Donald Trump Joins Javanka at Davos 2020

World leaders and the billionaires who own them are now gathered in Davos Switzerland at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. Even though the Davos golf season ended in October, US President Donald Trump has joined White House Lifestyle guru Ivanka Trump, her husband Secretary of Everthing Jared Kushner, and foreclosure king and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the high-powered global economics meeting. We expect the president to use the globalist event to address “America First” political supporters back home, contest his impeachment trial at a safe distance, and check out the specifics of the Swiss-US extradition treaty.

Mr. Trump’s attendence at Davos is expected to cost U.S taxpayers $3.4 million in addition to security costs, salaries, and the $2.2 million needed to fly Air Force One round-trip between the US and Zurich and the Marine One helicopter from Zurich to Davos and back.

More:

“Trump sets off for Davos just as Senate impeachment trial heats up,” Jeremy Diamond, CNN

“Trump in Davos: Talking up economy, brushing off impeachment,” Darlene Superville, Associated Press

“Trump Focuses on Economy at Davos, Seeking a Counter to Impeachment,” Annie Karni and David Gelles, New York Times

“Trump is on trial for abuse of power – the Davos elites should be in the dock too,” The Guardian

“Trump, in Davos to Talk Trade, Lashes Out at Enemies Back Home,” Annie Karni, New York Times

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Davos 2020: The USA is Represented by Ivanka.

World leaders and the billionaires who own them will gather in Davos Switzerland this month for the annual World Economic Forum. The United States will be officially represented by White House Lifestyle guru Ivanka Trump and her husband, Secretary of Everthing Jared Kushner. Ms. Trump’s appearance will follow her keynote address at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show where she’ll doubtlessly talk about replacing the abused workers in her garment sweatshops with robots.  Since the Davos golf season ended in October, President Trump may not attend again this year.

More:

“Ivanka and Jared included in presidential delegation to Davos,” Matthew Choi, Politico

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How America’s CEOs got so rich

How did American CEOs get insanely rich? Stock buy-backs. A Vox video.

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Will Economists Flunk History, Bring On Recession?

Robert Skidelsky explains why economists need to know history. He assumes that political leaders listen to economists. As an economist, he should know better. A video from the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

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What the US gets wrong about the minimum wage.

Alexia Fernández Campbell explains what the US gets wrong about the minimum wage. A Vox video.

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How Corporate Welfare Hurts You

“When corporations get special handouts from the government, it costs the rest of us. We have to pay more in taxes to make up for these hidden tax breaks, subsidies, and loopholes. In turn, there’s less money for good schools and roads, Medicare and national defense, and everything else we need.”

— “How Corporate Welfare Hurts You,” Robert Reich, The American Prospect

Related:

“The High Public Cost of Low Wages,” Ken Jacobs, Ian Eve Perry and Jenifer MacGillvary, UC Berkeley Labor Center

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Trump Awards Arthur Laffer the Medal of Freedom

Failed businessman Donald Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to economist Arthur Laffer. “Freedom” here must refer to freedom from reality. Dr. Laffer popularized the “supply side” theory of economics, which holds that if you cut the taxes of rich people so they have even more money, some of it will magically trickle down to society’s less wealthy. This fiction was a favorite of Herbert Hoover, daddy of the Great Depression, and early-onset Alzheimers Ronald Reagan. You can see why the notion would be attractive to Mr. Trump, who became a millionaire at the age of 8.

Arthur Laffer revived this “supply-side” zombie with a visual aid, the “Laffer Curve,” allegedly first drawn on a cocktail napkin in 1974. That theoretical chart, based on wishful thinking and zero data, purports to show that tax cuts for the rich will boost the economy and pay for themselves. While the curve’s drinking-binge origin tale seems apt, it’s a fiction, mythologized by Dr. Laffer’s hype man, conservative pundit Jude Wanninski. The story is now enshrined in GOP dogma and, embrassingly, at the Smithsonian.

Donald Trump, despite the populist rhetoric of his campaign, enthusiasticly slashed taxes for the rich once elected, which helped no one but the wealthy. The medal award is yet another example of Mr. Trump doubling-down on a lie. How could the Laffer Curve be untrue when Arthur Laffer got the Medal of Freedom? Of course, maybe he really got it for co-authoring a book of fawning fiction called Trumponomics.

More:

“Trump is giving Arthur Laffer the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Economists aren’t smiling.” Elizabeth Popp Berman, Washington Post

“Trump Awards Medal to Controversial Tax-Cut Champion Laffer,” Margaret Talev and Justin Sink, Bloomberg

“Trump Awards Kook Art Laffer for Inventing Fake Curve,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“Why are we still pretending ‘trickle-down’ economics work?” Morris Pearl, The Guardian

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Stephen Moore, Trump Fed Nominee, Withdraws

Following the lead of pizza czar Herman Cain, Trump Federal Reserve Board nominee and alimony cheat Stephen Moore has withdrawn himself from consideration. In his bid to exert influence on the independent central bank regulatory agency, President Trump is having difficulties finding stooges with any degree of plausibility.

More:

“Stephen Moore says people don’t want to debate his economic ideas, but those are bad, too,” Matt O’Brien, Washington Post

“Why Stephen Moore’s Fed Bid Failed,” David A. Graham, The Atlantic

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Uber Shrugged

Somehow, the sharing economy turned into the sharecropping economy. Mike Monteiro believes it was Ruined by Design, and also that Ayn Rand is a dick.

“Silicon Valley, and specifically the venture capital firms of Silicon Valley, are mostly run by old white men who read Ayn Rand in high school, thought it was great, and never changed their minds.”

“For those of you not familiar with Ayn Rand, she wrote crappy books about the power of individual achievement while she collected social security and started some pseudo-philosophy called ‘objectivism,’ which can be summed up in five words: I got mine, f*ck you.”

Those are the guys who fund the “sharing economy.”

“Once Uber’s goal moved from providing a car-sharing service to using a car-sharing service to make themselves and their investors rich, the delicate balance between drivers, riders, and Uber was destroyed. Only one of those parties was going to benefit from Uber’s future success. There’s nothing wrong with making money, but there is something inherently wrong with profiting from the labor of others without giving them a piece of the success they’ve earned.”

More from Ruined by Design here.

Related:

“Thousands of Uber drivers are striking in Los Angeles,” Alexia Fernández Campbell, Vox

“Lyft Drivers Protest Falling Wages as Execs Drum Up Investor Money for $25 Billion IPO,” Patrick Howell O’Neill, Gizmodo

“Lyft’s latest driver perks: bank accounts and car repairs,” Matt McFarland, CNN

“’I’m Pretty Sure That I’m Losing Money at the End of the Day,’” April Glaser, Slate

“Uber and Lyft slashed wages. Now California drivers are protesting their IPOs.”
Faiz Siddiqui, Washington Post

“Lyft and Other Gig-Economy Giants Cash In With IPOs Before Labor Laws catch Up With Them,” Lee Fang, The Intercept

“As IPO soars, can Uber and Lyft survive long enough to replace their drivers with computers?” Faiz Siddiqui and Greg Bensinger, Washington Post

Updates:

“Uber and Lyft Leave Their Drivers by the Side of the Road. Again.” Joe Nocera, Bloomberg

“Disgruntled drivers and ‘cultural challenges’: Uber admits to its biggest risk factors,” Julia Carrie Wong, The Guardian

“The Mounting Fallout from Uber and Lyft’s Disruption of the Taxi Industry,” Angie Schmitt, StreetsBlog

“D.C. Uber Drivers Often Don’t Know What They Earn After Expenses (As Little As $5 An Hour), Study Finds,” Jordan Pascale, DCist

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If 100 People Lived on Earth ….

“If 100 People Lived On Earth,” it would be a lot easier to grasp the world’s demographics.

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