The "economic model" you have to push to win over the boomers
People hate politics and politicians because the inputs are voter "feels," but the outputs are economic "facts that don't give the proverbial fuck about your dumbass feelings."
We even see this process with successful "anti-politicians" like Donald Trump, who is now a little closer to becoming America's first "President from jail" thanks to Biden's team mixing up his pep pills with his tranquilisers.
Just like a normal politician, Trump is running his campaign on "feels," and the "feels" point to him shitting on migrants and giving US boomers an external enemy to hate that isn't Russia.
We even see this process with successful "anti-politicians" like Donald Trump, who is now a little closer to becoming America's first "President from jail" thanks to Biden's team mixing up his pep pills with his tranquilisers.
Just like a normal politician, Trump is running his campaign on "feels," and the "feels" point to him shitting on migrants and giving US boomers an external enemy to hate that isn't Russia.
The enemy of choice for Trump is China. This doesn't mean he has anything against China, or would actually do anything more than the few tariffs he imposed on Chinese trade in his first term. Framing China as the enemy is just convenient for him.
But why isn't it convenient for Trump to frame the actual international bad guy -- i.e. Russia -- as the enemy? There are a number of possible reasons. He may be a fan or acolyte of Vladimir Putin, or else it might be because the anti-Putin spot is already overfilled, and Trump feels he has to offer something different from the rest of the American political establishment. Or it might be that Sinophobia is just something that plays better with Trump's target audience of "sub-racist" boomers suffering from what can be described as "boomer fragility."
Trump's weapon of choice are tariffs or, more accurately, talking about them. This has the added bonus of implying a "return" to an older version of America, one with all those old-fashioned, high-paying manufacturing jobs conveniently re-shored. This plays well in certain rustbelt states that Trump needs to win in November against whoever the Democrats parachute in at the last moment to replace a foundering Biden.
But the reality is, however, that Trump's economic plans, if acted upon, would lead to severe economic pain for many Americans. In fact, the only way that tariffs would restore America to a 1950s-style manufacturing economy would be if they were extended to every other country in the world, not just China. But actually following through on his tariff talk would be a virtual death sentence for the American economy.
A Moody’s forecast based on Trump’s long-standing plan to impose a 10% tariff on all imports and 60% on goods from China would see the average America family paying $1,700 more a year in higher prices. That doesn't sound too bad, but Trump is also talking about an "all tariffs policy," with import duties fully replacing income tax.
This is fine from the point of view of abolishing onerous income tax, but given how much the Federal government takes in tax, placing this on import duty would destroy the profit margin of all companies exporting to America, which would then pass it on to the American consumer, etc., etc. The end game of all this would be that Americans would actually have to do their own manufacturing, meaning they would have to work closer to the conditions and pay of people in China and other exporters to the USA, or else pay through the nose. Either way they are fucked!
The "economic model" you have to go with after the boomers have voted
What this blowhard tariff talk fails to realise is that already America has an extremely successful economic model, whereby it exports debt (in the form of its essentially valueless fiat currency) in return for importing unemployment (in the guise of cheap imported goods and being much less of a manufacturing country) but on extremely favourable terms that allow it to have a cushy lifestyle.
Viewed more basically, the situation is that the world makes America's stuff for it and allows America to balance the books with mythologised pieces or paper, backed by the additional paper tiger of a US military that is essentially useless as it is afraid to bleed. America's current apparent "military strength" is predicated on the fact that Ukrainians are prepared to bleed for it.
Trump on the election trail
Trump's declared economic policies (and to a lesser extent Biden's) with their talk of tariffs and "protecting blue collar America" actually threaten the cosy deal that America has with the rest of the World.
America has to embrace and become what it truly is -- a kind of glorified global parasite with a massive welfare-consumer class, run by a tiny clique of canny bankers, backed up by the spearpoint of a ruthless Prussian warrior caste.
Right now several pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are missing -- its military needs to develop the capacity to bleed as well as to shed blood, it has to respect its noble bankers, and it has to give up unrealistic LARPy notions about being some blue collar paradise. The Village People used that as a gay disco act in the 1970s.
Right now several pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are missing -- its military needs to develop the capacity to bleed as well as to shed blood, it has to respect its noble bankers, and it has to give up unrealistic LARPy notions about being some blue collar paradise. The Village People used that as a gay disco act in the 1970s.
But, don't worry too much. Trump is just feeding the "feels."
If he wins, like any politician, he will wake up on post-election day and immediately start genuflecting to the economic realities of America, which involve China continuing to make its stuff and a vast "undocumented" migrant army continuing to service its massive welfare-consumer class of boomers and other misfits.
If he wins, like any politician, he will wake up on post-election day and immediately start genuflecting to the economic realities of America, which involve China continuing to make its stuff and a vast "undocumented" migrant army continuing to service its massive welfare-consumer class of boomers and other misfits.
Trump, Biden, whoever, when not on the election trail
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Colin Liddell is the Chief Editor of Neokrat and the author of Interviews & Obituaries, a collection of encounters with the dead and the famous. Support his work by buying it here (USA), here (UK), and here (Australia).
Yeah, probably, I'm just voting for Trump to get a President who'll drill for oil, put in conservative judges in SCOTUS, not try to confiscate my guns, do a slightly better job keeping illegals out, and help restore the cities, perhaps with the help of the National Guard. But if the abti-Chinese stuff wull help Bumpkij Bob down the road from me vote for Trump, hey, that's politics!
ReplyDeleteI may have heard that line from you before. However, this article is not about whom to vote for, but more about the fragility and false consciousness of America.
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