Dealing with the hafta king

Trump has compelled everybody to acknowledge India needs to step out of its business-as-usual policymaking and take serious steps to strengthen its economy

- JAMAL MECKLAI

IT PAINS ME to admit it but Donald Trump is certainly the most consequential president the US has ever had.

Of course, the consequences range from utterly appalling for children in Africa who have suffered (and died) as a result of the closure of USAID and, of course, people in Gaza who continue to be pounded by the Israeli army under (effectively) licence from Trump to, on the other hand, absolutely wonderful for Trump's family that has been collecting, for want of a better word, hafta (protection money) from a wide array of companies and institutions in the US, and even countries from all over the world.

Where the American people land within this spectrum is yet to unfold.

Shockingly, equity markets, which many (myself included) had felt would tumble to put a brake on Trump's most egregious overreaches, actually appear to be doing extremely well, thank you.

This could only mean that the big dump is yet to come, and/or the markets which themselves thrive on the corruption of capitalism are simply enjoying this as business (largely) as usual.

Which again suggests an even huger dump is on the cards.

It is well known that markets sometimes take a very long time to react to circumstances, but when they do they move with lightning speed.

While there could be occasional short-term upward bursts, particularly as the hafta king celebrates some of his "victories", staying long US global equities is dangerous.