A man you can bait with a Tweet

[Moiraine]

The way Trump talks about trade deficit makes it sound like the U.S. is getting duped by everyone. In fact he's said the U.S. is dumb or stupid on multiple occasions.

 

It makes me wonder if he doesn't know what a trade deficit is. He always talks about it at the same time as he talks about our trade deals. Does he think it necessarily means the U.S. isn't getting fair prices?

 

I know trade deficits can be a bad sign but I really don't think he understands it.

 

I don't have a great understanding of it either, or the economy in general, but I'm gonna throw some things out there. Americans have more $. That means we buy more products than the average non-American. More products per capita means more materials. More materials increases the number of imports and also keeps more of the stuff we manufacture inside our country, which means we export less.

 

We don't have to be in bad trade deals to be running a trade deficit. I think Trump thinks we have to.

Edited March 15, 2018 by Moiraine

[funhusker]

57 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

The way Trump talks about trade deficit makes it sound like the U.S. is getting duped by everyone. In fact he's said the U.S. is dumb or stupid on multiple occasions.

 

It makes me wonder if he doesn't know what a trade deficit is. He always talks about it at the same time as he talks about our trade deals. Does he think it necessarily means the U.S. isn't getting fair prices?

 

I know trade deficits can be a bad sign but I really don't think he understands it.

 

I don't have a great understanding of it either, or the economy in general, but I'm gonna throw some things out there. Americans have more $. That means we buy more products than the average non-American. More products per capita means more materials. More materials increases the number of imports and also keeps more of the stuff we manufacture inside our country, which means we export less.

 

We don't have to be in bad trade deals to be running a trade deficit. I think Trump thinks we have to.

Your understanding is far better than Trump's.

[BigRedBuster]

2 hours ago, Moiraine said:

The way Trump talks about trade deficit makes it sound like the U.S. is getting duped by everyone. In fact he's said the U.S. is dumb or stupid on multiple occasions.

 

It makes me wonder if he doesn't know what a trade deficit is. He always talks about it at the same time as he talks about our trade deals. Does he think it necessarily means the U.S. isn't getting fair prices?

 

I know trade deficits can be a bad sign but I really don't think he understands it.

 

I don't have a great understanding of it either, or the economy in general, but I'm gonna throw some things out there. Americans have more $. That means we buy more products than the average non-American. More products per capita means more materials. More materials increases the number of imports and also keeps more of the stuff we manufacture inside our country, which means we export less.

 

We don't have to be in bad trade deals to be running a trade deficit. I think Trump thinks we have to.

You think rationally.  He thinks like a protectionist.  Big difference.

 

Also, what protectionists like Trump don't get is the negative affects to what they propose.  Flat out, if he were to implement everything he has said he wants to, there would be major inflation simply due to costs of goods going up.  It's pretty simple.  If I buy a shirt with a 25% tariff on it, the cost of that shirt goes up 25%.  

 

That very significantly negatively affects every American.

 

Also, what is stupid is how he feels he needs to all of a sudden explode the amount of tariffs.  It's one thing to put a 2-3% tariff on something then adjust up if needed over a long period of time.  People in the US have time for wages to adjust..etc.  The way he is doing it, it slams everyone in the face.

 

Idiot.

[Moiraine]

^ I didn't get that either. I've said several times I'm not completely opposed to tariffs (although I think we're 30 years too late to do what we should have with China) but why-oh-why does it need to start at 25%?

 

I can see this eventually helping the U.S. economy if done slowly but doing it this way might put companies out of business. My brother works for a company in Omaha that uses a s#!tton of steel to create their products.

 

They then sell those products to big box stores. What do you suppose a place like Walmart is going to do if those products increase in price?

 

They're going to buy them from another country. And that product won't have a tariff on it. lol

Edited March 15, 2018 by Moiraine

[Danny Bateman]

This is the simplest deconstruction of Trump's understanding of trade deficits I've seen out there. And it came from a staunch Libertarian. Go figure. I don't necessarily agree with his final premise in the last tweet, but he hit the nail on the head.

 

It makes perfect sense. Trump is a blasted idiot.

 

 

[Moiraine]

^ love it

 

 

Because I never thought about the logic of it before today (I just assumed Trump was talking out of his ass and ignored the entire topic) it's easy for me to believe that an egotistical loudmouth is talking about something he's never really thought about logically.

[NM11046]

 

[NM11046]

 

[NM11046]

Grumpy grandpa doesn't have any "documents" this morning it seems, and he's amped up about "something":

 

[funhusker]

47 minutes ago, NM11046 said:

Grumpy grandpa doesn't have any "documents" this morning it seems, and he's amped up about "something":

 

Not that it really matters because professionals are usually "professional" no matter their voter registration, but isn't Mueller a Republican?

[NM11046]

Yup - as are Comey and McCabe.

[commando]

6 hours ago, NM11046 said:

Grumpy grandpa doesn't have any "documents" this morning it seems, and he's amped up about "something":

 

NO COLLUSION!!!   no denial about treason, money laundering, racketeering, etc.....

[NM11046]

Sean gets as much attention as Ivanka, and 43% more attention than Eric or Tiffany.

 

 

[NM11046]

 

[NM11046]