The ‘big, beautiful bill’ will have ugly results

“Devastatingly cruel and deeply irresponsible” were the words American economist Paul Krugman used to describe President Trump's so-called “big, beautiful bill” as it was passed by the Senate last week.

- William Keegan

One of the many terrible things about Trump is the way he has conned the blue-collar workers of the US into believing he is on their side. The only side he is on is that of the already stinking rich, not least his own entourage, who stand to gain from the tax cuts in this bill, while savage cuts to government welfare payments are guaranteed to make the poor poorer. This is, in economists’ terms, a policy of redistributing income — but in the opposite direction to normal.

Analysts are concerned, if not panic-stricken, by the way the US is piling up debt, with dangerous implications for its creditworthiness in the bond and foreign exchange markets.

Personally I am a dyed-in-the wool Keynesian and have no problem with deficit financing when an economy is operating below capacity and unemployment is high.

Indeed, it can be necessary in challenging times. But Trump's deficit financing makes the infamous Truss/Kwarteng budget look like a vicarage tea party.