Here’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal.
Editor:
You rightly criticize Pres. Trump’s enthusiasm for a weak dollar (“The Perils of a Falling Trump Dollar,” January 29).
Any American determined to defend Mr. Trump should answer this question: Do you think that a weaker dollar is good for you – you, a typical American, who in exchange for your weaker dollars would receive fewer goods, services, and investment options? If you answer “Yes,” please explain how your life is improved by a reduction in your purchasing power.
If you answer “No,” please explain how that which isn’t good for you individually – and, by implication, that which isn’t good for each of countless other typical individual Americans – nevertheless somehow becomes good for Americans collectively. By what mysterious arithmetic can a series of negative numbers be added together into a positive sum?
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
