Thursday, March 01, 2018

Tariffs

Whether they are Good or Bad is complicated (Econ 101 says they are BADBADBAD but it's complicated). Instituting them or taking them away is more likely to be bad than merely having them or not having them (it's the change). Trade wars can be bad, because other countries can respond to Trump's likely actions by trying to impose tariffs which cause maximum concentrated pain, not just broad based diffuse pain. You know, China might buy all the widgets from some widget factory in Mike Pence's hometown. An ant compared to China, but pretty damn important in Pence's town. Time to put it out of business. That kind of thing.