It’s amazing the power humans give to individual people. Both the US president and the Chinese leader have way too much power. Where’s Brutus when you need him.
1
He’ll time this so the trade deal happens just before the election sending stock prices up in hopes of getting re-elected. Similar to your local Pol paving the roads just before the election...
1
The Day Trader President telegraphs his rash moves to his traders.Very profitable!
1
Almost half of all Americans work in low-wage jobs - CBS News
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minimum-wage-2019-almost-half-of-all-americans-work-in-low-wage-jobs/
Trump can't get anything done, beyond photo ops and rallies with his base. Other than the GOP's coveted Tax Cuts of 2017 and court appointments, he's delivered nothing of value to the majority of Americans.
Putin must be laughing every night before he goes to sleep.
3
He is manipulating the market; sell before this statement is made by his cronies, then purchase at a low before his next statement that is intended to lift the markets again.
Trump and his cronies should be investigated for manipulating the markets.
4
You hit the nail right on the head, I think it’s called insider trading. And what happens? The rich get richer.
2
Another transparent re-election ploy. Only he can resolve this, being The Great Dealmaker and Builder of the Economy, so he has to be re-elected. Otherwise, the economy will crash, the nation descend into civil war, blather blather bamboozle and bluster.
Everything is only ever a campaign stop or dealmaking opportunity for him, him alone. Those who happen to benefit just happen to, and more often than not it's not the American people or the future measured past his immediate interest. (See the most recent Wall Deal.) All "policy" is just the stuff of braggodoccio. All "accomplishment" stuff for the con man's patter.
Gee, what a surprise! DT’s pattern of acting tough and making some noise to either create a problem or make one worse is predictable.
Makes one wonder if he and his cronies are cashing in on his series of bad news-good news tweets and spoken statements.
No doubt though that he’ll come to the rescue with a hollow solution just before the 2020 election.
Let’s stop this insanity and vote him and his crew out of office.
2
I guess we can put the China trade talks into the same folder as the talks with North Korea or that medical plan that will be the best ever. How many times have we heard that a trade deal was imminent? They we’re either lying or incompetent. Par for the course for this administration.
2
He does this to manipulate the market. Just another way to milk the USA for his and his cronies benefit. It's just another way to milk the USA for his and his cronies benefit.
1
Uh, the Chinese will not do a trade deal as long as Trump is in office. That means that there won't be a trade deal from 21 to 24 if Trump is re-elected. Remember those old movies where 'saving face' was most important to Asian societies? Well, Trump spit in the face of China. They won't forget it.
I am guessing that part of this is that Trump is misdirecting away from Putin's efforts through Trump to wreck out country. Trump makes China an enemy instead of a trading partner to project blame onto them for Trump's wreckage.
The great negotiator is neither.
Sad.
1
I like a stock market slump at the end of December.
Reduces the Required Minimum Distribution from my IRA.
Therefore cuts my income taxes.
Sink it, Trump! Sink it!
Can someone please investigate his family and friends to see who is profiting from shorting stocks.
I mean seriously, he does this regularly enough that someone with insider information is profiting.
3
Coming on a day the Court rules the President’s financial records must be disclosed, an Impeachment Report is issued in the House, and President Macron of France outs his dangerous and foolish foreign policy, I’d say the best interpretation is a bully’s promise of scorched earth and as much pain for everybody as possible if he can’t maintain the Oval Office. Odious!
1
This opinion will change once Trump and his cronies have bought low.
Find out who sold short before Trump’s comments. Quid pro quo!
More bluster to seem in control -- "it's if I want to make a deal" -- while drifting aimlessly.
My hunch is Trump suspects he may not be re-elected. And his successor will most likely be a Democrat. So, there's no time like the present to stir the pot and gum things up. He'll be off golfing (if not in jail) in late 2020, not giving a second thought to the chaos he left behind.
1
Why are traders such fools?!! You really think he won’t goose the market to try to bolster his pathetic campaign??
The ego of Donald Trump knows no limits. He goes as far as to suggest the country, let alone the world cannot function without him. Once again, he learned well from that great con artist Roy Cohn, who happens to be Trump's hero.
translation - china if youre listening - please feel free to interfere in the 2020 election
1
@alanag They could switch to a rational trading partner and back the Democrat... According to Republicans, there is no problem with getting foreign help in domestic elections. It's all good...
I agree, someone is in cahoots with The Trump Family making themselves and the Family a ton of money shorting stocks as Little Donnie jerks the market's chain.
A correction to my earlier post-it should read- the Chinese do not react well to international bullying!
Or maybe not. Maybe I'll get a deal next week.
Or at least buy some st5ock and CLAIM I have a deal.
Maybe right after I get the bestest ever cheap health care plan introduced into Congress. And get all of the schools to be the bestest ever.
Right after 500 miles of NEW walls are built.
And ...
Trump is in line to have the Guiness record for playing a yo yo for ... more than 1000 days.
1
When will Trump declare world peace? And will his followers believe him?
Stay tuned.
Hmmm... any suspicious e-mini trades to see? I'm sure in a few days talks will be back on and the market will respond accordingly. Rinse and repeat.
Someone could win a Pulitzer Prize by digging into Wall Street derivatives trades such short-selling and stock options over the past three years. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump & Sons and their cronies were front-running the markets in a vast insider trading conspiracy since the day he was inaugurated.
4
We can only hope. I have no doubt at all that this is occurring.
I am a little confused about how tariffs work. I know that in the 19th century, the income from tariffs supported the Federal government, and that the Constitutional amendment legalizing the income tax wasn't enacted until the early 20th century.
I also believe that tariffs were so high in the 19th century to protect domestic manufacturers of competing products who -- because the U.S. market was still so small -- couldn't achieve the economies of scale in making them that were possible for foreign manufacturers with bigger domestic -- and foreign --markets of their own.
I assume that U.S. tariffs -- then and now -- are paid by U.S. importers of these foreign products, who have to raise the prices on them when they sell them to consumers, or else absorb the cost through lower profit margins.
I suppose the logic behind these tariffs is to make the foreign products so expensive that U.S. consumers will not buy them but opt for cheaper domestic equivalents instead. As a byproduct, the U.S. government also achieves income.
But is this income enough to compensate for the money being paid by Trump to farmers deprived of their foreign markets through foreign countries (like China) raising their tariffs in response to our raised tariffs?
And -- even more importantly -- is this country capable of manufacturing cheaper products in such areas as shoes, TV sets and laptops or will the result only be that U.S. consumers have to pay more for the Chinese imports?
1
@Piri Halasz No, the income isn't enough, and no we can't make cheaper products here. It's a fools game by trump and he's losing.
Here are two perspectives:
My name is Donald and I make BIGLY deals. I realize that if I don't make some sort of deal with China, my chances of reelection go WAY down.
My name is Xi and I believe that Trump can't win reelection without a deal. I, on the other hand, can refuse to concede much until the next election in China which is... NEVER!
So much winning!
2
How many stocks were shorted by Trump and his various interests and buddies?
...and I thought he'd proclaimed that the stock market would be so much better if only the Fed engaged in more fiscal stimulus...since he is, of course, blameless for any bad news.
2
Even though Trumps trade wars will be unkind to our wallets, I will gladly consider those financial losses as a contribution to Trumps demise, as a faltering economy is just the ticket for his defeat.
4
So, I understand that a President doesn't have much direct power over "the economy," but, if a President were to try to do everything possible to destroy the US economy.. how would it look any different from what Trump already does every day?
1
Trumpspeak is not the basis for a business decision, he's just lonely and wants you to pay attention to him.
2
The stock market reacted to Trump's comment with regard to the promised and forthcoming trade deal with China that is now not forthcoming. We all know Trump can not stand it seeing the stock market go down and I predict that by tommorrow or the day after, he will come up with another lie to calm the market and wall street and the stock market will rise again. We have seen this movie before. His supporters and base don't seem to mind Trump's lies and deceitfulness.
4
@GECAUS
The “market” must be pretty gullible too.
Again we see the folly of the Trump centric actions.He casts the trade deal as something he thinks is very easy to win- his thinking is wrong-trade wars are negotiated and there is no clear winner.He says that these talks are on his timetable declaring that “ I don’t think it is up to whether they want to make it-it is up to whether I want to make it”. The Chinese do react well to this kind of international bullying.Xi will be the leader of China for years-he can wait out Trump.Trade wars are destructive for all economies-it is about time Trump gives up his fantasy before the fragile economies begin to weaken and there is a recession or worse.
5
Who is getting monetary benefits of this over-night rise and fall of the stock market?
15
I have thought for some time now that DJT & family are, with these sorts of reversals in trade ageement statemenys, manipulating the stock market for personal gain. The NYT should investigate along these lines.
A trade war is bad economics. But China has been doing bad things in the marketplace forever. Trump doesn't do sanctions for human rights violations. He is erratic and irresponsible. And he is everybody's bad guy for good reason. But when he lands on a policy that punishes China, which deserves punishment and more, you can take two approaches:
1. I abhor Trump, whatever he does; or
2. This one is not so bad, but I still can't stand the guy.
The first option keeps the heat on. The second bolsters your credibility. When you approach election day, you've got to win those sitting on the fence. What works better? More hatred or a dose of credibility.
@michjas But does the policy really punish China or does it punish the American consumer and manufacturers. I see it as punishing America more than China. China is a dictatorship pretty much, their people have no say and no sway. China does what it wants. trump's policies are erratic and not strategic, he gets nothing from them except raising US prices and bankrupting farmers and hurting US manufacturers.
I'm not saying that China doesn't deserve some pain or that they have not been terrible in intellectual property rights and human rights, but the trump tariffs are doing nothing to curb either. trump has no clue what he is doing and his advisors are laughing stocks of the economic world.
Trump has learned to manipulate the markets. It's a very simple process. He simply creates a crisis of his own making (stocks go down, his cronies buy) then later he claims to solve the crisis (stocks go up, cronies sell to lock in profits), rinse and repeat. This guy is a tragic joke on the whole of humanity.
11
As usual trump is playing with other people’s money and livelihoods while cashing trillion dollar checks we can’t afford and he’ll never pay. I was hoping someone would put a sock in him (isn’t that what they say in London?) as I watched the DOW dropped a point for ever utterance he continued to make.
Interesting how the markets did not rally even as he exclaimed we have the oil. Like Putin he is taking other people’s property and territory or giving away what isn’t his to give, like in the property on the US-Mexico border and the West Bank and giving Turkey and Russia to take whatever hey want.
Finally Macron stood up to the buffoon in chief joking about ISIS terrorists in London, no less which is still in Europe and had suffered a terrorist attack with fatalities. No doubt he’ll say something crude and inappropriate about the hero citizens who fought off the terrorist - isn’t that what he does, smear heroes and anyone who is beer than him? ie most people.
5
Trump is gaming the market again. Another criminal act. He and his friends are surely shorting or getting long the indexes prior to his statements regarding tariffs or China. Of course the SEC has been eviscerated under Trump, and the Big Grift continues unabated. Lordy
6
According to Trump, we are in Phase 1 of Waiting for US-China Trade Agreement. This is the phase after the pre-ginning of Phase 1 of Trade Agreement and before the conclusion of the same. Yay to all of us!!! Then many steps after this till all boomers are dead if Trump becomes King.
2
Trump throws out tariff threats like Zeus used to throw out lightening bolts. There were no effective response to Zeus's lightening bolts. There is to Trump's tariff mania. Any country targeted by Trump's tariff bolts should simply increase tariffs on all U. S. Farm products until Trump ceases his tariff bullying.
Bullies can't take a punch, so punch back and watch Trump fulminate.
5
Dumb question, but does anyone know, for just a few seconds, before the President makes one of his marketing dropping tweets or announcements, you know, is there anyone around long to text a friend who goes short? Or the “buy” text right before the pres says he’s going to make up with China? SEC? Anyone?
8
Day trading Mr. Trump?
6
Sure, Mr. Trump. Go ahead, act like rashness, indecision, nonexistent deal-making skills and sheer stupidity equals ... being in no hurry to reach trade agreements after you instigated disruption.
Surely, someone, somewhere, will buy your incompetence.
3
He is unable to close a deal - he can only create chaos, which will be an excellent opportunity for the next President to negotiate a conclusion to the tariffs.
A Dem is less likely to sell our human rights principles for dollars. Economic benefits can coexist with policies that honor our freedoms. The new GOP, the Trumpers, care nothing for anything but money in their pockets, and sell our health and our lives very cheaply.
6
To resolve the trade war that he started, Trump needs to see more political benefit than he sees now. He craves uncertainty, making opponents anxious and more likely to cave to his demands. He's manipulating everyone and the situation as only a good con man knows how to do. Gullible Americans misinterpret his behavior as strong leadership. Although being hurt by him, they don't yet connect the dots.
2
Why is spending the time to work out the details a bad thing to do? When Trump is not re-elected, the Democrat (whoever that is) can quickly end tariffs, .
2
I wish I would still be alive when someone, somewhere, bases their doctoral thesis on examining stock trading records during the Trump era, and just who made the money from insider trading based on Trump's tweets/speeches. Seems as if every two weeks he says something that will drive the market by a percent or two. At this point, his pronouncements seem more like market manipulation than actual policy predictions.
13
The truth is Trump has no plan, no strategy and in fact no idea what he’s doing, on this and every other issue he faces.
8
But Putin has a strategy.
5
The markets should calm down. Unless he completely reverses his behavior to date, Trump's statements will begin to change within 48 hours. Wait for the Chinese to issue a statement, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Chinese statement will be much more reliable than the American President.
10
I seem to remember Donald F. Trump telling us about how easy it is to win a trade war, and how easy it would be for him, in particular, to win. So what are those farmers in mid-America whining about ? They can't sell their agricultural products in China ? THEY are among the voters who put Donald in the White House.
I feel really positive about having this great intellect in the White House, and these keenly sharp and well-informed voters who elected him.
6
Mr. Erratic is what Trump is, and his callous disregard for the American farmers and workers is appalling.
4
Must run in the Family.
No one has ever seen Jared's "Middle East Peace Plan", either.
Trump's "Trade Deal" ("Trade deals are so easy to win!") must be hidden inside that strange glowing orb over in Saudi Arabia.
First he betrayed the miners...
Then he betrayed the vets....
and now it turns out that his trade deals are hot air, too.....
All a mirage.
8
And those people will all vote for him again.
3
@rosa
And Trump/GOP has betrayed the elderly and the children. He has cut health care, Medicare, and food stamps. It really does seem that they consider people to be expendable. They don't care if we die, they want us to be afraid to vote, they hate us.
2
Sooner, or, later, Trump has ruined everything he's touched in life. Why? Ask yourselves why the huge ego construct exists in the man. Therein lies the answer.
4
In other words...Trump can't seal the deal.. Its a simple as that.
-The guy can't get the job done..--
5
Stress is getting to Trump. His chickens are coming home to roost.
A lifetime of lies is catching up to him.
5
The Trump zealots might not comprehend yet that products they buy have gotten a lot more expensive under Criminal Trump. Its Trump's white nationalist and white supremacy beliefs is what they really support anyways.
5
I was going to go online today to look at my portfolio. After reading this article, I think I won't.
4
Trump and his cabinet and family selling short?
7
In 11 months, there is a better then even chance that a new president will be elected; a current president with dismal approval numbers....where 1/2 the electorate want him impeached & removed. Why the heck would China ever agree to anything that DJT proposes ? In fact, waiting the 11 months may even have the next POTUS eliminate all tariffs. In addition, playing hardball with DJT may even enhance the prospects of a Democrat being elected. Wake up America (Trump voters)...and especially the farmers...you have been conned. China is NOT making a "deal" with DJT...period! And, by the way...every time DJT announces a "deal" is close or progressing , the Chinese know he is lying.
5
Trump Tweets and markets plunge. Trump Tweets and markets soar. Trump Tweets and markets plunge. Trump tweets and markets soar.
Maybe the FBI should look to see who sells and who buys before each Tweet?
13
Where's Trump's tweet about the markets today? If it's up, he says magnanimously, "Enjoy!" Today... crickets. He is manipulating the stock market whenever he makes these bizarre statements - does he do it knowingly? Who knows. Is he affecting the stock portfolios of ordinary Americans, particularly retirees or the soon-to-be retired who? Yes. The man has no shame, and no conceivable idea of what he's doing.
7
"“I’m doing very well on a deal with China, if I want to make it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s up to if they want to make it, it’s if I want to make it. We’ll see what happens.”
False bravado, posturing, arrogance, delusional behavior. He is addicted to this conduct and will never change. trump cares absolutely nothing for the greater good of our economy, of our nation. His tarrifs have hurt US farmers, US business, and US consumers, even though many of those same victims continue to support him. Completely irrational.
4
Nothing Donald Trump says can be trusted. World leaders are catching on and are beginning to isolate Trump, keeping him at arms length while they pet his ego and search for ways to work around his tariffs and his bluster. Trump is indeed a fraud: an immoral and incompetent narcissist who thinks he can bully his way through a trade war without consequences. Sure, we need to hold China accountable for their unfair trade practices and human rights abuses, (Trump only signed the Hong Kong bill because it was veto proof) but we ought to be doing it in a coordinated manner with our allies. The markets are falling today because of Trump's erratic behavior and Twitter diplomacy. December will no doubt be choppy – manufacturing is heading toward recession, and the consequences of the trade war are beginning to trickle out. More tariffs will mean higher prices and more enmity toward the US. Eventually this will hit the consumer – but hey Trump will blame it all on the Fed. Zero interest rates anyone? No thanks, I say impeach this fraud and boot him out of office.
2
Hey, trade wars are easy to win! Yep, that’s what the stable genius says. US farmers have already lost huge chunks of their Asian markets and won’t get them back soon, if ever. And it certainly looks like we're in for another imminent dose of trump style ‘socialism’ with yet another (this will be #3 and counting) $16 billion bailout for farmers!!! Alas the Blue States are having to put out for Red States for the decisions of a president elected by the Red States.
7
Like military service, Donald Trump finds trade tariffs easy to avoid.
3
If he or she wins next November, the Democratic candidate will have a very dirty stable to clean up, thanks to Trump.
3
He is manipulating the markets intentionally. His pack of thieves are raking it in at our expense.
4
That should be the sign for people. He's inept when it comes to legitimate deal making. Corruption, no brainer.
2
MAGA! By starting a worldwide economic contraction.
2
He may actually be unconscious of what he says. He is out of control, ignorant, and with no sense of decent social behavior.
4
Trump is manipulating the market.
5
TRANSLATION: China is in no rush to make a deal.
3
Mr. Trump's statement on US-China trade follows that of US commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, who supported a delay in the trade deal until after the 2020 election. He stated that: "it eliminates an advantage for China."
With all due respects to both Mr. Ross and Mr. Trump, they both appear as "wood pushers" who, by the luck of the draw, have ended up in an international chess tournament.
China got advantage over Mr. Trump and his "economists team" on the day he opened his mouth and started talking about tariffs wars, making asinine statements such as:
"Trade wars are good, and easy to win".
By that statement, Mr. Trump fully legitimized such mindless, bullying, actions as part of trade negotiation between two countries.
Now China has full legal justifications if it decides to declare billions of dollars of tariffs on US agricultural products any time it wants. And, yes; China can do that on November 1st, 2020, just days before the presidential election.
Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Ross need to reflect on the fact that the ball is now in China's court. And, it is too late to try to eliminate those advantages that Mr. Trump and his administration have offered to China on a silver platter.
1
Trump must need more attention. The news has been too quiet for him since he tamed his twitter habit. I believe the military stuffed his freelance habit over the Gallagher affair.
3
This is called market manipulation,a crime, that our corrupt evil president has been doing since he illegitimately moved into the WH.If the market goes on a real slider, trump will definitely lose the 2020 election as every sector of the economy is suffering under his "policies".
2
Trump has by himself destroyed our economy with the world our allies and we will never win in a trade war against China. They have more people . With the stock market going down from
Trumps nasty talks with the French leader that is causing it. Lock him up he needs to take a leave of absence while he has an impeachment indictment coming. I hope anonymous is close to the nuclear briefcase to keep Trump from impulsively pressing buttons.
2
It is difficult for other countries -- and the American people -- to deal with the current administration since Nero has been reincarnated as our president.
2
More trade wars? What with a crumbling infrastructure, the unchecked Russian infiltration of the electoral system, the cancellation of TPP in Asia and instead a foolhardy escalating trade war with China, North Korea’s unfettered nuclearizing efforts, deficits going through the roof, weekly mass shootings and a president unabashedly toying with weird notions of nuking hurricanes and buying Greenland. Another 4 years of this debilitating nonsense? If McConnell and his ilk prevail, it could well be.
5
Just one of Trump's 13000 lies "Trade wars are easy to win".
2
Ever since President-elect Trump questioned the price and value of the new Air Force One plane, Boeing’s stock went down, Trump relented, and Boeing’s stock price rebounded....I’ve wondered how much money the Trump family is making off what often appears to be insider trading and presidential stock market manipulation.
Russia, if you’re listening, release Trump family tax returns since 2016.
3
Bluffing works only for so long and someone smart. While it has been long and he isn't.
3
He’s probably trying to do it so it can help him politically during the elections!!! This has turned out to be the main reason underlying many of his actions, so one can only assume that he’s trying to make a political calculation, especially now that his Ukraine game has been found out and he can’t play that card anymore. So he’s trying to find another way to cheat his way back in office. He just doesn’t trust doing things the right way.
2
Trump is banking on the stupidity of the blue collar workers in this country, and sadly, it isn't a losing bet. His supporters will see him as the tough guy, taking the Chinese to the mat (unlike that 'wimp' Obama who bent over backwards to the Chinese, forgetting of course that Bush II and the GOP watched millions of jobs go to China, with tax credits given to the companies that sent the jobs there for each worker they replaced). Manufacturing activity, meanwhile, has fallen in large part because of supply chain problems, but Trump Nation will blame the federal reserve, cause Donny said so, if the cost of goods shoots up because of Tariffs going into effect, it is the fault of the Democrats/the federal reserve, not because of the tariffs.
The financial markets will plunge, then tomorrow will recover when they decide that it doesn't really matter. The power behind the throne in the GOP, the very rich, while mouthing the party line about free trade, won't care as their stock portfolios continue to increase and they reap the rewards of the huge tax cut the GOP gave them.
Basically, Trump realizes that a trade deal with China actually might work against him, if they sign a trade bill and the 1950's doesn't return in terms of jobs in China vs the US, he will be vulnerable, if he delays it, he can hold that out as a sign he is 'tough'.
1
From 'The Art of The Deal'; "People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole." - Donald Trump
I call it what they call it down in Texas, "He's all hat and no cattle." Or, I call it what they call it down in Florida, "He doesn't have both oars in the water."
Trump; once a con, always a con.
1
Don't view it as a warning, consider it a threat to all parties- China and Us.
2
He did give us a trillion dollar deficit for Christmas.
4
@HL, Trump also filled our stockings with coal --
otherwise known as tax reform that favors the rich
and pillages the middle class.
2
Well i for one am really happy that this will not be sorted out for at least a year or so because i was absolutely sick of winning, win, win, win day in day out, its just all too much, how much winning can a man bear?
2
Even since I had to take required minimum distributions (RMD’s)
from my IRA which was every, December just before the holidays (and that practice I thought was set in stone in agreement with my broker). Last year my error in doing so cost me thousands of dollars because of the Trump government shutdown and more of my shares had to sold to make up for value of those shares.
This year I made a point of taking my distribution at a high perceived by me at time. Turns out to have been a good move as today’s market drop continues. Of course this tip won’t come as news to you folks savvy with the market, but to those whom are not- Happy Holidays.
2
Ross' statement that Trump has "made quite clear" what lies ahead for China is without credibility. Nothing Trump says he is going to do can ever be confidently believed given his tendency to change his mind, walk back, retreat, and lie. The Ross statement is also a favorite of Pompeo ('the President has made clear...'). Uncertainty cannot be waved away by fiat.
3
Please! Is there a way that Trump and/or his cronies are profiting from the ups and downs of the stock market caused by the contradictory remarks issued frequently by the President?Also, shouldn't the proceedings of the negotiations be kept under wraps until a firm and final agreement has been reached considering their impact on the market in particular and the economy in general? I wonder how the leaders of the business community set up their short and long term plans in these dizzying times.
4
One would think that Trump makes these pronouncements to help his short-selling supporters, but that can't be possible.
6
A trade war reduces trade and harms individual industries. Policy makers generally frown upon it. But looked at broadly, this war is getting China’s attention. And China has acted irresponsibly, manipulating the free market.
Bluster, being unpredictable and being irresponsible turn up the volume and add to the effect. Striking fear by doing arbitrary things with no rational pattern and apparent cruelty is what Trump is best at. Unlike everything else he does, Trump’s trade war is not that bad of an idea and is being executed pretty well. China has done countless reprehensible things. And I’m behind taking them on in any forum, even if farmers have to contribute to the cause.
1
Let’s be honest, over 80% of all of the stock market is is owned by less than 10% of the population.
Let’s put some numbers to those percentages.
Only 11.8 million households own over $12 Trillion in wealth.
That means, the rest of us 116.8 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS are fighting over the less than $3 Trillion in wealth left over from the wealthy.
When news companies and financial analysts are talking about what is going on with the market, they’re talking about something that really only applies to 11.8 million extremely wealthy households.
Another statistical trick that analysts use is they like to talk about the average retirement savings. What is an average? Well, it means you add the retirement savings of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg et al to the retirement savings of everyone else, and you divide by the total number of people. What you end up with is an artificially high number.
What you’ll rarely hear analysts talk about (because it is grim, and undercuts any argument that the economy is doing well) is median retirement accounts. Median retirement accounts in the United States are only about $50,000.
The disturbing reality is, most of the United States is quite literally too lacking in wealth to be significantly hurt by drastic stock market swings. And corporations can’t argue that the downturns cause wage freezes, because corporations kept wages frozen when they doubled the market. We are in some real, real trouble.
3
He is playing reverse psychology in saying they want a deal now. He needs a deal soon.
Without a deal or the perception of a deal, he wont be reelected. He needs a trade deal -even if mini deal- but something where at least farmers dont require government subsidies anymore and the US dont look to Republicans voters like a socialist country. Farmers are hard working people and dont want handouts.
2
They seem willing recipients to most of us. No sympathy at all.
3
How many times has Trump stated that a China deal is happening soon? What happens when he does: the market goes up. Then, a week later he announces that a done deal is not close at all. What happens at that time: the Dow goes down. Then, the cycle repeats. Has anyone in the SEC checked into the timing of Trump family investments for large trades based on these up and down statements on a China trade deal? Am I cynical, yes I am!
6
As the pain for the US continues, China, and others countries, will continue to build and strengthen ties amongst themselves, leaving the US out in the cold. The farmers will find it very difficult, if not impossible, to return to trading levels they enjoyed before the trade wars and Trump. To rebuild those relationships, other countries would have to believe that the relationships will remain steady and reliable. That trust is gone.
Meanwhile, the small farmers continue to believe in Trump - as long as they continue to receive taxpayer dollars to placate them. What is actually happening is that they are being driven out of business - only to be bought out at a song by large corporate interests.
3
This part of the article was particularly amusing: “I’m doing very well on a deal with China, if I want to make it,” [Trump] said. “I don’t think it’s up to if they want to make it, it’s if I want to make it. We’ll see what happens.”
Narcissistic nonsense as usual. Nearly constantly, Trump has promised deals that don't happen, swore that there would be evidence of something next Tuesday which never appeared, and insisted that he had a perfect plan that he would tell us about soon, which never gets explained.
So it would be a lot more accurate to point out that these grandiose statements are certainly lies, because Trump lies in this manner all the time, and I can't think of a single such prediction by him that turned out to be true.
But I do welcome more of a trade war with China, and I hope it hurts the American economy considerably over the next year. People need to be convinced not to vote for Trump, so that he loses overwhelmingly, and the only way to convince Trump supporters to ditch him is going to be their experiencing a lot of suffering due directly to his actions.
5
Lets see how world economy fares these wars.
That is all I am watching.
1
Mr trump injects yet another dose of 'unnecessary uncertainty' yanking us back to tariffs to: (a) distract us from all of his troubles falling out of solution in the super-saturated sewage (way beyond what was once referred to as as a swamp) he has concocted in Washington; and (b) inflict suffering and cruelty upon the same citizens he uses gross entertainment to sway their vote. His style is characterized by the use of extremes of surprise with twisted lies. He has no plan except to create constant disruption. He impulsively selects from his array of manufactured & simmering elements (economic, immigrant, health care, farm, education, environmental, voting, national security, etc.) to create a crisis where there was relative calm or to reboot a trouble he created months' earlier. He is mean-to-the-bone and his brain-stem. His brain does not function above the brain-stem. It seems his sadism is his main driver. Every day he demonstrates his unfitness for the office. His colluding nationalistic party members and state tv/internet sites share responsibility for the outcomes that will long continue to impact our democracy. The Democrats had better be building their party platform with solid truths and a solid foundation.
3
In 2008, US experienced the largest economic collapse since the Great Depression. Since that time none of the structural problems giving rise to this financial implosion- job outsourcing, financial deregulation, multiple tax cuts for the wealthy, spending $ trillions of taxpayer money on the Pentagon and War have been resolved. Instead, the FED has provided circa $5 trillion of ultra-cheap money which, along with Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, have been used by Wall St. for share buybacks, purchasing stock futures and sustain [still] insolvent banks. This money also inflated bond markets and trendy real estate in Boston, NYC, SF, Seattle, etc. Corporations have joined in the debt orgy, now exceeding $10 trillion (www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/corporate-debt-nears-a-record-10-trillion-and-borrowing-binge-poses-new-risks/2019/11/29/1f86ba3e-114b-11ea-bf62-eadd5d11f559_story.html)
There will be no resolution to the trade war because it is not about trade per se. Rather; the US wants China to abandon Made in China 2025 and One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiatives, which are nonnegotiable. Unfortunately, trade wars can easily escalate into military conflicts.
2
The Chinese have always looked more at the long-term while our President can't see past whatever is currently on Fox News. Next year's recession will result in either Mr. Trump caving or a new President.
3
Obvious, generally outlined plan(ish):
Step 1: Never strike a deal because its never right because “right” means complete surrender, no compromise. Continue tariffs indefinitely.
Step 1a: Panic if stocks crash and
strike a deal to bouy market through
election because personal re-
election is more important than
America’s trade health.
Step 2: Criticize successor who will strike a deal, claiming they cave, regardless of deal struck.
Step 3: Be constant irritating presence in all our lives regardless of whether re-elected.
Step 4: Meet maker and hope for the best.
3
How disconcerting it must be for the world to be jockeyed around by the caprice of Mr. Trump. It appears he has done more damage than can easily be undone by the next administration, even if it is led by a Democrat.
There is nothing that Trump says or does that has any credibility. It has an effect, yes. He sends stock markets and world leaders jolting back and forth with an impulsive Tweet, but he has fabricated so many stories that I give no credence to his wanting to postpone the talks with China -other than that he fears he will lose strategic ground, and then lose more of his electorate.
5
When will congress/NY attorney general/someone! investigate the timing of these statements and bets/selling/buying on the stock exchange? I can guarantee you someone in trump's family is making money on the president's statements. Trump is a master at gaming the system...and hasn't it been proven he has done exactly this in the past?
4
@JK I agree. And it is not just international trade. His foreign policy decisions also have a self-enrichment (or protection) angle to them.
What is the tragic joke here..ah, yes...
People have suffered and died because he was trying to make a buck. (And then there are the things he did AFTER he was elected.)
5
Trump says something to roil the markets and they drop. His rich pals by on the lows. A little while later he comes out with some version of "Oops. Never mind." Markets recover. Rich guys sell and get richer. I suspect that is what is going on here.
7
Mark your calendars - December 14 Trump will announce he is not imposing the additional trade tariffs and the market will get a bump. Trump is manipulating and gaming the market. Is anyone (SEC?) watching the Trump family trades building up to his next announcement? Oh, that's right, we never required him to reveal or divest his public holdings.
12
@Robert R
I don't doubt this, in fact I think it is a good bet that the already delayed tariffs will be delayed once again, in large part because he doesn't want prices to spike during the holiday shopping season.
I agree with what other posters have written, that the only way things are gonna change is if the stock market plummets and the rich start feeling the pain, when the big money boys tell the GOP that unless they get rid of Trump they are cutting off the money, you can bet he will be impeached and removed from office. Right now, the rich have had quite a party, but once the next day hangover starts hitting them, Trump is toast.
4
Thanks, very stable genius.
2020. Vote them ALL out.
5
Market manipulator-in-chief is at it again.
Trump has a small handful of distracting tactics.. and he uses them regularly and apparently in some form of rotation basis to keep creating distractions from real actual issues for the federal government to be working on.
It would not surprise me if he does this deliberately, and in collusion with some of his wealthy supporters in order to create opportunities to profit in the markets by knowing in advance what he will say and when.
4
Will someone please remind Mr. Trump that one in four US jobs is tied to retail. Those of us in retail related jobs will remember his “ trade deals” when we vote in 2020.
6
Right, if your strategy is not working then continue the same strategy.
3
If the economy goes south before the election Trump is toast. It's in China's interest to drag things out and let Trump's tariffs hurt US consumers, and hence the economy. As long as they can do it without causing unrest in their own country it's a win for them. Xi doesn't have elections to worry about.
4
Trump claims to be a president who gets things done, but he says he'll wait until after the election to make a deal with China. That's almost a year away. It sounds more like Trump is afraid he can't get a deal with China, so he's pretending it's not important until after the election. Trump should call himself the president who can't get anything but chaos done.
7
From chinese viewpoint trade deal
after the election makes sense. The
next president may be more reasonable.
Mr. Trump's over reliance on bullying
hasn't brought him any success with China, Iran, North Korea,etc. No deal
till 2021 is a likely scenario.
4
I think it is time for an investigation into how Donald Trump could be profiting from the enormous market swings he creates with this twits. Every time he makes these sorts of statements, the market swings back and forth. Since it is clear he is eager to use the power of the office for personal political gain, I am sure he doesn't have problems using it for personal economic gain. It is the best explanation for these public declarations that only seem to hamper negotiations.
15
I take it as a very heartening sign that the stock market is having a precipitous fall today.
If this keeps up for a few more weeks, Trump will be impeached and thrown out of office in time for all of us to celebrate George Washington’s Birthday on February 17th.
Yes I know, we’ll then have Pence on our backs, but another stock market crash would insure him being damaged goods well before the November election.
5
Donald Trump,Sr doesn't have a molecule of understanding about economics nor tariffs nor trade wars.
The first and last best trade business deal that Trump made was his choice of a New York City real estate baron daddy to inherit 295 streams of income. Which sheltered Trumpfrom the consequences of being the single worst businessman in America over a ten year period.
Trump lies about China paying American tariffs.
Trump lies about the significance of the trade imbalance with China.
Trump lies about the strength of the American dollar against Chinese currency.
Trump lies about his ability to make deals and how easy it is to win trade wars.
Other than that Trump is really ' smart' and ' well educated. And Americans are really' tired' of winning so ' bigly'.
16
He'll change his mind tomorrow.
One thing that won't change is the tax break McConnell, Sessions, Graham, Grassley, Cotton, Cornyn and Louis Gohmert got while we got nothing.
This is about William Barr and the Federalist plans for the Executive Branch. This is more quid pro quo.
12
Trump craves re-election. Bigly. A done trade deal with China would help him achieve that goal. But, the Chinese are unlikely ever to give him all of the concessions he wants - and America deserves - perhaps not even a meaningless photo-op or memo of understanding. So, to avoid the bad optics of a failed deal, why not, for now - 11 months away from Election Day - publicly toy with the idea of delay? [Vote for me so I can finish this deal!]. That's the way he thinks.
61
@minimum Finally, someone who gets it.
5
@minimum
Yes indeed, but if the markets do crash between now and the election, it will probably work against him more than for him.
6
@minimum Like everything, this has Trump's personal interest at the center of his decision making.
Business is slowing down for sure, economic data is pointing to a recession in the summer of 2020. Ultimately people vote their pocket book and this will cost him- no amount of dog whistles can overcome that.
7
Trump has failed to secure a trade deal with China, despite his claim that trade wars are "Good and easy to win". He's now trying to take this failure off of the table for the 2020 election campaign.
The US manufacturing sector is already in recession (defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction), largely thanks to Trump's trade wars. Farm bankruptcies are spiking. It's likely that another recession is on the horizon, and Trump wants to insulate himself from the blame, even though he'll own it.
9
And yet again....another instance of where we and the world are told that some action is close...indeed, "just a few weeks away." Remember when we were all told new healthcare legislation was only weeks away?
"Coming soon" seems to be the mantra of this president's communication strategy. It makes no difference if the prediction is based on any facts. Just say it and somehow they will believe it.
When will the other 40% realize the emperor has no clothes?
109
@Tom Q Yes, the tease for the next show is always his go to move. Remember "infrastructure week"? Me neither. He's so good at keeping expectations low. "Maybe we will or maybe we won't. It doesn't really matter to me. We'll see." His supporters expect so little of him it just doesn't matter. Pathetic.
9
@Tom Q I know this is rhetorical. never. they will die before acceptance. literally.
10
@Tom Q
yes, that is how the con works. Keep dazzling them with the future, with their ship coming in. Keep them focused on the never arriving future so they won't see what is going on today
15
So Trump declared two weeks ago that a wonderful, marvelous trade pact with China was just about completed and everyone would be happy. But now it is not and probably never was. Another lie added to the 14,000 others which declared that a wonderful, perfect health care program to replace the ACA was in the bag.
Trump supporters constantly point to things he has done for them, but where are these things? From nuclear agreements with Kin, controlling Iranian nuclear ambitions to bringing back the 'golden era' of coal mines Trump has done nothing but trash others with greater accomplishments in an attempt to glorify his own ego and distract from his ineptness.
137
@just Robert A trade war is a war after all. And deception to further your purposes is allowed. We got onshore at Normandy partly because we sent signals that the landing would be elsewhere. Not all lies are the same.
@michjas ~
Sorry, a "trade war" that is almost done, especially with China, is thousands of pages and tens of thousands of minutia.
Trump practices deception to make himself look good to himself.
1
@michjas "Not all lies are the same." No, but ones you tell to the enemy should in no way be compared favorably with lies to your own people.
Just a question: when presidential statements like this move markets in a big way, does the SEC check to ensure that large blocks of stock are not bought or sold in advance of them?
I'm assuming there are now good algorithms for detecting abnormal trade activity.
11
I sure hope so!
1
Is Trump bombing the economy because he is worried about losing the election? That is some gift for his successor.
1
"War is Peace"
Neither Trump nor Xi Jinping want a trade deal. The trade war is a peaceful way to drum up national sentiment without having to fire a single shot.
@Nick R This is not Xi’s trade war. It may benefit Xi politically but it will not benefit Trump.
3
What exactly is Trump's goal with China? He's dragging down the economy and hurting businesses for what purpose here?
Trade wars are stupid and nobody wins. In fact, everybody loses. That's the real lesson.
8
The U.S. has provided China with a marketplace for its goods which, in turn. has helped fuel China's economic growth
China has provided the U.S. with inexpensive goods which, in turn, have satisfied American consumers and kept inflation in check.
But the situation is not just about the balance of trade. It is about future global hegemony.
Trump's narrow trade perspective precludes him from seeing how China is rapidly stepping up its foreign assistance spending. While the U.S. is cutting back on such spending, Chinese is spending heavily on infrastructure and commercial projects in scores of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It is also pursuing mining and drilling projects in many countries; in effect, trying to secure the raw materials needed to sustain its economic growth.
Sound familiar? It should since it is a strategy similar to what the U.S. pursued to expand its global influence after World War Two.
8
Trump’s running amok trade war in lieu of a sane US trade strategy and policy is chaos, chaos, chaos and stupid, stupid, stupid!
The same rip-shod bludgeoning that Trump has habitually resorted to his entire adult life.
4
Is anyone more stupid than Wall Street traders who buy/sell securities based on the ramblings of an inept, over his head, clueless man child...maybe I’m wrong could be after the market rises when Trump spouts some positive nonsense about a trade deal with China, they rush out to heavily short the market sure in the knowledge that just as sure a night follows day...Trump will say something negative about the trade deal later.
7
lol. Of course he is in no rush. He needs Y2020 campaign fodder.
4
What happened? I thought trade wars were easy to win.
Could it be that the malevolent Oz and Co. were ignorant of the facts or is it really true that you can't fix stupid?
4
@Roman Oh, it's really true. Forty percent of the voting electorate have had 3 years to learn to fix themselves and.........NADA.
History's long running Mida's Touch meme will soon have an opposite to work with.
The Trump Touch, where gold turns to tin.
To wit, what kind of buffoon says things like this:
“I have no deadline, no. In some ways, I think it’s better to wait until after the election if you want to know the truth. But I’m not going to say that, I just think that.”
Pure Stupid.
In other words, our wannabe Emperor is naked.
7
@Rob
I like your comment but tin has economic value. I wouldn't give him that much credit. Maybe something softer......?
1
“In some ways I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal.”
He added: “But they want to make a deal now, and we’ll see whether or not the deal’s going to be right, it’s got to be right.”
Sure- He hasn't accomplished "boo", with every week a new deal/no deal ultimatum to someone, be they China, N. Korea, Europe, Brazil, etc, with nothing but wind from a gas bag the result.
If he holds till near the elections, this way he gets to punish whoever he deems disloyal: If China doesn't sign a for them crippling deal now and he wins the election, he'll hold a gun to their heads.
If he loses the election, as punishment to the "disloyal Public" who recently voted him out, he gives China a sweetheart deal that we'll be paying for the rest of our lives.
Gun to our heads.
Note the similarities? It's the "gun to the head" part.
It the art of the deal in the gospel according to trump- diplomacy at the end of a barrel. It's not supposed to be that way....
So much winning(?)......
3
@peter: yes,
that is exactly how the bully plays...
The Trump administration has no ultimate strategy - no aims, no goals - in conducting their various worldwide trade wars. Kudlow, Navarro and Lighthizer are all rank amateurs, without academic acumen or proven success in finance or trade.
Trump is himself a vacant bubble. He acts like a spoiled child in a very large toy store, playing with all the floor samples, leaving a mess behind him, without ever knowing what he wants. Charlie Chaplinesque. Unendurable. Embarrassing. Sad.
8
Just another reason.....
Vote Blue.
No Matter Who.
2020
13
Trump is treating the trade talks--indeed, as he treats everything--as a soap opera, offering a teaser to keep you coming back for the next installment of his TV drama. That may work for a television audience, and for Trump's gullible followers. But China is smarter than that, and it could shut him and his trade talks down in time for the next election. And that would effectively write main character of this soap opera---Trump---right out of the script.
65
Our intellectually challenged President said that winning trade wars is easy. Well he has failed again. For someone who can’t see past the end of his nose it is amazing how foolishly self satisfied he can be with his idiotic decisions.
6
In BRICS meeting last month, China has signed s significant contract with Brazil for their agricultural products. The world is moving on without Trump , he is still waiting for his imaginary " Trade war is good, it is easy to win " deal.
10
While he's at it, I'm sure there is a bridge he can sell me...
2
No. He will announce a deal just before the elections. He will says it is the greatest deal ever, no matter who gets hurt.
7
This guy just doesn’t know when to stop shooting himself in the foot, does he? How is this going to play with his base that’s already been hard hit by his tariffs so far?
Whatever the cost, I say: Keep shooting yourself in the foot, Donnie boy- keep shooting yourself in the foot… all the way to November 2020.
8
Who is shorting the market, and making a killing based on Trump’s market manipulation? I suspected this from early days, and since then it has happened with regularity. I have to hope this is under the microscope.
5
It would be more acceptable if dear leader could provide some cogent details of what he means by a good deal. It’s always vague nonsense about the “right deal”, “good for us”, “ puts America first “. Never what it is he is asking from our trading partners. The worst part is that once he sees market reaction, he will tweet tomorrow that a deal is very near, and markets will jump up. It doesn’t give much confidence in the brilliant investment firms jumping at every idiotic tweet from the don.
6
@Steve B - He has NO idea! (but you already knew that)
Until Trump and his greedy family give a full accounting of their finances, we have to assume that they are shorting the market for their own personal gain.
Is maintaining white supremacy so important for the Evangelical bigots of the GOP that they’ll turn a blind eye to this corruption?
6
Trump's comment is merely a cheap attempt to sell the "vote for me to keep the hot economy going" argument.
The man is utterly ignorant about global economics or running a business for that matter. Worse, he is a major destabilizing factor. Executives once spoke of "clarity" -- the ability to make reasonable, actionable forecasts. That notion is shot to heck with Trump.
Investors, please get rid of this nightmare and vote him out of office.
5
China is playing the long game. Trump is a day trader.
7
There must be some kind of stock market scam he has going because normal people are losing a lot of money. Republicans can't like seeing their money disappear in this pre-Christmas crash. He is the worst negotiator in history. America loses with his knee-jerk trade wars and tariffs.
6
Shocked, I’m shocked.
1
So Trump's been lying to the US for the last few weeks?
EVERY DAY he has tweeted that a China deal was "close"....
Does ANYONE think that Trump's super supporters like Hannity and Limbaugh weren't "in" on this development yesterday and today? (SHorting the market).
WHY isn't the SEC investigating?
Remember when Trump said he wouldn't touch Social Security and Medicare???
Anyone who beleives this predicate liar about anything after this long in office better beware.
Actually, although I am not a conspiracy nut, I think Trump knows where the large 401K/IRAs are in this country ( the wealthy Democrat controlled coastal states) and this is his way of breaking it off right before the end of the year.....everyone can watch thier balances drop sharply by Dec 31.....How dare you try to impeach me????
What do his red state supporters care? They will look at it as Trump "being tough" and the blue states wealthy people getting it bent off.....meanwhile, farmers will sit back and collect more Welfare for their rotting beans and corn.
The guy is SUCH a liar.
7
time for short selling....
1
Manipulating the markets yet again for the personal benefit of his family and friends since they know what he's going to do before anyone else. That's all he's doing.
Still waiting for the NYT to investigate and write about how much money his family has made since he took office and how they made it. Government payments to his golf resorts alone are probably a million dollars or more. Housing and feeding his entourage every weekend isn't cheap. Neither is flying them there. Those figures can be FOIAed.
In the meantime, let's have some more adoring articles about Ivanka and Melania. Their fashion battles are important news!
6
Great! Couldn’t ask for more Rep support when they drive the economy into the toilet all for the sake of a Dem win.
1
Just was thinking....Trade wars are good because it is easy to win....Oh...no I have already won the trade war...or wait..what war...My good fried Xi has promised a wonderful deal...no no...it is me who should be promising the deal.
Now thank you...This sentence is the longest I can form without tripping up. Rest clarify with Rudy.
2
Hey, all you farmers who support Trump: Do you finally see that he doesn’t care about you and never did?
5
Mr. Trump is a bitter, unhappy egomaniac. He will do his best to be a cloud above the holidays. He is spoiled and a spoiler. He is best ignored and not engaged. The next year can not go quick enough for me. I avoid reading my NYTimes. Not watching the news. He is such a child he must always always always have the attention; much like a two year old. Given to tantrums. Expect our markets to be rocked by the Infant Terrible currently in our White House occupant.
4
Taking the long term position on anything is the nanosecond day trader’s worst nightmare, obviously. Poor babies hunched over their iPhones in the early morning hours at Starbucks.
Trump does these outrageous things to see if he can get away with bullying everyone.
And no one will stop him.
His Republican Congress is just as evil as he is.
5
My goodness are those trade wars easy to win!
The Chinese have Trump over the barrel and they are not letting him get away. They have no reason to give in and give Trump a victory before the election. So they only offer him a NAFTA2 style deal where he gets almost nothing. However, this close to the election his democratic opponent would have a ball with such a failure. He seems to be betting that the harm to our economy from his failed trade wars will not be sufficiently obvious to hurt him in the election.
45
@Ivan As long as Trump's supporters believe him when he says that China is paying the tariffs and not Americans, he'll have his base with him. Somehow it works in Trump World even with $12 billion and counting paid out to farmers by the government. Who knew there were so many gullible people in the U.S.?
11
@Ivan China is also mad at Trump for the US support of Hong Kong so I doubt they are in any hurry to come to the table and talk trade. Perhaps they will be the next country to interfere in our Presidential election to help the democrats.
4
@Ivan
re "He seems to be betting that the harm to our economy from his failed trade wars will not be sufficiently obvious to hurt him in the election."
This one thing trump is conceivably right about. There
are enough ardent GOP trump supporters totally oblivious to the damage he is doing that a kind of public malaise about these developments seems to have settled in. Sadly , this only emboldens GOP senators to sense that they can turn a blind eye to presidential malfeasance with impunity even if it reaches within the realm of outright treason.
9
Couldn't we all have seen this coming? My money is that he does a deal in October, right before the election. The business press will trumpet his prowess and the stock market will soar. Trump is using China as he uses everything else - to get him reelected. A "victory" closer to the election would be a big campaign boost.
4
Trump has no deadline for a deal, which is a good thing because he has no plan for how to obtain one.
Back in the day, this is right about where Fred would buy $1 million in chips from his son's casino, or something like that. Not happening now.
3
Once again Trump runs his "pump and dump" scheme so his friends can benefit with high speed trades in the stock market.I just know...in a week or two...Trump will say he's close to a deal and the fickle stock market will shoot up on the news.Trump's deliberate waffling on the issue has made a lot of people a lot of money.This guy,with his contradictory statements,has become the best predictor of how the stock market will act...at least in the short run.
9
I recall somebody saying, in his boasting way, "Trade wars are easy to win". But that has been a while back.
4
Was America a better and stronger country before the advent of free trade with China? I think not.
Free trade with China in the pursuit of cheaper consumer goods is a mixed blessing at best.
But if the majority want free trade so they can buy cheaper toasters, then surely they won't object if more cheap labour is contracted abroad to reduce their wages, or abolish their jobs.
2
@Michael
Sorry for the typo. I meant to write "I think yes."
Those trade "talks" are part of a pattern. That pattern is extortion. Trump always acts like a mobster, creating leverage, and then using it.
First, start the trade war. Threaten the global economy, which leads to fallout in the US economy. Play to your base on anti-china, and when you hurt them, bail them out (see farmers.) Break up global supply chains, and lie to the other part of your base (the manufacturing sector) that you are helping bring back jobs, when in fact (see PA WI and a few other states) you are creating a manufacturing recession. Ramp up business uncertainty and undermine investment. Throw tax cuts and deregulation to your corporate base, but undermine the stock market.
Then you've set up your next extortion, the Fed. Get them to bail out stocks, and allow you to keep playing your idiotic trade game. The stock market volatility game is just pure insider trading grift, allowing you and your Republican henchmen (some who have already been convicted ) to take advantage of how each trade statement swings markets.
The next time markets take a hit (like, after the recent tariff threats), you rinse and repeat. Get the market to new highs, but keep the ups and downs going, because each down helps you extort the Fed more. When you run out of Fed extortion, you talk up middle class tax cuts. Game the system for re-election, because the trade war is also a distraction from impeachment. In the end, it's all about $ and re-election, to simply stay out of jail.
4
One might assume he had his people short the market in advance of making this comment.
2
@MF ... Without a Doubt!!
1
He is short the market again with his buddies.
1
What?! Has China not investigated the Bidens yet? Shame on them.
Is this another version of "keep me in office"....or else?
1
Reality: There is no plan, and there never has been. Yet another lie. The lie count now exceeds the DJIA. Incredibly Wall Street believes whatever blather and lies spewed and tweeted by the Con Artist in Chief. Wall Street, wake up and do what you do best: punish the bad news that you weren't delusionally expecting. Dow down 12000 points in after hours trading!
Gee, what a surprise.
The spoiled little rich kid throws his Temper Tantrum, and then walks away and leaves it for somebody else to clean up his mess.
3
How many Republicans got a heads up on Trump's announcement and shorted the market yesterday? This is ridiculous.
6
“The only way I’m gonna solve this problem I created is if you re-elect me to solve this problem I created.”
I believe this is what’s known as a “protection racket,” yes?
4
Trump previously lied to boost the Dow. Shocking I know.
2
Face it red states. Trump is a failure. He doesn’t negotiate or talk. He demands and threatens. Nobody responds well to that. The other side will always hold resentment in that form of bribery and extortion. Trump is a mobster, not a statesman. Every moment he remains in office our national security is at risk.
4
Trade with China is slow suicide. Chinese are using your WTO money to build its USA spy network, its military, fund human rights abuses, bribe officials in industry, academia, and government. In 1939, part of the EL train was naively sold to Japan which then used it for ammo against Americans, as ee cummings pointed out. Anyone who has lived and worked in China as I have could have told the Democrats in 1999 who sponsored China into the WTO that China would use the money to destroy the US and mimic 1930s Japan. Wake up people. Any politician who waves a paper saying “I have secured honest trade with the Chinese in our time” is a modern day Neville Chamberlain.
2
Trump has been using the stock market to create 'crises' that don't exist, so he can then heroically 'save' the day by ostensibly 're-establishing' a phony deal that was never meant to happen in the first place. And the savvy Chinese know it. He's playing dirty NYC real-estate games with global markets for his own demented and narcissistic motives. Very reckless and very dangerous.
3
If trump didn’t control SEC they would investigate his insider trading.
2
Here in Seoul, business is pretty gloomy right now and is still shrinking. Exports are down by 14.3% from the past year for a sixth straight double-digit decline. This is due to the ongoing tariff war Trump is waging and yet he wants Seoul to suddenly increase their defense cost-sharing by around 400-percent.
Who is going to defend South Korea's economy against Trump?
2
Poorly written first sentence. Rewrite as follows:
"President Trump signaled on Tuesday that he was in no rush to end a long trade war with China, suggesting that he could wait until after the 2020 presidential election to strike a deal, WHICH SENT stock prices tumbling".
1
"Trade wars are good and easy to win." - Donald Trump 642 days ago. At some point DJT will make a meaningless, weak deal with China and then claim a victory that nobody except his feckless devotees will believe.
3
Everytime he opens his mouth about China the stock market either goes up or down, Don't tell me that he or people around him are not taking advantage of this. There is no need to make all these public statements other than to manipulate the markets.
3
If Martha Stewart got busted for her insider trading so should Trump, his family, and associates who are all in on the game. SEC do your work!
6
Another President will help make that choice.
"We'll see what happens."
The coda to just about every policy matter our flip-flopper-in-chief touches.
Translation: I've got no plan or idea what I'm doing, but will con the American public that I do.
5
Trump lying once again. China has him backed into a corner. The greatest negotiator has to make a deal before the 2020 election and China knows it. He will “give away the farm” in a pathetic attempt to get re-elected.
4
Trump is playing a long game, which is exactly what he should be doing with China. He is stressing China like no other US president has. Long overdue.
Quite frankly, watching the market react every time Trump mentions China is getting tedious. Makes them look like reactive fools.
9
@AACNY I’ll grant you this, anyone who trusts the current occupant of the Withe House to keep his word certainly looks like a fool.
49
Trump doesn’t have a long game. He just flexes the power of his office to show he is in charge. Trump is a terrible negotiator.
47
@AACNY
The only long game Trump ever heard of involves golf. I have no doubt these trade comments are self-serving and we'd know that if he'd disclose his tax returns.
44
trump doesn't warn, instead, he "tests" sentiment for an action he plans on taking. trump is chumming the waters for more pain ahead.
Steel tariffs against Brazil and Venezuela? It's Retaliation against Brazil for their ramping up soybean production to take the place of China purchasing U.S. soybeans, hurting our farmers. It isn't China or Brazil hurting our farmers, it's trump's ill designed or planned trade war.
Meanwhile, trump enjoys issuing tweets because he gets a thrill from seeing the markets roil on his words that he would have you believe is his 'policy.'
So much winning....
4
Excuse me, but how many crying wolf moments does Wall Street need to get from Trump to know that his words mean absolutely nothing? Trump said he was close to a deal with China, MULTIPLE TIMES in the past three years. and EACH TIME, the market responded favorably basing on his words. This feud with China will never end well. China will rather burn the whole world down than to give an inch. We all know that. Please stop saying this president is good for business.
3
Ok...so what stocks just went on a fire sale for his company and friends to gobble up? He's been doing this artful market dance for 3 years now and you know day traders are hedging the market based on this "pattern" and making money.
4
Every time Trump makes one of his statements, it makes me wonder who's shorting the stock market and who's cleaning up.
8
This is my guess:
There have been many tweet crashes and rebounds for no good reason. The market is catching on (and the other readers) . Trump will stop playing with China. He will switch to our allies and S. America and continue the tweet crashes and subsequent rebounds. A small deal with China will happen. Tariffs will postponed for China. Markets will continue oscillating.
I believe Trump does this on purpose to show how powerful he is. Just think in one more year this will be all over.
4
@Carl It had better be. I can't even wait that long.
2
Let's just assume, for the moment, that t is correct in placing tariffs on imported good from China. Most would admit that there have been serious abuses. So, then, the question must be asked, is the cure worse than the disease? There are multiple signs of slowdown in the economy. Is the GDP slowing enough that a recession may occur?
We do not know the future, but there are enough signs to worry. So, let me ask the question again: Is the cure worse than the disease?
4
I wonder if he does this on purpose so that he and his friends can make a bundle on the stock market - short selling before he says something like this, and buying just before he announces that he just might, perhaps (maybe), make a trade deal after all?
22
I doubt that he’s smart enough but that is a truly fascinating theory.
Determined to impose more taxes on the American public while he claims china is paying the tariff. Has to make up for some of his self-imposed budget deficit somehow.
I remember the deficit hawks on the right who defended not giving obama a tax cut because "we couldn't afford it." Obama's would have gone to the ordinary joe who would spend it and it'd go to boosting gdp. But somehow we can afford a tax cut to those who won't spend it. The rich will simply hoard it, big business won't expand production because they can't sell any more than they have capability to produce already. But trump gets himself a big raise through his own personal tax savings, which is all that really matters to him
What a mess.
8
And watch - later this week he'll announce progress in trade talks and markets will soar. Just another monthly market manipulation to make a few more $M for those in the know...
16
China trade reality tv cliffhanger season.....wait, is it season 8 or season 9 cliffhanger?
Sigh.....the late, once great, United States of America. Thanks, it was awesome.
9
I guess trump and his pals needed cash to buy Ferrari's as Christmas gifts, so trump tweets chaos, the stock market drops, his pals move in to buy at lower prices, and voila, the stock prices rise and a profit is made.
It's unnerving when the president can manipulate public policy and national security for his own personal profit. There ought to be a law.
Meanwhile, trump nation will be howling in the aisles at Walmart and on Google when 99% of the goods there double in price just in time for Xmas shopping.
12
@Zeke27
'Meanwhile, trump nation will be howling in the aisles at Walmart and on Google when 99% of the goods there double in price just in time for Xmas shopping.'
Man, I hope so.
True meaning: trump has no exit strategy. he’s gotten everything up-ended, and never had any idea how to move forward. Consequently, all the wheels spin with no movement out of this “good, easy to win” trade fiasco.
This is the summation of all of trump’s administration’s so-called policies: disaster.
27
Keep a tough line on China. The US should not be eager to make quick deals with a communist authoritarian government that takes advantage of the rules.
2
@Marcin - Too funny when you look at all of the dictators Trump is cozying up to.
4
@Marcin
And all criticism of Trump's toughness on China should be taken with a grain of salt. They hate him even more because he's right.
1
@ Marcin-
A communist authoritarian regime? You mean, like Russia?
3
Of course the markets plunged. Instead of behaving like toddlers who REACT to good or bad news in an irrational way, it would be short of a miracle for the players involved to actually reason and unhitch themselves from this wagon to possible recession that Trump has them on. Yet, it is characteristic of major shareholders to "think" as they do. Greed has an insidious way of overtaking one's ability use those gray cells. So, dear farmers and manufacturers who refuse to see your president for who he is, what say you now? More to the point, will you cast your vote for your man in 2020? Most likely the answer is a resounding yes. Will this nation ever learn?
7
Market manipulation. Three years to get a deal done? Please.
25
Trump can whip the stock market up and down with his tweets about China and the Middle East. I'd like to see a record of his family and associates' stock trades the day before his tweets.
57
@D His family and backers are probably gaming the market!
3
@Doug Thompson Indeed. The game is rigged.
3
he's obviously manipulating the markets for the benefit of person or persons unknown-- is there anyone looking into this?-anyone?
41
At some point the markets will realize Trump isn't likely to make a deal just because *they* all think that would be rational behavior.
Then the markets may realize that Trump cannot be counted on to behave rationally *at all."
Then the markets may notice that he is being advised by people like Ross, Mnuchin, Navarro, and Kudlow.
Then the markets may notice that he can't be trusted to listen to the Fed or to any of the other people normally called upon to shepherd the global economy. (Or even to understand what they're telling him.)
Then the markets may reflect upon what would happen if Trump's still "in charge" during the next global financial crisis.
Then... watch out below.
10
Nothings going to happen with China. Trump more or less said that at a NATO sitdown a few moments ago. He stated, and I strongly recommend you sit down for this whopper, with a straight face he doesn't care or look at the DOW, he is only interested in jobs. Great and unmatched wisdom, indeed.
8
@RNS
He is right. He is only interested in jobs: his own and the jobs of his flunkies. Once he loses his presidential immunity and Barr can no longer protect him, he will be indicted. He will manipulate every public and private lever within reach and use our tax dollars for his campaign to stay in power.
3
As Trump manipulates the markets again for host, and people like Bloomberg's, benefit, he is playing the McConnell "will of the people" card. HE is willing to create almost 13 months of financial uncertainty and expects to be re-elected. His warped goal, to cut an immediate deal with China, before he crashes the world economy.
The problem, with this strategy, is that the 99% are seeing their 401ks and IRAs shrink. Now they have financial insecurity, which means they will pull back from buying holiday gifts. The retail industry will have a bad time of it. As prices jump, in the next few weeks, consumer will pull back further, and they will stop buying big ticket items. Then, the layoff will begin, starting with retail and manufacturing. Then companies will stop buying items like computers and computer services. The IT industry will be hit next. And the cascade will gain steam., creating even more layoffs and more uncertainty. Oh, I forgot, after a lousy harvest, and tariffs, many farmers will just give up and walk away. Creating a depression in teh agriculture industry.
By the time the summer rolls around, the US will be on the edge of a recession, if not in one. The rest of the world will be solidly in one.
But, "the Chosen One" will save us all, come 2021.
They say one man cannot create a recession; Trump is doing his darn best to accomplish this feat.
16
@Nick Metrowsky it wouldn't be a Republican Presidency if it didn't end with a recession. They have had the same playbook for years. Cut taxes for the rich to create a budget shortfall. Increase military spending by borrowing money. Then say that the only way to cut the budget shortfall is by cutting welfare programs. Literally every Republican President since Nixon has sent America in recession within 4 years of being in office.
25
I assume we will be hearing the "I alone can fix it." refrain during the election.
19
@jfpieters Trump alone ... can fix Trump.
Wall Street is irrational in the best of times; but to be relying on Donald Trump negotiating a meaningful trade deal with China is madness. Even if China agreed to Trump's terms, the terms would change in a NY minute and Trump, as he always does, would declare the contract void for some imaginary reason; China knows this.
The stock market has been living on borrowed time since Trump was elected. It is far past time for a dose of reality.
25
We now learn that not even 'phases' are easy to win.
10
Hard to read this. It literally could be him manipulating the markets to not being close at all to him making up random stuff (or of course a million other things). The only reality I can see is from China's perspective. China knows if Trump is re-elected that they lose all their leverage as they is no 3rd term but they also know the economy, while not the major driver of the 2020 election is important if it declines significantly. China also knows however that any deal that is made with China could be immediately rescinded as he has done in South America. If I was China I would stick with position of rolling back tariffs betting that Trump getting an election win is more important to Trump than it is to China. I honestly think there is no master plan and if I was a betting man that is where I would put my money. Better to look to China for whether a trade deal is likely rather than Trump as they likely have for months have their bottom line firmly defined and communicated as their delegates can't just make off the cuff deals.
13
Translation: Trump is light-years from the dealmaker his supporters believe he is.
You don't toy with trade deals based on an election a year from now. He's lying that China wants a deal and that he's the one choosing when to sign it. He simply can't get one done.
102
@mark - I agree. He is definitely manipulating the market. Those who buy low and time it right before Dec. 15th will definitely earn a pretty penny. Again, he will gloss over his lack of progress and puff himself up to look like someone who actually penned "The Art of the Deal" when it was his ghostwriter all along. This facade is Trump's MO - all hat, no cattle. Sad!
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all
6
@mark Absolutely correct. The Chinese people are more willing to tolerate hard times than we soft Americans. They'll never agree to doing a deal with Trump, no matter what if he continues to take a hard line. Eventually, sooner rather than later, when he sees the stock market fall, he'll give in and declare victory. But, as usual, it'll be a sham.
6
Let Trump's "trade wars are good and easy to win" garbage be a lesson to every Republican in the future who even thinks about imposing tariffs on our friends and enemies alike. Tariffs are a losing proposition, period, as Larry Kudlow, Kevin Hassett, Peter Navarro and all of Trump's other know-nothing "economic advisors" have refused to acknowledge.
We will never change the minds of Trump supporters, but the next time one of them says to you: "Trump has been so successful economically and is such a great businessman," please respond: "Really? Like his trade wars? OK, tell me in what way those have been successful. Because from what I've read and heard, our country has gained exactly zero from his trade wars, which have hurt broad swaths of our economy -- like soy farmers, distillers, the U.S. automotive industry, and tech (Huawei is now producing its smartphones without any U.S. parts). So please, what facts support your statement?"
Needless to say, you will not be enlightened. Nor will you have changed that person's mind. But the encounter might make you feel a little better, knowing you didn't let that person get away with spewing falsehoods.
32
There has been a consistent pattern here and it seems to me that it should bear investigation, if not by the current corrupt DoJ then by some other authority.
Trump says a trade deal is imminent and the stock market goes up. Coincidence? Hardly. How much do you want to bet that he and his children made a bundle in that situation?
Now, Trump babbles about a delay in trade dealing with China. The stock market is down (as of now) almost 400 points (DJIA).
Can you actually tell me with a straight face that this is not complete stock market manipulation? Do you REALLY think that -- somehow or via someone -- he hasn't shorted stocks?
If his endless prattling about trade deals and trade wars have no connection to the stock market's gyrations and have nothing to do with Trump and his proxies investment strategies, you are hopelessly naive.
77
@Marcy Thank you. Anyone who is not a major player in the "market" will lose and lose big. The house is rigged my friends and a rigged house always wins.
20
@Marcy
I completely agree. I made the same remark about a month ago concerning that latest `we're almost there' comment.
I suspect that if bloggers have hit on this, so has the SEC.
Let's hope.
19
@Marcy I wouldn't bet against it but at the same time it is difficult to believe as well and not even sure how you would prove it. Insider trading is one thing but not even sure there are laws that cover this sort of thing.
1
Trump the chump seems to think that nobody else can see that a trade war hurts everyone, including the U.S. We are going to see the recovery stagnate if this persists. There is not enough momentum in our domestic economic expansion to absorb the costs from the tariffs without raising costs enough to stifle demand.
8
The tariff scam is Trump's way to manipulate the markets for his own political and financial gain. The base is too angry and full of hate to recognize it.
22
Translation:
“I, the Chosen One, will continue to manipulate the stock market to my personal benefit while I make America’s farmers suffer and all Americans pay higher prices on imports due to the tariffs that I have, in my great and unmatched wisdom, placed on Chinese goods. All hail the free market!”
47
@Matt Attack
And nobody gets to drink french wine either!!
2
So, now I'm confused. Didn't Trump tell us a few weeks ago that he and the Chinese had agreed "in principle" about a trade deal? And didn't he tell us a few days ago that they were "close to a deal?"
Oh wait a second.... Doesn't Trump end every pronouncement with something like: "Maybe it will, or maybe it won't. We'll have to see what happens."
Yup, no I understand it all very clearly:
- Trump really has no clue about anything he does.
- He just makes up stuff to announce on Twitter.
- He constantly contradicts himself so that no one can ever accuse him of being wrong.
- His modus operandi is to sow chaos, then swoop in for table scraps.
- And when it's all over, things end up worse than when he started; but because they're marginally better than during the chaos he caused, he calls it "a big win."
Perhaps this was an OK way for him to run his business; after all, he always had bankruptcy as a tool to clean up his messes. But it's not an OK way to run our country.
And yet the entire Republican Party and 40% of our citizens don't care; they still see him as their savior.
Who cares if we have to pay more for our shoes and our TVs? Who cares if he's putting our farmers out of business? Who cares if he's alienating all of our allies and trading partners? At least we're building a wall so that we no longer have to keep asylum-seekers in cages!
20
@Paul-A It's like the "finishing touches" he was putting on his healthcare plan that was going to replace Obmaacare and give us all phenomenal insurance at lower cost.
In January of 2017.
5
Someone told me trade wars are easy to win. So what's the problem?
10
@www Don't worry, Mexico is going to pay for the trade war!
2
Trump is again manipulating market. He tips off cronies in advance. In a few days to a week he will move back the other way and say he hopes to get a deal by end of year or in January again letting key cronies know what is coming. Insider trading over and over again.
24
There was no deal, there is no deal, and there likely never will be a deal. Go team!
11
You'll be watching from the sidelines in 2020, Trump.
And if the GOP in Congress had an ounce of integrity, you would be watching before then.
11
I’m not the smartest guy in the world but I just heard the clown say that if anyone is going to take advantage of American business it wasn’t going to be anyone else. It would be him? I’m not in business anymore but if I had a multinational company I’d take that statement to heart.
8
It is absolute insanity for him to suggest that making a deal is up to him. The cherry on top is that his statements read like a first grade report on a "Sweet Pickles" book.
11
Trump's ego-driven negotiating techniques are unfathomable - other than being a reflection of an insecure, under-developed, second rate man-child brain. Hither and yon he goes, blustering and bullying, making it up as he goes along, unable to control his yapping, all with no apparent end in mind. He's just happy to be upsetting the apple cart at every turn, delighting in people's bewilderment and discomfort. Boy, is he one tough customer, depositing a gratuitous lump of coal in everyone's Christmas stocking. Happy holidays, Don - you (and your besotted admirers) have truly brought back the almost extinct (courtesy of you-know-who) spirit of the season.
6
TRUMP LIES. He is now making his insane trade wars political, focusing on the 2020 election. Either he plans to hold this country hostage (if we don't re-elect him he will not finish negotiations and, of course, "no one else can") or, more probably, his past lies about "great progress" are just that and he has lost control of this insanity.
Either way, and for whatever reason, we continue to have to support our farmers (and other sectors) with BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars while our Treasury takes in too little to support our domestic program needs due to the moron's tax cut for the rich. Our out-of-control national debt will; have to be repaid by our children - not likely possible. Our Stock Markets will crash due to instability and overwhelming chaos.
Are YOU getting it yet? Trump is playing fast and loose with OUR country in order to support HIS buddies and destabilize this Democracy for Putin. As he cuts every necessary domestic program (and steals money from the military for his insane "Great Wall of Trump") while blackmailing foreign governments for his political advantage, Republicans are doing nothing, or worse. They are in it together, and they will end us unless we throw THEM under the bus very soon.
29
I have never seen so much dumb money in the market in my 40 years. None of the corporate stockholders are paying attention to Trump. All this ups and downs on dumb trade deal rumors - who is buying and selling on these tweets? It's dumb money.
Of course Trump isn't going to get a deal! He's insisting on the Chinese government ITSELF buying billions of dollars of vegetables! About this stuff, he's a child and he's totally open about it. It's right in your face! How is that a deal for China? They can already get vegetables somewhere else, and Trump has already saved their tech companies. They walk away and get what they want.
No amount of Senate golfing with Trump is going to bring back all the bankrupted farms. They're done and they're on the auction block and the rich get richer. It's not an accident. Who gets hurt the most by Trump's new steel tariffs (farmers buying implements)? Who cashes in (big ag can afford it)? How does anyone benefit (Citizens United)?
Trump isn't doing deals, he campaigns on doing deals. Just like Republicans campaign on jobs that never get created and never pay well. "Just help the rich a little more and they'd love to lose money by hiring you, sure they would, honey..." Sure thing.
9
@mjw I don't know about "dumb money" but I wouldn't be surprised that alot of the shorts action that occurs around the OrangeOne's tweets is Russian oligarch money. It probably is Trump's way of paying off his massive Russian debts.
Why is the SEC not investigating these market swings that his comments trigger? Billions are being made off these "spontaneous" outbursts.
20
Trump said the China trade war would be short.
4
“Right after Infrastructure Week”, he added
6
Trump isn’t interested in his trade wars because they involve trade. His interest is in stock market manipulation. His waxing and waning bumps the market up and down. Who, may we ask, has prior knowledge of these forays?
28
When the starting point of a report is what President Trump said he had said, it is a bad start. Why not just say the President still is making it up as he goes along?
8
Donald Trump is destroying the American economy and pushing other nations into one big camp: the wary of doing business with the U.S. camp. That is not obvious to many Americans yet because Trump inherited a growing economy, a relatively low federal deficit, and has had unprecedented, low interest rates set by the Fed. Now we have a giant federal deficit and businesses struggling with trade impacts. Whoever wins the 2020 Presidential election will be left in a very difficult position.
19
I have a feeling he's trying to threaten our relative stability, this acting as the carrot.
I suddenly fear that if/when Trump loses, he is going to do as much damage as he can before he's forced out, and then Republicans will use the long recovery process as a sign that Democrats wrecked the economy.
19
@Connor
This is a play we have seen over and over. "T" is successfully claiming the credit for Obama's saving us from Bushie's Great Recession.
1
@Connor
Expect a lot of shredding of documents in the White House and elsewhere.
1
China plays a long game. Trump plays very short. He can’t outmaneuver them, regardless how he tries to convince his supporters, who understand nothing of trade anyway. It’s all for show, he won’t hold up. Supporters won’t care, will accept whatever line he feeds them. Not sure what the point is other than for some self-gratification since he can’t stop talking (wish he would).
12
..and once again, we sincerely thank that long ago congress that limited presidential terms to 2. Otherwise, this mistake might go on and on ad nauseam, with Trump changing his "mind" daily so the impasse could last until he goes to meet his maker.
6
Here we go again. The market moves up on the hopes of a trade deal with China and then Trump makes negative comments and the market plummets. Is there anyone at the SEC tracking the major short sellers? I can't believe that some of the big players like the hedge funds aren't getting tipped and making millions for themselves and, who knows, the Trump cartel.
35
Trump controls SEC
1
As usual Trump is obsessed with the wrong objective. Instead of focusing on the trade gap Trump should be focusing on the education gap for therein lies the future. As reported in Bloomberg recently China’s youth score much higher in math and reading than their counterparts in the US and other OECD nations. China is also producing many more post-graduate scientists and engineers than their economic rivals. If the US hopes to have any chance of staying abreast with China economically we better wake up to this reality.
11
@Peabody Education you must be kidding, that is the death knell of the republican party.
2
@Peabody --USA placed 29'TH in universal educational testing--29"TH! Singapore was 1'st, Canada 7'th etc.
1
There is a lot of money to be made manipulating the stock market. Anything Trump says about a trade deal causes markets to swing by hundreds of points. Someone is making big profits. There is no other good explanation for Trump's continual flip-flopping about a trade deal with China. Follow the money.
70
What nobody seems to grasp is that making a profit off of existing wealth does not represent the creation of new wealth, it represents a redistribution of pre-existing wealth. It’s easy to destroy wealth on Wall Street but new wealth is made where new products are made and sold, not on Wall Street.
13
@Casual Observer Then why do people invest in the stock market? If I own stock and the value goes up the money I've made is real.
1
Whatever you say about Trump, he’s been able to con Americans over and over again; first, the Republicans, then the voters, now the financial markets. I’ve never understood how anyone can believe a word this man says.
20
Does anyone else feel like we are being held hostage by this man's sick pathology? It's becoming unbearable on a daily basis. There's a clear message in his comments this morning. Vote for me in a year, or else.
Can we collectively file a civil lawsuit against this man for terrorizing us daily and knowingly placing our short and long term economic interests in harm's way?
35
I'm wondering whether the President is using his statements about the china trade deal to move the stock market and allow his friends and family to make money off of that. Whether in fact, the President is becoming an inside trading focus for his friends. Do they know when the President is going to make these statements? Are they trading on it?
19
@Jerry
They cannot not help themselves anymore than Facebook can help mining user data and triggering people to click with negativity for increased ad revenue.
1
I can remember when Trump said that trade wars are good, and easy to win. I also remember when many trade experts said that trade wars are easy to start and difficult to end. Once again, and for the thousandth time, it’s too bad that Trump didn't listen to the experts.
19
There he goes, manipulating the markets again. Trump's family and friends are getting rich buying short in advance of his tweets. And then buying long, knowing full well that he'll do a reversal within a week.
This is not an impeachable offense. It's a felony. SEC and NYS investigators and prosecutors, it's time to finally throw down the gauntlet. Now!
166
@Stop and Think Just read a couple of articles on this in Vanity Fair and The Hill. I think the Hill is over-complicating the manipulation and underestimating the criminality of Trump and those around him.
@Sandy Correction not The Hill but The Week.
Sigh... trump will say something completely opposite about the "trade war" with China and the rest of the world before the end of this week, if not before.
7
"Trump Warns Trade Talks With China May Last Past 2020 Election" So expect an October, 2020,surprise deal; soaring markets, etc.
6
Why would Trump have to make a deal if his supporters do not really hold him accountable? Half of them believe he has already made a deal. They certainly think that he has removed the nuclear threat of NK.
There is absolutely no accountability in this administration or its appointees. We have entered a era that you see in governments just before instability. Propaganda runs amuck. The EPA and state departments are gutted. The party with the most power gave a collective head nod to ‘pay to play’ with other countries (Ukraine). We have alienated our allies.
We are just steps from civil unrest. What would it take? Trump not vacating the Oval Office when he loses in 2020. Attorney Barr targeting citizens for Trump.
24
@Dr. Girl
Some of us already believe the DOJ along with the president are already targeting citizens. Ask Ms. Paige how comfortable she feels running a typical daily errand in public?
11
Maybe Trump doesn't want to be re-elected in 2020? Many voters who are repulsed by his behavior plan to stick with him because of the strong economy. So of course he makes threats that could hurt the economy.
1
It’s an extremely heartening sign that the stock market is having a precipitous fall today.
If this keeps up for a few more weeks, Trump will be impeached and thrown out of office in time for all of us to celebrate George Washington’s Birthday (February 17th).
Yes I know, we’ll then have Pence on our backs, but another stock market crash would insure him being damaged goods well before the November election.
7
@A. Stanton probably more than one of the cabinet members bought gold or silver last week and will dump it in a few days as both are up this morning as well
8
@A. Stanton - Pence will go down with Trump.
2
So Trump is trying to improve his bargaining position and at the same time sell himself to his base as a powerful figure. I suspect Putin is behind this - after all, Putin is making nice with China with their extended gas pipeline, it would be to his advantage to have China turn more to Russia than the US. In the end Trump will cave, as he always does, for little or nothing in return, but Russia will profit. Talk about abuse of power.....
15
Meanwhile, Mike Bloomberg notes that the farm bailout caused by the trade war already is double the Bush-Obama auto bailout of 2008=2009. CNBC says farmers are holding back on ordering new John Deere equipment out of uncertainty about the medium-term health of the economy. Hoover Institute economists are concerned about how the absence of a long-term strategy threatens America's status in Pacific economic posture. Mr. Trump seems to be betting a lot on the uncertain prospect that he'll be re-elected.
39
@DMH --US farm bankruptcies are up 24% & farmer suicides are also way up.
10
Trump has been recycling this kind of rhetoric week in and week out--"I’m doing very well on a deal with China. We’ll see what happens." Is he capable of conveying anything beyond this? Is there a method to his madness? (Most likely not)
Furthermore, contrary to what Trump thinks, the Chinese probably do not want to make a deal, since it's impossible for anyone to trust this administration anymore. Brazil, Argentina, and the Kurds found that out the hard way, and it's now no longer a possibility, but inevitable that Trump will wake up on the wrong side of the bed and tweet any agreement to smithereens.
27
How many of trump's buddies are making money in the market off his erratic trade ( policy?) ?
79
"Mr. Trump’s comments . . . cast more uncertainty on an agreement he said he had made weeks ago with China’s top trade envoy, Vice Premier Liu He." Should read "claimed to have made," because this is all flim-flam. The taxes on the American consumer are real, though, in the form of the Brazilian and Argentinian tariffs on steel, the tariffs on European products, and so on ad nauseam.
Donald Trump doesn't want to make a deal, he just wants to make headlines and play to his base. And his base lacks the insight to know that all these measures are losing jobs and raising prices.
New article impeachment: endangering the economic well-being of the American public.
20
Our need is not for a trade talk with China, but for some common sense trade talk among ourselves. Balanced trade means buying no more than we are able to sell. Grant US exporters $ trade credits that US importers must buy before releasing equivalent $ to pay for imports.
He obviously has no plan and no idea what he's doing or he'd fix what he broke it now.
Just another campaign issue for TEAM BLUE.
19
For trump everything is fine, the tariffs are his end, trump gets control over US consumers, control over US Business, he gets in the news, he gets to cause chaos by tweeting, and if any foreign companies seeking exemptions from tariffs wish to bribe trump they can just stay at his hotels.
Tariffs works just fine for trump, he can do them anytime, Otherwise he has to depend on his great negotiation skills of lying, bullying, threatening, calling people names and acting like a three year old throwing a temper tantrum.
Beside he has to play golf, taxpayers are happy to pay his tens of $ millions to play while they pay higher prices at the store for his tariffs.
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The good news is that if negotiations go beyond the 2020 elections, a reasonable Democratic President will be in office to finish up the deal.
14
According to his words Trump boasts ceaselessly of himself, according to his actions he has accomplished a tax cut, massively increased deficits, and a declining economy. All of which he wants us to belief is part of his master strategy by his nonchalant act. There are however no actions in the last 3 years that suggest confidence in Trump is warranted.
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Trump: “I don’t think it’s up to if they want to make it, it’s if I want to make it."
Well now we know China has the upper hand.
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Trump knows how to move markets. Would be surprising if his cronies aren't "in the know" about these tweets and pronouncements ahead of time.
Given that he's all in on trying to win election and a big part of his boasting is how much he has pushed the market higher, I'd be buying any dips because he will surely tweet that a China trade deal is imminent when the market sells off too much.
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Of course they are. And they are adding hugely to their illegitimate fortunes each time. Banana Republic sounds like a praise for us these days!
5
Everything Trump says is self-serving, including his comments about delaying a trade deal with China until after the 2020 elections. This is Trump's rather obvious way of trying to convince the Chinese that completing a trade deal prior to the election isn't important to him, thus hoping the Chinese (who are obviously on to Trump's childish tactics) will sense some urgency and cave to Trump's demands. In reality, the trade deal is very important to Trump now because it will impact the stock market, which we all know is extremely important to Trump's re-election bid. He reminds us nearly every day how much the market has gained since his election. Reaching a deal with the Chinese now will allow him to maintain his stance that he is good for the markets, good for our investments and that all of this will come crashing down if we fail to re-elect him. Trump's transparency and his self-serving comments are obvious to anyone who has been paying attention.
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While nobody can predict the future, the next surest thing is if right before Nov. Trump is behind in the polls, like he is now, he will make a sham trade treaty with China ie basically the status quo and declare he is the greatest president since Lincoln.
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@Paul And even if the deal isn’t made he will surely boast that if he isn’t re-elected all investors will lose money ... 401ks will become worthless and that will scare his base to the polls. We are up a certain type of creek without a paddle unless he accidentally crashes the market first. Then maybe just maybe we can get rid of him and his family
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@JD Exactly but I still say a sham treaty with China is his best way of fooling the public.
The economic crash will come, the only question is when and how bad.
Of course if it comes before the election is will all but doom him but even if the economy is still "good" at election time, the best way to beat him is to nominate a popular moderate progressive that will do well in the swing states.
Right now it's Biden but the paramount thing is to nominate the person that has the best chance of beating Trump in the polls regardless of whether you think the person is the one you like the most.
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@JD Agreed re Biden but only if three doctors deem him senile and he no longer leads Trump in the polls would I not vote for him.
If Mayor Pete, or anybody else, male, female, black, white can pull off the poll numbers that Biden enjoys then I would vote for them.
The paramount issue now is to defeat Trump.
3
Once Mr. Trump started to look into re-imposing tariffs on steel coming from Brazil and Argentina, it was clear that China deal must be in serious trouble. Obviously, he needs US farmers and union workers votes to win the 2020 election. And he won't get their votes by going back to them empty-handed.
13
Recognize this for the election ploy it is. Trump has no risk of being cited for agreeing to a bad deal if he just keeps talking about the great deal he is working on. Interim or partial agreements prior to the election will just act as release valves and to try to shore up support from swing and favored voters.
17
All the pain and for what? Years into it we have nothing but tariffs. A single man has given us all a tax hike on the things we buy everyday and turning farmers into welfare queens. Solid work (eye roll).
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@JRoebuck
"The one big risk with Cold War II would be to assume confidently that the United States is bound to win it." - from Niall Fergueson's opinion piece today - "The New Cold War? It’s With China, and It Has Already Begun.
Trump's Trade War with China has created Cold War II. Why Trump is so harmful to America is that his judgement and decisions are based on narcissism. To win re-election, he indeed will start a war - and he has.
3
Of course there is no deal, but in a few days he will say he was on the phone with China working on a deal, that is very close, and the markets will rebound.
That means more welfare for his farmers. They Better Not be going to the movies or shopping with that money.
When is our country going to wake up.
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@Rob
Yup, pure salesmanship, i.e., lies and puffery.
6
"Still, Mr. Trump said on Tuesday that he held the upper hand in trade negotiations."
I don't believe a word that comes out of this man's mouth. It's been rumored, with solid evidence I might add, that he and his cronies have been making a bundle from shorted stocks based on his whip-saw comments about the "trade deal."
Frankly, I don't think any of his grand pronouncements have had any weight, rather as a way to command attention. And the story is getting old.
If he's now going to threaten to make major decisions until after the election, he might want to be careful what he wishes for: enough economic pain to average Americans might tip the balance towards greater stability in the form of a Democratic president to subue all the chaos this man has sown since 2017.
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@christineMcM I know this’ll never happen while Mr. Trump is still in office, but I truly do wonder if someone will cross reference calls from the White House with stock market investments (or shorts).
All of these proclamations have created an environment that could foster a range of insider trading, and I’d like to know one way or the other.
Even if there are no criminal consequences, there need to be protections put in place to guard against this type of behaviour.
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@Chris Vanity Fair did an article in October about the many "mysterious" large trades that have taken place just before major Trump announcements, and the hundreds of millions in profits they have generated for each trade. Of course, Federal Trade Commissioners are appointed by the President, so they don't see anything worth investigating in these trades.
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@christineMcM
trump is just applying the McConnell principle that states that presidents can't make any decision, enact any law, nor appoint any judge in the last year of their term. Let the 2020 voters decide if we want a deal with China.
4
This is absolutely a political move. He will strike a deal when it’s politically beneficial for him, even if it’s unfavorable to the US. I predict a deal just before the election.
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@Kyle "I made a huge deal with China. The biggest deal ever. Everyone said no one could make a deal with China but I did it."
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@Kyle
If that is the case, let's hope the Chinese are smart enough to wait just one more month.
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@Kyle I think the Chinese are too smart; they'll hold out until Trump is knocked out of office and deal with the next Democratic adminstration
1
So all that trade talk (were getting real close folks, enjoy) (our farmers are going to win bigley) was just what, something to goose the stock market for his friends, family, and donors.
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@CathyK
Yep. I am amazed that the stock market reacts to anything Trump says regarding trade policy, as it is always (and I do mean ALWAYS) complete bologna.
26
@Nathan Hansard It's all built into a few algorithms that determine "the market." The market used to be the entire public market, one individual shareholder at a time, and would act as a barometer of public sentiment. Now, the only thing "the market" reflects is the built in preference of a handful of programmers. Today's "market" is a fiction.
4
Remarkable just how many deliverables Trump promised won’t materialize until after the 2020 election. Trade deals, low cost prescription drugs, healthcare reform ....
Looks like the only promises kept were to billionaires who want to pay even less in taxes.
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... Billionaires, carbon polluters, corporate lobbyists and religious misogynists.
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@Xoxarle Amen.
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@Xoxarle and God forbid he DOES get re-elected, none of these issues will materialize. He has no plans. He cannot think past his nose. His strategy?? Keep himself in the limelight as long as possible. The only things that will change if he manages to keep his job is that things will get worse. Way worse.
4