Donald Trump is being blamed -- rightly -- for the debacle that is happening in the United States. But the problem, Paul Krugman writes, goes far beyond Trump. It goes to people who have long been icons on the American Right. During the pandemic, Trump has sought advice from Kevin Hassett:
Trump was unhappy with epidemiological models suggesting a death toll over 100,000 — which, by the way, now seems highly likely. So the White House created its own team led by Kevin Hassett, whom The [Washington] Post describes as “a former chairman of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers with no background in infectious diseases.” And this team produced an analysis Trump aides interpreted as implying a much lower death toll.
[Hassett] first attracted widespread attention as co-author of a 1999 book claiming that stocks were greatly undervalued, and that the Dow should be 36,000 (which would be around 55,000 today, adjusting for inflation). It quickly became clear that there were major conceptual errors in that book; but Hassett never admitted error.
In the mid-2000s Hassett denied that there was a housing bubble, suggesting that only liberals believed that there was.
In 2010 Hassett was part of a group of conservative economists and pundits who warned in an open letter that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to rescue the economy would lead to currency debasement and inflation. Four years later Bloomberg News tried to reach signatories to ask why that inflation never materialized; not one was willing to admit having been wrong.
Finally, Hassett promised that the 2017 Trump tax cut would lead to a big boost in business investment; it didn’t, but he insisted that it did.
You would think that, with a record like that, people would stop listening to Kevin Hassett. But not Trump.
Then there is the case of Stephen Moore, who Trump tried to install on the Federal Reserve Board, who "as far as I know, [has] a history of simply getting basic numbers and facts wrong."
Trump promised to populate his administration with "all the best people." But, on the American Right, the "best people" -- like Trump himself -- are colossal frauds.
Image: Vox
8 comments:
One thing Trump says does ring true is that their media is somewhat of an enemy- with few exceptions of folks who keep this fraud who is far worse than Madoff or any of the other interchangeable names. Hassett is a recent example of legitimizing the crazy when MSNBC and CNN interviewed this dude as a legitimate economic advisor and voila he fooled all who would listen. It is truly tragic to watch our neighbours being so thoroughly screwed with no end in sight and the Federal Election to end all elections but a mere 6 months away.
What is truly remarkable, waterboy, is that so many American sheep are so easily shorn.
A similar gang of clowns would have occupied top spots in a Ted Cruz or a Jeb! Bush administration. The problem is the GOP, Trump is only the party distilled to its purest form.
As Krugman points out, the party is addicted to quacks and magical thinking. It's been that way since Reagan. On all issues of importance, from climate change to pandemics, loyal party members listen only to charlatans spouting conspiracy theories and quack cures. It has truly become the No-Nothing Party, and our local branch plant, the Cons, happily follows along.
Cap
Your comment on the Conservative Party of Canada is particularly relevant, Cap. It is our own Know-Nothing Party.
Trying to tailor reality to an ideology, especially one as incoherent and internally conflicted as Trump's, is as insane as its leader. It demands a cadre of loyal sycophants ever wary of the consequences of contradicting even the leader's gravest delusions. Take Pompeo for example. A highly educated (first in his class, West Point; JD Harvard Law) and accomplished guy who recites 'dear leader's' utterings chapter and verse.
A teaching colleague of mine -- who was an officer in the Canadian Army -- is appalled by Pompeo, Mound. For him, there are more important things than being first in your class.
some times I wonder how much they pay trump for these positions or how much some one else pays. these people aren't good at their jobs unless they are there to destroy the U.S.A. That they are very good at/ Putin must be so happy and proud of his clown stooge China might not be so happy though, they're holding a lot of american debt which may never be paid back if the country continues to go as it is.
You can be sure, e.a.f, that the relationship between the United States and China is on much shakier ground since Trump's arrival.
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