Road to bankruptcy

[Bill Bonner’s Diary]( Road to Bankruptcy By Bill Bonner Wednesday, October 21, 2020 – Week 32 of the Quarantine [Bill Bonner] SAN MARTIN, ARGENTINA – Our [review of Donald Trump’s record in office]( yesterday brought forth a torrent of complaints from readers. No one disputed our arguments. Instead, they merely claimed that there was more to the story. Ruban L.: In my opinion, no previous modern president has accomplished more good than President Trump has done. Maybe Trump has done good things… other than those he promised to do. D. M. thinks so: You failed to include the many good bills he initiated and passed! Typical Trump hater! Maybe he has been under a lot of pressure… Give him a break, says Sam A.: … he has been up against a very angry, agitated, and pathetic Democratic House of Representatives, as well as deeply embedded bureaucrats within the Deep State. At least he has made attempts at his chosen goals, which cannot be said of his predecessors, both Republican and Democrat. Maybe Joe Biden will be a lot worse. Dean A.: Yes, but what of the alternative right now? Crocked Joe “I’m losing my brain” Biden. And even worse, the new Socialist Hillary to take his place. And maybe, if Trump gets a second chance, he’ll do better. Loyal subscriber Nick P.: If Trump gets a second term, he’ll be free to do all of the things he has promised to do. We could quarrel with any of those points of view. But they’re right… There is more to the story… And we’re coming to it. And it’s why the country is doomed to a hellish breakdown – social, political, and economic. And most likely, Mr. Biden will play a big role in it. Recommended Link [Jeff Brown Wants You To Share in $1 Billion of Tech Stock Profits…]( [image]( Silicon Valley insider and America’s No. 1 tech advisor Jeff Brown has just revealed the details of a new private goal he’s set for himself. In short, Jeff’s on a personal mission to help readers like you see the chance to share in $1 billion of profits from his tech recommendations. To take the first step, [register for Jeff’s new free event tonight at 8 p.m. ET to get all the details](. (You’ll get the details of a tech opportunity Jeff calls the No. 1 investment of the next decade, and the name of the top stock on Jeff’s watch list for free.) [Click here now]( -- Golden Rule But first, we’re not finished with Mr. Trump. Yes, Dear Reader, finally, we come to the money… If there was one thing Mr. Trump was supposed to be good at, it was money. After all, he was advertised as a billionaire… and a successful businessman. We read his book, The Art of the Deal, and had our doubts. He thinks you succeed in business by making the other guy lose. That has not been our experience. In private life… as in business… it is generally better to help the other guy win. It’s the Golden Rule. And it’s better to believe it, even if it isn’t true. Otherwise, you end up in endless arguments… divorces… and lawsuits. (USA Today counted 4,095 lawsuits involving Donald Trump over the last 30 years.) Win-Lose View Win-win deals – millions and millions of them… delicate and robust… obvious and hidden… simple and infinitely nuanced – are how the light, invisible hand of the Main Street economy produces real wealth. Win-lose deals are the stuff of politics – which is probably why The Donald took to it so readily. Politics means battles… fights… confrontations… And this win-lose view led him to make heavy-handed, confrontational decisions that actually hurt the economy, rather than helped it. The trade wars, for example, were a bad idea from the get-go. So were his constant scrapes with Congress and the media. They endeared him to his base. But they undermined the cooperation and support he would need to put in place meaningful reforms, if he had planned any. [Do You Know About “Tech Royalty” Investing?]( Highway to Disaster Still, none of this may have mattered very much. Because, when the Big Man settled his big derrière into the Oval Office nearly four years ago… the country was already headed down that long, lonesome highway to disaster. And that, by the way, is the point of today’s Diary… and yesterday’s, too. Yes, we think Donald Trump is especially incompetent and inconstant. But even a more serious person would have found little purchase in Washington. The whole establishment – the Deep State elite, who actually run the government – are deeply entrenched… well armed… and completely against reform. That said, Donald Trump’s term was singularly catastrophic. Not only did he miss whatever opportunity there remained to turn the bus around… he stepped on the gas. [Yesterday]( we described the marginalia… the obiter dicta of Mr. Trump’s term. As we pointed out, most all the trends of the preceding years continued, with little molestation. The country was already on the downhill track… after [peaking out at the end of the last century](. And we saw how Mr. Trump sped up the decline… and increased the power of the predatory Swamp elite. Loud and Clear Today, we look at what made it possible: Money. Fake money. And here, the numbers speak loudly and clearly. During the nearly four years of Trump’s leadership, America’s public debt grew faster, as a percentage of GDP, than it had under any U.S. administration in the last 40 years. When Obama left the White House, government debt was already at 100% of GDP. After just four years of Trump, it has risen to 135% – the biggest one-term increase in history. Trump added $4.5 trillion to the national debt in four years in office – even without a last-minute $2 trillion giveaway. That doesn’t sound like paying off the national debt. It sounds like the road to bankruptcy. 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Cometh the Big Man, and the fair weather continued for another 37 months… and still, the barn remained empty. There was no sign of any surplus… or any thought for the future. Au contraire, Donald Trump wanted nothing to do with saving for tomorrow. He wanted to laissez les bons temps rouler today. First, he pressured the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. Then, he reduced taxes by $1.7 trillion – mostly for the rich, who were already flush. But rather than cut spending to keep pace, he increased the military budget by $200 billion, which was the last thing the already-overfed Pentagon needed. And he threw another $100 billion into domestic boondoggles, too. [The One Big Threat You Face on November 3rd.]( More Debt His fans said that this would help the economy grow its way out of debt. It would “stimulate” growth, they said. But the only thing it really stimulated was more debt. Like a surly teenager having a growth spurt, Trump’s 2017 deficit shot up to $665 billion; then to $779 billion for 2018, and $984 billion for 2019. By 2020, the kid was knocking his head on doorways… with a deficit of more than $1.08 trillion for 2020. And this was before the COVID Panic! Then, unable to contradict his own health team… and still eager for lower interest rates and more spending… the deficit for 2020 swelled to $3.1 trillion. So the feds were spending more than $2 for every $1 they collected in taxes. This deluge of spending (fake money, of course) included hundreds of billions in scammy business loans… helicopter deliveries to the public, the vast majority of whom were still working and collecting salaries… and unemployment boosters that gave many people twice as much as they earned on the job. This was classic sh*thole country finance. Recommended Link [Spotted in the desert…]( [image]( Take a look at the horizon in this picture. There’s something out there worth over $35 billion to Silicon Valley. [Can you see it?]( -- New Driver And now… speeding down the road faster than ever… the American voters threaten to change the driver. Who would be most careful? Most sober? Most likely to steer us around the Dead Man’s Curve ahead? Stay tuned… Regards, [signature] Bill P.S. Win-lose deals are the subject of my last book, Win-Win or Lose, which was first published last year. I think it is the most important of all the books I’ve written. You can’t get this book in regular bookstores. So we recently did a reprint. And last week, many of your fellow readers took us up on a [special offer to get a free copy](. So much so, that supplies are already starting to run low. So if you want to get your copy, [click here now]( before we run out… --------------------------------------------------------------- Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [feedback@rogueeconomics.com](mailto:feedback@rogueeconomics.com?subject=Road to Bankruptcy). --------------------------------------------------------------- MAILBAG Tuesday’s Diary, “[An Impartial View of Trump’s Record]( called out the president’s unfulfilled promises. Dear readers come to The Donald’s defense… Hey, Bill, tell us what you really think! Although you claim to be non-partisan, your heart is elsewhere. You have a very skewed version of the truth. In my opinion, no previous modern president has accomplished more good than President Trump has done. If so, name them and tell us what they accomplished in four years. To be fair, let’s talk about Joe Biden’s past accomplishments, statements, and future economic policies. His socialist policies will destroy this country faster than the money-printing. Period. – Ruban L. So, it appears from your latest comments that you, Mr. Bonner, are more inclined to have a socialist in the order of senile Joe Biden as your next president. Yes, President Trump has not been successful in completing his goals. But he has been up against a very angry, agitated, and pathetic Democratic House of Representatives, as well as deeply embedded bureaucrats within the Deep State. At least he has made attempts at his chosen goals, which cannot be said of his predecessors, both Republican and Democrat. One might say he has been playing against a stacked deck. Why not give him credit for his attempts, rather than simply bashing, as you fail to point out the obvious obstacles? Trump is due a second term. And if he is guilty of anything, it is failure to clean house. Maybe in term two. – Sam A. You failed to include the many good bills he initiated and passed! Typical Trump hater! You think Biden/Obama/Harris would do any better? They would turn this country into an Islamic stronghold! Socialism never worked in Russia, China, or anywhere else! You forgot to mention any of that! – D. M. Meanwhile, another dear reader calls Bill an [armchair quarterback]( Reading your rantings about all of Trump’s failures, and your knowledge of the obvious answers to said failures, maybe you should be president, Bill. This is one of the best examples of armchair quarterbacking I have ever read. There is more than one person living in fantasyland. – Dave P. And finally, others agree with Bill’s analysis of the Trump administration’s track record… Very much on point. However, you forgot to mention that Trump and the Swamp made a lot of money during the wishy-washy tariff negotiations. – Marlyse W. Whoever is elected president, the direction of the country (toward slavery) won’t change. If Biden is elected, the country will go there much faster. Whereas, with Trump, the much slower pace will give us some time to reverse course toward freedom. And that reversal, of course, IS possible. – Mike K. Has President Trump “played against a stacked deck,” as Sam believes? Could a second term in the White House help The Donald turn things around for America? Write us at feedback@rogueeconomics.com. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT… TONIGHT AT 8 P.M. 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