Tag: economics

Is the U.S. Dollar’s Global Dominance Coming to an End?

Posted on by Lone Candle

Due to Trump administration actions, people are hating Americans, and it is more difficult to have professional relationships due to this.

Having dollar dominance globally lowers US interest rates because other countries borrow in dollars.

The global power of the US military allows the US to control all sorts of negotiations that on the surface have nothing to do with military force.

The US university system is one of its secret sauces to its success and power, and Trump’s attack on it is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Carelessly deregulating will boost the economy in the short run, but in the long run will be bad for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yyJiXL-Fwg

Yes, the Middle Class Is Shrinking—Because It’s Moving Up

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Most studies define the middle class relative to the national median, which makes the dividing line between haves and have-nots rise automatically as the country gets richer. Rose and Winship instead use a benchmark of fixed purchasing power, so that if real incomes (those adjusted for inflation) rise, more people are shown moving into—or beyond—the middle class in a meaningful sense.

Under this approach, the “core” of the middle class does indeed shrink modestly. But crucially, the middle class shrinks because people are moving up the income ladder, not because they’re falling down. Since 1979, the share of Americans in the upper-middle class has roughly tripled—from about 10 percent to 31 percent—while shares of those considered lower middle class or poor fell substantially.”

https://reason.com/2026/01/15/yes-the-middle-class-is-shrinking-because-its-moving-up/

Why Taiwan Is Richer Than Japan and Korea

Posted on by Lone Candle

Taiwan has a higher GDP per capita than South Korea and Japan. Taiwan’s median wealth per adult is about the same as the US. The US has higher average wealth because of a handful of super rich people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4QfrJvqYzI

Bessent Says Construction Jobs Are Booming Under Trump’s Tariffs. Government Data Show the Opposite.

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The federal government’s data do not show this “burst” in construction jobs. In fact, quite the opposite: Construction jobs declined by 11,000 in December, the most recent month for which Bureau of Labor Statistics data are available, and grew by just 0.2 percent during 2025 as a whole. Like most other blue-collar professions, jobs in the construction industry have been underwater since last April.

The president’s tariffs aren’t the only factor shaping that job market, but they surely aren’t helping. The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) reports that overall construction input prices climbed 3.4 percent during 2025.

“Many tariff-affected materials, like derivative metal products and switchgear equipment, have experienced considerable price escalation in 2025,” Anirban Basu, chief economist for the ABC, said in a statement earlier this month. He pointed out that the price of aluminum, which is subject to huge new tariffs imposed by Trump in early 2025, climbed by more than 25 percent last year.

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Why are gas prices falling when other products are getting more expensive?

For one, we are enjoying a period of low oil prices globally. That’s a good thing, though it is also largely beyond the president’s control.

It also seems important to note that gasoline and other oil products are exempt from the Trump administration’s tariffs.

In other words, when a barrel of crude oil crosses the border from Canada, it doesn’t suddenly have an extra 25 percent tax tacked onto it. But when a roll of aluminum or a pallet of lumber crosses the same border, it suddenly becomes significantly more expensive for Americans to buy. As a result, it has become more expensive to build things but gasoline has remained more affordable.”

https://reason.com/2026/01/29/scott-bessent-says-construction-jobs-are-booming-under-trumps-tariffs-government-data-show-the-opposite/

From Georgia’s Film Subsidies to Intel’s Collapse, Industrial Policy Keeps Failing

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Trump’s tariffs, framed as industrial policy to reindustrialize the country, protect workers, and lower prices. Instead, tariffs have quietly consumed much of the manufacturing sector’s profits. This is unsurprising. Most U.S. imports are inputs used to make American goods. Tariffs, therefore, are taxes on American manufacturing.

Empirical work by the Kiel Institute shows that foreign exporters absorb only a trivial share of the cost. Roughly 96 percent of the burden is passed to American buyers. U.S. households and businesses—not foreign firms—overwhelmingly covered the roughly $200 billion in customs revenue collected in 2025. Companies we import from responded not by cutting prices but by shipping fewer goods to the U.S. As Kiel economist Julian Hinz put it, the tariffs amounted to an “own goal” that raised costs, compressed profits, and weakened the very industries they were meant to protect.

…

Tariffs did not restore competitiveness or pricing power. They jacked up costs and made American production less attractive at the margin.”

https://reason.com/2026/01/29/from-georgias-film-subsidies-to-intels-collapse-industrial-policy-keeps-failing/

Trump’s Tariff War Is Crushing American Alcohol Makers

Posted on by Lone Candle

“new data has emerged from Canada showing the near-catastrophic consequences to American alcohol manufacturers from President Donald Trump’s tariff wars. Yet despite clear signs that his tariff policies are backfiring, the president keeps doubling down.”

https://reason.com/2026/01/31/trumps-tariff-war-is-crushing-american-alcohol-makers/