Trumpenomics Saved Us! (Not)
Don't get carried away screaming "Hallelujah! I've been saved!" This redeemer has feet of clay.
By Donnie Johnston
COLUMNIST
Let’s discuss – rationally – the first two months of the Trump Administration.
For the sake of argument – and the good of the country – let’s take some points and explore them one by one.
“He saved us!”
I have heard this many times. Donald Trump may be the center of the conservative Republican religion, but he is not Jesus Christ. He cannot save anyone.
Saved us from what? When Trump took over as president, the U. S. economy was clicking on all cylinders, the most robust it has been since 2005. In less that 60 days, Trump has filled it with uncertainty and sent it reeling.
Yes, egg prices were high when he was inaugurated, but that was no fault of his or the previous administration. And no, gas prices were not $1.80 a gallon, but they had long since leveled off in the post-Covid era and few people were complaining.
Inflation was coming down and interest rates were about what they have averaged for the past 100 years. The economy was in good shape until Trump started messing with it.
“Admit it; you’re better off now than you were under Biden!”
No, I am not, and I resent that people keep implying that I am. I made as much or more money the past four years as I have ever made in my life.
Now, I have had three years of Stock Market gains wiped out in two months of Trump and at the current rate, my retirement account – and the accounts of others – will disappear as quickly as it did in 2008.
And I am ashamed of the way my country is treating its allies and siding with Russia against Ukraine. I also resent the fact that Trump is willing to go to war (“one way or another”) to take Greenland and the Panama Canal. America’s dignity is gone.
“We’re going to bring back all manufacturing to America.”
In the first place, if companies decided right now to relocate in America, Trump would be out of office (unless he refuses to abdicate) before they could be up and running. You don’t build a one million square foot plant overnight.
The very people who voted for Trump would go to public hearings and scream bloody murder if someone wanted to build a large manufacturing plant in their neighborhood. Traffic, drug dealers, prostitution, lower land values. All the usual reasons to stop growth.
Rezoning and permitting would take two or more years and it would take three or more years to actually construct the building. It would be at least six years before the plant was functional. Trump would be long gone by then.
Where are we going to find the workers? In case you haven’t noticed it, Americans are too good to do manual labor, which is why 75 percent of high school kids are in college prep courses. The truth is that Hispanics do most of the dirty work in America and Trump is sending them back where they came from.
Trump says that robots will replace manufacturing workers. Great idea except that robots don’t pay taxes or Social Security and SS is a fluid fund, not a stable pot of money. It needs human workers paying into it.
American workers – if found – won’t work as cheaply as those in China or other countries, which don’t have unions. Americans will want big bucks and the price of goods will go up.
Many plants are also built in other countries because that is where the raw materials needed are found. Trump tariffs (which are essentially sales taxes on American consumers) on these raw materials (as well as transportation costs) will raise the price of products even more, which will lead to inflation, which will lead to higher interest rates.
No, all this is not as simple as Trumpenomics sees it.
Cutting the federal workforce.
There is no doubt that there is waste in government at every level, but rational people seek out wasteful areas and trim accordingly. Trump just whacks entire segments, not knowing whether he is eliminating necessary or productive workers.
This will have a ripple effect throughout the economy. Fewer workers pay less income and Social Security taxes.
And all these laid-off workers have families to feed and house payments to make. More than just the laid-off workers get hurt.
Following the law
Trump seems to have no respect for the law, or for authority in any manner. He autocratically does away with Congressionally approved projects and no one calls his hand. The Supreme Court has no power in his mind.
Revenge
The FBI and the Justice Department went after Trump so he is going after both organizations. The IRS audited him numerous times, so he is after that group, too. It is not “draining the swamp,” it is payback.
Executive orders
Trump is setting a dangerous precedent with these executive orders. The next Democratic president will likely come along and reverse them all. And the following Republican president may reverse them back. There will be no certainty in America.
No, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture. But then, Donald Trump is the artist!
Two bored billionaires, Trump and Elon Musk, wanted a country to play with.
They now have one.
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Agree with just about everything on this one. Except for one thing.
The idea that this is "Trump" or "Musk" rather than Republicans.
There is no way at the time of the last election that Republicans could not have known about the dishonor, ignorance, and hate they were unleashing upon us and the world. Economically, they even published it. For the rest, all they had to do was listen to themselves for the last 10 years.
And it would not continue if just one or two of them in Congress had the gumption to stand up and say "no".
Which they will never do as long as the everyday Republicans are backing him. It is a vicious cycle of worship, ignorance, fear, and retaliation.
Let's quit pretending otherwise. Trump is the end result, not the cause. Blame the Durants, Wittmans, Diggs, Youngkins, Seales, Miyares, Boehmkes.
It starts right next door, with the ones choosing to associate with and support his personality cult - whatever their reason. Without them, their blind obedience, he's the nothing he always was.
This is a heavy dose of common sense.
Bravo again, Mr. Johnston.