Our President is an idiot

[Tsing Tao]

I don't understand what is so terrible about what Trump said, unless you are falling into the media error of parsing everything he says literally.

He is saying he took over a country with a terrible debt problem, one that the media were totally silent on as Obama ran up more debt than all other presidents combined. Despite this obvious problem, the stock market showed such faith in Trump that it rose by $5 trillion. Obviously the two do not directly offset, but viewed from the perspective of the national balance sheet, an extra five trillion on the asset side is nothing to sneeze at. Some of those gains will be reflected in cap gains tax revenues and the wealth effect causes people to spend more, adding to GDP.

They don't even indirectly offset. The statement was so stupid that it was for the record books.

As for the stock market specifically, it has absolutely nothing to do with Trump. If it was all about the Trump tax plan, then it would have dropped when that tax plan was not likely to pass, or when it was identified to be as poor a program as was leaked.

Additionally, let us not forget how Trump ran his campaign with the comments about the Fed propping up "one big fat ugly bubble" for Obama. And now the market is much higher...but he cheers it.

The guy is a tool.

 

[jem]

That is just prepared spin and lies.

This seems like the person who writes sound bites for nancy pelosi wrote that for Trump.
Its crap exactly like that which gets me so annoyed with leftists. Its insulting and its a crime the media does not challenge them immediately.

I demand better from leaders. Exaggeration I understand... but that type of specious shit drives me nuts too. Especially when it comes to economics.

They don't even indirectly offset. The statement was so stupid that it was for the record books.

As for the stock market specifically, it has absolutely nothing to do with Trump. If it was all about the Trump tax plan, then it would have dropped when that tax plan was not likely to pass, or when it was identified to be as poor a program as was leaked.

Additionally, let us not forget how Trump ran his campaign with the comments about the Fed propping up "one big fat ugly bubble" for Obama. And now the market is much higher...but he cheers it.

The guy is a tool.

 

[Tsing Tao]

That is just prepared spin and lies.

This seems like the person who writes sound bites for nancy pelosi wrote that for Trump.
Its crap exactly like that which gets me so annoyed with leftists. Its insulting and its a crime the media does not challenge them immediately.

I demand better from leaders. Exaggeration I understand... but that type of specious shit drives me nuts too. Especially when it comes to economics.

What was prepared spin and lies? The direct quote verbatim from Hannity's show?

 

[Optionpro007]

I think Kelly would disagree.

 

[jem]

not your statement... trumps.
I was agreeing with you.

What was prepared spin and lies? The direct quote verbatim from Hannity's show?

 

[Tsing Tao]

not your statement... trumps.
I was agreeing with you.

Ah, ok. My bad.

 

[AAAintheBeltway]

As for the stock market specifically, it has absolutely nothing to do with Trump. If it was all about the Trump tax plan, then it would have dropped when that tax plan was not likely to pass, or when it was identified to be as poor a program as was leaked.

Additionally, let us not forget how Trump ran his campaign with the comments about the Fed propping up "one big fat ugly bubble" for Obama. And now the market is much higher...but he cheers it.

I don't agree with this. The market in fact took off after the election and hasn't looked back. Unlike with the Obama market, the Fed has actually been withdrawing liquidity. Companies have relatively easy earnings comps and have been killing it. A lot of Trump's stuff would juice the economy. It's not irrational to think an infrastructure plan, which will have bipartisan support, would be a plus. Same with the wall. Trump knows he has to have a wall to stand in front of when he runs for reelection. He'll get at least a piece of it.

 

[AAAintheBeltway]

TT, we both agree that Trump is not the most gifted wordsmith to ever hold the office. I think a fair interpretation of what he said is that he came into office facing the largest pile of debt any president ever faced. The only feasible way to pay it off is with growth and the stock market is showing signs of confidence that the economy will pick up speed.

 

[piezoe]

falling into the media error of parsing everything he says literally.

So doesn't this 'not to be taken literally' business present a little problem. If the President is not to be taken at his word, how exactly should he be taken? Are you going to tell us that we should just assume that everything out of his mouth is either a complete fabrication, or at the very best, is not to be relied upon? If you are, please don't bother. We've already figured that out for ourselves.

 

[Tsing Tao]

I don't agree with this. The market in fact took off after the election and hasn't looked back. Unlike with the Obama market, the Fed has actually been withdrawing liquidity. Companies have relatively easy earnings comps and have been killing it. A lot of Trump's stuff would juice the economy. It's not irrational to think an infrastructure plan, which will have bipartisan support, would be a plus. Same with the wall. Trump knows he has to have a wall to stand in front of when he runs for reelection. He'll get at least a piece of it.

It is ok with me if you don't agree, we don't have to. The statement was stupid one. Like most of Trump's public statements, he blundered his way through the topic with some stammering and filler words, grazing "truth" by accident and relating things that have nothing to do with each other.

Now, if you want to discuss the market, let's do that. The Fed hasn't been withdrawing any liquidity. They have, just this month, decided to not reinvest the proceeds, but that's not the same as withdrawing liquidity. Meanwhile, central banks like the SNB, the ECB, the BoJ, etc have the spigots full on. The market rally has nothing to do with Trump, just like it had nothing to do with Obama all those years I kept telling the Obama cheerleaders who would tout the stock market as a symbol that Obama was doing this right.

The market has rallied on low rates, excess liquidity and the "hope" of things that have not come to pass, but when the hope fades, the market does not. You cannot claim causality on the way up and ignore it when the cause fades.