At least Trump isn’t threatening the independence of the central bank. After all, Trump chose Powell. Unless you believe this “fake news” from the Atlantic…
Trump could remove Powell without any questions or controversy in 2026, of course.
— (excerpt, Atlantic Magazine)
“According to President Donald Trump, the banker he picked to lead the Federal Reserve is “WRONG.” His reports are a “complete ‘mess!’” And his termination “cannot come fast enough!”
These kinds of remarks would be extraordinary for any other resident of the White House. Presidents are normally deferential to central bankers and avoid lobbying for monetary-policy changes in order to maintain the markets’ faith in the Fed’s independence. Not Trump. He has blasted the Fed dozens and dozens of times over the years, labeling its policies “ridiculous,” calling its officials “pathetic” and “boneheads,” and branding Jerome Powell an “enemy.”
The markets (and Fed officials) have largely shrugged off this jawboning and name-calling. Trump hasn’t swayed the central bank’s policy in any appreciable way, and Powell—again, a Trump nominee—has proved a deft leader of the central bank. But interest rates are climbing and growth is falling, giving Trump trillions of reasons to get rid of the Fed chair. A pending court case might grant the president the capacity to remove him without cause, in contravention of current law. “Fast enough” might come surprisingly soon. And if Trump then manipulates the Fed to increase growth, he risks damaging the American economy for the foreseeable future.
I have a related question that I hope is OK to ask here, since I just thought of it while reading this thread.
What has Trump promised that the US will do with the bazillions of dollars that will be collected in tariffs? Is it just paying off the national debt and lowering everyone’s federal taxes? Is that his stated end game?
It doesn’t seem like he’s out there saying that the government will be out there building bridges and roads and schools and space ships. But also I try to avoid listening to avoid listening too closely so maybe I missed it, if he’s touting that sort of thing.
I assume he’s just going the route of paying off the national debt and lowering everyone’s taxes but is that really what is getting his non-millionaire supporters excited? Like woohoo the world is going to burn but I’m going to stop having to pay $7000/year in federal tax?
He has floated the idea a few times of using the tariff money to replace income taxes. It’s a dumb idea, as we’re currently experiencing, but it’s something.
There is a difference between having a problem with the tariffs and being worried about paying them. This particular farmer could be an apolitical person who may or may not have had a problem with the tariffs, but he wasn’t worried because he thought that his contract protected him. Not being worried isn’t evidence.
What’s obvious about it? That’s he’s an upstate New York farmer ignorant of tariffs? Because that’s pretty much all we know about him. You’re sailing perilously close to Whack-A-Mole’s contention that it’s ok to give OPs carte blanche to make up attributions to people based on groups they might be part of. I sure hope that isn’t the case because I’m already depressed enough that even one person on this board (of all boards) would take that stance.
Or the OP was simply reflecting their own misreading of the article and you’re obsessed with absolving them of that mistake.
I think the OP’s point is that Americans are the ones paying Trump’s tariffs. Not Canadians, Mexicans, Chinese, and so on. It’s Americans. No matter how the OP worded it, it comes down to Americans paying Trumps tariffs, and certainly not Canada, Mexico, or China.
Trump has no knowledge of international trade, that much is true. So it should not be a surprise that a NY farmer is surprised by Trump’s tariffs. Trump promised that the exporting countries would pay them, but in fact, the exporting countries do not (holy “Mexico will build the wall and pay for it, Batman”), and Trump is left with a bunch of voters who say, “But Mr. Trump, you said …”
And now, they’re realizing that what Trump says isn’t worth a pinch of coonshit, as my Dad would say. Tough noogies to be them.
I’m firmly convinced that the vast majority of MAGA people still believe this is the case. They believe Trump when he says China has paid “hundreds of billions” in tariffs to the U.S., thanks to him. The also believe him when he says gas is $1.98 and the price of eggs has drop 94%. This, in spite of what they are actually paying. Completely delusional or completely stupid.
I could see how someone could be surprised by a tariff-driven price increase.
You buy your widgets from Canada. You hear tariffs are coming so you lock in the price with a contract. You may have done this from time to time when you suspect prices are about to rise. Such a contract would force the supplier to eat the increase and deliver at the contract price.
So you are feeling pretty smug having dodged another bullet.
Then the widget shipment comes in and you discover they were delivered to you at the agreed-upon price. But the US government requires you to pay the tariff.
The Canadians met the contract price. In fact they may have locked you into buying widgets despite the tariff.
To me, this is just “We’re going to build the wall, and Mexico is going to pay for it,” writ large.
What’s harder to ascertain is:
Does Trump know he’s wrong (ie, he’s lying)?
Does Trump really believe the math works the way he says it works?
Which of these two options would be worse?
Either way, at its core, this is classic primordial demagogue stuff: straight to the uber-nationalist core of his base. With GW Bush it was “You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists.”
“I think in many ways religion and nationalism are the two scourges of humanity.”
–Deepak Chopra
Patriots tend to bear a strong and specific resemblance to Christians: the easiest thing in the world is to call yourself one or the other, or fly the flag, or wear a cross. That’s it. After that, you’re done. You don’t even have to DO anything at all. Just wear the label or the jewelry.
With Trump making ill-informed and ill-advised decisions with no Congressional oversight that hurt the whole world economy, it’s more like you lose some and then you lose some more.
The farmers are also surprised because of history. Trump experimented with (much lower) tariffs during his first term. China reacted by imposing additional tariffs on some exported agriculture, and Trump subsidized many farmers for all of these costs and more. So during the election, many farmers did not fear tariffs since they thought the government would subsidize them away and that they might even make money on the deal. And now they are “having fun” selling produce to Americans when they make more than Americans can buy, which is why the export markets were there.
