Mon, 6 May 2019
One of the most important news items, the virtual rebirth of the American economy under the Trump Administration, is also one of the most under-reported. The reasons for that are political. Obviously, it is a success for a White House that most of the media almost desperately attempted to prevent getting elected, and, once that effort failed, did everything possible to cripple. The magnitude of the Trump economic revival could be sufficient to get the President re-elected, an outcome that media seeks to prevent at all costs. There is also an embarrassment factor, as key left-wing writers and politicians claimed Trump's policies were incompetent or worse. Just two examples: The New York Times' Paul Krugmanpredicted that Trump's policies would lead to a "Global recession, with no end in sight." Obama himself mocked Trump's promise to revive manufacturing employment, stating that "those jobs aren't coming back." Obama's approach of extensive regulation at home and timidity in confronting China abroad provided poor results for American industry and related employment, continuing a downward spiral that could be traced back to the Clinton Administration. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Slate's Jordan Weissman, noted: "Things have not worked out quite as the 42nd president hoped. Normalizing trade with China set our rival on a path to becoming the industrial powerhouse the world knows today, decimating American factory towns in the process and upending old assumptions about how trade effects the economy. Thanks to a growing body of academic research, we're only just now beginning to understand the extent of the economic fallout..." |
Mon, 6 May 2019
They used to say, follow the money, now it's follow the debt. John Rubino believes that the key to deconstructing the news media's latest hype or fake news is to simply watch the debt explode geometrically. Excessive debt causes irrational behavior which leads to comedians getting elected president. Where have we seen that before? |