Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Trump’s Trade Triumph Trashed

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I must say, I was impressed – – disappointed, but impressed – – when the news stuck that Trump’s bullying of Europe had paid off. I mean, sheesh, is it REALLY that easy to bludgeon an entire continent to bend to your will? If so, then maybe he IS a great negotiator and the master of the art of the deal. It was a shocking rolling-over on the part of Juncker and company.

As of this writing, though, I just want to mention that the “Trump Triumph” explosion to lifetime equity highs seems to have disappeared in an awfully big hurry. I obviously have no idea what things will look like in the morning, but as of this moment…………it’s already gone.

tradetrash (more…)

American Gothic

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So, honestly, I want to make sure I’ve got this straight.

  1. There was relatively free trade;
  2. We enact tariffs on agricultural imports to make them more expensive to American consumers;
  3. Other countries retaliate with their own tariffs, diminishing demand for American products;
  4. Farmers are selling less and making less money;
  5. So the U.S. government starts writing them checks to compensate with money we don’t have (in case the whole “$21 trillion in debt” thing wasn’t quite clear yet)

So, net result – – American consumers worse off with higher prices. Foreign consumers worse off for the same reason. American taxpayers paying for billions of checks being written to farmers.

Brilliant. (more…)