Economy

Experts Give Ominous Warning: Another Trump Term Would Be a ‘Disaster’ for the US Economy

It would be a disaster in more ways than one!

I know it’s hard to pay attention to anything but the scandalous stuff when it comes to Donald Trump. Four indictments, ninety-one charges total, and an upcoming mugshot are hard to ignore. But he’s still planning, you know, president stuff. Just in case.

For example, Trump has already announced he’ll restore the travel bans he set against some countries. He’s said he will crack down on race and gender instruction that he doesn’t like. And he’s made no secret of his desire to increase executive power — for himself.

But there’s another plan of his brewing, and it could be worse than even the cultural garbage he has planned.

From the man who once tweeted “MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN” comes the brilliant scheme of “universal baseline tariffs” on almost all imports to the US. On paper, tariffs are appealing. They’re essentially a tax on imported goods that make it so there is no economic advantage to buying imported goods over domestic.

But if you’ll remember, Trump has bankrupted casinos. He’s really, really bad at making monetary decisions. Which is why he doesn’t understand that tariffs set loose as retaliatory measures invariably become trade wars.

Or, put more succinctly by Michael Strain of the American Enterprise Institute:

“It would be a disaster for the U.S. economy — it would raise prices for consumers and be met with considerable retaliation from other nations, which would raise the costs facing U.S. businesses. It would reduce employment among manufacturing workers. It would be very, very bad.”

Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, says that “[I]t is a recipe for corruption. They will decide that whoever cozies up to Trump, or whoever his commerce secretary is, will get the exception.” Economist Chris Clarke has said “[O]n net, this would harm the American economy substantially… Producers would have higher costs, and now all the consumers are paying higher prices for goods that used to be imported.”

Honestly, show up to vote against Trump no matter who’s nominated, and for whatever reason you like. Do it because of the combover if you want. But don’t let your friends and family forget that Trump is more than a sideshow. He is potential disaster at every corner.

meet the author

Andrew is a dark blue speck in deep red Central Washington, writing with the conviction of 18 years at the keyboard and too much politics to even stand. When not furiously stabbing the keys on breaking news stories, he writes poetry, prose, essays, haiku, lectures, stories for grief therapy, wedding ceremonies, detailed instructions on making doughnuts from canned biscuit dough (more sugar than cinnamon — duh), and equations to determine the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow. A girlfriend, a dog, two cats, and two birds round out the equation, and in his spare time, Drewbear likes to imagine what it must be like to have spare time.

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