Trump Economy vs Obama Economy Final Result 48 days jobless vs 2-7 years

Posted: June 27, 2026 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, economy
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It’s the Economy Stupid

James Carville 1992

On May 8th the day I was laid off from my full time job I wrote that this was an excellent test comparison between the Economy of the Barack Obama years who was president elect when the company I worked for folded & I found myself out of work, and Donald Trump, who was president when the company I worked for laid me and all my co-workers off to move operations from Massachusetts to Arizona and Georgia.

You might recall that I only managed a single interview during my time out of work in the Obama Economy. I ended up diving into journalism two years later with my own radio show & making the blog my job but finally had to beg to get a temp 3rd shift warehouse job in 2015 seven years later at 45% of what I had been making in 2008.

Here is how I closed my VE day piece on my last day of work.

So tomorrow I spend the day with my youngest, Sunday I spend time with DaWife on Mother’s day and starting Monday my focus becomes finding a new job to employ me till retirement at 70.

Despite the gas price spike I find myself confident both in the Trump economy and my prospects within it. We will see if that confidence and my natural optimism is rewarded or if as before it will be crushed until fate throws a curve.

If nothing else it will be an excellent practical measure of the Obama way vs the Trump way.

Wish me luck.

Well there has been luck, some good: Gas prices as of yesterday in my area are down 57 cents, from their peak & still falling (although still $1.20 above before the war) I had a great road trip with my oldest son and a spectacular time with friends at a get together last month, Some bad: My wife has run into thousands of dollars of both medical & auto repair bills & my mechanic tells me 1999 Buick may or may not make it to the end of its 27th year but certainly won’t make it to the end of its 28th.

On the job front there has also been good and bad luck I had multiple interviews with multiple companies and some disappointing rejections, but this past Wednesday I started orientation at a new job.

Now to be fair this job wasn’t my first choice or even my 2nd and there is always the possibility that I might not take to the training I need to master for this position or over time either they or I might decide the position is unsuitable for me.

But the bottom line is starting next week instead of collecting an unemployment check I’ll be collecting a paycheck in a job with pay and benefits comparable what I had before being laid off.

So let’s compare

I had a good paying job with good benefits before Obama was elected

  • It took me 2 years to dive into my radio show and start selling ads no benefits or insurance in the Obama Economy
  • It took me 7 years to find a full time temp position (no benefits) in the Obama economy

I had a decent paying job with good benefits in the 2nd Trump economy when I was laid off, I was given an 8 week severance package & medical paid for through July.

48 days later I’m at a job with comparable wages and benefits to the one I lost.

48 days, less than 7 weeks, less weeks than my severance package, over a month before my medical benefits lapse.

48 days in a blue state that companies are fleeing, whose economy isn’t anywhere near as good as those in red states that Trump won.

48 days vs 2-7 years

If you want to know the difference between the Trump economy and the Obama Economy this is it.

Iran: A Win Everywhere but on Social Media

Posted: June 18, 2026 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, economy, Uncomfortable Truths, war
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Anthony Rossano: I guess you’re pretty pleased with yourself.
“Snaps” Provolone: My father would have been proud. I got my money back, and nobody got shot.
Anthony Rossano: Not so fast. I’ve been tricked. (reaches for the bag of cash)
“Snaps” Provolone: (grabs his hand) I wouldn’t do that if I were you.
Anthony Rossano: You forget, Mr Provolone, you’re going straight today.
“Snaps” Provolone: You’re right, I am going straight today, (points to the Finucci brothers in the next room) but they’re not.

Oscar 1991

One of the problems with social media in general and X in particular is the amount of extreme stupidity without thought that is expressed by people who believe the world is a video game because they haven’t had to deal with actual real world consequences of actions nor ever had real responsibility for anything that involves someone other than oneself.

Which brings us to the Iran deal or Memorandum of Understanding.

You can make the argument that we should have gotten regime change. I would have liked that very much and as a student of history and of war I’m even of the opinion that if a war which cost 10,000 US troops as causalities ended in the fall of the Mullahs it would, in the long run be to the benefit of the world in general and the US in particular. It’s worth noting that almost nobody I know would have borne the brunt of the fighting nor would have I have the responsibility of either convincing America that it’s worth the cost or writing the wives, mothers or children of those who would fall in such an action which would take at best many months, that the country is grateful for the sacrifice of their loved ones.

You could make the argument that we should have just kept bombing, that’s fine but who and what are we bombing? Do we hit military targets? Mosques? The oil fields? Are there strategic targets that would advance our efforts more that are worth our time? They have very little that can project power outside of their country left and what is able to project power inside of their country is embedded within the people. You can argue it’s worth doing but eventually it becomes big booms for small returns.

You could make the argument that we should have simply continued with the operations we were doing. That’s a strong argument as Iran is reaching a crisis point economically, and the costs of such a move military are negligible. The cost in cash to support our military on station isn’t all that much more than doing so elsewhere and our logistics are in place and every existing tanker in the gulf that we get out is one less that Iran can intimidate.

For the record I would have supported any of those three actions as being old enough to remember the hostage crisis in the Jimmy Carter years and seen what the rise of the Mullahs has done to the world (you don’t get what you have in Europe today without them) I think it’s worth it.

The problem with all three of the above scenarios is that the American people do not have the political will for any of them. Maybe when I was a kid we might have, but we live in a different society right now where not even on in 100 people serve in our military or know people who have. Where the price of gas is more valued than the price of lives by voters and where one political party has been doing all it can to support Iran & encourage them to hold on because their hatred of Donald Trump far exceeds their love for their country as both their actions and the polls clearly show.

So Donald Trump has decided on a deal a “60 day” deal which I strongly suspect will turn into a 150 day deal. I’ve read the text of it and it reads like it was written by Sir Humphrey Appleby. Most things that happen happen if other things happen first, it pretty much kicks cans down the road and basically says we’ll leave them alone as we talk to make an actual deal.

The great advantage for Iran is that it allows them, as a face society to claim some kind of victory and a bunch of people are trying to make that argument, but consider:

  • They no longer have a navy
  • Their air force is hiding in other countires
  • Their entire senior leadership is dead
  • They have exhausted a large amount of their drone and missile supply
  • They have been hurt financially to the point where their ability to project power overseas with cash is completely non-existant.

There are those who are saying that the 60 or 150 days allows them to reverse those factors but DOES it?

  • Are they going to rebuild a navy in 150 & find men willing to join?
  • Is their air-force ready to return to bases in Iran to become potential targets?
  • Are their new leaders going to feel safe anywhere in groups of 3 or more without a large amount of human shields?
  • Even if places like Russia & China have the will and the additional supplies to help Iran rearm there is
    • Insufficient cash on hand to do so
    • Limited cash from oil sales available as other suppliers are safer
    • Any Frozen assets released once used are gone
    • The base cost of rebuilding infrastructure that has already been bombed

Moreover we have the absolute ability to monitor all of this stuff via satellite & other methods, every supply method, every route will be visible and become a target for the next round of bombing when it comes.

Furthermore this isn’t a game of Civ 6 when you click a button and damage is rebuilt in one turn. It actually take real people physical time to do these things. I’m not going to say it will be as slow as the railway to nowhere that the left in California has been leeching off of for years and years but Iran is not going to be able to rebuild or project power or fund Hezbollah & send them arms for years let alone in 60, or 90 or 180 days.

Meanwhile consider what will be happening in the US both economically and politically for the Trump administration..

  • The economy continues to roll
  • Our ability to resupply & rearm for fleet and forward troops continues unabaited
  • Our manufacturing jobs continue to soar
  • With the drop of gas prices (down .36 cents in the last two weeks) the political pressure on Trump continues to drop
  • With the increase of American Oil exports the demand for Iranian oil decreases
  • Every day the Saudi pipeline to bypass the gulf moves closer to completion
  • Every tanker that leaves the gulf is one less tanker that the Iranians can use as hostages
  • Every Iranian tanker on the high seas becomes a target that can potentially be seized without much effort.

And all of that takes place with US forces still close enough to go after Iran at any time Donald Trump decides they aren’t playing ball.

Even worse for Iran the drop in gas prices undermines their allies on the left that have been doing their best to prop them up and hurts them politically. Unless they can engineer a crisis before the midterm elections it’s very likely that a strong economy will “Trump” the left’s desire to handcuff the final two years of the Trump in office.

What do they have to play: “Trump said ‘Unconditional Surrender’ hah he lost!”? Seriously? Have none of these people read his book on deal making?

Cripes you might recall US Grant who coined the phrase “Unconditional Surrender” ended up giving generous terms to Lee and Johnston (vs Sherman) to end the war. Did he lose?

If you want to find a historical parallel to what we have now it’s in the battle between the frigates USS United States and the HMS Macedonian during the war of 1812.

The United States with heavier longer range guns pulverized the Macedonian for a long while and then sailed off briefly to repair minor damage done the British ship’s cannon fire.

As soon as it was ready it sailed back toward the heavily damaged British frigate that during the brief respite was able to do little if anything to put itself back in fighting shape.

Stephen Decatur then put the United States in a position to rake the British ship (that is shoot with any danger of their guns replying) and held his fire. The brits took the hint and Decatur ended up taking the ship as a prize of war.

That’s where we are right now. Trump will spend the next six months getting his economy and his supplies in order knowing that he can at any time bomb again. Once he has finally secured a stable alternate oil supply for the world he will be in the position to seize Kharg Island if he wishes.

Iran can not rebuild or rearm or generate sufficient cash to stop this. If Trump does this things the Iranian oil industry is permanently done as the Mullahs only choice will be to destroy the pipelines that feed it or the target the oil on the island with drones. The moment that happens Iran becomes a nation without assets that can be safely ignored as it will never be able to project power or obtain revenue for generations.

In short they become a footnote to the world another Afganistan, a bunch of fanatics without the power to harm anyone but themselves

Put simply we continue to grow stronger while Iran at best struggles to maintain a semblance of order.

And any thought of reconstituting their nuke ambitions? Please, the labs, the trained techs and the machinery doesn’t grow on trees. All of that takes time, effort and heavy construction that Iran can’t do at the moment and that if it starts can be blown up at will.

In short Trump won this war the moment he started shooting & killed the Iranian leaders. He hoped Iran would fold easy, but they did not so he has the choice of winning it fast with high causalities or slow with minimal risk. He has chosen the latter and no amount of fools on social media saying otherwise changes that fact.

The only “Victory” Iran has is the ability to publicly claim it, which as a “face” society means a lot to them, but Egypt has been claiming that the 1973 war with Israel was a “victory” for 53 years but it didn’t make it so.

Or to put it another way. In what sense is Iran in better shape than the day before Trump started hitting them? (short answer, they’re not).

Closing thought 1: There seems to be a lot of talk about Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah concerning this deal but having read the document I didn’t see the words “Israel” or “Lebanon” or “Hezbollah” anywhere.

Closing thought 2: To my knowledge Israel is not a signatory to this deal. Therefore they are not restrained by it at all. There is nothing stopping them from hitting Lebanon, hitting Hezbollah, hitting Gaza or even hitting Iran. I suspect if they do Trump will make loud public protests after the fact that will upset allies of Israel, but do nothing to prevent it before the fact. Bibi is Trump ace in the hole:

Closing thought 3: You can also make the argument that like all Tyrannies this is a crack in the dam that will eventually cause them to fall. Tyrannies always seem invincible to the outside world just before they collapse suddenly.

Where’s the Defamation Suit(s) from the Obamas?

Posted: June 16, 2026 by datechguy in internet/free speech, politics
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Jack Klugman as Jessie Cardiff in The Twilight Zone: A Game of Pool 1961

Jessie Cardiff: There it is- the game ball. All my life i’ve been waiting for this, it’s it’s a pocket hanger.

The Twilight Zone: A Game of Pool 1961

Back in the days when I was first going to CPAC I found myself in line to get into an event with Michelle Malkin (who graciously filmed a “hello” video for my brother). In the line behind me was a gentleman who claimed to have had an affair with President Obama. He was quite emphatic & gave interesting details but with only a single source & no corroboration it wasn’t a priority to me.

This was before his re-election and his “change of heart” on gay marriage.

It was about that time or maybe a few years later that I first heard the “Michelle Obama is a man” rumors. I dismissed them out of hand thinking that I’m not a fan of going after a first lady & anyways it would be so easy to disprove that it was to be ignored. It was for the same reason that I dismissed the same lines about the French president’s wife, which is now the subject of a lawsuit.

As you might know this weekend at the fight at the White House, one of the fighters, after his victory bluntly and loudly said that Michelle Obama is a guy.

I found this fascinating for a couple of reasons.

  1. It was done at the most public forum avaialble
  2. There seems to be no movement or effort by anyone to make the guy retract the statement
  3. There is every possible incentive for the Democrats to urge the Obamas to sue because
    • There is now a very long precedent of defamation suits by leaders, Trump has made an art form out of it.
    • The Obama library is in debt already & a settlement would help in that reguard
    • That this happened at a Trump event should make Democrats chomping at the bit to sue.
    • When the current first lady was defamed by the press her threat of a lawsuit brought a quick retraction.
    • Such a suit would mean that every republican running for office could be asked “do you believe it?”
    • It gets der Oysterfurher in Maine off the front page.
    • It would be the most easy thing in the world to prove as false

That last one is a kicker, a photo of a pregnant Michelle Obama, a hospital picture with the newborn kids, easiest thing in the world to produce, cripes even a DNA sample taken today could do it.

Yet not only has it not produced a suit or even a threat of a suit but it’s already off the front pages assuming it ever made it on the front pages.

Moreover on X one of the biggest Gadfly’s to the left has publicly said this:

Now this was posted to X where the fellow has 4 MILLION followers. Even if you weren’t interested in suing the fighter you could bankrupt & destroy this fellow who has been one of the strongest voices on the right for quite a bit. It would be a one foot putt or as Jack Klugman’s character Jessie Cardiff in the Twilight Zone episode a game of pool put it: “A pocket hanger”! It’s a shot you can’t miss. One tiny DNA sample & it’s game over!

I ask myself a simple question: “Why would the Democrats not go all in on this, particularly when the latest polls show their generic lead in the midterms dropping?”

There is a logical answer to this question. That logical answer isn’t evidence but it does make one think.

If anyone from the left has a more logical answer I’m ready to hear it.

Closing thought: Even if the party or the Obamas aren’t interested in doing so, there are a ton of leftists on X and/or Bluesky who would absolutely LOVE to take down Catturd & claim his scalp. It will be interesting to see if anyone on X files a complaint against him or talks about doing so publicly.

It would be more interesting if such a person was approached by the Democrat party & told not to.

Five Up too early for a Saturday Thoughts Under the Fedora: World Cup Highlights, The Hardest Part, Musk’s Trillions, Iran Trickling down and Big Finish to the Rescue?

Posted: June 13, 2026 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, doctor who, employment, Sports, under the fedora, war
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I spent some time watching World Cup Highlights yesterday and those highlights demonstrated why the sport is not worth my time.

The highlight reels ran 15-20 min with several replays in them so maybe 10-12 minutes of play. That from a match that runs 90-100 minutes. That’s 80 minutes of dead time where there is no much happening but a guy kicking a ball back to another while they look for a chance to make something happen,

Contrast this with Baseball which while not having a clock has the potential for a run to be scored & a highly happening on every single pitch.

Give me the pine tar & the leather any day.

The worst part of being out of work is the waiting.

Last time around in 2008 I couldn’t buy a job interview. This time I’ve had quite a few. I’m waiting on three companies right now 2 of which had told me I’d be hearing back from them up or down before this point.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that I’m getting interviews it’s the waiting that throws me for a loop.

It’s not easy at 63 to be competing for positions with people 20+ years younger than you.

Let me remind you of several somethings concerning Elon Musk’s soon to be Trillion dollar net worth.

  1. Musk employs tens of thousands of people
  2. Musk is actively using his wealth for some rather incredible things
  3. There are plenty of people who have never built anything who will critique his wealth for profit. power & clicks.
  4. There are plenty more who only started hating on him once he became a threat to the power of the left or to virtue signal to said left that they’re one of him.
  5. As the old saying goes, he will still be able to only eat one meal at a time & sleep in one bed at a time & will like all of us eventually die.
  6. The only think that really counts in the long run is his relationship with God, I’d worry more about that but I’m too busy worrying about my relationship with God.

But the real thing about Musk’s wealth is this: It’s nothing to do with me and not my concern. He has what he has and does what he does and what he so does is his own business, not mine. I have no more right or claim on what he has than the guy down the street has to mine.

Over the past two weeks gasoline has dropped .29 cents from it’s high in my area. About 9%.

While that’s nice it’s still up 57% from the low it had hit before the Iran War.

This causes me pain but it’s still worth it if Iran is emasculated. What the people who are complaining about the lack of a deal or Trump not getting said deal or bombing them on any given day either don’t understand or ignore is that every day that passes Iran grows weaker and we grow stronger.

As the tankers continue to come to the US & we keep getting tankers in the straits out Iran’s leverage continues to drop. Yeah if we were willing to commit 100,000 troops we could likely bring them down and take the country & the oil but at the cost of 1000’s of US lives that while justifiable in the long run to destroy once & for all the leading terror sponsor in the world, is a price our current society is unwilling to pay & unnecessary if Iran can be emasculated without doing so.

The price will keep trickling down slowly as the alternate supplies continue to open up. I suspect if things aren’t concluded right away it will take till the end of August to see gas at $2.99 again. By that time Iran will be capping wells and their ability to finance jihad outside will be practically finished, which frankly they are almost at now anyways.

That’s a lot less sexy than seeing the Mullahs fall just like winning the cold war over 50 years was a lot less sexy than Patton leading his army against the Soviets in 1945 would have been, but I’ll take less sexy with thousands of less casualties every day of the week.

Finally word is out that the Doctor Who Christmas special is nixed & the BBC is pretty much taking bids to see who wants a shot at running the franchise that they’ve driven into the ground once again.

Like the anti-thatcher stuff that killed it in 1989 the work stuff has made Doctor Who so Toxic that actors have no interest in the iconic role & fans don’t care.

In my opinion the solution is obvious, I’d give it to Big Finish which has been producing original Doctor Who stories for more than a quarter of a century & doing so without needing a government imposed fee to pay the way.

While they have their share of woke they are experts at making stories that people are willing to pay actual money to hear, and while they don’t have experience in TV that doesn’t matter as the special effects and or cinematography are not the problem here. it’s the stories and as Big Finish says: Big Finish, We Love Stories!

Let Big Finish supply the scripts and Doctor Who can thrive again, or let the TV show die and let Big Finish run the Time Lord as strictly audio. Remember it was six years of Big Finish stories starting a decade after the final show that caused it to return. And even if it dies here, remember the first episode was broadcast in 1963 when I was six months old.

Not a bad run.

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