Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
An immediate impact of tariffs is increased prices. Paying more means less money for other purchases and investments. Less purchases and investments means a smaller economy than there otherwise would be. A smaller economy means less wealth and jobs for most people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQNMksYweWU
Can the U.S.-Ukrainian Rift Be Healed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5qsYUbyQjs
“Was that expecting too much from Zelenskyy — to sit and smile while signing away a portion of his nation’s mineral wealth without getting security guarantees in return?”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/01/zelenskyy-trump-oval-office-column-00205584
“The trade deficit is huge. It stands at $235.6 billion — a 12.9 percent increase since 2023. EU countries impose an average 5 percent tariff on U.S. goods, while the U.S. imposes an average 3.3 percent tariff on European goods. Even worse, the EU collects a 10 percent tariff on car imports — that’s four times America’s 2.5 percent.”
…
“This has to change — and it can — but not through a tit-for-tat race to higher tariffs. Rather, we need to lower tariffs and observe symmetry. Ideally, EU-U.S. trade would be tariff-free. However, if that’s unachievable, tariffs should be, on average, 2 percent on both sides. That would create a huge stimulus for both economies, and it could be the basis and precondition for what is existentially necessary: a common trade strategy on China.”
…
“If Trump is serious about “America First,” there’s one thing he should come to terms with — it shouldn’t mean “America Alone.” More leverage at the negotiating table with China, a healthy U.S. economy without inflation, and a prosperous Germany that could turn around a stumbling EU would be in the interest of the American people and Europe.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/03/u-s-eu-trade-war-china-00206789
What Will It Take to Secure Ukraine? With General David Petraeus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vta3Qt30ZQ
“France supported the fledgling continental army for about four years with supplies, weapons, advisors, men; you know, [the army got many of its words from the French]. Yeah, I don’t recall France ever telling the U.S. they should just surrender to England. You don’t bend the knee to Communists and dictators…you punch them in the face until they stop. If we bend the knee to Russia now, how long will it be until we beg the dragon that rises in the East to please eat us last?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-QXz9wotrU
Russian victory is not inevitable. Russian territorial progress has been slow, by May 9th Russian will have lost a million soldiers killed or wounded, Russia has about a year’s worth of armored vehicles left, Russian logistics is using: civilian vans, golf buggies, and donkeys, and the Russian economy is making huge sacrifices to support the wartime economy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMI6tc05Jzk
“Vance’s gamble to temporarily step into the limelight has paid off in at least one significant way. After Zelenskyy left the West Wing without signing a highly anticipated mineral rights deal, the White House responded by adopting one of Vance’s signature foreign policy initiatives: a total pause on U.S. military aid to Ukraine.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/05/jd-vance-ukraine-aid-zelenskyy-00211618
Russia is suffering from a deep deficit, high inflation, and high interest rates due to sustaining their invasion.
Russia is hurting and could decide that the war is not worth it if Ukraine had consistent backing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kse-o0Oz2AI
“Raising the pension age has long been one of the most contentious issues in French politics. The country enjoys a generous welfare state, but as public debt piles up, policymakers are increasingly desperate to make savings.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/france-prime-minister-francois-bayrou-retirement-age-socialists/