"As a result, the US producers can be affected unfavourably if their finished product is no longer competitive as a result of components and resources under tariffs"
It all depends on how fast US can become self sufficient.
Ideally for any country it would be full reliance on its own produced goods and services with surplus being sold to outside world (original capitalism foundation). US started as Capitalist then became Financialist ending as Debtalist economy. Both later systems make more and easy money but have an expiry date and are easy to substitute by others just by emulating it.
If Trump does what I think he may be doing, he is trying to rake the world's zen garden and rearrange it so that US can become central piece (but not the only piece - that hose have bolted) - hoping that being there first will make the US take the prime spot. Alas, it would be not the first time I could be wrong ;-)
Hudson did actually hit the nail on the head around 37:00 when he says that the Trump team appears to be targeting other countries in terms of increasing income to the USA. If you can't increase taxes on US citizens, because you claim to stand for lower taxes, then tax citizens of other countries instead. Trump isn't even hiding this. He is setting up a new agency called the External Revenue Service. Theoretically there is no limit to this approach. He could reduce taxes on US citizens to zero and get foreign countries to pay for the USA's budget instead. But he won't have any allies left and much of this extraction of revenue might be deemed criminality.
This strategy is not novel. For instance, the petrodollar is a way of forcing other countries to fund the USA. Trump is perhaps seeking to deepen the approach, by compelling other countries to buy more stuff from the USA, in dollars of course. The shock in Britain/Europe is that they are the target. Britain/Europe have spent a long time carrying the books for the class bully, and are now shocked to learn that the class bully hates them and he wants to punch them in the face.
Multipolarity for the Trump team seems likely to mean that the world is going to be divided up between OCGs (organised criminal gangs). The era of the 'tough guy' leader is back. Trump. Putin. Modi. Xi. Erdogan. As OCGs might divide up a city into areas in which each controls the drugs trade, so the multipolar world will be divided up into areas for each tough guy to exploit.
The history might be summarised as follows: Britain had an empire (as did Spain). Britain's empire came to an end (as did Spain's). The USA became the empire. Now the US can't sustain their empire and look likely to copy the British i.e. force states within their sphere of influence to continue to fund the empire by buying their stuff, not other people's. Coercion is the game here.
Once the wage level of the controller state of an empire reaches maturity what are the options?
It can strive to maintain high wages through excellence and technological innovation. The USA surely can choose this strategy as this is partly how it achieved its ascendancy in the first place.
It can demand that its citizens forego 95% of their salaries, and just eat bugs and be happy.
It can use its military or financial might to coerce other countries into paying an 'empire tax'. The USA has used this tool heavily to maintain its ascendancy and it looks like it will be ramped up.
Only one of those three options is ethical but it looks like the Trump team is going for Option 3.
NATO is an empire tax. Trillions of dollars have passed from British/European taxpayers to the US military industrial complex. It is a protection racket. Extortion. Yet when Britain/Europe want NATO to do something difficult, the USA (rightly) decides to preserve American lives instead.
Trump is not a man to underestimate. He is the most manipulative person I can think of, and that requires high intelligence/cunning. Some days I think he's a moron, and other days a genius. Today I'm on genius. He is playing Britain/Europe for fools. Refuse to let NATO act in Ukraine, send stress levels in Britain/Europe governments through the roof, but don't actually fold NATO, pretend that if something really bad happens NATO will definitely act more interested next time, panic Britain/Europe into upping their defence spending, which means buying stuff from USA.
It's simple but ingenious. An extortion racket. It's Vito Corleone knocking on your door and saying "Your payments are going up, and if they don't, I might not be able to protect you."
As a Brit/European, it makes me mad to see my 'leaders' cower; to fail to act for their citizens.
As someone with a degree of interest in literature, plot, characters and their motivations, tragic heroes and their downfalls, it's all very compelling. The exposition of the hubris of Zelensky, von der Leyen, Clint Starmer, Macron, Annalena Blurbock, in a theatre, would bring the house down.
For what Professor Hudson said about Trump's economic policies, I would agree in general. I think there is no easy fix unless there is a major population REDUCTION. However, what Professor Hudson said has few, if any, new arguments. In a sense, while many of us understand the same set of complex problems, and likely have different solutions to propose, the US governments of the last 40 years have not addressed the root causes. Trump may be able to do something with short-term effect, but unless he can push more dramatic policy changes, I don't see him touching the root causes either.
A STUPENDOUS discussion, Glenn! Already trying to share it widely.
Combines well with Varoufakis' arguments too.
As an aside, in the noughties I was on an early Politics forum, and easily my worst online enemy of all-time was a Marxist Neoliberal (You heard that right) Economics assehole. He knew he was lying, and was gleeful about it. He would lead the weaker-minded, less critical of the "orthodoxy" members to isolate and destroy those who WERE critical of his ideology.
Marxist 'Will to power' meets Neoliberal Greed, all wrapped up in psychopathology.
So if this behaviour was widespread in that dept - which I have no reason to doubt it was - it is hardly surprising that this cult has gained absolute control over every major Economics dept.
We all need to get this video discussion to every important BRICS person we know. This one hour could change the geostrategic balance of the future more than anything Trump does for the next 4 years.
Thank you so much for all your hard work, given out for free. I hope at some point new AIs in China will also be given this to understand.
The oligarchs appear to have largely realised that Trump is right, that a weak nation cannot dominate the world, and thus the globalist project of reducing the USA to the poverty of the 3rd world, as a means of bringing the American people under their control, is self-defeating.
They went along with the globalist project while it held out promise of world domination for their financialisation schemes, but now it is undeniable to any sane person that the globalist project is a race to the bottom, they're rediscovering their nationalist impulses.
That nationalist nonsense is used by them to rally fools to wars. Every physical, intellectual, and economic need people have is financialized in everexpanding layers by, oh, let's call them oligarchs. Their profits are hidden well and nearly untaxed while the many forms of taxes and tyranny grow to keep us in line, under control, and under their boot heels. That's what I see happening.
The small European vassals, including UK, are obviously desperate. They are furious that they can not continue the bloodshet in Ukraine. Contrary to all empiricism they have a stubborn and unrealistic illusion that they can win over Russia. If so if will take more years and millions of Ukrainians and Russians will die, not to mention that they increase the risk of a nuclear war with Russia. And they call it "security policy." Vance is right, in Europe they have censored all critics. Otherwise critical voices would have emerged in the European debate. Not every European can be ignorant about background, context and perspective of the Ukrainian war.
And now they will have an acute meeting in Paris and send "peacekeeping" forces to Ukraine. The Europeans have to wake up and get out their politicians if the want security.
Stoltenberg, Rutte, Von der Leyen, Baerbock, Starmer etc are vassals....of the three letter agencies and a different set of oligarchs. Not vassals of Trump and the oligarchs backing trump.
Which is why JD Vance is clearing the road for the Trump admin to replace the current set in Europel with their own vassals who will be more openly fascist, than the current set which are more closet fascists.
The neoliberal (Financialised) economies have underwritten the Ukraine disaster. They needed the defeated Russian resources to 'leverage' their unmanageable debt for a few more years. They have no 'Plan B'.
London alone will be bankrupt within the year, and needless to say the rest of the European economies and financial systems are following suit.
This is why they are desperate, and will not, cannot let go of this policy, no matter the costs in lives.
The only "peacekeeping forces" in Ukraine will be Russian ones - possible Chinese too.
Bankrupt countries simply will not be able to afford putting 100s of thousands of troops into long-term forward positions abroad, against a considerably stronger adversary.
As Hitler says in the parody sketch: "The game is up".
MORE! PLEASE!
"As a result, the US producers can be affected unfavourably if their finished product is no longer competitive as a result of components and resources under tariffs"
It all depends on how fast US can become self sufficient.
Ideally for any country it would be full reliance on its own produced goods and services with surplus being sold to outside world (original capitalism foundation). US started as Capitalist then became Financialist ending as Debtalist economy. Both later systems make more and easy money but have an expiry date and are easy to substitute by others just by emulating it.
If Trump does what I think he may be doing, he is trying to rake the world's zen garden and rearrange it so that US can become central piece (but not the only piece - that hose have bolted) - hoping that being there first will make the US take the prime spot. Alas, it would be not the first time I could be wrong ;-)
Hudson did actually hit the nail on the head around 37:00 when he says that the Trump team appears to be targeting other countries in terms of increasing income to the USA. If you can't increase taxes on US citizens, because you claim to stand for lower taxes, then tax citizens of other countries instead. Trump isn't even hiding this. He is setting up a new agency called the External Revenue Service. Theoretically there is no limit to this approach. He could reduce taxes on US citizens to zero and get foreign countries to pay for the USA's budget instead. But he won't have any allies left and much of this extraction of revenue might be deemed criminality.
This strategy is not novel. For instance, the petrodollar is a way of forcing other countries to fund the USA. Trump is perhaps seeking to deepen the approach, by compelling other countries to buy more stuff from the USA, in dollars of course. The shock in Britain/Europe is that they are the target. Britain/Europe have spent a long time carrying the books for the class bully, and are now shocked to learn that the class bully hates them and he wants to punch them in the face.
Multipolarity for the Trump team seems likely to mean that the world is going to be divided up between OCGs (organised criminal gangs). The era of the 'tough guy' leader is back. Trump. Putin. Modi. Xi. Erdogan. As OCGs might divide up a city into areas in which each controls the drugs trade, so the multipolar world will be divided up into areas for each tough guy to exploit.
The history might be summarised as follows: Britain had an empire (as did Spain). Britain's empire came to an end (as did Spain's). The USA became the empire. Now the US can't sustain their empire and look likely to copy the British i.e. force states within their sphere of influence to continue to fund the empire by buying their stuff, not other people's. Coercion is the game here.
Once the wage level of the controller state of an empire reaches maturity what are the options?
It can strive to maintain high wages through excellence and technological innovation. The USA surely can choose this strategy as this is partly how it achieved its ascendancy in the first place.
It can demand that its citizens forego 95% of their salaries, and just eat bugs and be happy.
It can use its military or financial might to coerce other countries into paying an 'empire tax'. The USA has used this tool heavily to maintain its ascendancy and it looks like it will be ramped up.
Only one of those three options is ethical but it looks like the Trump team is going for Option 3.
NATO is an empire tax. Trillions of dollars have passed from British/European taxpayers to the US military industrial complex. It is a protection racket. Extortion. Yet when Britain/Europe want NATO to do something difficult, the USA (rightly) decides to preserve American lives instead.
Trump is not a man to underestimate. He is the most manipulative person I can think of, and that requires high intelligence/cunning. Some days I think he's a moron, and other days a genius. Today I'm on genius. He is playing Britain/Europe for fools. Refuse to let NATO act in Ukraine, send stress levels in Britain/Europe governments through the roof, but don't actually fold NATO, pretend that if something really bad happens NATO will definitely act more interested next time, panic Britain/Europe into upping their defence spending, which means buying stuff from USA.
It's simple but ingenious. An extortion racket. It's Vito Corleone knocking on your door and saying "Your payments are going up, and if they don't, I might not be able to protect you."
As a Brit/European, it makes me mad to see my 'leaders' cower; to fail to act for their citizens.
As someone with a degree of interest in literature, plot, characters and their motivations, tragic heroes and their downfalls, it's all very compelling. The exposition of the hubris of Zelensky, von der Leyen, Clint Starmer, Macron, Annalena Blurbock, in a theatre, would bring the house down.
For what Professor Hudson said about Trump's economic policies, I would agree in general. I think there is no easy fix unless there is a major population REDUCTION. However, what Professor Hudson said has few, if any, new arguments. In a sense, while many of us understand the same set of complex problems, and likely have different solutions to propose, the US governments of the last 40 years have not addressed the root causes. Trump may be able to do something with short-term effect, but unless he can push more dramatic policy changes, I don't see him touching the root causes either.
A STUPENDOUS discussion, Glenn! Already trying to share it widely.
Combines well with Varoufakis' arguments too.
As an aside, in the noughties I was on an early Politics forum, and easily my worst online enemy of all-time was a Marxist Neoliberal (You heard that right) Economics assehole. He knew he was lying, and was gleeful about it. He would lead the weaker-minded, less critical of the "orthodoxy" members to isolate and destroy those who WERE critical of his ideology.
Marxist 'Will to power' meets Neoliberal Greed, all wrapped up in psychopathology.
So if this behaviour was widespread in that dept - which I have no reason to doubt it was - it is hardly surprising that this cult has gained absolute control over every major Economics dept.
We all need to get this video discussion to every important BRICS person we know. This one hour could change the geostrategic balance of the future more than anything Trump does for the next 4 years.
Thank you so much for all your hard work, given out for free. I hope at some point new AIs in China will also be given this to understand.
The oligarchs appear to have largely realised that Trump is right, that a weak nation cannot dominate the world, and thus the globalist project of reducing the USA to the poverty of the 3rd world, as a means of bringing the American people under their control, is self-defeating.
They went along with the globalist project while it held out promise of world domination for their financialisation schemes, but now it is undeniable to any sane person that the globalist project is a race to the bottom, they're rediscovering their nationalist impulses.
And putting their money behind them.
The rest is commentary.
That nationalist nonsense is used by them to rally fools to wars. Every physical, intellectual, and economic need people have is financialized in everexpanding layers by, oh, let's call them oligarchs. Their profits are hidden well and nearly untaxed while the many forms of taxes and tyranny grow to keep us in line, under control, and under their boot heels. That's what I see happening.
That, too.
Well, but right now it is about Ukraine.
The small European vassals, including UK, are obviously desperate. They are furious that they can not continue the bloodshet in Ukraine. Contrary to all empiricism they have a stubborn and unrealistic illusion that they can win over Russia. If so if will take more years and millions of Ukrainians and Russians will die, not to mention that they increase the risk of a nuclear war with Russia. And they call it "security policy." Vance is right, in Europe they have censored all critics. Otherwise critical voices would have emerged in the European debate. Not every European can be ignorant about background, context and perspective of the Ukrainian war.
And now they will have an acute meeting in Paris and send "peacekeeping" forces to Ukraine. The Europeans have to wake up and get out their politicians if the want security.
Stoltenberg, Rutte, Von der Leyen, Baerbock, Starmer etc are vassals....of the three letter agencies and a different set of oligarchs. Not vassals of Trump and the oligarchs backing trump.
Which is why JD Vance is clearing the road for the Trump admin to replace the current set in Europel with their own vassals who will be more openly fascist, than the current set which are more closet fascists.
The neoliberal (Financialised) economies have underwritten the Ukraine disaster. They needed the defeated Russian resources to 'leverage' their unmanageable debt for a few more years. They have no 'Plan B'.
London alone will be bankrupt within the year, and needless to say the rest of the European economies and financial systems are following suit.
This is why they are desperate, and will not, cannot let go of this policy, no matter the costs in lives.
The only "peacekeeping forces" in Ukraine will be Russian ones - possible Chinese too.
Bankrupt countries simply will not be able to afford putting 100s of thousands of troops into long-term forward positions abroad, against a considerably stronger adversary.
As Hitler says in the parody sketch: "The game is up".