Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
I’m not surprised by the Trump phone like I’m not surprised by the Trump presidencies.
https://tech.yahoo.com/phones/article/is-the-trump-phone-finally-here-here-are-six-things-weve-learned-about-trump-mobile-151836199.html
The US desperately needs to learn how to use and mass produce drones or it will be behind on an ongoing military revolution that is killing a majority of soldiers in the Russia-Ukraine war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGJgHXTeat0
Trump’s visit to China achieved essentially nothing. The countries’ problems are too deep to be achieved in a presidential visit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD1eGSCvUO0
The US really needs to up their game when it comes to mass, cheap, attritable drones.
Many US methods are obsolete and America’s industrial base is not prepared to mass produce drones. Russia and China are already ahead of the US in drone warfare.
The US needs to work with Ukraine to learn from their experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzuiV2WWoVU
The US, Gulf states, and Israel are quickly running out of missile and drone interceptors.
The US also used over 25% of their long-range Tomahawks, possibly 45% of their JASSMs, and over 25% of their ATACMS.
By mid-May, the US could be out of many of these weapons.
The US has failed to build sufficient manufacturing capability. It will take many years to replace these munitions.
The US will have to use dumber bombs and take more hits on the defense if the war goes on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0234zEi1AG4
Trump’s China tariffs were, for the most part, a massive failure. China is still the world’s manufacturer and exports a ton of manufactured goods.
China is well ahead of the rest of the world in automated manufacturing. They executed a ten year plan to do this, and it worked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djE7MDOyFLs
The US is increasing its weapon manufacturing capacity. Currently, it would quickly run out of key ammunitions in a major war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Skv9is7Ec
Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC is building a subsidized plant in Arizona, but is having trouble dealing with: thousands of pages of regulation, unions who want Americans to get the jobs, cultural clashes, and homeowners who don’t want plants nearby.
This event shows that the US can be a tough place to do business. We should consider reform.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3rcPok9fb4
“From January through September, the most recent month for which U.S. Census Bureau trade data are available, the U.S. imported $1 trillion more in goods than it exported. This is a $118 billion jump compared to the goods trade deficit that the U.S. ran from January to September 2024. (Likewise, the overall trade deficit, which includes services, increased by $113 billion.)
…
Recently published data from China’s General Administration of Customs show the Chinese goods trade surplus has increased since Trump took office. From January to September, China exported $875 billion more goods than it imported—a $185 billion jump vs. the same time period in 2024.
…
Fortunately for consumers, these macroeconomic statistics are meaningless. You run a trade deficit with your grocery store, I run a trade deficit with McDonald’s, good little boys and girls run a trade deficit with Santa Claus, and we’re all better off for it. As as the economists Daniel Klein and Donald Boudreaux have put it, a trade deficit is equivalent to running a surplus on current stuff.
Likewise, as countries get richer, their labor markets transition from agriculture to industry and then to the service sector. Declining manufacturing employment as a share of overall employment is a sign that Americans are richer, not poorer, than our ancestors.
Trump’s targeted metrics are meaningless as proxies of prosperity. But the fact that his protectionist policies are failing to achieve their stated goals shows just how flawed they—and their justifications—always were.”
https://reason.com/2025/12/17/trump-said-his-tariffs-would-reduce-the-trade-deficit-and-bring-back-manufacturing-heres-what-the-data-show/?itm_source=parsely-api
When it comes to manufacturing iPhones, no one can do it like China does. Creating such phones has a lot of needs, and China meets all of them.
China doesn’t see overproduction as a bad thing because the goal isn’t maximizing profits, but undercutting and deindustrializing other countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9694CESmOZc