Here are a few facts that reflect on Trump’s assertion that the USA has been taken advantage of by other nations and that we desperately need to put America first. The first fact is that our GDP is by far the largest in the world and is seven to fifteen times more than the GDP of the next ten strongest economies excluding China, whose GDP is a little more than half of ours. The per capita GDP is also very high, eclipsing all but a few small-nation outliers – Luxemburg, Switzerland, Iceland and Singapore.
The second fact is that our average personal wealth is more than twice that of every other developed nation, with the exception of Luxemburg, Switzerland and Hong Kong. The third fact is that the average wages in the USA are higher than every other nation except Luxemburg, Hong Kong and Iceland.
It is hard to argue that the USA is suffering in a general sense. We are the acknowledged technology capital of the world, we have been the largest producer of crude oil in the world since 2018, we have an unmatched military capability, and we have untapped natural resources and vast areas of arable land that are the envy of the world.
Trump’s brutal trade policies and his threats to acquire Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada can only be interpreted as the antics of a spoiled child and bully that will never be satisfied. There is no rationale, either economic or political, for these hyper aggressive actions, other than the greedy frenzy of an arrogant, ignorant MAGA group led by two narcissistic autocrats.
It is true that the last 30 years have left a good part of the American population behind with stagnating wages and cultural shocks. The high wages and wealth skew wildly toward the top end of the American wealth demographic. Somehow, Trump has managed to convince this group that radical liberals and the rest of the world are at fault for their economic malaise. This fiction will not stand the test of time, but Trump’s strategy will no doubt be to shut the door on any democratic processes and eliminate all opposition before that happens.
The USA is powerful and can assert its will on many nations even if the terms are wildly unjust and punitive. A bully can prevail for a time. But in the long run, I believe there is enough strength and integrity in other nations to enable a re-ordering of world commerce and affairs. The sad truth for us is that it will be the stature and economic strength of the USA that will be diminished in the end. This is what happens to bullies and spoiled brats.