Efficiency v. Inefficiency
Need for Speed
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John Fraim
One of my favorite books in high school was the Once & Future King by TH White. The Once and Future King is a collection of fantasy novels by T.H. about the legend of King Arthur. It is loosely based upon the 1485 work Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. It was first published in 1958 as a collection of shorter novels that were published from 1938 to 1940, with some new or amended material. The title refers to a legend that Arthur will one day return as king.
Might the legend apply to the return of Donald Trump to the American presidency after a four-year absence? What are the legends built around Trump? One legend is that someday Trump would return as king. A legend that seemed graced with the power of destiny and the divine bringing something greater with the close miss of Trump in the assassination attempt.
The legend has several offshoots from the famous work above. Trump 47 is much different than Trump 45. The official photo of Trump 45 was a smiling photo of a typical politician. In the official photo for Trump 47, the president had lost his smile and now just glowered back. It was an appropriate photo. After all, he had just been through months of lawfare where the left tried in all ways, they could lock him up.
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Perhaps the most important meeting has transpired with Trump 47. It is not one of the meetings we see televised each day in the numerous press conferences. It is one of those unseen (yet most important) environments. In this case it is the meeting of technology to bureaucracy. The world’s greatest technologist matched as a special friend a worker for the President as head of a DODGE team.
Trump 45 defined a part of government corruption as “the deep state” or “the swamp.” But Trump 47 knows that the enemy is more than weeding out bad actors in the federal government. Trump 47 has defined the battle not as against these “bad actors” in the federal bureaucracy. But given blame to the bureaucracy itself.
It seems we are in the time of legends of the present with the work of Trump. As well as Elon Musk and his tech team disrupting the old systems of the federal bureaucracy. With Trump changing a government financed by income tax to one financed by external tariff. Changing to a tariff-based system is not a new idea but an old idea. The first idea of raising revenue for the government. It is raising money to pay the government through an internal income tax that is the new thing.
Tariffs to pay government costs for many years. Until 1916, when external tariff system changed to internal income tax one.
Yet it is too early to tell the dynamics of the various cabinet member in their new roles. In effect, in many ways they are all competing on Trump’s TV show The Apprentice for recognition from the boss. But it is amazing as Trump has his A team of national advisors competing on these new types of Apprentice. It his A team all competing against each other.
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As we move into the new world of tariffs, so much is happening at one time. Our Secretary of the Treasurer Scott Bessent says that there are currently leaders of 70 nations who want to discuss tariff deals with the Trump administration.
The entire equation is difficult to monitor. On the one hand, taxpayers are receiving benefits under the tariffs – pretty much unmeasured at this start up time – while America as an investment skyrocket into the trillions with manufacturers from all over the world being drawn to America. Two forces on the stock market.
Again, the major challenge of our time is for our latest technology to confront the bureaucratic state. In effect, the Department of Government Efficiency against the Federal Bureaucracy. This is what has gone on for the past few months. A confrontation like few have seen before.
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It might sound strange, but I think that it has been a realization of Trump that the federal bureaucracy is not evil per se. Yes, of course there are certain actors in the system. Yet it is really the system that federal workers are trapped within. Yes, there are departments that need cleaning up. On the whole, what needs cleaning up is the bureaucratic structure of government. Not cleaning up but restructuring. Most likely around AI technology that speaks to all other computers.
Elon will be leaving his official gig with the administration soon. There will be speculation about what he is up to of course. His great AI computer Colossus is online in Tennessee. The largest AI computer in history.
Much of the Trump administration might be what Musk does out of sight. Where he is most dangerous of course.