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Welcome to Talking Feds, a roundtable that brings together prominent former federal officials and special guests for dynamic discussion of the most important political and legal topics of the day.

I'm Harry Littman. We continue with our series of subject-specific episodes to steal ourselves for

Trump 2.0. Talking Fed's followers already know that every six months or so, we convene the same

fantastic roundtable to analyze the state of play in economic policy and national economic

performance, and that's our focus today. But it has additional dimensions in light of the recent

election and Trump's professed economic plans. For many people, the election played as a referendum on the economy,

which Trump's supporters were somehow persuaded was in the dumps,

despite most economists agreeing it's humming along remarkably well.

Even so, it's both startling and disconcerting that millions of Americans seem more

concerned about the price of milk than with the existential threats to democracy that Trump represents,

and that he already is moving ahead with before even taking office. That, of course, sets the stage for a classic expectations game and political tug of war

as Trump makes his return.

We can expect him to lay blame, even for things that are not blameworthy, at Biden's feet,

reflexively claiming credit for any positive developments deserved or not.

The main plank in Trump's economic proposals is flat tariffs between 10 and 25% on our

biggest trading partners. There's been a chorus of voices among economists warning that this level of tariffs amounts to a significant sales tax on American consumers that could wreck the economy.

Trump has asserted, without any basis, that the cost of the tariffs will be balanced out with, you guessed it, tax cuts. While tariffs are the centerpiece of

Trump's economic plans, several of his proposals also have significant economic implications.

...