r/politics • u/TheKeyPa • 1d ago
'Batsh*t Crazy' Trump Tariffs Should Be Seen as $7,000 Tax Hike on Workers, Says Economist
https://www.commondreams.org/news/donald-trump-trade-war252
u/TSHRED56 California 1d ago
A business cannot startup manufacturing in the United States without stability.
Trump's tariffs aren't stable. He could change or remove them on a whim.
Manufacturing will not come back without stable rules, regulations, and laws.
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u/jgoble15 1d ago
Business is all about stability. Trump just wants to conquer because he’s a moron
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u/arkady48 1d ago
I wish people would stop saying it's dumb. It isn't dumb for his purposes. It's the exact thing he wants. Instability so his backers get richer buying it all up and he poor stay poor. It's not smart economically because the people behind it are so rich they don't care. It's just more opportunity to buy and squeeze.
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u/cashoon 1d ago
It can be both.
Trump is a certified moron that understands nothing. He does things that other people tell him to do if they can convince him that it will be to his benefit. Since he is, as previously mentioned, a fucking moron, he can be convinced of just about anything if it vaguely resembles something he already believes.
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u/amateurbreditor 1d ago
Hes the worst businessman in the world. Like he has no skill at all in negotiations. Every person he meets with wipes the floor with his sorry fat ass. He walks away from every meeting with a shit eating grin that somehow he won that. Its insane how all the world leaders meet with him and so easily manipulate him. I have never met anyone this fucking stupid and so bad at their job. Even the worst real estate agent in the world can negotiate better than him. He loses every fucking time he talks with anyone else. And hes so full of himself his takeaway each time is that he nailed it... hence the shit eatiing grin. God damn moron.
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u/Watch-Logic 22h ago
it doesn’t fucking matter if he’s a moron or not. he has money to hire an army of MBA’s to look over his interests. He has political advisors. Trump is just a puppet that barks like a dog
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u/meltypunx99 1d ago
If it’s that it will be easy to prove. Just follow the money and where the stocks go
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u/IJustLoggedInToSay- Illinois 1d ago
Even if you started a business with economic stability, all it takes is some random conservative douchebag influencer on X accusing you of DEI and you'll get your federal grants and loans pulled.
You cannot run a country on the whims of weak-minded lunatics. Congress needs to stop thinking they're winning because they have the same letter on their jacket as the guy wrecking everything. They need to grow a spine and take back their power, and see themselves as legislators and representatives of their constituents first, and Republicans second.
Unfortunately, I don't see that ever happening. The Republicans with spines were drummed out already.
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u/amateurbreditor 1d ago
nah. the normal ones who arent maga are pissed right now. my neighbor sees herself as a proud republican business owner who depends on imports. Just wait because people like her are going to lose it. And lose their money. Hes too much. He went way too far this time.
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u/IJustLoggedInToSay- Illinois 1d ago
I hope so, but I'll believe it when I see it.
So far, every time this has happened all it meant was that Republicans needed some additional time to concoct and assimilate a completely new worldview to accommodate the party line, rather than consider the idea that maybe the party line is hot garbage. Their identity is way too tied up with it.
I predict that in a month these business owners will all be in the "tariffs are good, actually" camp and they'll shift to blaming Democrats, minorities, or even their own personal failings for their failed businesses rather than place the blame where it very obviously belongs.
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u/amateurbreditor 1d ago
maybe. I forget that even the non maga still have shit for brains or they wouldnt vote for a republican to begin with. These are not rational people. As a small business owner you would have to be absolutely moronic to think that the government on EITHER side gives a crap about small business. Theres not a single program locally, state, or federal that helps small businesses. Theres nothing regardless of hiring people or any tax breaks at all. In my state you need to be worth like 20 mil or so and then you get a tax break. Its so corrupt its insane.
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u/BeratedTV 1d ago
Kindly disagree. Look at your "connections" on social media. They are just running the program. "Give it time." "Just wait and see."
Minimum 30 million of our fellow Americans will never see "the light". Probably more likely 50-55M. It's just human personality dynamics at this point. Upwards of 20% of us are just hardcoded for uncorruptable racism, misogyny and/or stupidity.
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u/pigeonholepundit 1d ago
Its also idiotic - WE DONT HAVE THE PEOPLE.
We have a (for now) 4% unemployment rate, each generation is smaller than the last, and while undoubtedly manufacturing is very automated, these aren't household sustaining wages to begin with.
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u/DiceMadeOfCheese 1d ago
I mean, why would anyone build a new factory to make stuff to sell to people who are too poor to buy the stuff?
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u/BoltTusk 1d ago
Someone should remind him that a “stable genius” is not a animal that lives in a barn
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u/starliteburnsbrite 1d ago
Why the fuck do we want manufacturing back anyways? It's a step backwards from where we have come. Unfortunately, it isn't great to have our needs outsourced all over the world, but I can't imagine American consumers really want to pay a ton more for the same goods made by American workers in American factories with parts and components from overseas subject to the tariffs.
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u/Majestic-Tadpole8458 1d ago
As an American, I will boycott any products manufactured in a red state if I can help it.
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u/Raspberries-Are-Evil Arizona 1d ago
How do Republican allow this? This is fucking insane. He just destabilized the entire world. When the rioting starts in a few weeks as there are no functioning government services left (he has cut them all) and the massive recession hits-- what, is all this so he can declare Martial Law and be a dictator? Republicans will just sit back and allow that too?
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u/CassandraVonGonWrong 1d ago
Yes. The answer to your questions here is yes. That is exactly their plan.
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u/alabasterskim 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yes, now you're getting it. And when the handful of Republicans that have defied Trump in Congress are wrangled together with the Democrats, I wonder how they'll feel then.
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u/TheGreatKonaKing 1d ago
How can anyone say that Republicans are against taxes after this? They are THE PARTY OF TAXES!!!!
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u/CockBrother 1d ago
Well if that's the average for a family and it's around 15% of their budget you can directly take 15% of of the GDP because these budgets are not that elastic.
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u/Pork-S0da 1d ago
I've read this headline like four times in the last month - first it was $2,000, then $3,500, then $5,000, and now $7,000.
The truth is, we don't know, but it will be ugly.
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u/I_Hate_Consulting 1d ago
I hear that tent cities are all the rage for 2026...
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u/Anonanomenon 1d ago
It’s like a “best of…” of financial crises. We’ll have Hoovervilles and Nixon Era Stagflation it’s gonna be so much winning.
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u/Gardening_investor 1d ago
As bad things happen and he adds more tariffs, yeah the estimates will go up along with them. Over the course of a month he’s announced tariffs multiple times. That changed the estimates.
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u/neogeomasta 1d ago
Life is complicated, as we get more info we can give a better guess. The truth is no one can predict the future, but each day provides better clarity of what's coming.
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u/Baltorussian Illinois 1d ago
That's because people didn't assume worse than worst case scenario...This shit is bananas.
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u/Unlucky_Clover 1d ago
And now they want a $7 trillion tax cut for businesses. That’s a one two punch to the middle class
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u/autotelica 1d ago
A lot of people think they will be able to ride it out like a storm and come out of unscathed. "I just won't go out to lunch as often," they are thinking. Or maybe it's, "We just won't do the home reno this year like we had planned. But it will be OK."
If everyone stops going out to eat and puts off their home renovations, then the luncheonettes and general contractors go out of business. People saving their money => Businesses tank => People lose their jobs => People don't have any money.
By the time the factories that Trump is promising are supposedly going to come on-line, we will be so poor that we won't have any way to buy what those factories are producing.
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u/Minimum_Run_890 1d ago
Nobody with factories outside of the US will be building factories in the US. They would need to come up with hundreds of millions in the case of auto production. At the same time walk away from functioning plants that have to shut down as they tariffs have limited their business. This is and always has been a trump pipe dream. He’s screwed the entire world. If by some miracle he could be stopped, it may end some of the pain, but the Amrican image will be forever tarnished.
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u/bishpa Washington 1d ago
$7,000 Tax Hike
That's just what we can expect to add to our cost of living. It doesn't include the tens of thousands that just disappeared from my retirement savings. Indentured servitude will be making a comeback.
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u/brakeled 1d ago
They’re performing mass market manipulation at this point to drain the only wealth (aside from property) out of common people. They’ll continue to play tariff games for this entire term so they can buy low and sell high, then you hold the bag for them.
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u/teamdiabetes11 America 1d ago
Oh, now we’re up to $7,000. Yesterday was $4,000. Surely all those union workers getting laid off by automakers can also afford this tax increase.
How Americans could honestly think they were special and too smart to fall to a fascist madman is beyond me. The simple explanation is that they’re idiots, but I’m not sure that’s even sufficient.
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u/watcherofworld 1d ago
But TBF, if the mass firing of decades-long officials doesn't affect the economy, then it deserves to be corrected. Can't put your 401k's into the market and a fascist for president and expect both those things to work out.
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u/Immortal3369 1d ago
EGG PRICES BABY! We would be lucky to just have a recession, the numbers are headed to stagflation and a depression. Kiss your 401k bye bye, maybe we can get back to BIDEN highs in 4 years. I miss bidenomics.
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u/dougie_fresh121 1d ago
There’s no chance unless the orange man dies of a Blood Clot. The damage CAN be mitigated and reversed, but Trump won’t do it.
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u/black_flag_4ever 1d ago
At the same time the Trump Administration is mass firing tens of thousands of government officials, weakening labor protections, weakening consumer protections, and destroying public safety nets. If he were dead set on sabotaging America, he'd be doing the same thing.
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u/Helpful-Wolverine555 1d ago
I love how the cost on consumers keeps going up. People have no idea what they’re in for because of the orange turd.
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u/Elegant_Plate6640 1d ago
Republican voters often take things at face value. Many will take Trump's plans as literally "making America great again".
The tariffs are another example of this, since they're not outright called a "tax", they're not recognizing it as such.
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u/Affectionate_Mix5081 Norway 1d ago
Good! Poor Americans, are rebellious Americans..
Or so I hope.
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u/RhaenSyth 1d ago
Unfortunately, we Americans have become complacent. Apathy mixed with fear of law enforcement pushes a lot of people away from action. I hate to say it, but even this may not be a big enough wake up call until it’s far too late.
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u/LivingDracula 1d ago
Or And hear me out... Tarrifs are taxation without representation levied by a Tarrif Tsar
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u/Devistator America 1d ago
Take note, Republicans! You burned your house down to be closer to your kids in a motel.
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u/buizel123 1d ago
I really have a hard time believing most americans are in favor of these tariffs.
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u/mikezer0 1d ago
We aren’t. The ones that are will tell you it’s some deep highly strategical play that remains to be seen and will reveal itself in time. Those people are delusional and scared to admit they have been grifted.
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u/HauntedHouseMusic 1d ago
I really hope powell just says "we cant lower rates for a tarriff that can be removed on whim"
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u/Complete_Question_41 1d ago
But he'll give a smaller actual tax cut and his base will eat it up cuz "he lowered taxes"
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u/ReTiredOnTheTrail 23h ago
Already lost $8k on the stock market, doesn't that make it a 15k tax hike for me? Or is it only 7k because that's all he gets?
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u/shwilliams4 23h ago
Paying all student loans AND reparations would have been cheaper. It would have goosed the economy too.
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u/AcanthisittaNo6653 New Hampshire 10h ago
What is batshit crazy is Musk thinking he's going to Mars in 2026 with a global recession and economic meltdown that loots both our savings and 401Ks.
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