Author Topic: 1,100 economists warn that Trump is repeating one of the biggest mistakes of the Great Depression  (Read 1091 times)

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Offline Suppressed

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1,100 economists warn that Trump is repeating one of the biggest mistakes of the Great Depression
Bob Bryan  May 3, 2018
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-tariffs-trade-war-great-depression-mistake-2018-5


Original caption: "Negroes talking on porch of small store near Jeanerette, Louisiana." Wikimedia Commons

  • More than 1,100 economists, including 14 Nobel laureates, urged President Donald Trump to reverse course on recent trade measures.
  • The economists drew comparisons between the current tariff measures under Trump and the Smoot-Hawley Act in 1930.
  • The Smoot-Hawley tariffs helped contribute to the economic hardships of the Great Depression.

Over 1,100 leading economists sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging the president to reverse course on recent trade tactics — lest the US repeat one of the biggest mistakes of the Great Depression.

The letter, organized by the conservative-leaning National Taxpayers Union, warned that recent tariffs and trade protectionism were harmful to the US economy. The economists cited a 1930 letter that warned Congress against passing the Smoot-Hawley Act, a large package of tariffs that many studies cite as a major reason for the depth of the Great Depression.

"Congress did not take economists' advice in 1930, and Americans across the country paid the price," the letter says. "The undersigned economists and teachers of economics strongly urge you not to repeat that mistake. Much has changed since 1930 — for example, trade is now significantly more important to our economy — but the fundamental economic principles as explained at the time have not."

The Smoot-Hawley tariffs, much like Trump's measures, were designed as protection for US industries. But they ended up making the situation worse.

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Offline driftdiver

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  • I could eat it raw but why when I have fire
I bet these economists support 'fair trade' global warning and the UN.
Fools mock, tongues wag, babies cry and goats bleat.

Offline Wingnut

  • That is the problem with everything. They try and make it better without realizing the old is fine.
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Any Org that would name Grover Norquist its executive director must be flawed and not to be trusted when predicting mistakes.. 
You don’t become cooler with age but you do care progressively less about being cool, which is the only true way to actually be cool.

Offline Weird Tolkienish Figure

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And all the resident forum nincompoops cheer on this idiot.

Offline driftdiver

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  • I could eat it raw but why when I have fire
And all the resident forum nincompoops cheer on this idiot.

@Weird Tolkienish Figure

Yes and you are leading them
Fools mock, tongues wag, babies cry and goats bleat.

Offline skeeter

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Yes, we need to continue to be raped by unfair foreign trade practices or the sky will fall.

Or so says the investors and oligarchs who've been making bank off the current system.

Online rustynail

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Running for a fourth term?