by I’ve noticed this increasingly this year, especially more and more Breitbart articles hostile to free trade, such as, say, this.And now we have this fascinating article in Breitbart from James P. Pinkerton:James P. Pinkerton, “Part II: A Manifesto for the 60 Percent: The Center-Right Populist-Nationalist Coalition,” Breitbart.com, 14 September 2016.This is essentially a call for Keynesian economics, served up in ways attractive to conservatives, and it is a very good thing indeed to see Keynesian thought growing amongst conservatives. I get a (favourable!) mention towards the end too.All of this is of course is the result of Trump. It should be perfectly clear now that, on economics, Trump is the most left-wing Republican presidential candidate since (probably) Richard Nixon. Trump is:(1) hostile to free trade and current free trade agreements (and at one point he was even quoting a left heterodox policy institute on free trade, making Dean Baker decidedly unconformable).(2) calling for protectionism and some kind of industrial policy, (3) calling for huge tax cuts with huge government spending on infrastructure and the military, which will impart massive Keynesian stimulus to the United States via huge deficits, and(4) crucially, calling for an immigration policy that will create strong labour market protectionism for US workers.
Topics:
Lord Keynes considers the following as important: Breitbart now Promoting Left-Wing Economics
This could be interesting, too:
And now we have this fascinating article in Breitbart from James P. Pinkerton:
James P. Pinkerton, “Part II: A Manifesto for the 60 Percent: The Center-Right Populist-Nationalist Coalition,” Breitbart.com, 14 September 2016.This is essentially a call for Keynesian economics, served up in ways attractive to conservatives, and it is a very good thing indeed to see Keynesian thought growing amongst conservatives.
I get a (favourable!) mention towards the end too.
All of this is of course is the result of Trump.
It should be perfectly clear now that, on economics, Trump is the most left-wing Republican presidential candidate since (probably) Richard Nixon.
Trump is:
(1) hostile to free trade and current free trade agreements (and at one point he was even quoting a left heterodox policy institute on free trade, making Dean Baker decidedly unconformable).People on the left have difficulty understanding (4), because labour market protectionism doesn’t just consistent of (a) minimum wages and (b) labour market regulations and trade unions.(2) calling for protectionism and some kind of industrial policy,
(3) calling for huge tax cuts with huge government spending on infrastructure and the military, which will impart massive Keynesian stimulus to the United States via huge deficits, and
(4) crucially, calling for an immigration policy that will create strong labour market protectionism for US workers.
In fact, the single biggest policy that protects labour markets, as Ha-Joon Chang has argued here, is immigration policy.
Also, when Trump says things like this:
...we’re dealing with someone who may well tear up the current neoliberal consensus and possibly even the neoliberal international institutions like the WTO.
Why people on the left are not – at the very least – welcoming this as a splendid development, even if they don’t want to vote for Trump, is a mystery to me.
Further Reading
“Will Trumponomics be Reaganomics Mark II?,” February 26, 2016.
“I Told You Trumponomics will be Reaganomics Mark II,” August 3, 2016.
“Trump the Keynesian causes Libertarian Heads to Explode,” August 1, 2016.
“Trump: ‘World Trade Organization is a Disaster,’” August 1, 2016.
“Why are some Democrats Supporting Trump?,” August 25, 2016.
“Trump quotes Left-Wing Economic Policy Institute on Free Trade,” July 2, 2016.
“Trump the MMT Convert,” May 9, 2016.
“Trump the Right-Wing Keynesian on Infrastructure,” May 8, 2016.