5 Ways Trump Would Blow up the Economy | Robert ReichIf Donald...

5 Ways Trump Would Blow up the Economy | Robert Reich

If Donald Trump wins in November, he’ll make inflation explode.

That’s what 16 Nobel-winning economists are telling us. Here are 5 ways Trump has proposed blowing up the U.S. economy.

#1: Trump’s crazy tariff plan

Trump seems genuinely confused about what tariffs are and who pays tariffs.

Tariffs are not paid by the other country. They’re paid by the American importer, with the cost typically passed onto American consumers, as even Fox Business pundits have to admit.

Now, targeted tariffs on specific products can give American-made goods an edge over imports, but there’s no strategy behind the tidal wave of tariffs Trump is proposing.

He’s talking about making you pay a 60% or more tax on everything imported from China and a 10% tax on everything imported from anywhere else. This would cost the average family an estimated $2,500 extra per year.

And this is a regressive tax, taking a higher percentage of the paychecks of the working class and the poor than out of the incomes of the wealthy.

#2 Trump’s monopoly plans

If you’ve watched our other videos, you know corporate consolidation is one of the biggest drivers of inflation. When there are fewer competitors, corporations can raise prices without worrying about losing customers to a cheaper competitor. Trump and the MAGA team want to make this worse.

Project 2025 specifically seeks to fast-track airline mergers.

And as part of Trump’s efforts to solicit campaign donations from Big Oil executives, he’s suggested fast-tracking oil mergers. This would let them pump up your gas prices.

And speaking of gas prices, let’s talk about…

#3 Trump’s energy price hikes

Trump’s promising to kill the Biden-Harris administration’s clean energy incentives and fuel efficiency standards. This means you’ll be spending more on fuel because your car will need more gas and your appliances will use more electricity.

#4 Trump would make your money worthless — I’m sorry, worth less.

The American economy is strong right now compared to other nations’, so the American dollar is worth more vs. the Euro, the Yen, or other major currencies. At a moment when Americans are worried about how far their dollar goes, most people would call that a good thing.

But Trump and his economic advisers are reportedly so obsessed with trade deficits that they’re looking for ways to devalue the dollar.

This might help big corporations that export products but it would also raise import prices and overheat a U.S. economy already running hot.

#5 Trump’s deportation plan.

Trump would decimate the American workforce — and he’s bragging about it.

Putting aside the horrific moral consequences, this would make the whole economy collapse.

There are more than a million undocumented laborers in construction, over a million undocumented farm workers, and about a million undocumented food service workers. What do you think will happen to the price of food and housing if these workers are suddenly deported? Prices will explode.

Trump has no understanding of the economy. That’s why he’s driven so many businesses into the ground. He’s even driven casinos into the ground. How do you lose money running a casino?

But since Trump doesn’t understand the economy, listen to the people who do — the 16 Nobel economists who say Trump’s economic plans would be an inflation bomb.

Robert Reich

This is from Robert Reich’s blog, www.robertreich.org. He is professor of public policy at Berkeley, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, and author of 13 books, the most recent of which is “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future.”

Source: https://robertreich.org/post/763785206436184064