Trump's tariffs 'like a first shot in a war': Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller

[DonViejo]

President Donald Trump's tariffs proposal will have an "immediate disruption effect" and will hurt most people, except perhaps steel workers and those who own stocks in steel companies, economist Robert Shiller told CNBC on Friday.

Trump announced the tariffs Thursday, sparking fears of a trade war and rising consumer prices. As early as next week, the U.S. will impose a 25 percent tariff for steel and a 10 percent tariff for aluminum, the president said.

"I'd wonder if this isn't just a first step, that Trump has in mind raising other tariffs. Even if he doesn't there will be other countries who will retaliate and they'll get bigger. This is really like a first shot in a war and that's what is worrisome," said Shiller, who won a Nobel Prize for Economics in 2013.

"That's what happened in the Great Depression," he told "Power Lunch."

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/02/trumps-tariffs-like-a-first-shot-in-a-war-economist-robert-shiller.html

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. It is a combo of two things, a. he is making money when he does this and b. he is so stupid

he doesnt know how to make money and not destroy the rest of us at the same time.

If he had a single brain in his head, if he knew ANYTHING about business, he could make money off of his position (for which he should go to prison of course) and NOT hurt us in the process.

[C_U_L8R]

2. Watch who's getting rich off this...

It's not a war, its a con, a conspiracy. A grand fleecing.

[tonyt53]

3. Industrial projects here in the US will come a screeching halt.

Thousands and thousands of construction workers off the job. But the bigger question is, just how will they spend all of that money from the GOP tax plan that was supposed to be spent on expanding their businesses?

As a mechanical engineer (retired), I've seen what happens when the price of steel, including pipe, goes up. In 2007 and into early 2008 there was a spike in steel, and pipe, prices. Building on the places that needed those products stopped or were scaled back. There aren't enough active steel plants here in the US to keep up with any demand.