Trump's Plan to Balloon the US Trade Deficit

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 8/29/2018 05:03:00 PM
Inside Trump's plan to blow up [and not send down] the US trade deficit to kingdom come. Trump claims that his various trade wars--against Europe, Asia, North America, and pretty much everybody else--are intended to bring down the US trade deficit. While it's true that the US trade deficit is large, many have argued that it's not really the result of unfair trading practices of the United States' trade partners but rather the Americans' woeful lack of savings. At any rate, despite all Trump's huffing and puffing, the United States' trade deficit for July exploded upwards: The Commerce Department said on Tuesday the goods...
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How Stormy Daniels Explains US Farmers' Fate

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 8/19/2018 06:55:00 PM
So much soy with nowhere to go; Stormy Daniels may explain their fate. The Atlantic brought to my attention this very cogent explanation of what's happening to American farmers amid Trump's trade war, by way of alleged Trump paramour Stormy Daniels. It's a story of regret for an increasing number of them, although you get anecdotal reports that Trump is still popular among several misguided sorts. No matter; here's Iowan farmer Christopher Gibbs on his "buyer's remorse" in voting for Trump: Let me be clear. I want to be supportive of the president and his policies. As a farmer, we voted for the president because he purported...
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Trump: Chinese Students in US are [PRC] Spies

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 8/14/2018 05:34:00 PM
Trump to Chinese students in America: You ain't nuthin' but PRC spies. Donald Trump loves a conspiracy theory: Ted Cruz's dad was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Global warming is a hoax invented by the Chinese to make US manufacturing non-competitive. Ever so fond of bashing China in any way, shape or form, a recent gathering of executives from America's largest multinational corporations (and some Trump toadies besides) represented a reversion to Trump's mean. Instead of discussing ways to stop Trump's trade war--fat chance of that--they were instead subjected to another of his lunatic rantings: The...
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Trump Antagonizing Turkey is a Really Bad Idea

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 8/10/2018 05:51:00 PM
Perhaps someone should tell Trump of US bases in Turkey prosecuting the War on Terror. Here we go again: some months ago, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt embargoed Qatar over its alleged support for terrorism. Qatar, after all, has comparatively cordial relations with the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah. There's also the matter of state-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera continuously blasting Qatar's neighbors over authoritarian rule when Qatar just happens to be an, er, absolute monarchy. What right did the network have to criticize the likes of Saudi and the Emirates? Enter Trump. Ever so vainglorious,...
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PRC Tells Yanquis to Shove It On Iran Oil Imports

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 8/05/2018 04:11:00 PM
Truly *independent* countries--from American influence, at least--are free to buy Iranian oil. It's odd that Trump campaigned on American isolationism--withdrawing from misadventures in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, et cetera--and then to see his actions on Iran. Being the archetypal Stuck in the 80s sort of guy, Trump seems to have an odd fixation on bashing Iran. Famously leaving the agreement struck on Iranian compliance on limiting enriched nuclear materials in exchange for lifting sanctions, the United States wants to get its way when none of the other signatories to the JCPOA agreement have left it. The oddity here...
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US 'Woos' Asia With Puny $113M Belt-Road Alternative

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 8/02/2018 04:25:00 PM
Yanks budget for, er, one pork dumpling at the global economic feast that is the Asian Century. Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to visit Asia this week to shore up American support there. His previous trips involved going to North Korea to see Kim Jong-un, but now he's supposedly in our part of the world for maintaining diplomatic ties a la winning friends and influencing people. The trouble is, his boss didn't seem to budget all that much in brib...I mean, monetary inducements to stick with Washington and stick it to Beijing: The US government is expanding its infrastructure drive in the Asia-Pacific...
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