TDS and the economics of Trump’s war on Iran
The Trumpenproletariat loves to point to those who disagree with Dear Leader as having Trump Derangement Syndrome. But like everything they accuse others of, it’s what they’re guilty of.
“A week ago I asked whether global energy markets have “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” I was being a bit arch because I didn’t mean in the sense that MAGA world means, which is being somehow obsessively, compulsively anti-Trump. I meant the opposite. Are the markets wedded to a kind of Trump magical thinking?”
In other words, those who blindly trust that Trump has a plan and knows what he’s doing are the ones deranged, particularly in light of his long and growing record of failure.
“To be clear, the best or most generous interpretation of this is TACO, a phrase that started on Wall Street: Trump Always Chickens Out. The idea being that whatever he says, Trump knows when one of his ideas is going seriously sideways and he moves quickly to pull the plug. And the tariff story does to a real degree follow that logic. But wars aren’t like tariffs. Trump’s tariffs were to an almost unique degree something out of the blue, 100% planned and promulgated out of the White House. And pretty much everyone in the world wanted them ended. So Trump, at least in a short-term sense, could pull the plug or at least wiggle the plug at any time he wanted to.
“Wars don’t work that way. Your enemy has a say in how things go, when things end. That’s especially the case when you’ve defined the war in terms of regime change. That means no risk is too great for your adversary.”
This war has already gone on far longer than the administration expected. And after it ends, it will take months, if not years, to undo the damage. So tell me, who’s deranged now?
TDS and Trump’s war in Iran
This just in:
TACO and Trump’s war on Iran.
“Donald Trump has said that the US will hold off on striking Iranian energy sites for five days after “productive” talks with Tehran, hours before his 48-hour ultimatum to Tehran was due to expire.
“The US president said that Washington and Tehran had held conversations about “a complete and total resolution of hostilities” in the past two days, with talks to continue “throughout the week.”
Objectively a good thing. I’m glad Trump chickened out on this. I hope the threats abate.
Iran-US war latest: Trump says US will pause strikes on Iranian energy plants after talks with Tehran
Joel:
Energy plant is a Power Plant that provides electricity generated from nuclear plants and oil fuels? What a strange way of saying such.
If anything, leave the straits open and stop pumping oil. That would have an economic impact globally. Not as great but still having an impact on global economies.
Nice Pic
@Bill,
In most cases, Iranian energy plants generate electricity by burning natural gas. An advantage for natural gas generation is that it can be turned on and operational within minutes, while a nuclear power plant requires hours to get to full power.
An attack on Iranian civilian power plants is not only a war crime, but it would result in tit-for-tat destruction of power plants and desalination plants in Israel and Arab gulf countries.
Joel:
Trump’s actions will have a “huge” impact on the US economy. Even threats work. Oil will take that to the bank. I do not believe that Trumps cares.
@Bill,
Market futures jumped up into positive territory this morning with Trump’s TACO on bombing power plants. Sounds like another pump-and-dump, like Trump’s tariff threats.
Trump cares about the stock market, because that’s how his wealthy friends make their money. And he cares about gas prices in the US, because that’s been the death of previous presidencies and will push a Democratic landslide in November.