There’s this phenomenal book by African-American professor, Steven A. Rogers, called Entrepreneurial Finance.
In the section on strategy, the author went down memory lane, with the golden age of boxing providing material for case study.
Michael Spinks, ahead of his fight against his undefeated opponent talked about what he would do to win and when this was put to Mike Tyson, who by now had the WBA, WBC and IBF belts, responded by saying that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
And those extraordinary words have stood the test of time.
Even those with the most rudimentary grasp of economics can see that Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods are having a negative effect on the global economy.
And when the remit of the argument is extended to the asset management class —hedge funds and private equity — do you start to have an idea of how desperate things are getting for the oligarchy in America.
Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates, decided to break cover and announce to investors in a newsletter that they are facing a once-in-a-generation geopolitical paradigm shifting macroeconomic changes which will all but destroy their earnings.
And the world famous hedge fund manager wasted no time in pointing the finger of blame at the mercantilist (fancy word for protectionist) policies of the Trump administration.
For those at the back wondering why American asset managers are wilting under the heat of Trump punitive tariffs, it is worth pointing out that they are as affected as the rest of us by the 47th President’s decision to impose punitive tariffs on goods coming from the rest of the world.
Trump had a plan on winning the fight, but he clearly wasn’t banking on getting punched in the mouth.
So why is this the case?
The nations which lost nearly everything in the Asian economic crises of 1998 — Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Philippines, Japan and Singapore —have learnt the harsh lessons of history and they are putting aside their historical grievances with each other to collaborate in de- dollarizing their economies.
And what’s more, they are forging ahead quite successfully.
There’s every chance that Trump will blink and walk back his insanely asinine decision to impose tariffs on its bitter rival but the damage has been already done and its effects will be felt for some time.
We are witnessing the end of the American empire in real time and it is an extraordinary sight to behold.
The times when America sneezed and the rest of the world caught a cold are long gone; the era of multi-polarity are fully upon us.
If Trump weren’t so blinded by his hubris and stupidity, he would have paid heed to his friend about getting punched in the mouth, the problem now is that his country is paying the supreme price of voting for an inferior candidate.