Ep. 535 Parsing Trump on Interest Rates
Adam Haman breaks the long hiatus to help Bob break down Trump’s recent statements on interest rates (and trade deficits). Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The YouTube version of this episode. Bob explains connection between current account deficit and capital account surplus. This episode’s sponsor, The Swan Bros. The HamanNature substack.…
Ep. 418 Steve Keen Sides With MAGA over MMT on Trade Deficits
Steve Keen is an iconoclast economist who is sympathetic to MMT claims that right-wingers worry too much about government budget deficits. However, in a recent post Keen says that Trump Admin economists (such as Stephen Miran) make more sense on trade deficits than Warren Mosler does. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:…
Ep. 276 Even Milton Friedman Slipped in His Defense of Trade Deficits
Bob uses the illustrious Milton Friedman to demonstrate a depressing tendency among economists to overreact in their zeal to defend trade deficits, where they end up arguing that it’s necessarily beneficial to live beyond one’s means. Although this could be true in certain cases, it’s not true in general. Bob then explains that the original mercantilists…