Economists invoke great depression in warning to Trump on trade

[bronxiteforever]

By Josh Wingrove • Bloomberg 14 min ago

To some of the biggest voices in U.S. economics, it could be 1930 all over again.
More than 1,100 economists, including Nobel laureates and former presidential advisers, have signed a letter warning Donald Trump about his tariff-heavy approach to trade. Many of its passages quote directly from another letter sent in 1930, cautioning against protectionist measures the U.S. imposed at the start of what became the Great Depression.

"Congress did not take economists' advice in 1930, and Americans across the country paid the price," the economists say in the letter, due for release Thursday. "Much has changed since 1930 — for example, trade is now significantly more important to our economy — but the fundamental economic principles as explained at the time have not."

The letter, organized by the Washington-based National Taxpayers Union, comes as the Trump administration travels to China this week for talks aimed at averting a trade war and weighs whether to permanently exempt allies from steel and aluminum tariffs. Those disputes are clouding the outlook for the U.S. economy, which is now in its second-longest expansion on record.


http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/economists-invoke-great-depression-in-warning-to-trump-on-trade/article_ddf79deb-1e66-5d56-8837-ad9a2530df8c.html


Trade wars are easy to win!

[dalton99a]

1. A mad man should not have this much power.

[RandomAccess]

2. Well that's cheery, isn't it?

My mother lived through the Great Depression -- as I'm sure is true of many others here as well. It scarred her and my father for life.

So when I was growing up we saved aluminum foil and waxed paper to use over (and over and over), and string and rags and anything else she could think of. She saved the buttons and zippers off clothes she was giving away and also saved thread to reuse when she had to change the hemline or alter something until as the years wore on the thread became unusable that way (polyester content, serge stitching). When she was a child and young adult, every possible thing was saved and reused. Not much food got thrown away, either, you can imagine, back then or during my growing up years.

She had to quit high school to go to work -- as a maid -- and later got a job at an A&P produce processing facility. She was so proud (I'm sure that was twinged with guilt) that she was making more than her dad in that job.

It was a VERY hard life. I hope to God the world will never have to experience that again.

[bronxiteforever]

5. Remember what the Con said in 2016

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the greatest danger yet. The TPP, as it is known, would be the death blow for American manufacturing. It would give up all of our economic leverage to an international commission that would put the interests of foreign countries above our own. It would further open our markets to aggressive currency cheaters — cheaters, that’s what they are, cheaters.

We are going to put American steel and aluminum back into the backbone of our country.

This alone will create massive numbers of jobs, high-paying jobs, good jobs, not the jobs we have today, which everybody agrees are bad jobs. We’re going to create massive numbers of good

http://time.com/4386335/donald-trump-trade-speech-transcript/

And this!

Officials in Japan, Australia and New Zealand reacted coolly on Friday to Mr. Trump’s remarks that he would be interested in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership after rejecting it so publicly just a year ago. While the United States would significantly bolster the pact if it signed up, its entry would require intense negotiations — and current members will expect significant concessions from the American side.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/world/asia/trump-tpp-asia.html

[uponit7771]

3. That would make Bad Vlad and his bastards so happy

[duforsure]

4. He first would have to care

Then he'd have to understand what they're saying, nothing of which he's capable, or willing to do. It is evident dt doesn't have the capabilities to perform and carry out any of his job duties, and abiding by his oath he swore to uphold, or recognizing the rule of law with anything he does, or is involved in from being so corrupt. The GOP would be wise to ditch this anchor they now have around their necks called dt.