[image: image.png] opening thoughts: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on how tariffs will bring jobs to the US, for robots: “We all hold our iPhones, which we love. Why do they have to be made in Taiwan and China? Why can’t those be made with robotics in America? ”
That sinking feeling in New Hampshire is brought to you by the grand illusion newhampshirebulletin.com/2025/04/02/that-sinking-feeling-in-new-hampshire-is-brought-to-you-by-the-grand-illusion/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJcGbBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQOEZkPC2FXGvk_DCvQ6oNXkyA2gMdt1qEo-7mn4zu06p…
Seven years ago, we were in a tight spot. My wife, daughters, and I were sharing a house in central New Hampshire with my parents, and even that frugal living arrangement wasn’t enough to make it affordable for any of us after a while. The property taxes were too high and climbing (even in our tight-fisted red town), the cost of upkeep became prohibitive, and there were too many years of paychecks going in the wrong direction. Amid that tense mess, my dad passed away — of course it was his heart — and my sister and her family ended up selling their place next door and taking over the old house, in part so my mom could stay. We all agreed it was the best option of the few available to our extended clan. Meanwhile, the four of us — the family within the family — found a starter home we felt like we could afford and began again in a new town with new schools for the girls. It wasn’t the softest landing, for any of us.We were unmoored.
The first year in that new life was tough, and we almost lost everything. My wife and I were both working full time but carrying a lot of credit card debt. The minimum payments combined with the mortgage, utilities, and other standard living expenses left us with nothing at the end of the month. If you didn’t know us, if you weren’t there, it would be as good a guess as any that the debt was a result of us living beyond our means. After all, every family has to live within a budget, and every family needs to learn how to trim the fat.
The thing is, there wasn’t any. The thousands in debt wasn’t the result of vacations; we never took any. It wasn’t for nights on the town or Amazon splurges. It is just how much extra it cost, added up over the first 15 years of our life together, to keep a young family of four afloat in New Hampshire. It was for urgent home and car repairs that we didn’t see coming, school clothes and supplies for the girls, all of those incidental bills that turn ledgers red.
In the end, we felt our only option — after exploring all of them — was to do precisely what the experts say you should not do: We cashed out part of my 401(k) to pay off the debt. For us, the choice amounted to sink now or struggle later. In other words, there was no choice at all.
I’m sharing all of these personal details, and uncomfortably so, not because I think my family’s story is unique but because in most ways it isn’t. In America, it is so very expensive to have nothing. And that is why political debate in this country strikes me as a kind of madness. We have created a system that exerts endless economic pressure on the middle and lower classes, and the big myth is that whoever you perceive to be below you on that class ladder is the primary, and undeserving, beneficiary of your hard work, your taxes, your struggle. But they are not. And I have to believe — or at least hope — that all of you will see that one day, whatever political party you support.
The whole of the American political establishment — long owned by the actual beneficiaries of that downward economic pressure — serves as the architect for the grand illusion. But the American right takes the cake — has long taken the cake — for subterfuge and misdirection, and it’s a bitter bite. …Why is it so hard to get by when you’ve done everything right, or tried anyway? Shouldn’t paying the bills be a little easier, just a little bit, in the richest country in the world?If those questions don’t form the immovable center of our politics, I have no idea what it is we are doing.
rethink the week talkers: *Stephen Pimpare *is Professor of Public Policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School. *Ryan Cooper* is the *Prospect*’s managing editor *Lincoln Mitchell* teaches political science and public policy at Columbia University.
topics: No Personnel Is Policy The Trump administration is accomplishing through layoffs what it couldn’t accomplish through Congress They’re Not Tariffs, They’re Sanctions Stop trying to place coherence on a policy that’s really just a mob boss breaking legs and asking for protection money. What Elon Musk Won in Wisconsin Democratic attorneys general join legal fight over Trump’s election order The Fascism Expert at Yale Who’s Fleeing America <www.vanityfair.com/news/story/the-fascism-expert-at-yale-whos-fleeing-america?srsltid=AfmBOopSIkbjVmKutWKVm7F_JN5_iGlR0eA3wPTGlR0P84HwnCL9TaOR>
“This is bananas”: Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs rely on “indescribably crazy” mathTrump admin “computed reciprocal tariffs without using tariff data,” ex-Treasury Secretary says UAW president stresses ‘excess capacity’ in US amid tariffs, auto layoffs Trump open to tariff negotiations, contradicting White House aides <www.cnbc.com/2025/04/03/trump-tariffs-live-updates-stock-market-trade-war.html> CNBC — Listen online at www.wnhnfm.org/live. Listen anytime to the podcast at www.podomatic.com/podcasts/staff74238 <www.podomatic.com/podcasts/staff74238> podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/attitude-with-arnie-arnesen/id1634055179 tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie- <tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie-Arnesen-p1711842/> Arnesen-p1711842/ <tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie-Arnesen-p1711842/>Attitude with Arnie Arnesen, Howard Lutnick, robots,Trump, Tariffs,Wisconsin, elections, Stephen Pimpare, Lincoln Mitchell, Ryan Cooper, American Prospect-
*KEEPING THE POT STIRRED SO SCUM DOESN’T RISE TO THE TOP* – Anonymous
That sinking feeling in New Hampshire is brought to you by the grand illusion newhampshirebulletin.com/2025/04/02/that-sinking-feeling-in-new-hampshire-is-brought-to-you-by-the-grand-illusion/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJcGbBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQOEZkPC2FXGvk_DCvQ6oNXkyA2gMdt1qEo-7mn4zu06p…
Seven years ago, we were in a tight spot. My wife, daughters, and I were sharing a house in central New Hampshire with my parents, and even that frugal living arrangement wasn’t enough to make it affordable for any of us after a while. The property taxes were too high and climbing (even in our tight-fisted red town), the cost of upkeep became prohibitive, and there were too many years of paychecks going in the wrong direction. Amid that tense mess, my dad passed away — of course it was his heart — and my sister and her family ended up selling their place next door and taking over the old house, in part so my mom could stay. We all agreed it was the best option of the few available to our extended clan. Meanwhile, the four of us — the family within the family — found a starter home we felt like we could afford and began again in a new town with new schools for the girls. It wasn’t the softest landing, for any of us.We were unmoored.
The first year in that new life was tough, and we almost lost everything. My wife and I were both working full time but carrying a lot of credit card debt. The minimum payments combined with the mortgage, utilities, and other standard living expenses left us with nothing at the end of the month. If you didn’t know us, if you weren’t there, it would be as good a guess as any that the debt was a result of us living beyond our means. After all, every family has to live within a budget, and every family needs to learn how to trim the fat.
The thing is, there wasn’t any. The thousands in debt wasn’t the result of vacations; we never took any. It wasn’t for nights on the town or Amazon splurges. It is just how much extra it cost, added up over the first 15 years of our life together, to keep a young family of four afloat in New Hampshire. It was for urgent home and car repairs that we didn’t see coming, school clothes and supplies for the girls, all of those incidental bills that turn ledgers red.
In the end, we felt our only option — after exploring all of them — was to do precisely what the experts say you should not do: We cashed out part of my 401(k) to pay off the debt. For us, the choice amounted to sink now or struggle later. In other words, there was no choice at all.
I’m sharing all of these personal details, and uncomfortably so, not because I think my family’s story is unique but because in most ways it isn’t. In America, it is so very expensive to have nothing. And that is why political debate in this country strikes me as a kind of madness. We have created a system that exerts endless economic pressure on the middle and lower classes, and the big myth is that whoever you perceive to be below you on that class ladder is the primary, and undeserving, beneficiary of your hard work, your taxes, your struggle. But they are not. And I have to believe — or at least hope — that all of you will see that one day, whatever political party you support.
The whole of the American political establishment — long owned by the actual beneficiaries of that downward economic pressure — serves as the architect for the grand illusion. But the American right takes the cake — has long taken the cake — for subterfuge and misdirection, and it’s a bitter bite. …Why is it so hard to get by when you’ve done everything right, or tried anyway? Shouldn’t paying the bills be a little easier, just a little bit, in the richest country in the world?If those questions don’t form the immovable center of our politics, I have no idea what it is we are doing.
rethink the week talkers: *Stephen Pimpare *is Professor of Public Policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School. *Ryan Cooper* is the *Prospect*’s managing editor *Lincoln Mitchell* teaches political science and public policy at Columbia University.
topics: No Personnel Is Policy The Trump administration is accomplishing through layoffs what it couldn’t accomplish through Congress They’re Not Tariffs, They’re Sanctions Stop trying to place coherence on a policy that’s really just a mob boss breaking legs and asking for protection money. What Elon Musk Won in Wisconsin Democratic attorneys general join legal fight over Trump’s election order The Fascism Expert at Yale Who’s Fleeing America <www.vanityfair.com/news/story/the-fascism-expert-at-yale-whos-fleeing-america?srsltid=AfmBOopSIkbjVmKutWKVm7F_JN5_iGlR0eA3wPTGlR0P84HwnCL9TaOR>
“This is bananas”: Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs rely on “indescribably crazy” mathTrump admin “computed reciprocal tariffs without using tariff data,” ex-Treasury Secretary says UAW president stresses ‘excess capacity’ in US amid tariffs, auto layoffs Trump open to tariff negotiations, contradicting White House aides <www.cnbc.com/2025/04/03/trump-tariffs-live-updates-stock-market-trade-war.html> CNBC — Listen online at www.wnhnfm.org/live. Listen anytime to the podcast at www.podomatic.com/podcasts/staff74238 <www.podomatic.com/podcasts/staff74238> podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/attitude-with-arnie-arnesen/id1634055179 tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie- <tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie-Arnesen-p1711842/> Arnesen-p1711842/ <tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie-Arnesen-p1711842/>Attitude with Arnie Arnesen, Howard Lutnick, robots,Trump, Tariffs,Wisconsin, elections, Stephen Pimpare, Lincoln Mitchell, Ryan Cooper, American Prospect-
*KEEPING THE POT STIRRED SO SCUM DOESN’T RISE TO THE TOP* – Anonymous
