Kleptocracy does not “trickle down”

From the Washington Post today:

“Just one year into Trump’s second term, the deregulation effort remains a work in progress. Tangible gains are unlikely before Election Day. But administration officials are increasingly confident that their economic plan is delivering.
“We’re happy to own this,” Bessent said on a recent Politico podcast. “I think 2026 is going to be a great year and I think the Republican Party is happy to run on the economy [into the ground].” [My addition]

The goal is to either to anger or to make giddy, but never to help anyone be sober.

The economic gains will not “trickle down” beyond the investment class. Hundreds of thousands of well-paid experienced workers are being replaced by lower-paid workers being told to use AI tools they don’t completely understand. Mortgage interest rates continue to make owning a home only a dream. Government services for the most fragile are being slashed and the proceeds are being funneled into beefing up a police state that kills citizens who demand their rights.

A new class of data center robber barons are emerging to make it appear statistically that communities are wealthy. The homeless are still homeless.

My ask: Vote for political and economic sobriety in August and November my Democrat and Republican friends.

Our future is not based the next quarter’s corporate gains, but on our sensibility as neighbors who care for each other.

We don’t need to run “hot” or even run at all. We must stand our ground for democracy and economic justice, and not an outside chance at gaining scraps from the spoils of kleptocracy.

https://wapo.st/4ruDmji