The Trump Era Begins

[Freethinker]

Washington Threatens America and the World
February 7, 2018 | Categories: Articles & Columns | Tags: | Print This Article

Paul Craig Roberts

When I look at news reports from whichever country, I see no awareness of the two most ominous developments in US history. One is the conspiracy between US security agencies, the US Department of Justice, the Democratic Party and the American print and TV media to overthrow the democratically elected president of the United States. With “Russiagate” we have been experiencing a coup against President Trump and American democracy. Although the Democrats’ Identity Politics cannot conceive of it, it is possible to be opposed to President Trump without believing that a police state coup against him is desirable.

The other ominous development is the just released US Nuclear Posture Review, which calls nuclear weapons “usable,” legitimizes their first use, and sets the stage for spending trillions of dollars acquiring more nuclear weapons when massive public needs go unmet and 10 percent of the existing US arsenal is sufficient to destroy all life on earth.

I have written about these extraordinary developments. See, for example, https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/02/05/will-conspiracy-trump-american-democracy-go-unpunished/ and https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/02/02/nuclear-posture-review/

As for the effect it has had, I might as well not have bothered. No government and no news organization of which I am aware has sounded the alarm that the CIA, FBI, DOJ, Democratic Party, and the entirety of the American print and TV media have been caught red-handed in a coup to overthrow the President of the United States, and nothing is being done about it. The coup cannot even be exposed, because the security agencies, media, and Democrats shout down the hard evidence. Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi were murdered on the basis of total lies, and now the President of the United States faces the same fate.

If the coup against Trump succeeds, the US will have made the full transition into a Gestapo Police State. America will have become the Fourth Reich.

As horrible as this prospect—courtesy of the CIA, FBI, Obama Department of Justice, Democratic Party, and presstitute media—is, the nuclear posture review is many times worse. During the long decades of the Cold War, no US government would have released a nuclear posture review that legitimized the first use of nuclear weapons against any opponent. The US did have some crazed generals, such as Lemnitzer and Curtis LeMay who were Dr. Strangelove figures, and there was a James Bond movie about an equally crazed, but fictional, Soviet general.

Even 55 years ago crazed generals such as Lemnitzer were too powerful to be fired. President John F. Kennedy was limited to reassigning Lemnitzer, who pressed JFK to adopt a 9/11-type false flag operation known as Operation Northwoods (look it up online) and to launch a preemptive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. It unnerved President Kennedy when he realized that he had an insane Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but Kennedy stood up to him. President Trump failed to stand up to the neoconized Dr. Strangeloves of our time when Trump endorsed the Pentagon’s new nuclear posture review. Compared to JFK, Trump is milktoast.

The new American nuclear posture review is a neoconservative document that has within it the destruction of all life on earth. The insane people responsible for this document are those in the policy positions to implement it. It gives us the paradox that an American president elected in part by his professed intent to normalize relations with Russia has signed off on a posture review that tells Russia and China that Washington has a policy that permits a first strike against them. Clearly, this is not normalizing relations.

Already Russia has experienced a quarter century of American deceit and duplicity. President Gorbachev was promised in exchange for Soviet agreement to the unification of Germany that Washington would not move NATO one inch to the East. But the Clinton Regime moved NATO to Russia’s very border. The George W. Bush Regime withdrew from the anti-ballistic missile treaty. The Obama Regime placed ABM missiles on Russia’s border. And now the Trump Regime tells Russia and China that they are subject to surprise nuclear attack.

Never in the history of mankind has a more reckless, irresponsible, destabilizing act, one that threatens the entirely of humanity, been committed. It is difficult to imagine a government, even one as criminally insane as the US government, telling nuclear powers such as Russia and China that they are subject to US surprise nuclear attack.

Yet the American media is cheering. USA Today declares: “Trump’s plan for nuclear weapons makes sense.” https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...weapons-makes-sense-ohanlon-column/305390002/

The Hill, a Washington publication, thinks that threatening Russia and China with a first strike is a reasonable step: http://thehill.com/opinion/national...r-posture-sets-forth-reasoned-steps-to-ensure

Presstitute CNBC, completely ignoring Washington’s provocative nuclear posture and provocative pursuit of even more nuclear weapons and delivery capabilities, focuses attention on North Korea as the real threat. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/06/us-...ear-arsenals-of-china-russia-north-korea.html

When a country intent on world hegemony, as the US clearly is, has a media so compliant with its war intention, the rest of the world had better be on guard. There is no internal check whatsoever on Washington’s aggression toward the world.

Where are the protest voices of the Europeans, the Canadians, the British, the Australians, the Japanese, the South Americans, the Africans, India and Asia? Where are even the voices of Russia and China? If they exist at all they are hidden behind Russian pretensions of “our Western partners,” and Chinese greed for more profits.

The voices do not exist.

Truth is not good news. It doesn’t reassure people or make them feel good. People who don’t feel safe don’t go into debt in order to be able to spend money and make profits for the capitalists who own the news and the governments and the businesses.

Armageddon will bring debt forgiveness, thus reviving an economy that will no longer exist, as no one will be here to pay or to collect the debts.

https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/02/07/washington-threatens-america-world/

PCR’s article is very good but there is a line in it that poisons the well.

“America will have become the FourthReich”.

PCR is too smart to truly believe this stupidity. The Reich was fighting the Marxist communists who were openly overthrowing Germany just like they are attempting here in post WWII USA. The proper comparison would be the USSA to the USSR and the Bolsheviks. Either PCR thinks his audience are a bunch of rubes and he uses Nazi comparisons to appeal to their conditioning or he himself is misinformed.

USA becoming the Fourth Reich? Hahaha, if only...

 

[Don Wassall]

Roberts is definitely not cutting edge on race. He positions himself mostly as a left-populist on social issues, but of late has written a couple of articles about how runaway identity politics is logically headed toward White genocide. He's excellent on foreign policy and economic issues, which are his forte. Also the judicial system.

I agree about the gross misuse of the words fascist and nazism, as the essence of fascism and nazism is the health and progress of the folk, while the essence of the Amerikan form of communism is the degradation and replacement of Whites.

 

[werewolf]

Roberts is definitely not cutting edge on race. He positions himself mostly as a left-populist on social issues, but of late has written a couple of articles about how runaway identity politics is logically headed toward White genocide. He's excellent on foreign policy and economic issues, which are his forte. Also the judicial system.

I agree about the gross misuse of the words fascist and nazism, as the essence of fascism and nazism is the health and progress of the folk, while the essence of the Amerikan form of communism is the degradation and replacement of Whites.

Understatement of the day. I still remember the enemy owned US media orchestrated black and communist riots over "college bound gentle giant" Mike Brown getting "murdered" by Officer Darren Wilson, and how PC Roberts jumped right on the enemy bandwagon. F him!

 

[werewolf]

Here it is: Paul Craig Roberts, Aug 21, 2014:


Ferguson: No Justice in the American Police State

"It appears that the murder of Michael Brown did not satisfy the blood lust of the goon thug cop murderers..."

https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/20...ice-american-police-state-paul-craig-roberts/

 

[Freethinker]

Roberts is definitely not cutting edge on race. He positions himself mostly as a left-populist on social issues, but of late has written a couple of articles about how runaway identity politics is logically headed toward White genocide. He's excellent on foreign policy and economic issues, which are his forte. Also the judicial system.

I agree about the gross misuse of the words fascist and nazism, as the essence of fascism and nazism is the health and progress of the folk, while the essence of the Amerikan form of communism is the degradation and replacement of Whites.

Yes, you’re right about his many areas of expertise and he’s very good at expounding on these topics. His “awakening” on the White genocide plot was a surprising twist. Overall, PCR does a lot of good work and I don’t feel good nitpicking him but I do think language matters.

Our enemies took over language along time ago to great success. If we are to retake the culture, we won’t do it by repeating (((their))) falsehoods. We also won’t do it by LARPing as “nazis” or even singing their praise to normies but on the other hand we shouldn’t slander them or spread jew lies. Communists and Marxist are the enemy and when referencing a totalitarian state badguy, we should always use the plethora of nightmare examples that history has afforded us.

Again, in this regard, PCR should know better.

 

[Riggins44]

Good article on Trump today from Pat Buchanan:

Trump -- Middle American Radical


President Trump is the leader of America’s conservative party.

Yet not even his allies would describe him as a conservative in the tradition of Robert Taft, Russell Kirk or William F. Buckley.

In the primaries of 2016, all his rivals claimed the mantle of Mr. Conservative, Ronald Reagan. Yet Trump captured the party’s heart.

Who, then, and what is Donald Trump?

In a Federalist essay, “Trump Isn’t a Conservative — And That’s a Good Thing,” Frank Cannon comes close to the mark.

Trump, he writes, “would more accurately be described as a ‘radical anti-progressive'” who is “at war with the progressives who have co-opted American civil society.” Moreover, Trump “is willing to go further than any other previous conservative to defeat them.”

Many “elite conservatives,” writes Cannon, believe the “bedrock institutions” they treasure are “not subject to the same infectious politicization to which the rest of society has succumbed.”

This belief is naive, says Cannon, “ridiculous on its face.”

“Radical anti-progressives” recognize that many institutions — the academy, media, entertainment and the courts — have been co-opted and corrupted by the left. And as these institutions are not what they once were, they no longer deserve the respect they once had.

Yet most conservatives will only go so far in criticizing these institutions. We see this in how cradle Catholics find it difficult to criticize the Church in which they were birthed and raised, despite scandals and alterations in the liturgy and doctrine.

Trump sees many institutions as fortresses lately captured by radical progressives that must be attacked and besieged if they are to be recaptured and liberated. Cannon deals with three such politicized institutions: the media, the NFL and the courts.

Trump does not attack freedom of the press but rather the moral authority and legitimacy of co-opted media institutions. It is what CNN has become, not what CNN was, that Trump disrespects.

These people are political enemies posturing as journalists who create “fake news” to destroy me, says Trump. Enraged media, responding, reveal themselves to be not far removed from what Trump says they are.

And, since Trump, media credibility has plummeted.

Before 2016, the NFL was an untouchable. When the league demanded that North Carolina accept the radical transgender agenda or face NFL sanctions, the Tar Heel State capitulated. When Arizona declined to make Martin Luther King’s birthday a holiday in 1990, the NFL took away the Super Bowl. The Sun State caved.

This year, the league demanded respect for the beliefs and behavior of NFL players insulting Old Glory by “taking a knee” during the national anthem.

Many conservative politicians and commentators, fearing the NFL’s almost mythic popularity in Middle America, remained mute.

But believing instinctively America would side with him, Trump delivered a full-throated defense of the flag and called for kicking the kneelers off the field, out of the game, and off the team.

“Fire them!” Trump bellowed.

And Trump triumphed. The NFL lost fans and viewers. The players ended the protests. No one took a knee at the Super Bowl.

Before Trump, the FBI was sacrosanct. But Trump savaged an insiders’ cabal at the top of the FBI he saw as having plotted to defeat him.

Trump has not attacked an independent judiciary, but courts like the Ninth Circuit, controlled by progressives and abusing their offices to advance progressive goals, and federal judges using lifetime tenure and political immunity to usurp powers that belong to the president — on immigration, for example.

Among the reasons Congress is disrespected is that it let the Supreme Court seize its power over social policy and convert itself into a judicial dictatorship — above Congress.

Trump is no Beltway conservative, writes Cannon.

“Trump doesn’t play by these ridiculous rules designed to keep conservatives stuck in a perpetual state of losing — a made-for-CNN version of the undefeated Harlem Globetrotters versus the winless Washington Generals. Trump instead seeks to fight and delegitimize any institution the Left has captured, and rebuild it from the ground up.”

The Trump supporters who most relish the wars he is waging are the “Middle American Radicals,” of whom my columnist-colleague and late friend Sam Francis used to write.

There was a time such as today before in America.

After World War II, as it became clear our long-ruling liberal elites had blundered horribly in trusting Stalin, patriots arose to cleanse our institutions of treason and its fellow travelers.

The Hollywood Ten were exposed and went to jail. Nixon nailed Alger Hiss. Truman used the Smith Act to shut down Stalin’s subsidiary, the Communist Party USA. Spies in the atom bomb program were run down. The Rosenbergs went to the electric chair.

Liberals call it the “Red Scare.” And they are right to do so.

For when the patriots of the Greatest Generation like Jack Kennedy and Richard Nixon and Joe McCarthy came home from the war and went after them, the nation’s Reds had never been so scared in their entire lives.

The Best of Patrick J. Buchanan

 

[Riggins44]

The Dow was down 1,033 at the close yesterday. The financial false flag continues.

 

[Leonardfan]

The Dow was down 1,033 at the close yesterday. The financial false flag continues.

The SEC should investigate these odd issues with the market. Anyone with a rational mind would have to see the correlation between Trump's shake up of the FBI and the market that is all of the sudden plummeting after experiencing growth during Trump's first year in office. I would bet Soros is behind this in some way - trying to destabilize the market place. I really wish someone would go after him for all the collusion and interference in government he has caused.

 

[FootballDad]

There is a lot going on with the market in addition to the market manipulation by the usual suspects. After all, the stock market is just essentially a gambling institution. "Stocks" are worth what the majority of players feel they are worth. A stock goes up or down by what people are willing to pay for it. Nothing more.

A booming economy, while good for business and people, is not necessarily good for the market. So-called "inflationary pressures" cause the Fed (which should be abolished) to raise interest rates, which spook investors, causing sell-offs that diminish perceived stock value. Rising interest rates in turn also cause problems with the bond markets because the interest on the massive national debt spikes.

A fiscally responsible government and the abolishment of a rogue Federal Reserve would go a long ways in stabilizing markets and keeping the economy humming, but that's not likely to happen anytime soon. Did you know that the budget that the Senate is currently working on increases federal spending by a whopping 13%? More money down the rat hole.

 

[Heretic]

If there are concerns with "inflationary pressures", then why are gold and silver still pretty much pegged at the same price they've been over the past five years? Aren't they supposed to be a gauge of real inflation and their prices rise accordingly? I think they've actually gone down over the past week or two along with the stock market. People used to buy gold and silver as a hedge against inflation. It doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Riggins44]

The gold and silver prices are manipulated via the futures i.e. "paper" markets. Most of the buying and selling in the precious metals markets is in the futures markets, which is really fake, fiat precious metals printed out of thin air, the same way the central banks create fiat money out of thin air. The globalists knock down the prices of gold and silver by periodically dumping a huge amount of futures contracts in the middle of the night in the Shanghai market or some such place. If the gold and silver prices rose too high it would negatively affect confidence in the globalist money scam framework. And it is a confidence game, and once confidence is shaken too much, the whole house of cards could come crashing down.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

The gold and silver prices are manipulated via the futures i.e. "paper" markets. Most of the buying and selling in the precious metals markets is in the futures markets, which is really fake, fiat precious metals printed out of thin air, the same way the central banks create fiat money out of thin air. The globalists knock down the prices of gold and silver by periodically dumping a huge amount of futures contracts in the middle of the night in the Shanghai market or some such place. If the gold and silver prices rose too high it would negatively affect confidence in the globalist money scam framework. And it is a confidence game, and once confidence is shaken too much, the whole house of cards could come crashing down.

Here here. It’s a phony baloney Ponzi scheme indeed. The central bank$ter cartel has been running game on nations for centuries. We need more (real) leaders (& men) like “Old Hickory” Andrew Jackson. He fought those vermin tooth & nail!

 

[Riggins44]

Here here. It’s a phony baloney Ponzi scheme indeed. The central bank$ter cartel has been running game on nations for centuries. We need more (real) leaders (& men) like “Old Hickory” Andrew Jackson. He fought those vermin tooth & nail!

Yes, the central bank financial scheme should come crashing down. It created communism and socialism. It is the source of most oppression and misery in the world. It has been destroying the family and religion for hundreds of years. It should be annihilated.

 

[Don Wassall]

Trump's already announcing that he's running for re-election. Seems like a smart move, as long as the economy keeps going as it has been, the stock market keeps rising and the country isn't dragged into a larger war other than the current ones that are remote from day to day life, the same people that elected him in 2016 will vote for him again, along with some independents and Democrats who are content with the economy and the general status quo. And seven more years to drive the left nuts means an unending supply of entertainment.

Obviously that's preferable to the Dems being in charge, but the main issue remains the diminishing number of White Americans along with the radical left's control of the social agenda in conjunction with globalist corporations, especially the ones that have a near-monopoly over the internet and social media. If those and other pressing issues aren't addressed and a true counter, nationalist movement forged, Trump will be but the last hurrah for America 1.0.

 

[Heretic]

Trump's already announcing that he's running for re-election. Seems like a smart move, as long as the economy keeps going as it has been, the stock market keeps rising and the country isn't dragged into a larger war other than the current ones that are remote from day to day life, the same people that elected him in 2016 will vote for him again, along with some independents and Democrats who are content with the economy and the general status quo. And seven more years to drive the left nuts means an unending supply of entertainment.

Obviously that's preferable to the Dems being in charge, but the main issue remains the diminishing number of White Americans along with the radical left's control of the social agenda in conjunction with globalist corporations, especially the ones that have a near-monopoly over the internet and social media. If those and other pressing issues aren't addressed and a true counter, nationalist movement forged, Trump will be but the last hurrah for America 1.0.

This could as well of been posted in the "White Misery" thread:

Another video article from the WSJ today:

Why ‘Deaths of Despair’ May Be a Warning Sign for America - Moving Upstream
2/27/2018 10:00AM

Does a decades-long rise in suicide among white Americans signal an emerging crisis for U.S. capitalism and democracy? Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton and his wife, fellow Princeton Prof. Anne Case, share their provocative theory with WSJ’s Jason Bellini in this episode of Moving Upstream.

It's interesting that they actually admit White demise may "signal an emerging crisis for U.S. capitalism and democracy", giving legitimacy to the fact that Whites are instrumental in maintaining the civilization of the West. This is the result of the deliberate devastation of the White nuclear families over the past 40-50 years. Hopefully, Trump and Sessions can defeat the Deep State opioid-pushers in their intent on destroying White families and communities. I think this is the Deep State's answer to the relative "awakening" by Whites in the country over the past decade...just kill them (us) off.

 

[Heretic]

Trump declares the month of March, Irish-American Heritage Month.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2018 as Irish-American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Irish Americans to our Nation with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

It's only for 2018, but it's a good start...and something.

 

[FootballDad]

Trump declares the month of March, Irish-American Heritage Month.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2018 as Irish-American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Irish Americans to our Nation with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

It's only for 2018, but it's a good start...and something.

Good. Back in the early years of this country, the Irish were basically a white minority, so it's appropriate that they get their due. Like the line from Blazing Saddles, "Alright, we'll give some land to the n*iggers and the chinks, but we don't want the Irish!"

 

[BeyondFedUp]

Trump declares the month of March, Irish-American Heritage Month.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2018 as Irish-American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Irish Americans to our Nation with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

It's only for 2018, but it's a good start...and something.

Another bold notch in Trump's belt of doing things that America 1.0 would see as admirable, and anti-White Leftist scum will further despise him for.

The more the Left hates someone, the more I tend to admire them.

 

[Riggins44]

Good. Back in the early years of this country, the Irish were basically a white minority, so it's appropriate that they get their due. Like the line from Blazing Saddles, "Alright, we'll give some land to the n*iggers and the chinks, but we don't want the Irish!"

Like!

 

[werewolf]

Trump declares the month of March, Irish-American Heritage Month.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2018 as Irish-American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Irish Americans to our Nation with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

It's only for 2018, but it's a good start...and something.

Wake me up when it's White Heritage Month.

 

[Thrashen]

Trump declares the month of March, Irish-American Heritage Month.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2018 as Irish-American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Irish Americans to our Nation with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

It's only for 2018, but it's a good start...and something.

While I certainly enjoy the fact that an American POTUS declared an entire month to celebrate a white ethnicity, it's rather ironic that Irish people are the most liberal of all white, American ethnic groups and it's not even close. Whenever I research the ethnicity of a mulatto, they generally have an Irish mother and a black father. Whenever I see a loud-mouthed white feminist or odious female lawyer, they tend to have an Irish last name. Whenever I see a white AntiFa type raging against "Nazis" on Facebook and Twitter, they invariably have an Irish last name. The same heritgage seems to be shared by countless leftist comedians, actors/actresses, and members of academia. Irish people constitute a large portion of "Catholic Social Service" workers, the far left Zionist Christian group primarily responsible for supplying America with fresh whores of black, brown, yellow, and Muslim vermin for decades on end. Here is an example of this group poisoning my state (PA)...

http://www.cchbg.org/get-help/immigration-refugee-services/

I have nothing against Irish people whatsoever and I'm painting with a wide brush...but I can't help but notice they are, on average, the "most liberal" of the white race. Why is this? My theory is that Irish people tend to always be the largest white ethnic group in any given urban area, an environment that always lends itself to Leftist leanings. Another factor is that, for whatever reason, an extremely high percentage of Catholic whites are rigid Democrats. Don't believe me? If you live in a "swing state," you can use this great website to look up the Irish/Catholic people you know and see how many are registered Democrats. Warning, this website is very addicting!

http://politicalstrategies.com/

To use the search function, hit the blue magnifying glass button instead of pressing the enter key.

 

[FootballDad]

President Trump today announced tariffs to steel and aluminum imports. It's an interesting topic. I am in the Pat Buchanan camp when it comes to this, here is an article by Mr. Buchanan from three days ago:

Why Is the GOP Terrified of Tariffs?
Monday - March 5, 2018 at 8:14 pm

By Patrick J. Buchanan

From Lincoln to William McKinley to Theodore Roosevelt, and from Warren Harding through Calvin Coolidge, the Republican Party erected the most awesome manufacturing machine the world had ever seen.

And, as the party of high tariffs through those seven decades, the GOP was rewarded by becoming America’s Party.

Thirteen Republican presidents served from 1860 to 1930, and only two Democrats. And Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson were elected only because the Republicans had split.

Why, then, this terror of tariffs that grips the GOP?

Consider. On hearing that President Trump might impose tariffs on aluminum and steel, Sen. Lindsey Graham was beside himself: “Please reconsider,” he implored the president, “you’re making a huge mistake.”

Twenty-four hours earlier, Graham had confidently assured us that war with a nuclear-armed North Korea is “worth it.”

“All the damage that would come from a war would be worth it in terms of long-term stability and national security,” said Graham.

A steel tariff terrifies Graham. A new Korean war does not?

“Trade wars are not won, only lost,” warns Sen. Jeff Flake.

But this is ahistorical nonsense.

The U.S. relied on tariffs to convert from an agricultural economy in 1800 to the mightiest manufacturing power on earth by 1900.

Bismarck’s Germany, born in 1871, followed the U.S. example, and swept past free trade Britain before World War I.

Does Senator Flake think Japan rose to post-war preeminence through free trade, as Tokyo kept U.S. products out, while dumping cars, radios, TVs and motorcycles here to kill the industries of the nation that was defending them. Both Nixon and Reagan had to devalue the dollar to counter the predatory trade policies of Japan.

Since Bush I, we have run $12 trillion in trade deficits, and, in the first decade in this century, we lost 55,000 factories and 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs.

Does Flake see no correlation between America’s decline, China’s rise, and the $4 trillion in trade surpluses Beijing has run up at the expense of his own country?

The hysteria that greeted Trump’s idea of a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum suggest that restoring this nation’s economic independence is going to be a rocky road.

In 2017, the U.S. ran a trade deficit in goods of almost $800 billion, $375 billion of that with China, a trade surplus that easily covered Xi Jinping’s entire defense budget.

If we are to turn our $800 billion trade deficit in goods into an $800 billion surplus, and stop the looting of America’s industrial base and the gutting of our cities and towns, sacrifices will have to be made.

But if we are not up to it, we will lose our independence, as the countries of the EU have lost theirs.

Specifically, we need to shift taxes off goods produced in the USA, and impose taxes on goods imported into the USA.

As we import nearly $2.5 trillion in goods, a tariff on imported goods, rising gradually to 20 percent, would initially produce $500 billion in revenue.

All that tariff revenue could be used to eliminate and replace all taxes on production inside the USA.

As the price of foreign goods rose, U.S. products would replace foreign-made products. There’s nothing in the world that we cannot produce here. And if it can be made in America, it should be made in America.

Consider. Assume a Lexus cost $50,000 in the U.S., and a 20 percent tariff were imposed, raising the price to $60,000.

What would the Japanese producers of Lexus do?

They could accept the loss in sales in the world’s greatest market, the USA. They could cut their prices to hold their U.S. market share. Or they could shift production to the United States, building their cars here and keeping their market.

How have EU nations run up endless trade surpluses with America? By imposing a value-added tax, or VAT, on imports from the U.S., while rebating the VAT on exports to the USA. Works just like a tariff.

The principles behind a policy of economic nationalism, to turn our trade deficits, which subtract from GDP, into trade surpluses, which add to GDP, are these:

Production comes before consumption. Who consumes the apples is less important than who owns the orchard. We should depend more upon each other and less upon foreign lands.

We should tax foreign-made goods and use the revenue, dollar for dollar, to cut taxes on domestic production.

The idea is not to keep foreign goods out, but to induce foreign companies to move production here.

We have a strategic asset no one else can match. We control access to the largest richest market on earth, the USA.

And just as states charge higher tuition on out-of state students at their top universities, we should charge a price of admission for foreign producers to get into America’s markets.

And — someone get a hold of Sen. Graham — it’s called a tariff.

 

[celticdb15]

Good article FBDad thanks for sharing. It's amazing how 1860-early 1900s is taught as being a "dark period" for the USA economy when in reality we rose to manufacturing greatness without taxes. I'm all for the tariffs!

 

[werewolf]

Yes, Pat Buchanan has always been great, my favorite, very intelligent. The only exceptions in my opinion were when Dr David Duke was running for president and he joined in with all the rest of the yapping lap dogs calling him Nasty Names - and especially when he pretended to run for president and then chose two insane negressses as running mates, one after the other, in what looked like a deliberate attempt to destroy the first viable third party in this country in many years, the Reform Party, which he did.

 

[Heretic]

When the aptly-named Flake and Grahmnesty are against something, you know it's probably something good. Even Rand Paul, whom I almost always agree with, said "We are going to lose a trade war". Well, if we've had a $12 TRILLION trade deficit since Bu$h 1 and $800 Billion just last year alone, haven't we already lost the trade war?