Tariffs are “distortive” (they have unintended consequences,) but so do all taxes. All trade, all economics, follows the same laws of “comparative advantages.” Tariffs are no better and no worse than any other tax.
I am not opposed to tariffs, in fact I’d love to see them used instead of (not in addition to) some of our other taxes.
That said, they tend to become a slippery slope.
Once tariffs are enacted politicans treat them like “free money,” and adopt the mindset “These are free. They don’t cost my constituents anything.”
That can be very very dangerous.
1 Like
My 401k is suffering. But from experience I know the drops are temporary. The markets will adjust and continue their long-term upward trend.
1 Like
Trump for the first time has admitted there may be some temporary pain. Prior to this and during the election we were told Tariffs would have no negative impact.
I am no economist so will sit back and see what happens.
Which is directly attributable to Trump policies. And the pain will continue as long as the blanket tariffs are in place. This is what happens when you add a 10-25% tax on the American people. This hurts the middle class to poor the most.
MAGA is getting fleeced 
The markets are resilient, and they will adjust. They always do. I’m invested for the long haul. The comment regarding my 401k was a point of interest, not of concern.
1 Like
You mean like FICA?
I think you’ll find that costs at the border are only a fraction of most retail costs to begin with, and only a portion of those get passed on to the consumer.
Which is better:
A tax on employing American steelworkers and American autoworkers and tax free imported steel and cars?
or
The other way around?
Doesn’t matter how small a percentage of overall costs they are.
Low margin companies…like grocery companies…will absolutely pass this cost on to the consumer.
This is why modern economies don’t engage in protectionism…at least not like this.
A developing economy that needs to protect a nascent industry I can see doing this.
But that’s not the case here…some of these products we don’t even have an American substitute for, and they won’t crop up overnight.
This policy is not to “usher in a new golden age” or stop drug trafficking/illegals…and anyone that thinks it is has let themselves be played.
That is not the way it works.
-
The cost of coffee is a tiny portion of what you pay when you buy a can of Starbuck iced coffee at Walmart. (The cost of the –>metal can<– is a bigger contributor, as are the costs of refrigeration, transportation and store overhead.)
-
The price of strawberries is a tiny portion of what you pay for when you buy a jar of Smucker’s Jam. (The cost of the –>glass jar<– is a bigger contributor, as are the costs of refrigeration, transportation and store overhead.)
-
When you buy a GM Truck? The cost of the employees health care adds more to the retail cost than the cost of steel does.
You don’t REALLY think that Nestle’ pays a whole lot for the water in their bottled water, do you?
This applies to every THING we by including every THNG we import.
.
.
.
.
Avocados $8,000-$12,000 for a 40,000 lb truck load at the border.
(20¢ - 30¢ a pound) retail price . . . . . $2.00 to $3.00 pound.
If the (20¢ - 30¢ a pound) price is subject to a 20% tariff
and if 100% of that is passed on to the consumer
how much does that add to the final price?
Chew on this:
- Cost of a pizza: $14
- Cost of sauce on a pizza: $0.60
- Cost at the border of the tomatoes in that sauce: $0.18
- 20% tariff on the cost of tomatoes at the border $0.036
If 100% of this tariff is passed on to the consumer (not likely) you will pay 4 cents more for a large pizza.
Ya wanna reduce the cost of pizza?
The taxes the delivery driver pays on his tips are more than the tariff on those tomatoes.
You can be fooled.
You can pretend you are fooled because you feel like arguing on the Internet
-or-
You can choose not to be fooled.
That free money argument is the best argument AGAINST tariffs. Not consumer cost.
1 Like
