To the Editor:

Is the economy your main election focus?

If it is, and Trump is the one person you think has it all figured out, you may want to rethink that.

Trump has many areas of self-proclaimed expertise, and this is one of his major talking points. He wants people to believe his mastery of the Trump family’s resources gives him credibility and unmatched insight into the complexities of operating the US economy in a complex global marketplace. While that alone is subject to debate, remember this is a man who is a convicted felon, one whose business practices in New York City were marked by numerous instances of broken contracts and a well-deserved reputation for skirting the legal edge of business transactions on a regular basis.

Recently, he has spoken of a desire to wrest control from the Federal Reserve and place it under his presidential jurisdiction. His rationale is perfectly in line with his inflated self-image. Accordingly, he “simply knows more about the global economy and interest rates” than does Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The separation of monetary policy from control of the president, prime minister, etc., is the standard model in most of the strongest of world economies. This is to avoid what has recently happened in Venezuela, in which an autocratic leader took the easy way out. He printed more and more paper (money) to solve the economic woes, which has led to hyperinflation and great political unrest. Trump doesn’t strike me as being in line for the next Nobel Prize in economics.

Trump’s vision of the US economy as being the primary driver in the world economy is unfortunately ignoring the simple idea that we cannot stand alone behind excessive economic walls (tariffs) and solve the economic inequities our society faces. We must engage on a global scale.

Peter Gately

Bridgton

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