Speaker 1: It's nice with y.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you easy Boston's Radio.
Speaker 3: All right, thanks very much, Dan Watkins.
Speaker 4: We are going to open up our conversation that we
Speaker 4: started last night about the I'll call them the Trump tariffs.
Speaker 4: Will be alliterative with me. Is hold on for one second, Rob,
Speaker 4: hold on for one second.
Speaker 3: Tomorrow?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 4: You never know who calls you when you leave the
Speaker 4: phone on here on the radio. It just kind of
Speaker 4: kind of works that way anyway, Sorry for that. Pardon
Speaker 4: that interruption. PT I with me is Greg Styller. Greg
Speaker 4: is teachers at the Questrum School of Business at Boston University.
Speaker 4: Uh and I can't think of anyone who has as
Speaker 4: much knowledge about some of the foreign countries who have
Speaker 4: been mentioned prominently in the last few days. Greg, Professor Staller,
Speaker 4: welcome back to Night's Side.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Dan, it's going to be back on the show.
Speaker 4: So for those who do not remember our previous conversations.
Speaker 4: You have taught business, entrepreneurship, international business for how many years?
Speaker 4: Tell us explain to us the type of business that
Speaker 4: you talk about and that you teach, and that you've
Speaker 4: lived now for what twenty twenty five years?
Speaker 5: Yeah, so I'm about to conclude my tenth year. Bu,
Speaker 5: I am also concluding my twenty fifth consecutive year teaching,
Speaker 5: and I can't think of a better way to spend
Speaker 5: my time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and amongst your travels, and you travel quite a
Speaker 4: bit with your students. You have your MBA from Harvard
Speaker 4: and you're at Cornell undergrad and you travel the world
Speaker 4: with students. Write, You read and write, and you speak,
Speaker 4: read and write seven languages. I'm always amazed at that capability.
Speaker 4: I have trouble speaking one. Greg, And you have traveled
Speaker 4: to China since nineteen ninety four, thirty years. You've been
Speaker 4: over there approximately twice a year. You've been there at
Speaker 4: least fifty times during this period of thirty years, most
Speaker 4: often bringing undergraduates with you, interacting with Chinese companies. So
Speaker 4: I think that more than establishes your your bona fides
Speaker 4: to comment on tariffs. So is there anything else that
Speaker 4: you'd like to add here for people to understand your
Speaker 4: experience that I haven't touched upon.
Speaker 5: No, thank you, I mean I just want to preface
Speaker 5: this by saying that I appreciate being back and night
Speaker 5: I'm taking a non part as an approach to this.
Speaker 5: I want to go over the facts from you know,
Speaker 5: from President Trump's perspective, from the US consumers perspective, and
Speaker 5: I'm hoping to have some interesting callers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I suspect we will.
Speaker 4: So the question here and I'll give you a question
Speaker 4: that I think will is a fair question. This appears
Speaker 4: to me to be a gamble by President Trump that
Speaker 4: will either mark his presidency as one of the most
Speaker 4: significant presidencies in the history of the country or it
Speaker 4: will doom him to be sort of put in that
Speaker 4: hall of presidents that Hoover, Herbert Hoover is the most
Speaker 4: is the most prominent former president.
Speaker 3: I mean, it seems to me he's this is a huge, huge,
Speaker 3: huge sea.
Speaker 4: Change in the way are not only the tariffs, but
Speaker 4: what else is going on as well. I'm he's he's
Speaker 4: promised to do this, But for him to try to
Speaker 4: get all of this started within the first one hundred
Speaker 4: days of his administration, it seems to me to be
Speaker 4: either a brilliant move or he's bitten off much more
Speaker 4: than he can chew. Let's let's look at it. What
Speaker 4: are the pluses for him, the potential pluses that are reasonable,
Speaker 4: and what are the what's the potential downside, he only has,
Speaker 4: you know, a little more than well three and a
Speaker 4: half years left in this office, so it's not as
Speaker 4: if he's starting the potential for eight years.
Speaker 3: He'll and I.
Speaker 5: Would also argue that he probably only has a year
Speaker 5: and a half with the midterm election come.
Speaker 4: Oh of course, Oh absolutely, he has what I would
Speaker 4: I called last night a very short runway. But let's
Speaker 4: talk about what do you think looking at it from
Speaker 4: his perspective, what do you I think is motivating him?
Speaker 4: What do you think he is trying to accomplish.
Speaker 5: Yes, I think that if you look at the numbers,
Speaker 5: the trade gap contracted by a little bit over six
Speaker 5: percent between January and February to one hundred and twenty
Speaker 5: two point seven billion dollars. So he is asserting, and
Speaker 5: he said this for a long time, that the United
Speaker 5: States doesn't stand for enough, that we are a debtor nation,
Speaker 5: a nation. He specifically is saying that people are ripping
Speaker 5: us off, and he's trying to even the score by
Speaker 5: generating government revenue. I mean, because at the end of
Speaker 5: the day, that's what a tariff is, right, It's a
Speaker 5: federal tax set by Congress that is applied to goods
Speaker 5: at the border. The difference is that, you know, unlike
Speaker 5: incomer sales taxes, it varies by product and by the
Speaker 5: originating country. That's what he is his saying. And he
Speaker 5: is going through history, and he is invoking the i
Speaker 5: ee PA, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in nineteen
Speaker 5: seventy seven, to address what he refers to as the
Speaker 5: large and persistent trade deficit.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: But you and I know that this trade deficit has
Speaker 4: existed for decades, for decades, and I can remember when
Speaker 4: it was talked about in the nineteen nineties, the Bush
Speaker 4: Clinton years and on into the Clinton years as this
Speaker 4: horrible problem. But it sort of disappeared from the headlines
Speaker 4: as if it had been solved.
Speaker 3: It hadn't been solved.
Speaker 4: Why is it being resurrected at this point by Donald
Speaker 4: Trump as such an important hill to die on if
Speaker 4: you will.
Speaker 5: I think I hild a die on as a very
Speaker 5: good phrase. I mean, if you think about what happened
Speaker 5: in his first he tried a bunch of stuff, I mean,
Speaker 5: Visa VI tariffs. It was modest gains and steel jobs, right,
Speaker 5: And I think he realizes that unless he is able
Speaker 5: to change the Constitution, he's only got one term left,
Speaker 5: so he's trying to, as I look at it, go bigger,
Speaker 5: go home, and try and right this wrong. And you know, again,
Speaker 5: I'm a numbers guy. Right by the numbers, the United
Speaker 5: States has the largest GDP in the world. Right, that's
Speaker 5: not news to anybody. It's twenty almost twenty eight trillion dollars.
Speaker 5: The next closest country is China, and that's only eighteen
Speaker 5: of that twenty eight trillion, and then Germany is four
Speaker 5: point five trillion. So it's not like we're in a
Speaker 5: tight race here between the second or third countries in
Speaker 5: the world. But he is taking the tack, as I
Speaker 5: said earlier, going bigger, going home.
Speaker 4: That I that I do understand. But when you talked
Speaker 4: about the teriffs, the tariffs are going to be paid.
Speaker 4: Let's just talk about the structure. So Vovo has just
Speaker 4: announced that they are increasing their and you may have
Speaker 4: seen this story. They're they're increasing their manufacturing in Mexico
Speaker 4: from seven hundred million to a billion, which I think
Speaker 4: is a message from Vovo to this a Swedish company.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure who owns Vovo at this point. I
Speaker 4: don't believe there are they owned by China. At this point,
Speaker 4: although they obviously thought of as a as a as
Speaker 4: a as a sweet.
Speaker 5: They are owned by a property that's called jerji On
Speaker 5: Gully Holding Group Limited or colui as Geely Holding.
Speaker 4: Correct, So, so that is a message from China again.
Speaker 4: Reuters is reporting tonight that Vovo to boost its Mexico
Speaker 4: plant investment to one billion dollars. I assume that that
Speaker 4: is not the sort of response that President Trump was
Speaker 4: hoping to hear on the first day.
Speaker 5: After correct, I mean, you asked me to start with
Speaker 5: the pros, we'll move on to the cons.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 5: I think the biggest uncontrollable con that nobody can predict
Speaker 5: is the effect of reciprocal tariffs. And I think that
Speaker 5: President Trump was sort of hoping that, and this is
Speaker 5: his negotiation strategy, right, that if he is able to
Speaker 5: throw the power of the United States around and convince
Speaker 5: other countries to change what they're doing to appease the
Speaker 5: United States, he'll take that as a win. And if
Speaker 5: you think about what he did with Columbia with the
Speaker 5: federal funding and everything else, Columbia changed its policy because
Speaker 5: they didn't want to lose the federal fundings. The problem
Speaker 5: with the reciprocal tariffs is that he's not in control.
Speaker 5: And to your point, Dan, a few minutes go, if
Speaker 5: he says X, these other countries are going to say
Speaker 5: why and and now you literally are deep in the
Speaker 5: throes of a reciprocal trade war.
Speaker 4: My guest is Professor Greg Staller. He teaches at the
Speaker 4: Questroom School of Business at Boston University. I have a
Speaker 4: bunch more questions. He's very clear and concise in his answers.
Speaker 4: If you have any question at all, I'm coming back,
Speaker 4: but I'll open up the phone line six one, seven, two, five,
Speaker 4: four ten thirty six one seven, nine, three one ten thirty.
Speaker 4: This is really a time of questions. If you if
Speaker 4: you want to challenge, I think you'd be making a mistake,
Speaker 4: but feel free to at least try to phrase it
Speaker 4: in the context of a question. And we may spend
Speaker 4: the eleven o'clock hour, uh, just on your reactions. But
Speaker 4: but I want to get this clarified so people understand
Speaker 4: how this is possibly going to play out, either for
Speaker 4: good or for bad. And that's why we're talking with
Speaker 4: Professor Greg Staller. Spent a guest in this program dozens
Speaker 4: of times in the last decade and delighted to have
Speaker 4: him tonight back on Nightside. More conversation and your questions
Speaker 4: right after this. If you're on night Side with Dan Ray,
Speaker 4: I'm w Boston's News Radio with us is Greg Staller,
Speaker 4: Professor Greg Staller, he teaches at the Questrum School of
Speaker 4: Business at Boston University. What I'd like to do in
Speaker 4: this segment is explain the concept of tariffs so people
Speaker 4: can understand exactly what it is.
Speaker 3: So let me begin the process.
Speaker 4: Let's assume Vovo or any car dealer is going to
Speaker 4: now import cars that will be the subject of a tariff,
Speaker 4: so that tariff, depending upon what country it comes in from,
Speaker 4: could be as high as a twenty five percent tariff.
Speaker 3: Am I corrected in.
Speaker 5: That absolutely correct. There's a ten percent universal tariff that's
Speaker 5: going to effect two days from now, on April fifth.
Speaker 5: But all of these tariffs that are created equally. The
Speaker 5: EU is getting hit with twenty percent, Mexico and Canada
Speaker 5: escaped the whirlwinds yesterday but are still going to be
Speaker 5: subject to twenty five percent, and China please, you know,
Speaker 5: strap yourself in for this number over fifty percent.
Speaker 4: Okay, So let's keep it simple for a second. So
Speaker 4: Let's assume that there is a car that comes in
Speaker 4: from a country, a foreign country, and the tariff is
Speaker 4: on it.
Speaker 3: So who pays the tariff?
Speaker 4: The tariff, I assume is paid by the US company
Speaker 4: that imports the vehicle.
Speaker 5: Correct, So again, a tariff is a tax. Yes, So
Speaker 5: ostensibly President Trump's objective is to generate more tasks revenue
Speaker 5: for the United States and to ship away at the
Speaker 5: trade deficit. But you hit the nail on the head,
Speaker 5: jan right. No car that's made right now is from
Speaker 5: one specific country. And if you think about something like
Speaker 5: Toyota Motor Corporation, right, they have a very large plant
Speaker 5: in Lexington, Kentucky. How do you think through something like that.
Speaker 5: You know that they are finishing the car in Lexington, Kentucky,
Speaker 5: but a lot of the parts are originally going to
Speaker 5: come from Japan because Toyota is a Japanese manufacturing organization.
Speaker 5: So how do you mitigate that. That's what makes this
Speaker 5: self complicated. It's not just a widget. It is considered
Speaker 5: to be forty or fifty widgets, and some of those
Speaker 5: widgets are manufactured of the United States. Others of those
Speaker 5: widgets are manufactured well outside of the United States.
Speaker 4: Okay, so it's going to be the money that gets
Speaker 4: gets handed over. The tariff is paid by the importer,
Speaker 4: correct in this case, in most cases going to be
Speaker 4: a US company. Right, So they they bring the vehicles
Speaker 4: in and they pay that they pay the tariff that's
Speaker 4: going to increase the cost of the car when it
Speaker 4: hits the showroom, bingo, And that increase of cost in
Speaker 4: the car will be made up by the company that
Speaker 4: imports the car or the company that pays the tariff.
Speaker 4: It'll be passed on to the consumer, which therefore is
Speaker 4: pretty clear attacks right.
Speaker 5: But the idea is that if that's the case, and
Speaker 5: a non American widget is now costing thirty percent more
Speaker 5: than it would have a week ago, it is going
Speaker 5: to incentivize people to buy American products because those American
Speaker 5: products are obviously not subject to tariffs.
Speaker 3: I got it, I got it.
Speaker 4: But so so so whatever the money that eventually will
Speaker 4: be is in effect paid.
Speaker 3: It may be paid.
Speaker 4: By the importer, but the importer recoups the money from
Speaker 4: the consumer. So in effect, that is how we look
Speaker 4: we characterize it as a tax on consumers. That money,
Speaker 4: which in effect goes to the US Treasury, is used
Speaker 4: to reduce the federal debt, but it's it's being paid
Speaker 4: in effect by US citizens.
Speaker 5: Oh one hundred percent. The way I look at it
Speaker 5: is it's like gambling in a casino. Right when you lose,
Speaker 5: obviously one hundred percent of your lost money goes to
Speaker 5: the casino. But casinos never pay true odds, right. You know,
Speaker 5: on a roulette wheel there might be I don't know,
Speaker 5: thirty eight slots. Even if you bet the right number
Speaker 5: on the Roulett wheel, most casinos are going to pay
Speaker 5: thirty two or thirty three to one. So even when
Speaker 5: you win, you're paying a subsidy to the house. That's
Speaker 5: exactly what is concerning me about this is that, yes,
Speaker 5: prices are going to go up, and you might generate
Speaker 5: more money for the treasury, but the average consumer is
Speaker 5: going to get caught in the crossfire. Not to mention,
Speaker 5: by the way downstream, what it could potentially do about inflation.
Speaker 5: And I think that's what concerns me is that, you know,
Speaker 5: President Biden, President Trump again, I'm trying to look at
Speaker 5: this from a non partisan perspective, have really tried hard
Speaker 5: to camp down inflation and cause us to not go
Speaker 5: into a recession and keep things steady as she goes.
Speaker 5: And you know, up until a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 5: the doll was doing pretty well. I mean, granted, you know,
Speaker 5: in the first quarter was the lowest since twenty twenty two,
Speaker 5: but you know there were pockets of good, good numbers
Speaker 5: here or there. This is potentially going to eviscerate all
Speaker 5: of those games.
Speaker 4: So then my final question for this segment is once
Speaker 4: people start to see that the terroriffs, they associate the
Speaker 4: tariffs which increase prices, that is going to have to erode.
Speaker 4: I don't think that's going to help the president's popularity.
Speaker 4: That is going to erode his popularity, not only across
Speaker 4: the board, but even within his own party. At what
Speaker 4: point does that loss of popularity force him to change
Speaker 4: directions or is he so deep in at this point
Speaker 4: he can't change directions.
Speaker 3: And if it's I'm going.
Speaker 5: To push back, I'm going to push back for a second.
Speaker 5: Dan Again, I'm trying to look at this from objective perspective.
Speaker 5: Right if you are a union worker and if you
Speaker 5: are in a Republican state, you're a huge fan of
Speaker 5: Donald Trump right now, sure, because he is hoping that
Speaker 5: there are enough Republican states out there, they're going to
Speaker 5: cause people to buy American products. And let's stick with
Speaker 5: the auto industry example. And if people buy Americans, then
Speaker 5: guess what, there are not going to be any layoffs
Speaker 5: or any worker shortages that are going to be needed
Speaker 5: at car manufacturing companies because they're going to be, in theory,
Speaker 5: fully employed because people can't afford foreign imports.
Speaker 3: Okay, so okay, that's fair. That's fair.
Speaker 4: So if that if the cookie breaks that way, then
Speaker 4: it helps him.
Speaker 5: If it doesn't break that way, exactly to your point
Speaker 5: a few seconds ago, he is in deep you know what,
Speaker 5: because now people are going to say, what did we
Speaker 5: vote for? Why did we how did this happen? And
Speaker 5: all of a sudden people are going to say, I
Speaker 5: don't want to spend fifteen percent more for what I
Speaker 5: want to buy. And again, one could argue that cars
Speaker 5: are not you know, weekly purchases, right, but think about cannabis,
Speaker 5: think about running shoes, think about iPhones. I mean, all
Speaker 5: of this stuff is going to go up in price.
Speaker 5: And that's to your point, that is going to be
Speaker 5: the fly in a very very complicated political ointment.
Speaker 4: The other issue, and again, I'll just take this very
Speaker 4: quickly there was a time thirty years ago when the
Speaker 4: American and again, automobiles are the biggest private ticket anyone's
Speaker 4: going to buy, right, And so there was a time
Speaker 4: twenty thirty years ago where foreign made cars were considered
Speaker 4: to be much better than American made cars, and that
Speaker 4: devastated the US auto industry.
Speaker 5: Correct And by the way, I would add to that
Speaker 5: analysis that if you think about the cost of the
Speaker 5: tension plans that a lot of these US companies have
Speaker 5: to bear in compliance with ARISSA, that is also arbitrarily
Speaker 5: or not arbitrarily, artificially inflating the cost of a US
Speaker 5: made car, which is further eroding our advantage compared with
Speaker 5: foreign imports. So you're absolutely right, right.
Speaker 4: So the question is can American cars very quickly resuscitate
Speaker 4: their reputation and prove to the American consumer that the
Speaker 4: American car now is not only going to be less
Speaker 4: expensive than many of the foreign brands, but the American
Speaker 4: car is as good or better than the foreign cars.
Speaker 5: And if you're going to take President Trump's perspective on this,
Speaker 5: that was the platform that he campaigned on, and that
Speaker 5: was what he promised the voters he would do. He
Speaker 5: promised that if you voted him in for a second term,
Speaker 5: that people are going to be better off financially, and
Speaker 5: if you work for those companies and if you purchase
Speaker 5: American products, then in theory, you're not going to see
Speaker 5: any price increase and you're going to be happier. But
Speaker 5: to your point now, for the third time, that's a
Speaker 5: really big risk that he's running.
Speaker 4: My guest is Professor Gregg Staller. Professor Staller teaches at
Speaker 4: the Questrum School of Business at Boston University. He's very
Speaker 4: much involved in international law, very much involved in taking students,
Speaker 4: specifically to places like China and Vietnam with exchange programs.
Speaker 4: I'm going to open up phone calls, uh and Professor
Speaker 4: Staller will stay with us until eleven. But after that,
Speaker 4: if you want to talk to a business school professor,
Speaker 4: you got one right here. And he explains it to
Speaker 4: me so clearly. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten
Speaker 4: thirty six one seven, nine, three, one ten thirty. Coming
Speaker 4: right back on night side, we're talking about tariffs and we're
Speaker 4: trying to break it down so everybody understands how this
Speaker 4: game is going to play out. Whichever group you're rooting for,
Speaker 4: If you're on the Trump team, or if you're on
Speaker 4: the team that hopes that perhaps this has been a
Speaker 4: mistake that the president has launched whatever, you got to
Speaker 4: understand how it works, and that's what Professor Staller is
Speaker 4: here for.
Speaker 3: Phone lines are lighting up.
Speaker 4: The only line open right now is six one, seven, nine, three, one,
Speaker 4: ten thirty back on night Side.
Speaker 2: It's Night Side with Boston's news radio.
Speaker 4: Well, Professor Staller, we have full lines. We're going to
Speaker 4: get to Folk grows my guess. Professor Greg Staller, he
Speaker 4: teaches in the Question School of Business at Boston University,
Speaker 4: and we'll get to as many callers as we can
Speaker 4: and look more for questions. Let's understand it. That's that's
Speaker 4: what I would prefer. Let's see how we do his
Speaker 4: Alan Saugus Al you were first this hour, Professor Stalin Hi, so.
Speaker 6: In my mind you are thirty five trillion reasons why
Speaker 6: Trump is doing this. But I want to ask the professor,
Speaker 6: could we have kept on, kept an on or was
Speaker 6: there a dead end or a light at the end
Speaker 6: of the tunnel, a train going to run us over?
Speaker 6: Could this have kept going on? This deficit and debt?
Speaker 5: So, if you're a supporter of Trump you have. By
Speaker 5: the way, thanks for calling you. Al, If you're a
Speaker 5: supporter of Trump, you are sick and tired of the
Speaker 5: status quo. And you're saying, there's been a logjam in
Speaker 5: Washington for years, and everyone says they're going to do
Speaker 5: something once they get into the old office, and nobody
Speaker 5: actually takes any action. So he's trying to keep his
Speaker 5: electorate happy and try and really a lot move the
Speaker 5: needle a great deal. Once again, to your point, Al,
Speaker 5: if we did nothing, we know survived in this situation
Speaker 5: for years. And by the way, the trade deficit came
Speaker 5: down from January February anyway, even before tariff, So you're
Speaker 5: absolutely right.
Speaker 6: Why why the non level playing field with tariff's nation worldwide?
Speaker 6: People try to push one world government this in world
Speaker 6: economic formula. Why is there the disparity in teriffs? Why
Speaker 6: why don't we have a level playing field?
Speaker 5: So he is saying that the US dollar is too
Speaker 5: strong and as a result, it's not benefiting the US economy.
Speaker 5: But to your point, not all countries are created equally
Speaker 5: from an economic perspective. So if you look at and
Speaker 5: I mentioned this a few moments ago, if you just
Speaker 5: look at the top five GDPs in the world. Right,
Speaker 5: India's coming in at five to three point six trillion.
Speaker 5: The United States it's twenty eight trillion dollars. You can't
Speaker 5: say that the that the Indian economy is on par
Speaker 5: with the US economy. So that's why the tariffs are
Speaker 5: not being distributed equally.
Speaker 4: So I just want a quick follow up question, Al,
Speaker 4: excuse me Al's question. I thought this particularly interesting because
Speaker 4: when I was in school and you learned a little
Speaker 4: bit of economics, when you're your debt, your nation's debt
Speaker 4: was more than one hundred percent of the GDP that
Speaker 4: was considered banana republic territory.
Speaker 3: Why was that not.
Speaker 4: Considered banana republic territory in terms of the US Professor Staller?
Speaker 4: And why weren't people more excited about getting ready? I mean,
Speaker 4: this has increased under Democrats Republicans almost at the same
Speaker 4: rate in terms of doubling. I know that when Bill
Speaker 4: Clinton left, the debt was five trillion. When George Bush left,
Speaker 4: it was ten trillion, doubled, when Barack Obama left, it
Speaker 4: was eighteen trillion. When you know, so it just keeps
Speaker 4: going up. Was the concept of banana republic territory. Did
Speaker 4: people just say forget about that concept because that was
Speaker 4: I mean.
Speaker 5: I don't necessarily think banana republic is the right term,
Speaker 5: because Japan, by the way, in January twenty twenty five
Speaker 5: has debt which is two hundred and sixty percent of GDP. Well,
Speaker 5: so yeah, I mean a US situation, I think dan
Speaker 5: that I would en now. I think I would answer
Speaker 5: that by saying, for anybody who plays golf, good putting
Speaker 5: cures a lot of problem shots in the fairy right,
Speaker 5: So if you are a good putter, you can make
Speaker 5: up for a lot of lost round. If the economy
Speaker 5: is going up and consumer confidence is high, then why
Speaker 5: are you going to worry about Why are you going
Speaker 5: to worry about a deficit? Why are you going to
Speaker 5: poke that there? The Fed has everything under control. We've
Speaker 5: got monetary policy, we've got fiscal policy. Everybody's happy. It's
Speaker 5: just an outgrowth of an economy that's growing.
Speaker 7: Last question, please go ahead, out last quar We have
Speaker 7: a two trillion we're paying two trillion pretty soon on
Speaker 7: interest on the debt or deficit, more than the military expensure.
Speaker 6: Who do we actually owe that.
Speaker 3: To a lot a lot of countries? And a lot
Speaker 3: of ourselves.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Greg, I mean I that's a that's a
Speaker 1: politically charged question, because I will tell you and Dan,
Speaker 1: you know, I appreciate the opportunity to be on your shelves.
Speaker 5: But in literally hours of research, shy to hold approximately
Speaker 5: seven hundred and sixty billion dollars of US Treasury debts.
Speaker 8: Yeah, which which is a mere pittance compared to the
Speaker 8: thirty seven trillion. So people will say to you, well,
Speaker 8: that's less than two percent of our debt that's owed
Speaker 8: to China, right, and so you.
Speaker 5: Know exactly, so you know again, Al, I'm not ignoring
Speaker 5: your question. I think it's a very reasonable question. But
Speaker 5: I go back to what I said that depending on
Speaker 5: who you ask, and again, try to be no part
Speaker 5: of it. If it ain't broke and everyone's happy, why
Speaker 5: are you gonna put bother fixing it?
Speaker 4: But at some at some point, at some point, someone's
Speaker 4: got to pay it down if it continues to grow.
Speaker 4: And I've always looked at it, and Greg, if my professor,
Speaker 4: my if my view is not a good a good no,
Speaker 4: I know, but on the show, you're a professor, you're
Speaker 4: a profession because what I'm looking at myself and saying
Speaker 4: that the baby boomers, we're all going to be dead
Speaker 4: when uh when when the bills come due, but we're
Speaker 4: passing it on to our kids and our grandchildren.
Speaker 5: And that's exactly how I would have answered it. I mean,
Speaker 5: I think the more reasonable question is what the heck
Speaker 5: is Japan doing they had the last decade of the nineties.
Speaker 5: Hasn't anybody solved that problem? And I think there is
Speaker 5: a fealing, especially with a second term president, you can
Speaker 5: pretty much do whatever you want till the midterm elections,
Speaker 5: and to an extent, you're kicking that can down the road.
Speaker 5: And by the way, that has been the issue of
Speaker 5: social security for years. But you know, social security has
Speaker 5: been the third rail of US politics. Nobody wants to
Speaker 5: deal with the geriatric population. Nobody wants to deal with
Speaker 5: an aging population, so everyone takes a pass and just
Speaker 5: moves on to something else.
Speaker 4: I just want to carry your golf metaphor down the road,
Speaker 4: and that is that. Just as I don't want to
Speaker 4: be on the golf courst behind a quartet of people
Speaker 4: who spend most of their times in the woods trying
Speaker 4: to find their golf balls.
Speaker 3: I don't know that I want to follow Japan metaphor.
Speaker 5: I agree as.
Speaker 3: A model.
Speaker 5: The way Dan, you know, and I agree with that
Speaker 5: Japan is still the world's third or fourth largest economy. No,
Speaker 5: I know if he is, you know, four point five
Speaker 5: trillion dollars, they aren't doing too badly. Now, I agree
Speaker 5: with you. If you dissect it under a microscope, it's
Speaker 5: the fiscal hawks and the PCs would not be happy.
Speaker 5: But they're doing just fine. Kama, Thank you very much.
Speaker 3: All right, thank you much, great question.
Speaker 6: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Go ahead, quickly, go ahead.
Speaker 2: When it comes to the United States and golf, I
Speaker 2: got you.
Speaker 6: A lot of countries say, oh that's a gimme, that's
Speaker 6: a gimme when you got nukes and a big stick,
Speaker 6: not gonna make your.
Speaker 3: I guess, so I guess, So you got it. Thanks you.
Speaker 3: Good one, good one, quick break.
Speaker 4: I'm going to get to as many calls as we
Speaker 4: can between now and eleven.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: I think Greg's one of my favorite guests because not
Speaker 4: only does he talk about serious topics and make them understandable,
Speaker 4: but he has a sense of humor.
Speaker 3: Back on Night's Side, right after this.
Speaker 9: It's Nights Eye with Dan Ray and w Boston's News radio.
Speaker 4: All right, we got full lines here, so let's keep right.
Speaker 4: Gotta go next to Mario in Wilmington. Marrio, you gotta
Speaker 4: be quick for us, Please go right ahead.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 4: If Mary is not there, we'll put Mario on hold,
Speaker 4: which is fine, and we're gonna go next to John
Speaker 4: and Boston.
Speaker 3: John, you gotta be quick place.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Hi, Good evening, Professor, Good evening, Dan. I guess
Speaker 2: a couple of quick questions I've been trying to find
Speaker 2: out now. Biden put one hundred percent tariff on Chinese
Speaker 2: electric cars. Does that also cover gasoline or diesel vehicle
Speaker 2: cars if they wanted.
Speaker 5: To bring them here? Or is that only for electric cause?
Speaker 2: Second question is what is the average always wait, let's.
Speaker 4: Take them in John, John, John, let's take them one
Speaker 4: of its first question, Professor, I.
Speaker 5: Mean, I would say it really depends on the scope
Speaker 5: of the tariff. That's what makes some strategy interesting. It's
Speaker 5: not a blanket tariff on every good coming into the
Speaker 5: United States. It's selected by country, and it's selected by products.
Speaker 2: Well, in the case of Biden, he put one hundred
Speaker 2: percent pariff on Chinese electric cars, keeping byd out because
Speaker 2: they'd white General Moys and Tesla in Porto because they
Speaker 2: have a fifteen thousand dollars electric car that you could
Speaker 2: buy new. And does that only cover Biden's characteres that
Speaker 2: only cover electric cars or does that not cover gasoline
Speaker 2: diesel cars?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I do not know the answer to that, John.
Speaker 5: I know I can look it up an email, Dan,
Speaker 5: but I don't on the air giving an opinion.
Speaker 2: I prefer to give you no problem, no problem. What
Speaker 2: is the wage of the Chinese factory worker.
Speaker 5: I think it's about.
Speaker 2: As a matter of.
Speaker 5: Fact, I can answer that I was just in Hong
Speaker 5: Kong and Vietnam with twenty four our undergraduate students, and
Speaker 5: part of our visits in Hochiman City was to a
Speaker 5: US multinational and I can tell you that they are
Speaker 5: one tenth of what the US worker makes, and that's
Speaker 5: part of the allure of why these US companies are
Speaker 5: outsourcing well.
Speaker 2: And I want to mention, I want to ask the
Speaker 2: audience is there any factory in Boston in massachutt I
Speaker 2: know no factories in Boston or Massachusetts. And I wonder
Speaker 2: if any of your students, when they grow up and
Speaker 2: get out of school, want to work in a factory.
Speaker 2: Nobody wants to work in a factory. If want I understand,
Speaker 2: Professor am I correct and saying that the Chinese worker
Speaker 2: works from nine to the moine, nine to night, six
Speaker 2: days a week. And what American is going to do that?
Speaker 2: No Americans so very live again.
Speaker 5: If you're a Trump supporter, that is exactly what he
Speaker 5: wants to hear. If he's going to say, we need
Speaker 5: to bring manufacturing back to the United States, we need
Speaker 5: to provide our workers with a living wage. We need
Speaker 5: to make it pleasant for them with union protections to
Speaker 5: be able to work here.
Speaker 2: And that's going to mean higher price.
Speaker 4: By the way, John John, John hold On, by the way,
Speaker 4: that is where Trump is taking the Republican Party. And
Speaker 4: had a lot more union support, uh and and some
Speaker 4: support from minority groups. That that stunned everybody last November
Speaker 4: because those are sort of union have traditionally been democratic.
Speaker 4: And he made some inroads in you with union members
Speaker 4: and he's he's now following he's following through on his words. John,
Speaker 4: I got a pass. Let me what about all, John John,
Speaker 4: You're a veteran caller. I got people hanging on the line,
Speaker 4: Please give give give them an opportunity. I want to
Speaker 4: give them a couple of minutes too.
Speaker 3: Is that okay? With you?
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you, good night, Donna. In framing Hi,
Speaker 4: I'm going to get you in here quickly, Donaga, right ahead.
Speaker 4: You gotta be quick for me though.
Speaker 9: First of all, you and I are not good Americans,
Speaker 9: damned because you love Volvo's and I love Toyota cam Re's.
Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you this. I used to be a
Speaker 3: big fan of Vovo.
Speaker 4: I think Volvo now that it's owned by a Chinese company,
Speaker 4: I think it is it is not as great a
Speaker 4: car as it was ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. And
Speaker 4: again I'm not going to ask Professor h. Staller about that.
Speaker 4: That's my comment, not his. Go ahead, what's your question?
Speaker 9: Okay, Well, I'll continue. I saw on the news tonight
Speaker 9: the Volkswagon when the cars come to America. Now, when
Speaker 9: you look at the sticker, you know, on the on
Speaker 9: the window there on the side, the passenger's side, they're
Speaker 9: going to have an line item on the sticker that
Speaker 9: shows you why you're what you're paying extra?
Speaker 3: Okay? Is that a question? That's a question? Is that?
Speaker 3: Is that information or a question? Donna?
Speaker 9: Oh, that was just the information.
Speaker 3: Do you have a question. Do you have a question
Speaker 3: from my guest comment? Okay, Donna hold On, whoever Professor
Speaker 3: Staller would like.
Speaker 5: To prepare for tonight. I actually went to two automotive dealerships,
Speaker 5: one domestic one that specializes in foreign reports. Donna is
Speaker 5: absolutely right. Is that for the cars that are currently
Speaker 5: on the lot, there is a blank section on those stickers,
Speaker 5: and there is a section that's been set up that
Speaker 5: you will understand what you're paying for post April fifth.
Speaker 5: So she's absolutely right. And obviously, if the domestic dealership
Speaker 5: that I went through there was no such sticker, only
Speaker 5: if the dealership that specialized in foreign imports.
Speaker 3: Interesting, Donna, go ahead, if you have a question, feel for.
Speaker 9: Well, yeah, just one more thing. I appreciate that acknowledgement
Speaker 9: from a brilliant professor. That sounds pretty good to me.
Speaker 9: One about something like coffee, because Dan was talking about
Speaker 9: Dungan Donuts before. There's some things we can't make in
Speaker 9: the United States. We don't have a climate.
Speaker 5: And once again, once again this is putting a wedge
Speaker 5: between the Republicans and the Democrats. Yet again, someone who's
Speaker 5: a supporter of President Trump is going to say, well,
Speaker 5: maybe we should subsidize the US coffee industry, and maybe
Speaker 5: we should start growing coffee, or maybe if it's coming
Speaker 5: from Colombia, that maybe we're going to make it too
Speaker 5: expensive from Colombia. We're going to import it from another country.
Speaker 5: That's his plan, and the problem is that we're not
Speaker 5: talking about widgets. We're talking about products that are complex. Now,
Speaker 5: branded coffee isn't as complex as a car, but still
Speaker 5: when you if you're decapitated coffee or cappeitated coffee, it
Speaker 5: gets very confusing very quickly.
Speaker 3: All right, Donna, appreciate Donna.
Speaker 4: I pushed John to make sure I could get you.
Speaker 4: Now I'm going to push you so I get one
Speaker 4: other person too. Okay, thank you very much. Trying to
Speaker 4: be fair very quickly, Doreen, do you have a quick question.
Speaker 4: We only get less than two minutes for Professor Staler.
Speaker 10: All I want to say is, I'm proud of myself.
Speaker 10: I'm a Ford's product, upon the at product, and Cadillacs
Speaker 10: were my first car. I'm very proud of me. Well,
Speaker 10: goodbye to American name brands. Okay, good and I'm so
Speaker 10: ari that you bought what you think you do. But
Speaker 10: I understand what Trump's trying to do. Even though I
Speaker 10: get involved with Trump, I'm neutral and I like Biden too.
Speaker 5: Don't get me wrong, I do it.
Speaker 2: Okay, I get it and brought up you know what
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 4: I'm all right, Doreen. I appreciate it. I just got
Speaker 4: to wrap up with Professor Staller. Thank you for your comments.
Speaker 4: Appreciate it, Greg Staller, Professor Gregg Staller, once again, you
Speaker 4: definitely always prepare for the hour and it shows and
Speaker 4: I run.
Speaker 3: I'm going to help my audience. Thank you.
Speaker 4: I'd like to tap in in the next few weeks
Speaker 4: as this goes along with you kind of on a
Speaker 4: on a regular basis or a semi regular basis, because
Speaker 4: I think that you are able to call it for
Speaker 4: us as an umpire as to how it's going, if
Speaker 4: it's going well or going badly. I did notice that
Speaker 4: gas prices and oil prices today dropped a little bit
Speaker 4: kind of a countertrend against what the market did today.
Speaker 3: Can you give me a quick comment on that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that everybody's in a holding pattern. I
Speaker 5: wouldn't put too much faith in any metric that we're seeing.
Speaker 5: And you and I had spoken off the air earlier
Speaker 5: today and I said, yeah, the Dallas currently down. This
Speaker 5: was four or five hours ago, thirteen hundred plus points,
Speaker 5: and you said it's going to come back. And I
Speaker 5: agree with you. I think that the term whipsaw is
Speaker 5: probably the best adjective we can use at this point
Speaker 5: in We just have to keep the faith and not
Speaker 5: go to look at your four oh one k on
Speaker 5: a daily basis, not look at your gas prices on
Speaker 5: a daily basis. It's going to drive all of us crazy.
Speaker 5: And by the way, we're all of the same boat,
Speaker 5: including me. We just have to look at this on
Speaker 5: a monthly basis or even a quarterly basis, because in
Speaker 5: my opinion, that's the only way that's fair to look
Speaker 5: at it.
Speaker 4: Couldn't agree with you, boy, Greg Staller, Professor Staalin, thank
Speaker 4: you so much for your time. You'll be back with us.
Speaker 4: The next invitation will issue a lot more quickly than
Speaker 4: the last one. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5: Okay, as often as you'd like, So thank you.
Speaker 4: Thanks Professor Greg Staller of the Questroom School of Business
Speaker 4: at Boston University. Now we will open it up for
Speaker 4: all of you. We have an hour left. Let's talk
Speaker 4: fourteen fourteen hundred points seventeen hundred points today. That's a
Speaker 4: big drop. Feel free to chime in. Are you maintaining
Speaker 4: your faith and belief in President Trump or are you
Speaker 4: losing it? Whatever you'd like to talk about. It's opened lines,
Speaker 4: but it's on tariffs for the next hour.