economy – Perspective

Depending on who you listen to, tariffs are good, or tariffs are bad. Tariffs will make us rich, or tariffs will make us poor. Tariffs are terrific, or tariffs are terrible. Where people stand on tariffs mostly depends on where they stand on Donald Trump.

The heart of the matter is not so much tariffs themselves, but the objective of making US products competitive with imports and thereby preserving US manufacturing and jobs.

There’s a lot of minutiae that can obscure the bigger picture. We can be kept so busy arguing over partisan talking points that we ignore overarching principles. However, there are fundamentals essential to an intelligent understanding of the matter.

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A few days ago, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 25,000, setting a new all-time record high for the U.S. stock market. As they are wont to do, the experts are speculating and opining as to what it all means. Some think this is good news, some think it’s bad, some believe it can continue, some believe it’s the boom before the bust.

Does the Dow’s breaking the 25,000 barrier really mean the economy is better than it’s ever been? Does it mean we’re all richer now? Was the market stagnated until Trump came along and breathed life into it, causing us to ascend to new heights of economic ecstasy? Or, could it be that the more things change, the more they stay the same, and that the Dow reaching 15,000, then 20,000, and now 25,000 was inevitable?

Most conservatives will no doubt revel in the current upward trend, taking it as token evidence that Trump and the Republicans are the saviors of the American way of life, single-handedly rescuing the economy from the financial doldrums imposed by eight years of Democrat rule. However, I have a different perspective. Continue reading “Why Did the Dow Hit 25,000?” →