The other day the stock market dropped 800 points as investors fled stocks for the safety of bonds. The high demand for long term bonds resulted in an inverted yield curve for short and long term bonds.
Every recession since 1955 was preceded by an inverted yield curve on bonds. Donald. Trump is still touting his strong economy, even though growth has slowed to 2.1% in the second quarter.
Despite the corporate tax cut, real wages are only slightly higher than 10 years ago. Instead of stimulating spending, companies mainly bought up their stocks. We should be in an economic boom, but the tax cuts have added over $1.5 trillion to the 10-year deficit projection.
An economic storm warning is sounding and Trump does not know what to do. He has no qualified economic advisors to guide him, as if he would even listen to their advice.
The U.S. economy is not working for most people, whose real incomes have stalled for decades. The redistribution of wealth from bottom to top reduces the demand for goods and services. Trump promised to bring down the deficit, and his trade wars have rattled the markets for farmers, retailers, importers and manufacturers.
Trump’s tariffs are not a real strategy and he is unable to make a deal with China. His tweets undercut his negotiators and make the situation worse.
Trump does not understand that trade agreements affect who we sell to and buy from. Trump believes what he wants to believe, which bodes ill for the solution to this problem, not to mention North Korea, Iran or Russia.
Pulling out of the TPP opened up 40% of global markets to China and alienated our Pacific allies. Now, we have to import capital to finance the gap between domestic saving and investment.
Don Hiddleson, Millcreek