Grumpy speaks on Tariffs - LONG

OK. The whole discussion on this board is absolutely nerve rattling. It's about half an inch deep and barely more than single variable. So, hey. I'll dive in. First, some givens.

1. Of course, in a perfect world, no tariffs is BY FAR the best outcome for all. Less taxation is always better and, that includes tariffs.
2. #1 counts on the idea that nations generally play by the same rules.
3. #2 means not just in terms of tariffs but a whole host of other areas. Environmental, labor rules, government subsidies and the list goes on.
4. Sure, I can hear you now because I'd say it too. Nations that do the shite in #3 often do so at their long term peril. UNFORTUNATELY, they can do some pretty solid international damage in the meantime.

Also a given. Solving our budget problems on the spending side would be MUCH better than on the revenue side but yeah. Call me when that EVER has a chance to pass. shite. We've got people mad that they can't fund Trans Training in Malaysia. We aren't touching ANYTHING serious. So, we're kinda stuck at least in part with the revenue side.

OK. So, let's talk revenue. We could raise taxes on everyone. We could, raise corporate taxes. Hell, we could follow any of 100 tax prescriptions but almost all of them present the same challenge. They suck money out of OUR economy with no obvious side benefits. In fact, they can have the unfortunate result of ending up barely improving revnues because of their economic damage.

So, tariffs. Well yes. Tariffs are ABSOLUTELY paid in large part by the consumer. I don't really think anyone denies that. However, they DO do a few things that domestic taxes simply can't do.

1. They can possibly encourage other nations to back off of their unfair trade practices which include, but are not limited to tariffs.
2. While I admit that CAN make domestic businesses lazy, they also certainly can encourage local production. This is a biggie because while raising taxes on Corps ALSO passes thru to the customer, it does basically NOTHING to help the corp compete internationally. So, you can end up passing thru taxes WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, reducing jobs, and total production. A VERY bad result.

I could probably list 10 more things but the bottom line is done right, tariffs can have at least SOME offsetting positives to the negative of the taxation while virtually no other form of taxation can.

Make no mistake. I hate tariffs because at my core, I hate excessive taxation and I really hate how we over spend.

But, people acting like there are no downstream economic effects that can be good from tariffs are either completely dishonest or so ideologically set they refuse to budge. I know a lot about that latter because I've been a hueg hater of tariffs for most of my adult life. Alas, that's because I had this tendency to think about them in pure academic terms forgetting that not all countries are playing the on the same playing field.

Is Trump going to thread this needle? I don't know. But I do know 2 things.

1. We simply are NEVER going to fix this all on the spending side.
2. There are exactly ZERO domestic tax changes that could feasibly address the revenue issue without immensely damaging the economy and probably being political suicide.