[TheRealThing]

Depending on whom one may choose to listen, Leo Strauss and Milton Friedman supposedly were the twin financial towers of the Bush W Administration. The left thinks they are the two guys most responsible for the economic collapse of 2007.

I don't agree with that, in fact I disagree. I say the Bush W Administration was bushwhacked by Barney Frank and other merry midgets of the day, who being steeped in the politically correct special interest mania, encouraged and in some cases forced lending institutions to hand out palatial estates to people who could in no way begin to afford them. Now, though it certainly was Frank et-al pushing the stupidity until it festered into the housing bubble, the weak or otherwise spineless Republicans of the time were complicit too, because they were too afraid to stand up to Dems on the matter. Thank God for Trump's 'outing' of the insanity of political correctness! And of course there are several other contributing factors especially attributable to US social weaknesses, but why belabor the thought? The post 2007 world is still awash in the red ink which comprises the dismal financial outlook created by unfunded liabilities. We've evidently learned exactly nothing as the result of 2007.

The US according to Ben Carson, presently has more than 211 Trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities. The annual US economy is only somewhere around 20 Trillion. That means if the Federal Government stopped paying everything except our unfunded liabilities and the 310 billion (interest only) payment owed on our federal debt each year, it would take the next 20 years just to pay those two items. And at the end of 20 years, by that measure, we would yet to have paid one dime on the principle of those federal loans we keep making. I believe the point MR Trump is trying to make is as follows; the US is no longer, (not that we ever really were) in a strong enough financial position to continue helping the other nations of the world get financially better. From NATO deadbeats, to NAFTA, to the wrongheaded trade arrangements of the past 75 years. The madness has to stop. And I say he's right about that.

Tariffs are a tool to get our trading partners off the free lunch bar. Now, they may not all comply, but if they do not then we have to either slow down, or stop trading with them altogether until they get the necessary attitude adjustment. I mean, no amount of frugalness could ever offset US giveaways. Not to mention the fact of the top secret US Military intellectual property China has stolen, and has given them a clone military presence in the world that we must ironically now contend with. Along with the 500 billion dollar trade deficit they enjoy at US taxpayer hands. Milton Friedman and DJT I believe, would agree that 2+2 still equals 4. At any rate, I'm not on board with an assessment which argues that Friedman and Trump are all that far apart on their financial opinions.