US had duty to help countries rebuild after being destroyed in World War II and we were able. But people stopped appreciating the help, started expecting it, and US administrations supported the dependency. In 2016 votes turned on the long overlooked issue of trade. Trump is merely following through-Rush Limbaugh

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6/11/18, "The Days of America as the World’s Piggy Bank Are Over," Rush Limbaugh 

"It’s been obvious for the longest time that not only G7, G8, G20, United Nations, the rest of the world looks at the United States as a provider.

And we have had administration after administration...that simply agreed with that premise for whatever silly reasoning. “Well, it’s not fair, we’re such a big economy. It’s not fair, we’re such a large superpower. So, yeah, we’ll let other people have some of what we have.” Well, every time that happens it costs the American taxpayer.

These are not poor countries that we’re talking about, Canada, the United Kingdom, the rest of the G7. But the idea that the United States is a piggy bank and that it’s open and that we have some sort of a duty to run trade deficits with people to lose money with them, where did that start? Well, as far as Trump’s concerned, those days are over. And he campaigned on it. And it makes 100 percent total sense.

If we could get to the end of these trade imbalances, we wouldn’t need tariffs or taxes or any of these other punitive deals; we could have genuine, fair, and free trade. But, you know, where is it written the United States is supposed to take it on the chin in these deals? And what this is, I’ll tell you, it’s no more complicated than Donald Trump looking out for the average American citizen, whereas the Washington political class really hasn’t and doesn’t.

They just expect you to follow along and go along ’cause there’s nothing you can do to stop it anyway because all of this is way above your pay grade. “You can’t possibly comprehend trade deals. You can’t possibly understand the macro and microagreements and policies that we have with our trading partners....That’s why we are here. We are your betters; we are your superiors.”

And for Trump it’s not about that at all. It’s not about class. It’s not about elites. It’s about America not being the joke of the world. It’s about America not being Santa Claus to the rest of the world. It’s about people paying their own way and carrying their own weight and so forth. And look at the reaction. When Donald Trump asserts a position, domestically, foreign policy-wise, ...that is a testament to America’s power and greatness and to fairness, look at the reaction. It is unhinged and it’s deranged.

And this is because...this is the way it’s always been done. Trump got elected on the premise that the way it’s always been done has not been good for America. And he’s in the process of reversing this....And look at, as I say, unhinged reaction from people upset that economic circumstances for all Americans are improving.

You would think that there would be robust happiness, that people would want to get behind this, ’cause we’ve all believed all of our lives that that’s what Washington was, looking out for us. Well, now we see that that’s not necessarily been the case. We’ve been the stooges. We’ve been the ones expected to pay for all of this. They’re not using their money to run these trade imbalances. And we’re supposed to smile and say, “This is what being an American means.”...

American businesses, consumers have been getting screwed over the last 40 years.” Now, I know the history of this is post-World War II. The Marshall Plan and others of a smaller nature were designed to rebuild devastated areas of the world after World War II, including Europe. But it never ended. I mean, the Marshall Plan came to an end, but the theory behind it, that the U.S. needs to prop everybody up and keep propping everybody up and providing for their defense, it never ended.

So they had these Trump-is-terrible temper tantrums that they think serve as actual debate. Now, here’s the thing. Trade imbalances, the trade surplus or the trade deficit, trade deals, this is, for many people, an esoteric type of issue. They don’t really know that much about it, except when it’s explained in a very simple and noncomplex way, like Trump does. But it never approached an issue over which votes turned, or on which votes turned. I mean, it was a trade, trade deals, trade imbalance, pre-Trump. Presidents talked about them, candidates talked about them, but it was never the issue on which an election turned.

But with Trump, the issue has been brought to the forefront. And a lot of people who at points in the past didn’t understand it, didn’t pay much attention to it, have had their eyes opened by all of this. 

And what people are beginning to realize is that we, the United States, have been literally propping up the entire world by bending over to every single country to give them this cushy deal on trade because we think we are obligated to.

They were obliterated during wartime. They were devastated economically. Their geography was altered. We had a duty to help them rebuild because we were capable, we were big enough, we had the money, we had the economy, we had the growth, we had the productive population. And so it fell to us. And we accepted it as leaders of the free world. But like any other entitlement, after a while people stop appreciating it and start expecting it. And Canada, in many ways, depending on who their leaders are, like this Trudeau kid obviously expect it. Angela Merkel expects it. All the NATO people expect it. The days of appreciation are over.

And Trump has come along and said, “Wait a minute. A thank-you would be nice. And maybe getting rid of these tariffs that are hurting our people. There’s no reason to run a trade imbalance where you benefit at our expense. Those days are over. It’s not gonna happen anymore.” Makes perfect sense. People blow up. Can’t deal with it. Trump is upsetting the world order or what have you.

But what people are finally seeing is that these massive trade deals have been almost like a gigantic reparation program. Do you know the collective gross domestic product of the G7 countries is less — if you add them all up — less than our GDP? And that’s all you really need to know about Trump’s negotiating power. We have a stronger, bigger economy than all of theirs combined. And that, by the way, is one of the reasons why so many administrations and so many areas of government have been acquiescent to the idea that we owe them. Classic guilt.

And guilt ends up being used to pay other people. We’re guilted into believing by any number of people, countries that are less fortunate than we are, we have the responsibility to change that by giving things to them. Not by helping them grow on their own.

So, yeah, we need the world, and we need trade, but we don’t need to continue running massive trade deficits with the world just because we always have. This is America first. This is why Trump won. This is the point. This is what I mean by these people not realizing what happened in this election."...




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