Cost-Benefit Analysis Trump Tariffs

[Darkwind]

Let's remember what the purpose of these tariffs hopes to change.

China
The United States gave Most Favored Nation status to China in 2000. Soon afterward, it helped the country become a WTO member. U.S. companies wanted to sell to the largest population in the world. As China's GDP per capita grew, so would its consumer spending.


That didn't reap the bonanza U.S. companies had hoped for. First, the Chinese don't receive Social Security or other entitlement programs. As a result, they frantically save each and every penny to have enough for their old age.


Second, the Chinese government does not allow companies to sell products to its people without paying a price. To gain entry to China's market, exporters must build plants and hire Chinese workers. That grants Chinese companies knowledge of how the products are made. As a result, there are often cheap local knock-offs of the products. The U.S. company can't compete, and eventually packs up and goes home. In 2018, the Trump administration began negotiating with China to change that requirement. He threatened tariffs if they resisted compliance.

taken from How Most Favored Nation Status Lowers Your Shopping Bill

I personally thought Trump should have started with removing China from this status and then sit back and watch what happens to form a more coherent strategy.

 

[BluesLegend]

Whatever they find that can be profitable.

Grain corn is making inroads into the energy market I hear.

I really can't understand the inconsistency of a mindset that wants to tax business at 70 to 90 percent, yet scream at tariffs that will be a 2 to 3 hundred billion dollars in a 5 trillion dollar economy.

Those against the tariffs are making the argument that this tax is being foisted off on the consumer, but a 90% business tax is ALSO being foisted off on the consumer and they don't even care.

This boils down to "I hate Trump".

The real difference here is that the tariff is temporary in nature, used to modify the behavior of foreigners so that America gets a more level playing field. When China and Mexico capitulate, and they will, the tariffs go away but America is in a better place in the trade arena.

Will it be a bit painful? Yes.

But then, so is chemotherapy.

"Modify the economy", and "Temporary". I think I have heard those terms before... Oh yes! Five year plans! Used to be really popular in the Soviet Union!

I'm sure you believe that. We know that corporate and business tax is always so permanent that it takes an act of God to remove them, or an act of the GOP.

Well, now, that confuses me a little. Trump went at least 9 years without paying taxes while he lost $10 billion. GE and Microsoft, among about 50 other major companies, have not paid income tax in years. The oil and mining industries get depletion allowances to offset their income. Sounds like the only people paying income taxes is the shrinking middle class, which is now being supplemented by the poor, who are paying higher prices due to Trump's tariff war.

You failed to mention GM one of the Dem's pet corporations. Did they pay taxes when taxpayers had to gift them $50 billion to bail them out? I think we all know why you accidently forgot to include them.

Do your homework. The government bought stock in GM. After GM recovered, the government sold the stock at a profit. there was no "gift".

Lib please the government STOLE the fucking company from the rightful owners the bond holders and gifted it to themselves and the union. Pull your head out of your ass.

 

[Darkwind]

And when they find that they cannot get their requirements, or that the costs are too prohibitive (even for them), they'll have to rethink their position.

May take a few years and My sense is that they are playing the long game and are planning on trying to outwait Trump.

We can look forward to more election interference in the next election, but it won't be from the Russians.

I do think the Chinese are in it for the long game, but I also think it is different than you envision. They understand that as the rivalry grows they will be able to rely on us less and less for the things that they need. Perhaps they have learned from history when we cut off the USSR from grains they so desperately needed.

The trade war is giving them more incentive to move on.

Of course, the reciprocal of that is that we rely less and less on goods manufactured in low wage labor markets.

It may not turn out as I think. What I do know is that we cannot continue on as before. It was hurting us as a country too much.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Of course, the reciprocal of that is that we rely less and less on goods manufactured in low wage labor markets.

It may not turn out as I think. What I do know is that we cannot continue on as before. It was hurting us as a country too much.

I think we will still rely on goods manufactured in low wage labor markets, we have for long before China became that market.

Where the low wage labor is changes as those countries benefit from the inflow of cash.

You might recall that there was a time that Japan was the source of low wage labor making the cheap shit we wanted.

 

[Darkwind]

Of course, the reciprocal of that is that we rely less and less on goods manufactured in low wage labor markets.

It may not turn out as I think. What I do know is that we cannot continue on as before. It was hurting us as a country too much.

I think we will still rely on goods manufactured in low wage labor markets, we have for long before China became that market.

Where the low wage labor is changes as those countries benefit from the inflow of cash.

You might recall that there was a time that Japan was the source of low wage labor making the cheap shit we wanted.

Yes, but there was also a lot of import fees and as I was in the military then, we had to pay duty fees to offset the cheaper cost.

We'll always be vulnerable to low wage labor pools, but that doesn't mean we should fight back.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Yes, but there was also a lot of import fees and as I was in the military then, we had to pay duty fees to offset the cheaper cost.

We'll always be vulnerable to low wage labor pools, but that doesn't mean we should fight back.

why fight back? Why not take advantage of those low wage labor pools and use our skills for better things?

 

[Darkwind]

Yes, but there was also a lot of import fees and as I was in the military then, we had to pay duty fees to offset the cheaper cost.

We'll always be vulnerable to low wage labor pools, but that doesn't mean we should fight back.

why fight back? Why not take advantage of those low wage labor pools and use our skills for better things?

Because we are losing and it is harming us as a country in the long run.

At any rate, I can't spend all afternoon discussing this.

Have a good day.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Yes, but there was also a lot of import fees and as I was in the military then, we had to pay duty fees to offset the cheaper cost.

We'll always be vulnerable to low wage labor pools, but that doesn't mean we should fight back.

why fight back? Why not take advantage of those low wage labor pools and use our skills for better things?

Because we are losing and it is harming us as a country in the long run.

At any rate, I can't spend all afternoon discussing this.

Have a good day.

None of this sounds like losing to me...

Having less than 4% unemployment?

Having more jobs than people to fill them?

Tying the record for the longest period of economic expansion in the history of the country?

An ever extending record of straight months of positive job growth?

A record setting stock market...before the start of the trade war.


But, enjoy your afternoon, my yard is calling me to come and mow it...

 

[Edgetho]

China is caving.

Just a few hours ago --

China Signals It Is Willing to Return to Trade Talks With U.S.

Sorry, but outline doesn't work with the WSJ anymore

A government policy paper on trade issues with the U.S. released Sunday accused Washington of scuttling the negotiations, which broke down in all but name last month. It said the Trump administration’s “America First” program and use of tariffs are harming the global economy and that China wouldn’t shy away from a trade war if need be.

Throughout the document and at a briefing, the government suggested a willingness to return to negotiations. “What truly matters is how to enhance mutual trust, promote cooperation and manage differences,” the paper said. Vice Commerce Secretary Wang Shouwen told reporters, “We’re willing to adopt a cooperative approach to find a solution.”

The tone, if not the substance, was markedly more measured than the sharp, at times nationalistic rhetoric adopted by state media and some officials in the past three weeks, and Chinese trade experts said the point is to signal talks can resume, though the onus is on the U.S.

China “is expressing its wish to work together,” said Zhang Yansheng, a researcher at the state-backed think tank China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

 

[Edgetho]

Yes, but there was also a lot of import fees and as I was in the military then, we had to pay duty fees to offset the cheaper cost.

We'll always be vulnerable to low wage labor pools, but that doesn't mean we should fight back.

why fight back? Why not take advantage of those low wage labor pools and use our skills for better things?

Because we are losing and it is harming us as a country in the long run.

At any rate, I can't spend all afternoon discussing this.

Have a good day.

In a War, any War, Trade or otherwise......

Nobody ever wins. Everybody gets hurt. Everybody. Which is why you need to be very cautious when thinking about any kind of War, Trade or otherwise.

What happens is, one side gets hurt worse than the other. One side decides it can no longer fight. The other side may declare 'victory' but it is an empty gesture.

Enough moralizing.

Point is, China has been robbing us blind for decades. Bigly. We let them do it for a long time because they needed the help. We wanted to get them on their feet and able to support themselves.

We have succeeded in that and now...... Now it is time they joined the World society and start acting responsibly. They need to stop acting like spoiled children and become responsible Adults.

It's like raising a kid. No shit. You LET them take advantage of you for a while. A long while. You know they are and you don't care. It's the way it has to be because you can't just throw a 13 year old into the street and expect them to survive.

But when he or she is 25 years old and still borrowing the car at night while laying around the house during the day. It's time to put your foot down.

Trump is putting his foot down. Because he's the only adult in the room.

 

[Vandalshandle]

"Modify the economy", and "Temporary". I think I have heard those terms before... Oh yes! Five year plans! Used to be really popular in the Soviet Union!

I'm sure you believe that. We know that corporate and business tax is always so permanent that it takes an act of God to remove them, or an act of the GOP.

Well, now, that confuses me a little. Trump went at least 9 years without paying taxes while he lost $10 billion. GE and Microsoft, among about 50 other major companies, have not paid income tax in years. The oil and mining industries get depletion allowances to offset their income. Sounds like the only people paying income taxes is the shrinking middle class, which is now being supplemented by the poor, who are paying higher prices due to Trump's tariff war.

You failed to mention GM one of the Dem's pet corporations. Did they pay taxes when taxpayers had to gift them $50 billion to bail them out? I think we all know why you accidently forgot to include them.

Do your homework. The government bought stock in GM. After GM recovered, the government sold the stock at a profit. there was no "gift".

Lib please the government STOLE the fucking company from the rightful owners the bond holders and gifted it to themselves and the union. Pull your head out of your ass.

They stole from the lenders of a company that would have died, if the government had not bailed them out?

Sounds like Trump economics to me.

 

[Edgetho]

Do your homework. The government bought stock in GM. After GM recovered, the government sold the stock at a profit. there was no "gift".

That is a lie.

And you are stupid.

The government bought $50 Billion dollars of stock from Generic Motors. FIFTY BILLION.

That was $50 a share times 1 Billion Shares, since you're too fucking stupid to do math, that's 50 Billion

They then sold it in increments on which they averaged less than $30 a share.

Reuters, a major league dimocrap apologist Fake News establishment even says the American Taxpayer lost over 11 Billion. It was actually closer to 20 Billion.

Doesn't matter.

You're just stupid --

U.S. government says it lost $11.2 billion on GM bailout - Reuters

The U.S. government lost $11.2 billion on its bailout of General Motors Co (GM.N), more than the $10.3 billion the Treasury Department estimated when it sold its remaining GM shares in December, according to a government report released on Wednesday.

The $11.2 billion loss includes a write-off in March of the government’s remaining $826 million investment in “old” GM, the quarterly report by a Treasury watchdog said.

The U.S. government spent about $50 billion to bail out GM. As a result of the company’s 2009 bankruptcy, the government’s investment was converted to a 61 percent equity stake in the Detroit-based automaker, plus preferred shares and a loan.

 

[Vandalshandle]

Do your homework. The government bought stock in GM. After GM recovered, the government sold the stock at a profit. there was no "gift".

That is a lie.

And you are stupid.

The government bought $50 Billion dollars of stock from Generic Motors. FIFTY BILLION.

That was $50 a share times 1 Billion Shares, since you're too fucking stupid to do math, that's 50 Billion

They then sold it in increments on which they averaged less than $30 a share.

Reuters, a major league dimocrap apologist Fake News establishment even says the American Taxpayer lost over 11 Billion. It was actually closer to 20 Billion.

Doesn't matter.

You're just stupid --

U.S. government says it lost $11.2 billion on GM bailout - Reuters

The U.S. government lost $11.2 billion on its bailout of General Motors Co (GM.N), more than the $10.3 billion the Treasury Department estimated when it sold its remaining GM shares in December, according to a government report released on Wednesday.

The $11.2 billion loss includes a write-off in March of the government’s remaining $826 million investment in “old” GM, the quarterly report by a Treasury watchdog said.

The U.S. government spent about $50 billion to bail out GM. As a result of the company’s 2009 bankruptcy, the government’s investment was converted to a 61 percent equity stake in the Detroit-based automaker, plus preferred shares and a loan.

Well, then, I stand corrected. It was, after all the Republicans who screwed the American taxpayer in favor of big business again:

An Inconvenient Truth: It Was George W. Bush Who Bailed Out the Automakers

 

[Dragonlady]

I am not an accountant. I can't imagine I'd ever want to be one, either.

But I've been around enough of them to have an idea of what a CBA is and how they work.

Anybody want to break it down, please do.

But I've only put this together in my head.....

What's the down side to Trump's Tariffs??

It upsets International Trade.

It upsets Wall Street (didja hear? The Chamber of Commerce is gonna sue Trump over the Tariffs? And dims think the Chamber is Republican. Not even)

It might cost Americans a few cents on their next rubber-duckie from China and their ptomaine-laced lettuce from Mexico. Oh yes, it is.

Plus side.......

What has virtually every American been complaining about for the last 50 years? How our jobs are going overseas. How everything comes from foreign countries now. How nothing is Made in America anymore.

In fact, I heard Alex Occasional Cortex say, "I bought a new TV and it said, 'Built in Antenna'. I don't even know where Antenna is."

So where's the down-side to Trump's Tariffs? I really don't get it.

China has been stealing from us for the last 30 years. Mexico has been dumping its unwanted citizens on us for the last 100 years.......

Where's the down-side??

And, OBTW. The exporting Countries being hit with the Tariffs?? They're gonna eat those, not us.

More jobs, more manufacturing jobs that employ the most vulnerable of our citizens, more money staying in this Country, less -downward pressure on salaries caused by illegals willing to live 5 families in one house (oh yes they do) and work twice as hard for half the money, driving Americans onto welfare.

Where's the downside?

People, there isn't one.

The Donald is a Wharton Graduate. You think he didn't do a CBA on this before he dropped those tariffs on China and Mexico? That boy does a CBA when counts the sheets of toilet paper he uses.

Oh and Mexico and China are gonna retaliate against us? Sure

What's wrong with tariff's? Take an economics course and find out.

Let's start with off-shoring. Off-shoring is the direct result of companies like Walmart, in their efforts to reduce its retail prices to the lowest levels possible, and increase profits, encouraging its suppliers to produce their goods where labour and materials are the cheapest, which is Third World countries. In the drive for every higher profits, companies which employed unskilled or lightly skilled or easily trained labour (like sewing, or assembly line work), was off-shored where workers were paid tens of dollars a week, not hundreds of dollars a week.

Trump is a Wharton Graduate who didn't make the Dean's list, or graduate with any awards, other than one of his professors calling him the "dumbest student he ever had". I don't think has ever done a CBA on anything he's ever done. This is a guy who LOST A BILLION DOLLARS in the 1980's. Who went bankrupt TWICE while running his casinos. A casino is a gambling establishment where the odds FAVOUR THE HOUSE. It's hard to imagine what level of fiscal mismanagment it takes to do either of these things.

It took 10 years for Trump to START construction on his hotel in Toronto, during a building boom, on one of the most expensive pieces of land in Toronto (on Bay Street, 1/2 block from the corner of King and Bay, the financial capital of Canada). It was bought by Russians, although Trump was managing the hotel under contract with the owners, until it went bankrupt it 2016. Trump's 7th bankruptcy.

 

[McRocket]

China is caving.

Just a few hours ago --

China Signals It Is Willing to Return to Trade Talks With U.S.

Sorry, but outline doesn't work with the WSJ anymore

A government policy paper on trade issues with the U.S. released Sunday accused Washington of scuttling the negotiations, which broke down in all but name last month. It said the Trump administration’s “America First” program and use of tariffs are harming the global economy and that China wouldn’t shy away from a trade war if need be.

Throughout the document and at a briefing, the government suggested a willingness to return to negotiations. “What truly matters is how to enhance mutual trust, promote cooperation and manage differences,” the paper said. Vice Commerce Secretary Wang Shouwen told reporters, “We’re willing to adopt a cooperative approach to find a solution.”

The tone, if not the substance, was markedly more measured than the sharp, at times nationalistic rhetoric adopted by state media and some officials in the past three weeks, and Chinese trade experts said the point is to signal talks can resume, though the onus is on the U.S.

China “is expressing its wish to work together,” said Zhang Yansheng, a researcher at the state-backed think tank China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

That means almost nothing.

China negotiated for months with America and gave NOTHING. Why would they start doing the opposite now?

- they know Trump has NEVER been over 50% in any major poll since he took office - his days are numbered.
- they know whomever wins in 2020 (other then Trump) they cannot be as stupid as he is and almost NO ONE ELSE is for these tariffs.
- China is obviously stalling for time. Just like they have all along. A child can see that. They are just waiting until Trump is gone and then the tariffs go with him.
- the trade surplus they have with America represents only 3.5% of their total GDP (and their economy is growing over 6% per year). The notion that they desperately need access to the US market is TOTAL and COMPLETE nonsense.
- plus, Xi was recently made 'President for Life', so he does not have to worry about elections...but Trump does. The latter cannot survive a trade war as the economy will tank...and the economy is the ONLY thing the masses think he has done well (even though he has actually done nothing good - except a few fewer regs and the corporate tax cut.).
- China would be fools to cave into Trump with less then 17 months to go until the 2020 election and Trump trailing in the polls. They will stall and stall and stall until Trump is gone.
That falls under the 'well duh' category.

Though, no doubt, you disregard all the facts and will assume 'Trump is winning'.

Enjoy your Kool Aid.

 

[debbiedowner]

Let them. Brazil won't be able to keep up with their demand. Meanwhile, our farmers can move on to other useful crops.

Brazil isn't really making much money, at all, on their soybean exports to China.

So what's going on here is, China is getting hurt really bad in the pork market. It's their favorite meat over there. Between cutting back on soy imports from the US, and the swine disease, they've had to increase their purchases of actual pork from the US by a lot.

REALLY a lot.

US Pork Exports to China Could Set Record This Year

China could increase U.S. pork imports to the highest ever this year as part of its commitment to bolster purchases of American farm goods to resolve the trade war between the countries, according to sources familiar with the situation.

China may buy as much as 300,000 metric tons of pork in 2019, the sources said. That amount would be about 80% more than the 166,000 tons it bought from the United States in 2017, before the trade war started. One source said the Asian nation could order 200,000 tons in the first half of the year alone.

But dimocrap scum get ALL their news (as fake as it could possibly be) from the DISGUSTING FILTH in the media


Which do you think costs more? A hundred pounds of soybeans or a hundred pounds of pork?

Which do you think has more built-in profit?

dimocrap scum just simply run with whatever lies the DISGUSTING FILTH is telling them and repeat those lies like its God's own words.

Know why?

Because they're fucking stupid

From a few years ago, just to give you an idea --

U.S. pork exports to China continue to climb

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2016 - U.S. pork exports to China are rising sharply and there’s no sign of a slowdown anytime soon.

Exporters shipped about $72 million worth of pork to China in just the first three months of this year, a 250 percent increase from the same period in 2015, according to data from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, showing a welcoming trend for the industry.

China is producing an abundance of many commodities like steel and aluminum, but pork production just isn’t meeting demand, said Joe Schuele, communications director for the U.S. Meat Export Federation. And until it does, U.S. pork producers will be living high on the hog.

No but Brazilian owned farms in the U.S. are reaping the socialistic bail outs from trump.

 

[Dragonlady]

Yep, this is too funny. Just had someone explain that a production facility in Mexico does not have to:
(1) pay a living wage
(2) pay over time after 40 hours
(3) offer health insurance/options
(4) maintain a safe work environment similar to OSHA regulation in US (workers at great risk of work related illness/injury/death)
(5) abide by environmental laws (they can pollute the environment with impunity)

And, Trump is evil for putting tariffs on Mexico.

The tariffs only harm the elites and the super-rich like the criminal Joe Biden and his even more criminal son -- Not Just Ukraine; Biden May Have A Serious China Problem As Schweizer Exposes Hunter's $1bn Deal

Of course, Biden is a dimocrap so one should automatically infer that he is a criminal. If you do, you will be correct 99.99% of the time.

This has been going on since the FDR days. It's time it stopped. It's time America took its jobs back. It's time America defended the working class again.

Free and open trade is the hallmark of a peaceful world. But there's nothing free and open with the way China and Mexico do business with us.

Nothing

As always, everything the conservative says in fact is WRONG.

1. Tariffs are paid by IMPORTERS, so the Mexicans/Chinese/Canadians are paying NOTHING to export their goods to the USA. Tariff's are being paid by the IMPORTERS - Americans, who generally pass that tax along to consumers.

2. The tariffs are paid MOSTLY by poor people, because rich people aren't buying cheap crap at Walmart. Since Trump is particularly nailing consumer goods with his tariff's, this is affecting poor people the MOST.

3. 30% of the good Americans import from Mexico are partially manufactured in the United States, so if Trump puts tariffs on these products as threatened, this could harm American jobs too.

Tariffs are SUPPOSED to be a last ditch punishment when countries refuse to negotiate with him. Trump is just inflicting tariffs willy, nilly with no plan or strategy in their application. In the case of the southern border, he's using a shotgun to kill a fly. The blast will do a lot of harm, and may miss the fly entirely.

You also have to once again note that Trump is the WORST negotiator ever. His opening gambit is always an attempt to bully someone into doing something he wants. As any good negotiator will tell you, you get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

Walking out of his first budget meeting with Nancy Pelosi without even hearing what she was offering was his dumbest move to date, and it cost the country 1% in GDP for the YEAR. Dumb, dumb Donald. And then he caved in and re-opened the government and got NOTHING in return. He shut down the government, cost the American people hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues and income, and got nothing for all that fiscal pain. Art of the Deal indeed.

Watching the Trump White House and how it functions, I am reminded that the guy who lost 1 billion dollars in the 80's - that's $100 million dollars in losses every year for 10 years, the most in American history, and who has helmed 7 major corporate bankrtupcies - also a record for American businessmen, who American bankers refuse to lend to because their banks have incurred billions in losses lending to him, is still revered as a great businessman by the fools who voted for him.

Trump always said he'd run the country like he runs his businesses and that certainly has been the case. Chaos, disfunction, mismanagement and massive amounts of debt. Law suits at every turn, because Trump refuses to honour the rules laid out in the Constitution, just like he has consistenly refused to honour the contracts he signed in his businesses, and ended up in 3000+ law suits, again a record for an American businessman.

You have elected the worst businessman in American history, and he is undermining and destroying your economy at every turn. The trade imbalance with China is NOT going down. Illegal border crossings, which were at an all-time low when Trump took office, are now at a 15 year high, and you're moving troops into the Middle East, and there's talk of war with Iran.

Good luck with that.

 

[tyroneweaver]

are you really this naive, or is it just an act?

If the tariff on products from Mexico is 5%, retailers will raise the price of those items by about 2 or 3 percent and then add 1 or 2 percent to 100 other products to recoup the cost plus some. They understand that people will buy less of the Mexican product, so they take advantage of the ignorance of the consumer.

In the couple of years hear at USMB I have come to the conclusion some of these people are just outright missing a few or rather posting to get a rise out of people because I can't believe anyone can be that stupid and get by in life.

Ya the price of wheat has dropped a whopping 1/2 a percent
It was up 5 pct 2 years ago
It was up 17 pct last year
Anything else you would like to know about agriculture?

Wheat should go up over the next few months.

The yields for winter wheat in the mid-west will be down and there will be a large number of abandoned acres due to the flooding.

I went on a Wheat Tour sponsored by the state wheat association and a group of millers this past week and things are not looking great. The stalk count is about the same as in years past but the head size is down. A lot of the farmers were not able to get a 2nd round of N on their fields due to the rain.

Everything is going in the ground late this year, if at all. There was a lot of talk about prevent plant payments. Indiana is some 60 percentage points behind in corn planting as compared to the 5 year average as is Illinois. Soybeans are about 40 behind.

If these states have an early winter, things could get pretty ugly for the farmers.

There’s a lot of nitrogen in rain
But you knew that

I will be sure to mention that to the farmers next week when we talk...don't worry about adding N, there is plenty in the rain!

no doubt that will change their whole lives and save them so much money!

I wonder why the guy that is the President of the state Wheat Association talked about not getting a chance for a 2nd application on most of his fields and the one that he did got washed away. If only he knew what you knew!

you are too funny

I'll be sure to jump to the extreme on you post from now on.
Freak'n sand bagger.

 

[tyroneweaver]

Yep, this is too funny. Just had someone explain that a production facility in Mexico does not have to:
(1) pay a living wage
(2) pay over time after 40 hours
(3) offer health insurance/options
(4) maintain a safe work environment similar to OSHA regulation in US (workers at great risk of work related illness/injury/death)
(5) abide by environmental laws (they can pollute the environment with impunity)

And, Trump is evil for putting tariffs on Mexico.

The tariffs only harm the elites and the super-rich like the criminal Joe Biden and his even more criminal son -- Not Just Ukraine; Biden May Have A Serious China Problem As Schweizer Exposes Hunter's $1bn Deal

Of course, Biden is a dimocrap so one should automatically infer that he is a criminal. If you do, you will be correct 99.99% of the time.

This has been going on since the FDR days. It's time it stopped. It's time America took its jobs back. It's time America defended the working class again.

Free and open trade is the hallmark of a peaceful world. But there's nothing free and open with the way China and Mexico do business with us.

Nothing

As always, everything the conservative says in fact is WRONG.

1. Tariffs are paid by IMPORTERS, so the Mexicans/Chinese/Canadians are paying NOTHING to export their goods to the USA. Tariff's are being paid by the IMPORTERS - Americans, who generally pass that tax along to consumers.

2. The tariffs are paid MOSTLY by poor people, because rich people aren't buying cheap crap at Walmart. Since Trump is particularly nailing consumer goods with his tariff's, this is affecting poor people the MOST.

3. 30% of the good Americans import from Mexico are partially manufactured in the United States, so if Trump puts tariffs on these products as threatened, this could harm American jobs too.

Tariffs are SUPPOSED to be a last ditch punishment when countries refuse to negotiate with him. Trump is just inflicting tariffs willy, nilly with no plan or strategy in their application. In the case of the southern border, he's using a shotgun to kill a fly. The blast will do a lot of harm, and may miss the fly entirely.

You also have to once again note that Trump is the WORST negotiator ever. His opening gambit is always an attempt to bully someone into doing something he wants. As any good negotiator will tell you, you get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

Walking out of his first budget meeting with Nancy Pelosi without even hearing what she was offering was his dumbest move to date, and it cost the country 1% in GDP for the YEAR. Dumb, dumb Donald. And then he caved in and re-opened the government and got NOTHING in return. He shut down the government, cost the American people hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues and income, and got nothing for all that fiscal pain. Art of the Deal indeed.

Watching the Trump White House and how it functions, I am reminded that the guy who lost 1 billion dollars in the 80's - that's $100 million dollars in losses every year for 10 years, the most in American history, and who has helmed 7 major corporate bankrtupcies - also a record for American businessmen, who American bankers refuse to lend to because their banks have incurred billions in losses lending to him, is still revered as a great businessman by the fools who voted for him.

Trump always said he'd run the country like he runs his businesses and that certainly has been the case. Chaos, disfunction, mismanagement and massive amounts of debt. Law suits at every turn, because Trump refuses to honour the rules laid out in the Constitution, just like he has consistenly refused to honour the contracts he signed in his businesses, and ended up in 3000+ law suits, again a record for an American businessman.

You have elected the worst businessman in American history, and he is undermining and destroying your economy at every turn. The trade imbalance with China is NOT going down. Illegal border crossings, which were at an all-time low when Trump took office, are now at a 15 year high, and you're moving troops into the Middle East, and there's talk of war with Iran.

Good luck with that.

Your last paragraph was a riot.

 

[McRocket]

DOW Futures down 139 points.

And so the fall continues?