Economics, Baby Part I

From an article in the NYT, “America’s trade deficit in goods with the rest of the world rose to its highest level in history last year as the United States imported a record number of products, including from China, widening the deficit to $891.3 billion and delivering a setback to President Trump’s goal of narrowing that gap.” Fan-f***ing-tastic! I’ve been waiting for the right event to write a post about economics, and this report on the trade deficit is perfect in so many ways. Let me preface my comments by saying one of the few aspects of life that pervades all of society yet is little understood by the vast majority of people is economics! It is astonishing that such an important subject is so scantly understood by almost everyone in this country, beyond the supply-and-demand mantra. (I doubt most people can graph supply and demand curves.) While quantum physics, multi-variable calculus, and microbiology are examples of subjects that the average person can live without comprehending, economics is not if one wants to be an informed and useful voting citizen. Perhaps I expect too much. It should be critically important to everyone to grasp a rudimentary understanding of how individuals and firms (aka markets) and society (aka government) interact and allocate scarce resources–capital, labor, resources, and time. Morons of America fail to realize that economics is all around us every day and in every moment and in every decision. Unless we live in a limitless world then we cannot escape economics, yet most people have no clue what economics means. That, my friends, is the definition of a motherf***ing G.D. stupid America!

So, where to begin? First, as with every president, the state of the economy, in the short-term, is out of his control, until longer-term actions like legislation (e.g., tax cuts) and policy (e.g., tariffs and regulations) take full effect–usually 6-18 months from the time of implementation. In other words, it takes a while for any new administration to affect the economy, and traitor trump is firmly beyond the 18-month mark, so he, in short, owns this economy, for better or worse (and it is starting to show signs of weakness around the edges). Can you imagine how strong the economy might be if he knew what the f*** he was doing? Moreover, it drives me absolutely f***ing G.D. nuts when traitor trump claims (and others agree) he’s created the best economy ever in the first year of his presidency because at that point it really is still Obama’s economy; the only thing traitor trump can take credit for is not destroying the economy quicker! But morons of America don’t know any better because, of course, a $20.50 trillion economy (2018 estimate) turns on a dime! Naturally, MAGA morons believe traitor trump walked into the Oval Office, snapped his fingers, and then people suddenly started hiring more, buying more, and making more. F*** me! I’m surrounded by idiots of America.

Second, traitor trump pretends to know everything (indeed, more than anybody else) about the economy (e.g., “trade wars are good, and easy to win” or coal is making a comeback in America because he simply says so, never mind the economics of energy dictates that coal is no longer competitive with natural gas and oil–this is a continuation of a long-term economic trend, which he cannot reverse). Even before MAGA morons elected traitor trump he demonstrated no basic understanding of economics. He thought the economy could bend to his whim: he’ll fix the trade deficit by mere fiat or wishful thinking. Guess what? Sudden, capricious tariffs are not a way to fix the trade deficit. Because other countries will (and do) retaliate. So, here we are with Mr. Economics thinking he’s fulfilled one of his campaign pledges. Only he can correct the trade deficit because previous administrations were so dumb they let other countries take advantage of America by somehow letting us demand cheaper products from other countries like China.