Speaker 1: What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to
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smartphone or tablet, And again, thank you so much for
your support. First off, I have to acknowledge my bias.
Let me start with an anecdote lesson.
Speaker 2: In nineteen thirty, the Republican controlled House of Representatives, in
an effort to alleviate the effects of the anyone, anyone
a Great Depression past the anyone anyone a tariff bill,
the Holly Smoot Tariff Act, which anyone raised or lowered
raised tariffs in an effort to collect more revenue for
the federal government. Did it work? Anyone anyone know the effects?
It did not work, and the United States sank deeper
into the Great Depression.
Speaker 1: Hmmm, this is my bias. From the documentary Ferris Bueller's
Day Off. That's where I get this knowledge from.
Speaker 2: Bueller.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Bueller right, Bueller, the Smoot Holly Terr Effect, or
as he called it, the Holy smoot Terr Effect.
Speaker 1: Last night on the do A live stream on Wednesday's night,
the last night in the live stream, I acknowledge I
may be the fish that doesn't know it's wet. Because
of my age. I am a I'm a youngin and
so my entire life and all of the status quo
thinking about tariffs has been that they are not good.
They are not good for the residents of the nation
that apply them to imports. And I guess we're going
to find out if that's true or not right. We
are all going to white knuckle this sucker all the
way down to find out whether or not everybody for
the last century has not known that they are the
fish that is wet. Right, because in nineteen thirty June seventeenth,
as a matter of fact, nineteen thirty, the US legislation
was passed, the Smoot hay Terr Effact. It raised import
duties to protect American businesses and farmers, adding considerable strain
to the international economic climate of the Great Depression. This
is according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. If you can trust
that The Act takes its name from the chief sponsors,
Senator Reed Smoot of Utah, or as we like to
refer to him, Smuta, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee,
and Representative Willis Hawley of Oregon.
Speaker 4: He was the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Speaker 1: It was the last legislation under which the US Congress
set actual tariff rates. Okay, the last time this was
done nineteen thirty, and it was a disaster.
Speaker 4: Right. The consensus not even a consensus.
Speaker 1: It's like darn near unanimous understanding of what the Smoot
Hawley Terriff Act did was to prolong the Depression, the
Great Depression. See, because it wasn't the first set of
tariffs that the US had put in place. In nineteen
twenty two, Congress had enacted the Fortney McCumber Act, which,
for some reason, nobody ever talks about that one. It's
always smooth Holly, Smooth Haley, It's never Fortney McCumber. But
that was among the most punitive protectionist tariffs passed in
the country's history. It raised the average import tax to
forty percent forty percent, Okay. The Fortney McCumber tariff prompted
retaliation from European governments, but it did not dampen US prosperity.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Okay, so it did not
reduce prosperity forty percent tariffs Throughout the nineteen twenties, however,
as European farmers were trying to recover from World War
One and their American counterparts faced more competition because you
I mean, think about it, you had Europe that had
been you know, obliterated in World War One, and by
the way, the same thing happened after World War Two
when it was obliterated and all the industrial capacity was
just ravaged. It was pretty easy for America to dominate
all of the you know, Western societies, the industrialized world,
because we didn't really have a whole lot of competition
at that point because they were all they just come
out of two world wars. Right, So after World War One,
the farmers in Europe they start recovering, and so now
they're able to grow stuff and they're able to sell
it on the markets and all of that, and now
that's starting to hurt the US farmers. American farmers were
now facing competition declining prices because they had overproduced because
they didn't have competition. Now you've got the European farmers recovering.
Now there's more supply in the market. US agricultural interests
than lobbied the federal government for protection against agricultural imports.
In his nineteen twenty eight campaign for the presidency, Republican
candidate Herbert Hoover promised to increase tariffs on agricultural goods,
but after he took office, lobbyists from other economic sectors
encouraged him to support a broader increase. Make it affect
more products, more sectors, right, more industries. Although an increase
in tariffs was supported by most Republicans, an effort to
raise import duties failed in nineteen twenty nine, largely because
of opposition from centrist Republicans in the US Senate. And
then came the stock market crash in nineteen twenty nine,
and then protectionism. This philosophy of protectionism gained strength and
through the tariff legislation Smoot Hawley tariff passed on a
margin of two votes forty four to forty two in
the Senate. It passed easily in the House. This then
became law even though a petition from over one thousand
economists were saying veto this legislation. Herbert Hoover signed it
into law June seventeenth, nineteen thirty. It raised the average
tariff averaged tariff by twenty percent, which then prompted retaliation
from foreign governments. Overseas banks began to fail. Global trade
declined in the four years that the legislation was in effect. Oh,
and the Republicans were all voted out. Smoot and Hawley
lost their seats, Hoover out, and FDR comes to office
and Democrats enjoyed control. Then for over sixty years, Smoot
Hawley tariff considered among the most catastrophic acts in congressional history.
Tariff did not sit well with the voters, and Republicans
paid the price, voting out all of the Republican majorities.
So that's the ocean I am in. Okay, that's what
I have always understood about these kinds of punitive, large tariffs.
Speaker 4: Okay, I recognize my bias.
Speaker 1: This is why I am greatly concerned at what the
President unveiled yesterday. And I am also concerned that there
doesn't seem to be a lot of explanation that is
coherent and consistent from the administration. I'm getting different explanations
for why we need to have the tears. You talk
to three different administration officials and you're gonna get three
different answers. I've got audio, we got Scott Descent, I've
got you know, supporters that are that are trying to
defend this tariff regime.
Speaker 4: It's a negotiation. Oh no, it's more than that.
Speaker 1: Whatever, whatever the case may be here, my concern is
that this now is going to create the same conditions
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Talking about tariffs and what the President wants us all
to call liberation Day. I'm not really sure what we're
being liberated from, but as far as I can tell,
it might be my money. But you know what, as
I have said repeatedly, we're all gonna see what happens here.
Speaker 4: Like let's and Scott pissent.
Speaker 1: The Treasury secretaries like, you know, let's all just.
Speaker 4: Just watch and wait.
Speaker 1: And I haveverged the same thing, like the immediate reactions
to all things Trump, and you get the people that
hate Trump, and so they immediately start attacking anything that
he does and they make all the dire predictions.
Speaker 4: And this could be one of those times too.
Speaker 1: All I'm saying is that tariffs are taxes, and those
taxes have always been borne by the people in that country.
That's how that works. So you could say there's a
long term strategy going on, but you're not going to
know what that is until we actually we're not going
to I should say, we're not going to know if
that strategy is successful until we get to that long term.
And if it's one thing I know about Americans, it's
that we are willing to put up with short term pain.
Speaker 4: I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: No, we don't. Yeah, we don't have any appetite for that.
All right, let's go to the phones and we'll talk
to Blake here. Hello, Blake, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 5: Hey Pete, how are you.
Speaker 4: I'm good? What's going on?
Speaker 6: Hey?
Speaker 5: Just a quick question for you?
Speaker 4: Uh huh.
Speaker 5: So, if if tariffs are bad, why are all the
of all the other countries enforcing tariffs against the United
States for a long period of time. If if if
tariffs don't work and they're bad.
Speaker 1: So if you are out, why so, which country would
you like to discuss? Which country would you like to discuss?
Or are you just talking in general? Why does anybody
put in tariffs?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 5: In fact, everybody on the list that Trump put up yesterday,
they're basically reciprocal.
Speaker 6: They're not.
Speaker 4: Actually, no, they're not.
Speaker 5: So none of those countries enforced tariffs against the US.
Speaker 1: I didn't say that. I said they're not reciprocal. Even
Trump acknowledged that, so that that was not true. So
all of that narrative that they're just going to be reciprocal,
like for example, China, they have all sorts of what
you know, the Trump administration said was like sixty seven
percent tariffs or whatever. But the tariffs that Trump slapped
on them yesterday or announced yesterday is not sixty seven percent.
So they're not he said, he promoted the fact that
because I'm lenient, I'm a nice guy, We're only going
to do half, So it's not reciprocal. Also, countries like
Israel that scrapped all of its tariffs, they still got
hit with the tariff. So if they'd got so they
got rid of the tariffs, and if it was reciprocal,
then America wouldn't be tariffing them.
Speaker 4: So it's not reciprocal.
Speaker 1: Now as to why do other countries put tariffs on
American products and services, is because they are also misguided
and we are the largest market and they're trying to
protect their own industries and such. I would submit it's
not wise policy.
Speaker 5: Is that why there's a lot of foreign countrysider an
economic distress is because they're tariffs.
Speaker 1: Yes, they would be better, they would be doing better
if they allowed more trade to move more freely. That's
a voluntary. Involuntary trade, you have greater prosperity. But it's
a very it's a very seductive siren for politicians because
there is an old saying.
Speaker 4: Former North Carolina Governor Jim.
Speaker 1: Martin said it the first time I ever heard it
and said, see that man behind the tree, go tax him,
don't tax me, And that guides too many politicians when
looking at fiscal policy. They try to find the smallest
constituency that will bring in the most amount of money.
And so when you say we're going to tax those
people in that other country. It sounds like a good
thing for people in your country. But yeah, just because
other countries do a bad thing doesn't make it a
good thing. And if Trump is using the tariffs in
order to get people back to a zero and so
there is actual free trade, then cool.
Speaker 4: I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1: But I don't think that that's It doesn't seem like
that's the strategy, because again, he slapped tariffs on countries
that that had lower tariffs than the ten percent he
slapped on everybody.
Speaker 4: That's not reciprocal.
Speaker 5: So do you think it is a fifty to fifty
strategy of getting them to get to zero?
Speaker 4: I have no idea fair trade, No I wish I do.
Speaker 5: Also, as a tax, a hidden tax to the.
Speaker 6: US, it is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, tariffs are tax, and.
Speaker 5: He's got some pretty stiff tax cuts coming up if
those bills get passed. You know, no tax on social Security,
no tax on tariffs, no tax on overtime. And then
the reinstates of twenty seventeen tax rates that we're pretty low.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well they're still they're still in they're still in effect,
and they're racing a clock now to keep them to
keep them on the books.
Speaker 4: Yeah, correct, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but if they expire, like if Democrats gumming
up and they're unable to you know, to advance the
the tax cuts and keep it on the books, then yeah,
that's going to be another massive tax increase on people
along with inflation. Right that we is now baked into
all of the pricing, right that you know from the
Biden administration.
Speaker 4: So it's just we're getting nailed in every direction.
Speaker 1: And you know, the economists over the last century all
understand that tariffs are paid by the consumers in your
own country because a product is coming onto our shores
and if I want to buy that product, and I
have to pay more for that product because that's the tariff. Now,
the argument is that oh, the uh, the the other countries,
those those companies that are sending their products here, right,
because these are mainly companies, right, It's a company that
makes something overseas and sells it here in America, and
that the thought is that they're going to eat those costs,
not the American consumer.
Speaker 4: And I don't know if that's I don't know if that's.
Speaker 1: Going to be true. Nobody does. That's the that's the gamble, right,
that's what they're gambling.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I think some of it's going to get
by them and a lot of it's going to.
Speaker 4: Get passed on sure, right, I mean that's the old
I mean, that's the old.
Speaker 5: Axis to be profitable, righting, go right?
Speaker 1: And that companies don't pay taxes. Yeah, companies don't pay taxes.
Consumers pay the tax, right, the buyer pays the tax.
So yeah, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 5: So may I ask you other question?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 5: You're a pretty smart You're a pretty smart guy. You're
pretty smart. Art you be doing this for a while.
So I'm a first time caller. Welcome, and I was
I was intrigued by the conversation. So what's different about
the world economy and the US economy today than when
that tariff bill was passed, the catastrophic teriff bill sixty
years ago? Or what's different?
Speaker 4: Wow? Lots different?
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, So you don't think there's anything different about
today's world economy and our economy that I just said
it was different, that would that that would support, that
would support a better outcome on this terroriff teriff initiative. Now, look,
because it's only part of it, it's only part of
his economic strategy. It is not his economic strategy.
Speaker 1: Look, you are making assertions that, if true, would would
result in benefit. However, I don't know those assertions to
be each and neither do you.
Speaker 4: That's thee And that's why I said at the.
Speaker 1: Very beginning, at the outset Blake, That's why I said, like,
we're all going to be going on this white knuckle
ride and as yeah, and.
Speaker 4: Some people are like, yes, let's do something different.
Speaker 5: I believe it to be less of a white knuckle
ride than what you do.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: No, that's my belief.
Speaker 1: Right, And I would submit that that's probably due to
a trust in Donald Trump that I do not have.
Speaker 4: You trust a little bit more. Yeah, you trust him
more than I do.
Speaker 5: I don't know. I don't know what your level of
trust is.
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, but I'm saying that your willingness to go
along for this ride with him is based on a
higher level of trust in what he's doing and what
his strategy.
Speaker 5: I wouldn't consider myself a dumb a sheep.
Speaker 4: I didn't follower it. I didn't say you were. I
said you have a higher level.
Speaker 5: I didn't say you said I was. But I wouldn't
consider myself at okay, And I think Musk and Trump
are smart, smart people, and I don't think he has
I don't think Trump has any insidious you know, uh,
desires or outcomes and all this. I think he wants
his head on Mount Rushmore to come out of this
thing as one of the greatest presidents of the United States,
and he's doing the things that he believes right well,
get us the greatest benefit. That's what I believe.
Speaker 4: I got you, Blake, I got a run. I appreciate
the call.
Speaker 1: All right. If you're listening to this show, you know
I try to keep up with all sorts of current events,
and I know you do too. And you've probably heard
me say get your news from multiple sources. Why Well,
because it's how you detect media bias, which is why
I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app
and it's a website, and it combines news from around
the world in one place so you can compare coverage
and verify information. You can check it out at check
dot ground, dot news slash pete. I put the link
in the podcast description too. I started using ground News
a few months ago, and more recently chose to work
with them as an affiliate because it lets me see
clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind
spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the
left and the right.
Speaker 4: See for yourself.
Speaker 1: Check Dot Ground, dot News slash Pete. Subscribe through that
link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I
use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature.
Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it
also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape
more transparent. I began the hour by noting my bias.
My bias is towards free trade, actual free trade. So
that means, yes, if we're dealing with a country that
is acting in a protectionist way against us, then we
have to account for that. So if we actually had
true reciprocity, and say, you know, Mexico was putting tariffs
on all of our stuff going there at ten percent,
then we could hit them with a ten percent also,
and then we would be.
Speaker 4: Equal. But that's not what Donald Trump has done.
Speaker 1: They've got a formula and by the way, I'll get
into that formula as well. And so the tariffs are
not quote unquote reciprocal. They're different These are set at
different levels. There isn't really an explanation as.
Speaker 4: To why.
Speaker 1: My bias is towards actual free trade, because free trade
grows prosperity for all involved. I don't look at a
trade deficit the same as I look at a fiscal deficit.
A trade deficit I have, for example, with Amazon, I
have a trade deficit with Amazon. I spend, I give
them money. Now I get stuff. But if I'm just
looking at the amount of money I send to Amazon
or to the sellers of the products, I am in
the red there. However, I have a higher standard of
living because of the things that I have purchased. And
if you look at the global economy going back forty years,
as free trade, as free market capitalism has accelerated throughout
the globe, the levels of prosperity have increased. One hundred
thousand people every day are lifted out of poverty across
the planet. And that is a good thing. That is
a good thing, and that is through voluntary trade. It
makes everybody richer, it makes everybody have a higher standard
of living. That's my bias, That's been my position for
twenty years. I'm a free trader. So if you want
to go after countries, and that does not mean that
I think that the relationship.
Speaker 4: With China and what they do is acceptable. I do not.
Speaker 1: I don't think they should be a most Favored Nation
trading partner, Absolutely not. Because they employ slave labor. You
cannot compete with that, and allowing them to operate that
way and giving them money simply empowers them. That's not
free trade between the two countries in my view, right.
And if they're blocking our stuff going in there but
demanding that their stuff comes in here, that's not free
trade either. So again, we're all going to find out
whether or not this global economic realignment.
Speaker 4: Works, and.
Speaker 1: If it doesn't, my fear is we are all really screwed.
And me personally, I will tell you my bias is
that I work in an industry that is dependent on advertising.
The very first thing that companies cut when a recession
hits is advertising.
Speaker 4: And so.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to maybe being out of a job soon.
That's possible, right. Further erosion of purchasing power. After going
through four years where I saw a fifteen percent declined
in my purchasing power thanks to inflation, right, I've taken it.
We've all taken pay cuts just from inflation, and then
you know, have a house with a mortgage and lose
the gig, lose my job, and then can't afford the
house anymore. Then try to sell the house, can't sell
the house because the house is now worth less than
what the mortgage is. So now I'm underwater on it,
and so then I go bankrupt.
Speaker 4: See.
Speaker 1: So those are the things that I'm looking at and
I'm trying to project. So those are the unknowns for me,
those are my biases. And so when I hear, oh,
this is going to generate money for the US government
through these tariffs, because that's what that's the pitch. It's
going to bring in six hundred million dollars a year
or whatever. Well, that's those are additional taxes paid by
Americans going into the US government coffers. So I'm not
thrilled about that. That's a tax increase on me. But
maybe all of the other companies in all of the
other countries, maybe they will eat all of the extra costs.
Maybe they will all renegotiate, right, that's possible. I hope
it happens. I really hope it happens, because if it
doesn't happen. I'm going to be in a world of
hurt economically. That's my bias. So that's my concern. And
maybe you don't share that concern. Maybe you're like, you
know what, let's go through it and this is going
to stick it to somebody else.
Speaker 4: Or you know, I don't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe you're willing to go through the pain because
somebody else deserves it that didn't get pained before, and
so this is going to give them pain. Now You're
going to unwound yourself by wounding somebody else or something.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: So this is from Keith A classic move guarantee. The
confluence of events happened. Slap tariffs on, go short on
the markets, the markets tank, buy back your stocks for
dirt cheap checkmate. Elon and Trump made a boatload on tariffs.
I worked on the trading floor for years. I've seen
this all before.
Speaker 4: Is that what it was?
Speaker 1: Do they short the market? Are people buying a bunch
of stocks now? Because what are we down three percent
on the market today? I don't know. I'm not telling
you I have these answers. I'm just like you. I
have to sit back and watch from Afar and guess
how this is all gonna go.
Speaker 4: And I'm not confident. I am not confident all right?
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Let's all hope Trump knows what he's doing. That's the
position I'm in. I am not trying to tell you
what to think about all of the tariffs and everything.
Not trying to tell you what to think. All I'm
telling you is my concerns. You don't have to share them.
I'm a libertarian, I don't. I'm not telling you how
to live your life. You know, I'll tell you what
to think, how to think, or anything. I'm just walking
you through sort of my thought process on this stuff
and trying to follow my own advice to be patient,
give it a minute, see what happens, and hope and
pray that this is of benefit, because I'm very concerned
it's not. All right, John, Welcome to the program. Hello John, Yes.
Speaker 6: Sir, tap into something, pep into some of your geniosity. Hey,
a little while ago, you said, the way things have
been up to this point, we've experienced quite a bit
of properity. But how do you square that with a
thirty seven trillion dollar deficit? You know, have we financed
prosperity in that way? Possibly? And so the rebalancing to
counter how we spent ourselves into it, and it wasn't sustainable. So,
in other words, that prosperity we've experienced up to this
point is not sustainable.
Speaker 1: The deficit and the debt is different than a trade deficit,
right right, And.
Speaker 6: We have financed the world by our ultimate thirty seven
trillion dollars.
Speaker 1: How do we how have we financed the world with
thirty seven trillion dollars?
Speaker 6: Well with supposedly the trade in balance, the trade imbalances
that we've had over time.
Speaker 4: No, that's why I said they're different a trade.
Speaker 1: So a trade deficit occurs when a country when a
company in another country sells more product into America than
American companies sell out to that country.
Speaker 6: Well, I get that, But what I'm talking about maybe
it's it's not a direct line necessarily, But if we
keep our revenue stream in trade is net negative constantly,
net negative constantly, that net negative.
Speaker 1: Then But that's not it's not that doesn't drain our accounts.
That it's just saying that that we're buying more of
their stuff than they're buying of ours. Well, you know who,
Let me say it this way, hang on, do you
know who the do you know who? The number one
manufacturing country is on the planet.
Speaker 6: Take a guess, it's even gonna be US or China, right, China, right?
Speaker 4: And number two is Us.
Speaker 1: We met and it's like, we manufacture a whole lot
of stuff and we also export quote unquote services. So
the just because a country buys more or sorry but
buys less from us than we buy from them, that
does not lead to deficits. The deficits that we have
at a government level are due to our own government
spending money on unfunded things in the future like Medicare, Medicaid,
social security, right, the unfunded liabilities of like seventy trillion
dollars right that we're not we are not collecting revenue
enough right from from all for all of the programs
that our own government does.
Speaker 4: That's that's an US problem.
Speaker 6: Well, there's a spending problem, right right. But then if
I'm talking about the tax consequences of having a more
robust economy here would lead to a better balance here
or a better income statement on our side, and over
fifty years of.
Speaker 4: It, what is the purpose of the tariffs then.
Speaker 6: Well, I think that what you alluded to earlier was
to get to fair trade. So it's negotiation negotiate exactly.
Speaker 4: Okay, So it's not.
Speaker 1: A revenue generating vehicle to offset the deficit, not the
trade imbalance, but the okay.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And if that's the case, then John, I guess, you know,
hopefully then it's to our benefit. But I just I
don't know that to be true. I appreciate the call.
I got to jump over here and get to Travis. Hello, Travis,
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 6: Hey.
Speaker 7: I was trying to figure out how the best condense
my thought process here, and I think there's four possible
ways that or ways that companies driving and the problem
is I don't know which one it is, and I
wish you would articulate one in Goali. The first goal
that I see is if he's trying.
Speaker 5: To repatriate American job.
Speaker 7: Is that the goal and you just want stuff built here?
Speaker 4: Him say that? Yeah?
Speaker 7: Is it that he's trying to reorient dependencies so that
instead of being dependent on autocracies like China, where dependent
on democracies like India. I don't think that's the case.
I don't see I don't see him trying to cut
us off from China and vivid to India. Is he
trying to negotiate. And I did hear tex Franceman. He's
an Israeli journalist who I think works with the Foundation
for Defenseman Democracies. I heard him say. He sounded like
a journalist on background. He goes, well, it might be
that there's talks to resolve Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and
Iranian nukes all in one big deal that involves China
and Russia. Maybe that could be. He sounded like a
guy on the background. Anybody knows what I say. So
maybe that's why China gets lower tips. I just wish oh,
and the fourth possibility, because I was three. The fourth possibility,
the way you can lay it out is it to
navigate to negotiate free trade. And the problem is, I
just wish you would tell us which I wish you
would come out and say, this is my priority. I
want to repay treat jobs. I want to be a couple.
Speaker 5: From China one too one.
Speaker 7: I don't know what. I wish you would just articulate that.
Speaker 4: No, I agree, Travis.
Speaker 1: And that's been part of the problem is I'm getting
different answers from different administration officials and even Trump, and
so it's it's hard to know and you know, for
I think people who are you know, diehard Trump supporters,
they're okay with not knowing. They trust him, and you know,
his ambiguity is okay by them because they trust him
that he knows what he's doing.
Speaker 4: And this is all for a reason, right.
Speaker 7: I think they pick one of those possible answers and
they run with that. Some most swear, oh, this is what. Yeah, anyway,
thank you so much.
Speaker 4: No, those are yeah, those are good ideas. I appreciate
the call, Travis.
Speaker 1: Uh, there is a fifth possibility is that, uh, Donald
Trump doesn't actually know what he's doing at a larger level,
he just really likes tariffs because he's really liked tariffs
his entire life. That's also possible that there isn't any
other grand strategy at play here. It's just he wants
tariffs because he thinks tariffs are are good. And this again,
this is a position that he has articulated.
Speaker 4: His own.
Speaker 1: People sent out on social media a clip of him
on the Oprah Winfrey Show back in like the nineties
where he was talking about all these other countries. I
think at the time it was it may have been
Japan and somebody else. I'd forget and he was talking
about how they're eating our lunch, they're making all these VCRs.
That's how old the clip was, and he was he
was calling for tariffs back then. So he has remained
consistent on the tariff issue over the course of his
public life that whenever he's talked about this, he's always
had the same position. He wants more tariffs on other countries.
So that could also be it that there isn't any
other kind of larger strategy at play. He has talked about,
you know, bringing companies, manufacturing facilities, jobs and such back
into America through these tariffs. If you don't want to
pay the tariff, well to just make the stuff in America.
Right again, I can understand that, but you should expect
every other country to also do the same, right, and
then that suppresses trade and that then lowers prosperity. That's
just the historical record. So but maybe there's a better
strategy of play here that I don't know.
Speaker 4: All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you
so much for listening.
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So if you'd like, please support them too, and tell
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thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything
while I'm gone.