RE:RE:Now $592.40 Historic $600 mark tomorrow? Hi Louel, and thank you for your thoughtful reply. You put an awful lot on the plate, so let me just reply to a couple of things.
Unquestionably the policies since Trump was elected have been positive for the overall economy. My argument would be that what is positive in the short term can be the opposite in the mid to long term. Bush 2 inherited a strong economy, and fed it with some of the largest tax cuts ever. Together with policies to make every much wealther quickly, was an overheating of the economy and one of the biggest busts ever, threatening us with a possible calamity. Instead of paying down the national debt, which is akin to putting money away for a rainy day, they spent like drunken sailors. I would argue Obama's monetary policy paved the way for a slow but prolonged recovery which bought the US to within a percentage point of full employment.
The new tax cut gives small boosts to 90% of the population and huge cuts to the wealthy and the investor class (you and me). But the cost is a spiking of the national debt and results in an inability to fight the next recession, which to sure to come under any government. It is my impression that a large majority of main stream economists have been very critical of the new tax legislation because it is not beneficial to the longer term economy. We (US) have already had 3 interest hikes and expect 3 more this year. With the large mortgages taken out over the past few years and extremely low rates, many people will receive a shock when their 5 year rates come up again. Remember back to the depressions of the past, and interest rate hikes were always a prominant part of the equation.
I think the second biggest boost to the current economy has been the reversing of many regulations. There will always be good reason to be critical of some regulations, and we should be open to ending some of them. But most are put in for good reason, say shielding the economy from the greed of SOME bankers, and to protect us from bad environmental polices. One example, this week Trump was hosting the automotive executives and talked of reversing polices to decrease the proposed gas mileage and emision goals. Regan did the same thing after taking over from Carter. The result was that the American car industry quickly lost most of its dominance to overseas manufacturers who saw the future. Fortunately I think most of our industries are seeing that NA is not an island to itself, and that Trumps pandering will do harm if followed.
Finally, I think (without any proof) that PART of the reason for $600 lumber is the imposed tariffs. It promotes `cheaper` US product while degrading imports. I understand the cost of a new house in the US is up $1800 to $3100 due to higher lumber cost in comparison to when Trump was elected. This is not a plus to the American consumer.