The Trump Presidency: Sweet/Sweat 16

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Trump Tweets

In a hypothetical poll, done by one of the worst pollsters of them all, the Amazon Washington Post/ABC, which predicted I would lose to Crooked Hillary by 15 points (how did that work out?), Sleepy Joe, Pocahontas and virtually all others would beat me in the General Election....

....This is a phony suppression poll, meant to build up their Democrat partners. I haven’t even started campaigning yet, and am constantly fighting Fake News like Russia, Russia, Russia. Look at North Carolina last night. Dan Bishop, down big in the Polls, WINS. Easier than 2016!

If it weren’t for the never ending Fake News about me, and with all that I have done (more than any other President in the first 2 1/2 years!), I would be leading the “Partners” of the LameStream Media by 20 points. Sorry, but true!
 
Captain_Swoop said:
Trump Tweets

The Federal Reserve should get our interest rates down to ZERO
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That will do wonders for investments.

or less
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Wait, is he arguing for a deflationary economy?

The "he's a businessman" argument just got shot in the head.

....The USA should always be paying the the lowest rate.
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"But I want my candy NOW!!!"
 
On this anniversary of 9/11/2001 let us all pause to remember that brave selfless man who led the rescue efforts after watching bodies falling from the buildings and thousands of Muslims celebrating in New Jersey bragged about now having the tallest building in NYC.
 
Belz... said:
Wait, is he arguing for a deflationary economy?

The "he's a businessman" argument just got shot in the head.
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His loans are tied to the interest rate. If it were negative, he'd actually be making money off his ponzi-sized debt. Never mind what it might mean for the country, he's got his, Jack. Isn't that what being a businessman is all about?
 
Belz... said:
That will do wonders for investments.



Wait, is he arguing for a deflationary economy?
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I'm wondering about the question of "renegotiating" our debt. What's he going to do, withhold payment on bonds until they can be paid at lower interest where they were bought?

OK, destroy the bond market...

(seriously, does he think the US owes money to a bank or something?)
 
pgwenthold said:
(seriously, does he think the US owes money to a bank or something?)
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No he has the same problem with a lot of the American public when it comes to how he conceptualizes the national debt.

A country being in debt to another country isn't exactly the same thing as you being in debt to your credit card company.

Not to say massive national debt is an across the board good thing, but he's playing into the whole "China could just up and decided to call in all their debts and basically repo our entire country" thing that a lot of the general public sees it as which is not how national dept works.

It's the whole "If I ran my household/business like they run the government I'd be broke" over-simplification, missing the fact that the government is not a business or a household.
 
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JoeMorgue said:
It's the whole "If I ran my household/business like they run the government I'd be broke" over-simplification, missing the fact that the government is not a business or a household.
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A lot of people don't seem to understand large scale international interactions in general. I once heard someone say that we should get rid of diplomatic immunity, since it allows foreign criminals to get away with crimes (they watch a lot of crime dramas). They thought it was exclusively something that the US offers to foreign countries and didn't realize that it applies to US diplomats in foreign countries as well.
 
pgwenthold said:
I'm wondering about the question of "renegotiating" our debt. What's he going to do, withhold payment on bonds until they can be paid at lower interest where they were bought?

OK, destroy the bond market...
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Yeah there are all sorts of problems with the suggestion of 'renegotiating' the national debt (basically he wants to declare bankruptcy for the U.S.)

- Many bond holders (who are often middle class American citizens, or mutual funds held by retirement plans) would end up suffering

- It would destroy the U.S. economy, as I figure people would be wary of lending money to a government which will renege on its payments
 
Segnosaur said:
Yeah there are all sorts of problems with the suggestion of 'renegotiating' the national debt (basically he wants to declare bankruptcy for the U.S.)

- Many bond holders (who are often middle class American citizens, or mutual funds held by retirement plans) would end up suffering

- It would destroy the U.S. economy, as I figure people would be wary of lending money to a government which will renege on its payments
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What do you mean? Are you suggesting that destroying the US government's credit rating will affect their ability to do business? Crazy talk...

Isn't one of the features of the bond market its reliability? Long term guarantees and stuff like that? I mean, if you aren't going to have the guarantee of return, then the alternative is to jack up the interest rates. That should bode well....
 
JoeMorgue said:
No he has the same problem with a lot of the American public when it comes to how he conceptualizes the national debt.

A country being in debt to another country isn't exactly the same thing as you being in debt to your credit card company.

Not to say massive national debt is an across the board good thing, but he's playing into the whole "China could just up and decided to call in all their debts and basically repo our entire country" thing that a lot of the general public sees it as which is not how national dept works.

It's the whole "If I ran my household/business like they run the government I'd be broke" over-simplification, missing the fact that the government is not a business or a household.
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But having massive foreign debt is worse for the economy than a trade deficit. With trade, we're exchanging "things of value," whereas paying loan interest to foreigners is a "wealth leak" from our economy.
 
WilliamSeger said:
But having massive foreign debt is worse for the economy than a trade deficit. With trade, we're exchanging "things of value," whereas paying loan interest to foreigners is a "wealth leak" from our economy.
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If you can think of a way to get people to loan you money for nothing in return, do let us know.
 
WilliamSeger said:
The point was the difference between those interest payments going back into our economy or into another country's.
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The people and institutions who buy Treasury products are rarely one-time investors: they buy them, get their money back plus interest, and use it to buy more. What matters is the cycle's stable continuance, not the position of any given unit of value at any one arbitrary point in time.
 
Paul Krugman responds to Trump's "refinance the national debt" idea:

https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1171830991670906880

Quite aside from his demand that the Fed adopt emergency stimulus measures when the unemployment rate is 3.7%, Trump's tirade included the idea that the US should "refinance our debt." Why is that a stupid, ignorant remark? 1/

The answer is that federal debt isn't like a mortgage you can prepay; it's bonds that promise a fixed yield until maturity. The government could issue new bonds and buy the old bonds back, but this wouldn't reduce interest payments at all ... 2/

... because while there are outstanding bonds yielding more than current rates — say, 10-year bonds yielding 3 percent — those bonds sell at a premium. So buying back, say, $1 trillion in debt wld cost more than $1 trillion — enough more that the interest wld be the same 3/

The minor moral here is that Trump thinks he can run the finances of the US government like a money-losing golf course. It doesn't work that way. The major moral is that he is completely clueless on policy 4/
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I love how the entire Trump administration's job now is to go on TV and try to pretend what the President just randomly said/tweeted made sense.
 
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Foolmewunz said:
Trump Tweets

I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore....

....I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning. I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week.
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Devin! Devin! Devin! Devin!
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Devin Nunes is an idiot who belongs in jail rather than in congress. But, in a way, making him National security adviser might be a good thing.

Whomever Trump appoints will either be incompetent, or a toadie. But if its Nunes, he'd probably have to resign his seat in congress. That would open up another district without a republican incumbent (making it a bit easier to win).
 
TragicMonkey said:
The people and institutions who buy Treasury products are rarely one-time investors: they buy them, get their money back plus interest, and use it to buy more. What matters is the cycle's stable continuance, not the position of any given unit of value at any one arbitrary point in time.
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Well, I have a small T-bill "ladder" and I generally do reinvest the principle, but I usually take out the interest and either spend it or reinvest it elsewhere.
 
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