The American economy and the country is huge. Countries normally operate in a coordinated fashion like a Navy flotilla. Huge ships take longer to turn like the flotilla of the German battleship, Bismarck. Flotillas work in synchrony, like a ballet or the Cirque du Soleil, for their mutual protection and benefit. Regardless of the political party in the oval office, there is generally much continuity in military, trade and foreign policy.

The U.S. wanted to leverage China in Vietnam negotiations. From 1952 through 1973, presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon were using Vietnam as a containment operation to buffer China from expansion. China and Vietnam were historical enemies. America wanted to drive a wedge between Russia and China. The Vietnam war ended with Nixons Paris Peace Accord in 1973. Then straddled with the Watergate break-in, he was impeached and resigned. As soon as Ford was sworn in, he addressed the nation and stated, My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.

After President Carter gave China favored nation status in 1979, China trade started with Reagan in 1981. We had 12 years of accelerated Chinese trade growth and it continued its acceleration with four years of George H.W. Bush (Desert Storm). The Berlin Wall fell in November 1989. The USSR collapsed in December 1991.

Clintons economy grew unabated at 4% year over year starting in 1993. Impeached. Acquitted. China trade deficit grew about 20% year after year but was about 20% of what it is today. Clintons stock market performance exceeds Trumps excluding COVID-19 months. Many headed to Margaritaville with Jimmy Buffet.

Then the dandelions hit the fan. 9-11- 2001. The New York World Trade Center was targeted by Osama Bin Laden and laid smoldering on the ground.

George W. was not paying attention to China; he was too busy with Iraqi Freedom looking for A) oil or B) weapons of mass destruction of which there were none per Hans Blix, chief U.N. inspector. General Colin Powell knew what to do. He said to G.W. Bush, You break it, you bought it (The Pottery Barn Doctrine).

By 2004, President George W. Bushs trade imbalance graph with China looks like Evil Knievels ramp created to jump the Snake River canyon. Knievel needed a parachute. Our economy will need one too. Looking at the graph of trade deficits, corrections should have started about 2005. Blame it on focus in Iraq, the greed of American industry for increased profit margins? PAC money? American consumers wanting cheap stuff? Ship our environmental issue offshore? All the above? Mr. Trump, you can blame China trade issues on anyone but Obama and Biden.

Obama started with an economy in the tank in 2008 (the bank bailout), plus an ongoing Middle East conflict he inherited from G.W. Bush. The stock market went on an extended run increasing 113% from Obamas second month until the day Trump was elected, according to Forbes in June 2019. It was the longest run in US History.

Trumps first three years of China trade deficits are 7.76 % higher than Obama-Bidens last 3 years in office, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Theres been a trade imbalance with the Chinese since day one. American industry exported heavy machinery including farm products, steel, even rail maintenance equipment from Ludingtons Harsco Rail. In the early years, it kept Americans at work and leveled the economy and contained Russia. Most all Presidents were distracted by wars. You can only fight so many wars on so many fronts. Like the Bismarck, you need to make course corrections. Sometimes you get your rudder jammed.

No President spent more money on American defense than Barak Obama and Joe Bide, ever!, at $663.4 billion per year. (FY16_Green_Book.pdf) Budgets thru 2021. Obama and Biden built the military and the economy you and Trump live off today, according to the National Defense Budget estimates for fiscal year 2016.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., said in a statement that his panel found no reason to dispute the U.S. intelligence communitys conclusions that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to sow chaos, saying they reflected strong tradecraft and analytical reasoning. He said the agencies conclusion is that such election interference is the new normal.

Trumps continual vibrato of false tweets along with hidden agendas, and fake news and lies are killing us. It is just plain immoral. In todays world you need both oars in the water. Is there a doctor in the house?

When will we say our national nightmare is over?

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Lest we forget: 70 years of diplomacy, and why China trade in 5 minutes - shorelinemedia.net