14 October 2018

Incompetence in Action

Quartz published a great piece on Friday (link here) with a title that says it in a sentence: "Trump’s tariffs on China are doing the exact opposite of what they’re supposed to."

Almost no economists of any repute are in favor of tariffs. They raise the cost of goods for all consumers and fuel either inflation or recessions -- or both.

Part of the reason the Great Depression was so bad was because governments, including the United States, significantly increased tariffs.

Donald Trump has the numskull idea that trade deficits are bad and is trying to make them go away by imposing severe tariffs. Once again, you'd be hard pressed to find many legitimate economists who think the trade deficit is harmful.

Instead of shrinking the trade deficit, however, Trump's tariffs are actually making it even larger. Once again, he's his own worst enemy.

But we'll all pay for this in the end. Prices are already up sharply for certain items when they shouldn't be, like on home appliances. So his tariffs are an invisible tax we'll all be paying.

Hopefully Congress will step in soon and restrict what Trump is trying to do. The chances of that will increase if Republicans lose seats in the midterm elections in a few weeks.

That's yet another reason to vote. To stop Trump from making us pay more for everything.

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