Good Trump, Bad Trump...

There are some certainties in life. The sun will rise tomorrow (and if it doesn't, we'll all already be dead). Everyone alive today will eventually perish. The tax man will claim his pound of flesh.

Trump will find ways to make you say "awww, man!" after every Good Thing, if you give him long enough.

The latest? To take 20% of the money that DOGE is saving and... mail it out to the citizens.

WHY!?

The inflation that has wracked the nation the last few years is a direct product of excessive government spending, as in too much printed money chasing too few productive goods and services.

The big culprits are Biden's trillion dollar spending initiatives, and until those trillions are either depleted or clawed back, any easing of interest rates by the Fed will let the inflation beast loose again.

With a caveat. DOGE curtailing wasteful and nonproductive outlays of taxpayer/borrowed money is the same thing as clawing back wasteful boondoggle spending initiatives, since money is fungible. If DOGE finds half a trillion or more - and that money offsets government borrowing/printing, that will ease inflationary pressure, allow the Feds to cut rates and goose the economy.

Handing it out to the taxpayers, apart from being a giant wealth transfer from the minority of people who actually pay significant taxes to everyone else, will mean inflation will stick around longer.

Inflation is evil. What it takes, you never get back. Those "good old days" of cheaper prices? Gone. Even if future productivity gains lower real costs, the baseline has moved permanently.

Trump promised to tame inflation. DOGE is a good step toward fulfilling that promise. Handing out checks would be a big step backward. I hope someone talks him out of it.