Tuesday, July 03, 2018

Standing up to Trump

Top U.S. business group assails Trump's handling of trade dispute

Finally, someone with the money has the sense to stand up. Of course, if they don't, they are going to lose money. So it only makes sense for them to try and put a stop to things before things get out of hand.

Yes, they want tax cuts. But they don't want trade wars.

Fair trade ≠ equal trade

While classical economics tries to simplify things (just look at the demand and supply curves intersecting to give price and quantity traded), things are not that simple in a real economy. There are various factors at play, with distribution of resources, economies of scale, workforce training, population size, product regulations, etc. which affects what and how goods move from one country to another. At the end of the day, the U.S. has been prospering under a system of fair trade, more open trade, which it has spearheaded in building over decades. Generations of Americans can't have been stupid and spearheaded a system which works against them; they spearheaded the system because it benefits them. And can still benefit them as long as they continue to work within the system.

I just hope it is not too late. And hopefully, the guy at the helms is not so thin-skinned that he refuses to back down from a disastrous road.

Still, if he refuses to back down, maybe this rich lot will buy enough Republicans to impeach him. After all, they have the money.

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