The Trump Presidency VII

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lomiller said:
The US is a net importer (runs a trade deficit) because Balance of Payments is zero sum. Very short version: Cash flowing into and out of the US needs to balance. So when US companies make profits abroad or capital investment flows into the US it creates a net cash flow into the US that needs to be offset by money spent to import goods and services.

As long as the US is an attractive investment target and it’s companies make profits worldwide it will run a trade deficit. Trying to make this deficit go away is like a giant game of whack-a-mole. If you block one thing something else will just take it’s place.
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No one is trying to make it go away, we’re trying to lessen it and create more industry because we’ve lost so much.
 
The problem you've got isn't that manufacturing jobs are going away because other nations are doing them better/faster/cheaper than the US - you are losing your manufacturing jobs to automation
 
Border Reiver said:
The problem you've got isn't that manufacturing jobs are going away because other nations are doing them better/faster/cheaper than the US - you are losing your manufacturing jobs to automation
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And it's worldwide....manfacutirng jobs in other countries are going down at a fast rate.
I think the US should have a stronger manufacturing base then it does;but I am not under the illusion that a vast number of new jobs will be created if that happens.
 
The thing with the Trump supporters are reduced pretty much to "You're Another" and "Fake News" is that it's hard to defend sheer incompetence.
 
logger said:
No one is trying to make it go away, we’re trying to lessen it
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The deficit is actually extra goods and services US receives when people from other countries invest USD in the US with or US companies convert their profits into USD to bring them home. From a productivity standpoint it’s “free stuff” that enhances the standard of living in the US. To make is less you have to lower wages and raise prices in the US.
logger said:
and create more industry because we’ve lost so much.
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The US hasn’t lost anything, it’s trading the goods/service it creates most efficiently for the goods/services other nations create most efficiently. The result is better/cheaper products for both sides. Undoing this raises prices and reduces wages.
 
On the trade war he tweets

"Canada has treated our Agricultural business and Farmers very poorly for a very long period of time. Highly restrictive on Trade! They must open their markets and take down their trade barriers! They report a really high surplus on trade with us. Do Timber & Lumber in U.S.?"
 
Foolmewunz said:
A friend here of a considerably conservative bent says that Trump's interest in pardons is a variation of the Rovean Playbook. He's not accusing other of being what he is, but is finding others convicted of things he's guilty of or will be guilty of if they ever get to court...

> Arpaio - contempt of court for ignoring orders on racial profiling
> Jack Johnson - moral turpitude and taking nookie across state lines
> Dinesh - illegal fund raising and being a half-wit
> Blago - Influence Peddling!
> Martha Stewart - Insider Trading

In the interest of keeping this thread under five hundred lines, suffice it to say one could offer up a full page on his transgression in all those areas. I asked Ed if he thought he was just trying to downplay the crimes so his variations of the same would seem minor and he responded, "That, plus writing the script for Pence if he does have to resign*."

*Ed's a rabid conservative but agrees that he'll never get impeached with the current Sons of Casper Milquetoast in Congress.
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I think the main reason Trump pardoned D'Souza is their shared pathological hatred of Obama.
 
Bob001 said:
Certainly not defending Trump here, but the commentators say the contents of the letter were likely known to U.S. officials, if not actually negotiated, prior to the visit. They're not going to invite an emissary to the White House and have him say "Drop dead!"
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Pretty sure the letter was full of meaningless platitudes, but it is bizaree that Trump would announce he had not read it....
 
BobTheCoward said:
The problem you've got isn't that manufacturing jobs are going away because other nations are doing them better/faster/cheaper than the US - you are losing your manufacturing jobs to automation
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Doesn't sound like a problem.
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Its a problem because idiots like Trump are trying to place the blame for the decline of manufacturing jobs on the wrong cause (trade deficits) instead of the correct cause (automation), and building policies to fix a non-existent issue.
 
Segnosaur said:
Its a problem because idiots like Trump are trying to place the blame for the decline of manufacturing jobs on the wrong cause (trade deficits) instead of the correct cause (automation), and building policies to fix a non-existent issue.
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But it sells to the base.....

The base will stop it's blind devotion to Dear Leader only when he gets the US into a costly war and/or crashes the Economy...And I think both are only a matter of time.
 
Segnosaur said:
Its a problem because idiots like Trump are trying to place the blame for the decline of manufacturing jobs on the wrong cause (trade deficits) instead of the correct cause (automation), and building policies to fix a non-existent issue.
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The unemployment is a real issue. It's just that solutions based on a lie, the jobs went elsewhere, and solutions based on reality, the jobs are being performed by machines, are very different.
 
Captain_Swoop said:
On the trade war he tweets

"Canada has treated our Agricultural business and Farmers very poorly for a very long period of time. Highly restrictive on Trade! They must open their markets and take down their trade barriers! They report a really high surplus on trade with us. Do Timber & Lumber in U.S.?"
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Well, apart from very poor wording (What exactly did he mean by "Do timer & lumber in US"? Its a question but it looks like most of the sentence is missing.), Trump is also wrong on the basic facts.

As of March 2018, Canada actually had a trade DEFICIT with the U.S., and the deficit has been increasing.

http://www.international.gc.ca/economist-economiste/performance/monthly-mensuel.aspx?lang=eng
 
Border Reiver said:
The problem you've got isn't that manufacturing jobs are going away because other nations are doing them better/faster/cheaper than the US - you are losing your manufacturing jobs to automation
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Yes.

The BBC World service made the point that a 15,000 person car factory in Michigan went to Mexico and employed 1,500 people and might go back to the US and employ 500 people.

US jobs for US robots.
 
jimbob said:
Yes.

The BBC World service made the point that a 15,000 person car factory in Michigan went to Mexico and employed 1,500 people and might go back to the US and employ 500 people.

US jobs for US robots.
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There is no easy solution for this,frankly. What I do know is that a Luddite approach will fail.
 
dudalb said:
There is no easy solution for this,frankly. What I do know is that a Luddite approach will fail.
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The next generation of automation will be ... um ... interesting, when machine learning is applied and many professions (probably not the oldest one) are better done by machines.

I wouldn't like to bet against computers outperforming humans at my job in 20-years time.
 
Here's a rather curious story...

Is anyone familiar with Amy Jane Mekelburg? She runs a twitter feed under the handle AmyMek with all your standard racist/bigoted rhetoric (Fearmongering about criminal immigrants, claiming Obama was an illegal alien. And suggestions that the U.S. ban mosques.)

Now, normally she's just another idiot on the internet. Except:

- Her twitter feed was followed by White House worker Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Fox news personality (and Trump advisor) Sean Hannity, and Rosanne Barr.

- Her twitter feed was promoted by Donald Trump himself.

- She is married to Sal Siino, who used to work for World Wrestling Entertainment (the company that was co-founded by Linda McMahon, who is currently a member of Trump's cabinet) until he was fired when his wife's racist twitter feed became exposed (or, at least better exposed than before)

Now, that certainly makes you think... professional wrestling has never been very politically correct. (They often play off various stereotypes of the 'evil foreigners', and they are very blunt about it.) Just how bigoted does Trump and his administration have to be to follow/promote a twitter feed that even a professional wrestling company says "Nope... we ain't going near that with a 10 foot pole".

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry...amy-mek-mekelburg_us_5b0d9e40e4b0802d69cf0264
 
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