'Tis the season to worry about the US economy

Editor's note: All major stock markets in the United States plunged before Christmas Day. Columnist Niutanqin comments in a post:

The once robust performance of the US stock markets used to be the pride of the current US administration, while the other economies' bearish stock markets have long been quoted as evidence of the success of the trade war it initiated.

But it is not a surprise that the US stock markets have finally slipped into bear market territory, given the US administration's unilateral and protectionist approach to the economy and trade.

Nor is it a surprise that the US administration habitually passes the buck to the Federal Reserve, alleging that the Fed does not know about the economy, and blames the Democrats for making trouble, while keeping silent about its own mistakes, all of which, instead of making the US economy stronger, makes it more vulnerable to the political strife in the US.

What the US administration tries to do is not only to seclude the US economy from economic globalization, but also deprive the Fed of its traditional independence.

Washington is just lying in a bed it has made for itself. And if it continues to turn a blind eye to the destructiveness of its "America First" policies and practices, the bearish trend of the US stock market will continue.

That would likely ignite another global crisis as the hard-won economic recovery since the 2008 financial crisis has been led by debt, and all major economies today have a much higher debt burden compared with their gross domestic product than 10 years ago. If that happens, the whole world will be a victim of the US fallacy, again.

The fall of the US stock market shows the US economy is not that strong as the US administration claims. Before preparing new ammo for the trade war, the administration must firefight at home first.