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Your guide to what the 2024 American elections mean for Washington and the world
There is nothing secret about Donald Trump’s Cryptocurrency’s approval. Four years ago, he said Bitcoin was a “trick”. Now he wants to make America “the capital’s capital city”. To see this as a turn is to lose the way Trump works. The second statement naturally follows from scratch.
On Sunday, Trump said the five Cryptocurrency coins would be included in the US Federal Reserve balance. America’s “Crypto Reserve” will include Bitcoin, Etereum and three others (Solana, Cardano and XRP) that captured investors. Whether David Sacks, “Crypto and the Czar” of Trump, whose investment firm has shares in all five, was also surprised is a question for the insurance and exchange commission. Each grew up in value after Trump’s announcement.
A few hours later, Trump removed the main amount of US money laundering-the US shell companies should discover their useful owner. The second mass also flowed from its first. Last month, he closed the initiative of the Department of Justice Anti-Cleptocracy, which has captured assets such as Mega Jahs by Russian sanctioned oligarchs.
The most wonderful aspect of these steps, which has a statute for criminals, is that Trump is making little effort to wear them. This pig has no lipstick. Trump and his wife Melania have begun their memeins. Trump’s Alter Ego, Elon Musk, is also a heavy cryptocurrency investor. Indeed, there is a non -crystalline key in the so -called Department of Efficiency of the Musk (DGE) government, which shares an acronym with a cryptocurrency. One of Musk’s nicknames is “Dogefather”.
Despite how the chaotic actions of Trump’s actions, a bright thread holds them together. Louis XIV of France first summarized it as: “The state is me“Trump can update this:” The state – it’s me (and Elon for now). ” The planned launch of a cryptocurrency reserve is more transparent than most; The Fed would serve as a background for investors in a speculative asset with no apparent use, except for criminals and the dark network. It will be an insurance floor for billionaires, including the Trump family. If the value of the crypto falls, the Fed can open and buy more.
It is even harder to find a public value for companies with anonymous limited liability. Compliance with treasury money laundering regulations involves completing short forms and lawful signature. Trump claimed the rules were a “catastrophe for small businesses nationwide”. FT readers with better information may suggest a lawful business that would disguise its latest ownership. I can’t think of one. It is worth remembering that an investigation of Reuters in 2017 estimated that one -third of the units in Trump’s Florida towers were anonymously owned. She also revealed that Russian passport holders had invested at least $ 98.4 million in the seven Trump luxury Towers in Florida.
Deteriorates. Musk’s Operation Musk aims to reduce public expenses by rooting waste, fraud and abuse. His stated savings do not yet add a decimal rounding error. But Doge’s hit for US regulatory capacity is already important. Thousands have also been fired by the Internal Revenue Service. If the goal of Doge was fiscal efficiency, it would do the opposite. For each dollar invested in tax collection, IRS gives at least five in return. Ordinary taxpayers have deducted their revenue at the source. Musk, whose company Tesla has not paid any federal income tax in two of the last three years, hires people to ensure that the day of the collection never arrives.
Washington’s landscape is filled with regulatory agencies in riots. But Musk’s impact on the federal aviation administration deserves a special quote. Without public offers, Musk’s Starlink seems to be looking to take over the FAA air traffic control system. In the absence of musk that identifies waste, fraud and abuse, here is an example. A hostile FAA reception from Starlink would be a power abuse that includes possible waste and is probably a scam for US taxpayers. He could also endanger air passengers.
The idea that Trump is “flood (ing) area with the shit” no longer makes sense when his actions show all in one direction. Even his foreign policy is driven by the purchase, whether it is turning the Gaza belt into a Middle Eastern Riviera, buying Greenland or receiving Ukraine’s mineral resources. Trump’s crying movement threatens a robbery similar to American taxpayers – as well as muscle conflicts. All this is happening under America’s nose. Trump has overturned the role of the public servant. The American state now serves him.
edward.luse@ft.com
