Donald Trump's Economic Wars Serve No Purpose | The Libertarian Institute \ stacker news ~econ

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Donald Trump's Economic Wars Serve No Purpose | The Libertarian Institute libertarianinstitute.org/articles/donald-trumps-economic-wars-serve-no-purpose/?mc_cid=25faa0cca8

142 sats \ 14 comments \ @Undisciplined 3 Dec econ

Will Donald Trump make Americans richer with trade wars? Daniel Larison destroys the incoming president's plans.

"Unlike states targeted by sanctions, the states targeted in trade wars have the means to fight back more directly. Trade wars do more immediate and obvious harm to the United States by needlessly increasing the costs for consumers and businesses. Like sanctions policies, trade wars penalize the poorest most of all and cause unnecessary hardship for everyone else. Far from putting American interests first, trade wars hurt American citizens first and then continue hurting them."

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38 sats \ 2 replies \ @Akg10s3 3 Dec

I really don't believe that this initiative to increase tariffs and raise percentages in commercial operations... at the right time will have negative effects on our economy!!! And this is just the beginning...

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined OP 3 Dec

How could it not? Tariffs just increase the price of certain inputs. They're destructive for the same reason as taxes or price floors.

7 sats \ 0 replies \ @Akg10s3 3 Dec

Totally true.. Thanks for posting 🙂

33 sats \ 2 replies \ @zapsammy 3 Dec

these monopoly games destroy collaboration between people. the psychopaths are stumping progress intentionally, because merit-based technologies makes them all obsolete. hopefully, technology advances are faster than they can make people throw dung at each other.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined OP 3 Dec

That's part of it. Another more sinister possibility is that we usually see trade barriers in the lead up to major wars.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @zapsammy 3 Dec

32 sats \ 5 replies \ @Cje95 3 Dec

If you think he is going to implement all of these tariffs he has talked about then you are missing the entire point. Trump is a businessman, not a politician and he knows negotiations are going to have to happen. Why would he not threaten with tariffs and a trade war that's what brings people to the table and facilitates change.

Hell Canada has already folded from the sound of it and is going to take the Northern Border seriously and it's wild to think Mexico isn't far behind. The BRICS threat I mean Russia is in shambles and cant even afford for the war to end because that's all the economy has at this point, Iran is SOL, South Africa is a mess again politically, China is China and Brazil doesn't have the ability itself to force anything.

Tariffs are a threat and a scary one for World Leaders who are career politicians its why they don't like Trump he isn't predictable there isn't a track record to go off of.

0 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 3 Dec

I understand the logic of "the big ask", but I think people are seeing what they want to see, when the reality is that Trump has always loved protectionist trade restrictions. He's a 90's Democrat, after all. He increased tariffs on building materials during his first term and it's part of why housing costs skyrocketed.

cant even afford for the war to end because that's all the economy has

This makes no sense. War is a drain on the economy, despite whatever Keynesian nonsense you were taught.

13 sats \ 3 replies \ @Cje95 3 Dec

This isn’t Keynesian nonsense this is the pro Russian channels and outside economists which I never thought I’d say in the same sentence.

People have made a big deal out of Russia not having debt but the issue is currently they cannot raise debt unless someone wants to break sanctions. Given how Chinese banks have moved away from Russia they only have their citizens who don’t have the funds or their oil based economy which is screwed when Trump removes the DOE pause on LNG and increases drilling thus lowering price.

As for Trump he honestly really isn’t a Republican and this is coming from someone who works in a Republican office as he increases government spending. While you might call it protectionist I call it common sense because China cannot be trusted and depended on. We saw that with Rare Earths in the early 2010’s when they allowed them to skyrocket and as soon as other countries started developing their own mines (RIP Molycorp) the Chinese flooded the markets crashing companies. They are trying to manipulate trade so a tariff threat hits them hard esp when we go after who they try to hide their solar dumps under with other SE Asians countries

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 3 Dec

the pro Russian channels and outside economists

That in no way implies that it isn't Keynesian nonsense, which it absolutely is.

Some of those other details are interesting, though, and I agree that the biggest real move to undermine Russia is developing American energy resources.

My point on protectionism, is just that Trump means it. It's not an empty threat, although it likely is exaggerated. I don't feel like getting into an argument about whether it's prudent or not, because I don't think there's any chance we'll see eye to eye on that.

14 sats \ 1 reply \ @Cje95 3 Dec

I have been struggling to find an alternative to Keynesian that doesn't involve even more government interventionism (Stockholm School, Monetarism, Marxism...) are you trying to fit into New Classical? If you go into the Austrian school with F.A. Hayek you run into key things that Trump hits on when it comes to immigration. I agree with Hayek's idea of boom-bust cycles but he still has hellaciously flawed ideas just like you find in every other economic model/idea

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 3 Dec

I generally agree with Austrian analysis, as far as it goes. They intentionally limit the scope of their analysis to topics that don't require empirical validation, which I think is overly restrictive.

12 sats \ 1 reply \ @Satosora 3 Dec

Its all a big show. Make it look like he is doing something.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 3 Dec

I hope that’s all this is, but Trump has been consistently in favor of tariffs for decades.

Even if it is just a big show, that’s still bad. Regime uncertainty causes businesses to take costly risk management measures, rather than just producing as efficiently as possible.