charlesn

"The American economy has left other rich nations in the dust." THAT was our economy's story six months ago. Record high stock market, strong GDP growth, near record low unemployment, no recession is sight and inflation steadily easing per the benchmarks set by the Fed. If by "status quo," you mean Trump's insanity that not only tanked the stock market, but rocked the market for US Treasuries as of yesterday--yes, I totally agree, THAT is not sustainable! Do you have ANY idea what happens if T-bills are no longer seen as such a safe haven and we have to start paying higher interest rates on them to attract buyers (as was happening yesterday) to finance our national debt and deficit spending? It's game over, my friend. Point, set, match--the US is screwed. But Trump and his staff are so incompetent, they hadn't thought that through and didn't see it coming until it happened. 

And here's the thing: I would have no argument had Trump made a reasoned case to get better trade agreements with a tightly targeted set of countries. And then set about negotiations to make that happen, retaliating with tariffs if necessary. China would certainly lead that list. But what did he do? First, he prematurely tore up and refused to abide by the USMCA agreement that HE, himself, negotiated as a supposedly "much better deal" than NAFTA--in reality, it barely changed NAFTA, but whatever--and then he proceeded to knife both of our closest and most important trading partners in the back, no negotiations. But that was just the appetizer. Trump's main course was declaring a trade war on the entire world at once, including uninhabited islands, putting America in the untenable negotiating position of suddenly being alone as the global supervillain. If your goal is to drive better trade deals, and especially if your goal is to force China to the table, there couldn't be a more dumb and moronic way to go about that than turning the whole world against you at once, And that's exactly what Trump did. 

Here in NYC, I've had a lifelong front row seat to Trump and none of this surprises me. This is who he has always been. An equal opportunity con man and grifter who has screwed over blue collar workers, investors, students to his bogus university, banks and even donors to his now legally shuttered Donald J. Trump Foundation charity. What kind of self-proclaimed multi-billionaire steals and spends charity donations on himself? It's mind-boggling to me that the aggrieved working class sees him as their savior, when he just sees them as an endless source of grift, shamelessly selling them literally anything from gold lamé high-tops to bibles to meme coins to watches, etc, etc. Like any good con man--and he may well be the best who ever lived--he talks a good game and sounds like he's on your side while he's turning you upside down and shaking the last coins from your pocket. Most if not all of the high profile billionaires in this country have built businesses of real significance of one type or another that have made many people rich and given many, many more people than that good jobs and comfortable lives. Trump has built nothing and done nothing to spread the wealth he has enjoyed, devoting his life only to the enrichment of himself and his family at the expense of everyone else he has screwed along the way.