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Here’s Why Trump Claiming Credit For $50 Billion Japan Deal Is Bullsh*t

Here’s Why Trump Claiming Credit For $50 Billion Japan Deal Is Bullsh*t

Donald Trump has been on a tear in his recent efforts to convince the American people that he is a “job creator” and a protector of the working man like he claimed to be during the campaign. But as usual, the truth is that Trump just likes to take credit for the hard work of others.

Yesterday, Trump said he had spoken with Masayoshi Son, the chairman of the Softbank investment group, who had suddenly promised to invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 jobs!

If it sounds too convenient to be true, that’s because it is. Trump is taking credit for an investment deal that was announced on the 4th of October, as per the Washington Post:

The deal, however, is not new. The money will come from a $100 billion joint investment fund that Son established in October using money from partners, including Saudi Arabia’s state-owned investment fund.

SoftBank has invested in the United States in the past, including paying $22 billion in 2013 for a 80 percent share of Sprint. The firm also led a $1 billion investment round last year in San Francisco-based online lender Social Finance.

It had nothing to do with Trump and nothing to do with the election. But once again, Trump is taking credit for something he didn’t do – and his supporters are buying it hook, line, and sinker.

In addition, Trump’s personal involvement in the Carrier deal and his direct meeting with Masayoshi Son is not how proper business is done by a head of state. Harvard economics professor N. Gregory Mankiw notes that:

“When a chief exec is making individual calls to individual companies, he’s in some sense acting like a central planner. We have a lot of history under communism that suggests it doesn’t work well in practice, and that’s the direction you’re heading in as the president starts to weigh in on individual business decisions.”

Former National Economic Council leader Keith Hennessey put it a little more bluntly: “when a politician rewards his business friends and punishes his business enemies it’s called crony capitalism.” Trump tweets at Boeing and his threats to cancel the Air Force One contract – which is a $170 million research and development contract, not, as Trump said $4 billion for one plane – were a punishment to Boeing because their CEO had some minor criticisms of America’s plutocrat-in-chief. 

We cannot allow Trump to gaslight the American people into believing he’s actually working for the American people when really he’s destabilizing the economy, putting jobs at risk to soothe his ego, handing out millions of your tax dollars for a photo-op, and appointing the worst kind of predatory moneygrubbers to run his cabinet.

Just to put things into perspective, take a closer look at the “document” that Son was showing the media. Yes, that is a printout of a Powerpoint slide. No, that is not a legally binding document. Do we really want a man who thinks it’s okay to commemorate multibillion dollar contracts by signing the equivalent of a cocktail napkin to run our country?

masayoshi

Colin Taylor
Opinion columnist and former editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.

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