a time-frame not all that far removed from the Second World War, it wasn’t uncommon for people to ask ourselves “What would I have done if I’d been an average German citizen during the Nazi era? Would I have had the courage to hide a Jewish person? To protest?”

I’ve always been suspicious of the folks who confidently assert that they’d have stood with the moral minority; when an entire society has decided to go along with power and barbarism –either because they agree that their problems have been caused by “those people” or because it has become very dangerous to object–history tells us it is the rare individual who will risk fiscal or personal harm to resist.

I am gratified to report that–in this dangerous time– America is not devoid of such individuals.

Recent reports confirm the principled resignations of twenty-one workers from DOGE.

More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”

“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”

The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump’s administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them.

This report follows widespread coverage of the departures of several principled lawyers in the Department of Justice, some of whose scathing letters have been widely circulated. 

And now, the two top designers at Tesla have left the company.

While the linked report didn’t include the reason these two resigned, it did note that the departure of these two pivotal figures comes at a time when Tesla is experiencing huge problems, significantly exacerbated by popular anger at Musk’s efforts to destroy American government.

Last year was terrible for Tesla. Bad financials. Multiple recalls. Abysmal safety record. Lawsuits. The Cybertruck disaster and cratering sales. All of it tied to design problems and lack of innovation. Add to that the dip in brand loyalty thanks to CEO Elon Musk’s toxic political activity, of course.

The article noted that this confluence of problems has led one of Tesla’s biggest market supporters to warn that the company may implode in 2025.

In recent years, Tesla has faced increasing scrutiny because of poor quality, poor design choices, and the poor personal choices of its founder. Until very recently, the Texas-based automaker has been able to ride out those storms by being the only game in town. But as the legacy manufacturers upped their electric vehicle game and stepped into the market, Tesla’s many faults have became more obvious.

The departure of top designers comes as Tesla’s sales are cratering–European sales are down 45% from last year, and the media is filled with reports of Tesla owners–famous and not–returning their cars in order to protest Musk and DOGE. 

Tesla’s problems don’t just diminish Musk’s net worth; they also provide a corrective to the myth that he is a successful entrepreneur. Much like Donald Trump, Musk’s fortune began with a large inheritance from his father. He did not “invent” the Tesla–he bought the company, and contrary to carefully nurtured PR, its early success was largely a matter of timing and lack of competition. While his business operations haven’t been the outright frauds that six-bankruptcy-Donald’s have been, his fortune has been built largely with taxpayer dollars, through billion-dollar contracts with the federal government–contracts that DOGE is protecting by shutting down agencies that were investigating charges of corruption in his companies.

Resignations by principled public servants are admirable. Unlike the billionaires (like Bezos) who immediately bent a knee to our would-be overlords, most of these people lack significant resources to fall back on–and by earning the enmity of the Trumpers, they will face barriers to their prospects for substitute employment 

Quitting their jobs took guts. 

Most of us lack the ability to resist in so public or significant a fashion, but the example provided by these individuals should reinforce our resolve to do those things we can do–join grassroots organizations, call and visit our Senators and Representatives, turn out for demonstrations, engage in boycotts…

If “good Germans” could hide Jews in their attics and principled Americans can quit their jobs, the rest of us can incur some inconveniences.

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