An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
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Friday, March 2, 2018
Navarro on the new Steel and Aluminum policy
Navarro on Tucker making the case for the new tariffs:
Matt, what case did Navarro make for the tariffs? All he basically said was that Trump is doing what he said he was going to do during 2016, so the tariff duties should not come as a surprise to anyone.
Re. the Hope resignation, the rumors that now McMaster is on his way out ... you guys just wait and see -- by year's end, Melania will be the last person standing in the WH. Beautiful woman, but I think she's over 6ft tall thus too tall for me (5'9") :(
Trump confidant dumped millions in steel-related stock last week (Carl Icahn has impeccable timing.)
In a little-noticed SEC filing submitted on February 22, 2018, Icahn disclosed that he systematically sold off nearly 1 million shares of Manitowoc Company Inc. Manitowoc is a “is a leading global manufacturer of cranes and lifting solutions” and, therefore, heavily dependent on steel to make its products.
As has been noted by intelligent foreign policy experts Trump is rapidly dismantling US as the world power. The system is now devouring itself. A tiny rich elite is dismantling US power by devouring everything in sight but with no regard to the US remaining a world power. Hilarious. Go Drumpf! If the establishment doesn't stop Trump - i.e. Mueller - US power is well and truly over.
Matt will say this is all Brzezinski-style chessboard thinking that no longer applies because Trump is a tactical and economic genius. Trump may not think like this but the establishment does. Trump hasn't got the message the establishment has been sending so loudly that billions of ears are bleeding. Looks like Mueller is going to be forced to take down Trump. If only it could be in a wresting ring and Mueller shaving off whatever hair Trump has.
Matt, that's not 3D chess, chess or anything else. It's pyromania, which Trump mistook for nymphomania.
As usual, Trump's comment doesn't make any sense. What the US can't buy steel? Others won't sell it to them?
Trump is setting fire to seventy years of trade deals, alliances and strategy to keep a few thousand jobs that should be replaced by clean energy and other technologies of the future that will keep the US as the global superpower, but he's such a dumb bastard that he thinks he's winning! No wonder this administration is falling apart. Reports are that McMaster will be gone by the end of the month. The US is cannibalising itself: the elite is devouring everything in sight, leaving US power on the precipice. That's Trump's legacy.
If Trump had said "If you aren't energy and food self-sufficient" he'd have a point. If a country could be self-sufficient in energy and food, it'd be foolish not to, and if a country isn't self-sufficient in energy and food, it leaves itself open to the world's bullies. But steel? Why? Nearly everyone produces steel cheaper than the US, and probably of better quality. Get over it. The UK has been playing this losing losing battle for some time now. It's a stupid game to play. Why subsidise an industry that isn't worth subsidising? Get those workers to make solar panels or high speed railway tracks... with imported steel.
Mueller's sharpening his knives/pen/computer as we speak. This steel business may be the end of this presidency. Trump's throwing red meat to his constituency, but that isn't how you run a country, let alone the world's superpower. Even the leaders of the poorest countries in the world know that. Trump's politics is tinpot stupidity. Historians will put the decline of the US down to Dubya and Trump, with a heroic but ultimately futile holding action by an unusually competent president in Obummer, who inherited an unholy gigantic mess from Dubya that would have required more political talent to fix eight years of neoconservative insanity than has ever existed in the entire history of the US. Only a narcissist like Trump could achieve this level of chaos and strategic blundering.
idk John I think it’s going pretty good from my perspective... might tweak a few things but you can’t have everything... especially when 99.999% of people and 100% of ruling class thinks they’re “out of money!”... ifs a libertarian utopia...
This is pretty much what I voted for... the whole “Trump Whitehouse” chaos is just a womanish soap opera sideshow...
Matt: "the whole “Trump Whitehouse” chaos is just a womanish soap opera sideshow..."
Everything is going so swimmingly that many have resigned, got fired or repeatedly lied to get security clearance. And once they're out of the White House they spill their guts out about what a lunatic asylum it is under Trump.
In one sense you're right. While everyone is fixated by the madness and stupidity, Ryan and co are taking an axe to the working class. It wasn't that long ago that Lindsey Graham was on late night shows effectively telling people to vote Killary because she wasn't clinically insane. Now he's cheerleading team Trump because corporate America is being allowed to cannibalise the country, with the state egging them on rather than holding the system in place.
Ivanka as chief of staff? I think that would be an excellent decision. She'll certainly have more persuasive talents, shall we say, than anyone else in the world. After all, this is a deranged individual who in public asks whether it is wrong to be sexually attracted to your own daughter (yes, Donald), and that's probably the least paedophilic comment he's made about his daughter. The man needs to be hospitalised for his own good...and his daughter's. Probably not Tiffany, though. He doesn't seem to have any erotic thoughts towards her.
I bet paedophilic acts amongst Trump supporters has skyrocketed since their leader declared that he'd like to fuck his own daughter (and almost all Christian groups supported him), along with those stupid trucker-style caps that the Florida high school shooter wore. Maker America Great: have sexual thoughts about your girls, shoot up some kids, defend neo-Nazis and launder dirty Russian mafia money!
Matt, what case did Navarro make for the tariffs? All he basically said was that Trump is doing what he said he was going to do during 2016, so the tariff duties should not come as a surprise to anyone.
ReplyDeleteRe. the Hope resignation, the rumors that now McMaster is on his way out ... you guys just wait and see -- by year's end, Melania will be the last person standing in the WH. Beautiful woman, but I think she's over 6ft tall thus too tall for me (5'9") :(
I think it was reported that Hope was having an affair with the one guy who was beating his wife... obviously a no-no there...
ReplyDeleteNavarro explains it via the real terms of trade...
ReplyDeleteTrump confidant dumped millions in steel-related stock last week
(Carl Icahn has impeccable timing.)
In a little-noticed SEC filing submitted on February 22, 2018, Icahn disclosed that he systematically sold off nearly 1 million shares of Manitowoc Company Inc. Manitowoc is a “is a leading global manufacturer of cranes and lifting solutions” and, therefore, heavily dependent on steel to make its products.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-ichan-steel-imports-cf7deb8beaf0/
As has been noted by intelligent foreign policy experts Trump is rapidly dismantling US as the world power. The system is now devouring itself. A tiny rich elite is dismantling US power by devouring everything in sight but with no regard to the US remaining a world power. Hilarious. Go Drumpf! If the establishment doesn't stop Trump - i.e. Mueller - US power is well and truly over.
ReplyDeleteMatt will say this is all Brzezinski-style chessboard thinking that no longer applies because Trump is a tactical and economic genius. Trump may not think like this but the establishment does. Trump hasn't got the message the establishment has been sending so loudly that billions of ears are bleeding. Looks like Mueller is going to be forced to take down Trump. If only it could be in a wresting ring and Mueller shaving off whatever hair Trump has.
John, 3D Chess:
ReplyDeleteTrump: “IF YOU DON’T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON’T HAVE A COUNTRY!”
Greek I saw a report McMaster is hitting the sauce pretty hard...
ReplyDeleteMatt, that's not 3D chess, chess or anything else. It's pyromania, which Trump mistook for nymphomania.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, Trump's comment doesn't make any sense. What the US can't buy steel? Others won't sell it to them?
Trump is setting fire to seventy years of trade deals, alliances and strategy to keep a few thousand jobs that should be replaced by clean energy and other technologies of the future that will keep the US as the global superpower, but he's such a dumb bastard that he thinks he's winning! No wonder this administration is falling apart. Reports are that McMaster will be gone by the end of the month. The US is cannibalising itself: the elite is devouring everything in sight, leaving US power on the precipice. That's Trump's legacy.
If Trump had said "If you aren't energy and food self-sufficient" he'd have a point. If a country could be self-sufficient in energy and food, it'd be foolish not to, and if a country isn't self-sufficient in energy and food, it leaves itself open to the world's bullies. But steel? Why? Nearly everyone produces steel cheaper than the US, and probably of better quality. Get over it. The UK has been playing this losing losing battle for some time now. It's a stupid game to play. Why subsidise an industry that isn't worth subsidising? Get those workers to make solar panels or high speed railway tracks... with imported steel.
Mueller's sharpening his knives/pen/computer as we speak. This steel business may be the end of this presidency. Trump's throwing red meat to his constituency, but that isn't how you run a country, let alone the world's superpower. Even the leaders of the poorest countries in the world know that. Trump's politics is tinpot stupidity. Historians will put the decline of the US down to Dubya and Trump, with a heroic but ultimately futile holding action by an unusually competent president in Obummer, who inherited an unholy gigantic mess from Dubya that would have required more political talent to fix eight years of neoconservative insanity than has ever existed in the entire history of the US. Only a narcissist like Trump could achieve this level of chaos and strategic blundering.
idk John I think it’s going pretty good from my perspective... might tweak a few things but you can’t have everything... especially when 99.999% of people and 100% of ruling class thinks they’re “out of money!”... ifs a libertarian utopia...
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty much what I voted for... the whole “Trump Whitehouse” chaos is just a womanish soap opera sideshow...
He should get Ivanka for chief of staff if Kelly leaves.... that would be a howl!!!!
ReplyDeleteMatt: "the whole “Trump Whitehouse” chaos is just a womanish soap opera sideshow..."
ReplyDeleteEverything is going so swimmingly that many have resigned, got fired or repeatedly lied to get security clearance. And once they're out of the White House they spill their guts out about what a lunatic asylum it is under Trump.
In one sense you're right. While everyone is fixated by the madness and stupidity, Ryan and co are taking an axe to the working class. It wasn't that long ago that Lindsey Graham was on late night shows effectively telling people to vote Killary because she wasn't clinically insane. Now he's cheerleading team Trump because corporate America is being allowed to cannibalise the country, with the state egging them on rather than holding the system in place.
Ivanka as chief of staff? I think that would be an excellent decision. She'll certainly have more persuasive talents, shall we say, than anyone else in the world. After all, this is a deranged individual who in public asks whether it is wrong to be sexually attracted to your own daughter (yes, Donald), and that's probably the least paedophilic comment he's made about his daughter. The man needs to be hospitalised for his own good...and his daughter's. Probably not Tiffany, though. He doesn't seem to have any erotic thoughts towards her.
I bet paedophilic acts amongst Trump supporters has skyrocketed since their leader declared that he'd like to fuck his own daughter (and almost all Christian groups supported him), along with those stupid trucker-style caps that the Florida high school shooter wore. Maker America Great: have sexual thoughts about your girls, shoot up some kids, defend neo-Nazis and launder dirty Russian mafia money!
Matt: "the whole “Trump Whitehouse” chaos is just a womanish soap opera sideshow..."
ReplyDeleteI'm going to use that. Thanks!
2017: EU imposed 10-35% steel tariffs. *crickets* Economists: Probably needed.
ReplyDelete2018: US imposes 10-25% steel tariffs. Economists: outrage. Idiot Drumf doesn't understand our comparative advantage models. He so stoopid.