President Trump's mindless tariffs will cause economic havoc
23 points
18 hours ago
| 5 comments
| economist.com
| HN
k310
17 hours ago
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They're not tariffs. They're sanctions. [0] by an angry old man against the whole world. [1]

[0] https://prospect.org/economy/2025-04-03-theyre-not-tariffs-t...

[1] I'm an altruistic old man. No ageism here. Resentment and greed are choices.

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nabla9
18 hours ago
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quantified
17 hours ago
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It's not an error. His incentives align with being an asset for a foreign adversary, and weakening the USA and perhaps all of its allies plays into their interests.

Drive inflation at home and inflation and weaponry abroad, we'll get war sooner rather than later and then adversaries can make their moves.

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khelavastr
17 hours ago
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Economic havoc .... on people who have more than enough money? Who will start to capitalize their cash to better compete?
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nabla9
18 hours ago
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Rare to see The Economist this judgemental :)

>Almost everything Mr Trump said this week—on history, economics and the technicalities of trade—was utterly deluded. ... On economics Mr Trump’s assertions are flat-out nonsense. ... And Mr Trump’s grasp of the technicalities was pathetic. ... This catalogue of foolishness will bring needless harm to America.

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fuzzfactor
17 hours ago
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Yesterday on live TV he verbally confirmed that he is probably the first US president to have no clue why the country switched from tariffs to taxing working people instead.

He was correct that it was finalized just over 100 years ago, but just can't figure out anything else about economic stuff like that.

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nabla9
17 hours ago
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He also said that he discussed his plan with Lee Iacocca.

(Iacocca died 2019)

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java-man
18 hours ago
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The guy bankrupted six casinos. The United States is next.
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fuzzfactor
17 hours ago
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Definitely at any time of his life, his entire life's work up to that point was as a comical catalyst for financial losses.

A majority of successful businessmen over the decades would never consider him a businesslike thinker at all, just the opposite of an advanced thinker was a much more widespread consensus before he became well-known as a media curiousity.

People just can't legitimately expect anything different at this point, the bigger the stakes , the greater the losses. His consistency in this regard was legendary, and it took decades before there were millions more people who fell for his carefully crafted media image, in excess of the millions who had always ridiculed him.

The only consolation is that those who have trusted him most end up losing the most.

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JohnFen
15 hours ago
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> The only consolation is that those who have trusted him most end up losing the most.

That's not much of a consolation when everybody loses and the US itself is in grave danger from the actions of these people.

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Cheyana
18 hours ago
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Krasnov’s gonna Krasnov.
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sleepyguy
18 hours ago
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Trust me, he is a fantastic con man and thief. He made out well after gutting those establishments and leaving everyone else with the loss. He is not poor either, this is basically how they all do it: "The Buy, Borrow, and Die" strategy.

At the moment, he is pulling the biggest heist he has ever attempted with the help of his buddies in Congress and the American Oligarchy. They're going to try and separate everyone from everything they have.

Ride this out and buy nothing but food, bills, and gas.

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nabla9
17 hours ago
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You give him too much credit.

He is a conman, but not a good one. He attracts conmen who are better at the game than he is and they have been milking him for decades. He had eventually to get into business with shady East-European businessmen who used him as a front. He was in descent to money laundering when he won the elections 2016.

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dc396
17 hours ago
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> He is a conman, but not a good one.

How many other conmen have conned 77.3 million (at least, that's just in the US and I hear there are many outside the US who have fallen for his schtick)? There have been a few others in this class (Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, etc.) but there's no denying that he has confidence skillz...

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Zigurd
16 hours ago
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He's had help. For the audience here, the relevant helpers are on a spectrum from Barstool sportball techbros to Moldbug fans. The rich among them cultivated JD Vance. But he's got other help. None seem to care that some help comes from pretty dire adversaries. Fun's over. Now let's see who can admit a large error.
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