globalization

What if Tariffs Are a Good Thing? I was surprised to find that this podcast made me wonder whether tariffs would actually be really good for the US economy and, more importantly, for midd-class American people.

With all the raging about how awful Trump is, it's been very hard to find any thoughtful analysis about which parts of his policies might actually be beneficial for Americans.

In this podcast, Ross Douthat (NYT) interviews Oren Cass, the Founder and Chief Economist at American Compass, a conservative think tank. Oren makes a really good case for the following:

• we've been living through a period of mostly-unchecked globalization
• because GDP has been rising, economists generally argue that globalization is good
• HOWEVER, Oren provides compelling reasons why GDP growth is not a sufficient indicator of the health of the economy.  He cites things like increasing income inequality and the overall reduction in purchasing power when you factor things like households now having to have two full-time incomes to buy the same basket of things

The opportunity that tariffs provide is to buffer globalization and proactively re-shape the American economy to be more self-reliant, more inclusive and more balanced (geographically, industry-wise, etc).  For example, Oren notes that globalization has been driving wealth toward tech & financial hubs, like NYC, Austin, San Francisco, while middle America has been largely stagnant. With more manufacturing, job distribution could be more equitably spread across the country.

What I liked most about this podcast were a few things:

• it provides a thoughtful challenge to the mainstream chatter that "tariffs are bad!" and "Trump is ruining our economy!"
• the basis for tariffs is actually to improve the well-being of middle Americans who are not participating in the white collar tech and financial services boom
• that it challenges the assumptions that an unfettered globalized world economy is what works best.  Maybe it isn't?

What if Tariffs Are a Good Thing? I was surprised to find that this podcast made me wonder whether tariffs would actually be really good for the US economy and, more importantly, for midd-class American people.

With all the raging about how awful Trump is, it's been very hard to find any thoughtful analysis about which parts of his policies might actually be beneficial for Americans.

In this podcast, Ross Douthat (NYT) interviews Oren Cass, the Founder and Chief Economist at American Compass, a conservative think tank. Oren makes a really good case for the following:

• we've been living through a period of mostly-unchecked globalization
• because GDP has been rising, economists generally argue that globalization is good
• HOWEVER, Oren provides compelling reasons why GDP growth is not a sufficient indicator of the health of the economy.  He cites things like increasing income inequality and the overall reduction in purchasing power when you factor things like households now having to have two full-time incomes to buy the same basket of things

The opportunity that tariffs provide is to buffer globalization and proactively re-shape the American economy to be more self-reliant, more inclusive and more balanced (geographically, industry-wise, etc).  For example, Oren notes that globalization has been driving wealth toward tech & financial hubs, like NYC, Austin, San Francisco, while middle America has been largely stagnant. With more manufacturing, job distribution could be more equitably spread across the country.

What I liked most about this podcast were a few things:

• it provides a thoughtful challenge to the mainstream chatter that "tariffs are bad!" and "Trump is ruining our economy!"
• the basis for tariffs is actually to improve the well-being of middle Americans who are not participating in the white collar tech and financial services boom
• that it challenges the assumptions that an unfettered globalized world economy is what works best.  Maybe it isn't?

As cities like Austin cater to coastal transplants, their unique culture gets diluted, becoming more generic. Is cultural entropy inevitable, or is there a counterforce? As cities like Austin cater to coastal transplants, their unique culture gets diluted, becoming more generic. Is cultural entropy inevitable, or is there a counterforce?

The canary in the coal mine for me is the yuppie coffee shop (which admittedly I love). When you're in one of these shops - the ones with the $6 non-dairy cappuccinos, gorumet chocolate chip cookies topped with malden salt, in a room with lots of wood accents and pothos plants overflowing from their shelves, there's no way to tell if you're in Austin, or Williasmburg, or the mission district of SF or Shoreditch in London. 

While the internet enable infinte diversity and microcommunities, physical spaces seems to be converging toward a monoculture. I imagine fueled by things like increased global travel and social media. 

#DeepTakes

As cities like Austin cater to coastal transplants, their unique culture gets diluted, becoming more generic. Is cultural entropy inevitable, or is there a counterforce? As cities like Austin cater to coastal transplants, their unique culture gets diluted, becoming more generic. Is cultural entropy inevitable, or is there a counterforce?

The canary in the coal mine for me is the yuppie coffee shop (which admittedly I love). When you're in one of these shops - the ones with the $6 non-dairy cappuccinos, gorumet chocolate chip cookies topped with malden salt, in a room with lots of wood accents and pothos plants overflowing from their shelves, there's no way to tell if you're in Austin, or Williasmburg, or the mission district of SF or Shoreditch in London. 

While the internet enable infinte diversity and microcommunities, physical spaces seems to be converging toward a monoculture. I imagine fueled by things like increased global travel and social media. 

#DeepTakes

As cities like Austin cater to coastal transplants, their unique culture gets diluted, becoming more generic. Is cultural entropy inevitable, or is there a counterforce? As cities like Austin cater to coastal transplants, their unique culture gets diluted, becoming more generic. Is cultural entropy inevitable, or is there a counterforce?

The canary in the coal mine for me is the yuppie coffee shop (which admittedly I love). When you're in one of these shops - the ones with the $6 non-dairy cappuccinos, gorumet chocolate chip cookies topped with malden salt, in a room with lots of wood accents and pothos plants overflowing from their shelves, there's no way to tell if you're in Austin, or Williasmburg, or the mission district of SF or Shoreditch in London. 

While the internet enable infinte diversity and microcommunities, physical spaces seems to be converging toward a monoculture. I imagine fueled by things like increased global travel and social media. 

#DeepTakes