The new US Administration has taken over with the conviction that they will “make America great again”. I really wish they will succeed because a strong US would be good for the world. Sadly, the odds of achieving that admirable objective are totally stacked against them. At the end of the next 4 years, there is a risk that this Administration will be more hated than any government since Carter and possibly even more disliked than Hoover.
Trump unlikely to reverse 100 years of mismanagement
The coming unhappiness with Trump and his team will not arise because of the actions they take. They will clearly do everything in their might to make America great again. But the probabilities are totally against them to achieve this goal. They are taking over power at a time when debt has grown exponentially since the 1970s. They are also assuming power of a country that has not achieved a proper budget surplus for well over half a century. Even worse, the US has not had a positive trade balance since the early 1970s. So here we have a country that has been living above its means for decades and has no real chance of changing this vicious circle. Trade wars and import taxes are unlikely to improve the situation.
The Federal debt is at $20 trillion and has been growing at the rate of 9% per year for the last 40 odd years. The forecast for the next four years is that the growth of the debt will accelerate. Total US debt is over $70 trillion or over 3.5x GDP. But that is just a fraction of the US liabilities. Unfunded liabilities are over $200 trillion. Add to that the real gross derivative position of US banks which probably at least $500 trillion.
The success of a president in the US is closely linked to the performance of the stock market. Therefore, the best chance for a president to be loved by the American people and being re-elected is for the stocks to go up. P/E’s on the S&P index is now at 70% above its historical mean – hardly a position from which it is likely to surge. Corporate borrowings have surged since the Great Financial Crisis started. In 2006 US corporate debt was just over $2 trillion. Today it is more than 3x as high at $7 trillion. At the same time cash as a percentage of corporate debt is declining and is now 27%. Within this massive increase in debt, there are major defaults looming in many areas like car loans, student loans and the fracking sector where potential write offs could be in the $ trillions.
US Corporate Debt has trebled since 2006
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