America

"You get nothing..."

Since the end of 2013, US automaker stocks have dramatically underperformed the market.

This bewildered many as auto sales surged on the back of easy credit and the entire industry was proclaimed a great success. However, the reason for the underperformance is simple - stock investors discount the future and with a mal-investment-driven excess inventory-to-sales at levels only seen once before in 24 years, they know what is coming next.

Obama reportedly rejects the bogus “credibility” argument related to threats and use of force:

Obama generally believes that the Washington foreign-policy establishment, which he secretly disdains, makes a fetish of “credibility”—particularly the sort of credibility purchased with force. The preservation of credibility, he says, led to Vietnam. Within the White House, Obama would argue that “dropping bombs on someone to prove that you’re willing to drop bombs on someone is just about the worst reason to use force.”

Obama’s Atlantic interviews on foreign policy contains some interesting remarks, but they are difficult to square with Obama’s own policies. The New York Times summarizes some of his views this way:

President Obama believes that Saudi Arabia, one of America’s most important allies in the Middle East, needs to learn how to “share” the region with its archenemy, Iran, and that both countries are guilty of fueling proxy wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

I’ve been blogging a lot here about the white working class and its travails, with reference to Donald Trump’s candidacy. I’ve generally taken the line that however wrong they might be to vote for Trump, and to think that he will do anything for them, their alienation and their instincts ought to be at least understandable, given how things have gone for them, in general, in this country over the last generation.