“There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.”—Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations
You’re not imagining it.
Everything costs more. Everything is monitored.
Everything feels like it’s designed to take—from your wallet, your time, your freedom.
That’s because it is.
The government has turned everyday life into a revenue stream—funding endless wars, bloated agencies, surveillance systems, and profit-driven policing… all on your dime.
You’re not just paying taxes. You’re paying to be watched. Paying to be policed. Paying to be controlled.
This isn’t government. It’s a business model.
By now, it has become painfully clear that the only economic plan being advanced by the Trump administration is the kind that enriches the oligarchy at the expense of everyone else.
If the government’s newly dubbed “war on waste,” headed by Vice President J.D. Vance, is anything like its deceptively futile past efforts to drain the swamp and use DOGE to cut spending that is inefficient, we should expect to see corruption, graft and waste rise while vital programs that benefit the taxpayer get slashed.
The level of self-serving corruption, indulgence and excess by the elite ruling class while Americans struggle to make ends meet is off the charts.
Under President Trump, his gilding of the White House has coincided with the dawn of a new self-serving age of indulgence for the American oligarchy. As Debbie Millman writes for the New York Times: “Trump is showing the world that his presidency is a royal court where a select few are invited to pledge their allegiance… Trump is refashioning the presidential residence into a palace; our democracy is now a members-only club.”
This is Donald Trump’s “let them eat cake” moment.
Tens of millions in one year alone for the president’s weekend golf trips while government agencies are dismantled and tens of thousands of federal workers have their jobs slashed. According to the web tracker “Did Trump Golf Today?” Trump has spent 23.5% of his presidency golfing at an estimated cost of $141 million to the taxpayer.
An extra $200 billion in additional defense funding so Pete Hegseth can make a game out of war with Iran. More than $16 billion was spent in the first 12 days of Trump’s war on Iran. That does not include the rising cost of gas and consumer goods or the long-term costs of supporting those injured in the war.
$1 billion to a French company to not develop two wind projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York.
$14 billion in oil revenue to Iran to fund its war with the U.S.
$22 million in one month on lobsters and ribeye steak so the Defense Department wouldn’t have to risk losing some of their taxpayer-funded budget. $1.8 million for musical instruments, including a “$98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, a $26,000 violin, and a $21,750 custom handmade flute from the luxury Japanese brand Muramatsu.”
$400 million for a 90,000-square-foot ballroom to which most taxpayers will never be invited.
$75 – $150 million to turn a public golf course into a championship-level golf course in the nation’s capital.
$100 million for a 250-foot “Arc de Trump” next to Arlington National Cemetery.
At least $60 million for a UFC event on the White House South Lawn to commemorate Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.
While members of Trump’s inner circle dine on lobster and filet mignon, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggests that Americans struggling with the high cost of beef instead buy and eat “cheap cuts” like liver.
Hellbound and Down 