The Idiocy of It All
We’re told that Trump is playing 4-D chess with his tariffs – a strategy far too complex for mere mortals to comprehend. We’re told that Trump’s ultimate goal is worldwide free trade. We’re told that Trump’s trade war is really a drug war. We’re told that Trump’s tariffs will raise enormous amounts of revenue. We’re told that Trump’s tariffs will be fully absorbed by foreign suppliers – thus causing no price hikes in the U.S. – and at the same time raise the prices of imports high enough to increase manufacturing production and employment in the U.S. We’re told that Trump is the first president since Hoover or McKinley to stand up to foreigners, such as the Canadians and Cambodians and Koreans, who have been ripping us Americans off for decades. We’re told to trust Trump and his team of trade advisors.
We’re told these things and others about Trump’s tariffs. But it’s all rank nonsense. It’s economically idiotic, despite the fact that Trump has somehow managed to lure several “economists” to help him peddle his destructive idiocy. And it’s grounded in blatant empirical falsehoods, not the least being that trade has “hollowed out” America’s industrial base.
Yet people continue, even after the “Liberation Day” fiasco – at 8:30am EDT on April 3rd, Dow futures are down 1,177 points – to assure us that Trump and his team are singular geniuses who will supercharge the American economy.
And now we learn that these geniuses are imposing tariffs even on uninhabited islands.
Please, please tell my why we should think Trump and his trade shamans are anything other than clowns – clowns with the power to do great damage to America and the world.
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