I posted this video last month:
In it, I suggested:
Donald Trump is planning to starve the beast. The beast in question is, of course, the US government, and what he's trying to do is starve it of taxation revenues.
As I explained, he was going to do this by cutting the staffing at the Internal Revenue Service, the tax authority of the US Federal government.
This was already astonishingly small, at 100,000 people. But now the New York Times has reported:
About 22,000 employees at the Internal Revenue Service have signed up for the Trump administration's latest resignation offer, according to four people familiar with the matter, an exodus that could weaken the agency's ability to collect taxes.
They added:
The I.R.S. had about 100,000 employees before President Trump took office. Roughly 5,000 employees have resigned since January, and an additional 7,000 probationary employees were laid off, though those firings have been contested in court.
This means that around 34,000 people might be leaving the IRS, or around one in three of its staff.
No organisation can remain effective with such an exodus of staff.
Nor will there be sufficient people left to both do the job and to train any new arrivals.
Trump and Musk are delivering chaos for the US tax system, a breakdown in US federal tax revenues, and a threat to the funding cycle (note I use that term: this is not a threat to funding, per se, but it is to the macroeconomic funding cycle) of US federal government activities that tariffs will not be able to replace. It is quite likely that inflation might be fuelled as a result.
My forecast has turned out to be true. Trump is trying to starve the beast, and it looks like he will be so successful that he might actually kill it.
The far-right, who have created Trump's policy agenda, might be very excited by this, in the short term. I am sure that having their fantasies fulfilled will give them dopamine highs to match those that other drugs provide. But, the reality is that the USA can't survive without a federal government, and so without a functioning IRS.
The descent into chaos is continuing, as forecast, and at pace.
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An Old Roman tag-those whom the gods wish to destroy , they first make mad.
Many people seem to be convinced that he’s literally going mental. Senility used a lot at school yesterday amongst my colleagues.
I’ve certainly given up trying to find any sense in him.
Trump seems to think the federal income tax can be replaced by tariffs (although as I hear it, whatever the current Trump tariffs are meant to be, and they have changed so often it is hard to keep up or work out how they interact, many of them are not actually being collected yet). That would take the US back to a time before the Sixteenth Amendment was passed in 1913. Before the substantial increase in US military spending during and after the world wars, before social security and retirement pensions were introduced in the 1930s, before Medicare and Medicaid in the 1950s and 1960s. And before, it has to be said, huge changes in the treatment of women and non-white people. That is the “golden age” to which King Donald wishes to return. When rich white men like him subjugated everyone else.
Agreed, entirely
“Wreck it to rob it” Biden said that’s what they are doing in a speech the other day in Chicago. He was referring to the social security system but they can’t make $4.5 trillion from that alone.
That this is a coup by America’s rich is manifestly axiomatic to me. It is typically American – brash and in your face but refreshingly without any pretence.
OTOH, the coup we here in the UK have got in the form of Stymied’s Labour has had a long gestation since 1979, so English, so sly, disingenuous and expertly handled by liars, facilitated by the corrupt, driven by the sort of people that made the old Empire if you ask me, bringing all their talents and methods home.
The mantra from the capital order to the British people is ‘Thou shalt pay: for everything’.
There are those who will wish for this to happen, but I very much think that they have no idea what the consequences will be.
It feels like the metaphorical dog chasing the car. They really want to get rid of tax and benefits but should it happen they have no plan for the result.
Worrying times indeed…
It seems that British high street banks are colluding with Trumpism, making out his cabal has some justifiable rationale behind it, rather than a coup by the super rich with fascistic anti democratic consequences.
Take this from Santanders recent message to investors, playing down the real intent behind the Trump regime…
“The global tariffs implemented by Donald Trump have undoubtedly introduced
a new dynamic into the world of investments. While the immediate impacts may seem daunting, understanding the reasons behind these tariffs and
their potential short-term implications can empower investors to make
informed decisions.
By maintaining a calm and strategic approach, investors
can navigate these turbulent waters and position themselves for long-term
success in the ever-evolving global market.”
That is bullshit