The whole idea of tariffs is to make the other country's products more expensive to buy. That's the whole point. It's called protecting your own industries.
Neo liberal economists who have ruined the world and given us the concentration of wealth at the very top which you claim to abhor are the ones who point to lower prices for consumers as the great benefit, but they fail to accept that the reason why places like Walmart have spread while Macys and Sears have declined is because the loss of our own manufacturing has shrunken our wages.
Under Trump wages are now higher than in decades...decades. This is a sudden and dramatic improvement which has happened just in the last two years.
The reason for it is the return of many factories due to a host of problems now in staying in China or Mexico. There is now so much uncertainty involved in staying in those two countries that manufacturers are now moving back to America.
We have Trump to thank for that. As well his fiscal policies have been extremely stimulative. And although I oppose the large deficits tax revenues from sources other than Corporations are way up.
As for corporate taxes they have to be lowered even further because our competitors have lower rates and our tax structure still encourages distortions. Amazon and many other corporate titans still pay no taxes regardless of what the rates are, and to achieve this slight of hand they have to undertake all kinds of distorted moves that benefit no one.
Originally Posted by pussycat
If you can find more than one economist who believes tariffs are good I would be surprised.
https://www.aei.org/publication/trum...kaAnEUEALw_wcB
"At the time, the University of Chicago polled dozens of America’s top economists on the subject, asking if they believed the tariffs would make Americans better off. Not a single one agreed they would.
The economists estimate that Americans were left about $7 billion poorer because of the economic consequences of the tariffs, and they also paid $12 billion more in taxes to the government. Ironically enough, the Trump administration is issuing up to $12 billion in payments to farmers who have been hurt by the trade war."
https://fee.org/articles/trump-s-tar...4aAtToEALw_wcB
Wages increase just about every year. When you give corporations a massive decrease in their taxes, hopefully some of the money flows back to the workers. It did with the tax reform package, but not as much as was expected. And when you factor in inflation, real wages barely moved in 2018.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrick.../#7f9ec86f7284
Yes, manufacturing jobs have been moving back to the U.S. but not due to the reasons you cited. Has nothing to do with uncertainties in China and Mexico, unless you have supporting links.
Top Five Reasons Why Manufacturing is Coming Back to the U.S.
https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/...back-to-the-us
The economy is doing fine under Trump. That is the least of his problems in getting re-elected. I look at 4 primary issues that his re-election depends on, a 4-legged stool..
1. The economy. Few complaints here although the economy was doing great in November 2018 when Democrats won big time.
2. Health care. Total failure for Trump and the Republicans.
3. Immigration. Trump can't get funding for his wall via Congress so he is going through the back door, possibly unconstitutionally, in order to get his funding. Has no solution to stopping the caravans.
4. His character. In 2016 many people voted against Clinton rather than for Trump. And many people voted against Trump rather than for Clinton. In 2020 it is impossible for Democrats to nominate a less liked person than Clinton. And we still have Trump who has the lowest overall approval rating of any POTUS since approval ratings came into being. I said it a long time ago -- his tweets and comments will cost him thousands and thousands of votes and possibly the 2020 election.
So starting with the 4-legged stool, Trump is down to at most 2 legs. And if he doesn't do something positive on immigration, that becomes a 1-legged stool. Good luck.
