deficit

An Unbiased Look At Trump’s Tariffs

Common wisdom has it that tariffs in general are bad for trade. They’re old-fashioned. The word “regressive” is thrown around by people who either aren’t certain what it means or really shouldn’t be.

And, in general, the common wisdom is quite correct: Tariffs, as a rule, are bad for business, which means they’re bad for the economy.

Mind you, most business experts will also be happy to tell you why exceptions ought to be made in order to protect their industry, but decidedly no other. Therein can be found the roots of a dirty little secret that most citizens don’t know about, most political partisans don’t care about, and most major media outlets didn’t bother to find out about.

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Whose Fault Is The Debt Limit?

At 2 p.m. today, the NBER will release the monthly Treasury update of debt relative to credit. (Here’s a spoiler: It won’t be anything we didn’t see a month ago. We’re up to our ears in debt.) Meanwhile, Congress is rushing back into emergency session for a quick fix to stave off default as our spending continues to increasingly exceed our income. At a time when every politician is casting blame about the rapidly ballooning national debt and the continual political struggle surrounding raising the debt limit, it’s worth our while to examine the larger picture: Whose fault, really, is the precarious condition of our national finances?

It’s tempting for partisans to each blame the other party; it’s easily done, too, as government waste has become proverbial and inefficiency is automatically assumed without the bother of proving it. It’s equally simple for a certain class of people to throw up their hands and blame all politicians, as though they themselves would do better if they were in charge. But even a little brief reflection will show that, while these are satisfying accusations, they can’t possibly have much merit.

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