Trumponomics

Trump’s budget was outright scary. In order to pay for increasing our military spending, he wants to cut everything. As someone who wants to create jobs, he seems to forget about the massive amounts of federal employees that will lose their jibs due to the cuts.

On top of that, he argues that we have less ships than we did in the 90’s and our planes are old. I don’t even know where to start. In the 90’s, we began to decommission WWII era ships, as they had a 50 year lifespan and had outlived their purpose. A single Aircraft Carrier group could destroy most of the world’s Navy’s. Our submarines are country destroying machines. Our destroyers are just that and our carriers are not only better than any carrier on Earth, but the number of them are greater than all countries combined.

As for our planes, aside from the F-22 Raptor, and the F-35 joint strike jets that will come online soon, yes, our planes are “old”. The F-16 has been in service for decades, but is still one of the most reliable and impressive aircraft around. Not to mention that it is constantly geting upgraded. Our B-2 Spirit can destroy air defense systems and infrastructure allowing non stealth attacks, and return home without being seen. It can carry 80 conventional 500 pound bombs, or 16 2400 pound thermal nuclear bombs. That’s not even mentioning our B-52, B-1 and the B-21 which is expected to be in service by 2020.

My point, our military is just fine and the proposed cuts will hurt everyone. Our EPA is going to be gutted; even Meals on Wheels, which takes up such a small part of our GDP.

Then you have the attack on illegal immigrants and on our trade deficit. His focus on coal and manufacturing jobs is perplexing as we have moved to a service country for a reason. Those jobs are higher paying and better jobs. Who wants to make iPhones over selling and servicing them?

By deporting illegal immigrants, rather than giving them a pathway to citizenship is another head scratcher as they benefit our economy greatly. So does trade, and we have a trade deficit for a reason. We consume more than we can produce, and we benefit from trading with China and other nations. His proposed 30-40 percent tariff is a tax that we will pay for. If companies have to move back to the US, the cost of that will be paid for by us as well. None of it makes economic sense.

Trump’s plan, if approved, will destroy our economy. Things will cost to much, people will buy less, unemployment will rise leading to less purchases and so on. There is no upside to his plan and only ignorant people think everything should be made on the USA and we need more manufacturing jobs. Although with Betsy Devos, our children will probably only be able to get unskilled jobs anyways, maybe that’s his plan. The only people who will benefit from his plans and deregulations are his friends. He even said as much, saying that his friends can’t borrow money like they used too. His friends are doing fine, it’s everyone else that needs help.

Humans have traded commodities since before civilization when one clan realized that they develop one thing really well and another clan develops something else. It’s called specialization, and Trump with his nationalistic point of view can destroy that tradition. We cannot let that happen.

Trump is Great

He is great at many things. He's great at tapping into white rage (whether real or imagined), he's great at deflection, he's great at speaking for hours without saying a word and he's great at name brand recognition. Love him or hate him, his name is synonymous with luxury and success the world over. We'll never know how successful he really is, the last tax returns we know of shows a loss of 900 million dollars!

However, he is our President. It's time to start hoping he succeeds, not fails. For his failures affect us, not him. While his cabinet picks are scary and he vows to put a pro-lifer in the Supreme Court, never forget that he isn't a King, he answers to us.

Our Congress, as worthless as they might be, will be the only check on his power, but it is a major check. He will not be able to put a 35% tariff on imports without Congress. He will not be able to build a walk without Congress. While he can sign executive orders, they are limited in power. Any real changes to our laws must go through Congress with a super majority, and that is where we can make our voices heard. Call your elected officials, and call them often. They are our representatives because they represent us, not special interests and they certainly don't work for Trump.

One another note, let's also not forget to remember that Trump is also good at negotiating, a skill that is vital to the Presidency. Perhaps he can negotiate better trade deals, perhaps his ego will not allow him to fail. Perhaps he will fail (most likely), but wishing for that is wishing for your own failure.

However, his nationalistic views are very scary, as is his temperament. We rely on global trade to feed our ever growing consumer culture. Without it, the cost of goods would skyrocket. Like taxes, the costs of tariffs are passed to the consumers. This is economics 101.

Let's pretend he does pass a 35% tariff. Then what? Will companies bring back those manufacturing jobs, the call center jobs? Those jobs we lost to China, India and other nations are not jobs we want back. Ask yourself, would you rathed make an iPhone or would you rather design it, market it, sell it and service it?  Not to mention that manufacturing production in the US is at an all time high, but that's due to robotics. Never forget, though, that those robots need to be maintained, designed and built. These are the jobs that you want. So are the management and administrative jobs, but they require education, and that is where our country is struggling.

We are, and have been for years, primarily a financially centered and service country. These jobs require skills and education that so many are lacking, mostly to no fault of their own. Instead of trying to bring back horrible, low paying manufacturing jobs, we must focus on high paying skilled labor jobs. We must focus on high quality education, trade schools and making it easier to go to college. Doing so will naturally increase growth and opportunities.

We are near the natural unemployment rate with less than a quarter million people actively looking for work who can't find one. This is the lowest rate since the 70's meaning Trump has inherited a country with a strong economy, strong markets and low unemployment. Trump can easily destroy that, but my hopes are that his own ego won't allow that to happen. Of course, you have to actually read the economic reports and not think they're a comunistic plot against him, but I have to believe he will.

Instead of continuing the partisanship, we should unite, proving that we are better than they are. Peaceful protests are great, but the destruction of property and the assaulting of Trump supporters has to end. It's disgusting and it helps no one. No one should be persecuted in this country for any reason, especially just because they voted for and support someone you don't like. Grow up! You're making us all look like whiney little bitches, which most of us are not. Remember, pick up the phone and call your congressional leaders. That is by far the best approach to enacting real change. They work for us, and it is up to us to hold them to account.

Trump can attempt to silence the media, but he will fail as they are protected under the constitution that the Republicans hold so dear. He also cannot silence us, no matter how hard he tries. But so many protesters are acting like fools. This isn't good for anyone and only proves his point. It only takes a few of you to make us all look bad, and that's exactly what you are doing.

I'm a liberal. I'm afraid Trump is nowhere near qualified for office. I'm afraid of our congress. I'm afraid that he might pick up to 3 justices. But he is your President, like it or not. So start acting like an adult and deal with it like an adult would. Not through destruction, but through constant phone calls. You voice won't be heard on Facebook or Twitter, but they have to answer the phone. Inconvenience them to no end.

It is true though that so many Americans have lost everything due to globalization. The rust belt is real, and our government left them in the cold. We subsidize everything, but we couldn't help those who lost their lives due to plant closures. This has been the worst failure of the government I can think of, a government whose job it is to protect the citizens, whether it is from terrorism or economic crisis. They have dailed at the latter.

Most importantly, you can hate Trump, but denying that he is you President doesn't help. He is, and he works for us. Don't let him forget that.