Trump doesn't know much about economics, either

The selfish and self-serving nature of Donald Trump and his familiars in the media and in Congress continues unabated. Sen. Richard Burr’s decision to step down as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee was allegedly by his own accord, but apparently he was “persuaded” to do so by Mitch McConnell, "officially" due to some alleged personal stock manipulating, but also may have something to do with the reaction of Trump and his supporters against the committee’s recent report finding that Russia did in fact interfere with the 2016 election in favor of Trump.This is another example of efforts by Trump to stifle any dissent within the Republican ranks while supporting the wildest conspiracy theories against Democrats, especially Barack Obama.

We also learn that Trump is pressuring the CDC to reduce its count of the number COVID-19 infections and deaths, claiming that the high numbers are being “created” solely to hurt him politically. He is being supported in this by right-wing economist Art Laffer, whose ironically-named Laffer Curve has been a discredited economic model since the Reagan administration. Most medical professionals are pushing back, asserting that the actual number of COVID-19 deaths is more likely greatly undercounted (although certainly not to the extent that it is in China and India). 

We can’t trust the motivations behind Trump’s pronouncements on the COVID-19 issue, but we certainly can trust his acumen on basic economics, right? Well, no. Trump is not a “businessman,” but a glorified real estate and office rental agent, operating mostly properties that his father Fred Trump developed, or gave him the money to buy—or who used his son as a “front” in making such deals because of his own poor reputation. Every attempt Trump made to sell a product, from his “brand name” beer, wine, steaks, menswear and cologne to an airline, a for-profit “university” and his casinos were all abject failures; I mean, how do you lose money from running a casino? 

And Trump isn’t even that good at what he is supposed to be “good” at. Between 1990 and 2009 his properties filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy six times because of his personal mismanagement and lack of business acumen. In fact he has bragged about his abuse of bankruptcy laws to cover his business incompetence and protect his own personal wealth—forcing others to pay for his mistakes. And further proof that Trump has no real understanding of consumer economics is the case of the demolished Bonwit Teller building, in which he employed a contractor who used 200 Polish illegal immigrants, paying them pennies while working 12-hour shifts; the workers were so poorly paid that many had to “camp out” at the demolition site at night. In fact Trump has a history of underpaying or refusing to pay contractors or workers for labor rendered out of sheer personal pique.

And now Trump is telling us he was “right” about the economy, or at least that the U.S. does not manufacture enough of the products it consumes. That is certainly true—and so have many thousands (hell, millions) who have said the same thing, especially since China was allowed in the World Trade Organization and abuse or disregard its by-laws—a move backed by Bill Clinton in the mistaken belief that it would help both relations with China and increase exports to China; instead it only created the U.S.’ biggest economic and foreign foe. While manufacturing in the U.S. has been on the downhill slide since at least the 1970s—people used to joke about Japanese-made automobiles, until the 1974 oil crisis made them popular buys to save on gas mileage, while the American competition was either ugly (like the Gremlin) or hazardous to drive (like the Pinto). 

Furthermore, the Reagan administration and its railing against the “politics of envy,” its tax cuts, its belief in “trickle-down” economics, and its war against labor combined to create a dramatic increase in income inequality, made worse by an equally dramatic shift away from high-paying manufacturing to low-paying service-related jobs. The “opening” of “free” trade with China would be yet another one of Clinton’s policy mistakes (such as ending the Glass-Steagall Act which would have much to do with the 2007-2008 recession) that failed to take into account the underlying weakness of the consumer-based economy was already underway during the Reagan administration. The decline of the middle-class and the increase in low-paid workers made cheap foreign goods—especially from China—especially “easy” on the pocketbook of most Americans. American manufacturing companies simply could not compete with home-grown labor, and outside the automobile industry, most would eventually sell products under their “brand name” that were actually made in another country. Trump can talk the talk, but walking the walk is another thing; those cows left the barn long ago. 

Trump’s braggadocio involving “light bulb” claims have been common knowledge for decades and he has no more real idea of how to address the issue outside of bullying tactics like tariffs which have done nothing to make U.S. exports more “competitive”—in fact far from buying more U.S. products during the last few months as promised in the “phase one” trade deal, exports to China have decreased far more dramatically than imports have. Trump can bully children in former ICE director Tom Homan's concentration camps for children, but his threats against Iran and China have been the bloated, empty talk of a coward.

And yet Trump demands that we follow him whatever the cost. As noted in the previous post, absolute power corrupts absolutely, even for a fool and dangerous ignoramus like Trump who has never been held accountable for his crimes or even admits responsibility for any his own failures or false statements; that moral and ethical void in his nature makes him an especially dangerous person to wield power—let alone someone whose claims we should take seriously.