[ExI] Trump suggests letting Iran ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> 
Sent: Saturday, 10 October, 2026 7:30 AM
To: spike at rainier66.com
Cc: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>; ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Subject: Re: [ExI] Trump suggests letting Iran ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego

 

On Sat, Oct 10, 2026 at 1:40 AM <spike at rainier66.com <mailto:spike at rainier66.com> > wrote:

 

> The alternative to cutting the federal budget is the federal budget will cut us. 

 

>…Yeah yeah, Republicans have been singing that exact same song for well over 150 years….

 

The problem is that the republicans are not singing that song at all.  I don’t see any indication there are any serious budget hawks left in the party.  That’s why I am not in that party.  

 

>… although the singing only gets really loud when a Democrat is the president…

 

Presidents don’t do the budget.  Congress does.

 

>…Donald says if the Republicans remain in control of both the House and the Senate….

 

Don’t worry, they won’t.  I am ready to bet heavily against that outcome.  I predict about 80% chance the house will change hands, and more than 60% chance the senate will as well.  This is a good thing.

 

>…he will give….

 

He will not give.  Presidents don’t write the checks.  Congress does.

 

>…everybody in the country $5000. Where do you suppose he will get the money to do that? 

 

John K Clark

 

He will not.

 

I think the 5K business is a bad idea that congress will not approve.  I will grant that a flat payment to every taxpayer helps the very poor more than it hurts the very rich, but it  causes collateral damage.

 

We can’t extrapolate from past history that federal budget deficits don’t matter.  The reason they do matter is that never before in history has interest on the existing debt become the dominant cost in government, not even after a major war.

 

If AI doesn’t kill everybody, that growing debt poses a grave danger to the USA.

 

spike

 

 

 

 

 

 

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