The Bad: He's the right guy but when he talks about how “simple” it would be to tell Ford in Mexico, "Hey, every Ford you send us I will tax 35%", that's the wrong idea and the worng message. Who suffers from that 35% tariff? THE AMERICAN CONSUMER and accordingly THE AMERICAN ECONOMY. The American consumer will have to pay 35% more to buy a Ford. People who like Ford are basically SOL. THAT IS NOT free trade and does NOT solve America's economic woes, it make them worse.
The Ugly: Trump's a good guy but economically, he's pointing his guns in the wrong direction. The BIG PROBLEM economically in the country is the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT with their idiotic, mind-numbing, and economically disastrous regulations like minimum wage, corporate taxes, union protection, and regulatory agencies so pervasive it makes business in the U.S. almost impossible. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is the REAL SOURCE of manufacturing and jobs going out of the U.S. Trump is never going to fix our economy by raising taxes which is what a tariff is. Tariffs are self-defeating acts that force artificially high prices upon the American consumer and the feds pocket the difference. A healthy economy, thriving businesses and thus, more jobs, will come from LOWER TAXES and a market economy FREE of government interference.
Trump should know better. Maybe he was brainwashed by Keynesian economics at the Wharton School, I don’t know. But IMO, Trump should know better by now. He should know the difference between negotiating private deals in the free market and government interference in the free market. Free-market negations, like what Trump is used to in real estate, are great for the economy and drive for the creation of business and economic expansion and wealth. But tariffs are government interference in the free market, especially those used to “punish” trading partners. Government interference, like penalizing tariffs, drives an anemic economy, creates more poverty, and stifles free trade, and it is free trade that creates wealth in America.
But, his most ardent supporters will point out how good he is on the economy...
Tell Ford they can set up shop in America...cuz that damn forbidding corporate tax is going to be lowered in the USA and the EPA is going into moth balls.
Bush put a tariff on steel, because he needed votes in Pittsburg. Because of the GATT, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, we were taken to an international court. We lost, as I think we always do. The GATT gives our trading partners the right to retaliate. They retaliated with brilliance and vengeance. They targeted industries in other areas Bush needed to win. The pain was so great that Bush rescinded the tariff. It was an embarrassing thing for this country and it shows the loss of sovereignty and the danger of international treaties. The writers of those treaties know just what they’re doing and my impression is we either have lousy negotiators or statists working for the US in those negotiations. (This is why I opposed giving Obama the trade authority he was seeking. I trust him much less than any other president, including Jimmy I-have-sinned-in-my-heart Carter.)
” THE AMERICAN CONSUMER and accordingly THE AMERICAN ECONOMY. The American consumer will have to pay 35% more to buy a Ford”
No, the American consumer will buy a Chevy, Dodge, Toyota, Nissan, etc. instead.
Pay attention. Trump is setting up a situation....basically waking everyone up. Why the hell is Mexico’s employment rate lower than the USA?
I disagree with you on the “hurting of the American consumer.” Cheap prices from slave labor camps in China or cheap manufacturing in Mexico hurts America more than paying more for a FORD.
In the case of China, especially, all that money they are making off of us, because we want cheap barbie dolls and the like, they not only steal our technology willy nilly, but they are putting all that money into their war machine. We are, as Lenin said of such a strategy, giving China the rope with which to hang us with.
As for Mexico, this country is corrupt and not our friend. I’d rather Ford move their manufacturing to the United States than continue to line the pockets of a country that sends us its rapists and thieves.
What do you think 40,000,000 plus people out of work is costing this nation? Do you have any idea why our national debt keeps climbing. It due in no small part because we have zero tax receipts and incredible outlays in public funds for those 40,000,000 people out of work.
Jim you’re scared of what a 33% tariff would mean for consumers. May I remind you our citizens pay that in capital gains taxes. Have we repealed that?
I can avoid a 33% tariff. Just don’t buy the freakin’ product. I can’t avoid capital gains and an increasing federal deficit.
Our Founding Fathers set up our government based on being funded by tariffs. They did it because they knew the power to tax would lead to what it has.
I’m curious what else you think the Founders were wrong on? Declaration of Independence? The U. S. Constitution?
Sorry, we’ll have to disagree on this one.
Oh, there you go, being rational again.
Of course I agree with almost everything you just wrote.
I think we need to answer tariffs with tariffs when protective moves are needed... we know what happens if governments provide protection of their industries long enough... they kill ours.
Maybe off topic a little, but with respect to the young man Jameile (sp?) Shaw who was shot dead by an illegal:
This is at least the second time he talks about his time with Mr. Shaw, and Trump speaks well of him. But why is Mrs. Shaw not there? If she’s still serving overseas, why is she never mentioned?
I just wonder if she doesn’t want to be seen as supporting a White Republican. Presumptuous I know, but what else could the reason be?
Regarding the GATT situation (pity, looks like we gave away our right for the Fed to set tariffs as noted in the Constitution), then, perhaps it is time to abolish the Income Tax and go to a VAT?