“I think I know interest rates much better than they do, and I think I know it certainly much better than the one who’s primarily in charge of making that decision,” Trump said, in an apparent reference to (Jerome) Powell,
Ummm- really, he says dumb things like … I am your favorite President, and I will end the Ukrainian war in 24 hours , and ….. do you know what arrogance means?
Listen and weep! He thinks he was saved by God but hates Jesus…for a start! Never read the Good book’ and wouldn’t even put his tiny hand on the Bibles being held for him…he was very afraid of lightening! ‘Cause the oath was already broken! No backbone, no brain, no equipment, no love…fear and hate is not Jesus!
When you find yourself getting inflamed by someone posting online, it's time to stop reading that person. He or she is proing the beach rubble (us) for pleasure.
I would add arrogance. Donald and many of his MAGA followers exhibit ignorance and arrogance. The higher the level of ignorance, the higher the level of arrogance and vice-a-versa.
There are some who know better but find that it is better to play along with Donald's delusions.
I am still in shock after the last election. How could the American electorate fall for a con man and grifter, not once but twice? I have read all about the liberal elites being out of touch and so forth, but it is still hard to fathom.
A smart, well-meaning Kamala Harris vs. the con man and grifter and the grifter wins.
He had even more help the second time, Vlad helped, Melon threw an unconscionable amount of money at the election, and despite having a remarkable candidate in Kamala Harris - the racists, misogynists, and apathetic threw the election to The Orange Oaf.
Vlad helped the first time--stole nearly $100 of my pre-paid internet from my hot spot to post more of those divisive Colin Kaepernick kneeling memes. This time, tech bros shut me down a week before the election. Don't like opposing and informative posts against their agenda of vacuuming up as much money & resources into as few hands as possible.
I think it means that a significant part of the voting electorate are biased in the same direction, or he's just picked up what works to his political advantage. But he's tied himself into the likes of Project 2025 people and Elon Musk
Yes there are a significant number of people in the US who are white Nationalists, Eugenicists, hate and fear is their brand and has been all my life! Easily cowed by the fear of missing out!
Uh… Republicans have been getting a majority of white voters by employing open racism in their campaigns since 1968. All other factors are below the level of random noise. No matter what that ugly dinosaur from Louisiana says, the price of eggs is just an excuse.
Arrogance: an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions. Merriam-Webster.com.
Yup, that is definitely how I would describe Trump. He is also one of those arrogant people whose own competence is lacking. Thus, the emperor has no clothes.
Arrogant ignorance, incompetent incontinent. Pretty much the Donny-John show…I wish it was just snakes oil, but he likes fear and loathing and even has no idea that he is killing people…so much for God and Jesus!
Not an accurate assessment. Ignorance can be mitigated by education. Stubborn stupidity has no such cure. While too many Americans are ignorant, the real problem is the 2nd group.
His very brand! Think of the reality of the picture of the bathroom with the boxes? Ugly, smelly, this is the reality of the gilded age! There really is “No there there!” God help us!
Not really. 40% for whatever reason thought there was no difference between the 2 of them, or felt that their vote did not matter so why bother. That is a huge problem.
Actually 2/3 of the country didn't vote for him. Half, as usual, stayed home because the people they would have voted for weren't allowed on the ballot.
Of all the things that piss me off about that criminal baboon, it’s his and his voters’ stupidity that makes me the craziest. And they revel in it, which just makes it even worse. Never would I have imagined when I was young that in my 70’s we’d all be swimming in oceans of stupidity. Monumental stupidity. The United States of Stupid. It’s exhausting.
I’m hearing on some podcasts his “low info” supporters are becoming disenfranchised. They said they voted to removed brown people and cheaper eggs and if I were to believe the podcasters I listen to, neither is happening (including releasing “caught” illegals). If that is what I voted for, I’d be pissed.
Thanks. The tsunami headed their way is going to make brown people and eggs the least of their worries. Red states’ dependence on federal funding for most services is about to dry up. The worm-eaten brain heading up HHS will prevent vaccines for the coming bird flu pandemic, it;s already happening in Idaho.
Yes, they vote for all the cruelty, and never catch on when it hits them, most don't even know the red state Govs turn down the Medicare expansions that would help them.
I’m close. Scary. My priority is to protect my health. There are some easy tools for self protection. Let the hospital and morgues fill if that’s what they choose.
Canada also supplies much of the electricity to the northern tier of the US through Hydro Quebec, including 75% of the electricity for our local municipal utility in Vermont. And Donald Trump and his sycophants would not understand the economics of your article even if they bothered to read it. It’s all a show, a s—t show for sure.
Skip, as somebody has already pointed out much of that “surplus” power sold south is from Labrador (whom is getting screwed by HQ currently) and there are plans for a new project on Labrador/New Foundland for another big project with HQ that will sell power south).
But HQ is now changing its strategy and has been buying power from the US when prices make it advantageous and will sell power when NY and NE are peaking in summer and winter essentially using the hydro resources as a battery.
BTW, Hydro One (formerly Ontario Hydro) has been selling lots of surplus power to NY, HQ, and the Midwest through the ties in Michigan! Sometimes power will also flow the other way.
Finally, BC Hydro is a key lynchpin in the western power system selling hydro to any place in the west. And when they had a bad hydro year they bought power from the US.
What Trump and his minions fail to understand is that the west with BC Hydro and the East with Ontario and Maritimes are single power systems operating as one synchronized machine. They also operate as a single market and that in effect with respect to market transactions have already subjected themselves to US FERC jurisdiction and operate by US rules already.
So this tariff thing with Canada is one of the dumbest ideas imaginable and will have terrible effects on the cost and reliability of power if the orange idiot gets his way.
Trump and his suck up’s do not understand anything about economics between countries. Obviously it’s more complicated than most people know (myself included). But I try to understand the way it works. And anyone with half a brain would know that placing across the board tariffs on electrical transmission is not in anyone’s best interest.
Yeah, but understanding anything is not his first priority – conning the rubes, revenging the enemies and hoovering alla the money is pretty much it for him. However it gets done is irrelevant.
The current account is ALSO the difference between National Saving and Investment. If saving is greater than investment- the current account is in surplus. If saving is less than investment- the current account is in deficit.
Saving in the US has dropped like a stone- hence the current account here is in deficit.
Historically, Japan saved more than- so it ran a
CA surplus. Their aging population and restrictions on immigration will change that .
Basically, developing nations now save more than they invest - leading to some surplus there
- industrialized nations have shifted towards deficit. The effects have been felt very unevenly across the globe - - the imbalances can be interpreted differently among those that study them.
Relying on the current administration to make sound policy decisions- scares the you know what out of me . I fear a great disturbance in the force Luke .
First time i've heard anyone mention Hydro Quebec, and you should like include Hydro Labrador and Newfoundland, since most of that output also streams southern to the n/e US. Economic umbilicords.
And Ontario supplies hydro to Michigan & New York (and Vermont). Practically every province exports energy to USA in some way. We thought wouldn’t it be hilarious to cut them all off on Sunday around 6:15 PM. See how you like free trade with us now, lol.
Oh now you are bringing in facts…sheesh, don’t you know…it’s all AI…nothing matters, post-organic reality with a serious musky smell..strangers in a very strange land!
Your final paragraph says it all. We are a nation suffering from societal/economic/political schizophrenia, incapable of distinguishing fact from fiction, and really, really off our meds.
Robert, in response to “We are a nation suffering from societal/economic/political schizophrenia, incapable of distinguishing fact from fiction, and really, really off our meds.”, I must ask to be dissociated from the “we” to which you refer.
Hopefully that will not involve having to change passports.
I don’t doubt that, but what I meant was that I would rather not be lumped in with the part of the population who, for whatever reason, voted Trump back into office.
Donald Trump and Co hate rules based, law abiding democracies. All this foreign affairs stuff is drawing attention away from what Musk and the 2025 folks are doing to our government.
The second most frightening news leaked yesterday is the changes in bird flu. It's effecting cats and there looks like there has been cat to human transmission. This information was leaked and only available for a short period of time. We no longer have government based scientific monitoring of a potential catastrophic disease. Vaccines are not being worked on and will be actively blocked. A nasty mutation in our direction could make the first strains of COVID look like a mild cold. In some species it's got a very, very high kill rate.
I hope the scientific community bands together and continues to try to learn as much as they can. Who could have imagined a world where American scientists studying infectious diseases have to secretly communicate for fear of government retribution.
Trump's response to the opening rounds of Covid were dismal, overall vaccine "hesitation" likely led to half a million needless American deaths, mainly Republicans and blacks.
Why aren't the business community being more vocal in condemning this nonsense? Are they just tolerating it in hopes of receiving generous tax cuts and cushy government contracts ?
Some of them are afraid of being targeted by Trump for revenge. But most of them, yes, are hoping for things in return for putting up with the MAGA crazy: Not only favorable tax code changes but also the weakening or removal or non-enforcement of regulations that protect workers, small investors, consumers and the environment (but that they believe hurt their profits).
My decades-ago low-level perspective on regulation was mostly that the big players did not care too much about most regs as long as those regs were (comparatively) over-onerous to small competitors. That is, it looked from my viewpoint like whatever got codified was lenient on massive corps with many minions to do the paperwork, whereas tiny companies were forced to assign significant staff to comply with the same regs. Economy of scale on steroids.
That certainly sounds plausible in many cases. Also deregulation can itself be misnomer as corporations want regulation where it serves their interests, such as extending pharmaceutical patents well beyond what is reasonable.
I think that's true as far as it goes when it comes to the administrative burden of regulation (ie, filing, record-keeping, reporting, permits, etc). This can indeed represent an area of advantage for large firms vis-a-vis smaller competitors. Agreed! But some kinds of rules/laws/regulations flat out cost them money. Disclosure requirements on financial services products, for instance, may limit their ability to sell certain kinds of services (or to whom). Restrictions on what chemicals can be used in various products would be a similar profit-cruncher. Minimum wage laws are another example: Walmart can obviously afford a wage increase more easily than a small chain, but the former *already* possesses large advantages over smaller competitors, and being forced into an increase in labor costs simply comes out of their bottom line. And also this: most of our largest firms either face no effective competition or else mainly compete against one or two *other* giant firms. Exxon-Mobil, Alphabet, Chase, Disney, Proctor and Gamble, META, Apple, Coca-Cola, Amazon and so on: regulations can and do have a direct and material impact on their earnings.
Fixing this all depends upon the public sphere – you know, us – making wise choices in polling booths and elsewhere, so that the most powerful misguided impulses of the unfettered squizillionaires get everso slightly fettered.
There is an article in this month's online (but not the paper copy) Atlantic by Timothy Ryback about the former German capitalists who regretted their support of Hitler to their own demise. I didn't write it down but plan to check out his book Take Over: Hitler's Final Rise to Power. The things one learns reading these comment sections, in addition to the very informative articles.
Donald Trump has long been known as someone who doesn't like paying for the goods and services he uses, so he can't understand why the US should have to pay for the things you get from other countries.
It's not the economics that bother me. His Wall Street cronies will make sure THEY aren't hurt.
Much deeper are the National Security implications. He has deliberately picked fights with strategic allies (&, yes, I account Panama in that grouping). He's obviously implementing someone else's agenda. Soon he'll withdraw from NATO. I just hope in the process he doesn't begin to re-arm Russia & attack Ukraine.
China is playing around with the Philippines to no response from us. He doesn't care about East Asian allies. He will try to use his influence to dismantle the EU, with help from Orban, Italy, & whatever mini-Trump the Tories come up with.
He's named a Russian Agent to be DNI & a "burn it all down" teenage racist to the FBI. The White House ordered the CIA furnish them BY PLAIN OLD REGULAR MEMO with the NAMES of current US operatives -- IN PUBLIC. It's not even questionable any more -- he's working on killing the only superpower able to blunt the aggression of dictatorships. It's on purpose.
Just a reminder that as an adjudicated sex offender, Donald Trump himself couldn't pass a background check to become a crossing guard at your local elementary school.
But somehow, he gets a security clearance, the right to decide who else gets security clearances, and the nuclear launch codes...
...once again showing us his real talent - pointing out all of the flaws in our system of government that need to be corrected.
I seriously think trump believes the U.S. has already lost. He wants the country to retreat into a “sphere of influence” shell and he wishes there were a few great mercantilist powers. He doesn’t think the U.S. should be a global economic hegemon, even though it obviously benefits us to write the rules for and guarantee the safety of most of the world. He’s an idiot, yes, but he’s also a coward who doesn’t want any responsibility for anything.
Tom, I sincerely hope that what you alleged is Not True, because if Trump were intentionally damaging US security, the only recourse for patriots would be to remove him from office immediately— by force— which would probably require a military takeover.
I hope that Trump is simply motivated by stupidity and his greed for power and attention. Like a toddler, every tantrum gets rewarded with plenty of attention ( remember, there’s no such thing as “bad publicity’ for someone who wants to be front page news every day).
Thank you for something very informative. I appreciate your effort to explain things simply to the economically challenged. Oh, I am not complaining about a lack of $$$$$, I hardly qualify for financial aid. I am economically challenged because I just don't understand how it all works and you are a big help to me.
I sympathize with you. I express your thought slightly differently -- "economics challenged" which eliminates the ambiguity of your usage. Not trying to be a jerk or weird ambiguity nerd, just that I was thinking about the issue an hour or so ago when I was trying to explain the value of PK's posts in a text to a friend. (Note: I am, in fact, an ambiguity nerd, but I don't admit it's weird.)
Thank you for the help - you are 100% correct - I knew as soon as I typed it I had erred but did not have the time or skill to think it through to determine the better phrasing - I appreciate being corrected when I have used the wrong word! My point in moving to substack was to stop scrolling on the phone, only read carefully thought out posts and then, boom, I can’t help myself I have to comment when I am sitting in front of a laptop, mostly on how much I am learning by doing it this way.
I remember a paper discussing fake US claims about Japanese trading surplus “Lies, damned lies and statistics” (I think there are many different versions). I am sure you remember those times very well.
What a pity that more than 30 years on we are yet again at the starting point, and this time with frankly MAGA suicidal intentions…
He felt if the exchange rate was lowered he could sell cars in Japan . The exchange rate did drop when our excessive interest rates dropped-
but when the dollar was lower in terms of yen ,
rather than capturing more of our market for
American autos - ( because cars from Japan
went up in price due to the exchange rate)
US automakers increased the price of autos
sold here !
And we never made better smaller engines for the smaller autos in the first place because US automakers wanted to keep the return on the investment in V-8 engines far longer than
circumstances required. Sad tale
Then , they placed voluntary import quotas on
Japanese autos -
Ultimately Japan opened plants in the US to
keep up the sales ( and it balanced the account- in part ) .
We prevented Japan from the acquisition of US Steel recently- I wonder what Professor PK
Paul, the problem with our 1980s balance of trade with Japan (and in particular auto s) was US auto mfrs were focused on selling mediocre cars to the domestic market while Japanese mfrs were exporting better quality cars to the US, with a cheap Yen and low interest rates as additional advantages over our Big Three.
As you pointed out, when the yen to dollar exchange rates became less favorable the Japanese sold at lower margins to protect their market share, and began investing in US mfg plants to onshore their US production and sales.
We didn’t have an Industrial Policy, and for many years American consumers didn’t have domestically produced cars of the type, size and quality they wanted. We do now— but they are made by Japanese and Korean companies’ US factories.
Yep - mediocre alright ( like the no go Vega and exploding Pinto ) .
My take was that the US makers didn’t invest in new equipment and kept the status quo to maximize their return on the existing plant & equipment. After the oil embargos , gas prices were way up but we kept up with the V-8 engines or not so well made smaller cars . The Japanese figured it out and did very well .
Now I wonder if US Steel is in a similar situation. Japan had money to invest here but
we blocked it . One way or another, the workers in the plant are going to suffer due to the short sighted policies of management. They must hit quarterly earnings and earnings per share metrics to survive Wall Street expectations.
This raises the question: why do so many supposedly smart and knowledgeable people with stakes in the gam support Trump? Hedge fund managers & those invested in US companies who only stand to lose if the US and world economies take a nose dive?
A large part of it is clearly now fear. Trump yields the power of the executive branch like a cudgel. He's not afraid to punish those who oppose him. Indeed he obviously relishes exacting revenge. And he now has an FBI and Department of Justice that appear at this point to be set up like a personal, Trump family enforcement office.
Also, many of the richest people in America are very short-sighted (smugly so): they want lower taxes and weakened regulations (on pollution, on financial services, on worker safety, on consumer protections, on lots of things). It doesn't seem to occur to them that having a few billion more in net worth isn't really that great a deal if it means no longer having a decent country to live in.
I think ultra rich “conservatives” don’t care if the world around them collapses: they’re surrounded by moats and it would be a terrific buying opportunity.
Schmuck. But really just a psychopath who delights in hurting and sometimes killing people.
Just meditate on that fact got a second. And you think , “but he doesn’t hate me!”
Wrong. He has everyone except his billionaire donors. Period.Frankly, people who think this are either idiots, hatefilled or delusional. The hate our country, too.
Sometimes I think Trump is one of the smallest, most insecure and puny man ever, but mostly I think he has no idea who and what he is.
It's as if he was some kind of chameleon that tries to puff himself in front of people who are influenced by the chameleon while those he is unable to fool get screamed at for seeing through his disguise. His decisions are not arrived at by thinking processes, they're from his gut.
Lots of research has shown how our intestinal bacteria play a part in thinking and response to external stimulus, and how diet influences that bacteria. The fast food diet probably cuts his potential to think in half.
While Trump is likely to be mostly motivated by his crotch and associated organs making him completely unaware of others the leadership of the Democrats completely misread the situation when Biden took over.
If Trump didn't win he would likely be facing punishment so of course he would lie, lie, and lie again. And it worked so now he's free to cause pain for others. Taking bribes and inflicting pain on others. What a man.
Donald Trump exists as a symbol of American ignorance
and arrogance.
You're an obvious troll, but I'll bite:
“I think I know interest rates much better than they do, and I think I know it certainly much better than the one who’s primarily in charge of making that decision,” Trump said, in an apparent reference to (Jerome) Powell,
Trump is proud to be the King of Debt, as he's stated often over decades. He's not afraid of losing other people's money.
I wonder what the accounting will be when, and if, he meets St Peter?
Really…I’d sell tickets!
You posted your question in an open format so yes, you did ask anyone who chooses to answer. You're arrogant too.
He, she, or it is here just to troll and annoy everyone. Serves no useful purpose at all, and has nothing to say.
Ummm- really, he says dumb things like … I am your favorite President, and I will end the Ukrainian war in 24 hours , and ….. do you know what arrogance means?
"Project 2025? Never heard of it"
"I don't need teleprompters like Obama"
"I'll only be a dictator on the first day"
"If she wasn't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her (referring to Ivanka)"
"I, alone, can fix it"
"I know more than the Generals"
"You could just, I don't know, inject bleach..."
RRL and other are perhaps AI troll? More and more chimps chiming in. I thought they had refuted the 1000 monkey writing Shakespeare?!
🎯👏👏
Listen and weep! He thinks he was saved by God but hates Jesus…for a start! Never read the Good book’ and wouldn’t even put his tiny hand on the Bibles being held for him…he was very afraid of lightening! ‘Cause the oath was already broken! No backbone, no brain, no equipment, no love…fear and hate is not Jesus!
By disparaging, verbally abusing people.
Who’s a child?
When you find yourself getting inflamed by someone posting online, it's time to stop reading that person. He or she is proing the beach rubble (us) for pleasure.
Imposing tariffs on allies when he doesn’t know how they work, for starters
I would add arrogance. Donald and many of his MAGA followers exhibit ignorance and arrogance. The higher the level of ignorance, the higher the level of arrogance and vice-a-versa.
There are some who know better but find that it is better to play along with Donald's delusions.
I am still in shock after the last election. How could the American electorate fall for a con man and grifter, not once but twice? I have read all about the liberal elites being out of touch and so forth, but it is still hard to fathom.
A smart, well-meaning Kamala Harris vs. the con man and grifter and the grifter wins.
He had even more help the second time, Vlad helped, Melon threw an unconscionable amount of money at the election, and despite having a remarkable candidate in Kamala Harris - the racists, misogynists, and apathetic threw the election to The Orange Oaf.
Vlad helped the first time--stole nearly $100 of my pre-paid internet from my hot spot to post more of those divisive Colin Kaepernick kneeling memes. This time, tech bros shut me down a week before the election. Don't like opposing and informative posts against their agenda of vacuuming up as much money & resources into as few hands as possible.
I think it means that a significant part of the voting electorate are biased in the same direction, or he's just picked up what works to his political advantage. But he's tied himself into the likes of Project 2025 people and Elon Musk
Yes there are a significant number of people in the US who are white Nationalists, Eugenicists, hate and fear is their brand and has been all my life! Easily cowed by the fear of missing out!
Uh… Republicans have been getting a majority of white voters by employing open racism in their campaigns since 1968. All other factors are below the level of random noise. No matter what that ugly dinosaur from Louisiana says, the price of eggs is just an excuse.
H.L. Mencken had it nailed when he observed that "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. "
And (paraphrased) one day the plain folks of this land, will get their fondest wish and get an absolute moron in the white house.
Mencken was ahead of his time for sure!
I don’t think white supremacist beliefs correlate with intelligence. It’s endemic in white America across all cognitive boundaries.
They picked perfidy and duplicity over competence and joy…
Hell, I'm still in shock from the 1980 election.
Um - maybe because he’s white (orange-white, but still). There’s a reason the NFL is taking “End Racism” off of the end zones for the Super Bowl.
The misogynists could not bring themselves to vote for an extremely qualified woman...again then add in racism, and there you have it.
Lies and money Simple
Thanks for your post Aubrey. I share your pain.
Arrogance: an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions. Merriam-Webster.com.
Yup, that is definitely how I would describe Trump. He is also one of those arrogant people whose own competence is lacking. Thus, the emperor has no clothes.
Arrogant ignorance, incompetent incontinent. Pretty much the Donny-John show…I wish it was just snakes oil, but he likes fear and loathing and even has no idea that he is killing people…so much for God and Jesus!
He knows he's killing people - he just doesn't give a shit. Indeed, he's enjoying it. He's a psychopath.
They was a work coined for that in the 90's: ignoranus
Actually most of his supporters don’t want America involved in Gaza…so they at least remember how wrong they were with Iraq and Afghanistan!
It's remarkable how those two characteristics so often go hand in hand.
Not an accurate assessment. Ignorance can be mitigated by education. Stubborn stupidity has no such cure. While too many Americans are ignorant, the real problem is the 2nd group.
True, unless it's >willful< ignorance. There's a lot of that going around in Trumpworld.
His very brand! Think of the reality of the picture of the bathroom with the boxes? Ugly, smelly, this is the reality of the gilded age! There really is “No there there!” God help us!
That Trump occupies the position he does is an even greater symbol of American ignorance.
An oxymoron.
Uh, George W Bush invaded Iraq because he believed in American supremacy. Getting rid of Trump doesn’t really fix the GOP.
Only half of America. The rest of us voted against him.
40% did not vote. That is the point.
Not really. 40% for whatever reason thought there was no difference between the 2 of them, or felt that their vote did not matter so why bother. That is a huge problem.
And/Or were suppressed by state laws making it hard or impossible to vote.
AI marketing and narrow-casting media…
Actually 2/3 of the country didn't vote for him. Half, as usual, stayed home because the people they would have voted for weren't allowed on the ballot.
Just less than 30% of the electorate of USa voted for TMusk. All it takes is good people to do nothing....
Much more than 1/2! If you look at the number of people of could have registered, could have voted, it’s about 25%! Pumped up by ungodly money!
“Trump’s thinking”? Now those are two words you don’t see used together very often. 😂
🎯🎯🎯
Definitely an oxymoron Rob!!
Let’s take away the oxygen!
It's an oxymoron. Kinda like "honest conservative". It's a creature that doesn't exist.
It is sort of an oxymoron but in the backwards land the moron our peers elected, it is the new normal.
Sort of? It's absolutely an oxymoron. Trump doesn't think. He just spouts words the way a gargoyle spouts rainwater.
Of all the things that piss me off about that criminal baboon, it’s his and his voters’ stupidity that makes me the craziest. And they revel in it, which just makes it even worse. Never would I have imagined when I was young that in my 70’s we’d all be swimming in oceans of stupidity. Monumental stupidity. The United States of Stupid. It’s exhausting.
No need to disparage baboons eh?
I’m hearing on some podcasts his “low info” supporters are becoming disenfranchised. They said they voted to removed brown people and cheaper eggs and if I were to believe the podcasters I listen to, neither is happening (including releasing “caught” illegals). If that is what I voted for, I’d be pissed.
Thanks. The tsunami headed their way is going to make brown people and eggs the least of their worries. Red states’ dependence on federal funding for most services is about to dry up. The worm-eaten brain heading up HHS will prevent vaccines for the coming bird flu pandemic, it;s already happening in Idaho.
And they'll just blame the Democrats, as usual.
Yes, they vote for all the cruelty, and never catch on when it hits them, most don't even know the red state Govs turn down the Medicare expansions that would help them.
MedicAID.
Thank you I always get them mixed up!
I’m close. Scary. My priority is to protect my health. There are some easy tools for self protection. Let the hospital and morgues fill if that’s what they choose.
YES. Exhausting.
The outrage is to distract us while they steal our money.
Like someone bumping you in a crowd so her partner can pick your pocket.
It must be something in all that Schlitz they're swilling.
Not everyone has access to a good education in this country, unfortunately. I.e., don't be angry; in some sense, it's not their fault.
Like a joyous dog rolling in excrement they are.
See our Brother Swiley on this thread Try to talk to him. We have to at least probe the sickness. Indignation is not a solution.
Canada also supplies much of the electricity to the northern tier of the US through Hydro Quebec, including 75% of the electricity for our local municipal utility in Vermont. And Donald Trump and his sycophants would not understand the economics of your article even if they bothered to read it. It’s all a show, a s—t show for sure.
Skip, as somebody has already pointed out much of that “surplus” power sold south is from Labrador (whom is getting screwed by HQ currently) and there are plans for a new project on Labrador/New Foundland for another big project with HQ that will sell power south).
But HQ is now changing its strategy and has been buying power from the US when prices make it advantageous and will sell power when NY and NE are peaking in summer and winter essentially using the hydro resources as a battery.
BTW, Hydro One (formerly Ontario Hydro) has been selling lots of surplus power to NY, HQ, and the Midwest through the ties in Michigan! Sometimes power will also flow the other way.
Finally, BC Hydro is a key lynchpin in the western power system selling hydro to any place in the west. And when they had a bad hydro year they bought power from the US.
What Trump and his minions fail to understand is that the west with BC Hydro and the East with Ontario and Maritimes are single power systems operating as one synchronized machine. They also operate as a single market and that in effect with respect to market transactions have already subjected themselves to US FERC jurisdiction and operate by US rules already.
So this tariff thing with Canada is one of the dumbest ideas imaginable and will have terrible effects on the cost and reliability of power if the orange idiot gets his way.
Trump and his suck up’s do not understand anything about economics between countries. Obviously it’s more complicated than most people know (myself included). But I try to understand the way it works. And anyone with half a brain would know that placing across the board tariffs on electrical transmission is not in anyone’s best interest.
Yeah, but understanding anything is not his first priority – conning the rubes, revenging the enemies and hoovering alla the money is pretty much it for him. However it gets done is irrelevant.
Just a minor correction: they don't understand anything about economics period.
(other than their own personal bottom lines, that is)
The current account is ALSO the difference between National Saving and Investment. If saving is greater than investment- the current account is in surplus. If saving is less than investment- the current account is in deficit.
Saving in the US has dropped like a stone- hence the current account here is in deficit.
Historically, Japan saved more than- so it ran a
CA surplus. Their aging population and restrictions on immigration will change that .
Basically, developing nations now save more than they invest - leading to some surplus there
- industrialized nations have shifted towards deficit. The effects have been felt very unevenly across the globe - - the imbalances can be interpreted differently among those that study them.
Relying on the current administration to make sound policy decisions- scares the you know what out of me . I fear a great disturbance in the force Luke .
Great points, and great disturbance in the force indeed.
Thanks! The Columbia is lake after lake, accept for the Hanford range.
First time i've heard anyone mention Hydro Quebec, and you should like include Hydro Labrador and Newfoundland, since most of that output also streams southern to the n/e US. Economic umbilicords.
And Ontario supplies hydro to Michigan & New York (and Vermont). Practically every province exports energy to USA in some way. We thought wouldn’t it be hilarious to cut them all off on Sunday around 6:15 PM. See how you like free trade with us now, lol.
HYDRO ONTARIO has been running ads (commercials) on US tv....it started right before his EO for tariffs
And this is storage and serves as batteries for the wind and solar..win/win!
And also supplies some 70% of the wood used in construction, say to rebuild California. There’s no way this relationship is bad for the US.
Oh now you are bringing in facts…sheesh, don’t you know…it’s all AI…nothing matters, post-organic reality with a serious musky smell..strangers in a very strange land!
Haha, Ryan. But I can’t grok any of it.
Your final paragraph says it all. We are a nation suffering from societal/economic/political schizophrenia, incapable of distinguishing fact from fiction, and really, really off our meds.
Exactly right. But I very much appreciate Paul showing the math.
Robert, in response to “We are a nation suffering from societal/economic/political schizophrenia, incapable of distinguishing fact from fiction, and really, really off our meds.”, I must ask to be dissociated from the “we” to which you refer.
Hopefully that will not involve having to change passports.
I am an American citizen.
I don’t doubt that, but what I meant was that I would rather not be lumped in with the part of the population who, for whatever reason, voted Trump back into office.
I did not mean to cast aspersions on you.
Understood. Context is everything! 🙃
Donald Trump and Co hate rules based, law abiding democracies. All this foreign affairs stuff is drawing attention away from what Musk and the 2025 folks are doing to our government.
The second most frightening news leaked yesterday is the changes in bird flu. It's effecting cats and there looks like there has been cat to human transmission. This information was leaked and only available for a short period of time. We no longer have government based scientific monitoring of a potential catastrophic disease. Vaccines are not being worked on and will be actively blocked. A nasty mutation in our direction could make the first strains of COVID look like a mild cold. In some species it's got a very, very high kill rate.
I hope the scientific community bands together and continues to try to learn as much as they can. Who could have imagined a world where American scientists studying infectious diseases have to secretly communicate for fear of government retribution.
Trump's response to the opening rounds of Covid were dismal, overall vaccine "hesitation" likely led to half a million needless American deaths, mainly Republicans and blacks.
you can bet he’s fully vaxed. When he talks, it obvious he’s on some type/s of meds.
Probably for his dementia.
Even Kennedy Jr. had his own kids vaccinated.
Scary. Robert Kennedy was n charge of th bird flu. OMG 😱
Shades of Planet of the Apes.
Why aren't the business community being more vocal in condemning this nonsense? Are they just tolerating it in hopes of receiving generous tax cuts and cushy government contracts ?
Some of them are afraid of being targeted by Trump for revenge. But most of them, yes, are hoping for things in return for putting up with the MAGA crazy: Not only favorable tax code changes but also the weakening or removal or non-enforcement of regulations that protect workers, small investors, consumers and the environment (but that they believe hurt their profits).
My decades-ago low-level perspective on regulation was mostly that the big players did not care too much about most regs as long as those regs were (comparatively) over-onerous to small competitors. That is, it looked from my viewpoint like whatever got codified was lenient on massive corps with many minions to do the paperwork, whereas tiny companies were forced to assign significant staff to comply with the same regs. Economy of scale on steroids.
That certainly sounds plausible in many cases. Also deregulation can itself be misnomer as corporations want regulation where it serves their interests, such as extending pharmaceutical patents well beyond what is reasonable.
I think that's true as far as it goes when it comes to the administrative burden of regulation (ie, filing, record-keeping, reporting, permits, etc). This can indeed represent an area of advantage for large firms vis-a-vis smaller competitors. Agreed! But some kinds of rules/laws/regulations flat out cost them money. Disclosure requirements on financial services products, for instance, may limit their ability to sell certain kinds of services (or to whom). Restrictions on what chemicals can be used in various products would be a similar profit-cruncher. Minimum wage laws are another example: Walmart can obviously afford a wage increase more easily than a small chain, but the former *already* possesses large advantages over smaller competitors, and being forced into an increase in labor costs simply comes out of their bottom line. And also this: most of our largest firms either face no effective competition or else mainly compete against one or two *other* giant firms. Exxon-Mobil, Alphabet, Chase, Disney, Proctor and Gamble, META, Apple, Coca-Cola, Amazon and so on: regulations can and do have a direct and material impact on their earnings.
Fair.
Fixing this all depends upon the public sphere – you know, us – making wise choices in polling booths and elsewhere, so that the most powerful misguided impulses of the unfettered squizillionaires get everso slightly fettered.
Yes.
And they are so stupid to think he will stand up for him.
Newsflash: he is a pathological liar. You haven’t noticed yet?
The there is something very wrong with you.
There is an article in this month's online (but not the paper copy) Atlantic by Timothy Ryback about the former German capitalists who regretted their support of Hitler to their own demise. I didn't write it down but plan to check out his book Take Over: Hitler's Final Rise to Power. The things one learns reading these comment sections, in addition to the very informative articles.
What she said!
Yes. It’s just a repeat of the pigs at the feeding trough response of defense contractors when Reagan became President.
YES. And some of them have b come fervent followers.
And this clown is supposedly a graduate of the Wharton School of Business? What an embarrassment.
Well, an undergrad graduate. And his dad donated a library or something.
And one of his professors said he was the dumbest student he ever had.
Half a graduate. His first two college years, never mentioned, were at Fordham.
Donald Trump has long been known as someone who doesn't like paying for the goods and services he uses, so he can't understand why the US should have to pay for the things you get from other countries.
It's not the economics that bother me. His Wall Street cronies will make sure THEY aren't hurt.
Much deeper are the National Security implications. He has deliberately picked fights with strategic allies (&, yes, I account Panama in that grouping). He's obviously implementing someone else's agenda. Soon he'll withdraw from NATO. I just hope in the process he doesn't begin to re-arm Russia & attack Ukraine.
China is playing around with the Philippines to no response from us. He doesn't care about East Asian allies. He will try to use his influence to dismantle the EU, with help from Orban, Italy, & whatever mini-Trump the Tories come up with.
He's named a Russian Agent to be DNI & a "burn it all down" teenage racist to the FBI. The White House ordered the CIA furnish them BY PLAIN OLD REGULAR MEMO with the NAMES of current US operatives -- IN PUBLIC. It's not even questionable any more -- he's working on killing the only superpower able to blunt the aggression of dictatorships. It's on purpose.
We are in huge trouble.
Re: national security implications
Just a reminder that as an adjudicated sex offender, Donald Trump himself couldn't pass a background check to become a crossing guard at your local elementary school.
But somehow, he gets a security clearance, the right to decide who else gets security clearances, and the nuclear launch codes...
...once again showing us his real talent - pointing out all of the flaws in our system of government that need to be corrected.
I seriously think trump believes the U.S. has already lost. He wants the country to retreat into a “sphere of influence” shell and he wishes there were a few great mercantilist powers. He doesn’t think the U.S. should be a global economic hegemon, even though it obviously benefits us to write the rules for and guarantee the safety of most of the world. He’s an idiot, yes, but he’s also a coward who doesn’t want any responsibility for anything.
(Sorry, this was intended as a reply to R Hodson)
Tom, I sincerely hope that what you alleged is Not True, because if Trump were intentionally damaging US security, the only recourse for patriots would be to remove him from office immediately— by force— which would probably require a military takeover.
I hope that Trump is simply motivated by stupidity and his greed for power and attention. Like a toddler, every tantrum gets rewarded with plenty of attention ( remember, there’s no such thing as “bad publicity’ for someone who wants to be front page news every day).
Thank you for something very informative. I appreciate your effort to explain things simply to the economically challenged. Oh, I am not complaining about a lack of $$$$$, I hardly qualify for financial aid. I am economically challenged because I just don't understand how it all works and you are a big help to me.
Same here.
I sympathize with you. I express your thought slightly differently -- "economics challenged" which eliminates the ambiguity of your usage. Not trying to be a jerk or weird ambiguity nerd, just that I was thinking about the issue an hour or so ago when I was trying to explain the value of PK's posts in a text to a friend. (Note: I am, in fact, an ambiguity nerd, but I don't admit it's weird.)
A semantic pedantic!
Thank you for the help - you are 100% correct - I knew as soon as I typed it I had erred but did not have the time or skill to think it through to determine the better phrasing - I appreciate being corrected when I have used the wrong word! My point in moving to substack was to stop scrolling on the phone, only read carefully thought out posts and then, boom, I can’t help myself I have to comment when I am sitting in front of a laptop, mostly on how much I am learning by doing it this way.
Glad I was in a position to help.
Dear Prof Krugman,
I completely agree.
I graduated in Business Administration in 1994.
I remember a paper discussing fake US claims about Japanese trading surplus “Lies, damned lies and statistics” (I think there are many different versions). I am sure you remember those times very well.
What a pity that more than 30 years on we are yet again at the starting point, and this time with frankly MAGA suicidal intentions…
There was a time when the industrial US
automakers ( like Lee Iacocca at Chrysler)
stated that the US dollar was too strong /
He felt if the exchange rate was lowered he could sell cars in Japan . The exchange rate did drop when our excessive interest rates dropped-
but when the dollar was lower in terms of yen ,
rather than capturing more of our market for
American autos - ( because cars from Japan
went up in price due to the exchange rate)
US automakers increased the price of autos
sold here !
And we never made better smaller engines for the smaller autos in the first place because US automakers wanted to keep the return on the investment in V-8 engines far longer than
circumstances required. Sad tale
Then , they placed voluntary import quotas on
Japanese autos -
Ultimately Japan opened plants in the US to
keep up the sales ( and it balanced the account- in part ) .
We prevented Japan from the acquisition of US Steel recently- I wonder what Professor PK
thinks about that ?
Paul, the problem with our 1980s balance of trade with Japan (and in particular auto s) was US auto mfrs were focused on selling mediocre cars to the domestic market while Japanese mfrs were exporting better quality cars to the US, with a cheap Yen and low interest rates as additional advantages over our Big Three.
As you pointed out, when the yen to dollar exchange rates became less favorable the Japanese sold at lower margins to protect their market share, and began investing in US mfg plants to onshore their US production and sales.
We didn’t have an Industrial Policy, and for many years American consumers didn’t have domestically produced cars of the type, size and quality they wanted. We do now— but they are made by Japanese and Korean companies’ US factories.
Yep - mediocre alright ( like the no go Vega and exploding Pinto ) .
My take was that the US makers didn’t invest in new equipment and kept the status quo to maximize their return on the existing plant & equipment. After the oil embargos , gas prices were way up but we kept up with the V-8 engines or not so well made smaller cars . The Japanese figured it out and did very well .
Now I wonder if US Steel is in a similar situation. Japan had money to invest here but
we blocked it . One way or another, the workers in the plant are going to suffer due to the short sighted policies of management. They must hit quarterly earnings and earnings per share metrics to survive Wall Street expectations.
Other countries play the long game .
I understand that the Union was all for the takeover.
Somebody needs to figure out why our country is especially prone to elect Dunning-Kruger challenged people to high office.
It's the Schlitz. It's gotta be something in the Schlitz.
This raises the question: why do so many supposedly smart and knowledgeable people with stakes in the gam support Trump? Hedge fund managers & those invested in US companies who only stand to lose if the US and world economies take a nose dive?
A large part of it is clearly now fear. Trump yields the power of the executive branch like a cudgel. He's not afraid to punish those who oppose him. Indeed he obviously relishes exacting revenge. And he now has an FBI and Department of Justice that appear at this point to be set up like a personal, Trump family enforcement office.
Also, many of the richest people in America are very short-sighted (smugly so): they want lower taxes and weakened regulations (on pollution, on financial services, on worker safety, on consumer protections, on lots of things). It doesn't seem to occur to them that having a few billion more in net worth isn't really that great a deal if it means no longer having a decent country to live in.
Or even if it means extinction - which it very likely will.
I think ultra rich “conservatives” don’t care if the world around them collapses: they’re surrounded by moats and it would be a terrific buying opportunity.
Question is: who will it be tomorrow?
Trumps a mobbed up low IQ 78 year old, with a drug addled mind and failing body that requires a diaper, girdle and bondo to get through a morning!!
He is a demented, stupid psychopath. Explains EVERYTHING.
🤩🤩🤩
To Patrick Daniel’s:
“Excellent! A most Cromulent post! “
...and orange facial spray paint.
Trump is just an overbearing smuck. He has absolutely no sense of history, financial or otherwise .
Schmuck. But really just a psychopath who delights in hurting and sometimes killing people.
Just meditate on that fact got a second. And you think , “but he doesn’t hate me!”
Wrong. He has everyone except his billionaire donors. Period.Frankly, people who think this are either idiots, hatefilled or delusional. The hate our country, too.
Sometimes I think Trump is one of the smallest, most insecure and puny man ever, but mostly I think he has no idea who and what he is.
It's as if he was some kind of chameleon that tries to puff himself in front of people who are influenced by the chameleon while those he is unable to fool get screamed at for seeing through his disguise. His decisions are not arrived at by thinking processes, they're from his gut.
Lots of research has shown how our intestinal bacteria play a part in thinking and response to external stimulus, and how diet influences that bacteria. The fast food diet probably cuts his potential to think in half.
While Trump is likely to be mostly motivated by his crotch and associated organs making him completely unaware of others the leadership of the Democrats completely misread the situation when Biden took over.
If Trump didn't win he would likely be facing punishment so of course he would lie, lie, and lie again. And it worked so now he's free to cause pain for others. Taking bribes and inflicting pain on others. What a man.
And he is deeply disturbed.
Pity him first, last and always. He HATES pity.
He has everyone except his billionaire donors. I believe he hates them too, but that's a hate that he doesn't have the luxury of expressing.
"...except his billionaire donors."
Not true! He hates them too! He just won't say it until they (inevitably) turn against him.