As above, so below
Has anyone tried treating Trumpism with cod liver oil and steroids? Because it seems contagious. At least for anyone in close proximity to the patient in the Oval Office.
True, Donald Trump selected his team largely on the basis that they look good on television. So, he’s selected in many cases for attractive and vacuous. And fiercely loyal. That’s a given.
Trump’s chief economic adviser addressed the Hudson Institute on Monday and presented a set of steps/demands that other countries might take for addressing “unfair barriers to trade” and “unsustainable trade deficits” that have Boss Trump hot and bothered.
Edith Olmsted writes at The New Republic:
Miran said that these factors had led to a “decline of our manufacturing workforce by over a third since its peak and a reduction in our share of world manufacturing production of 40 percent.”
It’s worth noting that while manufacturing employment has gone down, U.S. manufacturing output is up and nearing its all-time high of December 2007. Who exactly will actually work all of these hypothetical manufacturing jobs? No one seems to know! Trump’s own secretary of commerce said earlier this month that he planned to use automation to replace cheap labor, and the treasury secretary suggested Monday that maybe ousted federal workers could pick up some shifts.
Miran suggested that to appeaase the Boss, other nations might simply cave to his demands. Accept the tarifffs without retaliating.
Miran said that countries could “stop unfair and harmful trading practices” by buying more American products, specifically noting that countries could boost defense spending and procurement from the U.S. by “taking strain off our servicemembers and creating jobs here.”
(Don’t ask me to explain the logic there.)
Hey, here’s an idea, Miran offered. Y’all countries can just make your products in the U.S. to avoid tariffs. Or you might “simply write checks to Treasury that help us finance global public goods.” This from an administration that doesn’t believe in the public good anyway. So infer Trump’s attempt at a global protection racket. Nice country ya got there.
Trump said Sunday that he’d told global leaders that he wanted to erase the U.S. trade deficit because he viewed any deficit as a “loss,” though that’s not quite how economics works.
In Trump’s zero-sum world, the U.S. is a loser if it has a trade deficit with any country. And we know what Trump thinks about being a loser.
He wants that Tom Sawyer economy I’ve written about. One where people pay us to work for us or they send us their goods in tribute. It’s like kissing his feet without bending over.
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