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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums1,100 economists warn that Trump is repeating one of the biggest mistakes of the Great Depression
Over 1,100 leading economists sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging the president to reverse course on recent trade tactics lest the US repeat one of the biggest mistakes of the Great Depression.
The letter, organized by the conservative-leaning National Taxpayers Union, warned that recent tariffs and trade protectionism were harmful to the US economy. The economists cited a 1930 letter that warned Congress against passing the Smoot-Hawley Act, a large package of tariffs that many studies cite as a major reason for the depth of the Great Depression.
"Congress did not take economists advice in 1930, and Americans across the country paid the price," the letter says. "The undersigned economists and teachers of economics strongly urge you not to repeat that mistake. Much has changed since 1930 for example, trade is now significantly more important to our economy but the fundamental economic principles as explained at the time have not."
The Smoot-Hawley tariffs, much like Trump's measures, were designed as protection for US industries. But they ended up making the situation worse.
Included on the new letter are 14 Nobel laureates and economists from across the political spectrum, including former chairs of the Council of Economic Advisers under Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
The letter also quotes the warnings from the 1930 letter, which warns that tariffs raise prices on consumers, damage industries that rely on trade director or indirectly, hurt the fortunes of American farmers, and lead to retaliatory measures from other countries.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/1100-economists-warn-that-trump-is-repeating-one-of-the-biggest-mistakes-of-the-great-depression/ar-AAwHqOQ?li=BBnb7Kz
Cha
(297,120 posts)his doormats are going to file that.
They couldn't care less about the USA or the Planet.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)democratisphere
(17,235 posts)redumbliCONs sit silent and do nothing.
joshdawg
(2,647 posts)because they already have their money in offshore accounts. What do they care about the rest of Americans?
One of republican's mottoes: "I've got mine."
LiberalArkie
(15,708 posts)The family maid a lot of money in oil and stocks and bonds. They lived in a nice 3 story house that sat on a city block.
Now the maid was always worried about her position in life so she put just saved every penny she could and did not follow her employers advice to invest her earnings. The family she took care of were not really nice people, just your typical South Arkansas oil people.
The time came in the 1930's when the stock market crashed, oil prices dropped through the floor.
The family could not afford the taxes on their home, after a few years and it was put up for sale at a tax auction. The maid bought it and let the family stay there, For a good amount of rent.
A lot of property changed hands back in those days.
Yonnie3
(17,427 posts)If he could only read.
N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,713 posts)He will have to read the letter or have it read to him and then understand the meaning of the letter or have someone explain it to him before his mind wanders off then admit he made a mistake.
angrychair
(8,690 posts)And he leaves for FL to go play golf for 3 days straight
raging moderate
(4,297 posts)They are doing it on purpose. Probably they always were doing it on purpose. To teach the spoiled peasants a "lesson."
SWBTATTReg
(22,100 posts)The very pro-business Gophers and RUMP. Can't look beyond the tax savings pouring into their wallets on behalf of all of the raped American taxpayer with a bonus to boot...when all of the tariffs, all of the trade protection measures being put in place will do a double whammy on the American taxpayer and the economy that Obama left us in great shape...
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)But history shows that arrogant, ignorant republicans always crash the economy and then try to blame others. sad.
* aka republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief
rock
(13,218 posts)Was her approach to large-scale changes (for which she was generally criticized): make your changes incrementally - do NOT make huge changes all at once! Trump OTOH is an all or nothing kind of idiot.
Demsrule86
(68,539 posts)been used as an excuse for 'free' trade...unfair trade. It had no effect on the depression which was caused as we 2008 by a gambling overextended Wall Street...Before the modernization act , we had bucket laws, Glass Steagall among other safeguards to prevent another depression. Before such safeguards, there were panics every 8-10 years...they were called 'panics'. The word depression was coined so as not cause 'panic'. The idea that tariffs caused the depression is a GOP myth.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)It did not create the Depression. It turned a market crash into a long term (3 year) decline and what might have been a harsh recession into a very deep and prolonged depression. It also affected trade world-wide and the collapse of trade worsened depressions in other countries.
A depression is not a panic and panics do not cause depressions. Panics are symptoms, they are the market crashes and the bank runs.
Germany only pulled out of its Depression earlier than the US because of imposition of fascistic socialism and heavy re-militarization. We do not want fascism or militarization here.
PatrickforO
(14,570 posts)power.
TheBlackAdder
(28,182 posts)Everybody went wild in speculations because they all thought they would be millionaires. They overextended their stock buys because they only needed to put 10% down, and float the other 90% for a short while. Massive short-term stock purchasing occurred, as people were trying to flip their profits. This drive fueled massive gambling addition. When the market went to shit, there was no money to back any of those stock trades up with, and the house of cards went collapsing.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)Financial crises were traditionally referred to as "panics", most recently the major Panic of 1907, and the minor Panic of 191011, though the 1929 crisis was called "The Crash", and the term "panic" has since fallen out of use. At the time of the Great Depression, the term "The Great Depression" was already used to refer to the period 187396 (in the United Kingdom), or more narrowly 187379 (in the United States), which has retroactively been renamed the Long Depression.[176] -- Wikipedia
Demsrule86
(68,539 posts)We are both kind of right...
"Today the term "depression" is most often associated with the Great Depression of the 1930s, but the term had been in use long before then. Indeed, an early major American economic crisis, the Panic of 1819, was described by then-president James Monroe as "a depression",[6] and the economic crisis immediately preceding the 1930s depression, the Depression of 192021, was referred to as a "depression" by president Calvin Coolidge.
However, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, financial crises were traditionally referred to as "panics", e.g., the 'major' Panic of 1907, and the 'minor' Panic of 19101911, though the 1929 crisis was more commonly called "The Crash", and the term "panic" has since fallen out of use. At the time of the Great Depression (of the 1930s), the phrase "The Great Depression" had already been used to refer to the period 187396 (in the United Kingdom), or more narrowly 187379 (in the United States), which has since been renamed the Long Depression.
Common use of the phrase "The Great Depression" for the 1930s crisis is most frequently attributed to British economist Lionel Robbins, whose 1934 book The Great Depression is credited with 'formalizing' the phrase,[6] though US president Herbert Hoover is widely credited with having 'popularized' the term/phrase,[6][7] informally referring to the downturn as a "depression", with such uses as "Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement", (December 1930, Message to Congress) and "I need not recount to you that the world is passing through a great depression" (1931)."
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)It was not.
The quote I gave was from the article on the Great Depression on Wikipedia, which I attributed.
Your quote, which you did not attribute, was taken from the Depression article on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depression_%28economics%29%23Terminology
They say the same thing.
Demsrule86
(68,539 posts)Great depression...sorry for the inaccuracy...I think we are on the same page...a rose by any other name...
IronLionZion
(45,411 posts)and was global in nature. There was famine and starvation killing millions in some countries during that time.
DownriverDem
(6,227 posts)Every time we have had an economic downfall it was because of the repubs. They make cuts and create deficits that gets them kicked out of office. Then it is up to the Dems to do the dirty work moving towards a balanced budget. If you are 49 or younger the repubs are coming after your Social Security. They want to make cuts and hike up the full retirement age to 70. Let your rightie friends know.
Demsrule86
(68,539 posts)People who like free trade always want to make it about the trade bill but it wasn't...just like in 08. And the next one will be the same as well...we will see what used to be called 'panics' ever 10 years or so since we have lost Roosevelt's policies to prevent this.
IronLionZion
(45,411 posts)and you are grossly oversimplifying the issue. There was a lot going on at that time with deflation of commodity prices, agricultural policies and practices, disruption of trade, very low confidence and consumption among middle and lower income people, and big mistakes from government and central banks that made it worse.
If it were easy, there would be policies in place to prevent such a thing from happening and the recovery would be much faster. If it were easy, economists would agree on why it happened. They don't.
Demsrule86
(68,539 posts)Great depression was buying on margin...no doubt commodity was involved...then as banks had failed there were multiple runs on banks who did not have the cash to cover the accounts as they too were invested...like dominos.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,379 posts)dalton99a
(81,432 posts)It's his purpose in life
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)FakeNoose
(32,620 posts)Putin would be affected by depression just as the rest of us would.
It would definitely hurt his oil business, that's for sure.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)Depression, meaning that if he is doing it now, it is not a "mistake" it is deliberate.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)The recession was not felt evenly around the world. Whereas most of the world's developed economies, particularly in North America and Europe, fell into a definitive recession, many of the newer developed economies suffered far less impact, particularly China and India whose economies grew substantially during this period.
Terminology
Two senses of the word "[recession]" exist: a less precise sense, referring broadly to "a period of reduced economic activity";[8] and the academic sense used most often in economics, which is defined operationally, referring specifically to the contraction phase of a business cycle, with two or more consecutive quarters of GDP contraction. Under the academic definition, the recession ended in the United States in June or July 2009.[9][10] In the broader, lay sense of the word however, many people use the term to refer to ongoing hardship (in the same way that the term "Great Depression" is also popularly used).[11][12][13][14][15][16] -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recession
Doodley
(9,078 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)The stock market can't get up off the floor. It's pulling nails out of the floor boards and peering into the basement.
Chart of last 6 months:
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=%24SPX
spike jones
(1,678 posts)The Republicans control the House, the Senate, Maj. of Governors, Supreme court picks, and the Presidency. This has not happened since 1928.
mfcorey1
(11,001 posts)MrScorpio
(73,630 posts)Of course, Trump won't listen to the economists... He thinks that he knows more than they do.
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)I'll admit most of my evidence is anecdotal -- conversations with friends who are having trouble finding jobs and the increase in panhandlers here in Kansas City. I see people with signs saying 'unemployed' or 'homeless' at most intersections.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)Martin Eden
(12,863 posts)False narratives to manipulate his base are the key to his support, so economic advice from experts will not change that.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,881 posts)Mc Mike
(9,114 posts)They suck up more property, money, and power, and grind the masses down under their boots.