US Erection 12 *AND* 16 *AND* 20 *AND* 22 *AND* 24 *AND* Beyond

[rikster]

Interesting listen… it reminded me of the tv show The Apprentice which is when I first learned about Trump…

Each episode would include an info type commercial where Trump would give his wisdom on business...On one he's sitting in his gold office with 2 of his managers and he’s on the phone squeezing a contractor for a 15% reduction in the contracted price ...

It takes a minute or so for him to get the contractor to cave to his demand and afterwards he boasts that this is how you become a successful businessman...As Carney described it, contracts written in pencil…

I think the reason I've never forgotten that episode is because as a Toyota dealer I would get the results of an auto parts survey grading which factories they most like to work with... Toyota came out on top with one auto parts maker saying that Toyota knows how much it costs to make the part and they expect the parts maker to sell it to Toyota at a sustainable profit...

I wondered how that contractor Trump put the screws to was going to find that lost 15%, if he had a 15% margin to begin with. Not to mention the Trump play book is full of stories about contractors not getting paid or getting a fraction of what they were contracted for.

So what happened with the 11th hour trade demands is right out of the Trump playbook that was written a long time ago...

Was hoping Clinton would have given his thoughts on the long-term impact to the US and its economy given how untrustworthy it has become under Trump and how the world is shifting away from the US and to China…

[Cornuck]

I wondered how that contractor Trump put the screws to was going to find that lost 15%, if he had a 15% margin to begin with. Not to mention the Trump play book is full of stories about contractors not getting paid or getting a fraction of what they were contracted for.

That show was totally scripted to make a failed, broke businessman look like a successful one. As for the contractor (if he even existed) likely never got paid as you suggest. Once a con artist, always a con artist.

[Topper]

Was hoping Clinton would have given his thoughts on the long-term impact to the US and its economy given how untrustworthy it has become under Trump and how the world is shifting away from the US and to China…

Maybe in his subscription article

[Per]

Thanks Rikster. Fascinating stuff

So are they destroying their own economy on purpose or is this a result of sheer idiocracy?

Donald Trump has a long history of bankruptcies. This is par for the course for him.

[5thhorseman]

Canada to rename Lake Michigan to "The Straight of our Moose".

(nicked off the interwebs)

[Topper]

It is one thing to do stupid shit, it is another thing to advertise it.

[5thhorseman]

This is why the gave Japan $10 billion instead of letting Japan sell US debt on the open market. It is also why the US has ramped the printing press to buy their own bonds.

Interesting thing I learned this morning is that hedge funds' share of the US debt has risen from around 2% to 8%. Compare that with Japan, the largest holder of US debt (including the Fed itself) at 3%. Hedge funds own more of the Treasury market than Japan and China and Saudi Arabia combined.

Hedge funds are highly leveraged and any problems with their borrowing rates could lead them to dump treasuries in a second, much faster than any Central Bank would, to avoid becoming insolvent. This would cause turmoil in the bond markets and cause yields to spike. It is a major fault line in financial markets.

Will the US government give money to hedge funds next?

[Per]

[Megaterio Llamas]

[Topper]

Donald Ducks are the official bird of Butler Pennsylvania.

[Megaterio Llamas]

Donald Ducks are the official bird of Butler Pennsylvania.

[Megaterio Llamas]

This is tremendous.