Trump, Stephen Moore, and Economists

What is going on?

I have been friends with economist Stephen Moore for the better part of 25 years and have always respected his competence as an economist as well as his ability to explain free-market principles. I have been a bit disheartened in recent years to find that Stephen had softened his stance on tariffs, despite knowing innately that tariffs are bad and Trump’s tariffs in his last administration were responsible for seriously decreasing the growth that his tax reform had created. But Stephen maintained that (despite Trump’s rhetoric) Trump just used the threat of tariffs to achieve some reasonable trade goals.

Unfortunately, I just read “Trump’s Economic Miracle” and it seems that Stephen’s position has eroded even more. In addition to waffling on the tariff issues, I was flabbergasted at the kind words he had for Robert Lightizer and Peter Navarro. We both know them to be horrible economists and the biggest mistake of Trump’s prior administration, and yet Trump seems to have important roles for them in his current administration as well. The book also indicates that Trump should be forgiven for some of his policies because it just shows his ongoing attempt to think of America first (we actually all know that Trump thinks of Trump first, with possibly the US second). But Stephen seems to be supporting the concept that “buy American” provisions in US legislation is a good thing, even though he obviously knows that it is not. I hope my inference is incorrect.

What’s more, Trump has additionally come out against the Nippon Steel takeover of US Steel. We both know how stupid this is for many reasons. But Trump‘s cluelessness is further demonstrated by his lauding of SoftBank’s statement that they will invest $100 billion in the US. Is Softbank better than Japan?

Furthermore, Trump has indicated that, although the US does not have even one port in the top 50 in the world, he would support the dock workers in their attempt to prevent automation of our ports. On top of all of this, he has been talking about Panama and Greenland in the most ludicrous and irresponsible of ways.

Trump has also come out in favor of no tax on tips, overtime, or Social Security. These are illogical, inefficient, and just plain bad tax policies. They violate the important tax principles of simplicity, neutrality, transparency, and stability, all at once.

I would hope that Stephen would be as concerned and horrified by these positions as I am, and I wonder that they may be the straw that will be forcing him as well as all Art Laffer, Larry Kudlow, and others in his circle to at least express disagreement with these policies.