America is falling apart. I will restore order.
Please elect me.
That was Trump’s message last night.
What it lacked in substance, it made up for in crowd-pleasing slogans.
I watched because I wanted to hear specifics.
I wanted specifics like what I’d just read in a transcript of a Trump interview yesterday with the New York Times on trade agreements, NATO, Turkey’s coup, etc.
Here was a man (i.e. Trump) eyeing a new world and saying we need a new approach. The country’s balance of payments is in deficit. Our debt is out of control. Our middle-class manufacturing jobs have been decimated by seriously bad trade deals. We have troops in places who don’t pay for them. We offer NATO members a blanket insurance policy — with many of them not paying their insurance premiums.
This stuff needs a new approach. The U.S. needs a little financial help in staying the world’s policeman and the biggest consumer of stuff from China and Mexico — much of which could be made here, especially with automation and a tariff or two.
You need to read the interview’s transcript. As you read it, bring a your businessperson’s brain to it. Seriously, it’s an amazingly thoughtful interview. Click here.
The weekend is nigh. The U.S. isn’t falling apart. There are lots of people gainfully employed. Plumbers. AC technicians. Car repair dudes. Even some hedge fund managers. New York City’s streets are awash in tourists. Some even speak English. The stockmarket is up today, somewhere around its all-time high. The sun is shining. America’s mountains and waterfalls are still there to visit and enjoy. I won’t label them, since everyone is familiar with these American wonders.
And there’s still time to laugh.
And there’s still time to admire America’s awesome marketing prowess.
So, sell it and move to Australia. They got some real doosy politicians.
Harry Newton, who played tennis early this morning, had breakfast, slept for 30 minutes, watched the market edge up a few shekels and wrote this column. This evening we’re going to a tribute for Pete Seeger at the local summer theater. What’s bad about all that? Have a great weekend. Hug the kids, the wife and the local AC guy, if you can find him or her.
