A Warning from Amos, Micah, and Others

The Scriptures

Many may wonder about what I think about the first few days of office of President Trump's second term. This week's Sunday school lesson included some passages from Amos and Micah, that it would be good for all of us to reflect on:

Amos 2:6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

2:7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:

2:8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

4:1 Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

5:11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

5:12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

6:1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

6:2 Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?

6:3 Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

6:4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

6:5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;

6:6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

6:7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.

8:4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

8:5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

8:6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

Micah 2:1 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

2:2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

3:9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.

3:10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

3:11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.

It would also be prudent to read Hosea 4:1-7;Exodus 23:1-12;Zechariah 7:1-14. for more information on how we should treat others.

There isn't an American in the current generation, or in many previous generations, perhaps all the way back to the founding of the country, who hasn't been able to point to something that is going on in government and say "That is wrong!". Such is the nature of trying to satisfy the desires of currently 340 million or so people. Everyone is going to be unhappy about something, pretty much all of the time.

Some of the Problems of Today

On DEI and Genders

There are a few things about which Trump is correct from a Biblical perspective. God did create us male and female, and it is my humble opinion that He intended us to stay that way. But I also figure that if someone chooses to change for some odd reason, that's on them. There are some sports where men and women can compete against each other fairly. There are many that they cannot. In these instances, they should not.

I tend not to worry about who uses what bathroom. When I was in college the dorm I lived in had two communal bathrooms per floor. Since the halls were a maze on each floor, not just straight lines like many, they switched bathrooms at semester. So people at the extreme end of the maze had a big change in the distance to walk. My junior year, some of the women decided they weren't going to do it and just kept using the now men's bathroom. You know what? The floor decided to not make an issue of it and just declared them unisex. We all survived and weren't horribly warped. This carried forth in my senior year as well. So there is much that goes on that we may not approve of that we also really don't need to make a big stink about. Just my two cents.

On Pardons

But there are many things that have been decided upon by the newly elected master of ceremonies and his sidekick that are just wrong. Pardoning the January 6th insurrectionists was just wrong, and particularly the 720 who had been convicted of violence. Firing people who had been doing their jobs in prosecuting both these individuals and Trump himself is wrong. Attempting to remove any chance of federal service of entire law firms who had a member who worked on a case against him is wrong.

On Firings

Mass firings in general are wrong. Can you be terminated in a government job? Sure. But you need to have a real cause and shouldn't be fired at a whim. Is the federal government financial situation out of whack? Sure. But employee salaries and benefits aren't the problem. Largely, health care and Social Security are the big problems, but the people at the top don't want to deal with health care in a sensible fashion by either providing universal single payer coverage that people pay monthly or weekly premiums for or by nationalization. You can read my thoughts on that elsewhere. Social Security is a big issue because Congress has voted in large cost of living increases that they couldn't pay for and extended benefits to cover many other things without jacking up the contribution side to cover that. Fix Congress, and you will have a chance at fixing Social Security. But mass firings aren't the answer. Eliminate the caps on earnings subject to its tax and figure out some way to cap the benefits for the very wealthy.

In the federal government, when you move to a new job by promotion, for example, you are in a probationary period. Firing everyone in a probationary period isn't just getting rid of young new hires. It's affecting people who may have a lot of experience. That is wrong. Firing new hires in mass is also wrong, to be clear.

On Birthright Citizenship and Deportation

Trying to end birthright citizenship is wrong. I've heard the arguments about who it was meant to apply to and not apply to. I just don't agree with them. If you're born on US soil, you should be considered a citizen, with all the rights and responsibilities that entails.

Deportation? You've read my comments on that if you've been a long time reader. We are barely producing enough babies to maintain our population. Another war, a pandemic (which is more likely with the poorly qualified people Trump's put in charge and the number of highly qualified people he's firing), or just plain increased violence from civil unrest, will push us over the tipping point we're at right now. Deporting a lot of people won't help. We'll find ourselves in the position of Japan soon. Not enough young people to do the work or help support the elderly. Deporting isn't going to work.

It also reduces the number of younger workers, reduces the demand for retail goods and housing, hurts particular industries harder than others - farming and construction come to mind. For all the purported bad that immigrants do (legal or otherwise), they provide a huge boost to certain sectors of our economy. And I continue to believe that God will bless our country enough to provide good jobs for everyone who wants one. The above scriptures from Amos and Micah give God's judgment on the rich for oppressing the poor. There isn't any greater equivalent to that than the oligarchs who are running the country now and illegal immigrants. But every American needs to reflect on their position versus the poor in their communities as Good Wine, well.

“The first time, I had two things to do ‒ run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys,” Trump said in the interview, published April 28. “And the second time, I run the country and the world.” Should people who are illegal immigrants who commit some felony be deported? I don't have a problem with that. But most of the felonies are committed by US citizens and not illegal immigrants. They're just trying to stay under the radar, as it were, support their families, and live without trouble. They've often had far too much trouble in their home countries.

On Tariffs

I object to the tariffs. A trade war hurts everyone. It will lead to at least some levels of inflation, and what isn't covered by rising prices is going to be handled by laying off workers, decreasing wages or benefits - or at least not increasing them - reducing the selection of goods and services, reducing support and help, or some other way. Companies aren't just going to absorb the tariffs. The retaliatory tariffs will hurt our own exports.

Already, the stock market has gone from booming under Biden to crashing under Trump. There's very real talk of a recession that wasn't in the cards at all under Biden. The stock market was up, inflation was down, unemployment was down. Not anymore. The very on again, off again, and random nature of tariff's application freezes business operations due to uncertainty, and will probably plunge us into a deep recession. Aren't cars expensive enough now? Is any car worth 25% more than it was in the Biden administration? How is that not inflationary?

On DOGE

Amidst all the other issues, we have a Congress of Republicans who aren't standing up for what is Constitutionally correct. Presidents don't just get to gut government departments at will, change policy at a whim, drop things that Congress funded because they don't like them, or whatever. I'm in favor of a line item veto at the executive level. I always have been. And if something gets cut, then Congress can override the line item veto and it goes back in. I think that is the way it should work. But the thing is that the Courts have already said that the line item veto was unconstitutional. That's established law, whether or not I like it. And what the fearless leader is doing is essentially the same thing as a line item veto. It is unconstitutional.

I may not agree with some of the things they have chosen to eliminate either. But the reality is that Congress made the laws that authorized the spending or the policies and they were signed into law by a President. In many cases, some of the things I don't like exist because it was the only way to get something else that was important through Congress. Does the process stink? Do I wish there were individual bills on everything instead of dealing with 6 feet of budget that must be passed or the government shuts down? Of course. But that isn't the way the government is working. So you have to deal with the bad to get the 90 to 95% good. Having a President go in and retroactively cut things he doesn't like is wrong.

There are many spending items that don't directly benefit a particular American citizen, at this particular moment. You could lump our entire military spending program into that category. 100% of it is useless - until there's another war and we find ourselves in the same position we were in in WWI or WWII. Spending on health care in Africa doesn't help us at all - until AIDS becomes so prevalent we can't escape it here. So much of our spending outside the US is like that. Helping countries friendly to us doesn't do much at all for the average American citizen - until Russia doesn't stop with the chunks of the Ukraine it has already taken by force, keeps moving West, and we find our own soldiers being called up to save Europe again.

On Federal Courts

On the courts, stop bashing judges. They're just doing their jobs. Try not to make as many shady decisions and you won't have as many lawsuits being filed. That seems pretty basic. And go through the appeals process if a decision goes against you up through the Supreme Court. Don't just call for a judge to be impeached. Even Chief Justice Roberts said that isn't the right procedure to follow.

On Tax Cuts

Although there have been many small things that stink, this push to keep all the tax cuts in place that increased the deficit in his first term is just dumb. I've commented on the growing gap in wealth in the country (although his tariffs are trying to kill the stock market so there's that), and the gap in pay between the rich in the C suite and the serfs. It's wrong, and the tax policy isn't helping. We can't afford the increasing deficits. From Reagan on, the trickle down economic theory hasn't been working. Clinton got that turned around, thankfully, and then came Bush and Trump and the deficit ballooned again. It isn't that there isn't some trickle down that happens. There is. But there isn't enough to offset the tax losses elsewhere, so the deficit increases. Wars and hand outs don't help.

I'm all for finding and cutting out fraud and waste in the government. I'm all for updating government systems to make government more efficient. I'm pretty sure all Americans would be for that. But you need to get the new systems working for everyone before you go around hacking out huge chunks of the government employment. You need to actually prosecute the fraud (if there is any (that hasn't been made very clear either). And you need to take any waste found and reduce the debt instead of giving more away to the top 1%.

The Warnings

The top 1% need to really consider God's words through Amos. Micah and the rest and start caring for the poor and the needy, regardless of where they come from. God judged Israel repeatedly. If you could ask any of the kings who suffered through God's wrath, you'd hear them tell you to avoid it. For those that don't believe in God or that think they are God, it's going to be a rude awakening to discover just how wrong you are. And there weren't, as Reuters reported, just out of high school members of a newly created DOGE bragging about trafficking in stolen data and cyber-stalking.

Fund Voice of America. Fund other news organizations, even if they don't preach your message. Fund the scientists and doctors trying to help our people and the world live safer lives. Stop using grants to them as a cudgel to make other pointless things happen. Fund the weather forecasting arm of the government. A Sharpie isn't going to change the path of a hurricane. Stop going against the "great" trade agreements signed just a few years ago and antagonizing Canada and Mexico, to say nothing of Europe, with ridiculous tariffs. Help the poor, the downtrodden, those in danger of losing their lives or having their families killed in their home countries. Fund food purchases for food banks to distribute to the needy.

Say what you like about the cabinet members and military leaders of Biden's administration, but at least they didn't invite a journalist into a group chat on war plans. Their administration wasn't going on about taking over Canada and making it the 51st state or taking over Greenland either.

Finally, for all the religious leaders who gave their support to this group of people and who are still basking in the glow of the thanks for their help in electing the MAGA group to Congress and the Presidency, read the rest of the scriptures around the ones I have posted at the top. God had a lot to say about what His prophets and religious leaders were doing in their self serving lives back in the day. Those who weren't about His work stood out for judgment. I think the render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is God's makes it clear where your focus should be. I don't think He has changed much.

All of the people who don't have enough to eat, who are being ejected or will be ejected without any cause to their previous countries where they will face prison or death, all of the Federal employees who have lost their jobs or who will lose their jobs, all the futures of them and the private sector who are cutting back wages, cutting benefits, and laying people off or just not hiring new people due to worries about tax policy, tariffs, and inflation, and all the people who will lose their lives due to poor weather forecasting or fewer vaccines or new treatments for medicine, will one day judge you. I hope you're ready for that.

Addendum post Tariff Announcement

So now we have huge tariffs in place. Ridiculously high, in most cases, and applied without any basis in products being exported or imported into the United States and their pricing. It appears that someone inquired of ChatGPT as to what numbers would be appropriate with a given trade imbalance, exports, and a simple division by 2, according to James Surowiecki. Voila, I have numbers I can put up on a piece of cardboard for a prop in the Rose Garden. The White House objects, but if the numbers come out the same, it still looks really bad. Even uninhabited islands got hit. And by the way if the numbers weren't quite high enough, there was a 10% minimum enforced anyway.

So what was the outcome of this catastrophic level of stupidity? The global stock markets tanked, and since I'm in the United States and my markets are the ones I care about most, I'd like to note that ours did as well.

and to be clear, that's just over the last two days, really. The markets were hoping for a bit of sense from the fearless leader and his cohorts. To put those numbers in perspective, U.S. stock markets have lost $9.6 trillion to $11.1 trillion dollars since inauguration day depending on your source. $6.6 trillion of that was in the last 48 hours.

Now I realize that for every transaction, there was a seller who got the higher price, and the person who is holding the securities. Until somebody actually makes a transaction, it's all just paper profit or loss. And I also believe in stocks for the long haul as dividends paid and growth of companies do tend to rise over a long time horizon.

But I also need to point out that the given valuation of a stock, or of a stock market, is directly related to the prospects for the future of the companies involved. That time period has shortened in my lifetime as people start looking more at the next quarter or the rest of the year's numbers than long term. Warren Buffet is one who still looks more long term. So unless you have to sell, you don't have a lot to worry about if your time horizon is long. Buying the dips is still a good strategy. It's just that this is likely to be more than just a dip, thanks to our fearless leader.

I saw it reported today that Trump's fascination with tariffs may have started in his last term by Peter Navarro, through his son who was tasked with finding an economic advisor. Rachael Maddow related a story about Jared's search on amazon.com for a book, finding "Death to China" as a title his father would like, written by Peter Navarro. In it, he has many quotes of an economist who may be fictional (the name being a reordering of Navarro's last name), extolling the virtues of tariffs. I have no idea of the veracity of this, but Maddow made a good case. If so, this whole mass of stupid can be laid at the feet of a book search. And that's the incompetence we're dealing with today.

Business Insider related many real business leaders' opinions on the tariffs, along with those of some trading partners. To say they aren't flattering would be a gross understatement. And what they're thinking as opposed to what they are willing to put on paper is even worse.

Brace for higher inflation and prices that won't go lower. Brace for more layoffs - they've already started. Brace for more suffering for the poor and middle class. Brace for fewer choices in what to buy. And remember that no justification for the tariffs is likely to materialize. A company isn't going to decide to on-shore all of its manufacturing because of tariffs that will be removed once sanity returns to Washington D.C. They have made the investment where labor is cheaper. They've moved out of China to Vietnam and other places to try to placate Trump in his first term, and now that that country has crazy tariffs, they aren't going to move again, especially to the United States where they would face huge cost increases for wages and benefits, and a shortage of workers because Trump is deporting everybody he can.

And to top it all off, what did Trump do after his announcement? He went to his home base in Florida to play in a golf tournament, because evidently "return to office" doesn't apply to him. Someone who counts better than I said it was his 332nd golf outing as a President. In just over 4 years in office, that's saying something and it isn't good. That's what he thinks of our suffering, America.

Let's try to do better Republicans. To my members of Congress, vote to regain control of tariff policy. Stop sucking up to Trump. Grow or find your backbones. Put your constituents first over party. There isn't a one of you who doesn't also represent a lot of Democrats and Independents. Stop the incessant kowtowing to the billionaires who line your election war chests. If you don't start caring about all the people, the size of your war chest won't matter.

Pre Easter Issues

In the latest week, Trump has... I was going to say doubled down, but it is so much higher by this point... against the poor. Just this week it was announced that he was wiping out all federal funding for Head Start. I guess those jobs he thinks he's creating in manufacturing won't need any educated workers (although all the trades are actually getting more computerized and technical, that would be beyond his understanding). So no more Head Start unless he changes his mind again. If you were counting on it to reduce your child care costs, well, too bad.

And in other news, he is recalling all the Americorps volunteers back to their homes. He'll probably assign all of the to go work on his big beautiful wall. That would be right up his line. But anyway, the group of ten who were going to come and work on a community garden in our town won't be coming. The veterans who were counting on help adapting their homes for the injuries they had suffered in combat will have to hope for help elsewhere.

And on the corruption side, he's let several crypto currency criminals off the hook with pardons and the like and they have been pumping up his own line of crypto currency. Vietnam, in trying to get around Trump's tariffs, just announced that they were willing to expedite a $1.5 billion Trump resort in their country. But hey, no corruption to see here, thanks to the Supreme Court - this was all just part of doing business due to the phony tariffs he implemented. Go figure.

Post Easter Rambles

From an interview with the April 28 Atlantic magazine:

“The first time, I had two things to do ‒ run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys, and the second time, I run the country and the world.”

That statement should be enough for even the most die-hard MAGA fanatic to have second thoughts about the mental stability of their exalted leader.