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Erich Almasy's avatar

One other thought about Trump’s tariffs. I believe they are here for his four years. He floated a White House budget that does away with income taxes for those making less than $200,000 per year. To pay for it every family will get a $5,000 sale/tariff tax. Thanks for nothing Donald.

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Mike Steely's avatar

Trump fantasized about tariffs replacing income tax, but even congressional Republicans realize what a load of crap that is. They're counting on the tariffs, combined with drastic cuts to our safety net programs, to reduce all the red ink in Trump's "big, beautiful bill."

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Erich Almasy's avatar

Sometime last year saw the one-billionth Barbie sold! I learned about “doll economics” some three decades ago when I worked with Ruth Handler, Mattel’s co-founder, to help the company get its products into Costco. At the time, I thought the profit was in the accessories (the old “razor blade strategy”). But Ruth said, “no it’s the doll!” 35 cents plus tariff doesn’t sound like a lot but each step in the distribution takes its own bite. It will add up.

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Michael Bianca's avatar

Stocks rebound! You mean all the Democratic panic over the economy is a ' never mind'? Quick, what's the next scheduled hysteria? I'm sure we won't have to wait long.

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Bruce Van Zee's avatar

Amen!

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Joe Yetter's avatar

Great analysis. Thanks.

I'd also note that Trump says he expects that Chana will "eat" the tariffs. It seems to me that it's impossible to "eat" a tariff of over 100%, even if it costs nothing to manufacture an item. I suppose prices could dip below zero briefly, as oil prices did a while back, but that's not the best business model.

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