Yesterday Donald Trump was defending his latest tariff announcements with the false claim that China would pay for them while U.S. residents would be unscathed by them. As he was speaking, markets around the world were losing value by about $1.5 trillion dollars. Hardest hit were U.S. markets and the retirement accounts of American citizens and residents. Three successive days of losses and the time value of money portend the losses will extend far into the future. It is all reminiscent of the events of 2008 that led to the largest financial collapse in our history.

This latest round of tariffs will fall heaviest on U.S. consumers with or without retirement accounts. That is because they will be applied to a wide range of consumer products from China that definitely will be passed on to shoppers here. Whether his remarks are made from ignorance, stupidity, or simply because he doesn’t care about the truth, facts are facts, and the burden for them falls on us.

Until now the Federal Reserve has taken measures to offset many of Trump's economic blunders. His latest moves, however, are beyond their reach. We will pay for them. Nevertheless, he has railed against the Fed just as he has against the 17 intelligence agencies who have advised him repeatedly of intervention by Russia, China and others into our affairs. 

It leaves me to wonder if he is playing to his political base, to his megalomaniacal needs, to the aphrodisia of wielding power, or to all the above?