Trump and the Economy

Donald Trump is woefully inadequate to serve as President on matters of the economy. As ridiculous and immoral as his positions on Muslims, foreign policy, and social issues are, all of that pales in contrast to his inadequacy on the economy, the one thing his supporters probably believe he is capable of managing as President. Donald Trump at least marginally knows how to run a business, and he is a master at branding. The man is a dysfunctional, illiterate mess on macroeconomics.

The government cannot be run like a business. Businesses exist to create profit in exchange for a good or service. Government exists to regulate business and provide services to a public that needs them. Businesses can go through bankruptcies when that makes economic sense. The government is constitutionally barred from defaulting on it's debt, and would cause a global meltdown if they did. Businesses have to turn a profit for their shareholders. The government has no mandate to create profit. The two entities have different objectives. They aren't the same. Trump, in his statements, has shown a basic illiteracy on macroeconomics that is scary.

Trump's recent declaration that the U.S. will never go into default on it's debt because it "prints money," in response to his early statements that he would negotiate with creditors to get them to take less in payments, is insane. It shows a complete lack of any idea of how government debt and monetary policy work. It also shows that while this guy may know how to run a casino, he basically knows nothing about macroeconomics. He doesn't understand that U.S. Treasury bonds, which finance our debt, require the "full faith and credit" of our nation to be worth squat. He also doesn't seem to understand the massive number of problems with just printing money to fulfill your debts. In short, the man is an ignoramus.

Donald Trump's macroeconomic skills are not on par with the average government employee in Washington, DC. That this man is saying such grotesquely stupid things should scare you as a citizen. In his first week as the Republican nominee, he has proposed a self-imposed default on the national debt and massive inflation, the likes of which we have never seen. That this man is one step from the White House is utterly horrifying.