What kind of economic policy could we expect from a second Trump term?
It’s not easy to say what Donald Trump’s economic policy would look like should he win a second presidential term, since he often just fires off whatever notion pops into his head. In the economic realm, there’s the “no taxes on tips” idea (which Kamala Harris quickly plagiarized), but of more consequence there’s his about-face on cryptocurrency. Six months after he left office in 2021, he denounced Bitcoin as “a scam . . . another currency competing against the dollar,” which he disclosed he wanted to be “the currency of the world.” A couple years earlier, he had noted that crypto was a crime-ridden realm “based on thin air.” Things changed. At a July 2024 Bitcoin rally in Nashville, Tennessee, he flattered the attendees as “high-IQ individuals” and the currency as a “miracle of humanity.” He promised he’d make it “skyrocket like never before, even beyond your expectations.” He even fantasized about paying off the national debt, now $35 trillion, with Bitcoin, whose total value is around $1.1 trillion.
No doubt he saw votes in the high-IQ crowd and, perhaps more important, potential campaign contributions among its beneficiaries, who’ve been throwing large sums into politics. But what really turned him around was “flattering images of himself,” according to a Bloomberg article. “Simply put, he fell in love with Trump-themed nonfungible-tokens [sic] — and the supporters who bought them — and that passion has turned into a broader appreciation for the industry, according to insiders who have watched Trump’s crypto evolution.”
An End to the Income Tax
At the core of Trump’s economic agenda, which is what allows many capitalists to overlook his volatility and vulgarity, are tax cuts and deregulation. A second Trump term…
La suite est à lire sur: jacobin.com
Auteur: Doug Henwood
