4 ms·

Maybe even use the tariff proceeds to provide incentives to those very same domestic industries? (I am not an economist.)

mindslight 1mo ago
If that were seriously on the table, we could have just used the proceeds from having the world reserve currency to do that. Instead, their open plan for that national asset is to squander it. In general, stop trying to steelman the looters. Sometimes a con artist is really just a con artist.
- edgyquant 1mo ago
  From what I understand having the dollar be our main export is a reason why we haven’t had real industrial policy. We export dollars so we have to buy from overseas.
  - mindslight 1mo ago
    You're missing the other choices that link those two things. Being able to export dollars lets the government create new dollars out of thin air, which can be traded for real goods and services - a great deal by any measure. But the political mantra of the last thirty years has been a fake "fiscal responsibility" where the government has been stopped from spending that new money for most deliberate purposes, especially on a large scale (eg subsidizing domestic manufacturing in strategic industries). Yet instead of the natural price deflation that true fiscal responsibility would have brought, economists have declared that our currency still needs to inflate. And so the Fed still creates just as many new dollars, but instead gives them away to banks in the form of low interest loans (fueling the ever growing asset bubble, essentially a handout to asset holders). The combination of all of these are what has decimated our industrial base.
- arwhatever 1mo ago
  | In general, stop trying to steelman the looters. Sometimes a con artist is really just a con artist. Re-read my comment in the context of the message to which it replied.
  - mindslight 1mo ago
    I don't think that really changes my interpretation? There is an all-too-common dynamic of people working overtime to connect actions the administration is doing with what could be a sensible plan. If that was not your intent, then please don't take it personally.

mindslight 1mo ago

If that were seriously on the table, we could have just used the proceeds from having the world reserve currency to do that. Instead, their open plan for that national asset is to squander it. In general, stop trying to steelman the looters. Sometimes a con artist is really just a con artist.

edgyquant 1mo ago
From what I understand having the dollar be our main export is a reason why we haven’t had real industrial policy. We export dollars so we have to buy from overseas.
- mindslight 1mo ago
  You're missing the other choices that link those two things. Being able to export dollars lets the government create new dollars out of thin air, which can be traded for real goods and services - a great deal by any measure. But the political mantra of the last thirty years has been a fake "fiscal responsibility" where the government has been stopped from spending that new money for most deliberate purposes, especially on a large scale (eg subsidizing domestic manufacturing in strategic industries). Yet instead of the natural price deflation that true fiscal responsibility would have brought, economists have declared that our currency still needs to inflate. And so the Fed still creates just as many new dollars, but instead gives them away to banks in the form of low interest loans (fueling the ever growing asset bubble, essentially a handout to asset holders). The combination of all of these are what has decimated our industrial base.
arwhatever 1mo ago
| In general, stop trying to steelman the looters. Sometimes a con artist is really just a con artist. Re-read my comment in the context of the message to which it replied.
- mindslight 1mo ago
  I don't think that really changes my interpretation? There is an all-too-common dynamic of people working overtime to connect actions the administration is doing with what could be a sensible plan. If that was not your intent, then please don't take it personally.