Larry Kudlow

Here’s an overview of bad predictions from Trump’s new economic adviser. Sad!

More on tariffs

This column says the tariffs will cause “reckless trade wars that will harm US competitiveness and trigger global retaliation.”

Here’s a column which states that the last trade war didn’t work out well for the US.

Sad!

Trump’s Tariffs

This article has an excellent overview of Trump’s tariff plan and the consequences. It also has links at the bottom to reactions from all over the country. Most reactions are negative. Sad!

African-American unemployment under Trump continues the trend from the Obama years

Trump takes credit for reduced African-American unemployment but the rate is just continuing the trend from the Obama administration. See the chart here. Of course, Trump doesn’t address the problem that it is still much higher than the white unemployment rate. Sad!

Companies will spend more of their windfall from the tax cut on buybacks than on workers.

This is no surprise. Many people predicted it. Corporate executives work for their shareholders, not their employees. So who do you think they would give the money to?

Morgan Stanley analysts expect companies to pass only 13% of Trump tax cut savings directly to workers, vs 43% to share buybacks.

For manufacturers, it's 9% / 47%. pic.twitter.com/J3RCJjPJhr

— Jim Tankersley (@jimtankersley) February 9, 2018

Where does your income rank?

This is a good tool to see where your income ranks.

Tourism to the US is down under Trump

Trump’s hostile language and actions are a major reason the US tourism industry has lost $4.6 billion and 40,000 jobs. Sad!

Solar Panels

I agree with Trump that we should protect American jobs. However, the proposed tariff on foreign solar panels is short-sighted and will cost jobs in solar installation, a growing industry.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Trump would damage the solar industry since he supports their competitors in fossil fuels. He is trying to take the US back into the past instead of leading us into the future. Trump also doesn’t believe in climate change so he doesn’t care about clean energy. Sad!

Economic gains are highest in areas that voted for Clinton

This analysis shows that the job gains in the US are occurring in the major metropolitan areas that voted against Trump rather than in the areas that supported him. This is an ongoing trend that will continue because of digital technology that is creating jobs in urban areas. Growth has been slower in jobs in Trump-supporting areas like manufacturing, oil and gas, and agriculture.

An earlier analysis soon after the election noted:

“The less-than-500 counties that Hillary Clinton carried nationwide encompassed a massive 64 percent of America’s economic activity as measured by total output in 2015. By contrast, the more-than-2,600 counties that Donald Trump won generated just 36 percent of the country’s output—just a little more than one-third of the nation’s economic activity.”

In spite of this, the areas with lowest growth and production control the White House and Congress. Sad!