Initially Peter Navarro got the blame for the current disaster that is Trump’s trade policy, but the insanity now reveals its arcane origin. Trump or his Russian handlers get more of the blame. Trump continues to eat the chess pieces.
Harvard economist Stephen Miran designed Trump’s trade policy.
His idea? Use tariffs to:
• Bring in money for the U.S.
• Keep prices stable for Americans.
• Push other countries to trade fairly.
Stephen Miran’s plan followed 3 simple rules:
1. Make the dollar stronger to cancel out tariff costs
2. Raise tariffs slowly—2% at a time, up to 20% (no shocks)
3. Make it easier for U.S. companies to sell abroad
Trump completely ignored the rules:
Instead of gradual 2% increases, he dropped a bomb:
• 54% on China
• 25% on South Korea
• 24% on Japan, & 20% on EU
• 10% minimum on everyone else
All at once. No warning. Markets panicked.
@jdmarkman
Stephen Miran served as an advisor of economic policy for the Department of the Treasury from 2020 to 2021, during Steven Mnuchin's tenure as secretary of the Treasury.[4]
Miran was critical of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's recommendation of a major stimulus package in 2020.[7]
In July 2024, Miran co-authored a paper with Iranian-American economist Nouriel Roubini accusing the Department of the Treasury of reducing the share of long-term notes and bonds, lowering yields, and prolonging inflation.[8]
In November 2024, Miran published A User's Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System,[9] examining tools for reshaping international trade following Donald Trump's reelection. The paper analyzes tariffs and currency strategies in the context of dollar overvaluation, presenting potential market consequences. Analysts have hypothesized that the tariffs in the second Trump administration could be following this paper to end in the so-called "Mar-a-Lago Accord".[10]
Miran's views align with the protectionist economic philosophy of Trump, and he has espoused the use of tariffs as a tool to reduce trade deficits and induce currency revaluations against the dollar. Miran has asserted that the "economic consensus" against tariffs is "wrong," and claims that most tariff models do not account for trade deficits.[11]
en.wikipedia.org/…
A White House Tale of Two Stephens. If China is the architect of economic aggression, than Trump is its crappy construction sub-contractor.
Other billionaires have been preparing to cash in on the stock market chaos. US billionaire Warren Buffet, who once famously quipped “There's class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning”, has been selling off shares and building up a US$321 billion war chest in preparation.
With some $5–6 trillion wiped out in US stocks since Trump took office, billionaires who listened to warnings about the massively over-valued US share market, will be able to cash in on the crises by “buying cheap”.
But billionaire “winners” in an economic crisis only exist because the world’s working majority pay a terrible price for its eventual resolution.
Jobs are destroyed by the millions, people lose their homes and livelihoods and entire nations and communities are devastated.
As the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–09 showed, governments rushed in to bail out the banks, but hundreds of millions of working people suffered, became more indebted and insecure, and inequality sharply increased.
Right now the world’s governments and central banks are drawing up plans to again bail out the capitalist system in the event of a Trump-precipitated global economic crisis. They won’t be putting ordinary working people’s interests first.
A capitalist “solution” to the impending global economic crisis will also set back measures to respond to the climate emergency.
There was already a massive reduction in global funds for climate action after the COVID-19 pandemic, before Trump’s “drill-baby-drill” regime took office. Now, scientists warn we are at a frightening new phase.
supporter.greenleft.org.au/...
