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Listen closely to the pronouncements from Washington, especially those from figures like Howard Lutnick and you’ll hear a familiar refrain: “deals” are being struck, prosperity is on the horizon, and everyone is going to be rich. But for the hardworking men and women who form the backbone of America, these promises ring hollow, overshadowed by a growing suspicion that what’s truly being witnessed is less about genuine economic uplift and more about a calculated deception – economics by charlatan. This is not the democracy Americans strive for; it is a clear path towards the plutocracy and oligarchy many reject. Photo by Brote Studio
Howard Lutnick, the billionaire head of Cantor Fitzgerald and now the nation’s Commerce Secretary, is a vocal champion of the administration’s trade agenda. Just this past week, on July 20th, he told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that tariffs are “going to pay off our deficit” and will make America “stronger,” projecting up to 1.5% GDP growth from these new policies. He claims August 1st will be “for the record books” with tariff deals, forcing countries to “open their markets” or pay a “fair tariff to America.”
But what do independent economic analyses tell us? The Penn Wharton Budget Model projects that current tariffs could reduce long-run GDP by about 6% and wages by 5%. The Budget Lab at Yale, as of July 14, 2025, estimates an average per household income loss of $2,800 from all 2025 tariffs, projecting a 2.1% rise in the overall price level in the short run. They also forecast that the unemployment rate could rise by 0.5 percentage points and payroll employment could be 641,000 lower by the end of 2025. These are not minor discrepancies; they are stark contradictions to the narrative of widespread prosperity. Tariffs, far from being a revenue windfall or a magical fix for the deficit, are largely borne by American consumers in the form of higher prices for everything from shoes (up 44%) and apparel (up 40%) to motor vehicles (up an additional $6,800) and even fresh produce (up 7%). This isn’t paying off our deficit; it’s a hidden tax on working families, eroding their hard-earned wages.
This stark disparity between rhetoric and reality fuels the unsettling feeling that these “deals” are not for everyday Americans, but for the billionaire class. Lutnick’s own background, as the head of a financial firm that recently paid a $6.75 million SEC fine for allegedly misleading investors, only intensifies this concern. While he was not personally named in the settlement, it casts a shadow over the credibility of an individual now steering national economic policy, particularly one who reportedly had to recuse himself from matters involving over 100 corporate entities due to his own vast holdings.
Furthermore, Lutnick’s extensive personal investments in industries directly impacted by his department’s policies – including cryptocurrency (where Cantor Fitzgerald is a key custodian for Tether, a firm scrutinized for its alleged use in illicit finance), computer chips, and satellites – raise serious questions about conflicts of interest. The optics are clear: a top official is positioned to benefit, directly or indirectly, from the very policies he champions. The notion that “everyone is going to be rich” begins to sound less like an inclusive vision for democracy and more like a thinly veiled promise to his wealthy cronies, exacerbating the very plutocracy many aim to dismantle.
The burden of this “charlatan economics” falls squarely on the shoulders of the American taxpayer. As prices for goods rise due to tariffs, and as wages stagnate for many, working Americans find themselves struggling even more to make ends meet. The promise of “trickle-down” wealth has, for too long, meant that the wealth concentrates at the top, leaving the rest to carry the load. This is not a democratic distribution of prosperity; it is an economic system rigged against the very people it claims to serve.
Lutnick’s communication style further solidifies the “charlatan” impression. His public dismissal of negative forecasts as “ridiculous” and his insistence that everything is “awesome” despite contradictory data are not the hallmarks of an honest broker. It’s the language of someone more interested in controlling the narrative than in confronting economic realities. When a Commerce Secretary reportedly tells the President what he wants to hear, not what he needs to hear, and is willing to accept a recession as “worth it,” one has to wonder who exactly is being served in this democracy.
When the architects of our economic future speak of grand “deals” and universal prosperity, it is the duty of every American worker to scrutinize who truly benefits. Because if history is any guide, the promises spun by those like Howard Lutnick often amount to little more than a charlatan’s illusion – leaving the rest to carry the very real burden of their “success,” while undermining the democratic principles of our nation.
