When it comes to the federal debt and deficit, the American voting public are children who want: candy, sugar soda, to stay up all night, and to skip school, and their politicians tell them: Yes. The politicians who have said they would prioritize debt and deficit who then got into office, didn’t fulfill those promises. And when we do reduce parts of spending, we do it on those who most need the government spending.
15 to 30 percent of grocery costs are diesel fuel. Groceries are moved with vehicles using diesel fuel.
By the end of the Biden administration, the US was approaching a full soft landing, but Trump ruined it with government spending, tariffs, war, and strict immigration policies.
An Iphone isn’t a tech product, it’s a luxury product. Owning an Apple means you should reproduce, owning an Android means your DNA should not move on.
The US does not have enough servicing ships to keep US fighting ships supplied. This was okay when the US operated near land bases, but with Iranian missiles and drones making many US bases unusable, the US has trouble keeping its ships supplied.
The US does not have enough military ships either because the ships need time for repairs and the crews need time off, so the navy actually needs an extra ship or two for every two in military operations. While two are doing operations, one is in repairs and rest. War-level operations, including blockade, are 24/7 work that degrades sailors’ capabilities without rest.
Arizona and the Trump administration made it harder for people to get food stamps, so half a million people lost their food. The Times interviews people who are skipping meals and suffering from food insecurity thanks to this policy. These people technically qualify, but Arizona and the Trump administration made it too hard for some people to get the food they qualify for.
Food delivery apps make it so hard to know upfront what the final cost of the food and delivery will be…that it disrupts market competition because it’s too hard for customers to compare based on price. They do this on purpose, and they forbid anyone aggregating their data to compare prices for consumers.
McDonald’s is a real estate and big data tech company. It is selling convenience, not cheap food or good food. Its goal is to manipulate the customer to come in and buy profitable items.
“It’s not corporate greed that’s driving up the price of beef at the grocery store; it’s the fact that it’s now much more expensive for meat-packers to buy beef from farms. This isn’t due to cattle farmers colluding to raise prices. There are simply fewer cows.
…
This decrease is attributable to a combination of weather, disease, and reduced imports. Some factors include persistent drought on American pasture lands and the U.S. halting Mexican cattle imports in July 2025 to stave off the New World screwworm”
The new government food pyramid matters because it affects major government food programs and student lunches. Otherwise, not many people dutifully follow the government dietary recommendations. There have been several changes over time and in 2011 they got rid of the pyramid and replaced it with a plate, which makes sense because we more often eat food on a plate than in pyramid measurements.
Butter and cheese in the highest tier doesn’t make sense. They are okay in moderation, but are not good in high amounts, and the highest tier implies you should eat a lot of it. Not only is eating too much of them bad, they are easy to eat a whole lot of all at once, and are high in calories.
Whole grains are good! They shouldn’t be relegated below butter and cheese. Whole grains are hard to overeat, are associated with better health, and are per-calorie better for you than butter and cheese. Butter and cheese being in a higher tier than whole grains is backwards.
The new pyramid promoting: protein, vegetables, minimally processed food, and healthy fats is good.