Though the stock market is only one of the indicators used to measure the health of the U.S. economy, Donald Trump likes to use it as Exhibit A to prove that he’s created “the greatest economy in the history of our country” — although, we haven’t heard that claim much lately after the Dow lost over 2,300 points this past week.
As usual, Trump’s only responsible when the stock market is climbing, never when it’s falling. Market experts are blaming this latest drop in the market on the coronavirus hysteria that Rush Limbaugh said is part of a secret Chinese plot to take out Trump. But neither of these claims can be true because Trump says the coronavirus is “very much under control” and that the stock market is starting to look “very good.”
The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2020
Recent market events aside, the simple reality is that the economy isn’t doing as well as we’re being told. The primary reason the stock market appears to indicate otherwise is because the Federal Reserve has been pumping trillions in artificial dollars to prop up the market — most likely in an attempt to re-elect Trump.
Despite the rhetoric you hear from Trump, the GOP, and the faux-conservative media, the economy continues to struggle due to Trump’s scatterbrained, shoot-from-the-hip economic policies, particularly in the area of foreign trade, where his trade war is killing the economy.
Modeled after 1800s protectionism and the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that contributed to the Great Depression, Trump’s “good and easy to win” trade war has created an economic hell that could bring the U.S economy crashing down in the very near future.
The result of Trump’s two-year trade war has turned out just as predicted. The farm industry has been decimated, manufacturing is in a recession and 100% of the cost of Trump’s tariffs have fallen directly on American businesses and consumers.
Last month, Trump negotiated a “winning” trade deal with China as a first step to ending his destructive trade war. Unfortunately, the deal was fake because it did absolutely nothing to end the impasse until after the 2020 election — convenient — and did nothing to reduce or eliminate the hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs China taxpayers are paying.
As the 2020 election approaches, Trump and the Republican Party are targeting the “socialist” politics of Democrat candidates for president. But the reality is that Trump’s America First Nationalism platform is equally socialist, and his trade war is another example of this fact.
Do you remember last summer when Trump “ordered” U.S. companies to look for an alternative to China after receiving news that they were hiking tariffs on U.S. goods?
….better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
Naw . . . that’s not socialist at all.
Trump’s irrational and erratic behavior mixed with his egomaniacal narcissism is doing possibly irreparable harm to the economy, and that’s the economic truth behind his socialist trade war.
Something to remember as November approaches.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative.
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