“We have all the money in the world for winners; nothing for losers.”
Top Image Credit: By NBC – www.nbc.com/the-celebrity-apprentice, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54691286
Commentary by Michael Robinson: Uvalde Hesperian
08-22-26
Uvalde Hesperian
Photo credit: Uvalde Photo
Prior to President Donald Trump’s ascension to the Presidency, Trump had a popular show called “The Apprentice.” Mid-career businesspeople with some professional backgrounds were divided into teams and given a weekly business challenge. Those that did not meet the goals of the challenge were bright into an executive board room and bluntly told, “You’re fired.”
The Apprentice in Real Life
The US currently has two prominent groups of socioeconomic classes of people, the asset holders that accumulate passive income and those that trade their hourly work for a wage. The Apprentice has both winners and losers. So does the U.S economy.
Years ago, I worked as an advertising sales representative for a classified newspaper Waco. I remember the sales manager telling me, “We have all the money in the world for winners; nothing for losers.”
Same Philosophy: Different Stage
A short clip video is making its rounds on social media where President Donald Trump, during an interview on August 19th and 20th, weighed in on current bond market pressure and put pressure on the Fed.
In the clip, Trump said, “I see countries like Switzerland, where they have the No. 1 lowest interest rates, a half a percent, and we pay 3.5%.” In the President’s speech, he was comparing the Swiss Interest rate to near zero and contrasted it with the United States Federal Funds Rate at 3.5% to 3.75%.
According to a news report by Yahoo! Finance, it said, the federal funds rate still stands at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%.
In the clip Trump said, ““My point is, years ago, 25 years ago, when the country announced good numbers, interest rates went down because we had a stronger country,” Trump said. “Now, when we announce good numbers, the better they are, the worse it is for interest rates.”
Trump claimed that if the Fed would adjust the U.S Federal Funds Rate down, the US economy’s GDP would skyrocket.
He said, “We could have a GDP of 10 times that you know they say better they are the worst it is for interest rates so we could be we could have a GDP of 10 times that you know they say: Oh it’s gonna be three times or 4.1 we could have a GDP of 10 1215 times if they just leave us alone, let us let the rates go down.”
The economy’s rule of thumb is if interest rates are lower it makes more sense for investors to spend money in the market than save or to invest the money. With more money being spent, rate means more dollars are chasing goods which often drives inflation, and the costs of goods up.
For investors, a higher interest it makes more sense to park money in an investment such as in real estate or an interest paying savings account instead of spending those dollars.
In the President’s speech, he implies the U.S. economy is good and with a lower interest rate the national economy would soar.
Is the U.S economy good?
Trump’s assumption is this: the U.S, economy is good and most people have money to spend or invest.
For many regular, non-economist people, a presidential speech on U.S. interest rate is as boring as watching socks dry on a clothesline.
The Rhetoric vs. the Mechanism:
The key take-away many working-class voters who support Trump likely heard, “lower the interest rate and grow the economy.” They are assuming with a robust U.S. economy all boats will rise. However, in an economy designed to extract money from the working class, “growing the economy” means inflating the assets that the ownership class holds.
When Trump compares the United States economy to the Swiss economy, he is not talking about Swiss factory workers, he is talking about Swiss bankers and asset holders.
The strong economy the President wants to supercharge is the portfolio economy, not the paycheck economy.
Trump’s working-class voters heard “grow the economy” and thought jobs, wages, factories, me. But in the extraction economy, “growing the economy” means inflating the assets that the ownership class holds. When he compares U.S. rates to Switzerland’s, he’s not talking about Swiss factory workers. He’s talking about Swiss bankers and Swiss asset holders.
The guy they voted for to “fix it” is pushing policies that make the extraction run faster.
In the President’s world, the economic market has all the money in the world for winners; nothing for losers.
