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I don't see what your comment has to do with the fact that the economy was growing faster than debt when when Bush took office. Except if your point is to show how he made the budget deficit worse. Certainly, whatever hopes America might have had for some sort of permanent improvement in Afghanistan vanished when Bush pivoted to Iraq via fake claims that the Iraqis were behind 9/11. And that pivot to Iraq was very costly. Still, it was his massive tax cuts, remain a far more potent cause of the budget deficit. And now Trump is engaged in pushing for more of the same. As though the consequences of his last tax cut are immaterial.

The Headline for this should read: TRUMP GETS THE ZOMBIE VOTE! David Lynch, who directed off-kilter classics, dies at 78 January 16, 2025 https://www.npr.org/2025/01/16/nx-s1-5065737/david-lynch-dead

Your comments belong in the fiction forum.

Lots of claims of exposing corruption., The evidence they repeatedly unearth that they claim exposes corruption time and time again turns out to be nothing of the sort. So far, they've got nothing.

But the tax rate of both is above 40% of GDP

There's this simpleminded belief that the imbalance in trade of goods is due to tariffs.

What's relevant is that GDP grew at a faster rate so the debt was less of a burden. Then George W. Bush massively cut taxes twice and the debt began to rocket upwards.

You made an accusation about those who disagree with you being bots while griping about personal attacks. "Nice cherry picking of one sentence and the one-child policy only ended like in 2010, but Chinese people aren't interested in the CCP's U-turn... damage has already been done. Looks like the pro-CCP bots on here won't like the truth in that post and will deny everything... hope they are getting paid enough." "If you think that the CCP bot farms are not targeting ASEAN Now with properganda, then you are deluded. They are targeting everywhere and every online outlet from Youtube to this forum to anywhere they can try to bend opinion... paying people to do it too. How deluded some people are." It's not me being the hypocrite. As for China's economic problems. Yes, it has serious problems that someday may undo the progress it's made. But not for awhile. And has often been pointed out, it's not Xi who faces midterms.

More nonsense. Tariffs are actually very low between most of most of America's trading partners, particularly the advanced nations. Some right wingers cherry pick a few really high tariffs and make believe that these are typical. And the US does impose some hefty tariffs on things like sports utility vehicles which are the most profitable segment of the US automobile industry. It's 25%.

Deflecting much?

Rapid growth of money supply Money supply is increasing very rapidly in Japan. According to the latest money stock statistics published by the Bank of Japan, M2 has increased by 9.2 percent, and M3 by 7.6 percent, over the same month previous year. https://www.jcer.or.jp/english/covid-19-and-money-supply Also, Japans population is aging and falling. So there's less consumption to drive prices. In addition, in the wake of Covid 19 Japan subsidized a lot of consumption with payments to providers. So the inflation rate was actually higher than it appeared to be.

And that's why the world economy has shrunk to a pittance of what it once was that the average American, for one, now gets around on a horse and buggy.

Says the party who accuses of being bots those who disagree with him.. It is to laugh.

First you cite nominal figures to justify your claims for how much higher the standard of living is. Then you revert to PPP in the next paragraph. PPP is what determines standard of living. So it's 3.29 times as much. Which is not what you originally claimed.

You're right about a lot of China's weaknesses. But you're wrong about purchasing power. On a pure purchasing power basis China wins by a lot. In 2023 US GDP measured in terms of purchasing power was about 27.7 trillion. Whereas China's was 41.3 trillion. Now it's a little more complicated than that. When it comes to purchasing goods and services from abroad, that's done in nominal terms. But internally, PPP is what's relevant. And most of China's economic activity is internal despite its formidable export sector. About 81%

When the Chinese break their word it's diabolical. When Trump breaks his, his fans say it's genius.

And the reason that inflation was pretty much a worldwide phenomenon is because the Fed was printing money?

Well, maybe in relation to the dollar. But considering the tariff level of 145%, I think that's not a rational consideration. If they cash out, they could take those funds and invest in various Eurobonds or in Japanese bonds.

It may still have officially been a reserve currency, but it wasn't the reserve currency. After the war, the UK economy was in no shape to sustain sterling as the reserve currency.

You're forgetting his triumph in getting China to agree to purchase 200 billion more in goods from America...oh wait a minute...China didn't follow through on that either.

There's negotiating on the one hand, and there's reaching an actual deal on the other vs just an empty statement of intent. As Bessent himself said "There could be numerous countries, and it may not be the actual trade document, but we will have an agreement in principle and be able to move forward from there," he added. https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-house-pressed-fast-negotiations-105125985.html

Pentagon turmoil deepens: Top Hegseth aide leaves post “There is a complete meltdown in the building,” one official said. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/18/defense-secretary-chief-of-staff-joe-kasper-departure-00299508 Latest IRS acting chief ousted amid Musk vs. Bessent turf feud https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/18/latest-irs-acting-chief-ousted-just-days-after-being-named-00299117 Rubio’s firing of Marocco ignites a MAGA world meltdown When Marco Rubio fired the man in charge of dismantling USAID, he made enemies inside the MAGA movement. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/18/marco-rubio-peter-marocco-usaid-firing-00297812

The more I think about this, the more I think that this is Bessent's way of covertly signaling to other countries just to appease Trump by making an empty promise which will allow Trump to claim a win.

Or maybe he's just trying to hang on for dear life as Trump zigs and zags "After his reversal on social media, Mr. Trump’s team was put in the unenviable position of trying to spin the media that this was the plan all along, a brilliant strategy straight out of the pages of the president’s best-selling book, “The Art of the Deal.” Mr. Bessent went so far as to deny that the bond market had driven the change. When Mr. Trump came out to explain his decision on Wednesday, however, he undercut both Mr. Bessent and Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, citing the jittery market and saying he was acting “instinctively, more than anything else.” https://archive.ph/pUTmz

Well, whatever the truth of your gratuitous insult of "the entire anti-Trump brigade on Asean put together" may be, Bessent will not be negotiating against us, will he? So what's your point? This looks like just more empty hero worship.