Automation is mainly behind the drop in employment levels that Trump likes to blame on “cheating” trading partners like China or Vietnam. The disappearance of manufacturing jobs in America and the West is about technology, not trade.
Thanks for this insight. Helpful and noteworthy for sure. Thanks again for your work and important platform.
However i question the use of the word “masterful” in about any policy of this administration. Unless of course it can be said that two-bit gang members extort protection money from neighborhood businesses is masterful. Or if one says that Hitlers 1939 Blitzkrieg into Poland was masterful. The only thing masterful is Trump’s ability to con people, abuse the courts and the constitution, strong arm Republicans, and wreck national and world economies by a tweet. A true master would never listen to Peter Navarro.
If you agree with 1/2 of what I’ve written, join in the HandsOff demonstration this Saturday, April 19. Stand up for what is right and decent or sit down and be quiet (to your detriment).
I am sitting here in Canada - never the 51st - and agree with Diane, except for the "masterful" description she uses. A better term for Trump's methodology to obtain his goals, might be "heinous" since the impact of his tariff war, IS hateful and shocking. Where will it end? Impeachment? Assassination? There are hundreds of thousands of Americans protesting...we will see how it ends.
So we wait - and wait - for the great news that tRUMP has been removed (& put in an insane asylum) & things are returning to normal as his cronies are slammed in jail, awaiting treason charges. THAT'S what I keep hoping Diane reports. "I have a dream' is in my head. Feels like my brain is so full of BAD news it can't absorb anymore & yet more comes - never felt so unsure of the future than today. Now, how Americans feel is probably a lot worse - especially if they voted for that guy. How Trump can keep breaking the Constitution - the holy grail yet NO one can charge him - WHY?
“The land of the brave and the home of the free” has surrendered to a President who tramples America’s rights, breaks international treaties, bypasses Congress, and ignores financial tripwires."
And that is just for starters, Diane. All of your blogs are great, but this sentence deserves to be framed and preserved for future generations so that they can avoid the same mistakes and build in protections against those ill-suited for high office. Perhaps, the great reversal can begin as early as next year (in Congressional elections); but, unfortunately, I don't see (as yet) many hopefuls among the alternative contenders. If only we could find another Ronald Reagan in that multitude.
“Trump has pointed out for years that NATO’s 32 members should meet their decades-old commitment to devote 2% of GDP to defense, but, more recently, he hiked this to 5%.”
This is superficially true but inverts the actual reality. Trump is working in concert with Putin to weaken and subjugate Europe. He never has or will prefer Euro military strength. Washington bristles angrily when Europe considers weapons sources other than from the U.S. Trump’s notion of arming Europe is entirely transactional and insincere. He raises the goal posts for European spending only as a cudgel to keep his base in an anti-Ukraine, anti-Europe fever.
This is a bit academic, but the Europeans did not raise their spending in response to Trump’s hectoring. They made verbal placations in response to Trump. They acted financially only later in proportion to their individual calculations about Putin’s menace.
“While this strong-arm approach will be resented, it will be heeded and arguably make the world more secure against the big three threats: Russia, China, and Iran.”
This is an old framing. Iran is weak and increasingly irrelevant. Although I consider Iran evil, they are governed with a degree of consensus and are quite measured and predictable. North Korea is far more of a threat. The threats to world stability today are (in order of menace) Russia, U.S., North Korea, China & Iran tied. China might move up the threat ladder in a few years.
Trump has just launched a trade war that could very well lead to a world wide depression and inevitable violence. He is instable, unchecked, powerful. He is in the process of neutering Europe so that Russia can claim its sphere of influence.
I disagree the disappearance of manufacturing jobs in America and the West is about technology, not trade. It was not that at first. Companies chose to move to places where labor was cheap in comparison to the U.S. where employees expected health insurance and other benefits. But the jobs will not come back to the U.S. because of technology or if they do it will not be necessary to hire as many people. Our country, our economy was built on exploiting labor and resources. Care of humans and their need to work needs protection. It has been up to our governments (federal, state, municipal) to value and protect people from exploitation. But our country only protected some people, the white people. When in 1965 we tried to make a plan to protect all people that’s when companies had to go elsewhere to find people of color to exploit. Work is important. To deny people work will cause all kinds of problems that a cruel regime like the one we have will solve with mass incarceration and by helping along a mass die off. They have plenty of guns and trained military and police to make that happen. I think the momentum is in that direction already. Other countries have some time to gear up while we are busy destroying our own government and citizens and residents. Now the destruction includes the white people too (the destruction of retirement funds is proof right there). Wasn’t it Lincoln who said if any person can be enslaved (owned) we all can? Other countries have time to build protections but they should move fast and maybe need to have offensive as well as defensive means because when these cruel people are done here they will turn their gaze looking for the next opportunity to own everyone and everything and destroy whatever might stand in their way of doing so. I do not think I am exaggerating. I do not know how many more examples of their cruelty we need to be convinced. The overturning of Roe was enough for me to know we are in grave peril.
Once again, the king of chaos reigns. Trump’s on again, off again tariffs as well as impacting the whole world are turning the US into a pariah state, nobody will trust the US again or at least not for several generations.
Trump believes he can divide and conquer using tariffs as his trojan horse. If individual countries are forced to go up against the US, then that is what will happen. But, if countries can act in unison with like minded countries and form a trading block (ie the EU), then Trump might find that he does not hold all the cards, as he would say.
Trump is just lazy and rather than targeting tariffs where there is an issue, he has just implemented a blanket tariff on everyone, even those countries with which the US has a surplus with.
From 1960 to 1990, most NATO countries spent between 2% & 5% of their GDP on defence. In the following 30 years the only 2 countries that spent more than 3% were the US and Russia. The EU for the most part hoped that Russia could be bought on board through trade. Not something that the US participated in, although it appears to have changed its mind now.
The EU probably should have realised it in 2014 and probably in 1999 with the Second Chechen war and Putin’s rise to power, that Russia was not going to partake in an alliance with the western democracies. But it was not alone in wishful thinking, the US (Bush-“I saw into his soul”) was at times, also ambivalent about its relationship with Russia.
The EU does need to spend more money of defence and 5% is probably not a bad number to aim for, but Trump has also given the EU the incentive to produce their own arms, which will be to the detriment of the US arms industry, an own goal, you could say. NATO is dead, neither the US nor Russia can be trusted, from a European perspective.
I don’t really believe that US allies are fully to blame for the lack of spending on defence, the US wanted to be be the sole superpower and was prepared to spend to achieve this, it is only in the last 10 years that this has been questioned. Also the 3 biggest threats to world peace now are China, Russia and the US, not Iran.
For many years I have spoken up for the US in discussions I have had with friends, the US wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, even deeply flawed at times, but it was always the best option available. Not anymore, due to the actions of Trump, his sycophants and enablers I am at best wary and at worse angered by the actions of the US.
Trump want’s to return the US to its so called “Gilded Age”, with tariffs, cheap labour, deportations, unconstitutional actions, corruption and lies he might just get there. In the “Golden Era” taxes maxed out at 70%, so that’s not going to happen.
Thank you, Diane, for excellent reporting on the reality of what's happening in the US.
Trump is blackmailing all the NATO countries while the US enjoys being the elephant (bully) in the room, being the World's cop. How much money do countries have to spend to prevent humankind from destroying itself? That money could be spent improving the quality of life for so many. However, the billionaires and multi-millionaires just want more. How much money/power do they need?
Matthew 5:5 comes to mind: "the meek shall inherit the earth". Let's hope Americans wake up and remove Trump and his MAGA buddies from power.
Let's face it, Americans and the World benefited from outsourcing jobs to China and other developing countries to improve our quality of life and generate wealth in many financial centres, i.e. Wall Street.
I describe Trump's current mental condition as " senilius mobilius" a condition in which the individual cannot carry on a rational conversation with another party...😠
One of the problems with gambling is that poor gamblers tend to over estimate their hand. The only way to find that out is to call the bluff. We can all understand the trade balance issue with China, but what gives with Switzerland? The defense spending imbalance is a clear free ride mindset. Canada's Liberals have always been open about the fact that Canada does not need a military, except for Canada Day parades and forest fires. And now Canadians are going to vote the slackers back in ?
Automation is mainly behind the drop in employment levels that Trump likes to blame on “cheating” trading partners like China or Vietnam. The disappearance of manufacturing jobs in America and the West is about technology, not trade.
Thanks for this insight. Helpful and noteworthy for sure. Thanks again for your work and important platform.
However i question the use of the word “masterful” in about any policy of this administration. Unless of course it can be said that two-bit gang members extort protection money from neighborhood businesses is masterful. Or if one says that Hitlers 1939 Blitzkrieg into Poland was masterful. The only thing masterful is Trump’s ability to con people, abuse the courts and the constitution, strong arm Republicans, and wreck national and world economies by a tweet. A true master would never listen to Peter Navarro.
If you agree with 1/2 of what I’ve written, join in the HandsOff demonstration this Saturday, April 19. Stand up for what is right and decent or sit down and be quiet (to your detriment).
Totally agree. Following the U.S. news cycle more closely than is healthy, I would also not use the term "masterful".
I am sitting here in Canada - never the 51st - and agree with Diane, except for the "masterful" description she uses. A better term for Trump's methodology to obtain his goals, might be "heinous" since the impact of his tariff war, IS hateful and shocking. Where will it end? Impeachment? Assassination? There are hundreds of thousands of Americans protesting...we will see how it ends.
So we wait - and wait - for the great news that tRUMP has been removed (& put in an insane asylum) & things are returning to normal as his cronies are slammed in jail, awaiting treason charges. THAT'S what I keep hoping Diane reports. "I have a dream' is in my head. Feels like my brain is so full of BAD news it can't absorb anymore & yet more comes - never felt so unsure of the future than today. Now, how Americans feel is probably a lot worse - especially if they voted for that guy. How Trump can keep breaking the Constitution - the holy grail yet NO one can charge him - WHY?
“The land of the brave and the home of the free” has surrendered to a President who tramples America’s rights, breaks international treaties, bypasses Congress, and ignores financial tripwires."
And that is just for starters, Diane. All of your blogs are great, but this sentence deserves to be framed and preserved for future generations so that they can avoid the same mistakes and build in protections against those ill-suited for high office. Perhaps, the great reversal can begin as early as next year (in Congressional elections); but, unfortunately, I don't see (as yet) many hopefuls among the alternative contenders. If only we could find another Ronald Reagan in that multitude.
“Trump has pointed out for years that NATO’s 32 members should meet their decades-old commitment to devote 2% of GDP to defense, but, more recently, he hiked this to 5%.”
This is superficially true but inverts the actual reality. Trump is working in concert with Putin to weaken and subjugate Europe. He never has or will prefer Euro military strength. Washington bristles angrily when Europe considers weapons sources other than from the U.S. Trump’s notion of arming Europe is entirely transactional and insincere. He raises the goal posts for European spending only as a cudgel to keep his base in an anti-Ukraine, anti-Europe fever.
This is a bit academic, but the Europeans did not raise their spending in response to Trump’s hectoring. They made verbal placations in response to Trump. They acted financially only later in proportion to their individual calculations about Putin’s menace.
“While this strong-arm approach will be resented, it will be heeded and arguably make the world more secure against the big three threats: Russia, China, and Iran.”
This is an old framing. Iran is weak and increasingly irrelevant. Although I consider Iran evil, they are governed with a degree of consensus and are quite measured and predictable. North Korea is far more of a threat. The threats to world stability today are (in order of menace) Russia, U.S., North Korea, China & Iran tied. China might move up the threat ladder in a few years.
Trump has just launched a trade war that could very well lead to a world wide depression and inevitable violence. He is instable, unchecked, powerful. He is in the process of neutering Europe so that Russia can claim its sphere of influence.
I disagree the disappearance of manufacturing jobs in America and the West is about technology, not trade. It was not that at first. Companies chose to move to places where labor was cheap in comparison to the U.S. where employees expected health insurance and other benefits. But the jobs will not come back to the U.S. because of technology or if they do it will not be necessary to hire as many people. Our country, our economy was built on exploiting labor and resources. Care of humans and their need to work needs protection. It has been up to our governments (federal, state, municipal) to value and protect people from exploitation. But our country only protected some people, the white people. When in 1965 we tried to make a plan to protect all people that’s when companies had to go elsewhere to find people of color to exploit. Work is important. To deny people work will cause all kinds of problems that a cruel regime like the one we have will solve with mass incarceration and by helping along a mass die off. They have plenty of guns and trained military and police to make that happen. I think the momentum is in that direction already. Other countries have some time to gear up while we are busy destroying our own government and citizens and residents. Now the destruction includes the white people too (the destruction of retirement funds is proof right there). Wasn’t it Lincoln who said if any person can be enslaved (owned) we all can? Other countries have time to build protections but they should move fast and maybe need to have offensive as well as defensive means because when these cruel people are done here they will turn their gaze looking for the next opportunity to own everyone and everything and destroy whatever might stand in their way of doing so. I do not think I am exaggerating. I do not know how many more examples of their cruelty we need to be convinced. The overturning of Roe was enough for me to know we are in grave peril.
Wonderful new term! Trexit = America may also end up being another “Brexit"
Once again, the king of chaos reigns. Trump’s on again, off again tariffs as well as impacting the whole world are turning the US into a pariah state, nobody will trust the US again or at least not for several generations.
Trump believes he can divide and conquer using tariffs as his trojan horse. If individual countries are forced to go up against the US, then that is what will happen. But, if countries can act in unison with like minded countries and form a trading block (ie the EU), then Trump might find that he does not hold all the cards, as he would say.
Trump is just lazy and rather than targeting tariffs where there is an issue, he has just implemented a blanket tariff on everyone, even those countries with which the US has a surplus with.
From 1960 to 1990, most NATO countries spent between 2% & 5% of their GDP on defence. In the following 30 years the only 2 countries that spent more than 3% were the US and Russia. The EU for the most part hoped that Russia could be bought on board through trade. Not something that the US participated in, although it appears to have changed its mind now.
The EU probably should have realised it in 2014 and probably in 1999 with the Second Chechen war and Putin’s rise to power, that Russia was not going to partake in an alliance with the western democracies. But it was not alone in wishful thinking, the US (Bush-“I saw into his soul”) was at times, also ambivalent about its relationship with Russia.
The EU does need to spend more money of defence and 5% is probably not a bad number to aim for, but Trump has also given the EU the incentive to produce their own arms, which will be to the detriment of the US arms industry, an own goal, you could say. NATO is dead, neither the US nor Russia can be trusted, from a European perspective.
I don’t really believe that US allies are fully to blame for the lack of spending on defence, the US wanted to be be the sole superpower and was prepared to spend to achieve this, it is only in the last 10 years that this has been questioned. Also the 3 biggest threats to world peace now are China, Russia and the US, not Iran.
For many years I have spoken up for the US in discussions I have had with friends, the US wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, even deeply flawed at times, but it was always the best option available. Not anymore, due to the actions of Trump, his sycophants and enablers I am at best wary and at worse angered by the actions of the US.
Trump want’s to return the US to its so called “Gilded Age”, with tariffs, cheap labour, deportations, unconstitutional actions, corruption and lies he might just get there. In the “Golden Era” taxes maxed out at 70%, so that’s not going to happen.
Thank you, Diane, for excellent reporting on the reality of what's happening in the US.
Trump is blackmailing all the NATO countries while the US enjoys being the elephant (bully) in the room, being the World's cop. How much money do countries have to spend to prevent humankind from destroying itself? That money could be spent improving the quality of life for so many. However, the billionaires and multi-millionaires just want more. How much money/power do they need?
Matthew 5:5 comes to mind: "the meek shall inherit the earth". Let's hope Americans wake up and remove Trump and his MAGA buddies from power.
Let's face it, Americans and the World benefited from outsourcing jobs to China and other developing countries to improve our quality of life and generate wealth in many financial centres, i.e. Wall Street.
I describe Trump's current mental condition as " senilius mobilius" a condition in which the individual cannot carry on a rational conversation with another party...😠
Diane the only question is how to get rid of malignant narcissist and GOP can't and won't.
One of the problems with gambling is that poor gamblers tend to over estimate their hand. The only way to find that out is to call the bluff. We can all understand the trade balance issue with China, but what gives with Switzerland? The defense spending imbalance is a clear free ride mindset. Canada's Liberals have always been open about the fact that Canada does not need a military, except for Canada Day parades and forest fires. And now Canadians are going to vote the slackers back in ?