We are about to be subject to Shock Therapy economics - severe austerity - administered by Putin's puppets

[ProfessorPlum]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_therapy_(economics)

Shock therapy policies generally include ending price controls, stopping government subsidies, privatizing state-owned industries, and tighter fiscal policies, such as higher tax rates and lowered government spending. In essence, shock therapy policies can be distilled to price liberalization accompanied by strict austerity.

Musk is already signaling that they want to institute austerity:

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/economy-if-trump-wins-second-term-could-mean-hardship-for-americans-rcna177807

(the cruelty of the world's richest asshole calling for a population already hurting economically to be immiserated further is amazing).

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein is absolutely required reading for everyone to prepare for the next few years.

[dalton99a]

1. We're in good hands with the great economist Elon Musk and the crypto enthusiasts

[Irish_Dem]

2. America's elite will suck out all the money in the US economy.

Like Putin and his oligarchs do in Russia.
And the same in China.

[CrispyQ]

3. Klein's book should be required reading for first year college students.

My bad! That would be one of those woke books, wouldn't it? That was some hard reading for me—emotionally.

[ProfessorPlum]

4. me too. I cried, one of the few times I've cried as an adult man

when I was reading it. The cruelty and hopelessness was terrible.

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. Great news! That means Dems win supermajorities in both houses in the 2026 midterms!

I’m not sure how crushing consumers in a consumer based economy works out well for the crushers.

Sure, it’s a thrilling flex of power…until the markets crash, taking down even the crypto-bros.

[ProfessorPlum]

6. i'm positive the GOP will faithfully observe the results of those elections once they have tasted full power

not.

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. Elections are managed by the states

What is the GOP going to do when California sends 52 Dem congress persons to DC in January 2027?

I don’t think you’ve thought your doomsday scenario through completely.

[ProfessorPlum]

8. I don't know - what would you do if you were a complete authoritarian who had no respect for democracy, no shame,

and absolutely no bounds on your behavior? Say "oh well, I guess we lost control of the House" and quietly step aside?

you aren't thinking straight about this.

[Fiendish Thingy]

10. You aren't thinking realistically about this.

We are talking about the evaporation of trillions in market value, the decimation of the US dollar, which would destroy the Trump family’s wealth, even if they sink a chunk of it into crypto.

Do you think Jarvanka will stand by quietly while daddy destroys their only measure of self-worth? Will Jared’s backers twiddle their thumbs while Wall st. Burns?

Voiding the results of the midterms would collapse the world economy- it’s not going to happen.

[ProfessorPlum]

11. Think about it from Putin's point of view - would he give a shit if the "world economy" collapses?

then neither will all of his little puppets in the GOP.

[Fiendish Thingy]

14. Putin is not the omnipotent evil genius you perceive him to be.

He has influence over a few key players, and no influence over those who have trillions on the line.

[ProfessorPlum]

29. Putin has destroyed the UK and the US in just a few years without firing a shot

between Brexit and Trump 2.0 he propagandized two sleeping populations into slitting their own throats.

He's having his own problems in Russia, but he's been wildly successful in harming the west.

[Fiendish Thingy]

34. Putin is so successful, the Labour Party won a landslide victory in July

Crafty devil that Putin, letting the left win control of Parliament.

[Skittles]

52. ONLY AFTER THE DAMAGE WAS DONE

yup

[Skittles]

51. do you really think it will be Trump in charge?

he doesn't actually WORK, and this time the PROJECT 2025 folk will be in charge

[Arazi]

9. What makes you think they'll be seated?

I presume the GOP will scream that they weren’t “free and fair” elections (jfc if I never hear that phrase again in my life, I’ll die happy).

They didn’t enact their plans to block certification and Dem MOC this year because they won majorities but that won’t stop them next time

[Fiendish Thingy]

12. If the results of the midterms are voided, the world economy will collapse.

It’s just that simple.

[Arazi]

13. I believe that's what Musk and the crypto bros want

They want a global re-alignment with oligarchs, autocrats and tech bros at the head. Crypto as the new currency

Peter Thiel has had multiple interviews about this

[Fiendish Thingy]

15. Yes, I know what they want

But do you think the rest of the world’s billionaires will stand by idly and let it happen?

[Arazi]

16. I don't think they'll have any say in the matter

Putin just throws rogue billionaires out windows. MBS literally imprisoned all of his billionaires in a luxury hotel and tortured them until they either swore fealty or died.

The US has the most powerful military on the planet - $$ is useless against tanks and hellfire missiles.

I truly hope this doesn’t go the way Thiel (and others) are planning. Vance is his puppet tho and I don’t think Traitor is long for this world

[Fiendish Thingy]

17. We shall see

Lots of variables at play that you aren’t accounting for.

This won’t be a linear process like
flex power-intimidate opponents-crush economy-rule the world!

All sorts of unpredictable factors can interfere with an authoritarian plan for world dominance.

[Arazi]

18. Absolutely

I just think the big picture looks grim and we’d be fools to discount what they’ve said they want to do (and will finally have all of the levers to pull it off).

Musk said Americans should brace for severe economic pain.

I believe him

[Fiendish Thingy]

19. I expect them to create chaos

But that isn’t the same thing as success.

[PortTack]

27. So you know how thiel is thinking? Seriously

[quakerboy]

21. send 34 from Texas and 28 from florida

California won't send 52 dems. But texas and florida could send pure red delegations.

And that's assuming all goes well. Let's hypothetically put troops outside each polling station in a blue area... fer "security", yaknow... and see what that does to the results.

Or declare a state of emergency on election day with patrols in the streets of cities. Because your concerned about "mobs of violent rioters"

Then you make it mandatory to register to vote at least 2 months before an election, and purge voters rolls a month before the election. And maybe you use the justice department to harass potential candidates, and then jail/disqualify a few more as the process continues. Etc

Russia has "elections" too.

[Fiendish Thingy]

24. full on, 100% fascism would require the revocation of the 2nd amendment and confiscation of privately owned guns

Ya think that's gonna happen?

The doomsday scenario you and others depict cannot unfold without a lot of people, many in positions of power, getting shot in the face, in some cases by the their own military/security details.

It comes down to what Trump and his cronies value more, unrestrained, total authoritarian power or money? My bet is Cokey, Gums, and Princess value their precariously leveraged wealth more than any amount of power. Even going all in on crypto wouldn't save them from a world economic collapse.

Can't have both. You can't destroy the world economy, impoverishing billions and make billionaires into, at best, multimillionaires (or nominal billionaires holding worthless US dollars) without severe, tangible consequences.

Like I said, I expect chaos, but chaos isn't the same thing as success, at least not if you value wealth.

[ProfessorPlum]

41. The powers that be have already shown they'd rather rule over impoverished peasants than have a thriving

economy where people get paid enough to be good customers.

Because greed.

Have you missed all of that?

[ProfessorPlum]

45. No! He intends to strip the country to its bones and make off with all of our wealth

along with his oligarch buddies.

[Fiendish Thingy]

46. What wealth?

If the dollar becomes worthless, there won’t be any wealth to steal, and any wealth he manages to keep in gold or crypto will be useless if the nation is bankrupt and its people impoverished. What’s he going to use for cash? Rubles?

Who is going to clean Trumps toilets or work his security detail if they can’t pay rent or buy groceries because of triple digit inflation?

Like I said in another post, if it gets as bad as you claim it will, the suffering will affect all levels and strata of classes, and many people in power, including Trump, will end up getting shot in the face by people they thought they could trust.

There will likely be chaos, but not the dystopian anarchy you forecast with smug certainty.

[ProfessorPlum]

48. Oh, ok. "chaos" but not "dystopian anarchy"

thank goodness

[Brenda]

50. Lots of Gas Lighters live on DU

Ignore them.

Soon they will obviously be on the wrong mother fucking side and we can all stop playing word games.

[Darkshard]

33. CA is not 100% blue

CA has 41 Dems and 9 MAGA, all the coastal states are blue on the coast and red on the interior.
And since the house runs on simple majority votes, 1 seat is enough to in effect prevent the Dems from doing anything but give moving speeches.
I use the last two sessions as my example. GOP controlled the House and the only things we got done a ton of barbed hooks and traps built in.
Now that the Dems have lost control of both houses, they will bend all rules to get their agenda through.
I fully expect the filibuster to die in the first month.

[Fiendish Thingy]

37. I was using hyperbole to make a point

If Trump implements his policies, causes millions to suffer, and crashes the economy, the dems would be favored to win supermajorities in the midterms.

[wnylib]

30. What midterms? Do you think that a cruel autocracy

will allow or honor a free election in 2026?

Did you hear the felon's statement that he intends to be a dictator on day one?

If the economic severity program is implemented, it won't be eliminated at the polls. With MAGA in control of all 3 branches of government, it would require massive unrest and demonstrations in the streets to change it. They would likely be met with severe consequences for protesting, maybe like Tiananmen Square in China. That could lead to the people fighting back.

We are not in Kansas any more, Toto.

[Fiendish Thingy]

35. Again, Elections are managed by the states, beyond federal control

If Trump were somehow successful in preventing all 50 states from holding midterms, thus dissolving Congress when the current terms expire, the world economy, and the US dollar, would collapse.

I don't think you've thought this through all the way.

[wnylib]

38. Have you thought it through?

Why do you say that denial of midterms would mean dissolving Congress?

Trump could give an excuse for not holding the elections on time. All the offices in Congress would be frozen in place. Not dissolved, just perpetually run by the MAGA majority.

He could allow the elections to proceed and rig them. Or just refuse to acknowledge Dem wins. How could he do that? Easy. MAGA creativity in setting and interpreting the rules. Just needs a cover story to "explain" why.

Collapse of the US dollar? I am sure Putin would weep over that. But never fear. The dollar would be replaced with bit coin. Isn't that already part of the ecomomic plan?

[Fiendish Thingy]

39. The terms of the next congress end on January 2, 2027

As does a third of the senate.

You fantasize that Trump can wave a magic wand and change the constitution and hundreds of laws, just because he wills it.

If no midterms are held in 2026 the House of Representatives will cease to exist.

He could allow the elections to proceed and rig them. Or just refuse to acknowledge Dem wins. How could he do that? Easy. MAGA creativity in setting and interpreting the rules. Just needs a cover story to "explain" why.
.

Now you’re just making stuff up and revealing your overactive imagination. None of what you said is based in reality, or within the realm of possibility, even with nationwide martial law.

Again, all elections are run by the states, many with Dem secretaries of state who certify the results.

[wnylib]

53. You see an overactive imagination in me.

I see in you a denial of what types of characters and authoritarianism are in control.

[questionseverything]

47. Collapsing us dollar is the plan, musk really hasn't hid that

[angrychair]

20. Sorry, this is ridiculous on its face

Crushing the US economy would destroy shareholder value and thereby business value and ultimately that is not in the interest of the oligarchs.
Even for Musk. Poor people cannot buy Teslas or even his Internet service.

There is no way business leaders are going to sign off on becoming poor and going out of business.

[PortTack]

26. Agree....talk about doom and gloom and arguing for it. This is exactly what Dr. Timothy Snyder is saying not to do

in his book “On Tyranny.” Refuse to agree in advance. Don’t just complain and do nothing! STOP!

It’s not helpful!

[ProfessorPlum]

42. What I'm trying to do is to wake people up so that they CAN resist

the problem with shock therapy and austerity economics is that everyone is frozen for a long time, amazed at the audacity/evil of what is unfolding.

The faster we, as a populace and as a people, get over the shock (by facing what I think is clearly coming), the faster we can do something about it.

Relying on "oh, just wait until the midterms" or "Putin won't want to crash the US economy" makes you ill-prepared to see what is coming and unable to react.

Plus, I honestly don't see what levers of power are even left to people of goodwill - or where they will emerge from. Counting on a roided-out GOP in full control of all three branches of the government to cede power is naive.

[Skittles]

49. I don't think these MAGAt freaks care

they have it all now and they want to burn it all down

[world wide wally]

22. People in America are sooo smart!

NOT

[Blue Full Moon]

23. Welcome to Russia or is it eastern Germany during cold war

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219738157

[Xipe Totec]

25. It's not shock therapy; it's blunt force trauma. nt

[Dan]

28. Remember

Pigs get fed,
Hogs get slaughtered.

[keep_left]

31. And of course, Eloon has carved out an exemption from this radical austerity...

...because after all, he's a heroic job-creator and defense contractor! Eloon even stated all of his plans for his ridiculous "DOGE" agency in a public forum.

https://democraticunderground.com/100219670941#post12
https://democraticunderground.com/100219666895#post12
https://democraticunderground.com/100219666945#post12
https://democraticunderground.com/100219639221
https://democraticunderground.com/100219639221#post3
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219623119#post19

[slightlv]

32. Great Britain, if I remember correctly, instituted this beginning with the

Thatcher administration. Each admin afterwards tried to out-austere the one prior to it. You can see how great that worked out. Conservatives have wanted to do the austerity thing here since before Reagan, but we wouldn't stand for it. Now... they've got the reins of government and are going to go full bore on everything they've ever wanted to do.

Besides hurting so many people, and killing not a few of us, the sad thing is it will fail every bit as bad as it has everywhere else it's been tried. Britain, Greece, Venezuela, Brazil. The wanted so badly to start from scratch in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they couldn't make headway there. Pallets of money disappeared, probably into either warlord's pockets or the republicans' pockets, themselves. Whichever, the people of those countries were smarter enough to know what was happening and wanted no part of it. We may make snide comments about how backwards they are, but they were smarter than Americans when it came to kitchen macro- and micro-economics.

[ProfessorPlum]

43. " it will fail" depends on your definition of failure. "Pallets of money disappeared" is the victory, you see?

Austerity fails to make a country better. But that isn't what it is for.

[Magoo48]

36. So, we make do. And, pissing and moaning is ok as long as we are continuously planning ways to resist.

Depending how we are situated, we can grow food, buy from local farmers or farmers markets, beans, rice, and whatever mystery meat is available goes a long way, join co-ops for heating or whatever else we can find, drive less or not at all, avoid, corporate, whatever we can do without, join community groups, and continue to plan ways to resist, resist, resist with imagination.

[misanthrope]

40. My better judgement prevents me from saying

what I hope happens to Musk. But it might involve space flight --- and sudden decompression. He is an evil SOB.