The President Asks a Good Macroeconomics Question

But he asks it at 3AM, and asks General Flynn.

From HuffPo:

President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that’s good for the economy? Or a weak one?

So he made a call ― except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn’s accounts of the incident.

Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.

I laud the President for asking questions. However, I’m not certain I understand his choice of people to ask. I’m also pretty sure that — even though this is my area of expertise — I’d be hard pressed to be concise and coherent at 3AM.

Perhaps he should’ve consulted Econofact on this subject.

13 thoughts on “The President Asks a Good Macroeconomics Question

  1. Not Trampis

    why do you yanks still call a retired general general? He is just a simple Mr Flynn now! Very simple

    He obviously called in Flynn because he believes in fake news like Trump does.

    1. 2slugbaits

      They might be retired, but they are recallable for life. Many of the rules governing the Uniform Code of Military Justice apply even in retirement.

    2. spencer

      It is custom to retire former top government officials by the highest tittle they ever held, except for the president. Former judges or called your honor and previous Secretaries of Departments are called
      Secretary, etc.. So all generals are call general for the rest of their lives.

        1. 2slugbaits

          What can I say. We’re a bloody silly people. Look at the nitwit bloke that the Electoral College elected…which is in itself another silly custom.

          BTW, I would prefer to refer to LTG Flynn (Ret) as “Inmate Number *****”. The UCMJ applies the emoluments clause of the Constitution to retired general officers precisely because they are recallable. So Flynn broke the law when he accepted gratuities from the Russian government a few years ago.

  2. PeakTrader

    It’s suspicious the story originated from the Huffington Post, which is most anti-Trump, and an “anonymous source.” It shouldn’t be accepted as trustworthy.

  3. Erik Poole

    I read elsewhere that blow by blow accounts are leaking out of the White House faster than a Rocky mountain spring run off. Many are not particularly flattering. It all projects stifling incompetency.

    Trump exhibits the behaviour of a seriously stressed out person who flounders outside the comfort zone. He has already damaged the brand of the USA. I thought the term ‘ugly American’ lay dormant in a several decade old foggy past. Trump has made the concept relevant again.

    I have trouble imagining that Trump enhances US bargaining power by revealing so much incompetence, chaos, discord and simply bad manners.

    What a difficult open society we live in. The arrows are simply coming into too fast for the Tweet-a-minute President to deflect.

    1. baffling

      trump is the type of boss who cannot allow himself to be viewed as wrong or weak. anybody who has worked for such a person knows how uncomfortable and difficult that can be. his workers will get caught in a catch-22. when the white house makes a mistake, trump absolutely cannot take blame for the mixup. so somebody else needs to take the fall. but if you take the fall, you show weakness, and trump will happily say “you’re fired” to maintain is strength and weakness. the question is, how does this play out over a four year term?

  4. Beeker

    It calls into question that he’s stressed out that he has to ask a national advisor on an simple economic question of the dollar that can be asked the next day. It seems that he demands an answer at any time of the day, he thinks it will project weakness if he doesn’t get the answer pronto. I feel sorry for those who work for him.

    The answer: weak dollar. He has said this on the campaign trail.

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