"Avoid protectionism"

I'm reading an old (February 2009) post by Scott Sumner: "I hate to say I told you so . . ." From Sumner's early days of blogging. From back when the global financial crisis was still fresh in everyone's mind. Sumner says he was "alarmed about the worldwide collapse in demand", and he was "badgering everyone who would listen about the urgent need for monetary stimulus."

He's a pretty good read, and interesting on the economy.

Sumner quotes Martin Wolf of the Financial Times laying out a list of things to do to avoid disaster:

• First, focus all attention on reversing the collapse in demand now, rather than on global architecture.
• Second, employ overwhelming force.  The time for “shock and awe” in economic policymaking is now.
• Third, make future normalization of fiscal and monetary policies credible.
• Fourth, act in concert.  Even the US cannot solve its problems alone.
• Fifth, avoid protectionism.
• Sixth strengthen the ability of global institutions to help the weaker.

See number 5 there? Avoid protectionism. In other words, avoid tariffs. Avoid doing things that might contribute to a worldwide collapse in demand. Granted, the economy is somewhat better now than it was in 2009. But tariffs are still a force that pushes in the wrong direction.

When Biden bailed, maybe the Dems should have picked Martin Wolf to run against Trump.