Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Trump: I'll block money transfers to force Mexico to pay for wall


God I hope he wins...





18 comments:

NeilW said...

It would be entertaining to watch the currency monopoly used as such.

MRW said...

What’s the fucking point? If we want the wall we should pay for it. Switzerland doesn’t force Italy to pay for its border controls, ditto France and Spain, etc. If Trump is serious about this, it just tells me Trump doesn’t understand the monetary system. He’s just pandering to ‘the deficit is too large’ crowd who think that Mexico is stealing USD from us. As a campaign tactic, ok. But otherwise, it’s a joke.

if Mexico wanted to retaliate it could pull out of NAFTA, and then, where would Ford and the other multi-nationals be? Going hat-in-hand to Congress to get the rules changed so their shit can come across without tariffs? Maybe Mexico would impose export duties.

Nobody in this fucking country ever thinks of consequences; it’s just oom-pah-pah jingoism.

Matt Franko said...

MRW it may have to come to this in order to create the conditions for a high profile technical discussion that would THEN be revealing...

We need to get this issue ELEVATED in the discourse... that requires an opportunity to present itself ...

a big Trump ex/im brouhaha might do it... or this "inversion" thing going on right now might be a more timely opportunity...

Nobody listens to us let's face it....

Matt Franko said...

I'd rather an issue like this become revealing rather than some sort of real global socio-economic disaster happen...

MRW said...

Maybe, Matt. I understand your line of thinking here. However, another tactic is to bombard Trump campaign headquarters with info they don’t know. I did it by phone, was brief and direct and said ‘get this info to the candidate so he doesn’t look like a fool’.

I did that before he was about to appear in my state for the second or third time and told his campaign about an issue that out-of-staters didn’t know, but that everyone here was sensitive about. It worked. He made a 180 in his speech on victory night, which was noticed by the local yokels.

Dave said...

This could be the single dumbest idea I've ever heard. How much income do illegal immigrants running leaf blowers generate? It's not 5 billion. Trump would have to halt all transfers, legal or otherwise. And that would be a banking nightmare.

Of course, nothing this guy says has any basis in fact. He is just trying to get some positive juice in the news cycle by beating up on Mexico again. Seems desperate to me.

Malmo's Ghost said...

Uh, Dave, remittances total in the $20 billion range per year.

Dave said...

Malmo, what is it going to cost to pull this off? And I mean human as well as capital costs.

Matt Franko said...

Dave they have to get their own numismatic system up and operating in order to get the best outcomes for Mexico...

They are never going to get there glomming on to the USD system no nation can... and then that leads to all sorts of corruption look at this Panama Papers thing..... its like a big corrupt USD zombie fest...

we have to cut them off... not that this is why Trump is proposing it to your point... but it has to happen nonetheless... we might have to accept it any way it comes to pass...

NeilW said...

Always remember that Trump is a deal maker, and this is his opening offer.

Dave said...

I see your point Matt. I guess I am not as hopeful as you that Trumps plan is moving us in that direction. This is financial blackmail which will show the US to be a rogue state that beats up on its client states when it suits them. More drama than this fragile economy needs right now.

Dave said...

Neil, I am having a hard time with this Trump as deal maker thing. It's more like an offer you can't refuse. He's a mafia don. Which can have its attraction, I know. But I see deal makers as people who see what's in the best interests of the person they are trying to deal with and seek to make that possible. Like in sales, you don't sell anything you create a need or a want in that person, and they come to you to full fill it.

Matt Franko said...

" you create a need or a want in that person, and they come to you to full fill it."

Well I'm afraid that has been done and what they need/want are USD balances...

This has to stop...

Dave said...

Agreed. Can we go after domestic companies instead.

MRW said...

Matt, then what do you do about NAFTA? The US--under the aegis of Rahm Emanuel--forced this on Mexico and Canada. So USD balances are an integral part of that.

Dave said...

Right MRW. We created the junkie, and now we want to blame the junkie because hes hooked.

MRW said...

Not only that, Dave. Goldman Sachs destroyed the peso with bad investments for the Mexican Govt in 1995, devastating the country. Of courser, Goldman Sachs got the US Govt to cover their losses, but not those of regular Mexicans. Then in 1999, after a year a petitioning the US public in a series of WSJ op-eds, Rahm Emanuel convinced the US to create Most Favored Nation Status for China, and all the industries that had destroyed mom-and-pop factories and farms where wages were $2.22/hr upped and left--literally overnight in some cases--for China where wages were $0.60/hr.

Americans didn’t give a shit, nor did they give a shit about the consequences of the Clinton admin actions, until hundreds of thousands started piling across the border trying to find work to feed their families. Then Lou Dobbs made it a cause celebre.

People have short memories.

MRW said...

just to be clear the $2.22/hr was in Mexico.