Posted on 05/14/2019 5:42:04 AM PDT by reaganaut1
...
The Dow is now nearly 1300 points lower than it was in January 2018 when Mr. Trump began his tariff offensive—despite the best 12 months for economic growth since 2005 and healthy corporate profits. The stock market isn’t the only measure of economic health, and it can send false signals, but in this case the clear market message is that tariffs will subtract from economic growth.
Regarding China, Americans have been giving Mr. Trump the benefit of the doubt that his tariff strategy is intended as leverage to negotiate a better, fairer trading regime. But Mr. Trump seems to sincerely believe that tariffs are a free lunch. “The unexpectedly good first quarter 3.2% GDP was greatly helped by Tariffs from China. Some people just don’t get it!” Mr. Trump tweeted Monday.
But tariffs are taxes that raise the price of Chinese goods for U.S. consumers and producers. They also raise the price of domestic goods that compete with Chinese imports because U.S. producers tend to raise their prices with the competition. This is what happened after Mr. Trump raised tariffs on washing machines, as we wrote on May 1.
Mr. Trump may be pointing to the one-percentage point added to GDP in the first quarter due to an increase in net exports (exports less imports) as imports fell. But this came after a surge of imports in the second half of 2018 due to faster U.S. growth and as companies tried to get out ahead of Mr. Trump’s potential imposition of higher tariffs. Jobs in U.S. manufacturing, which relies on export markets, surged in 2017 and 2018 but that growth has slowed in recent months as tariff uncertainty has increased.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
“economic loss”
No !@#$. That’s not the point.
“...but in this case the clear market message is that tariffs will subtract from economic growth...
...in China.”
Fixed.
I don’t think short-term market moves “say” anything. Might as well consult a Ouija board.
WSJ arguing for something and damn the consequences. Sometimes I think these Chamber of Commerce guys are like dimocrats and open borders.
After years of regular opinion pages predicting that the economy would tank upon Trump’s election, who believes these guys anymore?
I have come to believe, that like the sad old “Economist” magazine, their politics have become more important to them than simply reporting upon the economy with facts or true insight.
I am FOR the tariffs but I hope folks who have a different view will post a coherent, logical comment to give both sides.
Because a lot of us know not NEARLY enough about economics to to back our positions.
If American companies are raising prices because the Chinese good are higher priced now, that sounds kind of like a weasel thing to do.
Like I said, I don’t know #### and I don’t know if the guy writing this is even telling the truth about that. Or if there were a million other factors that went into the price rise.
I am FOR the tariffs.
But hearing both sides never hurt.
I HATE those H1Bs or whatever the #### they’re called and THAT I did investigate.
Chinese Billionaire Tax = Bad
I'm seeing things behave and react in ways not typical.
If the GDP was $1 for 2018 and the price of everything goes up by 25% in 2019 due to tariffs, isn’t the GDP for 2019 going to be $1.25 ... a 25% growth rate?
“The Market” has lost more money than these new tariff’s would ever cost.
Ping
Trump uses tariffs as strategy, not policy.
Think about that and look for the buying opportunity.
Who is this Mr Trump they talk about?
Any relation to president Trump?
Did they say Mr Obama? Mr Bush? Mr Clinton?
“But tariffs are taxes that raise the price of Chinese goods for U.S. consumers and producers. They also raise the price of domestic goods that compete with Chinese imports because U.S. producers tend to raise their prices with the competition.”
Tariffs are added to importer cost and they will, along with the wholesaler eat the majority of the increases in the interest of competitive pricing. The tax cuts will allow this in part.
This is why there has been NO abnormal increase in consumer prices.
As always the market will set the price of goods and services and when increased tariffs do cause untenable increases retailers, wholesalers will find new suppliers. Other mfg in other countries will expand to fill demand.
The markets will always work their magic if left alone.
China doesn’t rob or steal from us. They pay a commission (bribes) to the American political apparatus standing in their way. Really now, just why do you think the Clintons transferred the State Department from the Defense Department to the Commerce Department?
Everyone wants business as usual, but the simple truth is that the Chinese have been like the Barbary Coast Pirates, extracting a ‘bounty’ or ‘tribute’ from the US. It is unacceptable to let the Chinese steal from us, and impose tariffs on us without penalties. I think the President is right - let us have our trade war, because if we don’t we won’t be able to stop them in the future. We can take care of the farmers in the short term.
“If the GDP was $1 for 2018 and the price of everything goes up by 25% in 2019 due to tariffs,”
We hear this repeated over and over ad nauseaum.
It’s a complete myth that a 25% tariff will make prices go up by 25%.
Ex.: Communist China will eat (some or all) the tariffs to keep market share and factories from leaving China.
Albert, you don’t want to know the kind of time you’d need with me to understand this :)
Is that good?
Does it matter why the prices were raised?
I dunno. That’s why I’m asking.
It protects jobs and industries in our nation and only slightly increases consumer prices for things we can't produce locally.
What a boon to our country would be the abolition of our annual fiscal colonoscopy that is the income tax.
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