Needed it's own thread for another great MAGA event. The U.S. posted a record-breaking $891.2 billion merchandise trade deficit in 2018, despite President Trump’s “America First” policies, the Washington Post reports. “Trump’s tariffs and tough policies have failed to shrink a trade gap that he argues represents a massive transfer of wealth from Americans to foreigners. He begins his reelection drive with a core campaign promise unfulfilled — and with a recent flurry of economic research showing that his embrace of tariffs is damaging the U.S. economy.”
Trump Pledged To End Trade and Budget Deficits. He’s Made Them Bigger Instead The president frequently conflated the two as he ran for office, but now is presiding over massive increases in both
I’m shocked! A $1.6 trillion unfunded tax cut blew up the deficit, how could this be? And the trade deficit is at an all time high? Didn’t see that coming either. It must be the democrats because supply side economics is infallible. Right?
Trump used charitable funds and a fake bidder to buy a portrait of himself. Here’s how the art market makes that possible. The use of a straw bidder to buy art isn’t unusual (but using charitable funds to do so ... is). “Mr. Trump directed me to find a straw bidder to purchase a portrait of him that was being auctioned at an Art Hamptons event,” Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer, alleged. “The objective was to ensure that his portrait, which was going to be auctioned last, would go for the highest price of any portrait that afternoon. The portrait was purchased by the fake bidder for $60,000. Mr. Trump directed the Trump Foundation, which is supposed to be a charitable organization, to repay the fake bidder despite keeping the art for himself.”
To be fair, I am a supply chain consultant by trade and I know a lot of companies bought a shitload of product hedging against more tariffs at the end of the quarter. We absolutely have to be tougher on China or they are going to run us over, they will in the end anyway but we should delay it as much as possible.