FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Oct 31

When Will the High Tech Stock Market Surge Slow Down?

by bcurry

Here are a couple of interesting stats about American high tech companies.  Market concentration has never been greater than in past decades, as the one created by Artificial Intelligence (A.I.).  According to senior index analysts for S&P Dow Jones Indices, Nvidia alone, which makes A.I. chips, makes up more than 8 percent of the S&P 500.  Nvidia is now worth $5 trillion as it continues to consolidate power in A.I. boom.  Apple and Microsoft now top $4 trillion. Those companies combined with Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla make up more than a third of the entire index.  According to Harvard’s economic faculty, spending on data centers, which are filled with the Nvidia chips, accounted for 92 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (G.D.P.) growth in the first half of 2025.  Chip technology is a powerful technology that can be used to develop advanced weaponry and drive economic opportunity.  Companies like Microsoft and the software company Oracle are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into building data centers for A.I.

Now the question becomes: “What is the high tech impact on main street versus wall street?”  Most analysts are concerned particularly about the impact of current and future A.I. investments on the labour market for example.  While the current situation continues to produce more millionaires and billionaires, there is already evidence that companies are looking at ways of reducing labour costs through A.I. and A.I. assisted robotics.  For example, it concerns me that Amazon has been aggressively looking to do more with less.  It also concerns me that Amazon recently announced that it was laying off 14,000 corporate employees partly due to its use of A.I.  It is further reported that Amazon spent more than $34 billion on capital expenditures in the third quarter of this year, in large part to set up data centers that power cloud computing and A.I.  It should be noted that the company’s sales totalled $180.2 billion from July through September of 2025, up 13 percent from the same time in 2024.  Profit was $21.2 billion, up a whopping 38 percent.  Furthermore, as an obvious future cost cutting initiative, the New York Times reported that Amazon’s automation team has ambitious goals to use robotics to avoid hiring more than half a million workers by 2033.

Apple’s iPhones are fuelling record sales and profit so far this year, despite raising prices on its latest iPhone and having largely avoided the A.I. arms race.  However, the company still accounts for about 6 percent of the S&P 500 index.  While Apple is not pouring billions of dollars into data centers, developing expensive A.I. systems or building its own chatbot, the company continues to collect payments from Google.  Apple also charges A.I. companies to reach iPhone customers.  Most importantly, instead of bringing its manufacturing home to the U.S., Apple shifted some production from China to India, Vietnam and Thailand.  Almost nothing is made in America, and an estimated 80 percent of iPhones are still made in China.

All said and done, some investors have questioned whether A.I. will actually increase productivity and sales.  This is the trillion dollar question given that the short-term returns have not been all that great in light of the billions of dollars of current investment capital.  Nevertheless, it’s clear that the stock markets are apparently very optimistic.  Only time will tell. 

In addition, there is still the expected negative impact on the labour market as evidenced by recently announced employee cutbacks by several high tech firms using A.I.  A.I., complemented by enhanced robotics, is seen as a tool that could replace people in many jobs, including those in white collar occupations. The jury is still out on this one.  Today, youth unemployment in North American is at its highest rate and recent college graduates in several fields, including in the computer sciences, are experiencing a great deal of difficulty in obtaining employment in their field of study.  Higher unemployment may be one of those areas on main street that would be the result of the potential direct impact of what’s happening on wall street.  Of course, the billionaires would argue otherwise.

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Oct 23

How Trump Continues to Denigrate Congress in His Push for Power

by bcurry

No one should be surprised as to how Congress, and in particular the Senate, have once again been denigrated by President Trump.  This was attempted in Trump’s first term, but not to the extent as witnessed to date under his second term in office.  If you don’t believe me, you might want to read The Betrayal by Ira Shapiro.  The author outlines in detail how Mitch McConnell, then the Senate majority leader, and the Senate Republicans gave into many of Trump’s policy demands during his first term.  Several episodes took place during the impeachment hearings against Trump at that time and during the selection and confirmation of Supreme Court judges, including Brett Kavanaugh.  Even the January 6, 2021, insurrection and mob attack on the Capital by Trump supporters did not cause the Republicans, who were outraged at the time like many Americans, to subsequently reduce their support for Trump.  Remember that on January 20, 2025, upon taking office, Trump granted clemency to all January 6 rioters, including those convicted of violent offences.  This even angered several Trump law and order supporters in the Republican Party, but most refused to comment publicly on the matter.

Supposedly, it is Congress that controls the government’s purse strings.  However, what is actually happening is that a Republican controlled Congress is simply rubber stamping Trump’s policies.  With the current federal government shutdown, the Trump administration has taken the opportunity to shift billions of dollars around to take care of its priorities during the shutdown with scant input from lawmakers.  Trump is once again ignoring Congress’s clear constitutional supremacy over the power of the purse.  Congressional Republicans have also been mainly silent as Trump has unilaterally imposed and threatened tariffs to achieve his own strategic, political and economic goals.  Despite the fact that the Constitution gives Congress chief responsibility for levying tariffs, the Republicans appear willing to simply wait until several cases against the tariffs are reviewed by the Supreme Court, which could take months.

The Trump administration most recently has taken upon itself to authorize the drone bombing of boats in international waters off both the Pacific coast and in Caribbean waters off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia, alleging that they are drug smugglers.  Whether they are or not is not the issue.  The issue is whether such actions are legal or not under international laws of the seas and one which would normally need the consent of Congress.  These are not police operations, but are clearly extraterritorial military operations which could be deemed as hostile by the affected countries whose dozens of citizens have already been killed.

Only a few days ago, Trump appeared more willing to restrain Moscow in its war on Ukraine.  Once again sidestepping Congress, his administration announced new penalties on Russia.  However, Congress has always pressed for even more stringent measures against Russia.

These are only a few examples of how the current Trump administration is obviously attempting to enhance the powers of the president.  Democrats have been largely steamrolled by Trump and his Republican allies all year.  Democrats have had to rely on the courts to hold the line against illegal actions by the White House, a hope that has so far met with mixed success.  The matter is further exemplified by the fact that the Republican leaders themselves have made it quite clear that they view their role as subordinate to the president, saying they won’t open talks with their Democratic counterparts unless Trump allows them to do so. 

Nevertheless, one will find lawmakers in both parties who worry that the steady erosion of congressional prerogative they are witnessing daily could inflict permanent damage on the institution at the forefront of representative government.  All one can ask at this point in time is whether or not the damage has been done and whether this blatant acquisition of power and influence by Trump can be reversed in the future?  America needs to reinstate the constitution’s checks and balances critical to its democracy, or potentially face a more authoritarian future.

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Oct 16

Strange Things Are Happening Over At The U.S. Department of Defence

by bcurry

In recent weeks, some weird things were happening over at the Department of Defence (aka: the Department of War).  Most of it had to do with the current Secretary of Defence, one Pete Hegseth.  Firstly, all of the military brass was summoned to Washington to be spoken to by Hegseth, and in turn President Trump.  This included senior commanding officers stationed on bases outside of the U.S.  For what it’s worth, a Zoom call probably would have been adequate for those matters Hegseth raised.  Instead of anything of real strategic value, Hegseth went on to criticize the prevalence of “fat” soldiers, sailors and airmen.  In addition, he introduced a new requirement that would eliminate the growth of beards by those in the armed forces, calling them “beardos”.  Trump then went on about all kinds of unrelated themes, further baffling the commanders sitting motionless and bewildered in the auditorium.

Next, one has the obvious attack on the free press by Hegseth and company.  In a 21 page document, a new set of strictures was laid out that immediately drew criticism from news organizations representing those accredited to cover Defence department news.  One of its provisions was widely interpreted as requiring reporters to seek prior approval from the government for their coverage.  Failure to comply could lead to a revocation of press passes.  A deadline was subsequently set and has now been passed.  The result is that all the major news outlets, including Fox News and Newsmax, withdrew their journalists from the Pentagon.  In short, this move by Hegseth, formerly of Fox News himself, leaves the Defence department without any mainstream media coverage.  So much for a “free press”!

In an effort to appease Trump’s irrational claims of “insurrections” in American cities, national guard were deployed to Chicago, Illinois and Portland, Oregon.  Trump referred to these cities as “hell holes”, a statement greatly contested by state Governors and the affected mayors.  Visual evidence clearly does not support the administration’s claims, and if anything demonstrates the irrationality of the decision.  If nothing else, these deployments simply create a greater dangerous possibility of confrontations by locals with the authorities.  In both cases, serious crime rates have declined in recent years.  Hegseth even replaced some of the national guard members who apparently were somewhat “obese”, as witnessed by broadcast media upon their arrival in the city.

Last but not least, the Pentagon is carrying out a number of drone strikes in International Waters against suspected boats allegedly coming from Venezuela with drugs destined for the U.S.  However, MSN just reported that the mother of a fisherman in Trinidad and Tobago says her 26-year-old son was among six people killed Tuesday in the Trump administration’s fifth drone strike on boats off the coast of Venezuela.  As yet, there has been no official comment from the Trinidadian government. The U.S. government also has not identified who was on board.  Apparently, this is not the first time there have been claims that the strike may have killed non-Venezuelans.  Some critics in Congress are now questioning whether such drone strikes are illegal under international laws and why no permission was given by Congress.  Once again, Trump has taken it upon himself to initiate these military operations, obviously with the backing of Hegseth.

The above cases are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the use of Defence officials and military personnel and equipment for what can be considered to be nebulous purposes.  For this and other reasons, one can certainly ask what the hell is going on at the Department of Defence?

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Oct 7

Would Trump Really Enact the Insurrection Act?

by bcurry

The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the president to use active-duty military personnel to perform law-enforcement duties inside the U.S.  Unfortunately, the Insurrection Act was written in fairly broad terms, with little specific guidance on how and when the powers can be used.  It apparently gives presidents wide latitude in deciding when to mobilise military personnel for domestic operations.  Presidents can invoke the law if they determine that “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” against the government make it “impracticable to enforce” U.S. law “by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings”.  To date, President Trump has chosen not to invoke this Act.  One important reason is that if he chooses to invoke the Act, it remains unclear what further legal challenges he might face.  Since the start of his second term, he has sent or talked about sending troops to 10 American cities.

Already, the Trump administration is facing numerous challenges to his use of federalizing the National Guard in cases involving Los Angeles and Chicago.  Most recently, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any National Guard units to Portland, Oregon, including the California National Guard.  U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, issued the order pending further arguments in a lawsuit brought by the state and city.  She said the relatively small protests the city has seen did not justify the use of federalized forces and allowing the deployment could harm Oregon’s state sovereignty.  California and Oregon also sought the temporary restraining order after U.S. President Donald Trump sent guard members from California to Oregon.  The same judge temporarily blocked his administration from deploying Oregon National Guard troops to Portland.  This upset Trump who then talked about invoking the Insurrection Act.

The use of the Insurrection Act has normally been under very exceptional circumstances since its first use by Abraham Lincoln when the southern states rebelled during the US Civil War, and by former President Ulysses S Grant against a wave of racist violence by the Ku Klux Klan after the war.  It was last used by President George Bush in 1992 when massive riots broke out in Los Angeles over the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King, a black man.  The American government has traditionally worked to limit the use of military force on American soil, especially against its own citizens.  Its use would be an extreme option in order to allow the Trump administration to circumvent legal hurdles.  It was reported that White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller in creditably declared that the government was facing a “legal insurrection”, and that court rulings against its law enforcement efforts were tantamount to “an insurrection against the laws and Constitution of the United States”. 

Suggesting that the use of the military to assist local police forces, as was the case in Washington, D.C., in fighting urban criminal activities would appear to be an extreme measure and one which does not inspire confidence in local and state police forces.  There has to date been no real evidence of any form of organized insurrection in American cities.  Suggesting that the police cannot deal with civil protests against such policies as the Trump administration’s approach to the potential arrests of illegal undocumented persons has been greatly exaggerated.  In effect, the appearance of military personnel on the streets only makes the potential angry reaction of peaceful protesting groups even more likely, especially when they are exposed to the use of tear gas and other riot control measures.

Invoking the Insurrection Act under the current circumstances would be a serious political and policy mistake on the part of the President.  It would certainly strengthen the perception that this administration has become increasingly authoritarian in its use of presidential powers, very often attempting to circumvent the judicial system.  I strongly believe that given its very definition, there is no existing insurrection in the U.S., armed or otherwise.  The very use of this term has been severely abused by the Trump administration, and can only lead to much more unrest by the citizenry in the affected cities of this great nation. 

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