Republicans, Democrats, and Voodoo Economics - Jeff Nielson (20/1/2017)

January 20, 2017

The Republican Trump regime has come out with its first economic policy paper. Democrat Larry Summers call this “voodoo economics” . This is very funny on multiple levels.

Many would argue that it was the Clinton regime (with Larry Summers in charge of economic policy) which began the transformation of the U.S. economy from what was still a relatively strong and prosperous entity into the hopelessly crippled, financial Ponzi-scheme which it has become today. It was during the Clinton years, with a Democrat at the helm of the U.S. economy that the Wall Street crime syndicate was fully unleashed upon the U.S. – and the world – through tearing up the Glass-Steagall Act (1933).

Not only did that crime against humanity mark the beginning of the worst financial crime spree in the history of humanity (X 100), it also marked the beginning of the financial cannibalization of the U.S. economy, not just by the criminal banks, but by the all of the mega-corporations owned by Western oligarchs . It was during the Clinton years that the U.S. government concluded its most significant “free trade” deals.

These corrupt agreements were stacked so heavily in favor of the interests of these large corporations that the populations of all parties to these trade agreements lost. The United States lost jobs, mostly well-paying manufacturing jobs. Roughly 50 million Americans are permanently unemployed today, no longer even counted by the government’s fraudulent “unemployment statistics”. A large chunk of that total was created during the Clinton years.

The trading partners of the United States who were the recipients of all this exported manufacturing also lost. Their corrupt governments allowed the mega-corporations exploiting those nations to pay slave-wages to their workers, while contributing little-to-no tax revenues to those economies. Lose/lose.

The only significant exception to this “free trade” carousel of misery was China. China’s government played the game with Western mega-corporations, but on terms which allowed the Chinese people to significantly improve their standard of living, and with China’s government able to leverage this increased economic activity to the point of transforming itself into a global powerhouse – the new “growth engine” of the global economy.

The economic bubbles which ended up imploding during the reign of error of George Bush Jr. were all germinated during the Clinton years, with Larry Summers spreading most of the economic fertilizer, personally. What are Larry Summers credentials for criticizing the Trump regime today? What has he done after all the damage he did to the U.S. economy?

He spent part of that time as president of Harvard University, where his principal “accomplishment” was managing to incur a $1 billion loss for the university, in financing just $2 billion of debt. Of course that was just part of the losses he racked up while mismanaging Harvard. Altogether, Larry Summers was a $1.8 billion mistake during his short tenure as Harvard’s president. Today, Larry Summers is a Harvard professor – teaching courses in how not to run a university.

But we would be remiss in not giving Republicans their share of “credit” for transforming the U.S. from an economic juggernaut into a bankrupt deadbeat, which only manages to stay afloat by using $trillions in counterfeit money to buy its own worthless bonds.

Who can forget the “Reagan miracle”? Right-wing zealots still get wet dreams thinking about the Reagan years. Yes. Through the magic of “Reaganomics”, the world’s strongest economy managed to triple its national debt – in just eight years. Not even Larry Summers could have done that.

After Reagan the Republican drowned the U.S. in debt, and after Clinton the Democrat gutted the U.S. manufacturing base came George Bush Jr.: someone who managed to combine the mismanagement and incompetence of the Reagan and Clinton regimes. Like Ronald Reagan the “fiscal conservative”, George Bush Jr. also managed to triple the U.S. national debt (again) in just eight years. Like Bill Clinton, he also gave away million and millions of U.S. jobs through more, phony “free trade” deals. Standing next to George Bush Jr., Larry Summers actually looks like the “economic genius” he claims to be.

Of course after eight years of Barack Obama, the knuckle-draggers who still vote Republican will be foaming at the mouth by now. Where is the condemnation of Obamacare (which as any good Republican can tell you “killed the U.S. economy”)? The response to such accusations is to point out the obvious: you can’t kill something which is already dead.

Regular readers are familiar with the chart above. The velocity of money roughly translates into the “heartbeat” of an economy. What this chart clearly shows is that the U.S. economy was already several years into its present death-spiral before Barack Obama ever took his Oath of Office.

Barack Obama is a slick con-man who has spent the last eight years duping the world into believing that the deceased U.S. economy is still alive. Using Wall Street’s (and the Fed’s) counterfeit funny-money to pretend to pay the U.S.’s bills, this Zombie Economy lurches from year to year without any visible means of support to finance its extravagant spending – mostly on hand-outs to the Rich and funding the war crimes of the U.S. military.

…and then came Trump.

Ronald Reagan was an actor pretending to be a president. Bill Clinton, like Obama, was a sleazy con-man who convinced the world that the “voodoo economics” (perpetrated by Larry Summers) was an economic miracle. Using the most fraudulent accounting, he pretended that the U.S. economy was actually in a budget surplus. George Bush Jr. was a buffoon of such epic proportions that he made the U.S.’s population nostalgic for the incompetence and corruption of Reagan and Clinton.

Then we have Trump. The Donald is someone who possesses no more intellect than Junior, and even less qualifications to be president. Junior actually had political experience before being parachuted into the White House by his oligarch masters. Junior mismanaged the state of Texas as its governor before he mismanaged the United States as its president.

Trump is also a buffoon, but without any political experience. His claim to fame is being in the right place, at the right time, and getting lucky in the real estate market – with his wealth providing him with a media platform from which to shoot off his mouth. How do we know that Trump got lucky making his original fortune in real estate?

The six times he has filed for bankruptcy since then are a pretty good clue. The only reason Trump hasn’t already lost every penny of his wealth (and then some) is because of the high-priced lawyers in his employ – and a legal system designed to make it virtually impossible for the very, very Rich to lose their ill-gotten gains.

Is there any possibility that Donald Trump and the economic pretenders with whom he surrounds himself could craft a sensible, competent economic plan which would “restore greatness” to the United States? Absolutely not. Even History’s greatest economic mastermind couldn’t breathe life into this corrupt, bloated, bankrupt corpse. The only rational economic policy for the United States (and most of the Western world) is a declaration of bankruptcy – followed by a Debt Jubilee for everyone. Free the slaves .

Wiping away all the $trillions in fraudulent debts which the oligarchs hold over us (and then electing some honest, responsible governments) is the only hope for the U.S. and the rest of the West. Barack Obama knew this, and deserves some measure of credit for managing to hide this from most of humanity for eight years.

The witless Trump undoubtedly has no idea at all that the United States is bankrupt, and its economy in total ruin. Trump actually believes his bombastic rhetoric and vacuous promises. His economic platform is “voodoo economics” – just like the economic platforms of Obama and Bush and Clinton and Reagan before him.

The great irony (and humor) here is that it took the election of Donald Trump to provide Larry Summers with his first opportunity to be right about something he said about the U.S. economy. It would give us all a good laugh, if it weren’t so tragic.

Jeff Nielson is co-founder and managing partner of Bullion Bulls Canada; a website which provides precious metals commentary, economic analysis, and mining information to readers and investors. Jeff originally came to the precious metals sector as an investor around the middle of last decade, but with a background in economics and law, he soon decided this was where he wanted to make the focus of his career. His website is www.bullionbullscanada.com.

The views and opinions expressed in this material are those of the author as of the publication date, are subject to change and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sprott Money Ltd. Sprott Money does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness and reliability of the information or any results from its use.