“In less than two years my administration has
accomplished more than
almost any
administration in the history of our country”
Donald
Trump’s U.N. speech on September 25th
‘There
was a smattering of audible laughter from the assembled diplomats, representing
193 countries.’ AOL.com
The President is a master of
hyperbole, assigning blame to foes and taking credit either for what has not
occurred or what was truly based on the efforts of others Almost without exception, you can figure that
just about anything Donald Trump proposes for the economy is going to hurt the
middle and lower segments of our economy the hardest. If there are any
beneficiaries at all, it will almost always be the higher reaches of wealth and
power. Sometimes, the purported “beneficiaries” just exist in some
never-to-be-real mythical place – mostly in the minds of Donald Trump and his
ardent followers or in such a tiny minority to be of almost no serious
off-setting economic value compared to the pain and displacement faced by the
vast majority of Americans.
Tax Cut. Token
and temporary cuts to a few middle-class earners, increase in taxes for people
earning wages and salaries who live in states with high property and/or income
taxes, huge tax cut to wealthiest (folks who own corporations) but huge deficit
burden on absolutely all taxpayers.
Deregulation. Removing
massive protections for consumers dealing with big corporate entities, allowing
businesses to raise prices in once heavily regulated industries, allowing level
of pollution and environmental toxicity to rise negatively impacting the health
and life expectancy of millions, huge savings to corporations no longer held to
sufficient financial, social or environmental responsibility.
Healthcare. Reduction
in the quality and coverage of many health insurance policies (especially in
allowing “skinny bundles” that do not cover big medical issues or pre-existing
conditions), significant resulting increase in premiums, deductibles and
co-pays for most remaining policies, no reduction in the cost of prescription
drugs, massive and significant savings for companies that were required to
provide such benefits.
Immigration. Impact
on low-crime-rate immigrants, undocumented or fully legal, being pushed out of
the country. Reduction in their contribution to the economy. Higher costs for
most Americans as lower-cost jobs often go unfulfilled (e.g., stoop labor on
farms) at any wage, unharvested crops rotting in the fields, and general higher
food and construction costs. Job-creating high-tech immigrants denied visas,
forcing them to work in countries building a work force to compete with us.
Government
Austerity in Government Investment in Human Capital. Reductions began in state budgets, mostly in
red states, long before Trump assumed power, but accelerated once he took
office. Thank you Education Secretary Betsy “billionaire who hate public
education” DeVos. A study published in the Lancet on September 4th, based on data gathered by the Institute
for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington noted that
how much education a person receives and how many years of their life they can
effectively contribute to working, materially impacts a country’s economic
success. “Human capital.” Likewise, reductions in education and healthcare
impair economic success.
According to
that study, as reported in U.S. News and World Report (9/24): “Among the
world's biggest economies during that time, the U.S. fell from sixth place to
27th in investing in human capital while China rose from 69th to 44th. Other
economic powerhouses including Japan, Germany, the U.K. and France all stayed within four spots of their
original rank…
“Investment in
[healthcare and education] is directly tied to a country's ability to grow its
economy, the study finds. A lack of advances in education is the main cause of
America's lagging position, according to the study's authors…
“News reports in recent years
have documented the U.S. government's flagging investments in education,
which dropped 3 percent for elementary and high
schools between 2010 and 2014, while other global economic powerhouses
increased education spending by 5 percent on average.”
Tariff
Wars. Aside from a most basic
principle that no one ever wins a trade war, Donald Trump is convinced that he
can provide an exception to the centuries-old economic reality. Sure, there are
few steel and aluminum workers with jobs that they wouldn’t have without huge
tariffs on imports of such metals, but just about anything you buy made of
those metals, and any form of construction, has seen prices increasing in
double digits, way, way beyond any gain in these token job increases.
Likewise, as the agricultural
subsidies from Trump’s farmer bailout (because other countries retaliated
against Trump tariffs against them and tariffed U.S. farm goods) become
exhausted, U.S. farmers will face economic catastrophe. Small businesses are
also about to give consumers the bad news, resulting in fewer sales, fewer jobs
and economic contraction everywhere. And the latest trade war rates with China
will slam consumers and small businesses the most. The September 24th
Los Angeles Times explains:
“Small businesses around the country
said they are bracing for the latest round of tariffs, which could cut into
already thin profits and leave them with little choice but to pass additional
costs along to customers beginning this holiday season.
“And though larger retailers such as
Walmart, JC Penney and Amazon say they have already locked in low-priced
inventory for the holidays, independent retailers tend to rely on third-party
suppliers to import products for them, giving them little control over where
their goods come from or how much they cost.
“‘Larger retailers may be able to
find alternative sources or be able to absorb a price increase without passing
the cost on to their customers,’ said David French, senior vice president of
government relations for the National Retail Federation… ‘But the smaller you
are, the more vulnerable you are to the impact,’ French said.
“Analysts say the tariffs — which
began Monday at 10% and will rise Jan. 1 to 25% — are likely to trickle down to
retailers and consumers in the coming weeks and months, raising the prices of
everyday household goods.
“Nearly 6,000 types of products,
including seafood, suitcases and ski gloves, will be affected, and industry
leaders say big-ticket items such as consumer electronics, appliances and
furniture will be among the hardest hit.
“‘A 25% bump at the wholesale level
could end up being a 40% or 50% increase by the time something gets to the
sales floor,’ said Adam Rossi, owner of Adam Solar Rides, which sells electric
bicycles, skateboards and hoverboards in Pittsburgh… ‘The American consumer
just isn’t willing to pay that much more,’ Rossi said.
“Ken Kieran, owner of Union Farm
Equipment in Union, Maine, said inventory costs have already risen
substantially in recent months following a 25% tariff on steel imports…
“Vivian Sayward, who manufactures
athletic clothing in San Diego, says she is expecting prices to rise on a
number of materials, including a polyester-Spandex blend fabric she uses
frequently… She said that she is looking into finding new suppliers that aren’t
based in China, but that the process could take months or years… ‘This tariff
was supposed to help American manufacturers, but truthfully, we may have to
start manufacturing outside the U.S.,’ said Sayward, who founded Vivacity
Sportswear six years ago… ‘I’m not quite sure, to be honest, how my business
can survive long-term,’ she said.”
In the world of economic growth, Donald Trump touted that he broke an all-time
record with a single-quarter (2nd quarter of 2019) 4.1% GDP growth
rate. Not exactly, aside from the fact that the economy was already in
high-rate GDP growth during the last few years of the Obama Administration, the
United States has seen quarters at this rate or higher 117 times before, 4
times during the Obama years. Simply put, Trump is coasting on Obama’s
coattails – as to GDP, stock market and job growth – and claiming success based
on what was very much already in place when he took office. For most Americans,
70% to be more precise, our economic well-being is either unchanged or worse
from what it was 40 years ago.
I’m Peter Dekom, and if we last that long, a post-Trump administration
will have to work overtime to undo the damage Trump has inflicted on this
country to Make America Great Again.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment