Publicity Stunts Arent Policy - Paul Krugman

[DonViejo]

Does anyone still remember the Carrier deal? Back in December President-elect Donald Trump announced, triumphantly, that he had reached a deal with the air-conditioner manufacturer to keep 1,100 jobs in America rather than moving them to Mexico. And the media spent days celebrating the achievement.

Actually, the number of jobs involved was more like 700, but who’s counting? Around 75,000 U.S. workers are laid off or fired every working day, so a few hundred here or there hardly matter for the overall picture. Whatever Mr. Trump did or didn’t achieve with Carrier, the real question was whether he would take steps to make a lasting difference.

So far, he hasn’t; there isn’t even the vague outline of a real Trumpist jobs policy. And corporations and investors seem to have decided that the Carrier deal was all show, no substance, that for all his protectionist rhetoric Mr. Trump is a paper tiger in practice. After pausing briefly, the ongoing move of manufacturing to Mexico has resumed, while the Mexican peso, whose value is a barometer of expected U.S. trade policy, has recovered almost all its post-November losses.

In other words, showy actions that win a news cycle or two are no substitute for actual, coherent policies. Indeed, their main lasting effect can be to squander a government’s credibility. Which brings us to last week’s missile strike on Syria.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/opinion/publicity-stunts-arent-policy.html?emc=edit_th_20170410&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=57435284

[LakeArenal]

1. As Homer Simpson once said..."That dog has a fluffy tail".

[dalton99a]

2. Trump has a coherent policy: Destroy America

aka Make America Great Again

[DetlefK]

3. More like: "Make money and to hell with the rest."

[hoovjim78]

4. There is no coherence to Trump actions except that they center around his own self-interest.

Judging the motivation behind any and all of Trump's pronouncements and actions is easy. As a complete narcissist, everything he does and says revolves around himself and his need for acclaim. Denied that acclaim, he reverts to an unbridled pubescent stage of development where spite and vengeance, and even his wealth and power in the form of litigation, are used to punish his enemies. That same stage guides his appetite for control sex and unbridled eating.

[rzemanfl]

5. Welcome to DU. n/t