Summary
A new WalletHub poll reveals that 74% of Americans believe Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs will worsen inflation, which remains a major concern for most households.
Trump’s plan includes significant tariffs—up to 60% on Chinese goods and 20% on other imports—to protect American jobs and address issues like fentanyl production and border security.
Experts warn these tariffs could increase consumer prices, with middle-income families potentially losing $2,500 annually.
Analysts caution Trump’s plans may face political hurdles in Congress despite his economic-focused campaign promises.
I understand the appeal of “teaching them a lesson”, purely for spiteful reasons. But there are problems with that approach:
You can teach a child never to put his hand on the burner by putting his hand on the burner. He’ll learn alright, but he’ll also have a nasty burn. Similarly, you don’t want people to learn the dangers of populism and extreme right by letting the extreme-right populist do stupid shit and wreck their lives.
We who didn’t vote for the dangerous populist live in the same country as those who did: even if we wanted to let the dangerous populist hurt them to teach them a lesson, he’ll hurt us too in the process.
History always repeat itself: even if everybody learns a hard lesson after Trump is done wrecking the economy - or worse - our children, or our children’s children will invariably elect another Trump some day. So we might as well do our best to limit the damage each time.