Trump's Diesel Plan Has a Dirty Little Secret

President Trump signed an executive order letting truckers fill up with red dye diesel, and the White House says it'll save truckers about $60 a tank. In this "Professor Is In" episode, Justin Wolfers and Augusta Chapman take your questions and show why the tax-free diesel policy creates no new fuel at all. There's only so much diesel in the world, so every gallon of red dye diesel truckers gain, farmers lose. And the "tax-free" part? That's really buy now, pay later. The 24.4-cent diesel tax feeds the Federal Highway Fund. If it goes unpaid, someone still covers the bill. That someone is you: in more traffic jams, tires that wear out faster, and road repairs that never happen. Then things get bigger. Justin breaks down the difference between market efficiency and fairness with his famous Kim Kardashian pumpkin-pie problem, and asks how you should treat gimmicks that land right before an election. Chapters: 0:00 A gimmick timed for the election 0:44 What red dye diesel actually does 1:47 Who pays for the roads? 4:27 The 24.4-cent tax that forgot inflation 5:18 Is this an efficient tax? 9:21 Hypothecated taxes, explained 12:46 Should you discount election-timed policies? 18:38 The Kim Kardashian pumpkin pie problem Subscribe — it's the one thing on this channel that's genuinely tax-free and never buy-now-pay-later: on YouTube 👉    / platypuseconomics   on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com the Podcast 👉 https://platypuseconomics.com/podcast Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers