Donald Trump has just unveiled a 13-person economic advisory team.
This is not an encouraging list for advocates of free markets.
There is not a free market economist among them. In fact, they are mostly crony businessmen.
The only economists on the list are Stephen Moore who was instrumental in launching the evil Fair Tax proposal and Peter Navarro, who thinks a military confrontation with China is very likely.
Here's the full list:
Tom Barrack, chairman and chief executive officer of Colony Capital
Andy Beal, "banker, businessman, investor and poker player"
Stephen M. Calk, chairman and CEO of Federal Savings Bank
Steve Feinberg, hedge fund management
Harold Hamm, oil entrepreneur
Howard Lorber, President and CEO of Vector Group Ltd
Steve Mnuchin, banker, film producer and political fundraiser
John Paulson, billionaire hedge fund manager
Wilbur Ross, vulture capitalist
Steve Roth, founder and chairman of Vornado Realty Trust
Dan DiMicco, Chairman of the Board Nucor Corporation
David Malpass, founder and president of Encima Global LLC,was deputy assistant Treasury secretary in the Reagan administration and deputy assistant secretary of state in the George H.W. Bush administration.
and economists Moore and Navarro.
Of note, Larry Kudlow and Walter Block did not make the cut.
Trump's full statement on the group is here.
-RW
According to what I have read Navarro is advocating protectionist policies. If this is true, he's anti free-market also. The only one that seemed to be of interest was John Paulson whom is a strong believer in Gold. He invests heavily in GLD, or paper gold. I'm not too certain what his policy proposals are, but this seems like the only guy that has some sense on sound money. I'm not sure how much influence he'll have in the face of all these statists though, probably not much at all. He seems to only understand that Gold is a good investment and inflation is bad. He is not as savvy as Ron Paul or Rothbard on how to implement a sound monetary system with Gold.
ReplyDeleteAndy Beal calls himself a Libertarian, but seems like a typical math theoretician in gauging the markets. As Michael Burry keeps demonstrating, Math is irrelevant in the face of logic. It would be safe to say although he calls himself a Libertarian, he is indeed ignorant on sound money and would favor FRB or something of the sort. Even Stephen Moore is a sellout inflationist. The only one that might understand anything is Paulson as I stated above. Yet he speaks of the basic understanding of why inflation raises the price of Gold. Rothbard's "The Case for a Genuine Gold Dollar," is the one article need be read by those claiming to understand anything about how to return to sound money. Either that article, his many other great works, or Ron Paul's The Case for Gold. None on the above list seem to be competent on any of the literary works I have mentioned.