Trump Is Losing the Trade War

The New York Times recently published an article by Neal Irwin "The Most Important Least Noticed Economic Event of the Decade." Irwin points out that between 2015-16 there was a sharp slowdown confined to the energy and agricultural sectors. This slowdown also affected manufacturers who are related to those sectors (like Caterpillar.) The Federal Reserve tightened its monetary policy in 2015, which led to a slowdown in economic growth. This slowdown, however, was felt mostly in the interior of the country; the coasts were unaffected. It could still explain why "middle America" voted for Trump.

According to a new study by the Federal Reserve show that Trump's trade wars have caused further losses in factory jobs. Not the result Trump promised. Trump's tax cuts at the same time, have only produced a stock market bubble which will eventually burst. All bubbles will burst: you don't need a degree in economics to know that.

Reflections on the Election in Britain

Boris Johnson--islamophobe, racist, misogynist--led the British Conservative party to victory. There goes the theory that the Brits are so advanced on gender issues. Johnson won by appealing to uneducated, uninformed white males (sound familiar?) Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn was the target of a smear campaign that labeled him an "anti-Semite." Nobody sees any kind of double standard here. Apparently, in Britain you can get away with any sort of bigotry except "antisemitism." This is a clear case of selective outrage.

British politics are structurally and culturally different from American politics. It is difficult to correlate political trends from one country to another. One example was the British elections of April 1992, which George Bush I thought was going to guarantee his reelection. It didn't.

One gets the sense the Britain, like the rest of Europe does not have a future, but only a past.

Trump's Orangeface Explained

In an article posted on Vox "Could this be Trump’s orange makeup?" by Cheryl Wischhover it turns out that Trump's weird orange coloring comes from using a cosmetic called Bronx Colors which is made by a Swiss company. The stuff is unavailable here in the states. That is the reason that Trump needs a constant supply of new shirts because the stuff leaves stains on his collar.

The new line from congressional GOPers is that the impeachment inquiry is driven by mere "dislike" of Trump. It seems that Trump has dragged down the entire GOP down to his juvenile mentality: presumably, if you liked Trump, you would let him get away with anything he wants. Does Trump ever stop to think why people dislike him? That would take too much effort.