Increasingly the Republican nominee for president is making absurd promises that make little to no sense, and are the kinds of utterly impossible-to-deliver promises that are lies for all practical purposes. A lot of it started with no taxes on tips (which I know that Harris also is onboard with), but goes well beyond that to things that are either impossibly outside his control, won’t work as promised, or both.
The one I saw this morning is this:
This is nonsense on so many levels, not the least of which being that the president has no power to unilaterally set credit card interest rates.
Then there is this gem of economic galaxy brain assertions:
So…this is just wrong on a number of levels. First, placing a tariff on imported goods does not drive prices down.
Period.
Full stop.
The immediate effect of such a tariff is to increase the price of the imported good. It might, in fact, allow the seller of domestic goods to increase their prices as well, because they no longer are facing the competitive pressures generated by cheaper foreign products. Further, if you are buying, say, off-cycle imported fruit where there is no domestic competition in season (or just buying imported food items that do not have direct domestic competition) then all these tariffs do is raise the price of groceries.
Is he ignorant? Is he lying? Is he simply pandering? Why not all three?
Then there’s this (which I initially thought might be a parody):
Because, of course, the President of the United States sets insurance rates!
There there’s this from Fox Business: Trump promises to halt taxes on Social Security; cites ‘inflation nightmare’ for seniors.
“To help seniors on fixed incomes who are suffering the ravages of Comrade Kamala Harris’ inflation nightmare — I’m promising NO TAX on SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS!” he wrote on X.
Like the tips thing, federal code could be changed on this. But he would have to get it through Congress.
Bonus clips include, one of the guys who Trump wanted to put on the Fed complaining about interest rate cuts:
And JD Vance promising even deeper cuts while the current cut is booed.
So do we want rate cuts or not?
Look, I am well-versed in the fact that politicians make policy claims that they may not be able to pull off. Harris, to be fair, has proposed some ideas that clearly will have to go through Congress (and the odds of their success are slim). But promising tax credits for new homebuyers and for small-business start-ups are within the basic parameters of what the federal government can do. Presidents “immediately” cutting credit card interest rates aren’t. Nor can presidents cut insurance rates. And tariffs are taxes that increase prices to consumers. (Sure, some of this could go through Congress, but he is making dictator-style promises).
Moreover, for a guy who is accusing his opponent of being a socialist, if not a Marxist, Trump isn’t exactly talking like a free market guy. All of his suggestions are direct interference in the marketplace, to include price-fixing (in terms of the credit card and insurance promises). Even if one is going to judge all of these are proposals, one should consider the philosophy that is being espoused. He is engaging in the crudest of populist economics: just make wild promises in hope of getting support.
There is nothing coherent in any of this. And, I would note, concerns about government interference in the economy, as well as any thoughts to the deficit, are clearly out the window.
