The most fundamental feature of American capitalism was neither benign market competition nor struggle between capital and labor. According to Galbraith, America was no longer an all-inclusive Utopia for the middle class. Galbraith, son of John Kenneth Galbraith and economist at Texas University, published a book titled The Predator State ten years ago, with very sharp comments on the political situation in the US. The American economy’s problems are deep-seated. The Special Rapporteur pointed out that although poverty and the wealth gap in the US is the result of many years of policy, the situation would be even worse with Trump’s tax reform and welfare cuts. Children of poor families have almost no opportunity to escape poverty and the US has the lowest rate of social mobility among rich countries, which means that ‘the American dream is rapidly becoming the American illusion’. According to his report, 14% of the American population live below the poverty line and almost half of them are ‘extremely poor’. On 15 December last year, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights criticized President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress of distorting American society and attempting to make America ‘a champion of inequality’ and the ‘most unequal society in the world’. That has not changed much in the past year since Trump took office. During the Bush and Obama administrations, various economic indicators looked good, but an increasing number of people experienced a worsening financial situation, more poverty and decreased actual family income. A striking feature of today’s economy is that various good economic indicators do not mean good economic performance. He stressed the need for trade to be ‘fair’ and ‘reciprocal’ and vowed that the US would no longer turn a blind eye to unfair economic practices including massive intellectual property theft, industrial subsidies, and pervasive state-led economic planning.Īssessing economic performance with a series of indicators is a thing of the past. Trump attacked ‘predatory’ trade practices and criticized some countries for exploiting the system at the expense of others and making ‘free and open trade’ impossible. The speech was also an order to mobilize: America was to fight a trade war and allies must follow. Trump also claimed that ‘there has never been a better time’ to invest in the US. ‘The world is witnessing the resurgence of a strong and prosperous America,’ he said. Trump commended American economic performance, citing strong economic growth, record stock market highs, and high consumer and business confidence. The first was to highlight the achievements in the past year since Trump took office. US President Donald Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum was very rich in contents but there were only two main thrusts. Hegel once said, when you see a knight ride about wildly, ask where he comes from and where he goes and do not worry about the flower meadows trampled to mud under the hoofs.
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