Walmart just leveled with Americans: China won’t be paying for Trump’s tariffs, in all likelihood you will

Jesus@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 714 points –
Walmart just leveled with Americans: China won’t be paying for Trump’s tariffs, in all likelihood you will
fortune.com
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No shit.

This is literally in the first paragraph of every economics textbook when they talk about tariffs.

Donald Trump didn't win the Presidency by reading textbooks.

a screenshot from the Simpsons movie of the president saying he was elected to lead not to read

How do you get by in life without reading? I mean, don’t you have to know what the symbols on clocks mean to tell time?

And you don't need a textbook to understand how the very basics of business work. You know, the thing people seem convinced he understands? A fucking toddler has more knowledge than Trump. The United States of America doesn't have two brain cells to rub together

They heard lower taxes, and simply misunderstood that tariffs are another form of taxation.

They heard whatever they wanted to hear, because that rambling shitgibbon said everything to everybody.

They heard that from a proud liar. It's not a secret he lies constantly

He won it by taking bribes from billionaires, like a true politician

He won it because Biden sabotaged the democratic electoral base for four years.

Trump lost 1m vote 2020-2024, dems lost 12-10m.

Thats what happens when you undercut your own base and key demographic allies.

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No, the first page is how it introduces inefficiencies into a supply/demand equilibrium, resulting in a lower quantity supplied and at a higher price.

No one who every studies economics, even in passing, would even consider another country paying a tarrif for something you buy. The concept is just.... what?

Yeah, the, misguided, idea is that the increase in price from imports will drive domestic production, of those things, as the high prices reduce demand, and cut into profit margins. This used to be something that was a sensible assumption of what would happen. However the contemporary world has far too much infrastructure for tariffs to truly work like that any longer. It will, usually, be cheaper to increase the costs for the tariffs, than to restructure back to domestic production.

It could drive up domestic production, however there us a good reason we import, which is similar to your last point.

Bad example, but its the same reason you "import" Mexican workers - their skills and work ethic, along with willingness to work long hours for low wages. You aren't going to get hundreds of thousands of Americans to decide to work in a sweat shop, or on farms, or doing handyman work for the same wages.

I was going to mention the low cost of a life in China, and the lax H&S, ethic and environmental regulations, but America is trending that way too.

Yes, for capitalism to exist, there must be both a consumer class, and a labor class, below the capitalist class. The cost of labor in highly industrialized countries is one of the largest driving factors behind the development of this infrastructure. We need to make sure we can import from places where the cost of labor is low enough, for the long term. Even China, and India, are starting to off-sure labor. The problem is that this, along with population growth, can't be perpetual. Which is the inherent problem underlining capitalism as a permanent economic system.

Clearly we need to add those to the banned books list

My friend just got into a fight with some MAGATs on facebook about why we need things like civics education so we know what we’re voting for.

You’ll be shocked to learn the MAGATs called him a communist for daring to want to educate them. They don’t even want to open the textbook let alone read it.

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