藤儿点评：美国共和党亿万富翁总统候选人「川普」Donald John Trump正在大肆为四川土话Trump「川普」做免费广告呢。

不然，他为何要故意夸大美国对中国的贸易赤字？无论美国共和党亿万富翁总统候选人「川普」的小学算术成绩好不好，他在接受美国Washington Post采访时报错美国的贸易赤字的数字，可能是无心，亦可能是有心的。

言下之意，这就是美国共和党亿万富翁总统候选人「川普」Donald John Trump的内心大暴露，他一旦当选为下届美国总统，立即就会着手推高美国对中国的贸易赤字！从目前美国对中国的贸易赤字$366 billion，增加至$505 billion啦。

四川人要雄起！莫错过这一天赐良机。建议立即经过四川省人民代表大会立法通过，让Trump一词成为法定「川普」一词的独一无二的英译表述。

中国应该高兴才对！眼下说一口流利的「川普」语言，相当于美国人口总数1/3的四川乡巴佬就要闷声发大财啦！

四川要想快速和国际接轨，绝不能墨守成规。问问土生土长的美国人，中国人讲啥话呀？答案只有如下两种：Cantonese, Mandarin。

四川的乡巴佬，教教美国人吧。还有很多中国人讲一口流利的Trump。

说到Trump，在美国是家喻户晓啊！有一个共和党的候选人被称作「川普」Donald John Trump，正好与四川人母语「川普」同音。美国一项新的政治问卷调查显示，亿万富翁地产大亨「川普」在共和党2016年总统候选人提名争夺战中居于明显的领先地位。

他是在给四川的乡巴佬的母语「川普」大做广告，还丈二和尚摸不着头脑。

已经入籍美国的四川乡巴佬，赶紧出来支持「川普」竞逐美国总统的宝座。没有入籍或者还是黑民身份的四川乡巴佬也不要吝啬自己的腰包，拿钱出来通过已经入籍美国的四川乡巴佬，给「川普」提供竞选资金。这是给你们四川乡巴佬的「川普」做广告！

值！不久的将来，在世界的每一个角落，只有说到「川普」，就是亿万富翁的代名词。

四川乡巴佬，为了「川普」，拼了！！！

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来源：The Washington Post 2016-04-03

Trump’s nonsensical claim he can eliminate $19 trillion in debt in eight years

© Scott Olson/Getty Images

Donald Trump:“We’ve got to get rid of the $19 trillion in debt.”

Bob Woodward:“How long would that take?”

Trump:“I think I could do it fairly quickly, because of the fact the numbers…”

Woodward:“What’s fairly quickly?”

Trump:“Well, I would say over a period of eight years. And I’ll tell you why.”

Woodward:“Would you ever be open to tax increases as part of that, to solve the problem?”

Trump:“I don’t think I’ll need to. The power is trade. Our deals are so bad.”

Woodward:“That would be $2 trillion a year.”

Trump:“No, but I’m renegotiating all of our deals, Bob. The big trade deals that we’re doing so badly on. With China, $505 billion this year in trade. We’re losing with everybody.”

— exchange during a Washington Post interview, March 31  

Of all the wildly impossible assertions made by Donald Trump, the notion that he could eliminate the nation’s $19 trillion in debt in just eight years ranks near the top. Trump suggests he can manage this feat simply by cutting better trade deals.

If only it were that easy. As we have noted repeatedly, eliminating a trade deficit does not mean the money ends up in government coffers. (Morever, Trump is wrong to say the trade deficit with China is $505 billion; it’s $366 billion, according to the Census Bureau. The trade deficit with all countries is $531 billion.))

But here’s some basic math that shows why this is a fantastical notion.

The Facts

First of all, the federal budget is already running a deficit. So before Trump can start paying down the debt, he needs to eliminate the deficit — which year after year, is adding to the deficit. 

According to a January projection by the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government will run an additional $6.8 trillion in additional deficits between 2017 and 2024. So the task is not $19 trillion, but nearly $26 trillion over eight years.

Why are deficits expected to climb? That’s because the baby-boom generation is retiring, running up the cost of mandatory spending programs, such as Social Security and Medicare. Alone among Republican hopefuls, Trump has pledged not to touch entitlement spending. So unless he wants to start breaking some campaign promises, one presumes he would not seek to change the laws governing most mandatory spending.

That leaves discretionary spending, which Congress votes on year after year and funds the basic functions of government, such as defense, homeland security, highways, and so forth. In the eight years of a putative two-term Trump presidency, the CBO projects a total of $10 trillion in discretionary spending. So even if Trump eliminated every government function and shut down every Cabinet agency, he’d still be $16 trillion short.

Of course, one can also eliminate deficits with higher revenues. But remember that Trump has ruled out raising taxes. In theory, the government could gain additional revenue if the economy does better than projected, so let’s assume Trump’s trade initiatives don’t lead to trade wars and recessions but a bountiful, booming economy. What’s reasonable to expect?

The CBO projected revenues would be about 18.1 percent of the gross domestic product in the 2017-2024 period. We checked the historical records and found that revenues in the last half century once reached a peak of 20 percent of GDP in 2000 — during the Bill Clinton administration, the last time the government ran a budget surplus.

But even if revenues achieved 20 percent of GDP year after year, that would only add an additional $4 trillion in revenue over eight years. (We are assuming the elimination of basic government functions does not wreck the economy.)

Trump is still $12 trillion short. 

The Pinocchio Test

We regret we have only Four Pinocchios to give for this whopper. Trump is insulting the intelligence of Americans for making such a claim in the first place.