Saturday Morning Strip

Psychology Hacks

Apr 05, 2025

I’m not claiming to be an expert economist but for the past day or so I’ve been scratching my head at why these Trump tariffs were implemented and who really came up with the idea. Perhaps I’m always looking for the hidden hand. Trump fans, predictably, are sure it’s a good idea in the long run. Trust the plan!

Perma Trump fan Jeff Childers rolled out the marketing script. I was more scratching my head at his headline from his Friday Morning post, which was “The First Seal.”

Where have I heard that before?

Reading the comments about how it will lead to higher prices but it’s worth it is starting to remind me a bit of the “I got the Covid jab and would do it again even if it killed me because that means I am part of the correct in group and am a good person” arguments I heard just a few short years ago. I suppose I have a secret power here.

There’s still a lot of war and now a trade war to boot. We’re still being led by billionaire pedophiles.

Whether the dog is wagging the tail or the tail is wagging the dog as it pertains to End Times Biblical literature, it is not whether you believe it but whether those in key positions of power do. Therein lies the problem. How have we as a species allowed such a small group of leaders to amass so much power to decide the fate of eight billion souls?

God created life and man created money. They want everything on their second ledger and have been carefully cultivating it for Millenia. Now onto the lighter side of things.

I discovered recently from a post from Nicholas Creed that 2+2=5 was an actual Russian slogan. Apparently Stalin used it to commemorate how his five year plan had been accomplished in four years, even though the plan led to mass starvation and death. Such blatant black is white lying has been going on for a long time.

Regarding math being hard, in my last meme set I shared this one:

CNBC’s budget for this hypothetical 25 year old making $100,000 per year was so unhinged and disconnected from reality that I decided to make my own chart calculating it out. I know several people who make 100K plus per year: a pilot, a few in construction trades who hustle for overtime, an engineer, a VP of product development, et cetera. None of them were making $100K per year when they were 25 years old or even close to it. So I calculated this all out based on the assumption that this 25 year old (who is good with money) just graduated with an MBA (Masters of Business) from a high tier university with $100K in student loan debt and has just landed a job at the options desk at Goldman Sachs. I plugged in the average loan payments, taxes, median rent on a 2 bedroom in Manhattan assuming one roommate and my chart looks a lot different from theirs. Instead of giving that $600 per month to charity this guy can use it to support his one pack per day cigarette habit or something. Transportation costs are assuming a $130 per month metro pass plus occassional Ubers, taxis et cetera.