Economic Idiocy and Billionaire Buffoonery

It's a given that Donald Trump is a buffoon and economic illiterate. What is stunning is that he has brought into government a cadre of billionaires who, collectively, seem incapable of understanding economic basics. Are they so completely disconnected from how things actually operate that they actually believe this shit, or are they just that giddy about being close to power that they'll go along with slitting their own throats?

Howard Lutnick? Scott Bessent? Musk? They should know better. Lutnick in particular is completely divorced from reality. Of course, his entire existence has been devoted to lying to his clients, cheating his partners and undercutting friends and rivals alike. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/28/business/with-partners-like-these-who-needs-rivals.html It is how he got rich, playing with other people's money. In this respect he is just like Trump, arrogant, deceitful and boorish.

What all of this has done, though, is exposed how shallow and uninformed the "moneyed" class - or at least their segment of it - really can be. They understand a small slice of the economy they personally swim in, but are woefully ignorant of how the real world works.

NWRatCon said:

It's a given that Donald Trump is a buffoon and economic illiterate. What is stunning is that he has brought into government a cadre of billionaires who, collectively, seem incapable of understanding economic basics. Are they so completely disconnected from how things actually operate that they actually believe this shit, or are they just that giddy about being close to power that they'll go along with slitting their own throats?

Howard Lutnick? Scott Bessent? Musk? They should know better. Lutnick in particular is completely divorced from reality. Of course, his entire existence has been devoted to lying to his clients, cheating his partners and undercutting friends and rivals alike. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/28/business/with-partners-like-these-who-needs-rivals.html It is how he got rich, playing with other people's money. In this respect he is just like Trump, arrogant, deceitful and boorish.

What all of this has done, though, is exposed how shallow and uninformed the "moneyed" class - or at least their segment of it - really can be. They understand a small slice of the economy they personally swim in, but are woefully ignorant of how the real world works.

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I'm starting to think the market crashing is all about a buying opportunity for the billionaires and **** us.

NWRatCon said:

It's a given that Donald Trump is a buffoon and economic illiterate. What is stunning is that he has brought into government a cadre of billionaires who, collectively, seem incapable of understanding economic basics. Are they so completely disconnected from how things actually operate that they actually believe this shit, or are they just that giddy about being close to power that they'll go along with slitting their own throats?

Howard Lutnick? Scott Bessent? Musk? They should know better. Lutnick in particular is completely divorced from reality. Of course, his entire existence has been devoted to lying to his clients, cheating his partners and undercutting friends and rivals alike. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/28/business/with-partners-like-these-who-needs-rivals.html It is how he got rich, playing with other people's money. In this respect he is just like Trump, arrogant, deceitful and boorish.

What all of this has done, though, is exposed how shallow and uninformed the "moneyed" class - or at least their segment of it - really can be. They understand a small slice of the economy they personally swim in, but are woefully ignorant of how the real world works.

Click to expand...

There are very smart billionaires.

And there are very ego driven billionaires hungry for power.

Sometimes, on the ven diagram those circles intersect.

But Trump didn’t choose his circle based on “smart” - he chose them based on loyalty.

The pool seems to be drawn from the power and ego driven circle. Not the smart one.

NWRatCon said:

It's a given that Donald Trump is a buffoon and economic illiterate. What is stunning is that he has brought into government a cadre of billionaires who, collectively, seem incapable of understanding economic basics. Are they so completely disconnected from how things actually operate that they actually believe this shit, or are they just that giddy about being close to power that they'll go along with slitting their own throats?

Howard Lutnick? Scott Bessent? Musk? They should know better. Lutnick in particular is completely divorced from reality. Of course, his entire existence has been devoted to lying to his clients, cheating his partners and undercutting friends and rivals alike. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/28/business/with-partners-like-these-who-needs-rivals.html It is how he got rich, playing with other people's money. In this respect he is just like Trump, arrogant, deceitful and boorish.

What all of this has done, though, is exposed how shallow and uninformed the "moneyed" class - or at least their segment of it - really can be. They understand a small slice of the economy they personally swim in, but are woefully ignorant of how the real world works.

Click to expand...

Correct, they would make more money by giving the middle, low classes more spending money who are famous for spending it down to the last penny, That creates demand and the rich make money holding the stocks. If Trump had any decent economic motives he could have met with these countries individually with the simple
threat of tariffs. The fact that he went tariffs first is because he wants to see the Treasury with a nice big pot to do corporate tax break.

Republicans think that tax breaks for corporations solves every problem going as far as Medicare and Social Security. Actually, the corporate tax break does nothing to help the Economy because all the corporations do is buy back their own stock with it. No jobs created, no improved anything. Imagine how much more money the rich would get if instead gave the money to the poor and middle class. The Economy would be booming.

Tensor101 said:

Correct, they would make more money by giving the middle, low classes more spending money who are famous for spending it down to the last penny, That creates demand and the rich make money holding the stocks. If Trump had any decent economic motives he could have met with these countries individually with the simple
threat of tariffs. The fact that he went tariffs first is because he wants to see the Treasury with a nice big pot to do corporate tax break.

Republicans think that tax breaks for corporations solves every problem going as far as Medicare and Social Security. Actually, the corporate tax break does nothing to help the Economy because all the corporations do is buy back their own stock with it. No jobs created, no improved anything. Imagine how much more money the rich would get if instead gave the money to the poor and middle class. The Economy would be booming.

Click to expand...

There are many things that I criticized Biden and the Democrats for, but Biden understood one fundamental thing that made all the difference: To grow the economy you need to do it from the bottom up, and the middle out. He followed through on that belief, and it worked.

Our "social safety net" is the greatest economic engine in the United States: Social Security, Medicare (and Medicaid), Unemployment Insurance - and Welfare. They are the the pillars that undergird the economy and have been the greatest boon to the markets since their inception under FDR's "New Deal" (and what a deal it has been). Without consumers, the US economy crashes (as it is now, under Trump), and those programs keep everyone involved in the economy as consumers. The IDIOTS of the MAGA world cannot understand this central reality. And it is also why the GOP has nearly always been so bad for the economy. The entire "brand" is built on an egregious lie, and carried on by inveterate liars, who sell the idea that the rich and successful corporations pull the economy along, when it has always been consumers who push the economy along (and still make the rich richer).

How did Gates, Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg get rich? People bought their products. Take away their consumers and the whole house of cards collapses, including the "investors" (one of which I am) who profit when the companies succeed. Hedge Fund billionaires and money managers are the parasites that leach blood from the economy to make personal fortunes, but provide no service to it. And they have now been put in charge, so no wonder things are going spectacularly wrong.

Tensor101 said:

Correct, they would make more money by giving the middle, low classes more spending money who are famous for spending it down to the last penny, That creates demand and the rich make money holding the stocks. If Trump had any decent economic motives he could have met with these countries individually with the simple
threat of tariffs. The fact that he went tariffs first is because he wants to see the Treasury with a nice big pot to do corporate tax break.

Republicans think that tax breaks for corporations solves every problem going as far as Medicare and Social Security. Actually, the corporate tax break does nothing to help the Economy because all the corporations do is buy back their own stock with it. No jobs created, no improved anything. Imagine how much more money the rich would get if instead gave the money to the poor and middle class. The Economy would be booming.

Click to expand...

NWRatCon said:

The IDIOTS of the MAGA world cannot understand this central reality. And it is also why the GOP has nearly always been so bad for the economy.

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Correct, and the MAGAs complained about inflation under Biden (2021) and elected someone who guarantees to increase tariffs. Go figure.

The coming parade’s overlap with Trump’s birthday has prompted ire, especially at a time when his overhaul of the federal government includes slashing the Department of Veterans Affairs. The cost is between 25 and 45 million tax payers dollars. The president has long mused about soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the streets of the capital and aircraft roaring overhead. Protest plans are also underway.

"I wuv a pawade".

NWRatCon said:

It's a given that Donald Trump is a buffoon and economic illiterate. What is stunning is that he has brought into government a cadre of billionaires who, collectively, seem incapable of understanding economic basics. Are they so completely disconnected from how things actually operate that they actually believe this shit, or are they just that giddy about being close to power that they'll go along with slitting their own throats?

Howard Lutnick? Scott Bessent? Musk? They should know better. Lutnick in particular is completely divorced from reality. Of course, his entire existence has been devoted to lying to his clients, cheating his partners and undercutting friends and rivals alike. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/28/business/with-partners-like-these-who-needs-rivals.html It is how he got rich, playing with other people's money. In this respect he is just like Trump, arrogant, deceitful and boorish.

What all of this has done, though, is exposed how shallow and uninformed the "moneyed" class - or at least their segment of it - really can be. They understand a small slice of the economy they personally swim in, but are woefully ignorant of how the real world works.

Click to expand...

I still don't think that trump is trying to run the country. Every move he has made is clearly to dismantle the government and cause chaos. He's sowing chaos in order to make himself dictator. That's his wet dream.

JohnfrmClevelan said:

I still don't think that trump is trying to run the country. Every move he has made is clearly to dismantle the government and cause chaos. He's sowing chaos in order to make himself dictator. That's his wet dream.

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No, but you are close. Trump does not understand Economics or how to start a business or form an Economic plan. It's brecause his father paid off all of his teachers after high school. Donald never had to do homework or a term project or any of those things. So, the end result is someone who cannot quantify anything with numbers. He manages using seat-of-pants decisions based on what problem is currently front and center. No estimates of cost and profit which is why his businesses failed. Those of you who still like him will leave him one by one.

Tensor101 said:

No, but you are close. Trump does not understand Economics or how to start a business or form an Economic plan. It's brecause his father paid off all of his teachers after high school. Donald never had to do homework or a term project or any of those things. So, the end result is someone who cannot quantify anything with numbers. He manages using seat-of-pants decisions based on what problem is currently front and center. No estimates of cost and profit which is why his businesses failed. Those of you who still like him will leave him one by one.

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I'm sticking with my "wants to be a dictator" theory. Nobody is that bad at management where hiring Pete Hegseth and Linda McMahon are innocent mistakes. He has toadies in all the right places to make sure that normal government guardrails aren't going to get in his way this time around. The DOJ is at his disposal.

trump got a taste of the kind of power he craves on Jan. 6th, and he learned where the barriers to dictatorship lie. In a few short weeks he has challenged the rule of law at the highest levels. He has Republican congressmen completely cowed and working toward most MAGA objectives, all doing the calculus of remaining in office and not getting primaried by a more MAGA candidate. Congress couldn't even manage to reclaim their tariff powers in the face of economic disaster. That's how cowed they are.

Yes, he wants to be a dictator and he has been well schooled by Victor Orman of Hungary who visited his Mar-a-Lago estate 3 times. Apparantly Orman told him to put idiots and wackos in charge of important govt functions and when it breaks down, Trump comes in and saves it blaming it all on the idiot he put in there. So, the wannabe dictator gets support.

BirdinHand said:

There are very smart billionaires.

And there are very ego driven billionaires hungry for power.

Sometimes, on the ven diagram those circles intersect.

But Trump didn’t choose his circle based on “smart” - he chose them based on loyalty.

The pool seems to be drawn from the power and ego driven circle. Not the smart one.

Click to expand...

JohnfrmClevelan said:

I'm sticking with my "wants to be a dictator" theory. Nobody is that bad at management where hiring Pete Hegseth and Linda McMahon are innocent mistakes. He has toadies in all the right places to make sure that normal government guardrails aren't going to get in his way this time around. The DOJ is at his disposal.

trump got a taste of the kind of power he craves on Jan. 6th, and he learned where the barriers to dictatorship lie. In a few short weeks he has challenged the rule of law at the highest levels. He has Republican congressmen completely cowed and working toward most MAGA objectives, all doing the calculus of remaining in office and not getting primaried by a more MAGA candidate. Congress couldn't even manage to reclaim their tariff powers in the face of economic disaster. That's how cowed they are.

Click to expand...

It all comes together when you realize that TDonald's father paid-off his teachers from high school onward. That's why he describes things with one-word adjectives and never backs up anything he says with facts or data.