From Pine View Farm

Political Economy category archive

Misfire 0

Via The Japan Times, Columbia University Professor Zongyuan Zoe Liu makes a strong case that China is winning the trade war that Trump chose to start. Here’s a tiny bit:

From the Chinese government’s perspective, the Trump administration’s determination to decouple the two economies at any cost is the culmination of American efforts to stifle China’s rise. While China does not want a trade war or to decouple, it is willing to risk a trade war that the United States may lose — and it would rather decouple than kowtow to Trump.

That is why Chinese leaders, businesspeople and entrepreneurs have focused on building resilience and self-reliance, which means, first and foremost, reducing dependence on U.S. markets and technology.

Afterthought:

Trump is indeed running the government like a business, and that business is Enron.

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Extra-Special Bonus QOTD 0

Jim Bachus, in the voice of Thurston Howell III:

Place your right hand on this pile of currency. . . . Now (repeat after me), I pledge allegiance to the spirit of money, to the color for which it stands, one currency divisible by ten, with luxury and affluence for the very fortunate few.

The writers of Gilligan’s Island meant this as a joke.

They did not anticipate that it would come to be the guiding principle of the Chicago School and of today’s Republican Party.

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Suffer the Children 0

Once again we are reminded that that’s not scripture. That’s a Republican family value.

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“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0

Kansas resident Dion Lefler listens to Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and hears a big ugly rhyme from Kansas’s recent past.

________________–

*Mark Twain.

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Responsible Fiscals 0

David discusses Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments about how Trump’s tariffs may tank the economy. (Warning: Short commercial at the end.)

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Suffer the Children 0

One more time, that’s not scripture. That’s Republican policy.

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Responsible Fiscals 0

The Congressional Budget Office runs the numbers on Donald Trump’s tax cut billionaire giveaway bill.

As far as I can tell, no matter how you do the math, they do not add up to “responsible.”

Read more »

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This New Gilded Age 0

Thom wonder why the richest country in history is the only wealthy country where working people need welfare to survive.

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The Art of the Deal 0

Donald Trump staring at an easel bearing a canvass covered in incomprehensible scribbles and blotches of paint.  The easel is labeled

Click to view the original image.

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Sabotaging the Common Good 0

One of the (many) things that the Trump maladministration and its dupes, symps, and fellow travelers do not seem to understand–or care about–is that mindlessly slashing federal programs so as to fund tax cuts for fat cats who already have more money than they know what to do with harms real people.

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Running Ruining the Country Like a Business 0

Rick Strom at TYT Sports suggests that Trump and the Trumpettes are–er–pursuing counterproductive policies.

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Robbing Hood 0

Republican Elephant dressed as Robin Hood points arrow at woman wearing,

Click to view the original image.

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The Artless Dodger 0

David comments on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s refusal to give a straight answer to a straight question. (Warning: Short commercial at the end.)

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The Dolly Parting 0

Seth takes a closer look at Donald Trump’s becoming obsessed with the idea that children only need one or two dolls as a response to his tariffs leading to higher costs and shortages.

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This New Gilded Age 0

Thom argues that Donald Trump’s it’s-absurd-to-call-them “policies” will bring back sweatshops.

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Trumponomics 0

Farron looks at how Donald Trump’s economic “policies” are destroying American jobs.

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Trumponomics 0

Title:  News from the Tariff War Front.  Image:  Couple living in broken down camper trailes.  Husband is reading the newspaper as wife cooks dinner over a grill.  Husband says,

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“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes’* 0

From the Washington Monthly:

A newly elected Republican chief executive, backed by a cadre of right-wing economists and think tanks, rides a populist wave to victory. Despite inheriting a relatively healthy economy, he unleashes a radical economic policy agenda and defunds government agencies, promising that his actions will usher in a new era of prosperity.

Instead, the economy slows. Budgets collapse. Investors are spooked. Core services erode. Even allies defect. By the end, voters—many of whom once cheered the project—recoil . . . .

No, Nate Weisberg is not talking about Donald Trump in that passage. Rather, he’s hearing a rhyme from a decade ago. Follow the link to find out who he refers to.

__________________

*Mark Twain.

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Did Trickle-On Economics Give Us Trump? 0

Robert Reich looks at what led to Trump.

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The Fall (and the Fall Guy) 0

Caption:  All the King's Horses and All the King's Men.  Image:  Humpty-Dumpty, labeled

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