Forest Trump's Excellent Davos Adventure

So, the Trumpmeister is off to the world economic summit in Davos . There he can hang out, maybe, with the real Business and financial tycoons he always wanted, but was never quite able, to be. Perhaps he could share a drink and conversation with fellow American George Soros, who is typically in attendance. One might hope that our boy was going to learn something about the macro economics. There will be real economists there, not like his economic advisers Cohen and Mnuchin. He might even learn that his greatest economic fear, trade deficits, are in economic terms a deficiency in savings buy the country experiencing a deficit.

He will be treated with some deference as he does hold the office of the presidency in the most powerful country on earth and that office and that country, as opposed to the person who unfortunately now holds that office, are entitled to respect. One subject that will doubtless be addressed at the summit is base erosion and transfer pricing(BETP). It has been a constant topic for economists and politicians, other than the politicians in this country, we don't seem to address it rigorously. To be sure, our guys do talk about corporate inversions but seem to think they are solely the result of our tax code. These are the guys who consistently say we have the highest corporate taxes in the world, looking only at the nominal rate, whereas it was quite clear that after all the exclusions and deductions the actual corporate tax rate was about at the average of the OECD countries. Now, of course, we are low. Our politicians never talk about the despicable behavior of Apple and the way it has bilked our country from its proper share of corporate profits transferring its intellectual property to an Irish affiliate and using transfer pricing.

The Donster will probably wish to regale the Davos crowd with his incredible economic successes based upon tax cuts and regulation repeal. Although there may be some polite listening, generally speaking this crowd is of wee bit more sophisticated than Trump is used to addressing. We can be sure that when he comes home, Trump will say that he has developed some great close working relationships and friendships and that everyone was wildly impressed with his acumen and now seek his advice. But even though he has told them his tricks, we will continue to lead to the race to the bottom on tax rates requiring those sneaky Chinese to once again devalue their currency.

It will be interesting to see his reaction if he is not greated with that sort of over-the-top pomp and circumstance that he loves so well. He probably has advance people seeking to arrange such and even more importantly, ferreting out the best cheeseburgers in town. I wonder if he will take Stormy.