Trump Has Trouble Understanding Basic Concepts

In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2017

Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2017

In the span of a mere 13 hours President Trump has made it clear that he doesn't understand two basic concepts: climate change and economics.   He is a well-known climate change denier which makes perfect sense for his ill-advised weather tweet, but the one he made this morning about the US Post Office is even more bewildering.  Let's get down to the facts, shall we?

Concept 1: Climate Change

In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2017

Fact #1:  The Earth experiences periods of extreme heat and extreme cold, naturally.  

The ice ages have all happened after periods of extreme heat due to the buildup of greenhouse
gasses.  Yes, it may be the coolest NYE on record, but it might not be the coolest winter ever.   What we do know is that for the past handful of years we have had record setting heat during the summer which means the average temperature on Earth has been rising.

Trump's tweet is the equivalent of "climate change doesn't exist because we get really cold in the winter and really hot in the summer."

Fact #2:  Humans have accelerated the process of Global Warming.

This is the main thing that climate change deniers swear is not true, but sadly is.  They will use the previous fact about the natural changes of the Earth as well as alleged "Acts of God" to tell every one that we shouldn't fund the fight against Global Warming.  

Here is the straight-up truth: we accelerate Global Warming every day!  And by "us" I don't just mean the United States, but every country in the world!  The US causes a hell of a lot of pollution, but so does China, Russia, and India.  Since being in office Trump has backed away from the Paris Accord which means we are the only country not wanting to cut carbon emissions and invest more in clean energy.  

Trump is deregulating for the sake of business, but he doesn't care that our atmosphere, air, or water, will suffer because of his views and policies.

Concept 2: Economics

Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2017

Fact #1:  Supply and Demand determine prices.

It is one of the pillars of economics!  While you can charge more to make up for lowering demand of the service, it cannot sustain the increase in prices and expect demand to stay the same.  Those who can pay the current rates now, but cannot if there is a rate increase will leave for cheaper options, even if that means less options or slower service.  The demand for the Post Office has been on a steady decline for awhile now and charging more (MUCH MORE in the parlance of our times) would accelerate that further.

Fact #2: Competition

The Post Office has to compete with other delivery services such as UPS, FedEx, and Amazon Prime.  The Post Office is also the only public (government-run) option.  Yes, they do charge a fee to the others to transfer items from their premises to our homes.  It's not a lot as Trump has pointed out.  He could, in theory, have the Post Office charge more to have UPS and FedEx deliver their packages to make up some of the lost revenue.  The charge can't be significantly more otherwise UPS and/or FedEx could leave the deal and the Post Office would be left with nothing.

Fact #3: Incentives are needed to lure customers to your brand.

Let's just admit it: the US Post Office is slow to change and that has hurt them in the long run.  While it's competitors can decide on their own how to make shipping better for their customers the Post Office has to rely on our slow-to-get-things-done politicians and red tape.

The need for a massive overhaul to bring back customers is in dire need, but it constantly can't do it because of budget issues.  If they could offer incentives to people which would necessitate an increase in prices to justify the new programs in place.  Charging more while offering the same products and services will lose more customers as well as money.

If Trump wants to slam the Post Office for not being the leading shipping option out there then he needs to come up with some viable business solutions to get it out of the red.

The thought of Trump trying to save the Post Office is just that, a thought.  Trump himself has gone bankrupt several times and his retail product ventures, like Trump Steaks as a glaring example, have not fared well.  He needs to find that businessman spark that he used to have.  Being a TV celebrity has harmed his economic forethought and it definitely shows with the tweets he has posted from this morning and yesterday night.