"Trump’s belief that America holds all the cards, that the rest of the world needs access to our markets but we don’t need them, is all wrong. We are rapidly losing the world’s trust, and part of the cost will be financial."

#Musk #Trump #authoritarianism #economy #EconomicElites #billionaires #TaxCuts
/5

"One way to think about this is to say that Trump is doing to America what Elon Musk is doing to Tesla, destroying a valuable brand through erratic behavior and repulsive ideology. Did I mention that Tesla sales in Europe appear to be cratering?"

~ Paul Krugman

#Musk #Trump #authoritarianism #economy #EconomicElites #billionaires #TaxCuts
/4

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/teslafying-us-exports

"Rather than denounce the clear and present dangers to our country, many business, religious, media, and other elites continue to support Trump and Musk. Some do this by staying silent, while others follow hollowed-out GOP politicians and Christian nationalist charlatans in claiming that the smash-and-plunder operation masquerading as a government is 'saving the nation.'”

#Musk #Trump #authoritarianism #economy #EconomicElites #billionaires #TaxCuts #media #ChristianNationalism
/3

"We are living through processes of moral deregulation and moral collapse in America today under the authoritarian government of President Donald Trump and unelected co-President Elon Musk. Their policies are wrecking a robust national economy, paralyzing government, allying with dictators, creating conditions for the spread of disease, and abandoning the rule of law."

~ Ruth Ben-Ghiat

#Musk #Trump #authoritarianism #economy #EconomicElites #billionaires #TaxCuts
/2

https://lucid.substack.com/p/we-are-living-through-moral-collapse

"In the #tech bro world #ElonMusk comes from, the definition of "freedom" is that rich people get to treat everyone else however they like, without that pesky #government coming in to protect people's #safety, autonomy or civil #rights. As Duran explained in his newsletter, "These cities will be controlled entirely by tech #billionaires and #corporations, operating outside of #US laws.""
https://www.salon.com/2025/03/17/the-dystopian-freedom-cities-dream-fueling-elon-musks-destruction/

"WaPo reported that over 5 million Americans work in industries that could be impacted by retaliatory tariffs from China and Canada that just went into effect, and the vast majority of them live in counties that voted for Trump. New tariffs from those two countries primarily target the agricultural, manufacturing and energy sectors."

~ Ron Filipkowski

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #NOAA #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites #tariffs #agriculture #industry
/9

https://www.meidasplus.com/p/this-weekend-in-politics-bulletin-ddb

"Cuts that sound like a good idea to Elon Musk and Donald Trump have real impacts on the rest of us. That is only just beginning to dawn on people, who I’m sure you’re hearing, like I am, saying, “But I didn’t vote for this.” Trump 2.0, as I’ve written previously, isn’t a pick-your-own-adventure experience. You go to the carnival, you get all of the rides."

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #NOAA #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites #destruction #chaos
/8

Joyce Vance comments on how much people through the center of the US relied on NOAA forecasts and warning with the massive storm system that has just caused so much damage and loss of life. Yet about 2,000 NOAA have been cut since January and there's no way the program will continue to function well with massive cuts in personnel.

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #NOAA #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites #destruction #chaos
/7

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/who-doge-hurts-gutting-noaa

Political consultant Matt Herdman says, "Elon Musk and Donald Trump are stealing seniors' hard-earned benefits. It's already happening, and it'll get worse if they go through with closing branch offices and cutting staff."

See Jessica Corbett's good report (link below).

#Musk #Trump #SocialSecurity #seniors #TaxCuts #billionaires
/6

https://www.alternet.org/trump-social-security-2671338127/

Last week, he was told that SSA would fix the problem, but as of last Friday, he had not gotten his February and March SS payments.

Jeff Nesbit, public affairs chief for 5 federal agencies/departments including SSA under 4 presidents, shared this story on X, saying: "So incredibly sad that Musk/DOGE are now preying on people like this. I hope older Americans understand the assault underway against Social Security right now."

#Musk #Trump #SocialSecurity #seniors #TaxCuts #billionaires
/5

After making multiple calls to SSA, during which he was "put on hold and then eventually disconnected" and securing an appointment that was ultimately rescheduled for the next week, Johnson went to his local SSA office, one of several sites DOGE now wants to shut down across the country.

He waited and waited to be seen at the SSA office and finally jumped the line and insisted he was alive.

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #SocialSecurity #seniors #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites
/4

Danny Westneat tells the story of what happened to Leonard "Ned" Johnson after his wife got a notice from their bank in February that the Social Security Administration requested a return for benefits paid out after the supposed death of her husband. Since Ned was alive, his wife figured it was a scam, but SSA then yanked $5,201 from their bank account.

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #SocialSecurity #seniors #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites #destruction #chaos
/3

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/heres-a-dead-person-on-social-security-in-seattle-with-plenty-to-say/

"This week, a still-more ominous threat appears to be circling. Bloomberg reports that three individuals representing private equity concerns — firms in an insidious financial industry intent on harvesting anything that can rake in a profit for the ultrarich — have now shown up, alongside DOGE, to meddle in the life-sustaining work of the SSA."

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #SocialSecurity #seniors #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites #destruction #chaos
/2

@georgetakei

The #tesla market cap had been over us$1t for so long, now they can barely keep it at us$800b.

Yesterday it was us$774b

#marketcap = stock price x number of shares