Why Trump Is Not “Better For The Economy”

We don’t see how anyone’s really helped by extending the metaphor of Trump as a crime boss

So we’re only going to do it a little.

Because the most common refrain these days we hear from our friends who are still supporting Trump, is that while they now agree he’s a horrible person and even that he botched COVID-19, he’s “better for the economy”.

And that does remind us of how people used to view old-time big city crime bosses. Those bosses always worked to project an image of prosperity to the people in the often very poor neighborhoods they controlled. Of protection too: from real or perceived threats from outside influences that wished those people harm. Usually a different race or ethnicity.

How’d the boss accomplish this? By throwing festivals for the neighborhood. By giving out free turkeys on Thanksgiving. But even more often by literally handing out money. To newlyweds. The bereaved. Even victims of crimes.

Not too much. Just enough to notice.

To engender a sense of loyalty, and a willingness not to make too much of the fact those neighborhood bosses were actually lining their pockets and those of their cohorts with money purloined from those very same neighborhood folks.

Now, we’re not saying that’s Trump at all. There’s one glaringly massive difference between those old-time mob bosses and Trump in their approach to the masses. They didn’t have access to an unlimited supply of U.S. dollars. Trump does.

The federal government can print out an unlimited amount of money. Meaning the President has an unlimited supply of cash at his disposal. Actually, it’s the Treasury Department that can do that. And actually, the Treasury Department can only do that if it’s authorized by Congress. But when he took office, Trump had all three.

So what did he do? Gave corporations and wealthy individuals a giant tax break. In the trillions. And a little bit to average folks. Not too much. Just enough to notice.

The huge corporate tax breaks came with incredibly few strings attached. Like even though the President said they would mean companies would bring back jobs from overseas…