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32 sats \ 5 replies \ @Cje95 3 Dec \ on: Donald Trump's Economic Wars Serve No Purpose | The Libertarian Institute econ
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.
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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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