Update 1: It is amazing to me that many Americans want to break off relations and trade with China. China and India make up the bulk of GDP growth, and therefore, productivity growth, in the entire world! The US on the other hand, has very poor productivity growth and Trump is failing, as Obama failed before him. The customers are in China and India.

I have mixed feelings about Venezuela. People are fleeing the nation. Things are bad. But Abrams is a very dark regime change figure.

As far as MMT, it would likely bring out bond vigilantes who want the bond market to behave. If MMT resulted in high interest rates, margin calls in the bond world would be staggering. Ocasio-Cortez, who has a point taxing the wealthy, has pretty much washed up on the rocks in wanting to ban airplanes and cars. Adding MMT to her anti economics thinking just makes her more irrelevant. @aoc #aoc

Interesting but radical article. Perhaps the OECD understands that nations with higher productivity growth can benefit from higher taxes just like nations with low productivity growth should give tax breaks to lower and middle. But Trump really only did a little of that. He mostly gave tax breaks to the wealthy.

There is a way to reverse the trend. Helicopter money. Not UBI which is a continual handout, but a one time gift of cash to everyone. If capitalism is too tight to do it then socialism will be the unfortunate option. I remember the old commercial, pay me now or pay me later. Capitalism would do well to try to prevent socialism with helicopter money.

I am not certain that trickle down in times of productivity growth can't do some good. So I believe that either way, Reagan was fortunate. Hoover, W Bush, and Trump have not been so fortunate. End demand is weak now. Helicopter money is the only real solution in times of low productivity growth.

What would the US care about helping labor? To the elite, the labor force is nothing more than a necessary evil, and it shows.

So true. The ultimate monopoly is a communism that does not allow capitalism, like the old Soviet Union.

My daughter says she thinks even Target has better quality than IKEA. That could be the problem with any business model it chooses. The company has a place, for people who have extreme space issues.

Recently, the Fed was speaking to the need to stop a potential inflation. Well, that was sort of unrealistic with not much inflation. This placating of the markets is not realistic either if inflation does show.

Lighthizer.