4 ms·

Does the US still have a rules-based economy? Or is it now completely defined by the whims of a grifter whose power is easily manipulated by technocrats, crypto

Does the US still have a rules-based economy? Or is it now completely defined by the whims of a grifter whose power is easily manipulated by technocrats, crypto bros, foreign entities and other sycophants? It seems they're trying to run the economy on the power of bullying.

Havoc 1y ago
The new rule is whatever flatters the ego of the king goes See the ridiculous Boeing bribe the Qatari gave him
nikanj 1y ago
It's still rules-based, but the rules change daily now.
mcphage 1y ago
> Does the US still have a rules-based economy? “The code is more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules.”
ethbr1 1y ago
At this point, the US court system is the only thing keeping its rules-based order intact. Consequently, you see a lot of 'executive / legislative branch does illegal thing' news items, that are then often emergency stayed by the courts while legal cases work out. For the good of the country, one or both branches of the legislative need to be taken by the opposition in the 2026 midterms.
- JohnTHaller 1y ago
  Unfortunately, the Executive Branch ignoring the Courts isn't something that there's a solution for in the current environment.
  - ethbr1 1y ago
    Thankfully, it hasn't outright come to that. MAGA has been pushing hard on boundaries, and playing fast and loose with gray areas, but still seem to be obeying actual final court rulings. The biggest crisis on the horizon is going to be if the USMS / FBI / DOJ refuse to execute court-ordered redress. The fix for that is to put at least the USMS directly under the courts. The longer-term more worrisome trend is the drumbeat in conservative media against "activist judges", which is transparently a ploy to turn their constituency against the judicial branch, in preparation for ignoring judicial outcomes... Ironically, the current ideologically tilt of the Supreme Court may cut against that. Harder to argue that a 6-3 conservative court is being unfair to their guy. A 5-4 or 4-5 court would have been a lot easier to tar and feather in public opinion.

Havoc 1y ago

The new rule is whatever flatters the ego of the king goes See the ridiculous Boeing bribe the Qatari gave him

nikanj 1y ago

It's still rules-based, but the rules change daily now.

mcphage 1y ago

> Does the US still have a rules-based economy? “The code is more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules.”

ethbr1 1y ago

At this point, the US court system is the only thing keeping its rules-based order intact. Consequently, you see a lot of 'executive / legislative branch does illegal thing' news items, that are then often emergency stayed by the courts while legal cases work out. For the good of the country, one or both branches of the legislative need to be taken by the opposition in the 2026 midterms.

JohnTHaller 1y ago
Unfortunately, the Executive Branch ignoring the Courts isn't something that there's a solution for in the current environment.
- ethbr1 1y ago
  Thankfully, it hasn't outright come to that. MAGA has been pushing hard on boundaries, and playing fast and loose with gray areas, but still seem to be obeying actual final court rulings. The biggest crisis on the horizon is going to be if the USMS / FBI / DOJ refuse to execute court-ordered redress. The fix for that is to put at least the USMS directly under the courts. The longer-term more worrisome trend is the drumbeat in conservative media against "activist judges", which is transparently a ploy to turn their constituency against the judicial branch, in preparation for ignoring judicial outcomes... Ironically, the current ideologically tilt of the Supreme Court may cut against that. Harder to argue that a 6-3 conservative court is being unfair to their guy. A 5-4 or 4-5 court would have been a lot easier to tar and feather in public opinion.