Labor historians should be particularly concerned about Trump’s misuse of tariff history because his tariff policies remain popular with many working-class voters and labor union leaders despite the recent economic meltdown they have caused.
Tech, AI or reindustrialization won't save us from global economic stagnation. Increased migration would help, as would deficit spending (particularly for public investment), and redistribution.
A president who bullies Congress kowtows to the bond market.
Permanent tariffs are bad for the economy, but businesses can, for the most part, find a way to live with them. What business can’t deal with is a regime under which trade policy reflects the whims of a mad king.
Supposedly, this is all going to revive domestic manufacturing. But the evidence for that is slim, and it wouldn’t happen overnight—especially not without other policies. At a basic level, tariffs make stuff more expensive.
The world economy is going through some stuff
Silicon chips power everything from cars and toys to phones and nukes. “Chip War,” by Chris Miller, recounts the rise of the chip industry and the outsize geopolitical implications of its ascendancy.
Republicans are threatening to tank the global economy if President Biden doesn’t agree to slash spending on social welfare programs. It’s a trap.
The first UN General Assembly's first resolution set up a commission to bring back proposals to eliminate atomic weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction and to control atomic energy. That was seventy-seven years ago.
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