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Comment by ivape | Hacker News Reader

It's kind of a damn shame a man like that was not tapped for any major economic position in the government. I don't know how men like Peter Navarro got so far. In a sense, all the money in the world didn't actually fulfill his true potential, and I say that with the utmost respect.

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He was asked by Schwarzenegger for advice on California economic policy. Warren did his research, and astutely suggested they should try to scrap Proposition 13 (IMO it's among California's worst policies, but it's a political third rail). I don't think he was asked for economic policy advice ever again :)

I'm sure he's full of good ideas. I think they were just a bit more ambitious than the last 40 years of politicians were willing to stomach or advocate for.

Warren Buffet has warned about the trade deficit problem since 2003 and has proposed an alternate solution called "import certificates" where exporters could earn them and sell them to the importers who must use them. This would result in an even trade balance. He admitted it's essentially a tariff by another name but a more fair and systematic one. In other words, he aligns with Peter Navarro in the problem but differs in the solution.

Not convinced working for government is the best use of your potential, though considering he owns 5% of all US Treasury Bills, I wouldn't say his impact is any less than being a government employee.

> best use

Well I don't think him sitting on billions of dollars at 94 is better from a societal perspective.

That money has already been committed to charitable use for the most part, or already donated. He is essentially managing billions of dollars on behalf of charitable causes. Seems like a pretty good use of his money management skills.

Besides all that he has advocated for that money to be taxed away from him for decades.

He pretty famously lives below his means in a normal suburban house and drives around in a car that most software engineers could afford (Cadillac sedan).

From a societal perspective, I’m not sure you could ask for much more from any one man.

“Sitting on”? He famously invests in companies that do things.

The money isn't "out of circulation". That's not how money works.

Even as T-bills they're doing something.

> I don't know how men like Peter Navarro got so far.

It’s a weird story. IIRC in the run for president before trumps first term he sent Jared Kushner to find out about trade. Kushner browsed Amazon, looking at book covers, and picked Navarro’s book because he liked the title… and the rest is history

Trump should have hired Ron Vara [1], seems like a much more competent guy.

[1] https://www.instagram.com/reel/DINJlumRqed/

You've got to be kidding ...

Oh god, you're not:

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/328969-report-ku...

I feel impotent, what is there to be done?

He has been asked many times but was not interested.

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