If Mr. Trump is correct that NAFTA was a boon to Mexicans but a bust for Americans, why do you worry that Mexicans, in the absence of a “big, beautiful wall,” will continue to flock to America in search of work and prosperity? Why aren’t you worried that the wall that Mr. Trump builds will wind up preventing increasingly impoverished Americans from emigrating in search of jobs to increasingly rich Mexico?
You cheer Mr. Trump when he accuses the Chinese of selling us too many goods at prices that allegedly are too low. When your favorite supermarket puts laundry detergent or coffee on sale, do you ask the manager if those sales prices are below cost in order to ensure that you don’t make yourself poorer by paying excessively low prices? Do you believe that your family is economically damaged when the opening of a new hardware store in town drives down the prices you pay for hardware?
Truth be told, the many economic fallacies peddled by Donald Trump are pretty much the same fallacies that are routinely peddled by so many other politicians, of both major American parties. Trump’s peddling, however, has the advantage of being so unguarded and unvarnished that the nature of the fallacies should be more clear for all to see. The fact that so many people nevertheless cheer on and support this ignorant vulgarian is, therefore, especially depressing.
