The people who make/made America left. They voted with their feet. There is ample fodder for impeachment of Trump and all the cabinet members against whom such articles have been written. Even now they are too late, and will not see the floor for debate, much less be passed to the Senate. Trump will leave the Oval Office and White House when his cold dead body is removed. This is an observation, not a threat or encouragement for anyone to assassinate him. Trump is not the President anyway. Money is the President, easier and more inclusive than “oligarchs “. Trump has gone too far now for these rich and powerful people/corporations to follow him into the abyss. He has alienated our allies to the point they are looking in other places for markets and tariffs are doing nothing more than harming the American people. They have not made America rich. It has taken the GOP far too long to wake up and try to reel him in, and that awakening has only started with a few Senators. The only thing that will stop this is a united “people “, not just Democrats. The people are waiting for a leader. Find one fast!!
Despite all the damage inflicted by tariffs and threats, I always keep that in my calculations. My sense is that a lot more damage will be required to push the US dollar off the reserve currency status. As long was freedom, political and economic, can return then recovery is assured.
"in the wake of the Powell investigation, some European bond traders finally began digging into Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation playbook for Trump’s second term. When they did, they were apparently aghast to discover its proposal to “effectively abolish” the Fed."
The Project 2025 Report is the Mein Kampf of this president. Those of us who read it before the election said so. We were ridiculed as alarmists. Nobody's laughing any more.
But with our Congress acting as Trump's Vichy, where do we find the Pattons, Ikes, and French Resistances we need to topple this Temu Reich?
Military realignment is also in the cards. Europe separates from the US and aligns with Canada and Ukraine. China aligns further with Pakistan and Russia, but also S. Korea and perhaps Japan with Taiwan leasing itself to China for a century followed by a transfer. India and S. East Asia, Australia, New Zealand align and Latin America is forcefully aligned with the US.
Ms. Rampell writes trump is forcing banks to cap their interest rates on credit cards to 10%, and stop massive corporate buying of single family homes, issues i feel are actually something i can support. It feels like a Bernie and AOC would support this. Even if it is a cynical and political move on trumps part.
In the first chart, I do not see excessive P/E in 1880. It's there in 1929 and 2000. It's approaching levels seen 26 years ago. Then, earnings did not support those valuations. Today, for the top 10 companies it does.
What did ALL the LUNKHEADS who voted for him expect, especially after he specifically told the WORLD what he would do from DAY ONE: be a dictator. Power and cruelty are terminal - and tRump does both extraordinarily well. In history, the greatest emperors and dictators must be shocked at the speed and audacity of this man who has done what NO OTHER POWER HUNGRY leader ever: literally control the world in less than one year. We are STILL in year one of IIC 2.0.
Catherine, I wanted to drop this article since you're talking about China today. Basically, China's been working to build a home grown aviation industry to challenge the Airbus-Boeing duopoly and that took one big step forward as China's version of the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 took to the skies in Europe with Europe's version of the FAA onboard.
The longer Trump keeps doing what he's doing, its more and more likely we all maybe stepping onboard a Chinese made plane, at least when we aren't in the USA that is and Boeing could suffer the same fall into international irrelevancy as the auto industry did.
Well, of course there’s the EU that Trump is pushing to act more like a unified economic and political system to counter the U.S. unbelievable that we are even contemplating such a thing.
I don't understand why the American people would expect anything different than this international trade fiasco from Trump. A simple perusal of his business acumen would have predicted this outcome. He was a mediocre businessman st best having serial bankruptcies and numerous failures attempting to grift from the American consumer using his "brand". Trump steaks, vodka, university etc...The man was modestly(there's a word usually not associated with Trump) successful in real estate development in the New York market early in his career. If not for the highly scripted reality show "The Apprentice" I doubt many of us would know his name.
It is not really "The American People" who put the Klown Car Konservatives in power, started the disastrous "America First" Trump-o-nomic trade wars, and set us on a path to autocracy and ruin, but voters in rural counties dependent on exports of agricultural commodities and blue-collar workers who voted against their economic interests thinking that kicking out illegal immigrants would magically create more job opportunities for them. Soo-prise, soo-prise, y'all.
And of course the die-hard self-styled "conservatives" who thought that if they voted against a Democratic candidate and won they would be magically transported back to the Golden Era of the 1950's, when the poor people and the non-white people knew their place and didn't carry much political clout. Instead they (and the rest of us) are being shoved backwards into a simulacrum of the "Gilded Age" of the 1890's super-rich "Robber Barons", an age when Great Powers vied with each other to carve up the world into their respective spheres of influence and the rich got richer because they bought influence with the party in power.
This retrograde process of political decline was helped along(or even caused) by a particular slice of the US electorate: the 30 percent or so of voters who didn't bother to vote for president one way or the other.
One possible way America might escape complete societal collapse is for the masses to come to their senses and recognize that trashing the institutional guardrails of our democracy was a terrible mistake; Congress must also come to its collective senses and reassert its legislative and oversight powers, and our Supreme Court must not allot too much power to the Executive branch, or they will so diminish their own power as to become merely a rubber-stamp for autocrats.
I have had a chance to be in the company of many very, very successful people. A few were billionaires and many millionaires, but absolutely NONE of them EVER spoke about their personal wealth. tRump's"billions" have always been a figment of his imagination. His "deals" would make a street vendor in the Middle East laugh out loud.
I would like to request that you soon write about the federal debt. Most headlines almost emphasize the total amount of debt which is a value that is difficult for most readers to get their heads around. Instead, what is needed is to see how much we had to spend in 2025 to service our current debt and how this value compares to the the overall federal budget. It would then be good to see projections about the amount that will be paid in 2026. Thanks.
I'd like that too, Mark. I'd love to see the debt explained as the mortgage on a family house against family income, because I personally believe we're at the "John and Joanne America earn $100,000 a year. The mortgage on their home is $90,000 a year and increases every year. At what point are they foreclosed upon?" stage.
We will need to find and elect our own Margaret Thatcher to restore our free market economy that the current socialist administration is destroying. Free trade/market economy is yet another core GOP value that really wasn’t.
jpg, referring to the Trump regime as "the current socialist administration" does a terrible disservice to both economics and political science. Even if you espouse conservative political views and even allowing for some Americans' habit of slapping the "socialist" label on any policies they dislike, and thereby condemning said policies to the ash-heap of history, in this case it is mis-applied. Socialists they are not; Populists, possibly yes., at a stretch. They are essentially fascists.
Despite these disagreements, I agree with you assertion that "Free trade/market economy is yet another core GOP value that really wasn’t."
The people who make/made America left. They voted with their feet. There is ample fodder for impeachment of Trump and all the cabinet members against whom such articles have been written. Even now they are too late, and will not see the floor for debate, much less be passed to the Senate. Trump will leave the Oval Office and White House when his cold dead body is removed. This is an observation, not a threat or encouragement for anyone to assassinate him. Trump is not the President anyway. Money is the President, easier and more inclusive than “oligarchs “. Trump has gone too far now for these rich and powerful people/corporations to follow him into the abyss. He has alienated our allies to the point they are looking in other places for markets and tariffs are doing nothing more than harming the American people. They have not made America rich. It has taken the GOP far too long to wake up and try to reel him in, and that awakening has only started with a few Senators. The only thing that will stop this is a united “people “, not just Democrats. The people are waiting for a leader. Find one fast!!
How much money and other promises has the Trump Family accepted from China to sell us out? Treason be thy name!
Excellent Article.
Is this recoverable. Or better questions, is repair one or two generations.
What is tipping for $ as reserve currency. Implications?
Despite all the damage inflicted by tariffs and threats, I always keep that in my calculations. My sense is that a lot more damage will be required to push the US dollar off the reserve currency status. As long was freedom, political and economic, can return then recovery is assured.
"in the wake of the Powell investigation, some European bond traders finally began digging into Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation playbook for Trump’s second term. When they did, they were apparently aghast to discover its proposal to “effectively abolish” the Fed."
The Project 2025 Report is the Mein Kampf of this president. Those of us who read it before the election said so. We were ridiculed as alarmists. Nobody's laughing any more.
But with our Congress acting as Trump's Vichy, where do we find the Pattons, Ikes, and French Resistances we need to topple this Temu Reich?
Military realignment is also in the cards. Europe separates from the US and aligns with Canada and Ukraine. China aligns further with Pakistan and Russia, but also S. Korea and perhaps Japan with Taiwan leasing itself to China for a century followed by a transfer. India and S. East Asia, Australia, New Zealand align and Latin America is forcefully aligned with the US.
Ms. Rampell writes trump is forcing banks to cap their interest rates on credit cards to 10%, and stop massive corporate buying of single family homes, issues i feel are actually something i can support. It feels like a Bernie and AOC would support this. Even if it is a cynical and political move on trumps part.
In the first chart, I do not see excessive P/E in 1880. It's there in 1929 and 2000. It's approaching levels seen 26 years ago. Then, earnings did not support those valuations. Today, for the top 10 companies it does.
What did ALL the LUNKHEADS who voted for him expect, especially after he specifically told the WORLD what he would do from DAY ONE: be a dictator. Power and cruelty are terminal - and tRump does both extraordinarily well. In history, the greatest emperors and dictators must be shocked at the speed and audacity of this man who has done what NO OTHER POWER HUNGRY leader ever: literally control the world in less than one year. We are STILL in year one of IIC 2.0.
Alas, a country that had no rival commits suicide. Americans have no idea…..🤦♀️
Catherine, I wanted to drop this article since you're talking about China today. Basically, China's been working to build a home grown aviation industry to challenge the Airbus-Boeing duopoly and that took one big step forward as China's version of the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 took to the skies in Europe with Europe's version of the FAA onboard.
The longer Trump keeps doing what he's doing, its more and more likely we all maybe stepping onboard a Chinese made plane, at least when we aren't in the USA that is and Boeing could suffer the same fall into international irrelevancy as the auto industry did.
https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3339945/chinas-c919-airliner-put-through-paces-test-pilots-european-aviation-regulator?share=TDofSg%2Br2d1Vm%2BtOgSxAQ3na%2F7UlVjssESd4GrYFYCXmYhOgDkpg3Z2VYrKs5x5OY6AWdizSQVJFEb7CJw3u9%2FKdEmynJW6rFt4Wdb3vexMxR1%2BCKdGE0YlGzULRy0JR5VNW2Mbfurgf7fVp3I9%2F7A%3D%3D
Well, of course there’s the EU that Trump is pushing to act more like a unified economic and political system to counter the U.S. unbelievable that we are even contemplating such a thing.
Thank you for this! Very clear and much appreciated
I don't understand why the American people would expect anything different than this international trade fiasco from Trump. A simple perusal of his business acumen would have predicted this outcome. He was a mediocre businessman st best having serial bankruptcies and numerous failures attempting to grift from the American consumer using his "brand". Trump steaks, vodka, university etc...The man was modestly(there's a word usually not associated with Trump) successful in real estate development in the New York market early in his career. If not for the highly scripted reality show "The Apprentice" I doubt many of us would know his name.
It is not really "The American People" who put the Klown Car Konservatives in power, started the disastrous "America First" Trump-o-nomic trade wars, and set us on a path to autocracy and ruin, but voters in rural counties dependent on exports of agricultural commodities and blue-collar workers who voted against their economic interests thinking that kicking out illegal immigrants would magically create more job opportunities for them. Soo-prise, soo-prise, y'all.
And of course the die-hard self-styled "conservatives" who thought that if they voted against a Democratic candidate and won they would be magically transported back to the Golden Era of the 1950's, when the poor people and the non-white people knew their place and didn't carry much political clout. Instead they (and the rest of us) are being shoved backwards into a simulacrum of the "Gilded Age" of the 1890's super-rich "Robber Barons", an age when Great Powers vied with each other to carve up the world into their respective spheres of influence and the rich got richer because they bought influence with the party in power.
This retrograde process of political decline was helped along(or even caused) by a particular slice of the US electorate: the 30 percent or so of voters who didn't bother to vote for president one way or the other.
One possible way America might escape complete societal collapse is for the masses to come to their senses and recognize that trashing the institutional guardrails of our democracy was a terrible mistake; Congress must also come to its collective senses and reassert its legislative and oversight powers, and our Supreme Court must not allot too much power to the Executive branch, or they will so diminish their own power as to become merely a rubber-stamp for autocrats.
I have had a chance to be in the company of many very, very successful people. A few were billionaires and many millionaires, but absolutely NONE of them EVER spoke about their personal wealth. tRump's"billions" have always been a figment of his imagination. His "deals" would make a street vendor in the Middle East laugh out loud.
I would like to request that you soon write about the federal debt. Most headlines almost emphasize the total amount of debt which is a value that is difficult for most readers to get their heads around. Instead, what is needed is to see how much we had to spend in 2025 to service our current debt and how this value compares to the the overall federal budget. It would then be good to see projections about the amount that will be paid in 2026. Thanks.
I'd like that too, Mark. I'd love to see the debt explained as the mortgage on a family house against family income, because I personally believe we're at the "John and Joanne America earn $100,000 a year. The mortgage on their home is $90,000 a year and increases every year. At what point are they foreclosed upon?" stage.
Yes please.
I'm positive that the whole reason Putin has been so rah-rah of Trump is that ol' Puty wanted him to be his "Trojan Horse" and destroy the U.S.
His "Horse" is doing a bang-up job of it, too.
We will need to find and elect our own Margaret Thatcher to restore our free market economy that the current socialist administration is destroying. Free trade/market economy is yet another core GOP value that really wasn’t.
jpg, referring to the Trump regime as "the current socialist administration" does a terrible disservice to both economics and political science. Even if you espouse conservative political views and even allowing for some Americans' habit of slapping the "socialist" label on any policies they dislike, and thereby condemning said policies to the ash-heap of history, in this case it is mis-applied. Socialists they are not; Populists, possibly yes., at a stretch. They are essentially fascists.
Despite these disagreements, I agree with you assertion that "Free trade/market economy is yet another core GOP value that really wasn’t."