https://fortune.com/longform/trump-policies-bad-for-business-trade-immigration-taxes-regulations-us-economy/
But wait—how can today’s environment be bad for business? Stocks have been hitting new record highs. Inflation is low. Interest rates are extraordinarily low. Though the labor market is ultra-tight, more workers are reentering the labor force in response, and consumers have more money to spend. Isn’t this close to business nirvana?
It ought to be, but look closer. Sentiment in some previously friendly quarters has turned powerfully against Trump. CEO confidence, which leapt in Trump’s early days, has since plunged to levels not seen since the darkest days of the financial crisis in 2009. “The Trump administration lost the C-suite in 2018,” says Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a Republican who ran the Congressional Budget Office from 2003 through 2005 and now heads the American Action Forum, a center-right think tank. “I think the cause is mainly trade.” (Fortune interviewed several corporate executives who largely shared Holtz-Eakin’s view but were wary of saying so on the record. The White House, for its part, did not respond to several requests for comment.)
First of all, there's a business cycle. We're heading into a recession and the trade war with China isn't helping postpone it.
ReplyDeleteSecond of all, there's Trump Derangement Syndrome. Is the stock market up? Feh, it's bad for the economy. Are inflation and interest rates low? Must be causing a problem. Are more people employed than ever before? Yes, but they're the "wrong" kind of jobs. (Funny because they earn the same form of money)