Wall Street Journal (April 21)
“If the White House wanted a test of how firing Jerome Powell would go over in the markets, it succeeded on Monday. U.S. stocks and the dollar plunged while yields on long-term Treasurys climbed after President Trump renewed his attacks on the Federal Reserve Chairman.” The President “thinks he can bully everyone into submission, but he can’t bully Adam Smith, who deals in reality. Markets know tariffs are taxes, and taxes are anti-growth.” It is clear that the “Trump tariffs are the biggest economic policy mistake in decades.” What remains unclear is the President’s ability to see reality. “Markets are spooked because they don’t know if Mr. Trump listens to anyone but his own impulses.”
Tags: Adam Smith, Anti-growth, Attacks, Bully, Dollar, Fed, Firing, Markets, Mistake, Plunged, Powell, Reality, Spooked, Stocks, Submission, Tariffs, Taxes, Treasurys, Trump, U.S., White House, Yields
Forbes (February 9)
“Economists are struggling to put China’s epic $7 trillion stock crash in perspective. The best size and scope may be that, since 2021, the market has lost the combined gross domestic product of Japan and France.” But that’s not even the worst news out of China. Beijing is now “on the lookout for those disseminating negative views on China’s economic and market prospects. This chilling warning not to ‘denigrate China’s economy’ via ‘false narratives’ is Mao Zedong, not Adam Smith. And it raises troubling questions as China’s influence soars.”
Tags: $7 trillion, Adam Smith, Chilling warning, China, Denigrate, Economists, False narratives, France Disseminating, GDP, Influence, Japan, Mao Zedong, Negative views, Prospects, Stock crash, Troubling
