a bit complicated

[Silverwheaton]

I am glad you admit that tarriffs are nothing but a tax!

http://walterewilliams.com/shooting-ourselves-in-the-foot/

[Silverwheaton]

That is what a person posts when they can't argue the facts or truth! lol

[BA Deere]

Walter Williams is a very smart guy....except on this issue.  Tariffs are a "tax" but it`s a tax that you can avoid by not spending.  Why should the guy that works his butt off all day everyday be taxed on his sweat?  While those riding their scooters in Walmart all day everyday, spend their entitlement check to buy the cheapest and most crap they can find, all day, everyday? 

Those riding in the scooter going to all day buffets with their entitlement check have in essence "slave labor", people in foreign countries working in harsh conditions for subsistence wages in a polluted country make those trinkets really cheap.  And some escape, come here  and they get jobs working in the kitchens at the all day buffets.  

Then Americans are under-employed, forced to work in the service industry, they don`t make enough to owe income tax, they receive "earned income credits" on their tax return, they get money back on their 1040 tax return!   Then we have "jobs Americans won`t do", in a way you can`t blame them if welfare pays $38,000/yr while a job cutting hog`s throats at the packing plant  pays half that.  I`d rather ride a scooter through Walmart all day, everyday than butcher hogs, I`ll tell ya that. 

What Walter Williams is not making clear is the tariff/tax goes into the nation`s treasury, NOT in the offending country`s treasury.  If we want to go over and have wars and send checks to hardup people and old people and DNR people and all that crap, the money has to come from somewhere.   I`d just as soon the cheap crap at Walmart cost 50% more instead of there being a tax on my sweat.  

God love him, I don`t know as Walter Williams has put in many 18 hour days and has calloused hands, until he`s paid the physical work part of the equation, he`s just writing about theoretical economics, where you take a shower before you go to work, not shower after your day is done. 

[Silverwheaton]

Trump hasn't proposed to replace the income tax with tariff revenue. So what are you talking about? Income taxes are not going away. So all Trump is doing is adding taxes to our economy.

[BA Deere]

Replacing income tax with tariffs would be too good to be true and never happen.  We did see Trump cut income and raise tariffs, right?  Any relief is welcomed, however the purpose of Trump`s tariffs is a 'sledgehammer" to get more reciprocal trade, which would result in more Americans being GAINFULLY EMPLOYED, then the side benefit of that is less government entitlements needed, people too busy to get on drugs and commit crimes, less money being spent on tattoos and rap music, all that would mean more income tax revenue and less government spending.   Oh I know, you`re gonna say "You just said you don`t want to pay income tax???"   Okay, if you`re gonna be that way  🙂 Yes, the damned income tax system is here to stay 😞 so let`s have the maximum number of people sharing in that BURDEN, right?

I know you might think you`re getting a bargain on foreign junk, but an item costs so much to produce, a given country may abuse their workers and rape the environment to produce cheaper and even if you have no moral problems with that, their mistakes seem to find their way to our shores in one form or the other and we have pollution to clean up, a war or refugee problem.  

I`ll guarantee you one thing, if the American worker competes head to head with a 3rd world worker, we will eventually take on their standard of living.  Just take a drive in the inner cities or poor rural towns and it`s starting to resemble a 3rd world, their factories and opportunities are gone.  Our entire country isn`t a 3rd world yet because of the budget deficits and national debt we have, we`ve been living beyond our means for some time now, when it catches up, your guess as good as mine.

[timetippingpt]

Silver.....great time to buy silver btw....but back to silver...

I fear you misread my posting....it was merely about the fact that Hardbody dreams up all kinds of things that are incredibly difficult to comprehend....and I am not an idiot....so speaking for the crowd...it is hard to follow him.

No one knows the outcome in advance, but just on moral grounds, it is pretty hard for me to think that the richest kids in the block (us) are going to win a trade war with the poorest kids on the block (them...regardless of who them is). We'll see, but I suspect they will cheat in the end. When your hungry it really isn't cheating in a secular world with nothing moral lashing you down after all. Trump is not a conservative, never has been, and was not elected to be one. He was elected to throw everything at it to get economic growth. He was elected because he would have the guts to go meet with Rocket Man. Basically, he was elected because the other choice was so perfectly qualified but walking dead. Well, and let's be honest, the Judicial appointments swung a huge number of votes his way, rightly so on that one.

Thus, he is achieving exactly what he was elected to accomplish. 4% growth last quarter despite the naysayers. Some day the bills will come due and we economic conservatives will get to say "I told you so", but clearly that is not today. Plus the evil can be thrown out of office in a few years, or loose his ability to govern in the midterms. That is the beauty of America, we can change it a very short 24 months. China now has an emperor for life (and no bill of rights for that matter). I kind of like our system better even when the other side is in power!

[sw363535]

Viewed as a tax tariffs replace the loss of income tax from manufacturing that moved to the cheap labor markets. The US tax system depends on laboring income and gives breaks to investment income in order to promote economic growth.
It makes sense to impose tariffs or we have a trade deficit endlessly and foreign ownership of our business.

[Silverwheaton]

Last time I checked we don't have a federal revenue problem! We have a spending problem! Jeesh. Unbelievable! Very few on this board and in this country understand constitutional limited government! Our children and grand children are in deep trouble!

[BA Deere]

I agree Silver, but you go, get elected and try and cut the budget, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert will make fun of you, George Stephanopolus will bring up the scandal of when you committed the impeachable offense of throwing a gum wrapper out your window.  Dateline NBC will run Boo-Hoo stories about the poor poor poor people you are starving by cutting the budget. 

The few brave people that work on your staff will be spit upon in restaurants and if you aren`t impeached before your 4 years are up, you certainly won`t win reelection. 

[timetippingpt]

Silver, that is why I said, someday, we fiscal conservatives will get to say I told you so.

Fed spending will top $4 Tril this year, I can remember when we crossed the $1Tril

threshold not that long ago. Someday there will be hell to pay, just not today, and

likely not tomorrow. Although, from a timing perspective, it is a lot like 1928 :-()