Turbulence on the financial markets, paralysis of part of the US government services, and the remarkable resignation of the US Secretary of Defense: The Democrats have today accused Donald Trump of dumping the USA “in chaos” on Christmas. Meanwhile, it does not look like a solution is in the making for the shutdown.
Since Friday midnight, both Republicans and Democrats have given each other the responsibility of the budgetary stalemate leading to a partial closure or shutdown of government services. However, the problem can be reduced to one point: the financing of a border wall with Mexico, an election promises by Donald Trump in 2016. The Democrats do not want to know about such a wall.
Chaos
“We are on the eve of Christmas and President Trump plunges the country into chaos,” says Nancy Pelosi, Democrat party leader in the House of Representatives, and Chuck Schumer, her counterpart in the Senate. “The stock market collapses while the president is fighting a personal war with the central bank, just after he has dismissed his defence minister.”
Yesterday evening President Trump had to confirm that there is no compromise in sight. He sticks to his boundary wall. “No news about the shutdown. We need more security at the border.”
“I’m all alone in the White House here, poor me”
Because of the ‘shutdown’, Trump decided not to spend the end of year celebrations in the sun-drenched state of Florida, where his golf club is located. Instead, he stays in Washington. With a storm of tweets (17 in less than 24 hours) he now defends his policy from there. “I’m waiting alone in the White House (poor me) until the Democrats return to come to a deal about the much-needed border security,” he tweeted.
Hard bang for Japanese stock market
The Japanese stock market is closed in red. It was the first time since September 2017 that the index was below 20,000 points and during the session even the lowest level since May of that year was put on the boards.
Investors dealt with the heavy losses on Wall Street over the past trading days, the American shutdown and international economic concerns. The new attack by Trump on his own central bank also continued on the stock market sentiment. According to Trump, the Federal Reserve is the only problem of the economy in his country.
The important financial market in Tokyo was closed yesterday because of the Japanese emperor’s birthday. So, there was no direct response to American developments. Now the gauge ended 5 percent lower at 19.155.74 points. It was the first time since September 2017 that the index was below 20,000 points and during the session even the lowest level since May of that year was put on the boards.
Across the board, companies were out of the question. The bigger losers were groups such as Toyota, Sony and Nintendo. They benefit greatly from good world trade and consumer confidence. Traders spoke in comments of a “sales wave” and “panic”, almost entirely caused by developments on the American financial markets. “The negative sentiment has defeated the logic,” said a trader.
