Category: Economics

That Tariff Thing

Business, Drive Time, Economics, Gummint

Ignoring any sensationalism from the Daily Mail  (like ignoring rapaciousness from the IRS), I see that Britishland faces a 10% tariff hike.

Which, using Kim’s patented Law Of Ten Method, means nothing.  (The corollary to said law, when applied to budgeting, says that you can always take 10% off anything without much or indeed any problem.  This is true of a household or corporate budget.)  Remember too that tariffs are not applied to the retail sale price — i.e. what you pay for them — but to the cost of goods in the home country.  Even so, I expect that U.S. retailers will eat some of any wholesale price increases, so the retail cost of goods to the consumer will not be that onerous.  Especially after we’ve just gone through Bidenflation. [25,000-word rant on that topic deleted]

I see this, with amusement:

The UK currently exports around £60billion worth of goods to the US. 

Almost all of these goods will now be taxed 10% to send them to the US, making it more expensive.  

Within this £60billion, British cars make up just over £6billion of the exports. Trump last night announced a 25% tariff on all imported cars, again making it more expensive, and less attractive, to buy UK-made motors.

So those Rolls Royces, Bentleys and NuJaguar Duracell cars are going to cost more (not the full 25%, as I expect that the manufacturers thereof will eat at least part if not most of the tariff).  Somehow, I’m pretty sure that the Murkin buyers (plutocrat scum) of said luxury items will not be  driven away by what is not a significant price increase.

Doubtless, my post-lottery Eagle E-type will cost more:

…but I’m pretty sure the lottery winnings would absorb the hit with little notice.  [/snark]

As for companies like AstraZeneca (the Covid guys) with their ~5,000% profit margins, my heart bleeds custard, the chiseling scum.

The Euros (20%), on the other hand, may have a harder time of it, and the Chinese (34%) harder still.  Whatever.  Peruse the table below, and feel free to comment about any of the countries that you may know about.

The Balkans are not listed, but I’ll be curious to see what if anything happens to the price of, say, Prvi Partizan ammo.

Finally, just remember that the United States is the world’s largest market for just about everything made in that world, so if prices rise too high, Americans will just stop buying that imported shit.  Which suits me just fine.  I’d like to see a whole bunch of textile mills, for example, re-open in places like Mississippi, who could sure use the jobs that they lost to the cheaper sweatshops in Asia in not-so-long-ago times, when the Finance assholes moved their operations abroad.

Interesting times.

Great Idea; Never Gonna Happen

Economics

I beseech all of you to read this article in full.  Here’s a taste:

Put simply, Trump is trying to beat countries with a stick until they agree to dismantle red tape that is holding back global demand for US goods and services. America is resorting to tariffs for one main reason. Over the past four decades, many countries have followed the US in lowering their tariff regimes, but they have not torn down regulatory barriers, or dealt with anti-competitive distortions. 
Trump’s masterplan is to create a new “coalition of the willing”, with the world divided into those who welcome competitive dynamism and those who cling to stagnation.

Then the writer puts forward an argument which contains so much common sense that it makes adopting it a slam-dunk for even the most foolish and doctrinaire of governments.

Which is why Britishland’s Labour Party will never adopt it.

Bad Pennies

Economics

I don’t like this latest thing by the POTUS:

President Donald Trump announced he had instructed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to have the Treasury Department stop making new pennies, explaining that it costs more than two cents to make them.

Yes, it makes sense on a facile cost : benefit basis, but what it does is surrender to the trope that inflation (created by government in the first place) has rendered the penny valueless.

Why not work to rein in inflation and lower prices so that a penny becomes worth something again?

Oh wait;  that would be more difficult than just quitting on the penny.

Timeless Wisdom

Bad News, Deep Thoughts, Economics, History, Modernism

On this website, I have said time and time again that the reason I look so closely at British politics and society is that what happens Over There inevitably follows Over Here.

So I beseech you with all my heart to watch the discussion entitled The Fall Of England, between historian professor David Starkey and comedians (!) Konstantin Kisin  and Francis Foster. 

It is a very long discussion — over an hour and a half — because to be quite frank, it’s a topic that absolutely cannot be encapsulated in bullet points and bumper stickers.

And you should then understand the absolute magnitude of the task that faces us MAGA folks, because in some regards we are worse off than the Brits.  The only thing in our favor right now is the fact that we may have elected our equivalent of Argentina’s Milei — I hope — whereas Britain (England) has no such figure either present or on the horizon.  The Margaret Thatchers of England don’t come along that often to save the day, and to be honest, we don’t get them that often either.

Listen, and learn.

Comment Of The Day

Economics, Taxes and Theft

From Longtime Reader GT3Ted:

“The Lottery is a Tax on the people were not paying attention in math class.”

Absolutely, except for one small quibble.

It’s only a tax when you are compelled by government to pay it, at gunpoint.  Last time I looked, buying a lottery ticket was voluntary.

It’s also therapeutic.  In my case, it prevents me from using my AK-47 outside the shooting range every day (if you get my drift).

Cheap at the price.

Not Just China

Bad News, Economics

Via Insty, this little snippet:

The danger for China is deflation could snowball by encouraging households reeling from falling paychecks to cut back on spending, or delay purchases because they expect prices to fall further. Corporate revenues will suffer, stifling investment and leading to further salary cuts and layoffs, bankrupting families and firms.

China?  How about right here in the U.S.?

The Fed’s beige book, a survey of economic conditions in the US compiled by the regional Fed banks, suggested that the US economy was slowing. Five out of the 12 Fed districts reported flat or declining economic activity, three more than in May’s survey.

And just for (bitter) laughs:

“Inflation has also fallen faster than expected, hitting 3 per cent in June.”

Tell that to my grocery, fuel and utility bills.