A young man who has the courage to speak truth to power! We need more Ed Elson types in this country. Integrity and trust begins with truth and facts. Well done Ed. Thanks.
Ed is a Princeton indoctrinated, trust fund dilettante, a vocal Mondani/ Hamas supporter. His financial takes are polluted by his left of center politics …oh & he’s obnoxious.
Union leaders ought to have been a bit more outraged when the Secretary of the Treasury snuck “In God We Trust” onto the greenback during the Civil War. Salmon P. Chase’s cheeky move was practically unconstitutional. Still, that seems like small change compared to Mr Trump. What shall we call his new coin? Not the greenback. The orange buck? The copper con?
And this is not even mentioning the extremely dubious (to say the very least) deal the IRS agreed on to never investigate any member of the Trump family on tax related issues. A truly sordid, head spinning affair, where the president of the US is suing a department of which he is basically the boss, using the 'justice' department of which he is also basically the boss, to benefit himself. And still, he gets away with it, as with so many things.
You say "The only reason he hasn’t devastated our democracy is because ours was purpose-built to restrain people like him." I say, just give it a few more months.... New election denial and associated riots for the midterms, anyone?
But speaking to commenters saying it is pessimistict-
Pessimism is guessing at doom.
This is just what happened - Autocrats on money, a coin, a Ponzi scheme, a $100k/month tip sheet on the President's tweets, financial disclosures that only came out because they had to. That's not a forecast, that's a receipt.
His harshest line isn't even about Trump. It's the "human-doormats who cannot face" what they enabled. That one should sting more than the coin does.
Passivity is what lets all this pile up. Politics doesn't fix itself, the food pantry running low two blocks over doesn't fix itself, whatever's broken in your own town doesn't fix itself either. Someone has to actually do something.
Mine's been building a national digital health collective for people dealing with trauma, addiction, the stuff nobody brings up at dinner. Doesn't fix any of this on its own. But everyone's got a piece of the work in front of them — code, writing, farming, or just showing up for the people around you. None of us get through this alone.
I don’t understand why every Dem isn’t screaming all of this from the rooftops! What is WRONG with our so called Dem leaders!! Thanks Ed, this is excellent. Keep it up!
Good article! I am on eBay now trying to put together a “collectors set” of one coin / bank note from each of the dictators mentioned above…
In addition to the ones mentioned in the article, it seems like Bashar Al-Assad of Syria, and Ayotollah Khomeni of Iran also put their faces on currency
Thank you Ed. You laid it all out, and these are just financial crimes. He is also destroying our institutions. In a way he’s worse than many of his few peers, he tries to lower the standard of living.
The thin veneer of US "values, democracy, rule of law " cracked open at first sloppy attempt from an expertly cunning erratic leader and his power hungry minions. A too large part of US population is so brained washed, there is no critical thinking left. US congress and constitution need an upgrade to 2.0. Wont happen until painful events, maybe a military draft, local sustained protests and riots, an embarrassing US defeat on the world stage, finally forces voters to change. This might take 10 years, 2 presidential voting cycles as history teaches us :-(. More pain ahead..
Ed you’re a Princeton indoctrinated, trust fund dilettante, a vocal Mondani/ Hamas supporter. Your financial takes are polluted by TDS & left of center politics …oh & you’re obnoxious.
A young man who has the courage to speak truth to power! We need more Ed Elson types in this country. Integrity and trust begins with truth and facts. Well done Ed. Thanks.
Ed is a Princeton indoctrinated, trust fund dilettante, a vocal Mondani/ Hamas supporter. His financial takes are polluted by his left of center politics …oh & he’s obnoxious.
Gosh, Joe . Are you sure about Hamas? And obnoxious seems a little harsh.
Awfully pessimistic, but so very spot-on. Look at that list of fine gentlemen (no women) who put their mugs on coins. Winners all!
A great piece.
Union leaders ought to have been a bit more outraged when the Secretary of the Treasury snuck “In God We Trust” onto the greenback during the Civil War. Salmon P. Chase’s cheeky move was practically unconstitutional. Still, that seems like small change compared to Mr Trump. What shall we call his new coin? Not the greenback. The orange buck? The copper con?
And this is not even mentioning the extremely dubious (to say the very least) deal the IRS agreed on to never investigate any member of the Trump family on tax related issues. A truly sordid, head spinning affair, where the president of the US is suing a department of which he is basically the boss, using the 'justice' department of which he is also basically the boss, to benefit himself. And still, he gets away with it, as with so many things.
You say "The only reason he hasn’t devastated our democracy is because ours was purpose-built to restrain people like him." I say, just give it a few more months.... New election denial and associated riots for the midterms, anyone?
GREAT piece, Prof G.
But speaking to commenters saying it is pessimistict-
Pessimism is guessing at doom.
This is just what happened - Autocrats on money, a coin, a Ponzi scheme, a $100k/month tip sheet on the President's tweets, financial disclosures that only came out because they had to. That's not a forecast, that's a receipt.
His harshest line isn't even about Trump. It's the "human-doormats who cannot face" what they enabled. That one should sting more than the coin does.
Passivity is what lets all this pile up. Politics doesn't fix itself, the food pantry running low two blocks over doesn't fix itself, whatever's broken in your own town doesn't fix itself either. Someone has to actually do something.
Mine's been building a national digital health collective for people dealing with trauma, addiction, the stuff nobody brings up at dinner. Doesn't fix any of this on its own. But everyone's got a piece of the work in front of them — code, writing, farming, or just showing up for the people around you. None of us get through this alone.
This is true, although hopefully America can come back as a democracy
Thanks, Ed. Glad you are stepping up on this; keep up the good work.
I don’t understand why every Dem isn’t screaming all of this from the rooftops! What is WRONG with our so called Dem leaders!! Thanks Ed, this is excellent. Keep it up!
It is a dance- if they move too fast, they may step on toes and lose funding to their constituents. If they move too slow, well.. the system fails >.<
Maybe because they're all playing for the same team????
excellent! 👏
Good article! I am on eBay now trying to put together a “collectors set” of one coin / bank note from each of the dictators mentioned above…
In addition to the ones mentioned in the article, it seems like Bashar Al-Assad of Syria, and Ayotollah Khomeni of Iran also put their faces on currency
Ed, you have Deranged Trump Syndrome -- pervasive and relentless with symptoms comparable to Cyclospora.
Thank you Ed. You laid it all out, and these are just financial crimes. He is also destroying our institutions. In a way he’s worse than many of his few peers, he tries to lower the standard of living.
The thin veneer of US "values, democracy, rule of law " cracked open at first sloppy attempt from an expertly cunning erratic leader and his power hungry minions. A too large part of US population is so brained washed, there is no critical thinking left. US congress and constitution need an upgrade to 2.0. Wont happen until painful events, maybe a military draft, local sustained protests and riots, an embarrassing US defeat on the world stage, finally forces voters to change. This might take 10 years, 2 presidential voting cycles as history teaches us :-(. More pain ahead..
Well said, Ed. SPOT ON!!
Ed you’re a Princeton indoctrinated, trust fund dilettante, a vocal Mondani/ Hamas supporter. Your financial takes are polluted by TDS & left of center politics …oh & you’re obnoxious.
Since it is illegal, it should be refused as payment by all merchants, including DC public transit.