In Praise of Trump!!

In Praise of Trump

He is not especially popular with many folks. Here is what the president of the USA has done that I actually agree with. 

1. China. This country got into the WTO and almost immediately started to cheat. Their markets are effectively closed to a competitor's version of anything they produce – people are simply not able to buy competitor’s products for fear of retribution from a tyrannical state. 

Much of this is nationalist – Chinese will naturally support their own where they can, especially against the west, but this is the opposite of why you would join the WTO, which is about expanding trade, not engaging in mercantilism. Trump’s campaign to open up that country to foreign goods should have happened years ago.

As well, China often demands that companies hand over their intellectual property in return for access to the country. This is the eventual death of those companies when a competing Chinese company is set up using heir technology, and again, this not how international trade is supposed to work. Trump’s tariffs against China in retaliation for this practice should have been launched years ago.

2. NAFTA. If the USA and Canada knew that Mexican workers would be making $5.00 an hour to assemble cars in 2018 when we signed the deal in 1994, we never would have signed it in the first place. Mexico was supposed to grow its middle class.  Instead, it grew its industrial base, staffed by the impoverished.  Trump has a deal with them to ensure that 40 – 45% of the production coming out of that country will be paid for at $16 an hour, as well as raising the local North American content rules. This will spread the work more fairly throughout the continent.

3. North Korea. I don’t think Trump has a read deal here, but he did get the North Koreans to the table, where a real deal is at least possible. Previous administrations had essentially punted the North Korean nuclear program issue down the road. Trump faced it head on. Without someone doing something, there would very likely have been a war at some point as the USA cannot let this country get the ability to fire an ICBM with a nuke on it at the USA. He also got a few prisoners released, and the return of the remains of US service people.

4. Comey. The man is a disgrace and was properly fired. Please see this…

http://mewetree.blogspot.com/2018/04/comey-v-trump-redux.html

5. Food Stamps. There are 21 million adults on the US food stamp program, of whom 13 million are able-bodied and ready to work. They have been exempted from the requirement to work 20 hours per week, mostly in lax Democrat run states. Trump is rolling back these exemptions…with the official unemployment rate below 4%, no one can blame him.

6. Illegal Immigration. The crossing of the US border illegally is….illegal. He has cracked down on this, as well as limited entry to the USA, and cracked down on people living illegally in the USA. This looks mean, and some of how it is being down definitely is unusually cruel (i.e. separating children from parents which is illegal and awful…) – this should have been dealt with years ago, and was just punted down the road by previous administrations.

7. Pakistan. Trump suspended billions of dollars’ worth of aid to a country that harboured Osama bin Laden, and whose security establishment conducted a campaign of assassination and murder against US forced in Afghanistan through its support of the Taliban for years. About time.

8. Economy. To the extent that an economy can be bolstered by bluster and hyperbole and tax gifts to wealthy people, he is succeeding like no one has ever succeeded before in the history of “Making America Great Again” success! The official unemployment rate, especially the official Black, unemployment rate is low!!!! Optimism and the stock markets are up!!! USA! USA! USA! Fantastic!!!

9. Fentanyl. Trump declared a national emergency in light of the opioid crisis in the USA.

10. Iran. Trump ended a deal with provided billions of dollars to the Iranians in return for their suspension of a nuclear program that I think we will eventually know was never stopped.

11. ISIS. Trump took the shackles off…ISIS is no longer a state.

12. Oil. USA now produces more oil than any country on the planet, the culmination of the efforts of three presidents, Bush 43, Obama and Trump – bye, bye OPEC.

I could list way more things I do not agree with, but that is not the purpose of this tome.