Barmy Trump

[Justin Passing]

Harris is no mug but she seems short of support from knowledgeable economists. Listening to trump, his supporters will have the idea that foreigners pay tariffs. No y'all, that's you Americans. Fed speaker Yellen made it clear. Harris should have jumped on it.

If he "sends back " all the folk he wants, and imposes all the t's he wants, the country will be revolting.
I watch a lot of Bloomberg, it's all about the health of US companies and their economy. Interviewees over and over are expecting trump to get in (for some reason) but denouncing what he says. with reasoned arguments. They interview some Republican CEOs, but they're all defensive, saying this or that wouldn't be implemented, followed up by whataboutery.

It's all a bit odd, in the shadow of their national debt, which is heading for 100 Trillion bucks. They need to hold their spending and do some economic growing, but that wouldn't win any votes.
For now, it looks like the economy is balanced (otherwise) with jobless, payroll, inflaton numbers acceptable, but the other end of the tight-rope is getting further away, and it's a long way down.

 

[Odds]

Fifty years ago, with Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward captured Watergate and the downfall of Richard Nixon. Now, the US sits at an inflection point once again. Woodward’s fourth book at least in part about Donald Trump is a sober but alarming must-read. War depicts an administration under Joe Biden that is often behind the curve, at times captive to its own wishful thinking. The withdrawal from Afghanistan haunts. Trump mesmerizes. Yet as Woodward tells it, Biden and his team did clearly see the menace Russia posed. Unlike George W Bush, Biden did not need to gaze into Vladimir Putin’s blighted soul. Unlike Trump, he did not feel compelled to fluff his ego like a besotted fanboy.

Woodward also reminds readers that after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, Trump heaped praise on another terror group, calling Hezbollah “very smart” and Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, a “jerk”. At a recent speech in Detroit, Trump delivered a shout-out to Massad Boulos, father-in-law of Tiffany Trump, the former president’s daughter from his second marriage. Boulos, a Lebanese Christian, is reportedly aligned with Hezbollah. Having run unsuccessfully for a seat in Lebanon’s parliament, he plays a role in Trump’s Arab-American outreach.

On the Middle East, Woodward writes of a cacophony of wrath, relations between Washington and Jerusalem strained, even as the US supplies ammunition, aid and backup at the UN. Early on, Woodward writes, Biden branded Benjamin Netanyahu as a “bad ****ing guy” – a story initially denied by the White House.

Trump, though, is in Woodward’s eyes “the wrong man for the presidency … unfit to lead the country”, far worse than Nixon, “the most reckless and impulsive president in American history”. “He is a walking, talking advertisement of what he’s going to try to do,” Milley warns. “He’s saying it and it’s not just him, it’s the people around him.” Woodward quotes Bannon: “We’re gonna hold him accountable.”

The culture wars burn. All eyes are on the southern border. Abortion rights may not be the Democrats’ silver bullet. Harris falters. Obama is back on the campaign trail, to bolster a sagging ticket. Less than a month before election day, a second Trump term looms large. In the battleground states that will decide the election, he may carve out a victory.

analysis@the Guardian

 

[Notch7]

It's all a bit odd, in the shadow of their national debt, which is heading for 100 Trillion bucks. They need to hold their spending and do some economic growing, but that wouldn't win any votes

Im not sure thats true

I am not an MMT advocate, but of all the worlds currencies the Dollar is the one that can do MMT because it is the worlds reserve currency.

America has quite a lot of scope to simply create money and never pay it back, provided the govt makes good use of the money with infrastructure projects, the huge debt isnt a problem

MMT use in the UK is not quite a straightforward, creating loads of money weakens the pound causing inflation

 

[Vinty]

but the very wealthy can exert influence by powerful lobbying,

Elon Musk is giving away 1 million dollars a day in support of Trump.

 

[JohnD]

Some say that buying votes or bribing voters is illegal in US.

But then, so is trying to overthrow the government by force, or assaulting the Capitol.

Trumpists have no regard for the law.

 

[ajohn]

Listening to trump, his supporters will have the idea that foreigners pay tariffs. No y'all, that's you Americans. Fed speaker Yellen made it clear. Harris should have jumped on it.

An interesting pitch from Trump. He wants a certain tax at a lower level but that means he needs to raise more money from somewhere. His wish appears to be corporation tax at 15% - from his own mouth in an interview admitting that this is difficult. Fact is once in power it might just prove to be a pure electoral aspect and wont happen. It could be seen as a way of making US manufacture more competitive but how long would it take them to pick up the slack for domestic consumption let alone get into exports.

He needs the extra state income to continue. If it does continue then people are just paying tax another way. Just as we do with privatisation as we pay their corporation tax.

Maybe it is something that could be introduced in slow stages. Pass.

On the other hand the FED have noticed that corporate profit has increased to 15%. LOL so there is a way they could reduce prices. Seems it had been ~12 so a hefty increase.

Level of debt. The main metric is still it's relationship to GDP That drifted up over many years and now is 100% and has been for a "while" now. It came as a surprise to me that there is now 2 ways of measuring GDP. I assume gross is used. That one makes China the number 1. The other does that for the US.

Using pure MTM - I think people are confused by other economic factors and ideas.

 

[Notch7]

Elon Musk is giving away 1 million dollars a day in support of Trump.

and why would a billionaire give money to Trump............

low taxes for the wealthy
cuts to environmental stds
cuts to workers rights

 

[Vinty]

I am not an MMT advocate, but of all the worlds currencies the Dollar is the one that can do MMT because it is the worlds reserve currency

The dollar as the worlds no 1 reserve currency is in gradual decline.
Although it probably won't happen for a long time, America will lose the no 1 place to some other currency.

The pound used to be the world most favoured currency.

 

[Vinty]

and why would a billionaire give money to Trump............

low taxes for the wealthy
cuts to environmental stds
cuts to workers rights

Or the the billionaire could be just a very nice fellow who wants to help ordinary people get rich.

 

[Vinty]

and why would a billionaire give money to Trump............

low taxes for the wealthy
cuts to environmental stds
cuts to workers rights

Musk could be a liability to Trump.
The rich are usually discreet when bunging politicians cash, they don't like to make it obvious.
With Musk boasting about how much he is supporting Trump financially, people are going to ask the obvious question, which is, why is he doing it?

 

[aveatry]

He wants to fly his rockets and trump will remove the constant barriers currently stifling the progress of developing starship

 

[denso13]

trump will remove the constant barriers

But you said the President isn't in charge? Make your mind up.

 

[gas112]

But you said the President isn't in charge? Make your mind up.

One thing for certain the sitting president isn't in charge.

 

[denso13]

Probably not fully, no.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Or the the billionaire could be just a very nice fellow who wants to help ordinary people get rich.