Tate Watkins retweeted
Freedom was yesterday in this country. Its value has been discounted. The only freedom we truly crave today is freedom from Dumbness.
Tate Watkins retweeted
Thanks to Trump, American manufacturers pay $5000 a ton for aluminum. US global competitors pay $3000 / ton. About one-quarter of the aluminum (formerly) sold in the US (used to) come from Canada. Trump has single-handedly engineered an artificial aluminum shortage.
Trump announces 50 percent tariff increase on Canada for vehicles, steel after trade talks collapse dlvr.it/TV8V8d
Tate Watkins retweeted
US president, Ronald Reagan, and Canadian Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, in 1988. Later that year, Reagan said: “Our peaceful trading partners are not our enemies; they are our allies. We should beware of the demagogs who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends—weakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free world—all while cynically waving the American flag."
Tate Watkins retweeted
I preferred it when yield curve control didn't involve the military, but perhaps mine is a radical position.
Tate Watkins retweeted
We've done this to ourselves, America. The 4-hour lines at the airport. The surging gas prices, and other rising prices to follow. The $200 billion and counting tab for our latest Middle Eastern adventure, piled on to of the $39 trillion in debt. Amazing national self-sabotage.
Chaos at PHL International airport right now😳😳several TSA checkpoints are closed @FOX29philly
Tate Watkins retweeted
The dimensions of what we have fucked up in this country are beyond any coherent explanation. It’s beyond any reasonable rage and almost beyond despair—in words, at any rate.
Tate Watkins retweeted
Some perspective: The S&P opened down -1.3% on Trump's Greenland saber-rattling. That's $750 billion of wealth destroyed -- roughly equal to estimates of the value of Greenland.
And so ~in dollar terms~ his shenanigans have already cost the US one Greenland, and we've got nothing to show for it.
Tate Watkins retweeted
Trump has it backwards. The U.S. doesn’t subsidize the world; the world subsidizes the U.S. The dollar’s reserve-currency status allows us to live beyond our means. Soaring debt, tariffs, and military threats jeopardize that status. When it’s lost, economic collapse will follow.
Drive the healthcare wedge now!! The contrast is stark. Your healthcare costs are doubling while this administration is spending your money occupying a foreign country in our hemisphere. He doesn’t care about you. He cares about hemispheric dominance.
Tate Watkins retweeted
Everyone is watching the chip war.
Nobody is watching the power war.
That’s the trap.
China’s power grid: 3.9 terawatts
America’s power grid: 1.3 terawatts
Read that again.
China has 3x the electrical capacity of the United States.
They added more power generation between 2010-2024 than the rest of the world combined.
Right now:
→ China: 30 nuclear reactors under construction
→ United States: Zero
China’s data centers pay 3¢ per kilowatt-hour.
Virginia—America’s AI heartland—pays 9¢.
That’s not a gap.
That’s a structural execution.
Here’s what nobody will say publicly:
AI doesn’t run on chips.
AI runs on electricity.
The chip is the brain.
The grid is the blood supply.
You can design the most advanced GPU on Earth.
If you can’t power a million of them cheaply, you lose.
Goldman Sachs projects China will have 400 gigawatts of spare capacity by 2030.
That’s triple the entire projected global AI power demand.
They’re not building for today.
They’re building for the decade when AI scales 1000x.
My prediction (bookmark this):
By July 2026, the first major US tech company will announce an AI facility in a foreign country citing “power constraints” as the primary driver.
That headline will be the moment America realizes:
We didn’t lose the AI race in silicon.
We lost it in kilowatts.
The century belongs to whoever can keep the lights on.
China is dominating the worldwide race for power:
China now has a record 3.75 terawatts of power generation capacity.
That capacity has doubled over the last 8 years.
This is nearly 3 TIMES more than the US, which has ~1.30 terawatts of capacity.
Furthermore, China has 34 nuclear reactors under construction, more than the next 9 countries combined.
Nearly 200 other reactors are planned or proposed.
At the same time, there are currently no large commercial nuclear reactors under construction in the US.
The US must act now to keep up with China.
I think this kind of contrast is very useful. When we see billions being spent, it's hard to understand the true cost to each individual. $36 is very easy to understand. For the cost of half a tank of gas, we make sure those less fortunate than ourselves don't go w/o food.
The latest spin on Food Stamps getting paused while the govt is shutdown (food stamps increase food prices) tells one that R pols know they can open the govt but won’t. R pols fear being blamed for the shutdown and need to spin it towards the issue of EBT’s existence at all.
Tate Watkins retweeted
Changing the rules to get rid of companies reporting quarterly earnings is a bad idea whose time should never come. Accountability and transparency have been key to the success of America’s capital markets. Frequent accountability and substantial sharing of information have been central to that. Whenever I hear a CEO saying they don’t want to deal with quarterly earnings, I think of my students who don’t want to have to deal with grades.
bloomberg.com/news/videos/20…
Tate Watkins retweeted
I visited Norway earlier this year. Leaders told me they had initially favored a US bid for the frigates. Trump's comments about "kill switches" alarmed Norwegians that the US was no longer a trustworthy supplier of equipment to defend Norway against Trump's friends in Russia.
Norway selects British-made frigates to beef up maritime defence in $13.5 bln deal reut.rs/4g4FXfu reut.rs/4g4FXfu
Tate Watkins retweeted
So Trump put the national guard on 29 day orders?!
Why does this matter: They don’t pay full housing allowance and no health insurance until 30 days.
What an abusive commander in chief. So Trump
Tate Watkins retweeted
Norway cancels plans for purchase of US ships after seeing Trump admin turn off Ukraine's weapons abilities remotely, orders $13.5 billion in UK built ships.
Norway selects British-made frigates to beef up maritime defence in $13.5 bln deal reut.rs/4g4FXfu reut.rs/4g4FXfu
Tate Watkins retweeted
Don't say "birthing person."
Don't say "incarcerated person."
Don't say "the unhoused."
Don't say "chest feeding."
Don't say "centering.
Don't say "Latinx."
When voters hear this, they think Democrats are out of touch crazy people. Just talk normal. Be normal.
