Friday, March 31, 2017

WARNING: A Massive Trade War is About to Begin

Wilbur Ross, trade theory ignorant
The Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross,  thinks we are in a trade war and have been for decades.

He is hinting the United States is going to hit back. This is clearly the thinking of not only the Commerce Secretary but also of the President. Such a trade battle will do nothing buy lower the standard of living for all Americans. It is economic policy idiocy but it appears it is going to be Trump trade policy.

Video of Ross spouting on CNBC his economic ignorance is here.

-RW 

(ht Christopher Barcelo)

3 comments:

  1. What a maroon. Just to take one example, he marvels that the U.S.'s trade deficit is, at this moment, the same as the rest of the world's trade surplus. I don't know all that much about economics, but I had the vague idea that the sum of the world's trade surpluses and deficits will always equal zero, by definition. Is that wrong? Then of course he trots out the usual argument that, if translated, amounts to "The rest of the world is shooting themselves in the foot with tariffs, so we're going to show them by doing the same!" Pretty pathetic. Trump seems to be absolutely clueless about who to pick to advise him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would refer you to my "Trump parrots the last person he spoke with" theorem. BTW, the reason he's so loud, is his empty head serves as a resonant cavity.

      Delete
  2. "Describing himself as a "voracious reader," Reagan cited nineteenth British free trade advocates John Bright and Richard Cobden and twentieth century Austrian free market economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek. He also said 'Bastiet has dominated my thinking so much...'
    "Reagan was better read and better educated than we were..."

    --Robert Novak, _The Prince of Darkness_, p.367

    Reagan was the last Classically trained President. All Trump has ever known are those Keynesians. You were expecting something else? BTW, the Trade War has been long baked into the cake. Brace yourself.

    CW

    ReplyDelete