An Increase of $10 Trillion

17 comments

• Warrior15

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  5 years ago

  I agree that he's an A-hole. But economically, he is the best president since Reagan.
• twentyfive

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  5 years ago

  I thought it was 1 Trillion and the deficit increased 2trillion Where did you get that?
• twentyfive

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  5 years ago

  BTW that’s impossible
• IceyLoco

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  5 years ago

  Yeah coz Reaganomics worked so well.... The real economy isn't measured by the profits of the super rich. Americans are poorer than ever.
• doctorevil

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  5 years ago

  It’s not impossible. [view link]
• RandomMember

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  5 years ago

  The tax cut did help 1/3 Americans who hold stocks. CAPE is about 2X historical norms. Trump is doing a good job bullying the Fed into keeping interest rates low. Just wait until interest rates eventually rise and quantitative unwinding takes place to unload the FED's balance sheet. Good time to be selling stocks. I'll save this horseshit post for when the crash eventually occurs.
• RandomMember

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  5 years ago

  Horseshit thread that is
• founder

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  5 years ago

  America is poorer than ever? The poorest Americans have cars, cellphones, and cable TV.
• nicespice

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  5 years ago

  ^ But do you have a beer? 😛
• IceyLoco

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  5 years ago

  I take it you haven't seen the poorest Americans then. The disabled living on SSDI, the elderly on SS, the homeless, those living in what are practically deserted towns in the Rust Belt and deep south. And even for others, having a phone or tv is not a privilege. But of course we can compare the US to Haiti or Zambia so we can feel better about ourselves.... However, I doubt the Americans living in abject poverty care about such comparisons. It doesn't lessen their suffering.
• nicespice

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  5 years ago

  ^LOL
• san_jose_guy

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  5 years ago

  The stock market has zero relationship to how well our economic system is working. You could even say that the higher the stock market, the more sure you can be that something is seriously wrong. That money which inflates the stock market is there simply because Reagan gutted our progressive income tax. We had the greatest growth back when the top tax brackets had been 70% and 90%. And many many Americans cannot pay their rents, or they have to choose between rent or food, or go to Born Again charities to get their food. Here we have something quite good, Second Harvest Food Bank. [view link] Many do have cars but they are in debt to pay day lenders trying to keep them going. The percentage of Americans who have livable employment with some stability and some worker protections continues to go down with each boom and bust cycle. Trump did not cause this. Actually Reagan made most of the key stupid moves. But Trump has made it worse, and the insane stock market shows us nothing good. People put their money into the stock market because they can't see that there could be better things to do with it. It is a sign of extreme fatalism. Its people who have decided that work is worthless, so they just speculate. The problem had been with Capitalists owning the means of production. But today, everything is financialized. So there is another entire layer of persons who are profiting from divisions of labor. SJG Sexiest Ladies of Jazz - The Trilogy! [view link] Mister Bond - A Jazzy Cocktail Of Ice Cold Themes [view link] Icey's Girl [view link] Diana Krall - California Dreamin' [view link] The Look of Love [view link] Walk On By [view link]
• joeblow44

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  5 years ago

  I think the Fed has a lot more to do with the stock market increase than Donald Trump. In order to make any money on your money, you have to put your money in the stock market. One has to take on more risk in the market in order to get decent returns. You can make more on your money putting it in a mattress than in fixed income investments. Some countries (like Germany) have negative rates on their government issued notes. With the Fed keeping rates artificially low, investors are turning to stocks in order to get high dividend rates plus the chance for the stock price to appreciate.
• King_Gambrinus

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  5 years ago

  It won’t matter when the we all die due to ignoring global climate change. That’s why I’m cashing out and spending all my money on strippers now!
• RandomMember

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  5 years ago

  The article that @DrEvil quotes above is by Steve Moore who's considered an economic hack and has a track record for being wrong about everything. Moore and pizza-guy Herman Cain were both nominated by Trump for the Fed Reserve Board recently and, luckily, both withdrew after taking criticism by nearly everyone for being incompetent and unqualified. Almost as incompetent as TV star and grad-school dropout Larry Kudlow who's Trump's chief economic adviser. Not trying to insult anyone's intelligence, but the bulk of the Trump tax cut was predicted to go into stock buybacks. And that's what happened. The bulk of the corporate windfall did not go into R&D, new facilities, and employee training. Companies (like Apple, for example) bought back their own stock which increases price/earnings for the remaining stock holders. It helped ordinary stock investors to some extent and helped executives (who are paid with company stock) enormously. Thing is, the tax cut also increased the deficit. And if Trump wins another term the deficit will be used as an excuse to cut entitlements. So when things play out fully, the tax cuts will benefit stock holders (especially execs) and punish those at the bottom with entitlement cuts. Reverse Robin Hood. We've had a huge bull market since 2008 due to superb Fed policy. But take a look at the CAPE which is almost 31 (about twice the historical norm) as I write this: [view link] When interest rates rise we're in for a nice big correction.
• RandomMember

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  5 years ago

  ...should be " earnings/price"
• san_jose_guy

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  5 years ago

  joeblow, that money is in the stock market is not a positive sign, it is a negative sign. It says that we have lots and lots of capital, but people can't find anything better to do with it, than put it into an inflated stock market. And that is dead money, money which could be funding all sorts of young people in new ventures, but instead those who know our economic system is a sinking Titanic, they put it about the only place they feel sort of safe. Fact is, everyone knows that things cannot continue as they are, either a collapse, or a civil war. SJG