Demolishing the East Wing of the White House before finalizing plans for what will be built above its ruins is a near-perfect metaphor for Trump's approach to economic policy. The only difference is the wrecking crew doesn’t claim the rubble is evidence of unprecedented growth.
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) November 29, 2025
Economist Justin Wolfers is always entertaining and informative. Here are a few recent highlights:
Tariffs apply to goods, not services. Zero in on the goods-producing sector, and you'll discover that it's hemorrhaging jobs. Indeed, the start of the trade war marks the peak in that sector, and it's been in recession ever since. pic.twitter.com/rpvSwpZabj
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) November 22, 2025
"No one's going to build a factory based on a tariff that's on on Monday, off on… Tuesday, the president's changed his mind by Wednesday, he gets hormonal by Thursday and someone says something nasty in the middle school cafeteria on Friday and they're back on again." pic.twitter.com/0bTJ4OOOu2
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) November 29, 2025
"If you look at job growth between January and September … for the past 15 years, it's only been worse once, and that was during the pandemic … It is the worst first nine months for the labor market in 15 years." pic.twitter.com/v3NaEVZxap
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) November 28, 2025
I had my first ever go at one of those round table talking heads sort of shows, and promised myself ahead of time that I wouldn't turn into a shouting head.
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) November 27, 2025
And then one of the panelists said something utterly silly… I didn't shout, but you might be able to hear my eyeroll. pic.twitter.com/bktwQzRTJl
When a politician says: we’ll deregulate health insurance and send you a “freedom account” check, ask: freedom to buy what? If insurers don’t offer real policies or can cherry-pick only healthy people, that money is a coupon for a store that’s not open. pic.twitter.com/4HTseJRUDK
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) November 28, 2025
"Look, the Fed can do a lot of things, but what it can't do is lower the price of imports. It can't make it so there are more workers for California farmers to help pick the crops." These are self-inflicted supply shocks, and the Fed can't magically undo them. (The White House… pic.twitter.com/kgUrxoumw1
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) November 22, 2025
"And so next year's economy is going to see two big things happening. It's going to see the tariffs hit and it's going to see an enormous slowdown in immigration and in population growth… and that will determine whether that turns out to be a recessionary year or not." pic.twitter.com/GjdWmKd5MO
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) November 21, 2025
AI is now central to the macro story: markets are booming on data-center spending. But a warehouse of servers is mostly capital, not workers. Great for stock prices, not so great for broad job growth—unless AI eventually raises productivity in other sectors too. pic.twitter.com/3f3XfT5E4b
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) November 21, 2025