The Iran War Reveals an America in Decline
America may be discovering that the disastrous war with Iran has reverberated far beyond Iran. After supposed “obliteration” of nuclear sites last June and, we are told, 13,000 strikes at Iranian targets this time, Iran shows no sign of yielding and has the upper hand with its control of the Hormuz Strait. Despite President Trump saying, “We’re the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world”, and about Operation Epic Fury, “It’s going to work very easily”, we have demonstrated that our military is less dominant than the world may have believed.
Early in the conflict, Defense Secretary Hegseth said Iran’s missile and drone programs are being “overwhelmingly destroyed”, that the joint U.S.-Israel attacks had “decimated Iran’s military and rendered it combat-ineffective for years to come”. The President described Iran’s arsenal as reduced to only about 18% or 19% of prewar level.
But it was soon reported that more than half of the country’s missile launchers are still intact as well as thousands of one-way attack drones. Just this week a worse report: A secret intelligence assessment told lawmakers that roughly 90% of Iran’s underground missile storage and launch facilities nationwide are assessed to be “partially or fully operational”, and that Iran still has about 70% of its estimated 2,500 prewar missile stockpile. Worse of all, Iran has restored operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait.
inventory drawdownThe U.S. is looking at greatly diminished stockpiles of weapons. It has expended about 1,100 long-range stealth cruise missiles, over 40% of its original supply going into the war. It has sent off over 1,000 Tomahawk missiles – roughly “10 times the… Read More »
How Trump’s Know-Nothing Arrogance Brought This War on Himself
In May of 2018, Donald Trump cancelled United States participation in the 2015 agreement that limited Iran's nuclear development. in return, Iran got sanctions relief. The pact — the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA — had been forged between Iran, the United States, and five other countries — Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — with the full European Union signing on as well. Acting entirely on his own, ignoring those allies, Trump had America go back on its word.
He has always called the agreement terrible. He underscored that view again at the beginning of March:
"I was very proud to have knocked out the Iran nuclear deal by President Barack Hussein Obama. That was a horrible, horrible, dangerous document. They were on the road to getting [a nuclear weapon] legitimately, through a deal that was signed foolishly by our country."
In his lazy ignorance not to learn what went before, he cancelled a deal that did the opposite — prevented uranium enrichment required for a bomb. He restored sanctions instead. So he put Iran on the road; Iran resumed uranium enrichment bringing several hundred pounds up to 60%, a short hop below bomb grade. And now, to stop them, he has without prior analysis, without any strategy, blundered the United States into a war that he doesn’t know how to get out of.
here’s what to know about what he threw awayFor a span of variously 10 to 15 years, the 2015 accord subjected Iran to an inspection regime of the various sites where Iran was enriching uranium. It provided… Read More »
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entitlements
It’s Too Late to Fix Social Security
May 8 2026
Ten years ago subscribers would have read on this page "What’s Going to Happen to Your Social Security?". It told you that, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), starting in 2033 Social Security will be short of funds — unable then to pay full benefits should Congress fail to fix the shortfall.
In the ten years since, Congress has done nothing. This looming catastrophe — 40% of seniors depend on Social Security as their only source of income — yet Congress does nothing.
And so, just six years from now, the Social Security trust fund will run out of money by 2032, “resulting in benefit cuts of 22.5% in 2033”, says the CBO.
the mechanics
For many decades, the Social Security Administration (SSA) took in more from payroll taxes than it paid out as benefits to seniors and persons with disabilities. The difference was loaned in a constant stream to the government in exchange for IOUs with the growing deposits referred to as a trust fund.
As the bulge of the post-World War II baby boomer generation began to retire, by 2021 benefit outlays began to exceed tax receipts, and the SSA had to start calling in the IOUs from the government trust fund to cover the gap. The trust fund will be completely drained at some point in 2032 leaving, beginning the following year, only the income of payroll taxes, and that income will be 22.5% shy of what will be needed as benefits to be paid out to retirees. What to do?
fixes
There is no end to the ideas for adjustments that would put Social Security's finances back on firm footing. Trouble is, it is now so late that none of them have enough time to pull in funding sufficient to fill the void.…
Read More »
Ten years ago subscribers would have read on this page "What’s Going to Happen to Your Social Security?". It told you that, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), starting in 2033 Social Security will be short of funds — unable then to pay full benefits should Congress fail to fix the shortfall.
In the ten years since, Congress has done nothing. This looming catastrophe — 40% of seniors depend on Social Security as their only source of income — yet Congress does nothing.
And so, just six years from now, the Social Security trust fund will run out of money by 2032, “resulting in benefit cuts of 22.5% in 2033”, says the CBO.
the mechanicsFor many decades, the Social Security Administration (SSA) took in more from payroll taxes than it paid out as benefits to seniors and persons with disabilities. The difference was loaned in a constant stream to the government in exchange for IOUs with the growing deposits referred to as a trust fund.
As the bulge of the post-World War II baby boomer generation began to retire, by 2021 benefit outlays began to exceed tax receipts, and the SSA had to start calling in the IOUs from the government trust fund to cover the gap. The trust fund will be completely drained at some point in 2032 leaving, beginning the following year, only the income of payroll taxes, and that income will be 22.5% shy of what will be needed as benefits to be paid out to retirees. What to do?
fixesThere is no end to the ideas for adjustments that would put Social Security's finances back on firm footing. Trouble is, it is now so late that none of them have enough time to pull in funding sufficient to fill the void.… Read More »
environment
The Climate War That Trump Is Winning
Mar 27 2026
Lacking any knowledge of climate science, President Trump nevertheless persists in calling global warming a “hoax”, a “scam”, a “con job” advanced by climate scientists who are “stupid people”. Fittingly, on taking office again, he immediately set about cancelling all climate initiatives, hyping oil and gas with his infantile "drill, baby, drill" mantra, hobbling wind and solar, and slashing regulations.
On his first day he set in motion the yearlong process that removes the United States from the Paris Agreement, the treaty to combat climate change. Adopted by 195 parties at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December 2015, the U.S. is the only country to withdraw, with the White House calling it “restoring American sovereignty” in keeping with "America First". It is just one of a long list of United Nations organizations that he simultaneously, on his own, chose to cancel by executive order that day.
Halo Mustafa Al Askari, the environmental minister of the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, threatened by rising oceans caused by climate change, spoke directly:
”Tragically, the world’s [second] largest emitter of greenhouse gases has withdrawn...Mr. President, this is a shameful disregard for the rest of the world”.
the great undoing
Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is an ardent deregulator. Just weeks ago he celebrated what he called “the single largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States”. His agency has worked to unravel the over 200-pages of peer-reviewed evidence that led to the 5-to-4 Supreme Court Massachusetts v. EPA decision in 2007 that agreed carbon dioxide is a pollutant that, under the Nixon-era Clean Air Act, must therefore be regulated as a…
Read More »
Lacking any knowledge of climate science, President Trump nevertheless persists in calling global warming a “hoax”, a “scam”, a “con job” advanced by climate scientists who are “stupid people”. Fittingly, on taking office again, he immediately set about cancelling all climate initiatives, hyping oil and gas with his infantile "drill, baby, drill" mantra, hobbling wind and solar, and slashing regulations.
On his first day he set in motion the yearlong process that removes the United States from the Paris Agreement, the treaty to combat climate change. Adopted by 195 parties at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December 2015, the U.S. is the only country to withdraw, with the White House calling it “restoring American sovereignty” in keeping with "America First". It is just one of a long list of United Nations organizations that he simultaneously, on his own, chose to cancel by executive order that day.
Halo Mustafa Al Askari, the environmental minister of the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, threatened by rising oceans caused by climate change, spoke directly:
the great undoing”Tragically, the world’s [second] largest emitter of greenhouse gases has withdrawn...Mr. President, this is a shameful disregard for the rest of the world”.
Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is an ardent deregulator. Just weeks ago he celebrated what he called “the single largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States”. His agency has worked to unravel the over 200-pages of peer-reviewed evidence that led to the 5-to-4 Supreme Court Massachusetts v. EPA decision in 2007 that agreed carbon dioxide is a pollutant that, under the Nixon-era Clean Air Act, must therefore be regulated as a… Read More »