What is your biggest concern

[ChapelHillSooner]

For me it is #2. That might be my straight white male privilege speaking to some extent.

But in my eyes, we can fix the others. I don’t believe the destruction of our democracy (which I do believe is inevitable) is fixable.

 

[Wolfslayer]

The others don't get fixed without democracy.

 

[korgguy1971]

1. The legislation and imposition of peoples' religious beliefs upon the rest of us; in this case, (evangelical) Christianity. A lot of really bad shit is going to spawn from this one.
2. The impending and imminent middle finger to and undermining of institutions and the rule of law
3. The unambiguous and specific targeting of dissention and dissidents. Trump's already said he's going to keep track of what the media and its reporters are going to say about him. "Strong" man indeed.

Given the choices, I'd say these roll up to "threat to democracy."

 

[ChapelHillSooner]

The others don't get fixed without democracy.

exactly

I don't feel people in general are talking enough about that.

Even on the economy, poor economic decisions could be corrected but if we lose democracy that itself will have a huge economic impact. We will lose our status as an economic leader and the dollar will fail as the world's reserve currency (I am guessing).

 

[superrific]

Even on the economy, poor economic decisions could be corrected but if we lose democracy that itself will have a huge economic impact. We will lose are status as an economic leader and the dollar will fail as the world's reserve currency (I am guessing).

It depends on how poor. There is absolutely a nightmare situation that goes something like this:

a. Trump puts in tariffs, igniting a full scale trade war
b. inflation jumps to 10% or more, while the economy shrinks
c. Pubs start to panic, tell Trump to take back his tariffs
d. Trump listens to the advice of his party and Trump does what he always does: he doubles down. The reason the tariffs aren't working is that they aren't high enough
e. Inflation jumps even more. The massive decline in tax revenues from the drop in GDP causes a huge revenue shortage, causing more and higher deficits.
f. Trump reacts to the problem of deficits with a bankruptcy approach,
g. All hell breaks loose.

 

[Callatoroy]

It depends on how poor. There is absolutely a nightmare situation that goes something like this:

a. Trump puts in tariffs, igniting a full scale trade war
b. inflation jumps to 10% or more, while the economy shrinks
c. Pubs start to panic, tell Trump to take back his tariffs
d. Trump listens to the advice of his party and Trump does what he always does: he doubles down. The reason the tariffs aren't working is that they aren't high enough
e. Inflation jumps even more. The massive decline in tax revenues from the drop in GDP causes a huge revenue shortage, causing more and higher deficits.
f. Trump reacts to the problem of deficits with a bankruptcy approach,
g. All hell breaks loose.

You know Biden kept many of trump’s tariffs and in some cases increased them.

 

[UNCatTech]

I'm going with D: all of the above.

 

[superrific]

You know Biden kept many of trump’s tariffs and in some cases increased them.

There is nothing about tariffs that you know and I do not. Nothing at all. I'm well aware of Biden's tariff policy. Targeted tariffs have always been part of US trade policy -- as I have explained before, there are countervailing tariffs, anti-dumping duties, and national security tariffs. All are specifically allowed under GATT and all have been in the toolkit.

What Trump is talking about is something completely, 100% different. It's on brand for you to see the word "tariffs" and immediately both-sides without any understanding of the underlying issues. Trump wants to use tariffs as an all-purpose trade policy, turning his back on 80 years of hard-won trade liberalization that has enriched people all over the globe.

Few ideas are as well supported in the economics literature as the benefits of free trade, and the destructive nature of tariffs. When Paul Krugman agrees with Tyler Cohen, it's a pretty good sign that their common point of agreement is true or at least close to it.

 

[ChapelHillSooner]

It depends on how poor. There is absolutely a nightmare situation that goes something like this:

a. Trump puts in tariffs, igniting a full scale trade war
b. inflation jumps to 10% or more, while the economy shrinks
c. Pubs start to panic, tell Trump to take back his tariffs
d. Trump listens to the advice of his party and Trump does what he always does: he doubles down. The reason the tariffs aren't working is that they aren't high enough
e. Inflation jumps even more. The massive decline in tax revenues from the drop in GDP causes a huge revenue shortage, causing more and higher deficits.
f. Trump reacts to the problem of deficits with a bankruptcy approach,
g. All hell breaks loose.

And Trump will double down because he can never be wrong.

 

[gregh1]

My biggest concern is healthcare and environment. Something like the enablement of someone to clearcut some beautiful parks while pumping them w toxic chemicals for sake of energy exploration which poisons drinking water downstream for eons, while rolling back stimulus and measured that could help stem climate change.