It's time to scrap tariffs By Monica Showalter

[mystery-ak]

November 7, 2025
It's time to scrap tariffs
By Monica Showalter

Zohran Mamdani, a lunatic-fringe leftist, won election as mayor of New York by addressing the cost of living and making Hugo Chavez-like promises of free goodies for all.

The latter will be a disaster, but the fact that the Trump administration officials are now focusing on the cost of living, too, suggests that all may not be a "golden age" as the administration has been promoting.

Get a load of J.D. Vance:

    I think it's idiotic to overreact to a couple of elections in blue states, but a few thoughts:

    1) Scot Pressler, TPUSA, and a bunch of others have been working hard to register voters. I said it in 2022, and I've said it repeatedly since: our coalition is "lower propensity" and…
    — JD Vance (@JDVance) November 5, 2025

They may just be catching on to the reality that it's a bad idea to do that, claiming a golden age, redolent of the Joe Biden or Chesa Boudin playbook, claiming all is well and citing statistics when all is not well.

Tariffs, in fact, may be the problem.

Charlie Gasparino, whom I used to work with when I was at the Bond Buyer and he was at the American Banker in the late 1990s (our papers shared an open floor next to one another in the building) has a compelling argument to say that this may be what's hurting consumers.

In his New York Post column, he writes:

    Target’s prices are up 5.5% nationwide this year and Walmart’s are up 5.3%, according to an analysis by DataWeave, which looked at roughly 16,000 items across each retailer’s website. Amazon’s price hikes have averaged more than 12%, according to a report. After seven months under Trump’s tariffs, Americans are paying more for nearly everything — from a cup of joe and plush living room sofas to children’s toys.

    Inflation for food has been tamed to 3.1%, according to September’s Consumer Price Index — a far cry from the double-digit increases under President Biden.

    But certain groceries, particularly meat, are still up for various reasons. Bananas are up 8.6%, mostly because of tariffs, as almost none are produced domestically. Chicken and eggs have fluctuated because of bird flu.

    Beef is up across the board — up more than 19% for steak, and 14% for ground beef. Ranchers blame smaller herds because of drought. They are also helped by tariffs on foreign beef, and Trump says he’s considering consumer relief by boosting Argentinian imports.

more
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/11/it_s_time_to_scrap_tariffs.html

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Vance's reaction was about as intelligent as all the people blaming cheating every time the Democrats win: not very.

[Hoodat]

It's time to stop spending money we don't have.  As long as government spending remains above 19% of GDP, we are screwed.  And no amount of tariffs will make up the difference.

[LMAO]

The president will not part with them

He still prattling on about falling prices, following grocery prices, how he put in place tariffs for the world,  and this stupid Walmart turkey dinner being 25% less than last year, but he forgets to include the caveats for the reason why


If the Republican Party wants any chance of saving itself, senators need to reassert themselves

[LMAO]

Vance's reaction was about as intelligent as all the people blaming cheating every time the Democrats win: not very.

But it’s what Trump’s base wants to hear

It doesn’t have to be true. It just has to be comforting for them.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

But it’s what Trump’s base wants to hear

It doesn’t have to be true. It just has to be comforting for them.

Congress gave FDR the keys to the tariffs rules. It can take them away. If Trump won't budge, it can and should take them away again.

[Smokin Joe]

I guess I'm just not seeing the pain when it comes to items that can be blamed on tarrifs.

I don't buy bananas. Yes, beef is up, but that is because of domestic supply problems that will take a year or two to shake out.
Gasoline is down here, ($2.71/gallon for 87 octane), which is considerably cheaper than most of the last 5 years.
I avoid processed foods and a lot of imported items, and the things I buy have generally been pretty stable. One exception being canned mushrooms, and those have definitely gone up. (But read the fine print, and most are from China).
Maybe my shopping patterns are just different, but most of what I buy (not counting beef) has stayed about the same or gone down.

[Hoodat]

I don't buy bananas.

You should.  They're a bargain.  You can get a 3-lb bunch for less than $1.50.

But if people really want to see grocery prices fall, then cut off SNAP.

[Smokin Joe]

You should.  They're a bargain.  You can get a 3-lb bunch for less than $1.50.

But if people really want to see grocery prices fall, then cut off SNAP.

Maybe you can, but not in North Dakota.