President Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s “Maganomics,” are a “dangerous combination of economic nationalism and the techno-right,” economist Jonathon Portes wrote in The Guardian Thursday, citing a framework laid out by Harvard economist Dani Rodrik.
Portes, according to his bio, served as chief economist at the United Kingdom’s Department for Work and Pensions from 2002 to 2008 and chief economist at the Cabinet Office from 2008 to 2011. He was also the director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
For Portes, “economic nationalism” is exemplified by Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon – who, the economist wrote, want “to rebuild America’s traditional industrial strength behind tariff walls while deporting as many immigrants as possible.” Elon Musk, meanwhile, represents the techno-right with his “AI-enabled libertarian future.”
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“Musk’s vision is essentially that of Ayn Rand – that human progress and prosperity depends on the selfish actions of heroic individuals, and the sole role of government is to protect the (economic) freedoms of such individuals,” Portes wrote.
According to Portes, there is a “third element” to the president’s economic framework: the Trump administration’s participation in a massive transfer of wealth that benefits elite investors.
Portes described this element as the “use of state power to benefit Trump and his supporters,” writing it “hardly qualifies as an economic ideology, but is too big to be ignored.”
Portes pointed to Musk’s attempted takeover of a “lucrative” contract with the Federal Aviation Administration” and “Trump’s proposal of a sizable strategic crypto reserve” as examples of this “gigantic wealth transfer.”
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As Portes explained, there’s little appetite among those in power to keep Trump’s economic framework in check.
“There is little or no sign that elected Republican officials will push back either on principled or self-interested grounds,” the economist wrote.
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