
Froma Harrop
Boy, do I miss Joe Biden. I especially miss the former president when President Donald Trump and his bobbleheads unfairly blame him for everything that's gone wrong since Inauguration Day.
Trump has since proven beyond doubt that he can wreck the economy all by his lonesome. And that's not all he's wrecking.
Trump was handed a great economy, "The envy of the world," according to financial media. Trump's trade war, lack of coherent economic policy and perhaps low interest in governing when cameras aren't present have investors close to panic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2,000 points since Trump took over.
Consumer confidence just scored its largest decline since August 2021. Americans are falling behind on car payments at the highest rate in more than 30 years. Inflation and employment numbers have gone wobbly, and the U.S. dollar is losing value.
People are also reading…
(By the way, the Russian stock market is doing splendidly as are the European bourses.)
Money aside, Americans risk losses of personal security as billionaire Elon Musk rants against Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Musk calls the beloved Social Security program a "Ponzi scheme."
There is the hard-to-quantify loss of "domestic tranquility," that is, the benefits of a well-functioning society as promised in the U.S. Constitution. Musk is cannibalizing old-fashioned government services that the citizenry expected as perks of being American -- basics such as the Small Business Administration and having people at the IRS to answer questions. Trump now talks of privatizing the U.S. Postal Service.
Musk waving his chainsaw is an unappetizing sight. We all want to cut government waste, but shouldn't he inquire into what the government workers he's firing do? The Tesla Chainsaw Massacre is clearly sport for the richest man on earth, but what about the rest of us?
Since Biden left office, the inflation rate has at times been inching up. And it's not just eggs, which MAGA still yaps about as Biden's fault, not the result of bird flu. Trump posted an article by right-winger Charlie Kirk entitled, "Shut up About Egg Prices." We shall ignore the order and note that the U.S. Agriculture Department expects egg prices to rise more than 40% this year.
It's not surprising that the measles outbreak is growing, given the nutcase Trump made head of the health department.
Trump's bizarre trade war against neighbors Mexico and Canada is as scary as it is economically nuts. As a shaken commentator on Fox Business News graphically noted on Monday, "A sinkhole has opened up under the NASDAQ."
During the chaos, Trump said the economy is going to boom. "We can do it the easy way, or we can do it the hard way." Exactly whom was he threatening?
When Ontario responded to Trump's 25% tax by announcing a tax on the energy Canada sends Michigan, Minnesota and New York, Trump retaliated with a 50% tax on Canada. Things calmed down a bit when Ontario and Trump backtracked.
But the next day, both Europe and Canada announced new tariffs against American products, hours after Trump slapped new tariffs on metal imports. Clearly, Trump isn't the only one in charge.
We didn't have these spectacles when Biden was president. The economic indicators were simply lovely. Perhaps a man who filed for bankruptcy six times is not exactly a financial "genius."
One fears that when stocks show any kind of recovery, Trump will drag us back into his circus house of funny mirrors. Biden may have slowed down toward the end, but he never subjected America to lunacy. His administration sailed on smoothly.
Boy, do I miss Biden.
Harrop, who lives inÌýNew York City and Providence, Rhode Island, writes for Creators Syndicate:Ìýfharrop@gmail.com.ÌýÌý