'Chaos breeds chaos': Trump's erratic and false claims roil the globe. Again.

[DonViejo]

By Damian Paletta and Philip Rucker December 4 at 6:53 PM

After his Argentine steak dinner last weekend with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump announced that they had reached an “incredible deal” to temporarily suspend his trade war. But days later, Trump declared, “I am a Tariff man.”

Trump last week proposed stripping away electric-car subsidies from General Motors as punishment for the automotive giant moving to cease production at plants in the United States and Canada. But then his chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said the White House would do no such thing. Targeting a single company, he explained, would be illegal.

Then there is the way Trump talks about how the economy works — imprecise at best, ignorant at worst. For instance, the president routinely says that China and other countries are paying billions of dollars to the United States because of his tariffs. But that is false. Tariffs are paid by companies, often U.S. firms, that import foreign-made products.

Once again this week, world leaders, U.S. lawmakers and jittery investors have been reminded that Trump’s words cannot always be trusted.

The whiplash nature of Trump’s economic policies and pronouncements bore tangible consequences on Tuesday, when U.S. stock markets cratered amid investor skepticism of Trump’s China talks. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 799 points, or 3.1 percent, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 3.2 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 3.8 percent.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/chaos-breeds-chaos-trumps-erratic-and-false-claims-roil-markets-again/2018/12/04/824506fa-f7ff-11e8-863c-9e2f864d47e7_story.html

[wolfie001]

1. So true!

"For instance, the president routinely says that China and other countries are paying billions of dollars to the United States because of his tariffs. But that is false."

Yes, the US companies pass their tariffs on to the consumer. 1 = 1 = 2. Donald Dump can't figure that out or his supporters are so stupid they can't see thru the charade. I feel it's both.

[watoos]

2. You beat me to it.

[Harker]

3. He's deluded. And a liar.

Either alone would roil the globe.

[dalton99a]

4. Outside his carnival, he knows nothing and understands nothing

even the most rudimentary concepts of economics and finance

[erronis]

6. Agree - the bestest, dumbest of all. But who is running/ruining this show?

I don't think that king dump-ass could orchestrate such a malevolent attack on the US. He doesn't have the time or energy to put all of those evil MFs in place throughout the administration. Someone is really directing this action. There's got to be evidence of string pulling.

[NoMoreRepugs]

5. One correction... tRumpys words can NEVER be trusted.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Do you think anyone keeps an eye on the stock dealings of people who knew how the talks really went?

It'd be a simple way to make money - see Trump lie in public about what happened, take advantage of people who take that as truth (eg short selling), and then wait for the truth to come out. It needn't be in very specific stocks that might get noticed - this kind of thing affects sectors or the entire stock market.

The rest of us can guess that Trump is bullshitting, but we don't know until it comes out.

[RussBLib]

8. why would Trump care about the effect of tariffs on the "little people"?

the air quotes are mine, but a slight increase in prices to the consumer will not affect Trump. He's (allegedly) rich as shit.