John Trumbull

THE TRILLION DOLLAR QUESTION

In the World of Economics, this statement generally refers to a critical,, high-stakes question with massive financial, economic, or societal consequences, often lacking an easy answer. Currently, it frequently refers to whether the AI boom is a bubble, or challenges regarding the $36 trillion U.S. national debt.

I have another take on this question which in my view is the more critical and

broader consideration of importance.

My question is;

Why do we have a convicted criminal acting as our President? For me this is the Trillion Dollar question as the President now has almost total control over

our 31.1 Trillion GDP.

There are built in Control mechanisms so the President can not control our GDP.

Congressional Authority: The Constitution grants Congress the "power of the purse"—the authority to determine taxation and government spending, which are massive drivers of GDP.

As we have seen the Congress has largely given up this role.

• The Federal Reserve: The independent central bank controls monetary policy (interest rates) to manage inflation and growth, largely operating outside presidential control.The President is actively seeking to remove the present Chair of the Fed and install his own man.

• Market Forces & External Factors: Global events, pandemics, natural disasters, technological changes, and consumer behavior play a massive role in economic output, often outweighing presidential policy. The President has eliminated the most of the National Institutions which deals with these factors.

In 2024, 77,303.568 People voted for this man. Yesterday I spoke to one of them. She volunteered that she did not like what he was doing with ICE, putting his name on buildings, and most of all his lies. I asked her why she voted for him and her answer was,“I voted for Him because of Her”.

The word Her was spoken with a hiss in a loud whisper. A discontented republican, she now has become an independent. I asked her about the “ Her” comment

the reply was that Harris had no experience. I did not question her further, for she obviously had the truth on her phone for which she was in thralled the whole time of her waiting for my order to come. The answer of “ Her” was shocking to me not because of what she said, but the way she said it. Racism was dripping with venom and her mouth was contorted with rancor.

So, for Me, this is part of the Trillion Dollar Question. Did the 77 plus million people feel that between a convicted felon a white man , and a black woman, the only person acceptable to be our next President was a convicted felon a white man, not a black woman. Is this is where we are in America today? This kind of decision making was not about policies, it was about the oldest of prejudices, that of the “other”. Prejudice is a poison. This poison flows from the Oval occupant and throughout this administration It has killed the independence of the DOJ.

White vs Black and Brown,. ICE makes this incredibly painful to see. This fracture of our civil ethos, now has another component, The people who are resistant, people like me. We are now targets of non compliance. We are a very large and multicultural group. We are the Educators, the Writers, the Lawyers, the Judges, Creatives, the Young, the Old, the Veterans, the Scientists, the Environmentalists, Mothers, Fathers, Medical Doctors and independent critical thinkers. We have become “the Others”.

The Founding Fathers made a critical mistake in the writing of our Constitution. They thought that the checks and balances that were in the Constitution would prevent a man like Trump from becoming President.

The answer is

Constitutional Qualifications

Natural-born citizen: A person must be a U.S. citizen at birth, which typically includes being born on American soil or to American parents, as noted by the Library of Congress – Constitution Annotated (.gov).

Age: The candidate must be at least 35 years of age by the time they take the oath of office,

Residency:The candidate must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.

So now, we have a Criminal in the Oval who has almost total control over our economy, our Constitutional Rights, Our Congress, Our Courts, The Fed, and our Future .

 

We

The most important word in the Declaration of Independence.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"

The eighth grade class of which I was one, had to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution in order to graduate to high school. We stood at the front of the room and one by one had to recite the Preamble. I had forgotten all about this incredibly scary event until yesterday. This was in 1948 not long after the Second World War. The war was still very ingrained upon our young minds, and we all had practiced the drills of duck and cover under our desks.

Now I wonder if the Children of our present school eighth graders have this kind of knowledge of or Declaration. Do they learn about the power ofWe  Do they read about the concept of Where the Power is conferred in our Declaration? The Bill of Rights speaks to the rights of We the people not the congress, not the courts, and not the Supreme Court Justices...

We have the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, the right to have our homes free of invasions from the government, the right to protest, and the right to have due process.There are other rights listed in the Bill of Rights, but in our present daily lives, the Rights listed above seem to be the ones most in peril.

The First sentence of the Declaration does not say “The President” of the United States in order to form a more perfect Union, it does not say “The Congress people” of the United States, It does not say the “Supreme Court people” in order to Form. No, It says “We The People”. Without this one word, The Declaration is impotent.

Today, the power of the People can be seen and heard all over our Land, and yes even across the World. The Handmaids are protesting today in Minneapolis, and Rising of Americans regardless of political party can be seen and heard expressing the Rights given to us in our Constitution. 

The Handmaids

We are 158,427,986 strong. A Powerful number. I am just one, but, there are 158,427, 985 others in the We the People of the first sentence of our Declaration of the Constitution of the United States of America. 

We will Strike

We Will Resist

We Will Vote