Car Manufacturers Howling about new US Tariffs and Chinese retaliation

[ApatheticNoMore]

What more does an 18-20 year old kid need? I wouldn’t think mowing grass and shoveling snow to be a long term career plan.

yea it's an income which is sometimes the most immediate need, but no prize, people need a REAL long term future is what they need, and they also know it, that all the bandaids on a gaping wound, all the gigs that cost almost as much in deprecation as you earn (Uber etc.), are just that that.

[Rogar]

Although it should have seemed obvious, I had to read it somewhere to catch on. Tariffs go straight to the government coffer. This will be a huge cash cow. Another big element in Ts big economic experiment. I don’t know how far this will go to cover huge debt issues from the tax cuts, but I’m starting to think of new motives for tariffs other than the most obvious. A slick variation of taxation without congressional approval. The government gets the money and the consumer pays the cost of increased prices. Then when the costs of goods goes up...more tax revenue!

Maybe this is part of some sort of economic stimulation, but I’m starting to see
it as taking money away from the consumer and giving it to the government.

[Williamsmith]

Perhaps I’ll risk stepping up to the soap box. It remains to be seen if Trumps tariff war will be easily won (I have doubts) or if he even intends to prosecute it. So much of his policies are bluster meant to showcase the “art of the deal.”

Should we consider discussing tariffs and protectionism without acknowledging some view NAFTA and WTO as disasters? Aren’t tariffs used as a tool by other governments when they feel they’re getting the short end of the stick anyway?

Arent tariffs simply a rough thread in the woven fabiric of the world economy? There’s no doubt the eruption of tariffs will do untold damage to the world economy and reduce the standard of consumerism for everyone. But Almost all bad ideas do have a few happy consequences. At least US consumers would start to value durable goods over disposables again.

I don’t have a degree in economics or even claim to have studied it thoroughly. All I can say is I would rather be able to buy a Toyota or VW that is well made and reliable over a US made roll of the dice. Which brings me to a point that many won’t consider. That our own government has brought about the fertile ground out of which Trumps tariffs are springing. Abusive federal regulations on businesses, taxes upon taxes and an inability to extract itself from the use of its military in a world wide presence of micromanagement and real “meddling” in other countries business.

The taxpayers subsidizing a bloated defense department is diverting money away from healthcare, infrastructure and real improvements to quality of life for the average American and for any prospective immigrant. Simply put the rest of the world is constantly “investing” in America by buying its debt and it recoups those investments by selling more of its product to us than we sell to them.

Thats why I worry about this tariff war. Not that we can’t survive it. But that I hope our people are still endowed with a tough spirit willing to endure personal hardships because it could be required to persevere.