Defunding the military is certainly a provocative argument, but I’ll let you cook.
Economics Thread
- Thread starter sturg33
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Defunding the military is certainly a provocative argument, but I’ll let you cook.
acesfull86
Well-known member
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-ask-saudi-arabia-invest-1-trillion-us-wide-ranging-davos-ad-rcna188964
One day after he spoke to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Donald Trump pushed the kingdom Thursday to increase its U.S. investment, saying he would ask the Saudis to “round out” their promised $600 billion “to around $1 trillion.”
“I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them,” Trump said in virtual remarks to business and foreign leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. During Wednesday's call, Trump's first with a foreign leader since his inauguration Monday, the crown prince, the kingdom's de facto head, told Trump he would invest at least $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, according to a readout provided by the Saudi government.
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I've been told by Trump that our ongoing trade deficits are harmful to our country, certainly not America first.
Who's gonna tell him that the increase in foreign investment into the United States, which he's celebrating and wants more of, is an increase in our trade deficit??
One day after he spoke to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Donald Trump pushed the kingdom Thursday to increase its U.S. investment, saying he would ask the Saudis to “round out” their promised $600 billion “to around $1 trillion.”
“I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them,” Trump said in virtual remarks to business and foreign leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. During Wednesday's call, Trump's first with a foreign leader since his inauguration Monday, the crown prince, the kingdom's de facto head, told Trump he would invest at least $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, according to a readout provided by the Saudi government.
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I've been told by Trump that our ongoing trade deficits are harmful to our country, certainly not America first.
Who's gonna tell him that the increase in foreign investment into the United States, which he's celebrating and wants more of, is an increase in our trade deficit??
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Net Capital Inflows = Trade Deficit
Also
Investment - National Savings = Trade Deficit
it is unfortunate he doesn't understand it
not that it would be bad if the Saudis or anyone else invested in our economy...it is just that putting the trade deficit at the center of our policy means potentially sacrificing good thangs like investment from foreigners
perhaps this belongs in the believing what we want (presidential category) thread
Also
Investment - National Savings = Trade Deficit
it is unfortunate he doesn't understand it
not that it would be bad if the Saudis or anyone else invested in our economy...it is just that putting the trade deficit at the center of our policy means potentially sacrificing good thangs like investment from foreigners
perhaps this belongs in the believing what we want (presidential category) thread
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acesfull86
Well-known member
Yup
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
otoh this might affect the funds the Saudis have to invest in the U.S. or anywhere else
"I'm also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil," Trump announced, later adding: "You've got to bring down the oil price, you've got to end that war. They should have done it long ago; they're very responsible actually, to a certain extent, for what's taken place."
i wonder what his friends in the oil bidness think of that one
"I'm also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil," Trump announced, later adding: "You've got to bring down the oil price, you've got to end that war. They should have done it long ago; they're very responsible actually, to a certain extent, for what's taken place."
i wonder what his friends in the oil bidness think of that one
acesfull86
Well-known member
For the record, do we care or not care about trade deficits? Because Trump is celebrating a $600B increase in our trade deficit, while hoping to get it to $1T. I know I don't care about the increase because the trade deficit is largely a meaningless number, but I've seen Trump/MAGA clutch their pearls over its existence so often that I'm just surprised by this reversal.
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nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
“Trade deficits” as a reasonable person would understand is a deficit based on actual product sold and not investment. No reasonable person would want to discourage investment in the US that creates jobs.
You guys want your leaders to speak to people as if they actually understand complex systems. Thats why your preferred candidates never win.
Results of the establishment hacks speak for themself.
Going to be difficult to continue pushing your narratives when trump presidency helps all Americans and economy soars.
You’ll try though!
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
trade deficit = net capital inflows
can't change one without changing the other by the same amount
I have a mostly positive view of the trade deficit, which is that it reflects an eagerness by the rest of the world to invest in our economy. But it isn't entirely rosy. It also reflects to a certain extent our low national savings rate (mostly due to a large federal deficit).
can't change one without changing the other by the same amount
I have a mostly positive view of the trade deficit, which is that it reflects an eagerness by the rest of the world to invest in our economy. But it isn't entirely rosy. It also reflects to a certain extent our low national savings rate (mostly due to a large federal deficit).
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nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Eh. Technological change has mostly been labor-replacing for low skilled workers and labor-augmenting for high skilled workers. That's the main reason demand has fallen off for blue collar workers and depressed their wages. It you look at better-educated workers they have done quite well in the past three decades. Real wages up about 20% for college-educated workers since 1990 but down 10% for those with HS diplomas. That is also why states with a high proportion of well-educated workers have seen per capita income grow faster. It explains why the fastest per capita GDP growth in the past decade have come in NY, Massachusetts, Washington and California. To have any hope of solving a problem you need to diagnose it correctly.
The best hope for improving the lot of low-income workers is to help them get more skills. Doesn't have to be college, but they need programs that help them upgrade their productivity. But it is more emotionally satisfying to blame immigrants or international trade. At the end of the day, voters have opted for the emotional satisfaction. Now they'll get it. A modern version of "let em eat cake." Except it is the sans cullotes themselves who have opted for that particular "solution."
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acesfull86
Well-known member
I wonder if Trump's understanding of the issue is one of the hypothetical "reasonable person," or "one who actually understands complex systems." I have a guess.
Then stop railing on about trade deficits. I take it you fall into the "one who actually understands complex systems" group, no?
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nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
To be fair most politicians don't understand the equality between trade deficits and net capital inflows. But they also at some level understand tariffs don't accomplish much. I think even Trump supporters understand this. But this is what they signed up for. I am rooting for big tariffs on purely pedagogical grounds. I suspect at the end of the day it will be mainly bluster. Ditto for big deportations. It would be a neat learning experience to see 5% of the labor force deported.