With the stroke of a pen, Trump wiped out about $2.5 TRILLION in wealth with his nonsensical trade war. That is before all of the 180 nations affected have retaliated. Most credible economists were stunned by the math Trump and his clowns used to calculate what the tariffs should be for each of these countries and territories. It was clearly “Trump math” and had no foundation in solid economic theory. One wonders if magic mushrooms have infected the White House.
This was all done under the guise of, let’s say it again, “Making America Great Again.” And just like every time he or one of his sycophants says that, it is bullshit. For starters, if the idea is to bring manufacturing back to the United States, as I pointed out before, that will take years to come to fruition. Manufacturing plants don’t just spring up out of the ground like a crop of corn. It will take years and that’s assuming companies want to make the capital investments. Most companies do not want to make huge capital investments in this kind of environment so, more than likely, they will wait before making any commitments. Companies like stability and right now the boat is rocking like it’s crossing the Drake Passage to Antarctica.
The whole premise behind, “Make America Great Again,” is flawed right out of the box. In order to “Make America Great Again,” it will require huge investments by the government which is now being torn asunder by Musk and his DOGE hackers. “Make America Great Again,” means putting more money in the pockets of Trump, Musk, Bezos, Zuckerburg, and the like. American will only get worse.
Think about this. No other industrialized nation has the same level of medical debt and education debt for their citizens as the United States. Bankruptcies from medical debt are a serious problem in this country and we have all heard or are personally familiar with the extraordinary costs of higher education in this country.
The United States is the richest country in the world and yet our public transportation system is archaic. The rest of the industrialized world have invested in their transportation infrastructure whereas we have not. China has the largest number of high-speed trains in the world. High speed trains are throughout Europe. The United States has ZERO high speed rail systems. And if you’ve ridden the subways of New York or Boston or the “L” in Chicago, you will soon realize the need for significant investment.
Test scores in our schools continue to drop compared to schools in other industrialized countries. Reading and math skills are atrocious compared to other countries and many students (and adults for that matter) cannot even identify the United States on a world map. The United States education system ranks 31st in a ranking of countries.1 China is ranked 13th; Canada is 19th and Russia is 22nd. If Trump wants to make American great again, he would be investing in education instead of tearing it apart. The United States is, however, number one in per capita gun ownership. The United States has more guns than people. Talk about getting priorities backwards. Schools vs guns and guns win!
John F. Kennedy set a goal to have the United States land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s and that goal was achieved in 1969. If Trump and his Republican toadies were really interested in making America great again, they would set goals to have the world’s best healthcare for all citizens, have a world class education system that was the envy of the world, have a world class transportation system that included a network of high speed rail systems but instead of being willing to invest in America, its people and its infrastructure, they are doing everything in their power to make life worse for most Americans and to put more money in their greedy pockets.
Trump’s policies which are backed by his Republican sycophants, will lead to an America that is less educated than it already is, an infrastructure that will crumble even more, a citizenry that will become further indebted due to healthcare and education costs, and even more disparity between the very rich and the rest of us. But we will have even more guns so that should cheer everyone up! Make America Great Again – bullshit!
