A Bit About Trade

Most of the developed world seems to be at each other's metaphorical throats over trade.  Who has the surplus, who might be "taking advantage" of whom....

One respected business publication, Bloomberg, writes about "The $1.4 Trillion "Surplus" That Trump Isn't Talking About".  In a nutshell, the article argues that the USA does not have an overall deficit in trade with China, for example.

  "U.S. companies have sold more to the rest of the world than other countries have sold to the U.S. in the past ten years," writes chief China economist Zhang Zhiwei in the report.

Other economists argue that Trump is factually incorrect in his Twitter trade tirades, in this case against Canada.  

Derek Holt, vice-president of Scotiabank Economics, said the "thought processes" at the core of the U.S. administration are not grounded in "reason, diplomacy or facts."

Milk seems to be a particularly touchy point for Trump, even though Canada's supply management system is one that many American dairy farmers which they had.

The Guardian ran an article about the milk issue recently: Why Canadian Milk Infuriates Donald Trump. 

Trump’s latest trade war target is Canada’s protected dairy industry. But Canadians have no intention of abandoning it – because it works

Occasionally there are those who try to use humour (or humor, in this case) to describe the currrent situation.  The Washington Post recently published an opinion piece titled: "Finally, A president with the guts to stand up to Canada" 

O Canada: You had it coming, eh.
They inflicted Nickelback on us. We did nothing.
They sent us Justin Bieber. We turned the other cheek.
They were responsible for one abomination after the other: Poutine. Diphthong vowels. Hawaiian pizza. Instant mashed potatoes. Ted Cruz.
Still, we did not retaliate — until now.

How Capitalism Works - one more view

Appearing in The Guardian recently, this review of yet another book on Capitalism, which the authors refer to as a ruinous economic system that benefits a minority class.

A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, by Patel & Moore

Patel and Moore’s essential argument is that the history of capitalism, and therefore of our current mess, can be usefully viewed through the lens of cheapness. (An earlier, more knottily theoretical work of eco-Marxism by Moore, Capitalism in the Web of Life, argues that “cheap nature” is as central an imperative of capitalism as cheap labour.) The seven “things” of their misleadingly clickbaity title are not objects or consumer products, so much as conceptual categories: nature, money, work, care, food, energy and lives. 

More grist for the mill.