Were you writing these posts in support of Trump during the election? Were there a bulk of supporters who agreed with you, thinking that raising taxes and debt would be actual the thrust of Trump's policy - rather than the opposite, but seemingly more popular, critiques based on fiscal conservatism?
Heck - do you think there is a bulk of supporters that agree with you now, when stated so bluntly and with the context that you consider yourself a democrat?
Can you at least understand that from an outsider watching this arc, it feels like Trump supporters are being led around by the nose - even if the changed policy positions are being championed by completely different individuals than the previously vocal supporters who were concerned with price inflation?
As for the specific policy argument - import taxes aren't the usual framing of consumption tax that applies to consumers, but rather they apply to industry as well. Taxing intermediate steps creates a drag on the economy, similar to if we taxed business revenue. And obviously doubling the price of equipment required to set up a new factory is completely contrary to the purported goal of bringing back domestic manufacturing.
(Never mind how several decades of following economist prescriptions about spherical cows in a vacuum has created an absolute mess)
Trump’s policy didn’t change. What changed is that people became reluctant to defend the actual reason economists oppose tariffs—because they think free trade is good. That’s one of those “spherical cow” arguments with a poor track record.
So critics of Trump shifted to attacking tariffs as a “tax.” But economists don’t oppose tariffs for that reason. Economists think consumption taxes are good! And there is no inconsistency between accepting higher prices for foreign goods to further industrial policy, and also opposing higher prices caused by money printing.
The "changed policy positions" of supporters that I described in the two prior paragraphs, which you seem to have just ignored. I certainly knew Trump was going to impose massive tariffs (aka taxes landing chiefly on consumers), run up the debt, and create hefty price inflation like he did the first time around. But all of the people saying they were supporting Trump because of "inflation" certainly didn't appear to. I will ask again: how was your "I support Trump because he wants to raise taxes. BTW I'm a democrat" argument received in 2024? Did you find a lot of agreement among fellow Trump supporters?
And as I also said, tariffs aren't really a "consumption tax" as economists champion, because they also tax industrial investment - exactly one of the things Trump claims his policies are meant to encourage, not discourage. But you skipped addressing that point, too.
Heck - do you think there is a bulk of supporters that agree with you now, when stated so bluntly and with the context that you consider yourself a democrat?
Can you at least understand that from an outsider watching this arc, it feels like Trump supporters are being led around by the nose - even if the changed policy positions are being championed by completely different individuals than the previously vocal supporters who were concerned with price inflation?
As for the specific policy argument - import taxes aren't the usual framing of consumption tax that applies to consumers, but rather they apply to industry as well. Taxing intermediate steps creates a drag on the economy, similar to if we taxed business revenue. And obviously doubling the price of equipment required to set up a new factory is completely contrary to the purported goal of bringing back domestic manufacturing.
(Never mind how several decades of following economist prescriptions about spherical cows in a vacuum has created an absolute mess)