Tariffs are Complicated

Tariffs are Complicated 

Co-Pilot:   "To offset higher import costs, retailers often increase prices, passing the burden on to consumers. As a result, consumers effectively pay for the tariff."

Economists who study this stuff can disagree on how to implement Tariff policy.  I certainly am not claiming superior knowledge, but it seems pretty clear that Trump's ham-handed tariff threats are going to end up costing the American consumer higher prices for imported products .  The governments of countries where the tariffs are imposed does not pay the US one cent.

The ideal of "made in America" is a worthy one.  We shouldn't be dependent on others to produce our weaponry or essential needs.  

But you can't offset the effects of decades of off-shoring in a few months.  It seems that Trump is too lazy to take a measured, time-consuming approach.  Its easier to blow things up than creating something brick by brick.   

And remember this inconvenient fact:  American made goods almost always cost more than imported goods, due to the higher labor costs. So, the poor, embattled consumer again ends-up footing the bill so the virtuous can say "It was made in America."  (Probably by Asian or Hispanic immigrants.) 

A few words about Gaza

  

Israel is being accused of genocide because of its scorched-earth retaliation for the OCT 7 attacks by Hamas.  Israeli leadership says it will continue hunting down Hamas until they no longer exist as a threat.  Hamas hides behind civilian infrastructure, building tunnels, command centers and weapons caches under hospitals and schools -- using civilians as shields.    

No one with a shred of empathy would deny that the level of human suffering in Gaza is appalling.  Civilians are starving because much the aid sits in trucks and cannot be safely delivered to the needy.  

Such a complicated situation, with the civilian population being squeezed by two sides that care less about the people than they do staying in power.  Many world leaders have called on Israel to stop the bombing and allow aid to be delivered to the the starving populace.  

But I seldom hear any mention of the Gazans' equally uncaring enemy -- HAMAS.  

If they had released the OCT 7 hostages as Israel and others have demanded, many lives could have been saved and the incentive to bomb Gaza into a pile of rubble would have been removed.

And so perhaps the real tragedy of Gaza is that HAMAS still hides behind the skirts of civilians. Until they release the remaining hostages, Israel will not stop bombing.  

So while you are condemning Israel for siege tactics, please consider condemning HAMAS as an equal enemy of the Palestinian civilians who lived  in what used to be Gaza.

Shooting The Messenger

Trump just fired an administrator for the government Bureau of Labor Statistics for publishing numbers that he didn't like.  Offering no evidence for his rejection of the numbers, he did the usual Trump thing with information that he doesn't like:  He said the reports from that dept are  "rigged"  by democrats.  "We are doing great!" 

It's troubling for sensible citizens to watch Republican representatives in Congress stand by or even applaud such blatant abuse of presidential power.  Like the courtiers in the folktale "The Emperor's New Clothes,"  they seem to be afraid to speak out.  Soon, no one will tell this president the truth, fearing his  wrath and his utter disdain for facts.  

When truth becomes subordinate to loyalty, and administrators are punished for reporting "inconvenient" facts, the consequences for America will be profound.