Beyond parody

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Gob
Posts: 33646
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:40 am

Beyond parody

Post by Gob »

A report that Donald Trump is looking to walk away from the World Trade Organisation and instead adopt a United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act, or Fart Act, has been greeted with loud amusement on Twitter.

Axios reported that it had received a leaked early draft of a bill ordered by the president, that would see America take the unlikely step of abandoning WTO rules, allowing Trump to raise tariffs without the consent of Congress.

The bill – the existence of which has not been independently confirmed – would be a dramatic shift in trade policy with wide-reaching impacts, but it was the name of the proposed bill that caught people’s attention.

Don Moynihan, a professor of government at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted that Trump might struggle to get the world to take his policies seriously given the naming snafu. He wrote on Twitter: “‘The world is laughing at us,’ says Trump, before proposing the FART Act (Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act).”

Journalists delighted in the name, while others suggested it could be a subtle act of rebellion from a disillusioned staff member.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... washington
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

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Sue U
Posts: 9102
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:59 pm
Location: Eastern Megalopolis, North America (Midtown)

Re: Beyond parody

Post by Sue U »

Clearly a nod to Pythonism in international economic policy: To start a trade war, the president says, "I FART in your general direction."
GAH!

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