Some thoughts on tarriffs (for my FB feed)

Last edited Wed Oct 30, 2024, 03:57 AM - Edit history (2)

I just wanted to share some thoughts on tariffs. I feel this is really important to understand before voting. Tarrifs are a tool in the economic toolbox but not really a tool used for building up. Economists see them more as a sledgehammer.

Last time Trump was in office his tariffs created a trade war where farmers couldn't even sell their crops. Costing the American taxpayer 12 billion dollars to reimburse lost profits. The largest farmer welfare in history. $7.3 billion to soybean farmers alone. Also effected were corn, cotton, sorghum, wheat, dairy and certain meat products.

Now he want to quadruple down on all of this. He's proposed anywhere from a 10%-1000% tariffs across the board. He says companies will just move their factories here. So how many years exactly is that going to take? Are you willing to pay 1000% tariffs on all imports while all these companies supposedly build factories and find competent workers here?

More importantly what about food costs? We import for a reason. Seasonal food imports and things we can't grow here will all be affected. How much do you like things like coffee and chocolate? Fresh produce in the winter? Or do you like electronics or anything made from things like rubber?

Even most factories here use foreign parts. You can't just waive a magic wand and start making all the parts here. Even if you could there are materials in those parts that you guessed it. Have to be imported. You all just saw what happened when the supply chain broke down from covid. It was the main ingredient for the last inflation. And that's exactly what most economists see coming with these tariffs. Times whatever crazy tarriff percent Trump pulls out of his head. 10-1000% isn't exactly a detailed plan. Hopefully he has more then concepts of a plan with all of our futures on the line.

Add to that he wants to deport most of the workers from the meat packing plants and all the produce pickers. We are at historic low unemployment. We are about down to the unemployable. Who is going to work these empty jobs? Are you going to move to Kansas to cut and pack meat for minimum wage? How about bending and picking produce all day under the hot California sun? It would take years to vet enough immigrants to replace the current workforce and would they even want to come here with giant tariffs on all of the imports they will want to buy from their home countries?

Not to mention all the current immigrants working in construction will also need to be replaced before this supposed foreign factory construction boom. Remember last round of tariffs on steel and aluminum sky rocketed construction costs up 25%. What will 1000% tariffs on everything do? More expensive materials, parts and construction. How is that going to help anyone's business? How much of that extra cost will they need to pass down to you?

So really ask yourself, how much will this double whammy of tariffs and not enough farm workers going to effect grocery and restaurant prices for years to come? We just went through the covid inflation. Do we really want to go straight into an agricultural trade war with every country on earth?

Now he's floating that he will get rid of income tax and that the tariffs will pay for everything? Just like they are going to magically pay for childcare. Tariffs are a tax on the citizens of the country enforcing the tariffs. You pay that. Not other countries. How exactly is that going to work? Do you know? Because Trump sure hasn't explained any of it. Just that it's going to be done.

We are going to trust the guy who inherited half a billion as a kid and went bankrupt 6 times since to figure this out? How many people do you petsonally know who have been bankrupt even twice? Would you trust them with your finances? But to be fair, they are obviously way better with money then Trump. The guy who gave corporations the biggest tax cut in history costing the country $8 trillion in debt, because you know, they really needed it to go along with their record profits and stock buybacks.

These tariffs could seriously impact your day to day life more then any other decision made by any president from your lifetime. I am not exaggerating. You really owe it to yourself, family, friends and country to dig into this further if you are thinking of voting for Trump. Just read what the majority of economists are saying. Dark times will be coming for anyone who isn't rich.

Elon Musk just admitted they need to tear down the entire economy and rebuild it. Ask yourself, how long exactly is this going to take? He's not the one who will have to wake up every morning and wonder how he's going to pay rent or feed his kids. We will.

What exactly happens if this doesn't work? Are you really willing to let Trump and his D list crew of cronies run this economic experiment on you and yours for the next 4 years?

Look, it's the American consumer's job to buy American whenever they can. Just like it's the consumer's job to boycott corporations after inflation goes down and prices don't. Government really needs no roll in this. It's all consumer driven. In fact, when government tries to play too big of a role in price control, it usually ends badly. Just look at Nixons' inflation caps that helped stall the economy throughout the 70s.

These proposed tarrifs have real world implications for pretty much everyone you know. Economies need gently nudged, not pushed off a cliff. Normal people will suffer years while it's rebuilt, while the rich just shrug from their mansions. Even then there is no guarantee it will work. What if this billionaire's experiment plunges us into a depression? After all this has never been tried.

Are you really willing to gamble the financial future on a guy who has never had to save for any kind of necessity like a house or car. Never had to fall asleep worrying how he's going to make it through the week. Has never been stressed about how he's going to buy Christmas presents for his kids and pay Decembers bills. I really don't think you want to help enable any of this craziness. It's pre-planned economic murder and it would be felt for generations to come