July 4 -6, 2017: Ford, GM and "Bloated Payrolls," and a North Korean Missile that Can Strike Alaska

 

7/4/17: Carmakers announce that June sales dropped for the sixth month in a row. Last year, American auto plants employed 211,000 workers, up 55% from a 2009 low, during the Great Recession. Ford announced in June it would move production of its Focus model to China. As The New York Times notes, “The company had previously planned to move the car to a new plant in Mexico, but canceled the project after meeting stiff opposition from Mr. Trump.” 

“Ford’s China move will not cost any American jobs,” reporters add, “because Focus production in Michigan will be replaced by trucks and S.U.V.’s.” But it won’t add any, either. Scaling back jobs is supposedly part of automakers’ efforts to “avoid bloated payrolls.” Detroit has also hired large numbers of low-wage entry-level workers to reduce expenses. 

Also: to reduce the American middle class. 

“These decisions are always tough, says Alan Batey, GM’s president of North American operations. “But at the end of the day we have to be disciplined about our production plans.” 

Making tough decisions is hard work and for that reason Batey earns $6,282,013 for the year.

Batey and others get paid to make the "tough decisions."

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7/5/17: President Trump insisted (in a January tweet) that a North Korean test of an ICBM capable of hitting the USA “won’t happen!” Note the exclamation point! That meant the man was serious!!!! 

On July 4, however, the North Koreans launch a missile that crosses that line, if just barely. They now have the capability to hit Alaska. 

Secretary of State Tillerson calls for global action, including stronger measures to be enacted by the U.N. Security Council. (The Trump administration hates the U.N. except when it needs U.N. assistance.) The missile fired on July 4 traveled 580 miles before splashing down in the Pacific but followed a 1,700-mile arc into space and back to earth. Trump’s advisers say the administration has laid down no red lines because “they would rather keep the North guessing.” 

Secretary of Defense Mattis says on Face the Nation that war with North Korea “would be probably the worst kind of fighting in people’s lifetimes.”

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7/6/17: Volvo, the Swedish carmaker, bows to the realities of climate change and announces all new models, starting in 2019, will be battery-powered electrics or hybrids. 

The American company, Tesla, which promises to build nothing but electric cars, surpasses Ford and General Motors in stock valuation. Change is coming even if Trump is too dense to see it.

May 8, 2018: Trump Withdraws from the Iran Nuclear Arms Deal

 

5/8/18: Trump withdraws from the Iran nuclear arms deal, which means he kept his campaign promise, albeit a stupid one. Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain and Japan, all U.S. allies, oppose the move. Turkey calls it “an unfortunate step. The European Union faults the move, citing the fact that almost everyone except Trump believes the deal was working. Iran has zero nukes today – the perfect number. “We fully trust the work, competence and autonomy of the International Atomic Energy Agency that has published 10 reports certifying that Iran has fully complied with its commitments,” an EU spokesman offers. China and Russia, which had agreed to the deal, make it clear they’re not interested in renegotiating. 

Iran threatens to resume uranium enrichment. This they had ceased, according to IAEA inspectors.

Our allies are not pleased.

December 20, 2018: President Trump Decides to Pull Out of Afghanistan - Sec. of Defense Resigns

 

12/20/18: Trump’s sudden decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan is so brilliant that Defense Secretary James Mattis resigns the next day. If you read his resignation letter, the former four-star general didn’t waste two consonants and one vowel in praise of his boss. 

In fact, his letter is a stinging rebuke: 

One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies. Like you, I have said from the beginning that the armed forces of the United States should not be the policeman of the world. Instead, we must use all tools of American power to provide for the common defense, including providing effective leadership to our alliances. NATO's 29 democracies demonstrated that strength in their commitment to fighting alongside us following the 9-11 attack on America. The Defeat-ISIS coalition of 74 nations is further proof…

 

It is clear that China and Russia, for example, want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model - gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions - to promote their own interests at the expense of their neighbors, America and our allies. That is why we must use all the tools of American power to provide for the common defense.

 

My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues…

 

Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position.

 

…I very much appreciate this opportunity to serve the nation and our men and women in uniform.

 

His resignation, Secretary Mattis says, will be effective February 28.

NATO forces, including German troops, helped us in Afghanistan.