The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has just published its World Economic Outlook, and it does not take an expert to deduce that, even among some of the world’s top economic minds, confident predictions are currently hard to come by. Every spring the IMF and World Bank hold their spring meetings in Washington, DC: a week […]
Browsing Category: Trump Tariffs
Carlo M. Cipolla / Donald Trump / News / Opinion / Stupidity / The Conversation / Trump Tariffs / United States
Stupidity researchers: Trump’s policies not just dumb but stupid
Before he stepped down as Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau called Donald Trump’s tariff policies “very dumb.” This might be an accurate description of many Trump administration policies — but the more objectively correct word is “stupid.” In fact, Québec’s largest newspaper, Le Journal de Montréal, published a front-page photo of Trump in early February […]
Block 2 / Brian Ballard / Coca-Cola / News / PET bottles / ProPublica / Reyes Brothers / Trump Tariffs / United States
Politically connected firms benefit from Trump tariff exemptions
This article was originally published by ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. After President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs earlier this month, the White House released a list of more than a thousand products that would be exempted. One item that made the list is polyethylene terephthalate, more commonly known as PET resin, the […]
Anthony Albanese / Australia / Block 3 / DOGE / Donald Trump / Greenland Annexation / News / Peter Dutton / The Conversation / Trump Effect / Trump Liberation Day / Trump Tariffs / Ukraine war / US-Australia relations / World
Australians hate Trump’s policies and distrust US: poll
Australians strongly disagree with key policies of US President Donald Trump, and have overwhelmingly lost trust in the United States to act responsibly in the world, according to the Lowy Institute’s 2025 poll. Despite this, 80% of people say the alliance is “very” or “fairly” important for Australia’s security, only fractionally down on last year’s […]
Block 3 / Brad Thomas / DOGE / News / Porter Stansberry / Trump Tariffs / United States / US Economic Collapse / US Economy / US Stock Market Collapse
Trump’s in-the-know plan to demolish the US economy
The press daily reports ever louder shrieks of concern that Trump’s actions – tariffs, deportations, chainsaw destruction of federal agencies by people barely out of their teens – risk causing a worldwide economic crash. The naïve shriekers Bill Ackman, Larry Fink, Larry Summers and countless others don’t yet realize that there’s no risk: it’s the […]
Agriculture / Block 3 / Consumer Confidence / Housing / News / Trump Tariffs / Unemployment / United States / US recession
Recession talk is in the air
The Wall Street Journal’s Spencer Jakab pointed out something interesting the other day: There’s been a spike in Google searches on the word “recession.” It’s easy to understand why. Worries that tariffs will spur inflation have sent consumer confidence tumbling. The University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Expectations fell 18% in March from April and […]
Block 1 / David P. Goldman / economics / Laffer curve / News / Trade wars / Trump Tariffs / United States
Tariffs have a Laffer curve, too
Legend has it that the supply-side revolution – Ronald Reagan’s 1981 cut in the US top income tax rate to 40% from 70%– began in a Washington restaurant, when economist Arthur Laffer drew his eponymous curve on a cocktail napkin for then White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dick Cheney. At a tax rate of […]
2008 financial crisis / Atlanta Fed / Block 2 / DOGE / Donald Trump / Elon Musk / MAGA / Mao Zedong / News / S&P 500 / Trump Tariffs / United States / US Government Spending / US inflation / US Stagflation
Trump ideology looking a lot like 1960s China
Despite steady GDP growth, low inflation, low unemployment, and record high stock prices, Americans told pollsters in 2024 that they were deeply unhappy with how Joe Biden had handled the US economy. So they elected Donald Trump, who promised to lower costs for average Americans, create a new era of US manufacturing and domestic investment, and […]
Atlanta Federal Reserve / Block 1 / China Economy / China exports / News / Trump Tariffs / Trump Trade Wars / United States / US Economic Growth / US Economy / US inflation
Trump trade wars making stagflation great again
The 2.8% contraction in US economic growth that the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is flagging for the first quarter is dreadful news for Asia and the wider global economy. The Atlanta Fed’s prediction collides with hotter-than-expected inflation in the world’s biggest economy. That, at a moment when Donald Trump seems hellbent on imposing ever-bigger […]
Australia / Australia Economy / Block 2 / Global Recession / News / The Conversation / Trump Tariffs / World
Australia’s economy has finally turned the corner
Australia’s economy expanded at the fastest pace in two years in the December quarter, boosted by an improvement in household spending and stronger exports. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ national accounts report today said the economy grew by 0.6% in the quarter. It attributed this to “modest growth […] broadly across the economy […] supported […]