Trump as president again?
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History repeats itself in a different way:
Thought this Facebook comment by Alex Gourevitch, author of ‘From Slavery to the Democratic Commonwealth’ – a book about the Knights of Labor, was quite good:
“If Trump really does live in the late 19th century when thinking about trade, foreign policy and national consciousness – his love of McKinley, his devotion to tariffs, belief in national industrial cooperation, etc… – then it seems to me there is an underappreciated reason for his love of tariffs. That was a period when tariffs where the major source of national revenue. The amendment making a federal income tax legal was only passed in 1913. Before then, tariffs, customs and the like were the major way of financing the federal government. This is the period that he claims the United States was the wealthiest. His mental image, or ideal, is a society in which there is no income tax. Wealthy Americans keep all that they have accumulated. He has made off-hand claims that he will pay for the tax cuts through tariffs. There is no realistic way for him to do it. But I do wonder if his ideal is the pure oligarchic return to those features of the Gilded Age. Regardless, there’s a reason (an additional reason) for the incoherence of his policy. The modern American state cannot give up its income tax. We are so wealthy, and the state so heavily involved in the economy top-to-bottom in virtue of its ability to tax that wealth, that ‘taxing’ foreign trade cannot make up the difference. We would also have to suddenly stop being the financial center of the global economy. Contemporary oligarchy and its Gilded Age variant are not compatible.”
We would also have to suddenly stop being the financial center of the global economy.
Yes, Trump does seem to be obsessed with the “balance of trade” (the price paid for physical imports as compared with the income from selling physical exports) and punishing countries with which the US has an unfavourable balance.
But there is no need for this to balance. What does need to balance is the overall balance of payments, including loans made to the US government. The dollar is the world’s reserve and main trading currency which other countries hold, mainly in the form of short-term US Treasury bills. This represents a huge loan by the rest of the capitalist world to the US — enabled by there being a favourable balance of trade vis-à-vis the US by the EU, China, Japan etc.
If the US forces, for instance, China to balance its trade with it, then China would not have a surplus of income to invest in US bonds, to lend to the US.
Trump needs to be careful as to what he wishes.
Trump and the new golden age
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-09/trump-and-the-new-golden-ageLet’s start with what the terrible images of Trump’s investiture as 47th president of the United States tell us. Surrounded by an attentive court of billionaire vassals, as rich as they are opportunistic (they were also present at Biden’s coronation) Trump solemnly declared that he had been “saved by god to make America great again”, a feat that will entail performing two miracles. The first is to bring the USA back to being the greatest economic and financial power in the world (“America first”). The second will be to bring “peace” to the world — by building “the strongest military the world has ever seen”. Translated into international geopolitical terms, or inter-imperialist power relations, we find that he who claims to be anointed by the Lord will continue to do what all previous Administrations have done, whether Republican or Democrat, including Biden’s. The only difference being the crudeness of the character, his political aggression and personal vulgarity.
I don’t know, I always think it’s better to have a president who says things as they are, without the hypocrisy that Democrats in the United States always have. And I believe that in all capitalist countries, there’s one who plays with a heavy hand and another who hits you with a silk glove.
If the so-called left in this country continues to focus only on the individual Trump and not on this profit-driven system, which is the root of the world’s problems.
I don’t “saying things as they are” is a good description of Trump! The whole MAGA thing is based on a lie.
More Alex Gourevitch reposting, hopefully of interest and use:
“I agree with Corey Robin. And add that Bernie taking up the fight against oligarchy puts the Dems in a pickle. I still think a major reason that the critique of Trump as oligarchic, rather than fascist, was less popular is that it was and is much more difficult for the Democrats to sustain. It exposes them too much. They are themselves so tied to elements of the oligarchy that it is hollow criticism of the opposition. Obama’s first act post-presidency was to take a vacation at Richard Branson’s private island. Nancy Pelosi uses her inside political knowledge to beat the S&P 500. She does so frequently that there is now an indexed fund specifically designed to track her trades and there are accounts called things like “Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker.” Failed first Gentlemen Doug Emhoff went off and got a job at a high-end corporate law firm. Bloomberg tried to buy his way into a presidential nomination, Bill Gates is 100% Team Blue. Now start looking at Senators, Governors and so on. Lesser Evilism – whether of the ‘anti-fascist’ variety, or more broadly of the anti-Republican – has always allowed Dems to paper over the central class cleavages of the party, especially with respect to who leads and who follows.”
Corey Robin –
“While it’s freezing everywhere and the Democrats are running for cover, Bernie Sanders is heading out to Iowa and Nebraska to build grassroots support to take on “the oligarchy.”
Two points, one personal and one political.
Personally, there’s a huge leadership vacuum in the Democratic Party and Bernie’s one of the very people going out to talk to voters, in public rallies and and communities, not about personalities or his campaigns (he’s already said that’s over), but about ensuring that the message of social democracy doesn’t disappear. Remember how people mocked him for his monomaniacal focus on “the billionaires” as *the* problem, how out of touch and 1930s-ish it seemed? Doesn’t seem so out of touch now, does it? Where the establishment leaders of yesterday continue their private meetings with hedge funders and Hollywood celebrities, Bernie’s out there, doing what good organizers have always done: talking to working-class people. There was always a lot of shit thrown at him by people claiming he thought he was a messiah or a martyr or whatever, and the truth is, he’s remained pretty true to his basic mission, whatever you may think of it, which is not about himself but about the causes he’s fought for his entire life. Doing the work, as people like to say.
Politically, I think we really need to start developing our account of this “oligarchy” Sanders is talking about. To me, it’s one of the more promising developments in our political language. It’s got deep roots in the American tradition (I wrote about this in a review last year of Fishkin’s and Forbath’s The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution, which I really recommend). I think it holds more political potential than other frameworks people have used.
As I’ve said a number of times, the great reform movements in this country always identified their opponent as a tangible social malignancy. Not just a government deformation but a comprehensive warping of polity and economy. The abolitionists didn’t run against the Democrats, they ran against the “slaveocracy.” The New Dealers didn’t run against the Republicans, they ran against “the economic royalists.” The Jacksonians (who called themselves and were called “The Democracy”) ran against The Monster Bank, not the Whigs.
Oligarchy is just such a fusion of polity and economy. But we’ve got to name it more specifically, not just in one person or party, but in its comprehensiveness. I don’t know what that name is. But it’s something we’ve got to start figuring out.”Donald Trump ‘blackmailing’ Ukraine for $500,000,000,000 share of minerals
Donald Trump ‘blackmailing’ Ukraine for $500,000,000,000 share of minerals
Am I the only one who’s quite enjoying the schadenfreude caused by the shock, bewilderment and terror of the western world’s establishment power brokers because of Trump’s policies? The greatest weakness of all establishments is their complete inability to imagine any kind of change. From a working class perspective it is rather amusing to see our ‘leaders’ in such disarray.
No, you are not the only one.
Unfortunately, whilst they are indulging in theatrical handshakes and maudling paeans to “patriotism and sacrifice”, the killing continues.
Bizzare. Trump´s vision for Gaza posted on TruthSocial. The guy is a complete narcissistic nutter
https://portside.org/2025-02-26/great-resegregation
Resegregation?
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