President Trump suggest cancelling meeting

[AURaptor 1,128]

36 minutes ago, RunInRed said:

 

They didn't quit, they were fired. 

#DrainTheSwamp 

[kd4au 1,145]

I guess I'm just simple but how does a $60 billion trade deficit not take 60 billion of wealth out of our country.We need trade but we need fair trade.

[AUUSN 823]

[AURaptor 1,128]

3 minutes ago, AUUSN said:

So, you still gonna keep buying Trump suits ? 

[TexasTiger 13,136]

5 hours ago, TheBlueVue said:

Mexico has a $60 BILLION trade surplus with the USA and the value of their currency is directly tied to that. Nieto's decision is a bad move for Mexico and notinh but his response to political pressure he's getting in Mexico.  I'm betting this isn't even close to being over. He'll come around once he realizes he's not dealing with a fraud who draws phony red lines in the sand.

http://www.businessinsider.com/fx-currency-market-update-january-26-2017-2017-1

 

 

 

Insanely clueless or cluelessly insane?

[TexasTiger 13,136]

29 minutes ago, kd4au said:

I guess I'm just simple but how does a $60 billion trade deficit not take 60 billion of wealth out of our country.We need trade but we need fair trade.

We have 320 million people. They have 122 million people. We're gonna buy more stuff. If the top one percent put 60 billion they make here in off shore tax havens, how's that any better?

[TexasTiger 13,136]

20% tariff on Mexican goods-- who pays that?

[kd4au 1,145]

32 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

We have 320 million people. They have 122 million people. We're gonna buy more stuff. If the top one percent put 60 billion they make here in off shore tax havens, how's that any better?

60 billion buys a lot of stuff,stuff they made and not us and it is still 60 billion in their pockets and out of americans pockets.The one percenters is a entirely different matter if I was wealthy enough to be a one percenter and the gov wanted all my money I might consider it as well but that doesn't mean I am for them doing it.

[AUUSN 823]

23 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

20% tariff on Mexican goods-- who pays that?

[AUUSN 823]

1 minute ago, kd4au said:

60 billion buys a lot of stuff,stuff they made and not us and it is still 60 billion in their pockets and out of americans pockets.The one percenters is a entirely different matter if I was wealthy enough to be a one percenter and the gov wanted all my money I might consider it as well but that doesn't mean I am for them doing it.

The words are definitely English.

He writing things, I just know it.

[kd4au 1,145]

Just now, AUUSN said:

The words are definitely English.

He writing things, I just know it.

What's your point?Are you the damn English police?

[homersapien 11,513]

2 hours ago, kd4au said:

I guess I'm just simple but how does a $60 billion trade deficit not take 60 billion of wealth out of our country.We need trade but we need fair trade.

We get stuff for the $60 billion, we're not just paying them $60 billion for nothing.   

[homersapien 11,513]

2 hours ago, AURaptor said:

They didn't quit, they were fired. 

#DrainTheSwamp 

Sure they were.   Just like it was Trump who cancelled the meeting with the president of Mexico.  

[homersapien 11,513]

1 hour ago, kd4au said:

60 billion buys a lot of stuff,stuff they made and not us and it is still 60 billion in their pockets and out of americans pockets.The one percenters is a entirely different matter if I was wealthy enough to be a one percenter and the gov wanted all my money I might consider it as well but that doesn't mean I am for them doing it.

But we get the stuff.  Duuuuuuh

Americans were willing to exchange their dollars for those goods.  They wanted the goods more than the dollars used to buy them.

This is really hard for you isn't it?

[AURaptor 1,128]

2 hours ago, homersapien said:

Sure they were.   Just like it was Trump who cancelled the meeting with the president of Mexico.  

Even CNN reported that they were fired . 

 

[AUTUmike 79]

Remember when conservatives were [correctly] in favor of free trade?

It's curious to me how so many people fail to grasp the very basic fact that free trade allows us to consume more. We get cheaper goods. Mexicans get more jobs. Both sides win, because trade is not a zero-sum game. Mind-blowing, I know. Even if ending NAFTA were to return some jobs to the US (the number would be marginal because of structural changes in our economy), we would be net losers because the increase in prices for previously imported goods would rise more than US wealth from returned jobs. Also, it is arguable that ending NAFTA would result in US job losses in absolute terms since we have millions of jobs that rely on Mexican imports.

[icanthearyou 4,464]

3 hours ago, AUTUmike said:

Remember when conservatives were [correctly] in favor of free trade?

It's curious to me how so many people fail to grasp the very basic fact that free trade allows us to consume more. We get cheaper goods. Mexicans get more jobs. Both sides win, because trade is not a zero-sum game. Mind-blowing, I know. Even if ending NAFTA were to return some jobs to the US (the number would be marginal because of structural changes in our economy), we would be net losers because the increase in prices for previously imported goods would rise more than US wealth from returned jobs. Also, it is arguable that ending NAFTA would result in US job losses in absolute terms since we have millions of jobs that rely on Mexican imports.

I agree, to a degree, as far as Mexico is concerned.  However, not as a broad statement that, all free trade is good.  At some point, you cannot trade jobs for cheap consumer products.  There is a diminishing margin of return.  At some point, there are negative returns.  

There are also other considerations.  Trade with Mexico helps reduce illegal immigration.  Trade with China helps a communist government build a military that, one day, we may have to confront.  I think we must also consider how, globalization helps distort the relative values of labor and capital.  I think we must consider the hypocrisy of running our own economy in a manner that attempts to minimize exploitation and protect the environment while, having no problem with those things being done in other parts of the world.  

I believe in fair trade with, the United States exporting it's unique form of capitalism.  The type of capitalism that builds/creates a strong consumer base.  It is a proven model.  It is a growth machine.  It is the very definition of "a bigger pie", "all boats being lifted".  I believe it is time for us to lead the global economy, not just sit back and believe in terms like "free trade", "free markets".

I believe that it is as critical for us to lead the world economy, as it is for us to have the strongest military.  To put absolute faith in terminology doesn't sound like leadership.  It sounds more like wishful thinking.

Is our consumer market being degraded and exploited by the current model of the global economy?

[RunInRed 16,528]

From the Wall Street Journal, hardly a liberal bastion ...

Quote

On Thursday morning Mr. Trump tweeted “if Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.” Mr. Peña Nieto cancelled. Later Thursday Mr. Spicer added confusion with some comments about a border fee as part of tax reform. Chief of Staff Reince Priebus tried to walk that back, but this is amateur hour.
...
Mr. Trump is a foreign-affairs neophyte, but he is already learning that nations can’t be bullied like GOP candidates or CEOs. They have their own nationalist political dynamics and when attacked they push back. Mr. Trump said as a candidate that he’d treat America’s friends better than Mr. Obama did, but his first move has been to treat Mexico like Mr. Obama treated Israel. On present course he may get comparable results, or worse.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-little-mexican-war-1485477900

 

[homersapien 11,513]

22 hours ago, Brad_ATX said:

Mexico isn't paying for a damn thing.  Speaker Ryan has already said that we are paying for the wall up front.  Once we pay, why would Mexico reimburse us for something they don't want?  Here's what's going to happen:

1) U.S will pay for the wall via tax-payers money.

2) Mexico won't reimburse because they have no desire or reason to do so.

3) Republican leadership will claim that Mexico is paying for the wall via the U.S. government not sending aide or some other form of "payment" that isn't really a payment.  It's just shifting numbers around of U.S. tax dollars that were already being spent in the first place.  Either way, don't expect Mexico to cut a check.

You forgot #4:

The current government of Mexico will be voted out for a much less friendly (to the US) government. And illegal immigration will get worse longer term.

Narcissistic psychopaths have trouble with nuanced, long term thinking.

[homersapien 11,513]

16 hours ago, AURaptor said:

They didn't quit, they were fired. 

#DrainTheSwamp 

If so, that was phenomenally stupid.

[homersapien 11,513]

15 hours ago, kd4au said:

What's your point?Are you the damn English police?

More like logic police. 

[AURaptor 1,128]

3 minutes ago, homersapien said:

If so, that was phenomenally stupid.

 Why? I bet you think it was great if they left, but if Trump fired them , you would call that stupid. Maybe it is a part of the swamp that needed to be drained. Or is that  too mind blowing for you to understand? 

[homersapien 11,513]

11 hours ago, AURaptor said:

Even CNN reported that they were fired . 

 

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s job running the State Department just got considerably more difficult. The entire senior level of management officials resigned Wednesday, part of an ongoing mass exodus of senior Foreign Service officers who don’t want to stick around for the Trump era.....

...Then suddenly on Wednesday afternoon, Kennedy and three of his top officials resigned unexpectedly, four State Department officials confirmed. Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond and Ambassador Gentry O. Smith, director of the Office of Foreign Missions, followed him out the door. All are career Foreign Service officers who have served under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/01/26/the-state-departments-entire-senior-management-team-just-resigned/?utm_term=.758d1e5781fb

[homersapien 11,513]

1 minute ago, AURaptor said:

 Why? I bet you think it was great if they left, but if Trump fired them , you would call that stupid. Maybe it is a part of the swamp that needed to be drained. Or is that  too mind blowing for you to understand? 

That's really stupid.

[AURaptor 1,128]

10 minutes ago, homersapien said:

That's really stupid.

 Well, it is you…