1 hour ago, JAG said:

And screwing the United States is most definitely his job, now he is President"😄

But then he has had lots of experience at screwing things in both the physical and monetary sense.

5 minutes ago, rough diamond said:

But then he has had lots of experience at screwing things in both the physical and monetary sense.

Indeed, although as he found out to his cost, one can lead to the other.

1 minute ago, JAG said:

Absolutely, after all, what's a little ethnic cleansing, bombarding civilians and aggressive invasion when it means the invaded, bombarded and ethically cleansed country signs over it's minerals for The Don's pals to get rich on!

 

Still, I suppose it will take the pressure off Canada and Greenland for a couple of years - all hail Putin and Trump, the wise Elder Statesmen of Peace!

Got to take the rough with the smooth JAG.

 

But just imaging what it would have been like if those awful, duplicitous Dems had got back. War! War! And even more way. 

 

I like his stance of food. Make America healthy again. Just like it was when the injuns were in charge.

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

The EU is the world's largest economy. Spectacular failure?

Hows Greece going?

22 minutes ago, rough diamond said:

Or a disastrous dictator in waiting.

Says a non American manchild.

11 minutes ago, Stiddle Mump said:

Got to take the rough with the smooth JAG.

 

But just imaging what it would have been like if those awful, duplicitous Dems had got back. War! War! And even more way. 

 

I like his stance of food. Make America healthy again. Just like it was when the injuns were in charge.

https://images.app.goo.gl/WDUp5sdwf3W4AtF98

 

That picture is of slaughtered children, mortared at a crossroads whilst fleeing from the Russians.

 

"Got to take the rough with the smooth"

 

You are in a really dark place!

2 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

Hows Greece going?

Eggs are cheaper.

Just now, JAG said:

Eggs are cheaper.

How about the flight cost?

22 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

If anybody thought that Trump was was sane, I think on a daily basis he's proving this to be untrue. The man is completely unhinged, every day is a new adventure for him. Every day he continues his sabotage of the world order and diminishes the influence of America. His ignorance knows no bounds. He has no understanding of world ecosystems when it comes to globalization and he is not smart enough to be able to understand how these systems work, therefore his propaganda is always of a very simplistic nature, and reminds me of Marxism quite a bit. 

 

It’s a total mess. As the Ford Motor chief executive Jim Farley courageously (compared to other chief executives) pointed out, “Let’s be real honest: Long term, a 25 percent tariff across the Mexico and Canada borders would blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we’ve never seen.”

 

So, either Trump wants to blow that hole, or he’s bluffing, or he is clueless. If it is the latter, Trump is going to get a crash course in the hard realities of the global economy as it really is — not how he imagines it.

 

Ecosystems? Listen a bit to Beinhocker, who is also the executive director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School. In the real world, he argues, “There is no such thing as the American economy anymore that you can identify in any real, tangible way. There’s just this accounting fiction that we call U.S. G.D.P.” To be sure, he says, “There are American interests in the economy. There are American workers. There are American consumers. There are firms based in America. But there is no American economy in that isolated sense.”

 

The old days, he added, “where you made wine and I made cheese, and you had everything you needed to make wine and I had everything I needed to make cheese and so we traded with each other — which made us both better off, as Adam Smith taught — those days are long gone.” Except in Trump’s head.

 

Instead, there is a global web of commercial, manufacturing, services and trading “ecosystems,” explains Beinhocker. “There is an automobile ecosystem. There’s an A.I. ecosystem. There’s a smartphone ecosystem. There’s a drug development ecosystem. There is the chip-making ecosystem.” And the people, parts and knowledge that make up those ecosystems all move back and forth across many economies.

 

As NPR noted in a recent story about the auto industry, “carmakers have built a vast, complicated supply chain that spans North America, with parts crossing back and forth across borders throughout the auto manufacturing process. … Some parts cross borders multiple times — like, say, a wire that is manufactured in the U.S., sent to Mexico to be bundled into a group of wires, and then back to the U.S. for installation into a bigger piece of a car, like a seat.”

 

Trump just waves off all of this. He told reporters that the U.S. is not reliant on Canada. “We don’t need them to make our cars,” he said.

 

Actually, we do. And thank goodness for that. It not only enables us to make cars cheaper, but also better. All that a Model T did was get you from point to point faster than a horse, but today’s cars offer you heating and cooling and entertainment from the internet and satellites. They will navigate for you and even drive for you — and they’re much safer. When we can combine more complex knowledge and complex parts to solve complex problems, our quality of life soars.

 

But here’s the catch. You cannot make complex stuff alone anymore. It’s too complex. And if you are not part of these ecosystems, your country will not thrive.”

 

And trust is the essential ingredient that makes these ecosystems work and grow, Beinhocker adds. Trust acts as both glue and grease. It glues together bonds of cooperation, while at the same time it greases the flows of people, products, capital and ideas from one country to the next. Remove trust and the ecosystems start to collapse.

 

Trust, though, is built by good rules and healthy relationships, and Trump is trampling on both. The result: If he goes down this road, Trump will make America and the world poorer. Mr. President, do your homework.

Thank you. Just about the first intelligent & well-informed contribution on AN to the ongoing discussions about the marvels of Trumpism.

 

Having said that, I would argue that - despite the daily horrors emanating from the White House - disruption is a great constructor of New & Better.

 

Of course it may all be a total disaster for Usofa & for The West, and many others. But it does have the value - which we currently see amongst the panic-stricken Europeans, notably Germany - of forcing people to go back to basics and reconstruct their models. Much of what Trump is destroying - out of ignorance not understanding - is tired & in need of a good kick in the <deleted> to wake it up & move forward.

9 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

Hows Greece going?

Getting better, how is the UK doing since they walked out?

2 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

Getting better, how is the UK doing since they walked out?

10 years of disaster pre 2024 for Greece

Putin wants nothing more than NATO destroyed,  and the west, Europe EU & the US, to be neutered. The amazing thing he has a US president doing it all for him.

Behind Putin stands, Celestial Leader Xi, with a big grin. 



 

6 minutes ago, JAG said:

That picture is of slaughtered children, mortared at a crossroads whilst fleeing from the Russians.

 

"Got to take the rough with the smooth"

 

You are in a really dark place!

I was pleased to see The Don get in again, as the alternative was the Demoncrats.

 

If I was an American I'd have gone for Jill Stein. But! The Don is in. Not everyone is gonna like either his demeanor or his policies.

 

He is right about Canada though. They have completely lost their way. 

3 minutes ago, Dcheech said:

Putin wants nothing more than NATO destroyed,  and the west, Europe EU & the US, to be neutered. The amazing thing he has a US president doing it all for him.

Behind Putin stands, Celestial Leader Xi, with a big grin. 



 

You have no idea what Putin wants from a bar stool.

Right and you guys don't like rhat because youre so in love with being top dog! That's why you stir <deleted> in the Middle East all the time because you know the refugees will flow into Europe, which causes trouble in these countries, which will then, from your point of view, weaken them. I've been saying this for years and finally they admit it. 

 

Now, to all the voters who vote right wing: congratulations! You've successfully become American string puppets without even realizing it and play right into their hands! 

2 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

They formed the Eu to try to compete with the USA. It has been a spectacular failure. 

The opposite of a failure according to trump.

1 hour ago, Cryingdick said:

Really? The EU hasn't produced a single trillion dollar company and it took more than 50 years to produce a handful of companies with a market cap of 100 billion. The mag 7 are worth more than all European markets combined. 

 

Put the crack pipe down it isnt even close. 

Dream on little Dreamer

11 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

You have no idea what Putin wants from a bar stool.

The view of Putin being better from Baltysk?! 

 

22 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

Of course it may all be a total disaster for Usofa & for The West, and many others. But it does have the value - which we currently see amongst the panic-stricken Europeans, notably Germany - of forcing people to go back to basics and reconstruct their models.

Reconstructing models in a panic rather than modifying them after a studied methodology has been established is a blueprint for disaster.

1 minute ago, Dcheech said:

The view of Putin being better from Baltysk?! 

 

Why are you obsessed with Putin?

10 minutes ago, rough diamond said:

Reconstructing models in a panic rather than modifying them after a studied methodology has been established is a blueprint for disaster.

As a former bureaucrat myself I think I can authoritatively say that 'modifying models after a studied methodology has been established' is the standard method for ensuring that nothing changes.

 

1 hour ago, Stiddle Mump said:

Keep the faith RD. The Americans suddenly realised that there is a guy that can save them.

 

The Don will put the US back at the top of the tree. No more playing second fiddle.

Second Banjo is possible 

 

Great Depression just round the corner thinking tariffs are his tools to get even. Trump is screwing himself and good old USA. 

47 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Great Depression just round the corner thinking tariffs are his tools to get even. Trump is screwing himself and good old USA. 

Sure enjoyed watching world leaders in real time on camera to his face calling him out when he lies!im waiting for one to just tell him to his face in a direct non diplomatic forceful manner to stop the lying..the dude is an absolute tool lol 😂 unemployment up inflation up it’s falling apart fast under the felons watch.donnie is a sniveling little trust fund baby isn’t he lol.the EU was created to compleat with China and the USA on a more equal footing forcing competition we as consumers benefit if everyone has to compete for our business.

23 minutes ago, Tug said:

Sure enjoyed watching world leaders in real time on camera to his face calling him out when he lies!im waiting for one to just tell him to his face in a direct non diplomatic forceful manner to stop the lying..the dude is an absolute tool lol 😂 unemployment up inflation up it’s falling apart fast under the felons watch.donnie is a sniveling little trust fund baby isn’t he lol.the EU was created to compleat with China and the USA on a more equal footing forcing competition we as consumers benefit if everyone has to compete for our business.

The only one not competing is Putin. He already won and the rest of the world will pay the price.

2 hours ago, mfd101 said:

Thank you. Just about the first intelligent & well-informed contribution on AN to the ongoing discussions about the marvels of Trumpism.

 

Having said that, I would argue that - despite the daily horrors emanating from the White House - disruption is a great constructor of New & Better.

 

Of course it may all be a total disaster for Usofa & for The West, and many others. But it does have the value - which we currently see amongst the panic-stricken Europeans, notably Germany - of forcing people to go back to basics and reconstruct their models. Much of what Trump is destroying - out of ignorance not understanding - is tired & in need of a good kick in the <deleted> to wake it up & move forward.

While I agree that changes are needed, reform is needed and there is a massive amount of waste in the system, his bull in the China closet approach may not be the best way to handle this. Especially in regards to poverty stricken children who are now being deprived of their medicine and are dying daily, due to his heartless manner. Their blood is on his tiny hands. 

I thought that the ERG Flat Earth Brigade had exhausted the unsubstantiated, insane criticisms of the EU during the Brexit campaign. Clearly I was wrong.

 

Chapeau, Donald!

2 hours ago, Harrisfan said:

10 years of disaster pre 2024 for Greece

 

Actually, the Greek economy has grown by +/-17% since 2021 but, hey, don't let the facts get in the way.

Just now, RayC said:

 

Actually, the Greek economy has grown by +/-17% since 2021 but, hey, don't let the facts get in the way.

After massive issues right? But don't stop cherry picking 

3 minutes ago, RayC said:

 

Actually, the Greek economy has grown by +/-17% since 2021 but, hey, don't let the facts get in the way.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged down to 9.4% in December 2024 from a revised 9.5% in November, matching the levels seen in September and June, the lowest in 15 years.

 

https://tradingeconomics.com/greece/unemployment-rate

 

9.4 is the lowest Greek unemployment in 15 years