Trade Wars - What Are They Good For - Absolutely Nothing, Say It Again

That was the sound of the other shoe dropping.

The miracle of this misbegotten presidency is that the belligerence of Mr. Trump, the random shots across the bow of policy and protocol, the lack of preparation and perspective, have not resulted in catastrophic consequences.

We have held our collective breath as we stumbled into possible confrontation with North Korea and escalating tensions with Iran. We have seen our allies abandoned, our enemies embraced. We have lived on the edge of chaos as a perpetual state of being. 

And the missteps have often been matched by the seeming lack of even basic comprehension. No more evident then in the trade wars that the President, in full pomposity, proclaimed are good and easy to win. Tariffs, even their threat, would bring those who dare challenge us to their knees. 

But it is not so, and the effects of Mr. Trump's ill conceived plan has been to hurt our own economy and force China's hand, now throwing our stock market into turmoil and threatening our continued stability.

While Mr. Trump fiddles around we wait for the conflagration. It is seemingly only a matter of time before his bad becomes our worse.