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.

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.

There has been a lot of news about a lot of lawsuits filed against Big Tech.

Just last week….

Social Media Trials Usher in Big Tech’s Latest Moment of Reckoning:

“‘The message is clear,’ New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, whose investigation resulted in a jury finding on Tuesday that Meta must pay $375 million for failing to protect kids from child predators, told POLITICO in an interview. ‘It’s time to change the way these companies do business.’

“Less than 24 hours after the New Mexico verdict, jurors ruled against Meta and Google-owned YouTube in a Los Angeles social media addiction trial, ordering a total of $6 million in damages.

“The widely popular platforms, along with others like Snap and TikTok, once appeared unstoppable as they designed their algorithms for maximum user engagement….

“Tech’s critics are pouncing, determined that this time they will deliver Silicon Valley its long-threatened comeuppance.”

The wheels of justice turn slowly. And by that I mean these court cases often take many years to arrive at a conclusion.

These cases have already taken years. And they ain’t anywhere near a conclusion:

“The companies have vowed to appeal.”

Shocker.

These are but two of oh-so-many lawsuits filed against Big Tech.

Six Major Tech Lawsuits to Keep Tabs On

There are monopoly lawsuits. Privacy lawsuits. Data breach lawsuits. Artificial Intelligence (AI) lawsuits. And on, and on, and….

Why are the people trying to rein in Big Tech - placing so much time, money, effort and hope in the courts?

Because they know they’ll get absolutely nowhere in DC.

Because in three decades? They’ve gotten absolutely nowhere in DC.

Because Big Tech OWNS DC.

Behold the Lords of Lobby.

Big Tech companies are a part of at least two major tech lobby associations.

NetChoice: “Works to make the Internet safe for free enterprise and free expression.”

TechNet: “We are the voice of American innovation.”

Both groups have as members:

Google (Alphabet) Market Cap: $3.3 trillion

Amazon Market Cap: $2.1 trillion

Facebook (Meta) Market Cap: $1.3 trillion

Google-Alphabet owns YouTube (Market Cap: $550 billion) - but YouTube is also a separate, unilaterally-listed member of NetChoice.

To make a little more manageable this analysis, we will henceforth continue to focus only on the three Big Tech companies that are members of both aforementioned tech lobby associations.

But as you can probably guess, the Magnificent 7 tech companies (Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Tesla) are nigh all HIGHLY active lobbyists.

Total lobby expenditures for the Mag 7 in 2025? $88.4 million.

Back to our Three….

—-

Besides the aforementioned two associations - and even more others - Facebook-Meta also gives money to:

Business Roundtable

Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA)

Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

Information Technology Industry Council (ITI)

Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)

Coalition for American Innovation

Data Center Coalition

And various others focused on AI, privacy, advertising, and innovation policy.

In total, Facebook-Meta spent $26.3 million on lobbying in 2025.

—-

Besides the aforementioned two associations - and even more others - Amazon also gives money to:

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Business Roundtable

National Retail Federation

Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA)

Motion Picture Association

Others like the Bipartisan Policy Center, National Association of Manufacturers, and various tech/retail coalitions.

Wow does a lot of that list look familiar.

In total, Amazon spent $18.9 million on lobbying in 2025.

—-

Besides the aforementioned two associations - and even more others - Google-Alphabet also gives money to:

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Business Roundtable

Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA)

Information Technology Industry Council (ITI)

Others like the Bipartisan Policy Center, Atlantic Council, American Enterprise Institute, and various advertising/tech coalitions.

Wow does a lot of that list look familiar.

In total, Google-Alphabet spent $16.5 million on lobbying in 2025.

—-

The point of all of this is?

Big Tech spends metric tons of lobby money. On just about everyone in DC. To ensure that no one in DC does anything Big Tech doesn’t like.

And it’s worked - like a charm.

Thirty years of the Internet? And DC has passed ZERO limits on how Big Tech collects and sells our data. This dearth of limits has made Big Tech tens trillions of dollars.

Hence all of the aforementioned privacy and data breach lawsuits.

Meanwhile, DC is moving at warp speed to ensure Big Tech can do whatever it wants to whomever it wants with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Zero federal guardrails. Whilst The Feds override state and local laws, politicians and citizens trying to at least tap the brakes.

Hence all of the aforementioned AI lawsuits - and the vociferous local opposition to AI-feeding data centers.

DC spends decades trying to illegally jam Big Tech mega-cronyism Net Neutrality down everyone’s throats. And steadfastly protecting Big Tech’s Section 230 blanket amnesty mega-cronyism.

In short: Big Tech owns DC.

So it’s little wonder people trying to rein in Big Tech? Have turned to the courts to attempt to do so.

Which raises another thought:

Since we can’t break through Big Tech’s DC lobby monopoly?

Perhaps someone should sue Big Tech - under antitrust - to break up their DC influence mega-cabal.

It can’t get them any less than trying to out-lobby them has.

This also appeared in The Daily Caller.

The US government is $39+ trillion in debt. It is currently adding $1 trillion to its tally every five months.

And through the magic of compound interest? The debt accumulation will only continue to accelerate.

Because Lord knows the government ain’t paying any of it back.

Because Lord knows the government increases its annual deficits - over the previous annual deficits - every time it writes a budget.

When DC is this fundamentally unserious? Things for the US get really serious - really fast.

The only thing at this point DC can do? Is postpone the inevitable. By any means necessary.

It’s Bernie Madoff time. At $7+ trillion per year.

Never mind what you’ve heard about the idiotic, criminal Federal Reserve lowing interest rates.

Though The Fed may indeed ratchet them down a quarter point or two in the near term? It will be like trying to put a tin can lid on the top of an erupting volcano.

Because the real monetary pressure is HUGE - and upward. And it’s only getting huger. Because the US debt keeps getting huger. And ever harder to finance.

The US needs to fund its debt. The two main ways to do this?

Sell bonds - Treasuries - to buyers via auctions. Or print money - to buy its own Treasuries. Thus turning IOUs - into IOIs.

Now, The Fed is prohibited from buying from itself new Treasuries. But it can buy existing Treasuries - what has been euphemistically termed “quantitative easing (QE).”

These purchases then sit on The Fed’s balance sheet. Which increases and decreases as The Fed buys and sells assets.

According to Grok:

The current Federal Reserve balance sheet stands at approximately $6.66 trillion in total assets….Securities held outright:

~$6.371 trillion (the primary driver from past QE).

• S. Treasury securities: ~$4.359 trillion.

• Mortgage-backed securities (agency MBS): ~$2.010 trillion.

• Other assets make up the rest (e.g., loans, foreign currency holdings, etc.).

Of course, the US buying - and holding - its own debt? Is an AWFUL look. It means it couldn’t find anyone else who wants it.

More good news: As the debt inexorably increases? That will only become more and more true.

Interest rates will have to rise ever higher. To entice anyone at all to buy the ever increasing debt.

Ok: Now we enter the realm of the theoretical. But it is an educated guess that we are about to make and examine.

Say the US government is having increasing difficulty selling its debt. And oh look - it is….

US Finance Problem: America’s Bonds Are Getting Harder to Sell

And even better news?

The Bond Market Sell-Off Is More Worrisome Than the One in Stocks

Investors Are Dumping Bonds. Here’s Why That’s a Problem

Not only do investors not want to buy new bonds? They are mass-selling the ones they have.

So The Fed is issuing new bonds - which they can’t sell. And more existing bonds are being dumped into the pool by the people who originally bought them.

The Fed at that point almost certainly has to ramp up its self-purchases. Of bonds new and old. Because $39+ trillion - is $39+ trillion.

But how does The Fed do that - without looking like its doing that? Because as we know: The Fed buying up its own debt is an extraordinarily bad look.

Hypothetically: Enter the tropical British overseas territory: The Cayman Islands.

Have some more Grok:

Historically, the Cayman Islands were associated with strong corporate secrecy and financial privacy, including strict banking secrecy laws that protected owner identities and business information from public disclosure. This contributed to its reputation as a “secrecy jurisdiction” in older rankings and leaks like the Paradise Papers.

However, corporate secrecy has significantly diminished in recent years due to global pressure for transparency:

• Since 2017, the Cayman Islands maintain a centralized Beneficial Ownership Register under the Beneficial Ownership Transparency Act (updated through 2025–2026 amendments). Companies must identify and report beneficial owners (individuals with 25%+ ownership or control).

• Access is not fully public. It is available to competent authorities (e.g., law enforcement, tax agencies) without restriction. For the general public, access requires demonstrating a “legitimate interest” via application to the Competent Authority (as per 2024–2025 regulations and recent reaffirmations in 2026).

The Cayman Islands have resisted UK pushes for fully open public registers, maintaining this restricted model to balance privacy and anti-abuse measures

Get that? Cayman secrecy from government has been reduced. But only reduced for government - not for us.

But what if it’s the government that wants that secrecy?

How the Cayman Islands Are Propping Up U.S. Debt:

“A small group of Federal Reserve economists raised alarm bells recently with the publication at the Fed’s website of an article showing that our current system depends on a group of shadowy hedge funds in the Cayman Islands lending huge sums of money to the United States government at low interest rates.

“We don’t know who is financing this lending operation or why they are doing it. But the entire federal government, apparently, depends on this money.

“Once the largest purchaser of U.S. government debt, the Chinese, along with other countries, began dumping their holdings some time ago.

“At the same time, the Federal Reserve reversed its seemingly interminable program of buying treasuries under the guise of responding, first, to the 2008 financial crisis and then the 2020 COVID-related financial panic.

“Slowly, but surely, both the Fed and the Chinese offloaded trillions in U.S. government debt at the same time the government ran record deficits - flooding the market with ever more IOUs.

“Basic laws of supply and demand dictate that when supply increases and demand craters, the price of the bond remains … unaffected and stable. Not what you’re expecting? Well, that’s what’s happening.

“So these plucky economists from the Federal Reserve set to crunching the numbers and discovered that a group of hedge funds headquartered in the Cayman Islands have been buying eye-popping levels of treasuries. In fact, they’ve purchased so many treasuries that they have become the world’s leading holder - surpassing China, Japan, and the United Kingdom.”

How hyperactive are these Cayman “hedge funds?”:

“40 percent of new treasury notes and bonds were purchased in the Cayman Islands after 2022.”

I have questions.

Again: It is the government telling us that it is Cayman “hedge funds” buying all of this US debt. Because the government has way more access to the Cayman information than do we.

Except: I don’t have a good history with the government telling me the truth.

And as we noted above….

Investors Are Dumping Bonds. Here’s Why That’s a Problem

And speaking specifically of hedge funds….

Hedge Fund Bets Against US Treasuries Threaten the Global Financial System

So hedge funds/investors the world over are dumping US bonds. Including China and the other nation-state investors.

But Cayman hedge funds are buying them? In HUGE numbers? That the government at first MASSIVELY underreported?

Now: It could be possible that these hedge funds are making some 5-D chess buy/sell/short play. And running ALL the buy portion - EXCLUSIVELY through the Caymans.

But that seems…unlikely?

Here’s my hypothetical:

What if The Fed is setting up a whole bunch of Cayman corporations? Behind the corporate veil - that we can not penetrate.

And then using them to mass-purchase bonds. To soak up the new bonds. And the existing ones everyone else is fire-selling.

Again: 40% of ALL new debt purchase since 2022 - has been in the Caymans. That’s TRILLIONS of dollars.

If The Fed is doing this? It is postponing - oops, and massively intensifying - the coming collapse.

Closing questions:

Which do you think is more realistic?

The Fed’s magical Cayman hedge funds theory? That these funds are doing what no other investors anywhere else on the planet are doing: Massively buying US debt?

Or my hypothetical Cayman-Fed straw men theory?

I would ask Madoff, but….

There are MANY dinosaurs living amongst US. Lumbering hulks from long-bygone eras.

Kept alive by idiotic, dinosaur DC policy. Because the dinosaurs spend a lot of money - hiring a lot of lobbyists. To ensure their dinosaur policy doesn’t go extinct - and them with it.

We speak today of one subset of dinosaurs: The government-subsidized broadcast networks.

(Ostensibly) private television: FOX, NBC, ABC and CBS. And (ostensibly) private radio: The very many stations you hear all across the country.

And public television: PBS. And public radio: NPR.

We say “ostensibly” private? Because these networks are built upon the wireless spectrum

to which the government granted them nearly-free exclusive access - via broadcast licenses - oh-so-many decades ago.

Nearly-free?:

“(Radio) stations serving large populations, such as six million or more, may face annual fees in the range of ten to twenty thousand dollars….Full-service television stations (also) determine their annual fee using a population-based methodology based on the number of people within the station’s projected service contour.”

By way of comparison? Cellular phone companies use the same wireless spectrum. They, too, need exclusive access via government license. Except they pay through the nose for it - via government spectrum auctions. The last auction? Brought in $19.12 billion.

Spectrum is a finite resource. And it exists on a spectrum (SWIDT?) of usefulness. Think of a Monopoly board. Some spectrum is Boardwalk and Park Place. Some is Mediterranean and Baltic Avenue. And the full range in between.

The better the spectrum? The more you can do with it. And as we pile more and more upon more and more of it? The free ride the broadcasters get? Starts looking more and more like a bad deal for the rest of us.

Now I realize: Broadcast television only uses about 6 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum. That ain’t a lot. Terrestrial radio uses more: Between 88 MHz and 108 MHz.

In wireless broadband terms? None of that is a whole lot. T-Mobile and AT&T currently own the most licensed spectrum amongst the wireless companies: Each own about 375 MHz.

And the US government owns the majority of US spectrum. About 60% of it. And a lot of that is higher-to-high-end stuff.

So the Broadcasters understandably point to their small spectrum share - and the government’s large share - and say “Why are you even looking at us?”

A perfectly fair question. And the Broadcasters spend a LOT of lobby money asking it.

The chief lobby for the (ostensibly) private broadcasters is: The National Association of Broadcasters. Who in 2024 alone spent $11,920,000 lobbying DC. Making them that year’s 25th largest lobbying group (per Open Secrets).

PBS and NPR are straight-up government media. They not only get the spectrum basically free - they get government cash on top of it. Government broadcasters using government money to hire lobbyists to lobby government? Would be gaudy - and is almost wholly unnecessary.

But all of this begs a question:

Does anyone think we, in 2026, suffer from a dearth of choice when it comes to news and entertainment?

Video:

There are 168 hours in a week. Grok informs me - via a rough calculation - that somewhere between 100 and 115 hours of viewing content is created globally per week. The vast majority of it by-and-for Internet streaming services. That should get you through your weekend.

Some octo- and nonagenarians might still wait to get their news from the broadcast networks. My octogenarian parents don’t. They have smartphones and tablets. And get omnidirectional news delivered to them - all-day, every day.

In fact, 98+% of US had high speed Internet access - including via wireless-cellular connections - WAY back in 2015. Don’t believe me? Go WAY back - and ask then-President Barack Obama.

Which means we’ve been getting omnidirectional news delivered to US - all-day, every day - for more than a decade.

Audio:

Grok informs that the major streaming services host over 253 million songs. And that 106,000 new songs are uploaded every day.

(And now we have the abomination that is Artificial Intelligence (AI) music. So the streaming services can now bypass paying real artists the rip-off rates they pay them.)

Grok also informs that there are 4.5 million to 4.7 million podcasts registered worldwide. Apple Podcasts alone hosts 117 million published podcast episodes. 26-30 million new episodes are uploaded each year.

All-in that is - today, very conservatively - a minimum of 75 million hours of published podcast content. Which represents non-stop listening - for thousands of years.

So I’m not sure why in the midst of this titanic ecosystem of content? We still have these broadcast dinosaurs making MANY billions of dollars - and not paying anything for the spectrum that makes it all possible.

Am I calling for a mass eviction of broadcasters from their nearly-free spectrum? I am not.

There is no immediate need for access to their spectrum. And Lord knows I and many other people have been trying desperately for years to get the majority-holding government off their giant rumpuses and free more up spectrum for private use.

And I wish not to place all our eggs into the Internet basket. There should always be some over-the-air television and radio available - in the event of a mass Internet crash out or other catastrophic events.

But there will come a day - WAY in the future, to be sure - where we will start to need access to that spectrum.

And in the meantime:

Isn’t the broadcasters making all of that money - via nearly-free access to spectrum, for which everyone else pays through the nose - a little obscene?

I certainly think it is.

Editor’s Note: This is the first in what I envision as an ongoing series of looks at why I left the United States. And why I heartily recommend others take a long, hard, serious look at doing the same.

Greetings from Belize.

An old saw is:

“Nothing makes you appreciate the US - more than a vacation abroad.”

I am now living almost the exact opposite:

“Nothing makes you happier to not live in the US - than to not live in the US.”

It’s one thing to dip your toe in a foreign culture for a week or two - knowing you’re returning to the only life you’ve ever actually known.

It’s another to immerse yourself in a foreign culture - as a part of your becoming a part of it.

The former doesn’t change your mindset even a little. The latter fundamentally transforms it.

Tourists abroad - returning home? Never really leave the home mindset.

As I describe it:

“Fish don’t know they’re wet. They’re swimming in it.”

As the classic flick “Jaws” describes it:

Hooper: 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.

It’s all, as always, a matter of perspective.

I started looking to leave the US in 2013. I finally (FINALLY) pulled the trigger on December 10, 2022. I spent the intervening years doing a LOT of research (writers tend to do this) on all sorts of possible destinations.

I wanted tropical. I wanted a great people. I much preferred an English-speaking people.

I wanted MUCH less government.

Belize overwhelmed my list. And provided a bunch of additional things I either didn’t know I wanted - or didn’t think I could get.

(And it is by no means my only option. To wit: I checked out the Philippines in December. And I could definitely enjoy making a go of it there too.)

But my decision making process is irrelevant to…pretty much everyone else. Each of us has individualistic criteria of what they want out of life. How I decide has little to no bearing on how you decide.

But it is a HUGE world outside the confines of the US. Lots of countries - offering lots of different lifestyles. Only you can decide what you want out of life.

Since departing the US? LOTS of people have dubbed me a Bad American. Almost all of them alleged political conservatives.

I say alleged - because despite their self-identifications? Much of what they believe and how they behave - ain’t even a little conservative.

These alleged conservatives don’t respect an individual’s right to self-determination. These alleged conservatives LOATHE me for “Giving up on the good ole USA.”

And then they accuse me of being a Rosie O’Donnell Leftist. Which is an excellent representation of how stupid things in the US have gotten.

To be sure: Most of those one would classify as Bad Americans are hardcore Leftists. Rosie O’Donnell left the US - because she deemed it too conservative.

I don’t know what she’s smoking. But I’m sure I don’t want any. I don’t know how anyone who ain’t really high reaches that conclusion.

I left the US - because the Left is winning. Huge. Take the W, Rosie.

The thing is? I can do math. Both literal and figurative.

First, the literal math.

As I type:

The US is hurtling towards - and will then hurtle WAY past into oblivion - $40 trillion in debt.

And the alleged conservative Republicans in DC? Just passed a Big Broke Bill that has deficits larger than the last budget Biden and the Democrats passed.

The US’s Social Security and Medicare programs are $175+ trillion short.

And the alleged conservative Republicans in DC? Are doing NOTHING about any of it.

The US’s dollar has lost 87+% of its value since 1971. And DC is still printing many trillions more.

And DC won’t ever stop printing. Because they have painted themselves into a corner - where they absolutely can not ever stop printing. That is, until the entire system comes crashing down upon us all.

And the alleged conservative Republicans in DC? Are doing NOTHING about any of it.

Never mind everything else that is wrong with the US? That’s the ball game. There is no way back from that much debt - with that pathetic a currency. The literal math - doesn’t math.

Speaking of everything else that is wrong with the US? That’s where the Bad American figurative math enters. The societal, moral and cultural rot.

I never liked much of the life-lifestyle-culture to which my fellow Americans subjected me. It’s mostly been so crazy and so wrong. And only ever gotten worse.

Now? The US is:

HUGE-and-ever-growing government. Big Gov-Big Biz hyper-cronyism. Big Gov-Big Biz hyper-commercialization.

“Men can get pregnant.” “There are 57+ genders.” The Kardashians….

The figurative math - didn’t math either.

So in 2013, I calculated a subtotal. And decided I had had enough. Hence, eventually, Belize.

Someone of whom you all have heard was also looking at the US this way.

I, for many years, emailed regularly with the late, great Rush Limbaugh. (Man, do I wish I’d saved those missives.)

In his very last email to me - two or three days before he passed - Rush told me he felt like a failure. Because he looked back on his life’s work of trying to make the US better - and saw the US only ever getting worse.

We genuinely commiserated with each other over the observation.

I am not saying Rush would have ever left the US. I’m in fact quite certain he never would have.

I am saying that having hundreds of millions of dollars? Is excellent padding against the hard reality of life in the US.

I don’t have anywhere near Rush’s coin.

So I started looking for places that treat my diminished dollars a whole lot better than does the US….

—-

End of Installment I

Oil can make everything really inexpensive - or really expensive.

Cheap, abundant oil lubricates the economy. Gasoline and diesel is cheaper. Which means everything delivered in vehicles running on gasoline and diesel is cheaper. Which is pretty much everything.

When the oil dries up? Everything grinds to a halt. And prices skyrocket.

Well: Ten or so days ago, the Trump Administration unilaterally started a war with Iran.

When not being unilaterally bombed, Iran produces a lot of oil. About 4.5% of the global supply (3.3 million barrels per day of crude - plus 1.3 million bpd of condensate and other liquids).

And Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz. Through which 25% of the world’s seaborne oil trade passes (about 20 million barrels per day).

Well, the US has been unilaterally bombing Iran’s petroleum infrastructure. (And in response, Iran has been bombing regional oil targets.)

So obviously the oil output of Iran - and the wider region - is a little off.

Iran is now also blockading the Strait. So the global oil supply is more than a little off.

Guess what oil prices have done?

Just before the war, oil prices were $70-$75 per barrel. As I type, they are $100-$105 per barrel. This represents a roughly 40-50% increase overall since the war started.

Let us now turn to the US. How much oil do we consume? About 20 million barrels per day.

Which means, conservatively, we are paying $600 million more per day for oil than we were on February 28 - the day we launched the war.

That’s around $18 billion more per month. $216 billion more per year.

And that’s if today’s oil prices - remain the prices going forward. Which we know they won’t.

Because we are being incessantly told “unconditional surrender” is the only war end that will be accepted. (For its part, Iran calls that “A dream you will take to your grave.”)

Want a bad case scenario?

We went for regime change in Afghanistan. Which is a MUCH less sophisticated, fortified and funded country than is Iran. Almost no oil - and what they do have is untapped. Lots of goats and mountains.

Afghanistan’s 2025 GDP? $15.61 billion. Iran’s 2025 GDP? $356.51 billion. So Afghanistan’s GDP is 1/23rd the size of Iran’s.

Afghanistan (251,827 square miles) is 2.5 times smaller than Iran (636,372 square miles). With about half the population (45 million people v Iran’s 93 million).

Well, we spent TWENTY YEARS - and $2.3 trillion - attempting to regime change Afghanistan.

When we got there? The Taliban was in charge.

When we left - two decades later? The Taliban was in charge.

Oh: And we’re still sending the Taliban $2.1 billion per year. At least.

Having learned absolutely nothing from Afghanistan? The US’s Deep State has decided to take on Iran.

In Iran? Twenty years will be only the beginning. With oil prices skyrocketing all along the way. So…gird your loins.

Which brings us back to our economy. Which is today facing an extra $216 billion per annum in oil costs. (And we will soon look back on today - as the good ole days.)

Which, again, will increase the costs of nigh everything everywhere.

Is our economy in spectacular shape? Prepared to absorb the petroleum body blow about to be delivered it?

Not even a little.

The U.S. Economy Grew at an Annualized Rate of 1.4% in the Fourth Quarter of 2025, Significantly Below Expectations

The economy added 130,000 jobs in January - but lost 92,000 in February.

And all those jobs numbers will soon be utterly irrelevant….

Microsoft AI Chief Gives It 18 Months - For All White-Collar Work to Be Automated by AI

Excellent news.

Have you heard of “The K-Shaped Economy?”:

“In a K-shaped recovery, different parts of the economy move in opposite directions at the same time following a recession or downturn. One segment - the upper arm of the K - experiences an increase in wealth due to rising asset values or incomes. The lower arm faces increasing financial strain due to declining purchasing power along with stagnating or decreasing wages.

“Together, these diverging paths form the image of a letter K on an economic chart, with one pointing upward, and the other slanting downward.”

The upward-trajectory arm of the K - is Wall Street. The downward-trajectory arm of the K - is Main Street. And it has been trending that way for decades.

In no small part because DC’s Big Government-Big Business cabal spent the last half-century-plus force converting the US into a 70% consumption economy. Which was an exceedingly stupid thing to have done.

It means We the People HAVE to keep spending. HUGE. CONSTANTLY. Or the whole house of (credit) cards comes crashing down.

How are We the Consumers doing?

A Strong Economy Doesn’t Have a Citizenry That Is $18.8 Trillion in Debt

That doesn’t sound good.

But surely we must be spending extravagantly on ridiculous luxuries, right? Not so much….

Americans Carry $1.21 Trillion in Credit Card Debt, with 73% Tied to Essentials and Median Interest Rates at 25.3%

And having loaded up our credit cards with essentials? We the Consumers have opened yet another debt vein - borrowing directly from retailers. To buy essentials.

More Than Half of Americans Are Using Layaway or Buy-Now-Pay-Later Programs to Cover Everyday Essentials

We the Consumers can’t even afford groceries. And now EVERYTHING is going to be dramatically more expensive - thanks to our Iran folly.

Now let’s turn back to our government.

We’ve already spent about $9.5 billion on the Iran war. About $1 billion per day.

And we ain’t seen nothing yet. Wait until boots start hitting the ground.

Is our government in spectacular economic shape? Prepared to absorb the Iran war body blow already being delivered it?

Not even a little.

The Road to $40 Trillion in Debt

Federal Deficits and Debt Will Worsen Over Next Decade

Medicare and Social Security Face $175 Trillion Shortfall

In case you were wondering? The combined debt and Medicare-Social Security shortfall - kills the country. All by itself.

Forget about ALL the other problems the nation faces. That alone is the ball game.

So it’s a good thing we’ve unilaterally started a war against a major oil producer.

In THE major oil producing region.

Because that will really grease the skids to extinction.

We emerge from a weekend which started with the Donald Trump Administration launching a war against Iran.

There have been debates for decades about the threat level Iran poses to the United States. (Which as Americans should be the only thing that actually matters.)

War proponents point to various attacks over the decades by Iran on our regional forces and civilians - and others from around the world. And to the 1979 Islamic revolution as the alleged birth of the problem.

They leave out the nigh-constant sanctions the US and other countries have imposed upon Iran. And the fact that the US has 800+ military bases strewn all over the planet - many surrounding Iran. Which isn’t threatening at all. Especially when we are using those bases to launch coups and engage in all sorts of other similar mischief.

And they always forget to mention the 1953 Iran coup we executed - that truly began this now-seven-decade saga.

Back to today: US opinion was 70-30 against prior to the war. We’ll see what it is going forward - but an initial poll shows a drop to 73-27 against.

I document all this to make a point. We spent DECADES debating what threat level Iran poses. (Which de facto proves they aren’t much of a threat, does it not? If we’ve had decades to debate it?)

That debate ultimately didn’t matter, unfortunately. Because the Administration went against the will of the vast majority of the American people.

(And the Administration didn’t get Constitution-mandated Congressional approval prior to launching. Again: Probably because the vast majority of the American people opposed.)

But at least We the People got to have a pretend say in what our government ultimately went and did against our will.

Which brings us to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Which is hurtling down the track like a runaway freight train.

We haven’t had decades to debate AI. We barely have days to do so now.

AI Is Developing So Fast It Is Becoming Hard to Measure

Thank goodness Congress is so spry and nimble. So as to be able to rapidly develop policy to deal with rapidly developing AI.

I kid. I’m a kidder.

The World Wide Web is now three decades old. The coin of that realm is our digital data. Big Tech monsters vacuum up everything about us - and sell us over and over again like lambs to the slaughter.

Why did data get to be so Internet dominant? Because three decades later - Congress STILL hasn’t passed ANY digital data privacy law limiting what the monsters can do with it. And the monsters always go where they are least impeded.

Heck, the last time Congress passed anything having anything substantive to do with the Internet was…1996. So we know that law is perfectly applicable to today’s Internet.

Why can’t Congress pass privacy law? Because Big Tech dominates DC - and Big Tech doesn’t want it. So DC doesn’t do it.

Big Tech certainly doesn’t want any AI law limiting what it is doing. So why should one have any hope Congress will do anything about AI? I certainly do not.

Meanwhile, AI is a cornucopia of AWFUL news.

18 Risks and Dangers of Artificial Intelligence

Five Ways AI Might Destroy the World: ‘Everyone on Earth Could Fall Over Dead in the Same Second’

Threats by Artificial Intelligence to Human Health and Human Existence

AI Industry Insiders Living in Fear of What They’re Creating

Developers Are Finding It Hard to Trust AI

Latest OpenAI Researcher to Quit Says He’s ‘Pretty Terrified’

‘A Feedback Loop With No Brake’: How an AI Doomsday Report Shook US Markets

AI Made Its Own Language and We Don’t Understand It

The AI Override Problem: When Systems Ignore Human Commands

AI Willing to Kill Humans to Avoid Being Shut Down

AI Chooses Nuclear Option in 95% of War Simulations

Mothers Say Chatbots Encouraged Their Sons to Kill Themselves

And until AI takes out humanity? It will be un-employing humanity.

Microsoft AI Chief Gives It 18 months - For All White-Collar Work to Be Automated by AI

The AI Robots Coming For Blue Collar Jobs

AI Mass Layoffs 2026

ALL of this AWFUL news - is just the tip of the digital iceberg set to sink us.

ALL of this AWFUL news - and what is Congress doing?

Congress Isn’t Stepping Up to Regulate AI

As Congress Lags, States Have Taken the Lead in Regulating the Emerging AI Industry

Why Lawmakers Aren’t Rushing to Police A.I.

Why, you ask? Because Big Tech dominates DC - and Big Tech doesn’t want it. So DC isn’t doing it.

We the People see all of this pronounced inaction? And are doing the only thing we can do to provide any resistance.

Big Tech’s Fast-Expanding Plans for Data Centers Are Running Into Stiff Community Opposition

Local Communities Are Blocking Data Centers and They’re Not Wrong

DC ignores ALL of this AWFUL AI news. And instead screeches at US:

“We must beat China to AI!!!”

Well - here’s a thought experiment:

“Say you hire a space alien government consultant.

“Who knows nothing about the planet’s current circumstances.

“And you tell him-her-it that your chief rival China is working on technology that will kill the jobs of at least half of their entire country’s population - in the next twelve months.

“And keeps threatening the mass extinction of humanity.

“Including 95% of the time recommending nuclear war.

“And keeps refusing to follow human commands.

“And develops languages we don’t understand - but other AIs do.

“Would the consultant say:

“(A) ‘We must develop that technology even faster than they are.’

“Or

“(B) ‘We must crack a round of beers and watch them take themselves out.’

“I’d bet all the money in my pockets he-she-it would say B.”

I’d bet you’d make the same bet as the me. And the alien.

And now I’d bet you’re wondering why DC is so spun up about Iran.

And not doing a thing about AI.

Starting in the 1970s, the United States government began STUPIDLY helping their Big Business cronies force convert US into a 70% consumption economy.

Which now means: For every $10 of US economic activity? $7 is spending money.

Which means ANY little economic hiccup - is DISASTROUS for the US economy.

And explains why anytime there is even a little hiccup? The US government’s response is to firehose money everywhere.

Because the US citizenry absolutely, positively CAN NOT stop spending. Even a little. Ever. Or the whole house of cards collapses.

The US is now a nation that makes…almost nothing. Big Gov helped Big Biz outsource our once-world-dominant manufacturing sector. Which was EXCEEDINGLY stupid.

There are a bunch of reasons the US economy has been imploding for decades. This is absolutely one of the biggest.

Long gone is the ability of the single-income-family to be able to afford a middle class life.

Now we have 31% of Gen Z who can’t afford to move out of their parents’ house.

Despite all of the idiocies to which we are subjected? Despite all of the evidence to the contrary? We are bizarrely told the US economy is doing great.

We are force fed almost-entirely-irrelevant economic numbers. To masquerade as evidence of economic success.

Like Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Which is actually irrelevant. It is only relevant - if you do GDP per capita:

“Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) is a metric that breaks down a country’s economic output per person and is calculated by dividing the GDP of a country by its population.”

Third World California eminently demonstrates the difference:

“California adding millions of poorly educated Third World immigrants has increased its GDP - but greatly retarded its GDP per capita. And thus its economy.”

California is the world’s fifth largest economy. Bigger alone - by no means means better.

Immigration-wise, the US has now long gone the way of California. We’ve grown the economy - while making it worse.

The #1 metric of an economy? And the only one that actually matters? Is: How are the citizens doing in that economy?

By that metric? The US economy is AWFUL.

The colloquial expression is “getting ahead.” Meaning: Are US citizens gaining ground in their lives?

Getting and keeping good jobs. That allow them to earn enough money to not just pay for all their life expenses - but to save for future life contingencies.

By that metric? The US economy is AWFUL.

They are absolutely NOT “getting ahead.” They are actually free-falling behind.

Record Household Debt: American Households Owe $18.8 Trillion

Well that doesn’t exactly sound like economic health:

“(M)ortgage debt compris(es) 70% of the total.”

That math means about $13.16 trillion. At an average interest rate of 6.6%.

And we know what a general disaster the US housing market is.

As mentioned above, nearly one-third of Gen Z can’t even get out of their parents’ houses. Let alone rent a place. Let alone BUY a place.

The average age of a first time home buyer is now 40 years old. A 30-year mortgage means working at least five years past the traditional retirement age. (President Donald Trump’s 50-year mortgage is a ridiculous non-starter.)

And yet another major impediment to home ownership? Hedge funds are buying up entire neighborhoods at a time. With above-asking-price, all-cash offers.

How is the average person supposed to compete with that?

Low existing mortgage rates have locked up much of the market. Because those note holders don’t want to sell - and then buy at a much higher rate.

Which only further exacerbates the hedge fund problem.

Now, let’s look at some other debts, shall we?

Speaking of houses: If you’re fortunate enough to have one? You are probably borrowing against its equity.

The Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) debt stands at $433 billion. With an average interest rate of 7.86%. Which is 1.1% higher than the average mortgage rate.

But there is oh-so-much non-home debt Americans are carrying.

Total credit card debt? $1.28 trillion. Or $6,523 per person. Average interest rate? 20.97%.

Total car loan debt? $1.67 trillion. The average new car loan is $43,759. The average used car loan is $28,675. The average loan duration? 70 months - almost seven years. Average loan interest rate? 10.86% for new - 11.11% for used.

Speaking of Gen Z: Total student loan debt? $1.833 trillion. Average per person? $40,800. Average interest rate? 6.39% for undergraduates - 7.94% for graduate students.

And then there are the delinquencies and defaults.

4.26% of home loans are delinquent. 0.13% are in foreclosure (but that number is rising substantially of late).

But as I can attest after my mortgaged house was destroyed by Hurricane Irma? Banks REALLY don’t want a ton of owned houses on their books. They don’t want to be realtors.

Plus with many of the loans placed into Mortgage Backed Securities (MBSs) - it’s difficult to unwind the loans on which they might like to foreclose.

So banks often renegotiate again and again - rather than foreclosing.

The HELOC delinquency rate is 0.82%. The default rate is even more minuscule.

All of which proves the old adage: People will forgo paying all their other bills - before not paying on their home.

Speaking of which:

12.3% of credit card debts are delinquent. 4.8% are in default.

4.8% of car loans are delinquent. 8% are in default.

25% of student loans are delinquent. Default student loans don’t really exist - because federal law makes it nigh impossible to rid oneself of a student loan even by declaring bankruptcy.

Now: After reading all of these debt dollar amounts - and their very many delinquencies and defaults?

If you still think the economy is good? And you still think the GDP is an accurate assessor of the economy?

You really should quit show business.