Trump Tariffs - $5.4T Corrupt Gangster Shakedown of Global Economy, on the backs of US Working Class

Topic Commentary

Why does America have large trade deficits with countries in Asia and South America.  Is it because America and Americans are victims, stupid and have been tricked into these deals by the international community and it is now time for America to exert our power and demand that these trade deals  be restructured for the benefit of the United States and its people.

Well if you listen to president Trump, that is exactly what happened and that is why he is justified in using emergency executive orders to restructure international trade so that it is a benefit for the American people.   The only problem with that story is that it is an absolute lie, and that makes it an even  bigger problems for America and its trading partners. If we are trying to solve a problem with a solution for a problem that is not really the true problem, we will be creating a catastrophically bigger mess for our trading partners and America itself.

As we have discussed in previous Leadership Discussion Talks, America failed to invest and prepare for its peak oil and natural gas production catastrophe between 1950 - 1970, leaving the US economy naked to the ravages of  the international oil community, from 1970 going forward, causing the 13 year great inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s, permanently breaking the structural economic backbone of the US economy, making the US economy a structurally uncompetitive and high cost economy, both domestically and internationally.   

When did America start to sustain, massive and growing  International Trade and Federal Government deficits.  In the early to Mid 1980s, following the great inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s and the implementation of Financial Engineering in the US economy, allowing the economy to grow uneconomically, by giving consumers and small businesses uneconomic and unaffordable loans to pay for the unaffordable high cost of living in America, while giving the wealthiest 20% of Americans tax breaks and loans to massively inflate their asset values, instantaneously massive wealth for the wealthy, at the direct and catastrophic expense and destruction of buying power for the bottom 80% of Americans in the US economy.

America's massive  and accumulated trade deficits over the past 40 - 50 years are primarily the failure of the American people to hold our government and corporations accountable and responsible for making the time and effort to pull the American people together and solve our structurally high cost of living and cost of doing business problem following the Great Inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s as discussed above.   America was not cheated or tricked into doing international trade with South America and Asia.   

American Crony Capitalism, in support of the Ponzi Scheme Financialization of the US economy, allowed US corporations and global investors to receive massive tax breaks and other government incentives and supports to invest and set up shop in Asia and South America over the last 50 years, supporting the so called globalization miracle, which wiped out America's middle class and manufacturing base in America, while increasing the buying power and wealth of the wealthiest 20% in America by 160%, while everyday American's buying power fail by 75% - 80% over this period.

America and Americans have massive trade deficits with our trading partners because we allowed our own government, large corporations and global investors to keep us asleep, voting against our interest, letting our government and the wealthy few con us into bankrupting ourselves and destroying opportunities for future generations of Americans to grow and prosper in this country

The real solution for structurally and sustainably eliminating US trade deficits and US Budget deficits, is to restructure the US economy, so that its cost of living and cost of doing business is structurally and sustainably economic, low cost, domestically and internationally relative to our trading partners.  Actually America has the know-how, the structure in our constitution and the culture in American society to achieve this goal, and in effect, create heaven on earth in America and around the world, if we would simply fall in love with being American to each other and fall in love with being American to the rest of the world.  It is actually that simple if we follow and use the culture and values that Americans so often boast about having, including the following

• "The Good News", Is Winning the best Moral, Economic and Social outcomes for America and the world by Winning America's Love for Being American to all other Americans and Winning Americans Love for Being American to the Rest of the World

• "Being American", Is WINNING America's LOVE FOR Willfully and Intentionally  prioritizing the Creation and Maintenance of A More Perfect Union for "ALL AMERICANS", not just the wealthiest 20%,  as America's HIGHEST PRIORITY",  DEI to the Rescue BIABY!!!!!!!

• We are our brother's Keeper

• Strategies for Structurally reducing US cost of living and US cost of doing business at or below our competition on a sustainable basis going forward

• Reduce oil and gas exports by 20% - 50%, redirect for domestic consumption and spare capacity purposes in America.

• Merge and Integrate - Energy, Technology, Auto and Chemical Industries - achieving climate change goals 10 years early, transforming US and global economy so that it is intimately, seamlessly and synergistically integrated by many orders of magnitude, because of the human spirit lead, heart breaking - breakthroughs achieved during the second half of the 2020's, with  AI used as a tool nationally and globally to achieve economies of scale beyond humankind's wildest imaginations, because we figured out how to use it together, and for everyone's benefit, at the same time, without massive reductions in employment, actually employment opportunities expand massively, because AI is created and designed to enhance the quality and productivity of life for the masses and not primarily for the wealthiest 10% at the expense of everyone else - which is the path we are on today, which looks sweet and oh so super sexy and addictive for the wealthiest 10%, but 5 years from now, this Ponzi Scheme Approach is going to bankrupt the planet in a way that there may be no coming back from.  It is not too late to choose a much more superior path as is described above.

• Harness AI to help Americans Optimize our product and service demand profiles nationally, regionally, locally to minimize costs of living and cost of doing business in America and around the world.  Harnessing the knowledge of the diversity in the way we do things and accounting for that in our purchase and consumptions decisions, collectively, is a miracle waiting to happen, if humans could love each other enough to take advantage of this great demand side management opportunity.  We now have the technology to achieve that, the question is do we have enough love for each other and future generations of humans on this planet to actually win, heaven on earth for them, but we must invest and operate with the responsible view that WE ARE OUR BOTHERS KEEPER!!!

Fundamentally, these are the types of changes needed in the US economy and American society to make the US economy economic and sustainable on a domestic and international basis.  

Trumps Tariff program does nothing to make the US economy more sustainable and competitive working best for All Americans.  It does the exact opposite.

Uneconomic import tariffs raise prices on US consumers, making the cost of living and the cost of doing business in America, higher……Making US exports structurally fundamentally less competitive.  Import tariffs also cause closely related product prices in the US to rise higher , again supporting the case that tariffs on import products and services also put upward pressure on prices for products and services in the economy, that are not imported, but whose price levels are affected directly by the price imported goods and services.  The cost of president Trumps Import taxes will be born primarily by working class American to the tune of an additional $3,800 per year for every family in America or $5.4T on the backs of working class Americans over the next 10years.  Thus we can see now what President trump is really doing, he is using the import taxes as a means of significantly raising taxes on working class American to pay for the $4.5T in tax breaks that the president is giving to the wealthy, while telling America and the world that he is using the import taxes to correct trade deficits, which is a total and blatant lie.  President Trump has said that his goal is to achieve $5.4T in import tariff revenue from the American people to fund his policy objectives,

How horrible is that!!!   The wealthiest 20% are allowed to blow a $4.5T hole into the US budget through lower taxes, because lower taxes are good for the wealthy, but for some reason, its OK to increase taxes on the backs of working class Americans by $5.4T , when they are struggling to afford the cost of living already, and they are actually paying for the massive $4.5T hole in the budget caused by tax breaks to the wealthiest of the wealthy in America who do not need tax breaks, and the President has the arrogance and the lying power to trick everyday Americans into having their taxes raised by $3,800 per year to pay for the wealthy's $4.5T tax cut. Absolutely corrupt, heartless, deceptive, cruel and evil.

This already sounds like an economic horror show that could not possibly get worse, but I am so so sad to say, that it gets much worse and much more horrifying.   The $4.5T tax break for the wealthy and the $5.4T import taxes that the working class is paying for is all to support the following two major initiatives that the president's major political donors are demanding, now that they have directly helped to get him elected.

• FIRST: At the behest of Energy and Auto Industry, President Trump is leading an effort to Destroy all or as many programs and initiatives related to climate change as is humanly possible, both domestically and around the world.  This is similar to what happened when the US energy industry ignored in 1950, the threat of oil production in America peaking in 1970 and the catastrophic consequences for the US economy that followed because America took the path of least resistance and failed to prepare for Peak oil Production in 1970, which is exactly what happened as the science had precisely predicted 20 years earlier.   It is estimated that the incremental costs from damages related to climate change on a yearly basis will approach $7T a year, each year as we approach the year 2050.  Today those costs are about $160B per year.  The science is clear, we can prevent this catastrophe from unfolding right before our eyes, a death sentence for our children and grandchildren….but we must act now.  We have to stop ignoring the lessons of history, staring us right in our faces……...ARE WE ARE OUR BROTHERS KEEPER!!!!!

• SECOND: AI is being funded by the ginormous tax cuts and import taxes on the backs of working class Americans.  But what is so insidious about this is that  AI is being developed with as minimum amount of regulation as is humanly possible.  President Trump is allowing this , because it gives corporations the maximum economy destroying freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom to implement AI in a way that maximizes profits and returns to the wealthiest corporations and investors on the planet, which does not only imply, but actually really directly means that those catastrophically massively maximized profits to the wealthiest people on the planet will be achieved at the direct expense of lost jobs and permanently lost ways of life for the bottom 80% to 90% of Americans in America and people all over the world.   The massive  hollowing out of middle class jobs by globalization over the last 40 years will look like a nice Sunday walk through the park, compared to what is coming with AI destruction of employment and employment opportunities in America and around the world, if the Federal Government does not do its job and ensure that this technology is developed in a way that makes life for all Americans so much more productive, convenient and economical.  If there is no intervention by the Federal Government to make AI work best for all Americans, it won't take 40 years for the wipe out of middle and upper middle class jobs in America, but it will happen over the next three to five years.   We know that this is absolutely the path that Donald Trump and the republican party have planned  because corporations are spending Trillions of dollars to create and maintain AI, with very little analysis or recommendations about how AI is going to create real value for everyday Americans, because that is not in the plans.  Investors and corporate America are going to get those savings by putting Americans out of work and then say well don't blame us, its just business, its just technology, we cant stop progress for………"THE PEOPLE"............  But what is progress for, is it for the People or is it for only a small fraction of the privileged people who already have all of the advantages and support to be and remain successful.  

You already know, and if you don't know, now you do know…….massively crazy layoffs are coming for working and upper middle class workers, with AI profits going to the moon, with the benefits accruing to the wealthiest 10% of Americans in America, $50T  to $100T, with the bottom 90% of Americans........out of sight out of mind…………….Right…………….Wrong, the US and global economies will likely implode into a chaotic mess, so much hate, envy and strife when the American people see that they have been conned into remaining patriotically sleep so that the wealthy and powerful Republican 1%, could steal our democracy, our economy and our society, from us, right before our wide opened but blinded eyes, while they laugh themselves all the way to the bank.  Unfortunately, this is a loose - loose scenario for everyone.   If The US Economy implodes from sustained and serious lack of demand from structural unemployment and there will be absolutely no trust in the government if this happens, given the $50T - $100T con game that is being run on Americans over the next  3 - 8 years.  Good luck bringing Americans together after conning Americans into allowing Corporate America to steal our economy and society from us.  Where is the fundamental basis for trust and cooperation to support an economy and fractionalized money system after corporate America in collusion with the Federal Government con the American people into screwing themselves economically and socially.   This does not have to be America's fate, but we must break this cycle of Greed, Hate, Grievance and Vengeance - fabricated by the wealthiest 10% - 20% in America, to divide Americans, so that they can capture and exploit America for their own benefit at the destruction of the bottom 80% - 90%.

Problem is, again this is a lose - lose for everyone.   Ponzi Schemes  eventually cause catastrophic losses for everyone, rich, middle class and the poor.  No one escapes.  Better to stop this train wreck now and make time to invest and work together to create real structural solutions harnessing AI, that creates synergies on steroids..........achieving heaven on earth..........as it is in heaven........We still have the choice today, if we act Now!!!!!!!!!!

let's discuss, what are your comments, questions, recommendations, feelings, etc……