Hi, everyone! Today's @bopinion post is about how Trump is fighting a battle with the ghosts of the past - attacking yesterday's problems and ignoring today's.
bloomberg.com/view/articles/…
bloomberg.com/view/articles/…
During the election, Trump went on and on about urban crime.
But as we all pointed out, crime is way down in America. Trump is still stuck in the early 90s!
But as we all pointed out, crime is way down in America. Trump is still stuck in the early 90s!
Example #2 is trade. Trump has started trade fights with Japan and Germany. But those countries haven't really been mercantilist since...the early 1990s.
In fact, the trade deficit has shrunk a bunch, and about half of what remains might be an illusion created by corporate profit-shifting to overseas subsidiaries.
Even China probably isn't artificially holding down the yuan these days!
As for immigration...even if you think big waves of low-skilled and illegal immigration were a problem for our country, guess what? That's over!!
Trump is governing like a grumpy old Boomer who watched a lot of cable news in the 80s and 90s and never got those headlines out of his head.
Which, to be fair, may also describe many of his voters.
Which, to be fair, may also describe many of his voters.
America has plenty of problems in the 2010s! Let's not waste our energy battling the phantoms of the 1990s.
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