King Donald's War, Part 6. The Dunce in Chief and the The Four with Conscience. The Lions Lead by the Yappy Chihuahua Edition.

Rufus T. Firefly: Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot, but don't let that fool you: he really is an idiot.

Duck Soup. 

Trump doing is signature creepy old guy dance..

June 4, 2026

Tom Barrett of Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Warren Davidson of Ohio and Thomas Massie of Kentucky crossed party lines to vote with Democrats in favor of the resolution to end the illegal assault on Iran.

The measure goes on to the Senate.  We'll see what happens there, as Trump's stabbed some Senators in the back, and they're ready to gut him like a fish now.

The action of the Senators is based on conscience.  I believe its the right one, but it also serves to remind us that we're now in an incredibly bad spot in regard to the war against Iran, and in the Middle East in general.

It should have been obvious to anyone that decapitating the Iranian regime would not lead to a liberal democracy.  The Iranian people have no real ability to overthrow their government and when they tried before the war, after we urged it, they were mowed down.  It's the IRGC that has the guns.  

When the July 20 plotters mapped out their attempt to kill Hitler, in the attempt that almost worked, it involved wiping out the Nazi state.  The idea wasn't just to kill Hitler, but to remove the Nazis in every form.  Men like Himmler, Goebbels and Goering would have ended up against a wall had the plot succeeded.  Removing those in the seat of power just opens up a vacuum for those positions to be filled.  Moreover, in the Iranian case, they'd planned for such eventualities, which we should have known as prior selective US assassinations didn't change the direction of the regime at all.

Moreover, the regime has no place to go.  It's not as if they can walk out of their offices retire to cabbage farms.   They have to remain in power.  Like the German SS in 1945, the IRGC has no place to go.  It has to keep the regime in power.

All of this is obvious.

It was likewise obvious that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz and that would so severely disrupt the world's petroleum supplies that it would actually boost the move to green energy, although people still have really awakened to that reality.

And it should have been obvious that those advocating for the war had ulterior agendas.  Israel doesn't care about U.S. global considerations and is well aware that the U.S. is a declining power.  Convincing a weak minded Trump to go to war with Iran was completely in its interest, and it doesn't care about considerations about defending Taiwan or South Korea.

Pete Hegseth and the pack of far right wing Evangelical would be Crusaders don't care what this will cost.  In the view of those in that minoritarian group of American Protestants, a big war will bring on the end of the world and the return of Christ, now.  They don't worry about the Just War Theory, as their convinced this is a Divinely ordained mission.

And, it's obvious right now, that the Iranian regime can in fact outwait Trump and its doing it.  

The war can only come to an end in one of two ways.  We quit, and leave the mess we created as it is, which is a complete and total defeat, or we undertake a largescale ground invasion.  Those are the only two options.

The second one leaves open the question of should a country pursue a victory against a legitimate enemy when the war started illegally.  It's only a hypothetical question, however, as Trump, who was so stupid as to believe the war would end in a few days, does not have the stomach for that.  That really would cause there to be a vote on the war and he knows he'd loose it.

That means the only other option for ending the war is simply leaving, which is a complete defeat.  Trump also can't bring himself to do that, as he can't stand the thought that he is what he is, a loser.

So, Trump's option will be increasingly just to ignore the war.  He basically just hopes it will go away.  In the meantime, like Hitler in the bunker, he plays with models of a reimagined gaudy capital city.

And increasingly look like this to the world.

June 8, 2026

Iran launched something on the order of thirty ballistic missiles on Israel today, and Israel retaliated with air strikes on Iran.

Israel also hit sites in Lebanon.

June 9, 2026

Iran shot down a U.S. helicopter, the US retaliated with airstrikes

Iran hit a U.S. airbase in eastern Jordan with ballistic missiles.

June 11, 2026

The IRGC has announced its shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.

Pete Hegseth is at Guantanamo Bay being a blowhard.

Last edition:

King Donald's War, Part 5. Quagmire. The $25,000,000,000 and thirteen American lives later, "So we (but not Donald) were in Vietnam for 18 years. Iraq, many, many years....I've been doing this for...six weeks" Edition.

Labels: Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump, Gallipoli, Ignorance, Iran, Israel, King Donald's War, Pete Hegseth, Petroleum, Saudi Arabia, Straits of Hormuz, U.S. Navy, United States, United States and Israel v. Iran, War

Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 6. The screwworm edition.

Exports of petroleum products and capital goods jumped to record highs reducing the U.S. trade deficit. 

The capital goods item is interesting and I haven't seen it explained. That is a positive trend, if sustainable. The oil exportation one is not as it depletes a diminishing resource at the expense of U.S. consumers. A lot of it seems to be related to AI exports, which isn't necessarily good, aircraft production, and war related purchases.  If all that is correct, it won't be sustainable at the current levels, probably.

Screwworms have reappeared in Texas after a sixty year hiatus.  The Trump administration is blaming the Biden Administration, as that's its default thing to do, but the Trumpistas lifted protections that were in place and allowed importation of Mexican cattle via ports in a probable attempt to lower beef prices. This is likely to have the opposite effect.  It's a more likely cause, although there were concerns about animals moving across the border illegally during the Biden Administration.

Mexico itself was screwworm free as of 1991.  Somehow that got reversed one way or another, and now the problem is back.  Given that, it probably was coming back no matter what.  It is a major crisis.

Nobody has cited the weather, but it is spread by a fly, and that may very well have resulted to the spread of the flies range.

Inflation is up to 4.2%.

cont:

Reporter: Are you concerned, Mr. President, about the latest inflation number which came out this morning?

Trump: No, I love it. I love the inflation.

Johnson is already saying that's not what he meant.

Last edition:

Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 4. Economics in the Dementia Ward.

Labels: Distributism, Donald Trump, Economics, Petroleum, Subsidiarity, Taxes, The Law of Unintended Consequences, The Second Trump Administration, Wyoming, Wyoming's boom and bust economy, Yeoman's Fourth Law of History

King Donald's War, Part 5. Quagmire. The $25,000,000,000 and thirteen American lives later, "So we (but not Donald) were in Vietnam for 18 years. Iraq, many, many years....I've been doing this for...six weeks" Edition.

 

King Donny before he was a national embarrassment, and just working on being a family one.

April 30, 2026

Secretary of Defense Hegseth testified the war had cost the US $25B so far.

We clearly have absolutely no idea how to get out of it or win it.

May 1, 2026

Iran responded to King Donny's threats to ramp up the war on Iran, now in a ceasefire, with threats of their own.

They seemed rather unimpressed by Donny.

Donny's administration says it doesn't have to comply with the sixty day provision of the War Powers Act due to the ceasefire.

May 3, 2026

Iran sent the US a fourteen point peace plan.  

May 4, 2026

The U.S. rejected Iranian peace proposals and is now going to escort ships through the Straits of Hormoz.  Iran threatened to strike the ships and has already claimed to have hit a U.S. Navy craft with missiles, which the U.S. denies.

cont:

Iran attacked ships in the straits today with small surface vehicles and it resumed drone strikes on the UAE.

May 6, 2026

Yesterday was Taco Tuesday, and so we have this headline from the Tribune.

Well of course we do.  Trump's an ignorant man with extremely limited world experience with a cabinet of sycophants.  This was a war run by ignoramuses.

Trump paused his latest version of the illegal war with his escort program in the Straits of Hormuz.  We have no way out of the war that anyone in D.C. grasps.

The US has clearly and absolutely lost this war, not succeeding in a single one of its objectives.  At this point, absent ground operations, this is humiliating US defeat, worse than the loss in Vietnam.

May 7, 2026

Taco's flip on the most recent operation is because Saudi Arabia denied the US use of its airspace.

It seems to be the case that Taco didn't inform the kingdom of the operation before coming up with it.

cont:

So, now we're hitting targets in Iran again, the war we won several weeks ago, and which was definitely over before we started blockading Iran.

Compared to this, the Allied landings at Gallipoli in World War One were an absolutely stunning success.

May 10, 2026

Headline from the CST:

Let's be honest, the Administration is incompetent.  Governed by flaky theories, linked to a romantic image of the past in more ways than one, and headed by a person with dementia.  Of course it's no closer to an end.

The US sent a counter proposal to Iran. They haven't replied.

What is new is that the UK and France are deploying ships to the region in anticipation of using them to keep shipping lanes open.

We'll remind everyone once again that this war is completely illegal, and Trump should be impeached and removed from office for the illegality.

May 11, 2026

Iran's counter proposal was rejected by the US.

May 18, 2026

The UAE was hit by drones yesterday, and an attempt was made on Saudi Arabia.

Donald Trump warned Iran it was running out of time.

The New York Times informed readers that Israel had constructed a secret base over a period of a year in Iraq for the war.

May 19, 2026

Trump threatened Iran with massive devastation and then called it off claiming that regional states asked him to. 

Whatever.

The ignoramus has backed himself and the entire country into a corner and has no idea what to do.

May 20, 2026

Aided by a defecting Bill Cassidy and some other defecting Republicans who finally decided they weren't a complete pack of cowardly little sissies, Congress advanced a War Powers bill.

This isn't the same as voting on it, they're just advancing it so it can be voted on. Still, it's a blow to the Big Sissie.

May 24, 2026

Contrary to what reports are holding, no lasting solution to the conflict with Iran has been reached, particularly in regard to the nuclear material.

We appear to be on our way to something no better than what Trump ripped up in the form of what President Obama had negotiated.

And he didn't have to kill a bunch of Iranian school girls to get it.

May 26, 2026

Americans are waking up the news of more war in the war that Trump said he'd already won and a couple of days ago said a deal was close to ending.

These strikes were on missile locations and boat launching sites.

May 28, 2026

Iran retaliated with an attempted strike on a US base in Kuwait.

Trump threatened to "blow up" Oman, a US ally, if it didn't cooperate on the Strait of Hormuz.

Israel declared a swath of Lebanon a "combat zone".

And with the entry demonstrating Trump's insanity, we will close out this issue.

May 29, 2026

Iran and the US agreed to a ceasefire extension involving opening the Strait of Hormuz and starting nuclear weapons talks.

June 1, 2026

The U.S. and Iran exchanged strikes yesterday, and Iran's civil government announced it was completely yielding to the Revolutionary Guard.

Israel pushed deeper into Lebanon.

cont:

Iran is withdrawing from peace talks.  Donald Trump claims he doesn't care.

June 2, 2026

From this afternoon.

Seems like a good place to start a new entry on a war that was only going to last a few days and which Trump has repeatedly told us all is over.

Last edition:

King Donald's War, Part 5. After 13/15 U.S. deaths, Hundreds of Iranian deaths, $50B spent fighting it, and a massive increase in the price of oil, King Donny surrenders to the Iranians. The "If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied" edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, F. E. Warren AFB, Food, Hypocrisy, Iran, Israel, King Donald's War, Lebanon, Lies, Sic transit Gloria Mundi, Straits of Hormuz, Trump Derangement Syndrome, United States, United States and Israel v. Iran, War

Una más, por favor. An illegal war with Cuba, 1.ª Edición.

21 de mayo de 2026

Having not really completed anything meaningful with Venezuela, other than having tasted blood and developing fondness for it, and having gotten us into an endless war with Iran we're losing, King Donny the Mad is about to launch a war against Cuba, starting with a claim that Raul Castro, age 94, must be brought to justice over a US civilian aircraft that was shot down by the Cubans in 1996.

Oh horse poop.

Some in Demented Donnie's administration have been drooling over a chance to attack Cuba since the easily manipulated narcissist illegitimately moved back into the Oval Office.  Military action against Cuba has been a desire of displaced Cubans and their descendants in the US since 1959.  If the US attacked the island and removed the government, Lil' Marco would claim it as a victory attributable to him, one way or another, in the 2028 Presidential campaign he's clearly running in.

That's part of the problem.  Influential "Republicans" (there are no real Republicans left anymore) like Marco and the Robot Ted Cruz would do anything for a Cuba Libre other than actually live in Cuba.

Of course, with this administrations lust for territorial acquisition, as desire expressed by some imperialist Republicans going into the Spanish American War, the annexation of Cuba with the goal of making it a state, would be the more likely goal in the short term.  If Trump, or Marco, pulled that off, the irony would be that it would be solidly Democratic and admitting Puerto Rico as a state would happen immediately thereafter.

Probably the only thing that's really been holding this up has been the commitment of forces to Iran, where Iran is deploying Muhammed Ali's old "rope a dope" strategy and refusing to surrender even though King Donny assures us he won and the war is over.  Actually defeating Iran will require a ground invasion that even Donny, who can choke down killing schoolgirls, can't seem to muster up the will for and which the American public doesn't want.  The war itself has already achieved a level of unpopularity matched by that of the Vietnam War after Tet.

But, the thought is, this will go better. . . or at least Cuban Americans will like the result.

The threats against Castro started a couple of days ago.  Within the last twenty four hours China, which Trump went to and acted like a orphaned puppy, has warned the US to knock it off.

May 22, 2026

The future of Cuba belongs to the people of Cuba is terms of how they're governed, what the system looks like and so forth, but the national security threat, that's 100% something we're going to focus on because that's about America.

Marco Rubio.

What crap.  

Cuba has been a Communist country since 1959 when Fidel Castro overthrow the authoritarian government there (it wasn't obvious he was Communist at first).

They have not attacked us since then. 

We have, however, effectively attacked them, landing Cuban contras there in 1961.

Rubio knows this, however.  His parents were immigrants from Cuba who came over before the 1959 revolution, and who actually planned on returning to the country before the Communist nature of the revolution became apparent.

And that's part of the problem here. Cuban Americans are never going back to Cuba, but they imagine Cuba Libre with the same zeal as Irish Americans imagined a Republican Ireland.  In the latter case, that unthinking zeal helped contribute to decades of strife in Ireland, and here it's contributed to decades of misery in Cuba.

Efforts to force a political change in Cuba should have ceased in 1961 when John F. Kennedy withdrew air support for the Cuban contras.  There was no good reason at all other than anger not to normalize economic relations with Cuba at least by the early 1980s.  That's what we should do now.

Ho Chi Minh wouldn't recognize Communism in Vietnam today and, if transported from wherever his soul went to, he's be convinced that South Vietnam had won the war and reformed itself.  If we weren't keeping Cuba on the trophy shelf of failures, the same would be true for Cuba.

But we live in a dangerous age.  Donald Trump is desperately searching for something for Americans to remember him by (and we certainly have plenty to recall right now).  Marco Rubio has the misplaced child of immigrants probable loyalty to an imaginary paradise or imaginary would be paradise.

We're cruising right back into Havana's harbor where every American military adventure to date has been a disaster.

Remember the Maine.

China is Closing In on Taiwan.

With China having just been visited by our extraordinarily weak, and increasingly demented chief executive, this really bears watching.

Trump's illegal war on Iran has depleted US weapons reserves massively and wasted them on hard ground targets, something military analysts know is ineffective.  We have less of an ability to counter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan now than at any point since. . . well. . . probably 1947.

The likelihood of it happening his high.

The likelihood of Trump doing utterly nothing if it does happen is also high.

In 1949, when mainland China fell to the Communists, Republicans howled over "who lost China?"  In 2026 or 2027 when Taiwan falls, they'll probably just kneel to their beloved, Donald Trump.

The question will be, why?

 

Just War 101: Catholic Teaching for a Dangerous Moment

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 133d Edition. What happened to that Board of Peace?

The Trump Administration breaks down crying and asks for help from adults.

The Trump administration is desperately seeking UN intervention in the war it started as the US is on the verge of a complete defeat in the war with Iran.

Remember the much vaunted and completely absurd Board of Peace that Trump rolled out when he liked to pretend he was a peacemaker?  The countries that joined were Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Egypt, El Salvador, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Mongolia, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Ask them for help. . . 

Go ahead Marco, call them up. . .

Go ahead, have him do it.

Yesterday the Trump Administration rolled back into existence the Presidential Fitness Test which Eisenhower had put into effect in 1956 and Obama did away with in 2012, replacing it with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program.  Trump can't have anying Obama. . . like a peace deal with Iran that dealt with nuclear stuff . . anyhow.  . .

Secretary of Batshit Crazy Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. made a joke about Trump being able to do a fifty mile hike and Trump joked back that he could do it.

Go ahead.  Let's see him manage that. . . 

Mass Mailings

We've been getting tons of political mass mailings from three candidates.  I noted that here:

And we have this:

Gray, Rasner, Friess All Send Out Mass Mailers — And They’re Very Trumpy

Yes, they are.  They're frankly really irritating.

All three of these candidates essentially have the same message. They love Trump as only Trump loves Trump. They love Trump more than Trump's children love Trump.  They love Trump more than Melania, assuming of course that she loves Trump.  

Trump retains a hold on the minds of MAGA and the GOP has descended into the Party of Trump.  There really aren't real Republicans anymore.  As I've noted here already, there's a really good chance that after November the GOP will simply cease to exist.

But is being more Trump, than Trump, a liability in Wyoming?  I guess we'll see.

Not that the mailings are all identical.  Gray's just asserts his Trumpiness.  Rasner, who has a MAGA truckers cap J.B. Welded to his head, takes shots at Gray.  Freiss mostly accidentally shows himself to be super rich and not really knowing what, or where, Wyoming actually is.

Anyhow, the mass mailers are so irritating I took a little time to see if I could return them to senders.  The USPS Reddit, which isn't an official page, makes it clear that would be pointless. They just throw them away.  The topic really irritates mail carriers, as they'd rather you just throw them away yourself.  I can see their point.

Apparently a lot of people just throw them on the ground, which really irritates mail carriers also

What do we know about these guys?

It's occurred to me that Wyomingites have been voting for people they know absolutely nothing about.

This isn't true about candidates from other states.  We know all about Colorado's BoBo and Alaska's Peltola.  Why don't we know more about these people who claim to have all these super duper values that are supposed to reflect the state's?

Take Gray for example  Next to nothing about him is publicly known.  He could be robbing liquor stores on his off hours and we wouldn't know.

All we know about him is he grew up near Los Angeles and graduated from high school there in 2008, after he went to Wharton, where based on the economic example of Donald Trump, who also graduated from Wharton, must educate its students with Archie cartoons.  He spent his summers in Wyoming growing up, and when he graduated from Wharton, he went right to work for his father's radio station where he broadcast political babble.  That's pretty darned close to never having had to work in the real world.  He rose to his current position by barely beating Tara Nethercott for the Secretary of State by constant hystericaly spewing of lies.

He was a founding member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus which was heavily funded by out of state and rich carpetbagger money.  I know that he's a Catholic, but only because when he lived in Casper I'd see him at Mass on odd occasion.  My presumption is that he regularly attended Mass, although I don't know that.  He went to a different parish than I do.  Frankly, if I'd been a parish priest, I'd have called him out for lying.

He's unmarried at age 36 and nobody is ever mentioned as a love interest.  Maybe he has one.  For all I know he could be dating AoC.  But the question is never asked.  It should be, as being unmarried at 36 is frankly odd and we have a right to know if people are personally living up to their declared political values.  It's one thing if he's so dedicated to work, or whatever, that he doesn't have time for gals.  Maybe he just isn't interested, some percentage of people, a small number, aren't.  But if on the other hand he hangs out with the dancers from The Clown's Den every night, and I'm in no way suggesting he is, we ought to be so informed.

Press, you aren't doing your job.

We don't know much about Reid Rasner either, although the fact that he keeps suing people for defamation (and people have said some awful things about him) has revealed a little.  In one suit he admitted, if "admission" is the correct word, to being a homosexual.  In the suits he's filed he's taken grave exception to being accused of molestation of somebody below 18, or molesting anyone, and I don't blame him a bit for that.  I suspect that some people just believe that every homosexual does things like that, which is certainly not the case, but suspecting such a thing is just flat out wrong.  The suits therefore make sense, although its really risky for a politician.  He's some sort of investment businessman.  So all in all, we know a lot more about him than we do Gray, which is really odd.  I don't like his politics at all, but the fact that he's been open about these things is really to his credit.

With both of these candidates what we don't know is if their mailing appearance matches anything about them in real life.  Chuck likes to wear Western cut wool shirts now, but he looks really uncomfortable appearing that way.  His button-down and blue blazer looked a lot more natural.  He's been videoed on oilfield locations, where he's never worked, and on a four wheeler, which looks unnatural to him.

Rasner likes to be photographed with firearms.  So does Freiss.  But do they really use them?   Maybe, but do we really know that?

Freiss, I'd note, is another one.  His father was a super wealthy carpetbagger and he seems to be the same.  Go home, carpetbagger.

Balow, who is the best candidate so far, is from Laramie.  As already noted, Gray is a carpetbagger from California.  Rasner is from Casper.  She was a career educator who took over as Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction after the disastrous Cindy Hill, who brought full blown batshit into that office.  Balow held that office and then took the same one in Virginia, where the position is (sensibly) appointed.  People have held that against here here, which is really ironic.  If that's bad, Brent Bien ought to be exiled to the far side of the moon.

We know a lot more about Hageman, Barrasso, Lummis and Gordon, although I'd even question that to some extent.  There's some questions I'd ask Hageman and Barrasso which I think are legitimate, but which just aren't done.

Anyhow, Press, why don't you tell us something about these people?  You report on them so little, that it's honestly the case that a triple ax murderer could move into Wyoming.

Or maybe it doesn't matter.  

Last edition:

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 132nd Edition. Voting with their feet

Labels: Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump, Denmark, Education, emigration, Europe, Finland, Iceland, Ignorance, Immigration, It was because of the Cold War, Military, Taxes, trends, United States, Zeitgeist

Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 3. The Wharton Way.

 

 "The Wharton Way"

Our strategic plan guiding us towards greater influence, innovation, and engagement for the advancement of business, education, and society at large.

Wharton School of Business website.

Donald J. Trump, who fancies himself a Wile E. Coyote level genius, is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business.

It certainly doesn't show, or Wharton isn't all it has been cracked up to be.

Having gotten the United States into an illegal war as Bibi Netanyahu talked him into it, Donny appears to have been taken off guard that Iran could and would close the Straits of Hormuz, hit tankers, and hit oil and gas facilities throughout the Middle East.

Why wouldn't they?

Perhaps if Melania lets Barron go see his father over Spring Break, assuming they're not perusing travel brochures entitled "where we can go to live after Don dies where people won't know we're Trumps", and assuming that Barron isn't doing the right thing and enlisting in the United States Marine Corps, they can break out some hex and counter games and play Naval based Superpower v. Land based regional power" and see how that works out.

Anyhow, Donny Trump (did we mention that he fancies himself a Wile E. Coyote level genius?) has lifted sanctions on already loaded oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, which means that Iran now has a source of cash it didn't before the war started.

So, we didn't wipe out their nuclear capabilities in the Twelve Day War, their government hasn't fallen in this one, people have not risen up to toss out the Iranian government, the Straits of Hormuz are closed, we didn't stockpile oil before the war, the price of oil has skyrocketed, and now the Iranians can legally transport some oil

Assuming that Trump isn't secretly trying to destroy the American economy and benefit Iran (and Russia), it's hard to see the smarts in any of that.

March 23, 2026

Even the best-case scenario for energy markets is disastrous

Whatever happens, high prices will outlive the Iran war 

March 24, 2026

Petroleum is back up over $100/bbl, basically because King Donny is a liar.

March 26, 2026

And the war inflation hits packages:

U.S. Postal Service Announces Transportation-Related, Time-Limited Price Change

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service filed notice today with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) regarding a time-limited price change to better align its costs of transportation with the market. This temporary price adjustment will provide needed flexibility for the Postal Service by helping to ensure that the actual costs of doing business are covered, as required by Congress.

While this price increase is a time-limited adjustment, it will provide a necessary bridge to a permanent mechanism to reflect market conditions in prices for competitive products that can support the Postal Service’s ability to achieve the universal service obligation in a more financially sustainable manner going forward.

The planned price change, which was approved by the Governors of the Postal Service on March 24, is an 8 percent increase that would affect base postage prices on the following retail and commercial domestic competitive products: Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select. No other products or services would be affected, including First-Class Stamps. Pending favorable review by the PRC, the price change would go into effect at midnight Central Time on April 26 and would remain in place until midnight Central Time on Jan. 17, 2027. At that time, the Postal Service can determine if a different long-term approach is needed.

Transportation costs have been increasing, and our competitors have reacted with a number of surcharges. We have steadfastly avoided surcharges and this charge is less than one-third of what our competitors charge for fuel alone, so even with this change, the Postal Service continues to offer great value in shipping with some of the lowest rates in the industrialized world.

The time-limited price change is consistent with industry practices and will support the Postal Service’s ability to continue achieving its public service mission — providing a nationwide, integrated network for the delivery of mail and packages at least six days a week — in a cost-effective and financially sustainable manner over the long term, just as the U.S. Congress has intended.

The PRC will review the proposed price change before it is scheduled to take effect on April 26. Complete USPS price filings, with prices for all products, can be found on the PRC website’s Daily Listings section at prc.arkcase.com/portal/filings. Price tables are also available on the Postal Explorer website at pe.usps.com/PriceChange/Index.

# # #

The United States Postal Service is an independent federal establishment, mandated to be self-financing and to serve every American community through the affordable, reliable and secure delivery of mail and packages to more than 170 million addresses six and often seven days a week. Overseen by a bipartisan Board of Governors, the Postal Service is celebrating its 250th year of service to customers amidst a network modernization plan aimed at restoring long-term financial sustainability, improving service, and maintaining the organization as one of America’s most valued and trusted brands.

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

For USPS media resources, including broadcast-quality video and audio and photo stills, visit the USPS Newsroom. Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter; Instagram; Pinterest; Threads; and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the USPS YouTube Channel and like us on Facebook. For more information about the Postal Service, visit usps.com and facts.usps.com.

March 27, 2026

More than 90% of new renewable power projects worldwide in 2024 were cheaper than fossil-fuel alternatives, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Guess they aren't as woke as Chuck and demented Don would claim.

And this two years ago before the tin pot dictator decided to destroy the world's oil importation system.

March 30, 2026

West Texas is at $100/bbl this morning. Brent is at $115/bbl.

With the Houthis now in the war, there's a fairly good chance the Red Sea will be effectively closed, massively widening the war, and propelling the world into a King Donny causes severe recession.

March 31, 2026

Brent is at $114.88.  West Texas at $104.

The price of almost everything is rising.

This is your economy at war.  An undeclared war by a demented octogenarian.

April 6, 2026

Trump's Total War Budget

“More bombs, less of everything else” is a tough campaign platform.

West Texas is $110/bbl this morning.

April 7, 2026

All roads lead to higher prices and slower growth.

IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva.

April 14, 2026

We had in Wyoming record distributions of Meals on Wheels…So I’m worried.  I’ll admit it.

Cynthia Lummis.

April 15, 2026

Headlines in the CST:

Forbes: Trump’s wealth soars 60% since return

Trump administration will refund importers

Treasury chief confident on low core inflation

That last thing comes from Bessant so basically it's propaganda, as everything he says is.

April 18, 2026

The Rural Blog: Inflation surged in March due to Iran war and tariffs: War-related price pressures worsened inflation in March, which the Federal Reserve was already struggling to regulate, reports Colby Smith f...

High oil prices, explained by an expert

"It’s hard to know what level would make Americans start to really restrict their consumption."

April 19, 2026

Oh oh. . .

April 21, 2026

Presidential Determination Pursuant to

Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as Amended, on Natural Gas Transmission, Processing, Storage, and Liquefied Natural Gas Capacity

Presidential Memoranda

April 20, 2026

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY

SUBJECT:       Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as Amended, on Natural Gas Transmission, Processing, Storage, and Liquefied Natural Gas Capacity

On January 20, 2025, I issued Executive Order 14156 (Declaring a National Energy Emergency), under the National Emergencies Act.  That order found that hostile foreign actors have weaponized America’s reliance on foreign energy and used it to cause dramatic swings in international commodity markets, leaving the United States and its allies dangerously exposed.  It emphasized that America must develop its capacity to supply reliable, diversified, and affordable energy to international allies and partners to compete with hostile foreign powers, strengthen relations with allies and partners, and support international peace and security.

Consistent with that declaration, I find that ensuring sufficient natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity is critical to sustaining United States defense operations and ensuring allied energy security.  Inadequate pipelines, processing, storage, or natural gas and LNG export capacity would leave the United States and its partners dangerously exposed in times of crisis.

Therefore, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (the “Act”) (50 U.S.C. 4533), I hereby determine, pursuant to section 303(a)(5) of the Act, that:

(1)  natural gas and LNG capacity, including gathering and transmission pipelines, compression, processing plants, underground storage, LNG liquefaction, storage and marine load, export facilities, and critical distribution infrastructure, are industrial resources, materials, or critical technology items essential to the national defense;

(2)  without Presidential action under section 303 of the Act, United States industry cannot reasonably be expected to provide these capabilities for the needed industrial resource, material, or critical technology item in a timely manner due to financing constraints, long-lead equipment and construction schedules, permitting delays, and infrastructure bottlenecks; and

(3)  purchases, purchase commitments, financial support for the development of production capabilities, or other action pursuant to section 303 of the Act are the most cost-effective, expedient, and practical alternative methods for meeting this need.

I have declared a national emergency under Executive Order 14156, and I further determine that action to expand domestic natural gas transmission, processing, storage, and LNG capacity is necessary to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability.  Therefore, pursuant to section 303(a)(7) of the Act, I waive the requirements of section 303(a)(1)-(a)(6) of the Act for the purpose of expanding such capability.

You are authorized and directed to implement this determination, including making necessary purchases, commitments, and financial instruments to enable these projects, and to publish this determination in the Federal Register.

DONALD J. TRUMP

April 27, 2026

I listed to all three weekend shows.  They were grim.

This Week made it clear we're headed into an economic crisis thanks to the damage to oil infrastructure.  It may take years to repair and prices are not going to decline very soon, if ever.

April 28, 2026

‘There’s a day of reckoning coming’: Energy experts expect another spike at the pump

April 29, 2026

The United Arab Emirates has left OPEC.

Farmers turn on Trump: “It’s gonna be the nail in the coffin.” -

 

Frankly, it speaks ill of me, but I have almost no sympathy for farmers who voted for Trump.

Unfortunately, it's not only the nail in their coffins, but in everyone's else's as well.

May 7, 2026

Headline:

Trade Court Rules Trump’s 10% Global Tariff Is Illegal

A panel of federal judges found that President Trump could not legally impose the tariff on most imports.

No surprise whatsoever.

Anyhow, now this money will have to be refunded too. And Mad King Donny still hasn't refunded the money owed from the last such ruling.

Last edition:

Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 2. The "War, what's it good for?" edition.

Labels: Economics, Petroleum, Trump War Inflation, United States and Israel v. Iran, Wyoming, Wyoming's boom and bust economy