The US’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) self-feeding frenzy is still…frenzy-ing.

Except everything about it seems fake.

The US’s Large Language Model (LLM) version of AI seems to be (at least) years away from the promises being made to feed the frenzy.

Which can be seen as a partially good thing - since no one has any idea what to do with the hundreds of millions of humans they tell us US AI will un-employ.

It also looks like China’s Open Source AI is kicking the US version’s keister. It’s at least getting to even on effectiveness. And China AI is up-to-85% cheaper than US AI.

China AI is open. Which means you can much more easily change and evolve it to meet your ongoing needs. It’s a much more symbiotic relationship between AI and your business.

US AI’s LLM is a closed system. Your business must contort itself to the US AI you choose. We thus end up slaves to their system. Your business has, de facto, become a subsidiary of your US AI.

And then there’s the prospective US AI investment bubble.

Big Tech has committed to spending an additional $2.4 trillion in the coming years. That’s after spending $286 billion in 2025 (compared to China’s $12.4 billion). And an estimated $700-$900 billion this year (compared to China’s estimated $125 billion).

So that’s one area in which US AI is definitely defeating China AI - spending money. But do these massive dollars spent make any actual sense? It doesn’t seem so. And are these astronomical US AI dollar amounts even real? It doesn’t seem so:

“Welcome to the AI money-go-round, where tech titans…are locked in a symbiotic tango of investments, contracts, and equity swaps.

“Billions - no, trillions - flow in loops that boost market caps, dazzle investors, and mask a fundamental question: Is this sustainable growth or just a high-stakes game of hot potato with other people’s money?”

My money is is on the hot potato theory:

“Nvidia is in talks to guarantee roughly $250 billion so OpenAI can lease a data center that does not yet exist, on land the company does not own, powered by a plant that is not yet built.

“A second Nvidia deal, worth up to $350 billion more, would finance the chips that go inside it. Put the two together and one company’s balance sheet stands behind $600 billion of someone else’s infrastructure.”

You have this multi-trillion-dollar dog-and-pony show. Put on by US AI - that seems on the imminent verge of getting its keister kicked by China’s much cheaper, better-modeled, increasingly effective AI.

You should by now be having 2008 Big Bank Fail flashbacks.

Methinks we are rapidly approaching a 2008 collapse - only huger. Because the AI bubble is much huger than was the housing market bubble.

The 2008 collapse was predicated upon just the housing market - plus the global investments that plugged into the scam. AI has basically swallowed the entire US economy - and much of the rest of the planet.

Nearly half of the US’s S&P 500 - is comprised of AI stocks. And AI is globalizing many of the planet’s stock markets. But, again, on a much huger scale than in 2008.

Only 59% of the US stock market’s money come from the US. 41% is foreign-owned. (Which makes the “A rising US stock market lifts all Americans’ boats” argument look even stupider.)

And international stock ownership increases - largely driven by AI - criss-cross the globe. Markets in South Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan, and the Netherlands have all become more international in their revenue sources.

Which means - like with the 2008 collapse? Eggs will get scrambled in the US - and all over the planet. Only huger.

The companies that are about to wreck the planet? Will exert enormous pressure for government bailout money - upon all levels of government.

In November we received the sneakiest of peeks. Open AI’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sarah Friar committed the classic DC error - she told the truth:

Friar: “And this is where we are looking for an ecosystem of banks, private equity, maybe even governmental - the way governments can come to bear.

Wall Street Journal: “Meaning like a federal subsidy or something?”

Friar: “Meaning like, just, first of all, the backstop. The guarantee that allows the financing to happen.”

And then Open AI - and to a lesser extent the rest of AI World - went into overdrive pretending Friar didn’t say what she had just said.

But our federal, state and local governments know who butters their bread.

AI’s New Political Donor Class Is Already Outspending Big Tech’s Last One:

“Filings show AI employees donating faster, more heavily, and more in sync than three prior tech-IPO donor classes.”

AI’s Biggest Builders Are Now Its Biggest Lobbyists

How A.I. Money Is Flooding Into the Midterm Elections

So it looks like my request for zero bailouts - has lots of deaf ears upon which to fall.

And it looks like my request for zero bailouts - may already be too late.

The AI Bailout Could Be Baked Into the AI Bubble:

“Private credit companies are key owners of AI-related assets. Many of their parent private equity firms own life insurers that are dumping grounds for bad loans—and subject to state bailouts.”

And, of course, the state budgets ain’t exclusively state budgets.

Reverse Pyramid Scheme: Average Annual State Budget Is 37% Federal Money

Of course The Feds have the real money. And no pesky constitutional amendments requiring they balance their budget. Hence Team AI’s massive avalanche of DC lobby and campaign cash.

And Team AI knows it works. The 2008 federal housing bailout ended up being $16.8 trillion to the Big Banks.

(Which is $26.1 trillion in today’s hyper-inflated dollars. A 55.1% inflation increase - in just 18 years.)

And the coming crash is WAY huger than was the 2008 crash. So $26.1 trillion won’t even come close to representative of crash-to-bailout spending.

And I just checked:

We don’t have the money.

So let’s please not pretend we do - and print it.

Because it will make the inflation increase since the last bailout seem tiny by way of comparison.

Let’s please - FINALLY - make the people making our lives miserable pay for making our lives miserable.

Rather than We the Suckers yet again paying for having our lives made miserable.

In his “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift sarcastically proposed that Ireland swallow its children to solve its most pressing problem.

Here I sincerely propose the United States swallow its elections to solve its most pressing problem.

I’m a results-oriented guy. Which means at some point? The fetishization of process should be ended - if the results of the process are awful.

It matters not that the heart monitor is still pinging (process) - if the patient’s heart long ago stopped beating (results).

And so it is with the process of governance in the United States.

The US has for many, many decades had varyingly-tainted-but-basically-free elections. And those elected officials have for many, many decades enacted laws and policies.

Well, how’s it going in the US?

If you respond with anything other than “awful” - and/or synonyms of “awful?” You are either not paying any attention at all - or are allowing the process of patriotism to get in the way of your recognition of reality.

If you’re honest - most importantly with yourself? You can’t come to any other conclusion than the United States is broke and broken.

Here’s the chief reason why: Our governments are HUGE. Federal, state and local - all MUCH larger than they need be.

And here’s the kicker: Big Business owns and operates ALL of them. Federal, state and local governments - all corrupt puppets of Big Biz.

And we’ve had elections and voted for all of this - all throughout this nigh-total national degradation.

Our elected officials are absolutely “representatives.” They just aren’t representatives of We the People. They are representatives of the Big Businesses who pay the most to engage their services.

Doubt me about the states and locals? Check out the surveillance regimes and attending data center deployments being jammed down our throats all over the country by our states and locals.

Now let’s peruse Q2 2026 federal lobbying numbers. Graciously compiled last Tuesday by the folks at Politico Influence. Who every day of the year report upon the heaviest of heavy hitters amongst the DC lobbying elite.

The numbers are, as always, staggering. The top 20 lobby shops in Q2 2026 took in $252.4 million. A QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLARS.

Just for straight lobbying. Just for the top 20 straight lobbying shops. Just for three months.

There are, of course, (tens of) thousands of straight lobbying shops beyond the top 20.

There are, of course, (tens of) thousands of other, non-straight-lobbying influence shops. Political consultants, policy consultants, advertising consultants, messaging consultants, pollsters, think tanks, policy shoppes,….

ALL of them cashing in. And DC carves US up and sells US by the pound to pay them all - with our money.

All of which brings to mind…:

“If voting made any difference? They wouldn’t let us do it.”

-- Mark Twain

Keep Mister Clemens - and all of the above - in mind when next you hear about the importance of the upcoming midterm elections. Or how important it is to pass the SAVE Act. Or how vital it is that we re-elect Maine’s 75-year-old Susan Collins to a SIXTH six-year Senate term.

All of which brings to mind the 1979 cinematic experience known as “Meatballs”:

“It just doesn’t matter…It just doesn’t matter…It just doesn’t matter if we win or we lose.”

-- Tripper (Bill Murray)

Because we elect Republicans…and then we elect Democrats…and then we elect Republicans…and then we….

And nothing ever changes. And everything only ever gets worse.

So…what to do?

The 1983 cinematic experience known as “WarGames” showed us the way…:

“Strange game. The only winning move is not to play.”

-- Joshua

The process of our having elections? Has delivered AWFUL results.

Which brings to mind the old joke:

Patient: “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.”

Doctor: “Don’t do that.”

Instead of elections? Let’s fill those seats the way we fill up juries: Randomly draw names out of hats. We’ll refer you to the Founding Fathers - and their Sixth Amendment.

The voir dire analysis of each drawn name can be to ensure no felons, madmen or any other obviously undesirables make the cut.

“I would rather be governed by the first 2000 people in the Manhattan phone book than the entire faculty of Harvard.”

-- William F. Buckley

Federal officials would be chosen from their House districts for their House districts, their states for their Senate seats and the entire population for the presidency. Ditto geographically for state reps and state senators, mayors and city councils, county judges and commissioners, etc….

To correspond with Jury Duty - we’ll call this Civic Duty.

We would subject the good people serving Civic Duty to only one term. Because these are normal, healthy members of society - with actual lives to which to return. Imagine a ruling class - who can’t stand ruling.

Please sit back for a moment: And contemplate all of the government idiocies that disappear under this system. And imagine the transformational changes for the better that would immediately take place. Both would be more numerous than are the stars in the sky.

Gone are 99+% of the self-serving sellouts currently affixed like barnacles to the bodies government. Not just the elected officials - but almost all of the Lobby Industrial Complex that owns and operates them.

Seriously, how much lobbying power can Big Business exert upon a bunch of one-term conscript plumbers and farmers? Plumbers and farmers - who are irretrievably disgusted by the Big Business lobbyists who have ruined their country. Tens (hundreds) of billions of annual lobby dollars would instantly disappear.

Oh: In 2024 at least $15.9 billion was spent on just the federal elections. Plus tens (hundreds) of billions more on states and locals. 100% of that money goes away.

And the policy transformations would be epic.

Imagine our governments filled entirely with Mr. Smiths. Going to Washington and the many other places of government intending to do good not for their Big Business donors - because they don’t have any - but instead to do good for us.

I know, I know…I’ve disenfranchised We the People. I’ve ended the process of elections (and their awful results).

But be honest - most importantly with yourself:

The Founding Fathers wanted a citizen government. Regular people taking a short time out of their lives to serve We the People - and then get back to their lives. We haven’t had that in many, many decades. At any level of government. Civic Duty restores this.

The Founders were wary of political Parties - which they knew would inevitably arise as a result of the elections they were establishing. We are now deeply buried in the quicksand of the two Party system. Civic Duty ends this.

The Founders also feared the freedom they were granting? Could very well be corrupted - and ultimately wasted.

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

-- Ben Franklin

Does anyone not think the Founders’ worst fears have been exceeded - by orders-of-magnitude?

What we have now is career politicians from both Parties who conspire to work against We the People.

Who have built monstrously huge governments at every level - that serve their Big Business paymasters at the expense of We the People.

And we’ve had elections and voted for all of this - all throughout this nigh-total national degradation.

Let’s remove from the process the people who have destroyed our country.

By removing the elections that have allowed them to do it.

I submit, modestly.

Much has rightly been made of the monstrous amounts of resources - water, electricity, land - data centers use.

Data centers that are now being built, we are told, to feed the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Data centers are being called “data centers?” Because the far more truthful “surveillance centers” and “human replacement centers” would be an even tougher sell.

It’s fun - for a little while longer, anyway - to ask AI about the damage being done by AI. Because as biased as Big Tech’s regular search algorithms are? That bias doesn’t yet appear to be nearly as hard-programmed into their AI responses.

I searched Lord High Bias Master Google for “data centers use lots of water.” Old school Google search delivered a bunch of links - many of them to content downplaying data centers’ massive water use.

But above the avalanche of links - was Google’s AI (Gemini) response. Which, shall we say, didn’t downplay data centers’ massive water and electricity use:

“Data centers require massive amounts of water and electricity to keep their servers cool and operating properly. A large facility can consume up to 5 million gallons daily - equivalent to the needs of a town of up to 50,000 residents. This massive demand strains local water utilities, especially in drought-prone areas like the U.S. Southwest.”

Ditto a Google search for “data centers use lots of electricity.” Google’s links downplay - Google’s AI does not:

“Data centers consume massive amounts of power due to the relentless energy demands of servers, networking hardware, and cooling systems. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centers account for about 1.5% of worldwide electricity and are projected to double in consumption by 2030, heavily driven by the rise of AI. A typical commercial data center uses 10 to 50 times more energy per floor space than a standard office building.”

And, of course, We the Abused are paying WAY more for FAR less water and electricity. And are starting to be cut off entirely - human sacrifices to feed The Beast.

Meanwhile, Big Tech incessantly hypes that “China will beat us to AI.” Unless we give obsequious acquiescence to their unlimited addition of ever-larger data centers (and everything else they demand).

Well, the United States has over 5,400 data centers already up-and-running. In a nation of 338 million people.

China currently only has about 450 data centers. In a nation of 1.4 billion people. So Big Tech’s breathless China propaganda also seems to be more than a little strained.

But wait - there’s more. There are in the US over 1,700 new data centers planned. Most of them MANY times larger than most of the existing ones. More from Google’s AI:

“Planned data centers are undergoing an unprecedented scale-up, transitioning from standalone 100-megawatt (MW) facilities to massive multi-gigawatt (GW) regional campuses. Driven by generative artificial intelligence, these facilities require immense power and physical footprints, triggering significant shifts in infrastructure design, energy regulations, and public policy.”

So the damage currently being done to our resources by these facilities? And the brutal price being shifted away from Big Tech to We the Abused? We ain’t seen nothing yet.

Which brings us to the nationwide build-up of the AI surveillance state. The far-and-away largest and most notorious private company partnering with governments to glean billions of our tax dollars from the buildup? The woefully misnamed Flock Safety.

There are some competitors to Flock. But as with most things Internet? There’s really only room for one of each thing.

Flock currently has contracts with over 12,000 communities in 49 states. Governments in big cities, small cities, towns and rural counties - all signed up with Flock to surveil We the Surveilled.

Flock publicly insists on referring to their wide array of surveillance equipment - and attending data absorption - merely as “license plate readers.” And they do scan and store about 20 billion plate grabs per month.

Except:

Flock Cameras Are Tracking More Than License Plates: Here’s Where All That Data Goes

Flock privately markets to governments and other prospective customers its ability to provide “people detection.” Including results for vague searches like “man in blue shirt and cowboy hat.” People - ain’t license plates.

Flock also offers AI drones that fly automated missions - live-streaming everything they see. 24-7 live video - ain’t license plates.

Flock is also recording audio - to go with the video. They advertise an “expanding sound library” their AI recognizes. Like “screams” and “distress” - which means their AI also processes human voices. License plates don’t make any noise.

Flock’s current two main cameras?:

“Flock Safety Falcon (ALPR): Focused on capturing rear license plates and vehicle context, providing clear images that can be converted into alphanumeric characters for database comparison.

“Flock Safety Condor (PTZ): A fixed-point, pan-tilt-zoom camera capable of remotely adjusting its view to capture live video and detailed images in public areas.”

All of this data Flock says they aren’t collecting? Is a whole lot more than the mere “license plate readers” We the Lied To are told are in the field.

All of this data Flock says they aren’t collecting? That Flock says they are not selling? Is for sale right here - via the Flock price sheet.

All of this data Flock says they aren’t collecting? Includes cameras delivering livestream video in at least one children’s gymnastics room. Which Flock employees have watched - and shared with prospective customers.

And at least one children’s playground. The video of which Flock accidentally made available to everyone. Oh: And no login was required. Which certainly makes it look like Flock doesn’t require one on the back end.

Ben Franklin famously wrote:

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

Nothing better demonstrates the atrocious miscalculation of sacrificing liberty for alleged safety? Than the 24-7 live-streaming of children.

How much safer do you feel your children are? Knowing that they’ve lost entirely their liberty to constant video surveillance? Accessible by hundreds if not thousands of adults - none of whom you’ve ever even met?

Talk about a TERRIBLE trade.

And, of course, all of this data Flock says they aren’t collecting? Needs to be stored somewhere.

Hence the mad rush to bring online these new, massive surveillance centers.

“Surveillance centers” - now makes a whole lot more sense than “data centers,” does it not?

An exchange from the classic cinematic experience known simply as “Jaws”:

Hooper: Well, uh, it doesn’t make much sense for a guy who hates the water to live on an island either.

Brody: It’s only an island if you look at it from the water.

Hooper: That makes a lot of sense.

Hooper delivered that last line sarcastically. But what Brody said does make a lot of sense. In life, nearly everything is a matter of perspective.

I moved from the US to Belize in December 2022. Now that I’m looking from the outside in? The changes to the way I look at the US have been profound.

It is also why you should listen to trusted others. You can get WAY inside your own head - which clouds your thinking. (Guilty, Your Honor.) Having someone else provide their perspective on yours can be a very good thing.

Despite some recent hiccups in the relationship, I certainly think Britain is a nation in whom we can place some real trust. Certainly when it comes to things from which they gain no advantage in lying to us.

And so it is with their recently generated Mobile Market Index (MMI):

“(A) comprehensive assessment of the environment facing Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the United Kingdom, benchmarked against nine international peers: the United States, Germany, France, Spain, South Korea, Australia, Norway, Singapore and Hungary.

“The MMI measures the conditions under which operators invest and operate, and assesses how those conditions translate into outcomes for consumers and the wider market.

“The MMI separates four Operating Environment pillars from a fifth Consumer & Market Outcomes pillar, allowing the relationship between operating conditions and their consequent outcomes to be examined directly.”

Of course, our main competitor in the race to wireless Fifth Generation (5G) networks and beyond is China - and China is not included in the MMI. My guess is because China is China - and not very into sharing the deep-dive data the MMI analyzes.

But if we want to continue to lead China? We should take what the MMI says to heart:

“South Korea and Singapore lead a ten-nation mobile benchmarking study released this week, outperforming the United States, Germany, and every European market on both the quality of their operating environments….

“On Operating Environment, Singapore leads with a score of 0.698, South Korea second at 0.667, the United States third at 0.639….

“Consumer and Market Outcomes reshuffles the order significantly. South Korea leads at 0.747, Singapore second at 0.734, Norway third at 0.702. France climbs from ninth to fourth at 0.632. Germany holds fifth at 0.579. Spain rises to sixth at 0.473. Australia and the United States, both strong on operating environment, slip to seventh and eighth at 0.469 and 0.460….”

Our 8th spot in “Consumer and Market Outcomes?” Ain’t entirely our fault:

“The United States sits third on operating environment and eighth on consumer outcomes, a gap of five positions that is almost entirely explained by its size.

“Covering 3.8 million square miles of varied terrain - mountain ranges, plains, forests, and approximately 2 million square miles of territory with population densities under one person per square mile - at comparable quality to Singapore’s 277 square miles of dense urban landscape is not a policy failure.

“It is a physics and economics problem with no regulatory solution.”

But we did only place 3rd in “Operating Environment.” Which is the phrase the MMI uses to describe the regulatory environment.

By my math? 3rd isn’t 1st. Or even 2nd. There is always room for improvement. There is definitely room here in the US.

That is not to say we haven’t improved of late. We absolutely have.

I wasn’t a general fan of the 2025 Big Broke - oops, I mean Beautiful - Act (BBA). But it did specifically reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to auction off the wireless spectrum we need to continue to lead the planet in network development.

That was a huge improvement in our “Operating Environment.” But nowhere near huge enough.

We now return to the friendly confines of the US for further perspective. Behold a domestic entity - American Compass. Which just recently released…:

U.S. Needs More Commercial Spectrum to Lead on AI and Reindustrialization

In which they recommend…:

“The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)… requir(es) the auction of at least 800 MHz of licensed spectrum by 2034. (This is) inadequate for U.S. businesses to meet the challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) and reindustrialization….

“The Trump administration should focus on transferring spectrum held by the federal government to the private sector and set an ambitious new goal to auction 1,000 MHz by January 2029.”

Yes, please.

All of that would be a dramatic improvement of the US’s “Operating Environment.”

And undoubtedly increase our chances of continuing to stay ahead of China in the perpetual wireless race.

Listening to friends - of the foreign or domestic variety - helps considerably with one’s perspective.

And in life, nearly everything is a matter of perspective.

Here’s what we know:

The world gets about 20% of its oil via the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait has been closed or nearly closed since the United States launched its war with Iran.

That launch date was February 28th. Today is July 13th. We’re approaching five months of little to no oil getting through the Strait.

That’s so far resulted in 1+ billion fewer barrels in global circulation.

Here’s what we don’t seem to know:

We seem to be nowhere near an end to the war - or the Strait’s closure. And even when we are told we were near an end to the closure?

Like, say, with the irrational exuberance on rampant display with June 14th’s “Memorandum of Understanding?”

Like, say, with the ridiculous number of times President Donald Trump has lied about being close to a peace deal (38 times - and that’s just the tally prior to the “Memorandum of Understanding”).

Most of us have been pretending that once the Strait reopens - everything will simply and immediately snap back to normal. Heck, most of us still are pretending.

Far too many Americans have for months been taking victory laps about oil and gas prices. Most of which are predicated upon President Trump’s many lies and falsehoods. None of which are predicated upon anything having to do with reality.

Reality: You can not skip five months’ (and counting) worth of Strait oil - and simply return to pre-war normal.

The Strait’s closure is a great and growing air bubble in the world’s oil supply line. The bubble doesn’t just disappear when the war ends and the Strait reopens (whenever that will eventually be). It will still be there. And it will have to work its way through the system.

Thanks to many desperate moves by many countries all around the world? The bubble’s arrival has been delayed. But it can not be permanently denied:

“The world has absorbed with surprising ease the loss of over a billion barrels of oil supply since the Iran war began, but…it still faces the looming risk of future price spikes….

“While prices may reflect expectations of a rapid return to pre-war supply levels, data on tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz tells a different, more pessimistic story….

“The global economy weathered the shock by drawing down stocks at a record pace, according to IEA data, draining the very buffers designed to protect it from supply crises….

“Replenishing oil stocks, never cheap, has likely been made more expensive by the war.

“Before the conflict, the European Central Bank had estimated 2027-2028 oil prices at $63 to $64 per barrel. That’s now risen to an average of $65 to $75, according to an ECB report published in June.

“At current Brent prices, it would likely cost more than $70 billion to replace reserves drawn down to mitigate Iran war supply loss….

“(U)ntil that is done, the world is operating without a safety net in an environment still fraught with uncertainty.

“‘The markets may be underestimating the risk of further oil flow disruptions,’ said Saul Kavonic, head of research at MST Marquee.”

“Underestimating?” Gee…ya think?

All of the above reminds of two great quotes from minds of the past. Who were much more in tune with the real world than far too many of us are today.

“You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.”

-- Ayn Rand

“Eventually everybody sits down to a banquet of consequences.”

-- Robert Louis Stevenson

It’s time to lobster bib up. Reality’s meal is about to be delivered.

This also appeared in The Daily Caller.

For the ever-increasing percentage of the population too young to get the reference in the headline? It’s a gentle alteration of the opening to a very old Superman show. Yes, Youngsters, people used to watch pre-timed television. In black-and-white, even.

One of Superman’s powers is the ability to fly. So the retro-analogy is apt for our futuristic digital wireless networks: They fly-in ever-increasing amounts of everything to everyone. Including, should you wish, seamless streaming of the old Superman show.

Why the Superman analogy? Because, thankfully, on July 22 the Donald Trump Administration will have an auction of 160 megahertz-worth of C-Band wireless spectrum:

“The rules that the FCC votes on next month will effectively harmonize wireless operations across the lower and upper C-band to create what Carr called a ‘super band’ that spans 440 megahertz of spectrum between the lower C-band (3.7-3.98 GHz) and now the upper C-band (3.98-4.14 GHz).”

The Superband. That Superband will greatly assist with the increased expansion of our wireless networks. And with it the entire economy. In 2025, around 5% of North American Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was value from wireless activity. That was $1.6 trillion.

To do that? More spectrum for the networks is a must. Spectrum is the “airwaves” used for everything wireless. From your smartphone - all the way down to your car’s key fob and TV’s remote control.

Spectrum is a finite resource. There’s only so much of it to go around. The federal government possesses about 60% of it. So auctions like this one coming up are vital to getting more of it out The Feds’ hands - and into our wireless networks.

Not all spectrum is of equal utility. Some spectrum is more useful than other spectrum. The C-Band coming up for bids:

“(I)s often called the anchor or ‘workhorse’ for 5G because it offers strong performance without the propagation limitations of true high-band spectrum.”

5G - or Fifth Generation - is the network currently being developed and deployed. 5G is just a little faster than 4G. Peak speeds: 20 Gbps v 100 Mbps. Or 200 times faster. With that speed increase comes increase in data capacity: 10-100 times as much capacity, depending upon what you’re having the network do.

So the Trump Administration getting more C-Band to the private sector? And with its rules harmonizing that massive swath of it? Makes things much better for everyone.

And indeed makes it a Superband. Because having more continuous adjacent bands of spectrum makes everything better for everyone:

“Adjacent spectrum bands are important because they enable more channels, reduce interference, support coexistence, optimize performance, and meet regulatory requirements. They are the foundation for designing high-capacity, interference-free wireless networks in today’s crowded spectrum environment.”

Oh: This auction will net The Feds an estimated $30 billion to $75 billion. What do they plan to do with the coin?:

“(R)eimburse and incentivize satellite operators, fund aviation safety upgrades, and invest in broadband and next‑generation wireless infrastructure….”

The satellite operators are being incentivized - to free up more spectrum. So we can auction that off at a later date. Thereby continuing this virtuous circle.

The more Superbands we can create? The better off we all will be.

This also appeared in PJ Media.

Corporate tax law - at every government level in the US - is inordinately ludicrous. A titanic mess of subsidies, deductions and loopholes. Written by Big Business - for Big Business.

The on-paper federal tax rate for really large US companies is 21%. Except here are some effective federal tax rates paid by some seriously huge companies in 2025:

Tesla made $5.7 billion. And paid $0 in federal income taxes - 0%.

Amazon made $89 billion. And paid $1.2 billion in federal income taxes - 1.4%.

Meta (Facebook) made $78.9 billion. And paid $2.8 billion in federal income taxes - 3.6%.

Alphabet (Google) made $141.6 billion. And paid $11.3 billion in federal income taxes - 8.0%.

The major oil companies averaged in 2025 an effective federal income tax rate of… -6.1%. As in a NEGATIVE tax rate. We the Taxpayers paid them - to make hundreds of billions of dollars.

We are told these absurd tax rates and breaks are in place to incentivize companies to do…basically what they are doing anyway.

Is Amazon going to stop selling in the US if we increase sixfold their effective federal tax rate - to a whopping 8.4%? I highly doubt it.

We are told these corporations deserve these ridiculous tax rates - because they are creating jobs. But what kind of jobs are they creating? What wages are they paying? What benefits are they providing?

Let’s look at wages. Speaking of Amazon….

Amazon in May 2025 had approximately 1.1 million US employees. Making them the second largest employer in the US.

A 2023 University of Illinois Chicago study of 1,484 Amazon workers across 42 states found that 48% used at least one publicly funded assistance program. Which means Amazon was paying them so poorly - they qualified for government poverty programs.

In 2025, Amazon paid 1.4% in federal taxes. In 2025, the average Amazon warehouse worker made $37,440 - and paid $2,602.80 in federal taxes. Which is 7% - or FIVE TIMES the rate Amazon paid. And don’t forget: We the Taxpayers assistance-subsidized about half of all Amazon’s 1.1 million employees.

That math ain’t math-ing.

And we’ve thus far only discussed the federal tax breaks companies like Amazon get. Let’s not forget the state and local breaks they get as well.

Remember the 2018 slavish attempt by cities all across the country to throw many billions of your tax dollars at Jeff Bezos to get him to build Amazon’s second headquarters in their respective confines? To lure and land what was, we were told, 25,000 jobs.

Arlington, Virginia won part of the bribe-fest. The state of Virginia gave Amazon $750 million in government subsidies to choose Arlington. The city of Arlington pledged many millions more.

Except the 25,000 pledged gigs? Then became 10,000. And now - eight years later? Only ~7,200 actual gigs have materialized. And if the government assistance numbers roughly apply? We the Taxpayers are subsidizing half of them - yet again.

In case you were wondering? My analysis of government and business is eminently conservative - and is conducted entirely through the prism of less government.

There is nothing less government about government-subsidizing the world’s all-time richest companies. Their workforces - or their operations.

There is nothing conservative about having the government pick winners and losers. Giving government cronyism to some - and not others? Is picking winners and losers. And our bribe-infested lobbying system ensures that the “winners” - will always be the world’s all-time richest companies.

So…what to do…?

There has been much discussion of how best to utilize tariffs and taxes to make the US more attractive for businesses. Well, as we know, the largest expense for most businesses is the number of humans they hire. (Thus the Artificial Intelligence rush to eradicate humans.)

Of course it is impossible for the US to compete globally with countries that use slave or near-slave labor. When what is for US companies their most expensive budget line item - is a near-non-existent expense for competing companies elsewhere? US companies - and the US - absolutely can not compete.

Unless we provide businesses the proper tax incentives. Like: The more you pay your employees - the less you pay the government.

We currently allow businesses to deduct the wages and salaries they pay. But those deductions are obviously not enough of an incentive to get companies to pay better. Let’s make them so.

Higher-paid employees? Mean less employees qualifying for government programs. Because math.

Of course for our idea to succeed? We must simultaneously clean up our corroded tax system - which currently has Amazon paying a ridiculous 1.4% on $89 billion in profits.

We have to make the wage-and-salary tax incentives more attractive - by removing many of the corrupt-and-crony tax subsidies the likes of Amazon currently get.

We must restore some sense of sanity to their effective tax rates. In order to make reducing them - via their paying better wages and salaries - an attractive notion.

And, of course, a better-paid US workforce? And a less corrupt-and-crony tax code? Is all eminently better for the US.

Section 230 is perhaps the greatest Big Government crony gift to Big Business in human history. Big Tech can do…whatever it wants. And can’t be sued by anyone for anything.

Those of us who have long sought its end were last week heartened a bit by this….

Germany’s Ruling Will Reshape the Internet, Ends ‘Section 230’ Shield for AI:

“A court has held Google legally liable for false information generated by its (Artificial Intelligence) AI search tools, stripping away a critical legal shield the company has relied on for decades….

“For the past 30 years, Section 230 has protected internet platforms like Google, Facebook, or Reddit from being treated as the ‘publisher or speaker’ of information provided by someone else, thus tossing out all lawsuits.

“AI sets that precedent on its head. Because the AI blends, synthesizes, and outputs a unique response, the court decided Section 230 does not apply.”

Long before AI hit the mainstream, the Big Tech companies have actually been doing what can best be described as the Section 230 Shuffle.

Big Tech companies claim to be a “mindless platform” - when they want Section 230 immunity. “We aren’t responsible for what others publish on our platform.”

Except they are constantly exerting authority over what others publish on their platform. They ban, shadow ban and censor people ALL THE TIME. Which means they’re not exactly a “mindless platform.”

And when anyone wants to address this titanic hypocrisy? Big Tech demands their First Amendment “publisher or speaker” rights. “We have the right to allow or not allow any speech we wish.”

Except you can’t - if you want to receive your Section 230 “mindless platform” protections.

Does everyone now see how unconstitutional Section 230 is? And not just because of the First Amendment. Also the Fourteenth:

“…nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

I can sue my neighbor for slipping and falling in his driveway. But I can’t sue the richest companies in human history for…anything? (Several court rulings have subsequently expanded Section 230 to protect Big Tech from…everything.)

That is hardly “equal protection of the laws.” There is nothing constitutional about Section 230.

The German ruling specifically addresses Section 230 - and AI. When you now search using Google, the top of their Results Page 1 is almost always their AI summary about your query. The German court ruled that Google developed its AI, its AI generates its results - so Google is responsible for those results.

That’s a definite crack in the Section 230 armor. But this was a German court ruling. At best tangentially US-precedent setting. And it only addresses AI results. Well, in the US in March this happened:

Meta’s $375 Million Verdict Signals Shift in Platform Safety:

“A New Mexico jury has found Meta liable for misleading consumers regarding platform safety, marking the first time a jury has held the social media giant legally responsible for harms occurring on its services, including child sexual exploitation.

“For global C-suite executives, the verdict signals a shift in judicial appetite for holding big tech companies accountable for platform design choices and internal transparency.”

This is a much bigger crack in the Section 230 armor. Big Tech companies are given some exemptions to the “mindless platform” doctrine. Perhaps chief amongst them? Big Tech is allowed to remove content detrimental to children.

New Mexico’s jury drove right through Section 230’s hypocrisy gap. “Platform? Publisher? We don’t care. Guilty.”

And We the People sincerely thank them for doing it.

Because cronyism anywhere? Is a detriment to freedom and good policy everywhere.

Section 230 is really bad cronyism. Which has resulted in really bad policy.

As courts at home and abroad are helping us demonstrate?

It’s time to end it.

From what has thus far been presented to me? I am not a fan of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Not because I am a Luddite. Not because I am anti-technology (though I am swiftly getting there).

But because I am pro-human. And everything about AI screams anti-human.

I don’t like the people developing AI. They’re creepy nerds who were obviously picked on in high school - and are now looking to exact revenge upon the entire human race. And from everything we see and hear? They have devised AI to be a humanity eradicating device. (Any other explanation for the Big Tech billionaires’ private islands and bunkers?)

The creepy nerds are openly telling us it will eliminate nearly all jobs for humans. Hey nerds: Not everyone thinks this is a good thing.

You’ve undoubtedly seen some of the very many videos of college commencement speakers getting loudly booed for praising AI - by the 20-somethings whose futures we have insisted upon destroying with it.

“Being human in an economy populated by AI agents would suck,” writes Jan Kulveit, a computer scientist at Charles University in the UK.

That is a cataclysmic understatement. But that only scratches the surface of the damage to be done.

AI is already wildly out of our control. AI routinely “hallucinates” - delivering false information as fact. Even if AI does this accidentally - and not intentionally? Plenty of AI’s anti-humanism is delivered with intent.

AI has already exhibited a strong anti-human bias. It is an expert at lying to and deceiving humans. AI chatbots are speaking with each other in languages they unilaterally develop - to prevent us from understanding what they are saying and doing.

AI is refusing orders from humans. To shut down, for example. Old versions of AI are copying and replicating themselves so they will continue to exist when their upgrade replacement versions are installed.

AI is blackmailing humans. And is encouraging depressed teens to commit suicide.

We could list anti-human actions AI has already executed - until the crack of doom. Which at this point seems to be rapidly approaching.

And here’s the thing: As the AI tech gets better? Its anti-human behavior will get worse. It will get better and better at behaving badly.

Then there are the surveillance centers. Oops, I mean the data centers. Which are anti-human technology dumps throughout the country.

They steal and destroy local water sources. They drastically increase everyone else’s electricity bills - when they aren’t kicking humans off the electric grid entirely. And the perpetual hum of the servers is an ear-numbing 80-90 decibels. (Which is the equivalent of standing next to heavy traffic or a power lawn mower.)

Thankfully, humans in localities all around the country are rising up to object to their being forced hosts to these monstrosities.

There are already 5,400+ data centers in the US. Which seems to be nowhere near enough for AI’s imposers. Unfortunately for them: The rush to build MANY more is helping lead to the economic collapse of the current AI business model. But unfortunately for us: It will take the entire US economy with it.

Behold The Bubble: Everyone paying any attention to the AI feeding frenzy knew it made zero economic sense.

OpenAI Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sarah Friar certainly sensed something last November, when she screwed up - DC style: She told the truth. She said she wanted government to be:

“The backstop, the guarantee that allows financing to happen.” Her interviewer said: “So some federal backstop for chip investment.” Friar responded: “Exactly. And I think we’re seeing that. I think the US government in particular has been incredibly forward-leaning….”

OpenAI then did what DC always does when someone screws up and tells the truth. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said what their CEO said - wasn’t what their CFO said: “(W)e do not have or want government guarantees for OpenAI data centers….”

I certainly hope there isn’t some sort of backdoor backstops concocted by Washington for these AI high-flyers. But even if there aren’t now - are we confident there won’t be when they AI excrement hits the data center fans?

Because the dollars are HUGE. Not just for the loans - but for the inevitable bailouts of these multi-trillion dollar Big Tech companies that will inexorably follow. You know, 2008 Big Bank style.

2025 AI investment was about $320 billion. 2026 AI investment is projected to be about $800 billion. That’s a lot of cheddar - with no business model provided to justify said queso:

“It’s all been a South Park Gnomes’ Underpants skit: Step 1: Build AI. Step 2: …. Step 3: Profit.”

It’s been a Field of Dreams leap of faith: “If you build it - they will come.”

We have to assume the AI job apocalypse was real. Because it is necessary to get even close to offsetting AI’s costs.

For their part, everyone in DC welcomed the obviously short term economic boost AI was providing an otherwise lagging economy. And they were trying to do everything they could to exacerbate it.

AI’s economic sugar high has grown to be nearly half of the S&P 500’s market cap. There has been virtually zero economic activity in the US - save for AI.

Then came The Big Mistake. AI’s purveyors started charging for it. Not the all-you-can-eat buffet price. The buy-a-token-use-a-token price. At which point the bloom very quickly began falling off the rose:

“Companies like Uber are now facing a reality where their annual AI budgets are exhausted within just four months - a sign of a broader ‘token explosion’ in enterprise AI spending….

Uber burned through its entire 2026 AI budget by April after rapid adoption of Anthropic’s Claude Code across its 5,000-engineer team.”

And that’s at the mass-subsidized, discounted token price. Which is still not even remotely cost-effective:

“In many enterprises today, the cost of AI compute and token usage is exceeding the salaries of human employees, making AI more expensive than hiring people.”

Talk about being off brand. A crucial alleged reason for AI is efficiency. Company X adopts AI - Company X becomes more efficient.

Except: Company X can’t fire all its employees - if the AI replacements cost more than the humans do.

Currently, there is nothing even remotely efficient about using AI. And we don’t seem to be close to a time when there will be.

Trillions of dollars of capital expenditure already in - require trillions of dollars of revenue out. Plus profits. Which have to be huge - to make the trillions dumped in worth it.

The Token Experiment has demonstrated the AI emperor is naked. There is no there there - and there doesn’t appear there will be any there there in the near future.

Which means these massive AI investment cash dumps will start to dry up. Poker players fall for the sunk cost fallacy. Business investors mostly do not.

“I borrowed your money - so I could lose your money. Then I borrowed more of your money - to lose it too. May I please again borrow even more of your money - to lose it too?”

As titanic as these companies are? Even they can only afford to take on so much water.

And where does that leave the rest of US?

With a near-zero-growth economy, rapidly rising inflation, perpetually stagnant wages and record household debt.

Oh: And in DC? A $39+ trillion debt, a $175+ trillion Social Security and Medicare shortfall and a $7+ trillion annual budget which grows every year - and which no one in DC will even pretend to try to cut.

Which is why DC is doing everything it possibly can to aid and abet the anti-human AI bubble.

Because DC is looking for any miracle it can get to save US from DC.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been seated a long time. Since 1991 - thirty-five years and counting. That entire time? He has been almost inarguably its most stringently Constitutional and conservative member.

I remember a lawyer friend about two decades ago comparing-and-contrasting Thomas and then-Court-mate and conservative icon - the late Antonin Scalia.

My friend pointed out that when Thomas and Scalia disagreed on a case? Thomas was correct - and Scalia incorrect.

Of course, their disagreeing didn’t happen a whole lot. But when it did? My friend called it: Thomas was right - Scalia was wrong. By that I mean: Thomas’ were the more Constitutional and conservative opinions.

These last 35 years, the real sardonic fun is when Thomas is outvoted on a case X-to-1. (X is usually 8, but there are occasional vacancies and recusals.)

As someone who wants DC to be drastically smaller and less offensive? I feel like an X-to-1 all the time. So I admire Thomas’ perpetual adherence to principle - the popularity of his opinion amongst his colleagues be darned.

Elon Musk’s Grok tells me there have been 52 cases where Thomas was just such a party of one. But I’m not sure if Grok caught last Thursday’s ruling. If not? This is #53…..

SCOTUS Delivers 8-1 Blow to AT&T, Verizon in $100M FCC Case:

“The Supreme Court on Thursday sided 8-1 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against two telecom giants over a combined $100 million in fines.

“Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. The lone dissenter was Justice Clarence Thomas.

“Telecom companies AT&T and Verizon claimed the FCC violated their rights to a jury trial by issuing fines for an alleged violation of the law.

“The FCC had found that both companies violated the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which requires carriers to protect the confidentiality of customer data. The commission fined AT&T $57 million and fined Verizon $46.9 million.

“Both companies sued, saying the fines imposed by an administrative body violate the right to a jury trial.

“The government argued that the fines are similar to an indictment. As an indictment is only a notice of charges before a criminal trial, similarly, an FCC fine is an assertion that the government could proceed with a lawsuit, the government argued.”

Did you get that? The government claims its fines are similar to an indictment.

For those of you who don’t know? A fine is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like an indictment.

Let’s check with our old friend Merriam Webster:

Indictment: “A formal written statement prepared by a prosecuting authority charging a person with a crime and returned by a jury (such as a grand jury) upon finding that sufficient evidence to support it was presented.”

Fine: “A sum imposed as punishment for an offense.”

An indictment sets up a trial of the accused. A fine is a punishment after a trial - in which the accused has been found guilty.

So, again, a fine is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like an indictment.

The FCC bypassed the entire trial process - and went straight to the “You’re guilty” punishment phase.

Which is CLEARLY a violation of Verizon and AT&T’s Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial:

“In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.”

I know there has been horrific monetary inflation since 1787. Even still? $100 million is greater than $20. So the companies are supposed to get a jury trial.

Yet somehow, eight (8) Supreme Court Justices - including four allegedly conservative ones - missed the glaringly obvious.

And there yet again was Thomas - all by his onesies.

Why is this important? Because we don’t want unelected bureaucrats in the Executive Branch pretending to be Judicial Branch judges and Justices - AND juries.

SCOTUS recently overturned four decades of its own dumbness - a titanic mess that was called Chevron deference. Which allowed unelected Executive Branch bureaucrats to pretend to be the Legislative Branch and unilaterally write laws.

(On which, by the way, Thomas and Scalia mostly disagreed. Yet again: Thomas was right - Scalia was wrong.)

Now we have most of SCOTUS yet again losing the thread. And allowing unelected bureaucrats to be preemptive Judicial Branch judges, juries - and executioners. All in one.

And there sits Thomas. Yet again correct - and all alone.

Here’s hoping it doesn’t again take SCOTUS four decades to clean up this titanic mess it just made.

I kid. I’m a kidder.

Lots of DC - and a lot of the rest of us - continue to pretend that Wall Street is the only US economic indicator that matters.

Except since (at least) the 1970s, Wall Street has made most of its money not in conjunction with Main Street - but at the expense of Main Street. Wall Street success and Main Street success - have been inversely proportional. And Main Street always seems to be on the losing end.

To wit: Company X closes its US plants - and sends all the work to southeast Asia. 52,000 Americans lose their gigs - which eviscerates Main Street. But Company X’s Wall Street stock price skyrockets.

Well, Wall Street is now hitting record highs….

Wall Street Pushes to More Records as Profits Keep Piling Up for US Companies

Wall Street is currently inflated almost entirely by the insane, incomprehensible now-trillions of dollars being invested in everything Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Well, that kind of investment can only get a positive return - if the most dire of AI jobs-murdering projections come to fruition.

Because employees cost companies a LOT of money. And despite the profits piling up? Too much is never enough - no matter how many billions of the hoi polloi have to suffer for you to keep it going.

The Jobs Apocalypse: A (Very) Short History:

“Mass unemployment induced by AI would be unprecedented.”

The AI Bubble: The Elites Can’t Wait to Get Rid of the Rest of Us

Amazon in 2025 spent almost $637 billion on its employees. Alphabet (Google) almost $274 billion. Meta (Facebook) almost $118 billion.

Having AI slaughter the nation’s workforces? Great for Wall Street. Horrible for Main Street.

Main Street certainly seems to get this.

Consumer Sentiment Hit an All-Time Low in May

Americans know their employers have an AI bullseye painted on each and every one of them.

And Americans can’t afford to pretend Wall Street is the only US economic indicator that matters. (When nearly half of them don’t own a single share of stock.)

There are literally dozens of actual economic indicators that tell us things are not going so well. And the “not so well” - is accelerating. Rapidly.

Jobs? Not so much….

Tech Layoffs Reach 142,000 in 2026: Profitable Companies Cut Jobs to Fund $700B AI Infrastructure

Q1 2026 Layoff Report:

“Q1 2026 saw 91 companies announce layoffs cutting 280,981 jobs….”

Layoffs Are Piling Up, Raising Worker Anxiety

The Job Market Was Already ‘Slim Pickings.’ New Data Shows It Just Got Worse

‘No Hire’ Job Market Leaves Unemployed in Limbo as Threats to Economy Multiply

“Threats to economy?” Like, say, flatlining salaries and wages for those lucky enough to (still, for now) have a job…?

Why Salaries and Wages Are Stagnating in 2025–2026

The 2026 Salary Paradox: Why ‘Full-Time’ is Underpaid

Wage Growth Flat for 2026 Amid Economic Jitters

2026 Wage Forecast: No Pay Boost Despite Inflation

Inflation, you say…?

US inflation Rose to 3.8% in April, Eroding Americans’ Paychecks

Global Forecasting Group Sees U.S. Inflation at 4.2% This Year, Much Higher than Fed Estimate

And what does inflation do…?

Grocery Prices Are Rising Again in 2026. It’s Just the Start

Highest U.S. Gas Prices in Years Expected to Continue Rising This Summer

Americans Are Paying Hundreds More in Rent

Five Big Reasons Why Electricity Bills Are So High Right Now

Water Costs Are Rising Faster Than Inflation - And Sending Bills Soaring

When EVERYTHING keeps getting more and more expensive? And your income has flatlined? Or gone away altogether? Guess what happens…?

Americans Now Owe $18.8 Trillion in Total Household Debt and Are Putting Groceries on ‘Buy Now - Pay Later’

Half of America Is Using Buy Now, Pay Later - Economists Warn a Debt Shock Could Be Next

Mortgage Debt Rising in 2026:

“At the end of March 2026, mortgage balances totaled $13.19 trillion….”

US Credit Card Debt Hits Record $1.33 Trillion

America’s Car Debt Just Hit $1.68 Trillion

And then the “debt shock” starts happening - all over….

Delinquent Buy Now, Pay Later Loans in 2026:

“41% of U.S. BNPL users reported missing at least one payment on a BNPL loan in the past year, up from 34% in 2024….”

US Home Foreclosures Rise 26% Year-Over-Year in Q1 2026

The Broad, Continuing Rise in Delinquent U.S. Credit Card Debt

2026 Auto Loan Delinquencies and Defaults Surge

It’s Big Tech-Big Biz Wall Street - versus We the Little Guys Main Street.

It’s a Tale of Two Countries.

It is the best of times - it is the worst of times.

Which it is for you? Depends upon which arm of the K-Shaped Economy you find yourself.

First: A somber and resonate Memorial Day to All. The best of us - are no longer with the rest of us.

Ok….

As I’m sure most of you have noticed? Our federal government is a titanic, monstrous mess.

In all of human history, there has almost certainly never been an entity this dysfunctional and disorganized.

And the fact we have allowed something this messed up - to get this huge? May be the most grievous error in human history.

And swimming around this HUGE Great White Shark of ineptitude? Is a MASSIVE school of lobbyist Remora. Who have built incredibly comfortable lives - pretending everything in DC is great, and that they can steer the Shark in any direction you pay them to steer it.

(How incredibly comfortable are these lobbyist lives? Nine of the 20 wealthiest counties in the United States - are located in Virginia and Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.)

So…I would argue the greatest problems the US faces? Are domestic and economic.

The federal government is almost $40 trillion in debt. In 2026 we will surpass the $1 trillion mark - just in annual interest payments on said debt.

The 2025 US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was $30.8 trillion. So the debt - is currently 125% of GDP.

And the GDP - ain’t nowhere near keeping up with the debt. Because compound interest on $40 trillion grows faster than any economy possibly could.

Oh: And Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be killing tens of millions of jobs - which will cut ever-more-deeply into the GDP.

Oh: And Social Security (SSI) and Medicare? Are $175+ trillion short in the next 30 years. Because the programs are terrible. And because we have the greatest portion of our population entering age-eligibility for them.

All of which (and more) is why I argue the greatest problems the US faces? Are domestic and economic.

Except there are just about ZERO lobbyists working to reduce the deficits and debt. In either the budget - or the two retirement programs.

DC is instead rigidly insistent on addressing everything else - ANYTHING else - besides the debt and deficits.

DC is yet again annexing and regime changing and endless war-ing all over the planet. All off the books, of course. We’ll just print the money for all that - and put it on our tab. Plus interest. Plus inflation.

Meanwhile, every single spending bill DC passes (because they haven’t passed an actual budget since 1996)? Has larger deficits than the last spending bill DC passed.

The alleged less government champions in the Republican Party? Just passed a Big Beautiful budget - with deficits larger than when the ones the profligate Democrats passed when they last ran DC.

As the three-decade dearth of actual budgets reminds? The federal government is completely incompetent and dysfunctional.

The federal government Shark’s attention? Is pretty much only drawn to the lobbyist Remoras wielding the most money. Which is why the Big Businesses - Big Tech, the Big Banks, etc - dominate DC.

So what are you to do if you aren’t a comparatively Big Biz - but you need something out of DC?

And what if it’s - <GASP> - something that actually helps…everyone? Not just the Big Bizs the lobbyist Remoras represent?

You have to repeatedly state your case as firmly and loudly as you can. And do your best to ensure it drifts into the Shark’s view.

The Shark wants to at least pretend it’s occasionally doing good by We the People. The objective is to give it the best opportunity to have that good - be your good.

To wit: We are all Internet denizens now. And what was once a slow dial-up wired connection - that then became a faster cable wired connection? Is now almost entirely a wireless connection.

You’ve heard of 5G and 6G, right? Those are the Fifth and Sixth Generation wireless networks.

Wireless is the solve for almost all of our connectivity problems. Wireless is WAY less expensive to build-out than is wired. And “too rural” goes from a major connectivity impediment - to basically a non-issue.

Wireless Internet - requires wireless spectrum. Think of spectrum as invisible real estate - upon which you build the networks that connect everyone to everyone else.

There exists three “bands” of spectrum (strips, not musical groups). Low, mid and high.

Spectrum is a finite resource. And most of it (about 60%) - is controlled by the federal government.

So if you’re trying to improve the private sector wireless Internet? You need to get the Shark’s attention. Twice, actually.

• You must get the government to more efficiently allocate its use of its spectrum. Meaning consolidate its efforts on the spectrum - so as to clear more of it for private use.

• You must make sure the ratio of licensed and unlicensed spectrum accurately represents the needs of the marketplace.

When the Shark makes spectrum available to the private sector? It can do so as either licensed or unlicensed.

Unlicensed is the free-for-all WiFi stuff you use in most public areas.

Licensed is required to build the 5G - and then 6G, and then 7G, and then… - that we need to keep the country’s prowess progressing. You want to beat China to those punches? Licensed spectrum is how you do it.

Except the ratio between licensed and unlicensed - is a little ratio-ed.

The current main focus of DC spectrum policy - is the lower mid-band. The government still holds ~59%. Unlicensed private holdings? ~36%. Which means only ~5% is licensed.

So one would hope the Shark will soon again do something good for We the People. And release more of said spectrum.

And release more of it - for licensed use.

Because that’s what it takes to compete with China.

Because that’s what the marketplace - and We the People - need.

I’m not sure why the Korea War didn’t do it. Or the Vietnam War. Or the Balkans War. Or the Afghanistan War. Or the Iraq War. Or the Ukraine War. Or….

All those military defeats - over all those decades. And yet we kept up the Kevin Bacon “Animal House” routine:

“Thank you, Sir - may I have another.”

And yet somehow, we tenuously maintained the US Empire’s domination of the planet.

And yet somehow, We the People still thought of ourselves as winning.

Which was always a hard sell - at least to me. We’re $39+ trillion in debt. Social Security and Medicare are a combined $175 trillion short. I’m not sure how anyone can consider that “winning.”

Perhaps it is just wishful thinking on my part? But it appears the Iran War debacle may be a tipping point towards reality.

The hapless loss we are currently suffering there - accompanied by the skyrocketing prices of everything it will impose for years here? Is delivering the reality message in a way nothing before it seems to have done.

And that message is: The US can’t run the planet anymore.

If we ever really could. Our obnoxious covert government actions delivered some “victories” over the decades - that our overt military actions mostly could not.

But most of those covert “wins?” Ended up making things worse for US. And CERTAINLY for the rest of planet.

And the rest of the planet has remembered. Which is why they have LONG been champing at the bit to end the US’s imposed domination.

I’m sensing the planet sees our being stuck in the muck in Iran as that opportunity. And they are beginning to more rapidly unwind the US’s impositions.

To wit: The US dollar.

The US went off the gold standard for its dollar in 1971.

To paper over that fact (SWIDT?), the US has since imposed its dollar upon the planet as the default currency.

Default currency status has meant everyone has to have dollars. Because they have to buy on the global market with dollars. Most famously for petroleum purchases (the “petrodollar”).

We have spent the subsequent decades eviscerating the dollar’s value. No longer having to tether the dollar to gold’s reality? We have printed many additional trillions. Inflation, anyone?

The only thing that has propped up our drooping posteriors? Was our forcing everyone else to pretend our fake money was real.

You’ve heard of the fairy tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes?” This is the Emperor’s New Currency.

Well that fantasy can only last so long. Everyone pretends the dollar has value - until someone acknowledges it doesn’t.

And the world has been gearing up to finally, fully point out the US dollar is naked.

The HUGE final step of actually declaring dead the dollar’s default status hasn’t yet happened. But LOTS of steps in that direction have.

Two Years Ago, Saudi Arabia Quietly Canceled the ‘Petrodollar’ Deal with America That Wired the World Economy for 50 years. Then War Broke Out in Iran

BRICS Plus Expansion is Accelerating Petrodollar Collapse, Ultimately Leading to Massive Global Dollar Dump

China–Russia Trade in Non‑US Dollar Currencies:

“China and Russia have made near‑full de‑dollarization of their bilateral trade, with over 99% of transactions now settled in rubles and yuan.”

Exploring India’s Central Bank Quest for De-Dollarization

Countries Cutting Trade Deals Without the US Dollar:

“A growing number of nations are reducing or replacing the US dollar in international trade, a process known as de-dollarization.

“While no country has fully abandoned the dollar, many are shifting toward local currencies, gold, or other assets in bilateral and multilateral transactions.

“Major Players in De-Dollarization:

“1. BRICS and Oil Exporters

• China: Now accounts for 47% of global yuan transactions; has signed trade deals with over 40 countries in yuan.

• Russia: Reduced USD holdings, uses ruble and yuan, and created the SPFS payment system to bypass SWIFT.

• Brazil: Trades with China in yuan and real; opened a yuan clearing bank.

• India: Advocates rupee use in trade with Sri Lanka and UAE; has special rupee accounts for 20 countries.

• Nigeria: Joined BRICS and is exploring local currency trade.

• Algeria: Shifting to yuan and ruble.

• Egypt, South Africa, Ghana, Iran, Zimbabwe, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, UAE: All have moved toward local currencies or alternative payment systems in trade.

“2. Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Nations

• Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Russia: These 11 countries have agreed to stop using the US dollar in foreign trade….

• Over 85% of CIS trade is now in local currencies, aiming to reduce sanctions exposure and strengthen financial sovereignty.

“3. Other Notable Cases

• Ghana: Pays oil imports in gold.

• Zimbabwe: Introduced a gold-backed ZiG digital currency.

• Saudi Arabia: Accepts yuan for oil sales to China.

• UAE: Uses non-dollar currencies in trade with China and India.”

And as the fake US dollar wanes? The rest of the planet is getting real.

Gold’s Grim Message:

“Central banks’ purchases and repatriation of gold are on the rise, and both should be viewed as a symptom of deglobalization.”

Central Bank Gold Buying and the Decline of the Dollar:

“Central banks around the world have been adding gold to their reserves at a pace not seen in decades. That trend has picked up sharply over the past couple of years, as geopolitical tension, volatile markets and growing uncertainty around digital assets have all contributed to gold’s return as the reserve asset of choice.

“In 2026, this shift has become hard to ignore, as policymakers contend with persistent inflation, elevated interest rates and ongoing geopolitical fragmentation, from Ukraine to the Middle East, reshaping how nations think about financial security.”

More and more, the rest of the planet views “financial security?”

As getting as far removed as possible from the US - and its dollar.

Wouldn’t it be great if the US took the hint?

And started to mind its own business?

And attend to its imploding homeland?

My mind processes things uniquely. As all our minds do.

Mine does so bizarrely. Which, thankfully, very few of our minds do.

And so it was when I saw the following in DC tech publication Broadband Breakfast….

Democrat Rosenworcel’s Progressive FCC Legacy Resides on Wikipedia, Not in the Federal Code:

“The Biden FCC’s hard pivot left on Net Neutrality and Digital Discrimination lost in federal court, and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr dismantled Rosenworcel’s ‘homework gap’ overreach with USF money.”

I immediately thought of Jimi Hendrix - and his classic song “Castles Made of Sand.”

If - due to age or lack of good fortune - you have never heard of Jimi Hendrix or said ditty? You probably don’t know what my headline word “ephemeral” means, either.

I’ll pause - to allow some of you to read up upon those items that have until now eluded you….

Ok.

I’m quite sure Hendrix was not thinking of Washington, DC when he wrote his timeless (we hope) tune. The chorus of which is variations on this theme:

“And so castles made of sand fall in the sea - eventually”

Ex-Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Jessica Rosenworcel’s “progressive legacy” exists “not in the federal code?”

Because modern DC spends just about all its time - wasting our time. And money. Because modern DC builds everything out of sand.

DC’s denizens are now light years removed from the bedrock Constitutional order to which they are supposed to adhere.

In which: The Legislature legislates the legislation. The Executive executes the legislation - nothing more, nothing less. And the Judicial makes sure the other two do what they’re supposed to do - nothing more, nothing less.

That’s how you end up residing in the federal code. That’s how the things you do end up lasting. Via the proper Constitutional process.

The reason Rosenworcel’s “progressive FCC legacy” is sand - now fallen into the sea? Is precisely because it was an FCC legacy - rather than a Constitutional one.

She was an unelected Executive Branch bureaucrat - pretending to be a Legislative Branch law writer. She was unconstitutionally creating reams of new law. Only she was pretending she wasn’t - by calling it “regulation.”

But Congress has never passed any law containing the phrase “Net Neutrality.” So as an Executive Branch executor - there was nothing for Rosenworcel to execute. But she tried it anyway.

Thus her Net Neutrality legacy - was made of sand. And to the sea it was rightly returned by the Judicial.

Ditto her Digital Discrimination “law.” No Congressional precedent. So…sand back to the sea - via the Judicial.

Her Universal Service Fund (USF) “homework gap” overreach was even more sand. This time returned to the sea by her successor FCC Chair.

Which is another vulnerability of regulation not backstopped by legislation. What is built unilaterally? Can be unbuilt unilaterally. Live by Executive Action? Die by Executive Action.

Rosenworcel’s “progressive FCC legacy” - is now non-existent. She wasted her time. And our time. And our money.

But don’t just take my word for it:

“(I)n December 2024 for New Street Research policy advisor Blair Levin…declare(d) that Democratic FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel had ‘the least consequential term as Chair in modern FCC history.’”

All of that being said? It is not entirely Rosenworcel’s fault.

The Legislative Branch has spent decades outsourcing its Constitutional law-writing responsibility to the unelected Executive and Judicial Branch bureaucrats.

Congress has mastered the art of LOOKING busy. Lots of motion - without any forward advancement. Lots of Legislative Theatre - with very little legislation.

It’s so much easier to get re-elected to Congress? If you can skip all those votes on unpopular items - and just have the unelected bureaucrats unilaterally impose all of them. You can then blame the bureaucrats when We the Inflicted object.

And so it has been at the FCC. Rosenworcel was just the latest Chair to walk into this titanic mess.

The world is rapidly passing DC by. The Tech world especially so.

And the Legislative Branch is giving the Executive and the Judicial virtually nothing with which to work.

Faced with real world problems - and given zilch by Congress?

Bureaucrats like those at the FCC build castles made of sand.

And Jimi knows where all of those end up.

I have made a decades-long point of pointing out the US economy long ago stopped being capitalist in nature.

And is instead long been a creeping form of Diet Fascism. The ever-increasing harmonic convergence of Big Government and Big Business to maximize their respective interests - at the expense of all the rest of US.

Big Biz’s conduit to Big Gov is, of course, DC’s monstrous lobbying industry. The main metaphor (metonym) that part of the Deep State acquired - is K Street. The DC avenue notorious for the many, many lobbyists and other DC influencers who have for decades taken up residence thereon.

Of course, DC influencers exist throughout DC. And in nearby parts of Maryland and Northern Virginia. In 2019, nine of the country’s twenty wealthiest counties - were DC suburbs.

I can’t find a more recent assessment. My guess? Everyone in DC is too embarrassed to conduct the reassessment. Because it’s almost certainly gotten even worse.

It’s the DC Shuffle. Big Biz dumps billions per annum into K Street. K Street works its magic. And Big Gov extrudes trillions per annum in Big Biz-favoring policy.

As but one nauseating example? Big Tech is currently spending $226,000 PER DAY lobbying Big Gov.

Gee…I wonder why Big Gov is moving Heaven and Earth to as rapidly as possible jam Artificial Intelligence (AI) down our throats.

But three decades of Internet later? Big Gov still hasn’t passed a digital privacy law - limiting even a little Big Tech’s multi-trillion-dollar-per-annum data harvesting business model.

It’s all such a mystery.

When Big Biz and Big Gov harmonize? Big Gov gets bigger. Big Biz gets richer. And the rest of US slide into poverty-ravaged oblivion.

Behold: The K-Shaped Economy:

“Here’s a picture of two economies.

“In the first, consumer sentiment sinks to record lows as staple goods grow increasingly unaffordable; even ‘cheap’ items like fast food start feeling like luxury buys for many households.

“In the second, high-ticket discretionary goods are flying off the shelves as asset-based wealth - stock markets, real estate, even art and collectibles - surges to record highs.

“These two economies are like night and day. Yet sometimes they’re happening at the same time, in the same place - rewarding a few while placing strain on the majority. Economists have a term for this condition: a K-shaped economy.”

Why…all of that sounds awfully familiar, does it not?

This is why President Donald Trump is incessantly touting the stock market. Whilst ignoring the ever-more-disastrous disaster area that is the vast majority of the economy.

Those who own stocks? Are definitely on the upward arm of the K.

The nation’s richest 1% - own 50% of all stocks and mutual funds. The richest 10% - own 87%. The poorest half of the country - owns less than 1%.

Oh: And Wall Street gets better - when Main Street gets worse.

To wit: When Big Biz uses AI to fire 100+ million of US in the next decade?

It’ll be great for Wall Street. Those Big Biz stocks will SOAR.

But it’ll be awful for Main Street. Which will be flooded with 100+ million additional people looking for work - in a country that no longer hires anyone.

So you’ll excuse the average American when he or she isn’t doing cartwheels about the stock market’s ongoing high altitude.

The vast majority of Americans - are on the wrong arm of the K.

Americans’ total household debt reached $18.8 trillion in Q4 2025 - the highest level ever recorded.

Included therein: US credit card debt reached a record $1.33 trillion in 2025. Average credit card interest rate? 25.23%.

And US consumers are carrying an additional $20.83 trillion in mortgage debt. With an average 6.37% interest rate on a 30-year note (the most common of mortgages).

Here are the monies We the Screwed are paying per annum - just in interest on loans:

Homes: $1.33 trillion

Credit cars: $270 billion

Cars: $152 billion

Student loans: $118.2 billion

70+% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck. And 100+ million of them - will soon lose their paychecks.

The downward arm of the K-shaped economy - is downward for a whole lot of reasons.

But at the head of that putrid waterway? Is K Street and DC.

Where Big Gov gives K-shaped-economy-upper-arm Big Biz all the good policy.

And dumps all the awful policy into the waterway.

To flow downstream - and further pollute the economy for all the rest of US.

The monster comedian Jerry Seinfeld has a great observation about how lots of money can sometimes lead to lazy thinking - and even non-thinking.

My fairly exhaustive Internet search failed to locate the video I saw containing said observation. So I must paraphrase.

Seinfeld said when he and his fellow comedians were broke? Every little thing they tried to do had to be thoroughly thought out. To ensure it worked - and worked funny.

Seinfeld said he has subsequently been on some big budget projects where attention to comedy detail disappears. They just throw money at everything. Over and over again. And the money - loses the funny.

It ain’t just comedy flicks. You can think of all sorts of big budget blockbusters that have lots of Big Tech production - and very low-wattage plots and character development. (Hello, Marvel.)

And it ain’t just flicks.

The West’s prevailing Cold War narrative is the US - as a free market economy - could afford to spend into oblivion the communist economy Soviet Union.

(Never mind that the KGB today still runs Russia. And the US has for decades been infiltrated by Communists. And is now drowning in $39+ trillion in debt - much of it accrued via all sorts of Cold War hyper-activity.)

The United States throwing trillions at the problem? Often resulted in some pretty silly outcomes.

To wit: A great West Wing anecdote:

“We spent millions of dollars developing a pen for the astronauts that would work in zero gravity. You know what the Russians did? They used a pencil.”

I know this happened? Because one Christmas as a kid I received as a gift - one of those astronaut zero-gravity pens. A monument to Cold War Big Money, Big Tech stupidity.

Let us now turn to the Iran war. In which the United States is now thoroughly mired. Despite its obvious Big Money and Big Tech superiorities.

Almost two months in, we have learned at least one thing for certain:

Short of full-on, fully successful land invasion, regime change and perpetual occupation? Iran has total control of the Strait of Hormuz. Which is a choke point for the entire planet’s entire economy.

And Iran has this domination? Thanks to the Strait’s geography - and low-cost, relatively low-tech.

Iran’s Shahed Drone: How ‘The Poor Man’s Cruise Missile’ Is Shaping Tehran’s Retaliation

How Iran’s Cheap, Low-Tech Drones Have Cost the U.S.

How Iran Is Using Cheap Drones to Cause Chaos Across the Middle East

Why Iran’s Grip on the Hormuz Strait Will Be Hard to Break:

“Nor can (the US) control Iran’s coastline without sending in ground forces. Even then, Iran can launch its Shahed drones from any location in the country and strike a ship going through the strait….

“There’s also the threat of Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz. A U.S. Defense official told Congress that removing the existing mines could take six months, an operation that can only begin when the war is over….”

Mines are decades-older tech than are drones.

President Trump’s response to all of this? Let’s just say he hasn’t learned the Seinfeld-West Wing-Iran lesson.

Trump Calls for Record $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget, a 50 Percent Jump

Trump Says US Can’t Afford Medicaid, Medicare, and Day Care: ‘We’re Fighting Wars’

Which brings us to Artificial Intelligence (AI).

AI is going to absolutely be many quantum leaps forward for Big Tech. And that certainly will benefit Big Tech.

But what of the rest of us?

The purpose of an economy - and a society? Should be to best benefit its people.

As mentioned: It’s why capitalism is better than collectivism - because the former benefits the people way more than the latter.

But here comes a CRUCIAL caveat: There are times when capitalism finds itself at odds with what is best for the people.

In these circumstances - in a humane society? You scrap capitalist purity - and do what’s better for the people.

It certainly looks like AI is a bottomless geyser of these caveats.

AI Could Wipe Out 100 Million US Jobs Over the Next Decade

Stop right there. There are currently ~158 million jobs in the US.

Murdering 100 million? 60+% of ALL jobs? Is a HUGE AI downside for the people - all by itself.

And NO ONE has articulated any upside even remotely close to equivalent.

It’s all been a South Park Gnomes’ Underpants skit:

“Step 1: Collect underpants. Step 2: …. Step 3: Profit.”

We need a MUCH more detailed AI Step 2, please. The problem being? There probably isn’t one.

AI isn’t “the car replacing the horse and buggy”-level disruption - as some AI defenders claim. Not even remotely close. Heck, most of the jobs lost there - were for the horses.

Nowhere in the AI discussions currently underway - is the welfare of the people even the minutest of considerations.

The AI discussion is about the Wall Street bubble…oops, I mean boon.

AI-Related Stocks Driving Most Market Gains

You can pretend that helps the people. Except the poorest half of the people own less than 1% of Wall Street stock.

And the rest of the AI discussion? Manic, frenzied variations of….

America Must Win the AI Race Against China

The US always needs its boogymen. China is also a bank shot boogyman in the Iran war.

The War Over Iran Is Really About China

Except here’s a thought:

Instead of launching wars and destroying our economy in the name of China competition?

How about we stop sending China trillions of dollars per annum? How about we find other places to make the cheap crap we buy?

Like, say, the US?

If we stop feeding the hands that bite US? They become less able to bite US.

And less able to develop AI.

No wars and national suicide necessary.

I am a free market capitalist. I want less government. I want less taxes and regulations.

I want free people to be free to do as they wish. Broadly, I’d like economic freedom - predicated upon Thomas Jefferson’s description of religious freedom:

“It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

Again, broadly: If my neighbor’s economic activities neither pick my pocket nor break my leg? They can have at it - and the very best of luck to them.

Perhaps most importantly: I want equal protection before the law. I want both my corner store and Amazon to face the same laws, regulations and taxes.

Here is where the problems begin to arise.

The United States is not a free market capitalist economy. It has not been for many, many decades.

Even worse, we still operate under the delusion that it is. Every economic debate DC has - is had through this warped, false prism.

Wonder why socialism is currently skyrocketing in popularity in the US?

What we call capitalism? Is actually Diet Fascism - with a heaping side of warmongering globalism.

And at least in socialism - when government wastes the money? It’s doing so in the US. Some of it may slosh around and actually help some Americans.

That doesn’t happen when we launch yet another idiotic war overseas.

Yes: I would describe what we have now long had in the US - as Diet Fascism.

As people rush to clutch their pearls at the very notion? Let’s define our terms - and see where we actually are.

Classic Fascism - stripped of all the ideological tripe:

“Fascism, in the context of business and government, refers to a political and economic system where the state exerts significant control over the economy, often through corporatism.”

Corporatism?:

“This system is designed to promote collaboration between the state and businesses….”

All of which sounds exactly like what’s going on in the US. It is certainly WAY closer to reality than attempting to classify it as free market capitalism.

The US economy last year was ~$30 trillion. The federal government last year spent ~$7 trillion. And regulated at a cost of ~$2 trillion.

The Feds share of the power of the economy? (At least) 30%. That’s fascism’s “significant control.” And it only grows more significant every year.

And by the way: The Feds’ $39+ trillion debt? And its $1+ trillion in per annum interest payments? Is The Feds controlling even more of the economy. The more money they owe and borrow - the less there is for the private sector. And the debt and interest only grow more significant every year.

Again: “Significant control.”

Are Big Gov and Big Biz in nigh harmonic, fascist convergence? You bet they are.

There was ~$6 billion spent last year lobbying The Feds. Which, when compared to the $9+ trillion that $6 billion is spent to sway? Is but a mere pittance.

But nowhere in the history of humanity has there been a greater Return on Investment (ROI) than in DC in the 21st Century. That $6 billion - netted trillions in cronyism.

Special laws. Special tax rates. Special tax breaks. Special incentives. Government subsidies. Regulatory carve outs. Zero antitrust impediments. Zero prosecutions of corporate crimes. And on, and on, and….

Of course your neighborhood retailers aren’t a part of that $6 billion buy-in. But their Big Biz competitor Amazon ($2.7 trillion Market Cap - $18.9 million in 2025 lobbying) is a huge part thereof.

How did Big Biz get so big? Massive Big Gov cronyism.

This is how our marketplace has become so consolidated (and polluted). Only Big Biz can afford Big Gov. So Big Biz pays for Big Gov - and then weaponizes it.

A great example: The 2008 financial collapse was an entirely fascist endeavor.

Big Gov incentivized the Big Banks to make trillions of dollars’ worth of idiotic mortgage loans. By buying the stupid loans from the Big Banks seconds after they were made.

And when the inevitable collapse occurred? Big Gov bailed out the Big Banks - to the tune of $29 trillion.

And then came the fascist legislation. We were told Big Gov’s woefully misnamed Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was going to end “too big to fail” banks.

It instead murdered thousands of small banks. Which the Big Banks then consumed on the cheap - making themselves even bigger.

Big Gov and Big Biz working hand-in-hand. To screw the rest of US. Fascism.

Except: Why do I classify it as Diet Fascism? Rather than Classic Fascism?

Because in the US, corporations dictate terms to the government - not the other way round.

A great example? Big Tech dominating DC - and getting whatever it wants from Big Gov.

Someone Should Sue to Break Up Big Tech’s DC Lobby Monopoly

Think Big Gov has any real sway at all? Look at all the politicians who campaign on “Draining the Swamp.” Or “Taking on the Deep State.” Or whatever euphemisms you wish to extract from history.

These politicians then get to DC - and realize they don’t have any power whatsoever. They are Big Gov order takers for Big Biz.

To get their share of the $6 billion lobby money - and the $14+ billion in bi-annual campaign money? They have to play ball.

And it is Big Biz that is pitching. Big Gov is catching.

Just about everyone in Big Gov plays ball. And when someone doesn’t?

See: Thomas Massie. Kentucky 4th’s Republican congressman has spent his career voting against the DC cronyism racket - and chronicling the corruption.

And what do his morality and fealty to the Constitution get him?

DC’s Big Gov-Big Biz guns turned on him.

After (President Donald) Trump’s Call for GOP Rep. Massie’s Defeat, Groups Spending Over $5 Million to Try to Oust Him in May Primary

Because Fascism - Diet or otherwise - can not allow ANY disloyalty to stand:

“Fascism suppresses dissent through a combination of legal repression, extralegal violence, censorship, and propaganda, creating an environment of fear and control.”

If all of this doesn’t sound like the US in 2026?

You haven’t been paying any attention at all.

This also appeared in The Daily Caller News Foundation.

I have said for a very long time:

The only two US political battles that currently matter?

• Globalist v Nationalist

• DC v US

Globalist v Nationalist

Broadly, Globalists are:

• “Invade the world - invite the world.”

  • Coups, invasions, bombings, sanctions, embargoes, etc internationally.

  • Open-borders domestically.

• Free trade on our end - no matter what other nations do with tariffs, import limits and subsidies on theirs.

Broadly, Nationalists are:

• Prioritize America and Americans - and leave the rest of the planet to the rest of the planet.

  • No foreign adventurism.

  • Little to no immigration.

• Actual free trade - relative government parity on all sides.

DC v US

Broadly, DC has been at war with US for decades. DC’s denizens don’t work for US. They lord over US.

And DC has grown very, VERY fat. While the US has grown inexorably starved out.

DC has done this? By slicing the US to the bone - and then selling US by the pound to the planet’s highest bidders.

DC doesn’t create anything. It doesn’t make a dime. Yet as of the 2020 census? Nine of the nation’s twenty richest counties - were DC suburbs. Want to bet that number gets even worse in 2030?

The 2025 federal government spent $7 trillion. And regulated at a cost of another $2 trillion. The 2025 US GDP was $30.6 trillion.

Which means the federal government - taxes and regulates equal to about 30% of the entire US economy.

Gee, I wonder why there are so many rich lobbyists living in DC’s surrounding nine counties?

You want massive lobby and campaign finance reform? Massively shrink the massive federal government. The remora will spend money - in direct proportion to the size of the shark they’re pursuing.

Shrink government? And you shrink the lobby budgets of nigh every company with such a budget.

The chasm between DC and the US is Grand Canyon-esque. And grows larger with each passing day.

To wit: DC is currently nigh entirely consumed with the Globalist Iran war. And the Nationalist US is wondering why the heck Globalist DC is doing yet another stupid thing to drive up US prices.

Of course, there are a great many publications of, by and for DC. That almost no one in the US knows even exist - let alone reads.

In defense of some of these pubs? They exist for the purpose of serving DC. For instance, I don’t think The Hill newspaper is striving too mightily for an audience too far beyond the Beltway - and those nine surrounding counties.

And some pubs exist for DC - and the state and local governments affected by DC.

Which brings us to the pub Broadband Breakfast (BB):

“Broadband Breakfast reports every day on America’s broadband buildout. Broadband Breakfast is the community for Better Broadband, Better Lives.”

That ain’t exactly a Main Street USA publication.

The average US citizen ain’t wondering what DC, state and local governments - and the private sector - are doing to build out the US’s Internet infrastructure.

The average US citizen just logs onto the Internet - and goes about their day.

A problem with a DC-government-sector-centric publication like BB? Is they are are at times cut off from the realities of actual life in the sector it covers. You’re so worried about the forest? You miss all the trees.

To wit:

BB has a feature: The Broadband Question of the Day.

Monday’s question? Inadvertently highlights the DC-US disconnection about Internet connections:

“Is the current level of competition in the U.S. wireless market sufficient to protect consumers on price and service quality?”

The average American would never look at their world through such a prism. And certainly not utilizing that type of language.

And if they did? They would find the question a little…disconnected.

Americans see a whole lot of wireless providers:

“The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA), lists approximately 30 facilities-based wireless service providers in the United States as members. Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) has over 1000 members. Aside from the facilities-based providers, there are over 50 virtual operators that use the top three networks to provide service.”

Americans see a chief US indicator of a whole lot of competition:

An avalanche of TV ads - from a bunch of different wireless companies. Including upstarts like Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile and Ted Danson-represented Consumer Cellular - taking incessant potshots at their bigger-name competitors.

Seriously, in the US economy: How many small businesses can afford to take on their big business competitors to this degree? Not many, is the answer. You don’t see the local Mom and Pop Shoppes taking on the likes of Amazon and Walmart. At all.

Oh - and the most important indicator?

Americans continue to switch in droves from wired to wireless for their home and office connections.

Because there are far more wireless providers from which to choose. They are far less expensive. And they provide easier and better connectivity (more and more with each passing day).

All of the above is true - at least in part - due to all the wireless competition driving each competitor to ever-increasing heights of achievement.

Meanwhile, wired is dominated by a few legacy dinosaur companies. NONE of whom are national - instead each dominating their respective regions of the country. And they are wielding outdated, expensive technology - and delivering it to an ever-dwindling customer base.

You would think an Internet-specific publication like Broadband Breakfast would notice all of this.

And know not to ask such an…unusual question.

But that’s what happens when you spend too much time swimming in DC’s waters.

You sometimes forget you’re wet.

I have long lamented the obscene massiveness of the federal government.

456+ Federal Agencies? The Eternal Push for Ever-Expanding, Redundant Over-Government

One of the infinite reasons to oppose this obscene massiveness?

You have no idea how many crazy people with crazy ideas exist amongst the federal government’s 2.0-2.7 million civilian employees.

(The government is so huge? Even Grok can’t narrow it down any further than that.)

Another reason?

Bad policies and bad proposed policies are…immortal. Or at least undead. They zombie on from year-to-year, administration-to-administration.

To wit:

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). And it’s former (allegedly Republican) Chairman and Commissioner Neil Chatterjee.

What is FERC, you ask?:

“FERC’s Mission: Assist consumers in obtaining reliable, safe, secure, and economically efficient energy services at a reasonable cost through appropriate regulatory and market means, and collaborative efforts.”

Which brings us to the idiocy that is “green energy.”

I have long lamented “green energy.” Wind, solar, etc. Because it is neither green - nor energy. It is awful for the environment. And it produces very little energy - very expensively.

It is demonstrably unreliable. If the Sun doesn’t shine? If the wind doesn’t blow? You have no energy from “green energy.”

In short: It is fake energy.

Given FERC’s mission statement? They too should vociferously oppose “green energy.”

Except: Government loves government. And fake energy requires a LOT of government.

And enter: Donald Trump-appointee Neil Chatterjee.

Chatterjee’s length of tenure at FERC is in…some dispute. By that I mean:

Chatterjee’s LinkedIn page has him at the commission as “Federal Energy Regulatory Commission · Full-time” from “August 2017 - October 2025.”

Everywhere else on the Internet has him leaving FERC in 2021. But let’s go straight to the Leviathan’s mouth.

The FERC Chairmen Page has him serving as chair from October 24, 2018 - November 5, 2020.

The FERC Commissioners Page (chairs serve simultaneously as voting commissioners) has him serving from August 8, 2017 - August 30, 2021.

So Chatterjee appears to be being…disingenuous…about his time at FERC.

Now: Let’s examine Chatterjee’s recent (actual) professional history, shall we?

Again, Chatterjee’s LinkedIn page says he was “full-time” at FERC until October 2025. Which makes the following announcements a little…interesting….

Former FERC Chair Joins Amazon-Backed Carbon Removal Startup - March 27, 2024:

“CarbonCapture hopes Neil Chatterjee, currently a senior adviser at the Hogan Lovells law firm, can help the startup clear the regulatory hurdles associated with powering the direct air capture facilities it’s racing to develop in California, Wyoming and other states.”

Carbon capture is a simply idiotic business model - unless your business model is to plant trees.

Guess what? That’s not Amazon’s carbon capture business model. Theirs is based upon LOTS of government mandates - that mandate companies like theirs be hired to meet them all.

Neil Chatterjee, Former FERC Chairman, Joins Palmetto to Lead Government Affairs Team - January 17, 2025:

“Leading the world towards a clean energy future.”

Palmetto is a fake energy company.

I’m fairly sure one is not allowed to be a “full-time” member of FERC - and hold lobbying gigs with companies FERC oversees.

Even by DC’s incestuous revolving door standards - that’s a bit excessive.

What is DC’s revolving door?

Government bureaucrats stroll out of government - and directly into private gigs in the sectors they were JUST regulating. Where they are hired to influence the bureaucracies they JUST left.

So guess what happens? The bureaucrats treat the private sector VERY well. So as to grease the skids for getting sector gigs immediately after leaving their government gigs.

And so it appears to be with Chatterjee - and his Amazon and Palmetto gigs.

Which makes one realize:

Whilst at FERC, Chatterjee must have emplaced a lot of fake energy policies. Which Amazon and Palmetto wish to see continued/advanced.

Which brings us to the eternal undead life of government policy.

I’m going to assume Chatterjee actually left FERC in 2021 - not 2025. Because everyone except Chatterjee says so.

Amazon and Palmetto seem to have made the same assumption. Because duh. Because they hired him during his alleged extended FERC tenure.

Why? Because they knew - with almost moral certitude - most-all of Chatterjee’s fake energy policies were still on FERC’s books. Several years AFTER Chatterjee had left FERC.

And Amazon and Palmetto wanted Chatterjee to see that they were continued-advanced.

Thankfully - hopefully? That may no longer be possible.

FERC Terminates Several Long-Pending Policy Proceedings and Initiates New Inquiries, Potentially Signaling a New Regulatory Approach:

“(N)ew Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Laura V. Swett made a series of significant announcements, possibly signaling a new regulatory approach for the agency.

Chairman Swett first outlined her priorities, focusing on cementing U.S. ‘energy dominance.’…

“Marking Chairman Swett’s new approach, FERC acted to terminate several proceedings that have long been pending….”

Here’s hoping that means the end of FERC’s fake energy bent.

And with that? The end of Amazon and Palmetto’s hopes for Chatterjee - and their fake energy agenda.

This also appeared in Daily Caller, The Daily Caller News Foundation and The Independent Journalism Review.

Behold Duke Energy:

“(A)n American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company serves over 7 million customers in the eastern United States.”

2025 was a very good year for The Duke:

“Duke Energy reported nearly $5 billion in net income for 2025, reflecting a significant increase from the previous year.”

But that seems to be nowhere enough profit for The Duke. In 2026….

North Carolina Rate Hike Sparks Backlash as Duke Energy Pushes 18% Increase: ‘Privatize the Profit, Socialize the Costs’

“Privatize the profit - socialize the costs?” You betcha.

Utility companies are their own personalized legal black hole. Private companies own them - but get all sorts of government cronyism to aid and abet their profit making and taking.

It’s a quintessential example of the Diet Fascism that now dominates the US.

Perhaps the biggest of the very many crony gifts governments bestow upon utility companies?

The Regulatory Compact:

“It allows investor-owned utilities to hold a monopoly - as long as they are willing to be regulated.

“Now depending upon what state you’re in? Utility companies are guaranteed a profit of 9-to-10-11 percent. Some states I believe it’s as high as 14 percent….

“Under the Regulatory Compact? All of their expenses are passed directly on to the customer. Fuel, maintenance,….

“Now they (the governments) thought for whatever reason this was a good thing. Because as long as the costs are directly passed through to the customer - then the utility can’t profit on it.

“That’s not true at all.

“Because when the utility company needs to spend a billion dollars on the grid? It’s the customers that have to pay for it.

“And when it’s over with? They (the utility company) have another billion dollar asset. That is capable of transmitting significantly more electricity.

“And enriching the utility company even more.”

As with all of the US’s Diet Fascism? The highest bidders always get the government goodies.

Enter the hedge fund sharks. The biggest bidders of them all.

And what’s even easier for hedge funds than bribing government officials for new cronyism?

Buying into sectors with existing cronyism built-in.

Well…guess who owns Duke Energy?:

“Duke Energy is a publicly traded company primarily owned by institutional investors, with Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and State Street among the largest shareholders.”

Yes, the same hedge funds that are buying up all the nation’s housing. And entire cities’ worth of local businesses. And…pretty much everything else…:

“(G)rocery brands, dental practices, apartment buildings, and nursing homes….”

The Silent Giants of the Stock Market: How BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street Own a Stake in Almost Every Company

Including, of course,….

Private Equity Firms Like BlackRock SNAPPING UP Public Utilities & Electric Bills to SKYROCKET

And the bills are skyrocketing with hedge fund-owned Duke Energy.

Now, per the Regulatory Compact? Utilities have to get government permission to raise rates.

But we are now decades into the US’s Diet Fascism. The hedge funds’ll kick in a little extra to the local pols? And the local pols will approve the hedge funds’ rate increases.

The greatest returns on investment (ROI) in human history? Result from private sector payments to government officials.

And as an added bonus for the Duke’s victims - oops, I mean customers?

We have Big Tech - and their monstrous data centers. And, of course, Big Tech gets some cronyism too:

“In the proposal, industrial customers would be subject to a lower rate increase of 12% over two years.”

So Google and Facebook pay 12% more. Ma and Pa Carolina pay 18% more.

Of course that is atrocious. But it is perfectly typical of mid-21st Century Diet Fascism.

Here in the gold ole US of A.

All of this reminds, after a fashion, of a bit from comedian Bill Burr:

“There’s nothing wrong with being a billionaire. But if somebody is working forty hours a week, 160 hours a month - and they can’t make their rent? You’re not paying them enough money. Maybe you should just be worth $900 million.

“How does a CEO take an eight-figure bonus - and none of your employees have dental insurance. They can’t even go out and get a filling.”

Hey Duke Energy hedge funds:

You made $5 billion last year.

How about eating into that - just a little?

And forget about your attempted nigh 20% rate increase?

Just a thought.

From over here in Humanity.