Broad-based tariffs are really not a good idea at all. As I was writing in email earlier this morning in response to “economists are much better at saying what is wrong with tariffs than proposing...
IMO, this letter is a waste of time, other than putting down a marker for a future "We told you so".
Firstly, the idea that tariffs will restore US manufacturing is a distraction, arguably a con to sell to the rubes in the "left behind" rust belt. It is really a way to create a flatter tax both by increasing consumption taxes and lowering high tax brackets. This is what Republicans have pushed for as long as I have lived in the US. "Flat taxes" are a recurring suggestion in right-wing politics.
Secondly, as Krugman again pointed out, the US is removing expertise. From "My opinions trump your facts", to SCOTUS reversing the Chevron Doctrine, to Trump and the Republicans gutting science-based agencies, and the elevation of anti-science political appointees, expertise is being discarded. We saw this in the Bush II administration, which is now a crisis. Economists have had a lot of power influencing government policy, but now that expertise will be ignored, just as earlier advice was ignored on tax cuts, which increased inequality while hindering the improvement for employees.
If Trumplicans can manage to continue to deny the existential threat of climate change, why would they listen to economists whose message undermines their tax-cutting goals for their donors?
An explosion of comments says everything, doesn't it? It looks like everybody agrees. It also looks like everybody disagrees. The ambivalent vibe is killing me.
IMO, this letter is a waste of time, other than putting down a marker for a future "We told you so".
Firstly, the idea that tariffs will restore US manufacturing is a distraction, arguably a con to sell to the rubes in the "left behind" rust belt. It is really a way to create a flatter tax both by increasing consumption taxes and lowering high tax brackets. This is what Republicans have pushed for as long as I have lived in the US. "Flat taxes" are a recurring suggestion in right-wing politics.
Secondly, as Krugman again pointed out, the US is removing expertise. From "My opinions trump your facts", to SCOTUS reversing the Chevron Doctrine, to Trump and the Republicans gutting science-based agencies, and the elevation of anti-science political appointees, expertise is being discarded. We saw this in the Bush II administration, which is now a crisis. Economists have had a lot of power influencing government policy, but now that expertise will be ignored, just as earlier advice was ignored on tax cuts, which increased inequality while hindering the improvement for employees.
If Trumplicans can manage to continue to deny the existential threat of climate change, why would they listen to economists whose message undermines their tax-cutting goals for their donors?
An explosion of comments says everything, doesn't it? It looks like everybody agrees. It also looks like everybody disagrees. The ambivalent vibe is killing me.