SpaceElevator

How to Pay Off the National Debt with Asteroid Mining spaceelevatorinstitute.substack.com/p/how-to-pay-o…

I'm glad someone in the immigration space is proposing something between complete removal of every single immigrant, legal or illegal, and complete open borders. We do need to make sure this isn't being used as a pretext to try to engage in labor arbitrage, as some H1-B programs are being used right now. They claim there's no skilled American labor, but there actually is, and it's just an excuse to drive down wages and get people they can force to work 80 hour weeks under threat of deportation.

There is a solution to stabilizing the debt: high-skilled immigration. It feels "nice" to use a family-sponsorship immigration model. But we must deal with the fiscal problems here at home. A talent-based immigration model will bring in ONLY those who contribute to our economy. @DanielDiMartino did the math, which @RepDavid shared on the House floor today. Worth the watch:

@nbc4i They're gonna fix his door now.

A jury on Wednesday found in favor of Afroman, the Ohio rapper known for his song “Because I Got High,” after he was sued by law enforcement over his use of their images without permission in music videos. nbc4i.co/4cXhwRO

The people of Arizona are doing just fine since taking on occupational licensing reform. Seven years after the state adopted a universal licensing recognition framework that lowers barriers for out-of-state license holders to work in Arizona, the sky hasn’t fallen. What’s actually surprising is that universal licensing reform has yet to reach all 50 states. It’s becoming increasingly necessary. @CivitasOutlook @KevinTFrazier

@tparsi Another angle on this is that they're dragging the war out BECAUSE it's making oil prices higher. The US is a net exporter of oil, and China is a major importer. So, in their twisted calculus, they're helping our balance of trade and sticking it to China.

The developments of the past 24h may prove a turning point in this war: Israel and the US's escalation by striking the Qatari-Iranian Pars field, the strikes against Asaluyeh, Iran's massive retaliation against oil and gas installations in Saudi, Qatar and beyond, which shot up oil prices, the near downing of a F35 by Iran and Secretary Bessent's revelations that the US may unsanction Iranian oil on the waters to bring down oil prices. As I said already on the fourth day, the US has lost control of this war. It had a Plan A, but no Plan B. Plan A came crashing down after it became clear that the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei neither brought the implosion of the theocracy nor their surrender. As a result, the US is increasingly letting the Israelis drive the bus, by virtue of them having a plan, even though their plan does not serve US interests (the Israelis want to prolong the war to degrade Iran's entire industrial base, regardless of what happens to energy markets, Trump's presidency, and security in the region as a whole.) The Israeli strike against the Pars field, coordinated with the US, is particularly important because it violated a promise Trump made to Qatar back in September 2025 - Israel would no longer be allowed to strike Qatar. But that gas field is shared by both Iran and Qatar, hence it was an attack on Qatar as well as on Iran. With US coordination. This - and the impact on energy markets - may explain why Trump took to social media to blame Israel for the attack and publicly forbade them from striking further energy fields. But Bessent's comments about unsanctioning Iranian oil on the waters are the most important. Though it's primarily done to push down oil prices, it appears that we may have nevertheless entered sanctions relief territory out of necessity. I wrote several days ago that Tehran is very unlikely to end the war even if the US pulls out and declares victory. Iran has leverage for the first time in years and will seek to trade it in. It has publicly demanded a closing of US bases, reparations, and sanctions relief in order to stop shooting at Israel and open the Straits. The first may happen over time anyway, the second is highly unlikely, but the third - sanctions relief - may become more plausible as the cost of the war rises, and escalation strategies become increasingly suicidal for Trump. As I have explained, a return to the pre-war status quo is unacceptable to Tehran because it will not only be in a degraded state, but also in a continuously weakening state because its pathways to sanctions relief have been blown up. If Iran weakens further, it will only invite further American and Israeli aggression, Tehran believes, because it was the false perception of Iranian weakness that created the "window of opportunity" to attack Iran in the first place. Sanctions relief is, as a result, a necessity to ensure that the war doesn't restart. But here is where Iran may miscalculate. Trump may not yet have reached the point at which the cost of continuing the war is so high that he opts to offer sanctions exemptions to select countries to get Iran's agreement to open the straits and end the war. He will likely only reach that point once it's clear that his base is starting to turn against the war in a serious manner. At that point, Trump will face a time crunch. He will need a narrative in which he declares himself a victor - with his base believing it. Absent the ability to convince his base that he has won, the benefit of ending the war may not outweigh the cost of continuing it. And as soon as his base starts turning against the war, his ability to convince them of his victory starts to wane. Mindful of the fact that negotiating this end may take an estimated 7-10 days at best, which is different from the 24 hours or so it took to negotiate the unconditional ceasefire in June, Tehran may overplay its hand and only agree to enter these negotiations at a point at which the length of the negotiations may exceed the time Trump has left to convincingly declare victory and provide himself a face saving exit. Getting the timing of this right will be very difficult for both the US and Iran. Israel will do all it can to sabotage any such off-ramp, including by killing Iranian's negotiatiors. But it will become increasingly clear - if it hasn't already - to Trump that all his escalatory options only deepen the lose-lose situation he has put himself in. That's why Trump should never have listened to Netanyahu in the first place.

Congresswoman Brown, one of the reasons that healthcare costs keep going up is because there is a limit on the number of doctors who can get residencies. Without a residency, you can't get licensed to practice medicine. So, this is basically a hard cap on the supply of doctors, even though it's clear from rising prices that we have a shortage. Increasing the number of available residencies would lower costs and give consumers more options for their healthcare.

Trump and Republicans in Congress raised health care costs to pay for tax cuts for the rich and ICE detention centers. Now people are having to choose between health care and food.

One rule for today. Whether we watch College Basketball or not, we bet on every game. Out of respect for the kids. Can't have them out there playing for nothing. Be somebody.

Definitely better than what we're doing right now. Developing and building rockets for each trip is a huge cost. So, why not just build the space elevator?

One of the reasons that healthcare costs keep going up is because there is a limit on the number of doctors who can get residencies. Without a residency, you can't get licensed to practice medicine. So, this is basically a hard cap on the supply of doctors, even though it's clear from rising prices that we have a shortage.

@TheRabbitHole But then the government would have to find someone else to buy their debt.

Imagine how much money people would have for retirement if they were able to invest their social security payments. Everyone should have the option to opt out of social security and the market should give 401Ks as many investment opportunities as possible.

Let's break this down. Right now, large banks have to keep 4.5% of their money in reserve. If just 5% of the depositors want their money back, the bank can't pay them. And they want the reserve requirement to be LOWER than this. For context, right before the 2008 financial crisis, the banks had about 5% capital reserves. And some moderate shocks in housing values nearly collapsed the entire financial system. Massive bailouts were required. We're already basically at the same level of leverage as 2008, and they're trying to make the problem WORSE. We need serious reform to our financial system so that it rewards people who actually produce things, and not a bunch of Wall Street gambling.

The Trump admin and federal regulators are aiming to roll back rules for banks. The Fed and other regulators propose allowing the biggest banks to hold billions less in capital. Several bank lobby groups have released a joint statement saying they welcome regulators’ efforts.

Congressman Biggs, there are a lot of potential solutions to our debt crisis. We could, for example, pay off the national debt with asteroid mining. There is one asteroid, 16 Psyche, that has $700 quintillion of minable materials on it. Even modest investment in this area could bring in quadrillions of dollars per year. That's plenty of money to pay off the national debt, fully fund our pension obligations, abolish federal taxation, etc.

More debt. Higher taxes. Fiscal chaos. That's the legacy Washington is leaving for our grandchildren with our refusal to control our spending. I'm saddened by our inability to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment, but I will keep fighting. Failure is not an option.

It's an interesting idea. But, I don't think it would work as written. The sports books only keep about 5-7% of the money that gets bet. gaming.library.unlv.edu/reports/NV_spo… So, if you have a 5% tax on the handle, that's taking almost their entire profit. Then you have state gross gaming receipts taxes of up to 50%. So, you're talking gross profit margins of 0-1%. Then you have to pay employees, rent, property and income taxes, etc. You'd have to rework this as a tax on the hold. Or if you're going to tax the drop like this, it would have to be like 1% or less.

New from my colleague Fred Hernandez and I @BPC_Bipartisan: should Congress increase taxes on sports betting? @The_Budget_Lab recently scored our 5% excise tax option as raising nearly $100B over 10. We dive in, with a 👀 at prediction markets as well. bipartisanpolicy.org/issue-brief/sh…

Robert Kiyosaki gives one of the best explanations I've seen of the petrodollar system, and how it drags us into wars: facebook.com/10004444668899…

You're absolutely right. In order to maintain that debt, they have to maintain the value of the dollar. Which means bombing everyone who tries to trade oil in a different currency. It dragged us into wars and regime change operations in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and now Iran. We've got to rebuild our economy to be based on real production, so we don't have these massive deficits that have to be exported at the barrel of a gun.

The truth of many issues can be found by following the money. US federal debt is really a transfer of US taxpayers' money to foreign govs and investors through interests payments. If they stop buying debt, US will face painful budget cuts, US has $1.8 trillion budget deficit. Weapons aid to foreign countries is again a transfer of wealth from US taxpayers to defense contractors. If you are not a shareholder of defense related company, you are losing your tax money and your future. Young people especially need to understand this because foreign wars are stealing their future.

No money for your health care. No money for hungry families. No money for grandma’s nursing home. No money for Elmo. No money for cancer research. But endless money for war.

Senator Warnock, I share your concerns about wasting money on this stupid war. It all starts with the fact that our economy is built on Wall Street speculation and private equity looting. This lack of real economic production leads to massive budget deficits. Those deficits are currently being exported at the barrel of a gun by forcing other countries to trade oil in US dollars. If we want to stop these wars, we need to rebuild an economy based on production, not gambling. Economic development of space would be a great foundation for a real economy. We could bring in quadrillions of dollars a year from asteroid mining. That's plenty of money to fix the deficit, pay off student loans and medical debt, fix our crumbling infrastructure, and protect Social Security, Medicare, and pensions. In short, we have to get out of the kind of thinking that got us into this mess. We need real solutions to our economic problems so that we don't keep get dragged into these wars that no one wants.

@EFF They're trying to burn the digital Library of Alexandria.

Imagine a newspaper publisher refusing to let libraries keep copies of its paper. That’s effectively what’s starting online, as big publishers block the Internet Archive from preserving news sites. eff.org/deeplinks/2026…

@YAppelbaum The fundamental error of Neo-Malthusianism is that the carrying capacity of earth is not fixed. It increases with the use of technology.

"It is not, in fact, a law of nature that we can’t make the world of tomorrow better than the one we have now, and neither is the notion that the steps needed to get there are incompatible with broader civic values."

@CurtMills They've done what they set out to do. Decapitated the regime, destroyed the alleged nuclear sites, etc. Now they're just trying to drag it out to continue economic warfare against China by denying them oil. It's ridiculous.

“But Trump 2024 voters are broadly skeptical of putting boots on the ground. When asked ‘Would you support or oppose sending U.S. ground troops into Iran?’ respondents opposed the measure 58–41 percent.” theamericanconservative.com/poll-trump-vot…

Federal tax reform alone cannot solve the housing shortage. But lowering the tax cost of building could complement zoning reform. tpc.io/475UggE

In a poll, 79% of Trump 2024 voters say they would prefer the president declare victory and get out of the war now. responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-war-maga/