Alternative Visions - 2017 Year in Review: Trump Year One - 12.29.17

Dr. Rasmus reviews the major economic developments of the past year. Included are the major economic consequences of Trump’s first year in office: tax cuts, environmental, financial and other deregulations, Goldman Sachs running the economy, the Trump ‘bump’ and Trump ‘trade’, Trump free trade policies re. NAFTA, Trump’s replacement of Fed chair Yellen with Powell, the low dollar and Emerging Markets and US multinational corporations gains, education and union labor policy shifts, Obamacare-ACA gutting, etc. Rasmus also reviews US and global economic developments, including US GDP, productivity, wages, stock markets and Bitcoin, household debt and collapse of savings rates, and the narrowing (and eventual inverting) of the important ‘yield curve’. Global developments are commented on, including Brexit, the continuing collapse of social democracy in Europe and rise of nationalisms, the US counter-offensive in Latin America, Russia’s rising role in Syria and partnership with Saudi Arabia and OPEC on oil prices, China’s party conference and shift to attack its financial speculators and shadow banks again, US foreign policy failures in Turkey and the US-No. Korea continuing drift to military confrontation.  (Next Week: Dr. Rasmus makes his predictions for 2018)