I posted last week about my review of Norbert J. Michel’s new book, Crushing Capitalism: How Populist Policies Are Threatening the American Dream.
In my review, I stated:
Although even low-income people are doing better, one way not to help them is to impose high tariffs. Even before President Donald Trump’s first term in office, Michel notes, “tariffs on imported clothing were nine times as high as the average tariff for all imported goods.” Tariffs on many food items are also high. These high tariffs are regressive. In 2019, he notes, households in the lowest income quintile spent 36 percent of their after-tax income on food and 7 percent on clothing, while households in the highest quintile spent 8 percent of their income on food and only 2 percent on clothing.
I accurately quoted that part of Michel’s book. But Norbert has written to inform me that he made a mistake. The data in the paragraph above are not from 2019; they’re from 2015.
I have a request in to my editor to make the correction.
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