We have two choices: taxes or tariffs

As I see it, they serve two entirely different purposes.

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The tariffs that other countries charge us are astounding.

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If you are basing that on the "chart" he held up you need to do some more digging. The numbers were based on trade imbalance and have little or any tether to actually tariffs. Take the 61% given for the Swiss. The Swiss average tariff on imports from the US is less than 1% and the Ag products they do tariff highly, like fruit and veggies, only make up about 1% of US imports and even if that went away they won't import a lot of fruit and vegetables from us anyway. Plus how much does the US subsidize Ag to begin with. A reciprocal tariff taking into account everything that causes a foreign good to be more expensive needs to consider this as well. Add to that he has cited VAT as being like a tariff which is nonsense because it is charge on domestic goods as well. If you want to include VAT then you have to include all the state and local sales taxes in the US.

I am not saying tariffs are bad or even that they are not needed but don't lie about the numbers and use them surgically instead of ham fisting it and don't engage the entire world in economic warfare at once. If that foments a wide spread trade alliance against us it could be an uphill fight.

Not sure why this is on the OT and not the PoliBoard- but the tariffs are a Trump Tax, full stop .








*if you dont like ‘full stop’ then substitute “Period !” .. or .. “end of story” or whatever doesn’t trigger you .

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hawgfaninc

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You really don’t understand how this works yet felt the need to weigh in. Interesting.

Tariffs and protectionism were the basic tenets of the Democratic party in the 1970s and 80s. Ronald Reagan changed that and every president since, from either party, have been all in on free trade, until 2016 when Trump laid the lie to Ronald Reagan and a sizeable portion of working people agreed with him. If Trump is right today then Democrats were right then and 36 years of worshipping at the alter of the free market, or Ronald Reagan's economic plan, were wrong. It truly is that simple.

Tariffs are a tax by any measure.

So the true problem, and one no one is willing to talk about, is the tariff or tax or whatever fricking term you choose to use for the money that US taxpayers take out of our wallets and hand over to our competitors in the form of global security. Without that spending there is NO way anyone would invest in China or Taiwan or a host of nations where corporate America has invested so they could exploit lax regulation and cheap labor. Our military budget represents a health subsidy to the entire global manufacturing community....it is a form of reverse tariff. Without it no one in their right mind is setting up shop in fricking Vietnam or even Canada or Mexico for fricks sake. There would simply be too much risk to A) Invest in an unstable nation where the government is liable to seize your shite any minute without the specter of the US Marines coming and getting your shite back and B) you could not ship shite all over the world without pirates taking your shite without the US Navy....hell. piracy is a bit of a problem WITH the US navy.

The problem with what Trump is doing is it is ham fisted and is not going to last. It is going to be fricking painful. There is no doubt it is going to be painful. That pain is not going to be something that lasts just a few months for it to do anygood....it is going to take years and years....and the American people ain't going to have it....they are going to force their representatives in Washington to eliminate the pain. They have until the mid-terms to make it work....and that is not enough time to step up production of steel in the US let alone the multitude of other products needed. Well though out and aimed sanctions have a valid place in a global market. That aint what this is.....

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I'm just happy there's no piece of shite democrat in the white house.

I don't care about taxes or tariffs. And I bet most of you in the thread don't really care that much either. It's just a point if argument for you all.

I wake up politically happy every morning.

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I get this and I do not think you are close to being alone or even in the minority. I also do not think this is going to be the case going forward if the economy takes even a minor dip. You may well stay the course. You will be in the minority.

Americans are not apt to making sacrifices. They have been coddled since 1980 when Jimmy Carter told us that we were going to have to lower our expectations if we intended to maintain our republic and Ronald Reagan said "frick that, hold my beer and watch"...which lead to a massive increase in debt and corresponding economic expansion. Many are of the opinion that this is not sustainable.....but it is going to be political suicide for anyone who suggests that everyone lower their expectations. We are all on board for other people loweing their expectations, we ain't about to lower ours. We hate pork unless its our pork and then you best not frick with it....

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We have two choices: taxes or tariffs

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Tariffs are a tax and we're not being given a choice the tariffs are being imposed. We could you know cut spending instead, most of which is waste rather than taxing business even more than they're already being taxed.

Our worst in congress like Massie from Kentucky, etc is against them. That's how I know these tariffs will be a good thing.

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Our worst in congress like Massie from Kentucky

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