QOTD -- "MAGA's Manly Manufacturing Misfire"

 

"... In the modern world nations mostly don’t sell each other completed consumer goods. Instead, the majority of trade involves sales of goods that are used to produce other goods. Last year the United States imported slightly less than $1.3 trillion worth of consumer goods plus autos, while importing more than $1.6 trillion worth of capital goods and industrial inputs. What this means in practice is that tariffs, which raise the prices of those capital goods and inputs, raise the production costs of U.S. manufacturers, in many cases making them less competitive with foreign producers.

"So Trump’s plan to create manly jobs has, predictably, been a bust — a bust as complete in its way as his failure to reduce prices. The only difference is that in the case of jobs he actually tried to do something. But what he did was counterproductive.

"No doubt Trump will continue to give speeches boasting about nonexistent success, telling voters that we have the hottest economy in world history, etc. But his attempt to gaslight the nation about jobs will go no better than his gaslighting on the cost of living." -- Nobel economist Paul Krugman, concluding his essay at his Substack, on "MAGA's Manly Manufacturing Misfire."  The Malignant Fascist's economic illiteracy, compounded by his loony economic advisors/ sycophants (think Peter Navarro, Kevin Hassett, Scott Bessant, etc.), is sabotaging the strong economy (yes) that Biden left him, contrary to the MF's laughable campaign promises on inflation, jobs (especially in "manly" sectors like manufacturing and construction), and trade.   And it's only going to get worse for the non- oligarch population.