This Is Obviously Insane, Right?

This is obviously insane, right? To cite just a few items:

1) The economy is firing on, if not all, then most cylinders.  

In the previous administration, the claim centered on stuff like GDP and employment data. Since GDP includes government outlays, some folks pointed out that the out-of-control government spending at the time weighed in and both held up, even boosted GDP. As for employment data, its put out by a group called the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Scrutinizing their reports revealed that their methodology and actual numbers left a lot to be desired. In both these cases, financial and main stream media hardly raised a peep. Maybe they were all too busy conspiring to ignore the last President's apparent mental decline.

The current administration likes to talk up the economy too. But its claims seem based on the assumption that their "brilliant" policies will lead to a booming economy.  That may be the case in the future. But what about now? 

2) The Stock Market is set to resume its long-term Bull Market.

Besides a purportedly steady, if not strong economy, it's fueled by the greatest economic shot of meth in our time: AI. It will "change the world," has already done so to some extent, and will continue to do so more and more, with nothing standing in its way. The fact that major innovations in the past ultimately led to greater economic growth, and thus booming markets, but didn't always do so right away is a detail best left unspoken. One "small" example: the Great Depression. Technological innovation forged ahead; the economy languished; the stock market...well, you know the story.

Oh, and there's the simple fact that the stock market is as overvalued as it has ever been historically. But no matter, it can always continue being more and more overvalued without limit. Recall Irving Fisher - an otherwise capable economist - claimed in 1929 that the stock market had reached a permanent plateau - right before the great Crash. It would seem Irving spawned quite a prodigious group of progeny, all of whom seem to be settled in as fixtures in our financial media.

3) The new administration will end the war in Ukraine withing 24 hours, come to a "deal" with Iran that they can't resist, pare down our out-of-control government with huge spending cuts and the closing of both small and big agencies.

Well, we all know how the 24-hour Ukrainian war thing turned out.

And the deal with Iran, as we saw this week, didn't quite pan out, although we might expect some continued claim that a deal can be made...blah, blah, blah.

As for the spending cuts and closing of agencies, so there was a smattering in those first halcyon days of the new administration. But now that those days have passed what have we seen?

For one thing, the Musk-Trump kerfuffle. For another, the "Big, Beautiful Bill" kind of summarizes where this effort seems to be going, doesn't it? Oh, sure, there's the claim that the economy will boom to such an extent that tax revenues (despite the cuts planned) along with tariff revenues will cascade like Niagara Falls into the government coffers, thereby offsetting any increased deficits or claims that the overall debt will rise.

Now, we can't counter this or comment on it with any degree of competence or confidence, except for this: If indeed Niagara Falls should gush money on our federal government, take a moment to consider. What might our fearless leaders do with such money? Pare down the debt? Or spend it like drunken sailors as they have been doing for the better part of our lives? And when the other party takes center stage - as it inevitably will, how do you think they will deploy this purported massive windfall?

Just sayin'.

So believe what you want. It's a free country. (Still?) But from this perspective, any of the above can easily be categorized as quite insane. No?