A Russian-Ukraine Peace Plan? & DOGEing PBC – Top 3 Takeaways, August 18th, 2025
Takeaway #1: A Peace Plan Coming together?
This weekend’s news coverage of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska was like stepping into the Twilight Zone. If you watched or listened to the news conference on Friday, what was it that most stood out to you? Without a doubt for me its Vladamir Putin saying...I'd like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with a previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague that the situation should not be brought to a point of no return when it would come to hostilities and I said it quite directly back then that it's a big mistake. Today, when President Trump is saying that if he was the president back then there would be no war – I am quite sure that it would indeed be so. I can confirm that. Right, so for all of the virtue signaling Ukraine posting flag people with TDS... The only reason there was ever a war in Ukraine was because people like you voted for Dementia Joe to be President of the United States. But try finding that statement, that angle covered in most GSS news media? You won’t. I’m long said that the greatest form of bias by news media is omitting information. This is but the latest example and probably the most egregious I’ve seen since the GSS news media literally edited out the image of the American Flag behind President Trump when he got up from having been shot last year in PA. And btw, that edited out image is still the one that’s most used to this day. Nevertheless, the point of what Putin said was especially important in real-time because what it conveys is that it’s likely that President Trump is the only who may be able to broker peace to end the war today. And given the apparent flexibility Trump illustrated on Friday by not demanding a ceasefire immediately take place – which was effectively what he said would be needed to continue talks prior to the meeting – it's clear that he’s using that initiative to immediately seek brokering peace. So, enter into the conversation...
Takeaway #2: Today’s high stakes meeting at the White House
So today Volodymyr Zelenski makes his return to the White House in a move that he no doubt hopes will work out better than the last time he disrespected the president and vice president in an Oval Office presser that resulted in him being dispatched from the White House without even partaking in the previously planned lunch. Zelensky won’t be alone. Among those making the trip...European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. This is clearly a critical day if there’s to be peace. And here’s what we know in advance. 1) Ukraine can’t defeat Russia’s military and win the war. Period. 2) Therefore, Zelensky and the EU generally, can get onboard with ceding territory permanently to Russia to secure peace, or can continue the war until they can’t anymore and eventually risk losing the entire country. False narratives exist that Russia can’t sustain the war because of their economy and that’s simply false and primarily due to the comprehensive trade deal Russia did with China in 2023. Here’s Russia’s economic growth rate by year for the past three years: 3.6% in 2023, 4.1% in 2024 and 1.1% in 2025. That’s an average growth rate of 2.9% during wartime. What’s more is this is the U.S. growth rate over the same time: 2.9%, 2.8%, 1.3% - or an average growth rate of 2.3% over the same time. Russia’s economy has grown faster than the U.S.! Now, Trump could get still tougher on Russia with higher secondary sanctions with Russia’s key trade partners like China and India that would likely hurt Russia – but it would come at a significant price for the U.S. economy too. That’s not something any of us want to see. Ukraine has lost this war. Period. And Russia can continue to fight it for the foreseeable. It’s time for Zelensky and company to come to terms with reality and make the best out of the bad situation that they’re in. That’s hopefully what comes out of the Oval Office meeting today. It’ll be a good sign if they make it to lunch this time.
Takeaway #3: DOGEing PBC
How efficient is Palm Beach County’s government? That’s something that in approximately 62 days we’ll see. Today marks the first of two days that Florida’s DOGE audit team is scheduled to audit Palm Beach County. A Florida TaxWatch Study found that PBC loves taxing and spending...this includes statewide...the 4th highest overall property tax collections (58% above average), 8th highest in county-only property taxes (40% above average), 3rd highest in municipal property taxes (77% above average), 11th highest in combined county + municipal revenue (11% above average), and just for good measure local option sales tax revenue: 6% above the state average too. In other words, there’s likely lots of room for there to be some DOGEing to do. I’m looking forward to what we’ll see once the process is complete. I love PBC, the County does a great deal of its core functions extremely well. But there’s also no shortage of non-essentials that come with enormous price tags that significantly impact affordability. That’s all likely part of what we’ll see once the process is complete.