Judge orders government to begin refunding more than $130B in tariffs • Hacker News Board

Re: Judge orders government to begin refunding more than $130B in tariffs

#281

Post by aduffy » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 3:48 PM UTC

trymas wrote: post #256

Side topic, but this number puts into how crazy it was for trump[0] to go on tariff war against enemies and friends alike. All the propaganda and extortionist language about how all countries will pay up to USA. Astronomical tariffs in some cases, trade wars and dramas, alienate all allies and from all of this they got only $130B ? $7T of spending, $1.77T in deficit[1] and they planned to fix this hole with $100B?! M…

They need to refund it *with interest*, according to filings cited in the article.

Re: Judge orders government to begin refunding more than $130B in tariffs

#282

Post by baby_souffle » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 3:48 PM UTC

joshlemer wrote: post #248

kowalej wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that, the companies used the tariff excuse to raise prices which will not come back down even if tariffs are fully off the table. Just like the price inflation during COVID.

Prices don’t monotonically go up forever, prices come down all the time Edit: Sorry autocorrect thought I said moronically,

Depends on how sticky the prices are. Some things are volatile as hell and swing wildly from week to week, some things are stable until adjusted and then they stay that price for another decade.

Most things are never going to be cheaper than they are today. Some things may be cheaper this time next year but not by more than a few percent at the most.

Re: Judge orders government to begin refunding more than $130B in tariffs

#283

Post by stackedinserter » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 3:48 PM UTC

throwaway667555 wrote: post #92

I'm gonna have a stroke. The Congressional Budget Office found that consumers paid 70-80% of the tariffs, totaling more than $1000 per household. Where is my refund?

You'll need to ask companies that are going to get that government refund.

Re: Judge orders government to begin refunding more than $130B in tariffs

#284

Post by TechSquidTV » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 3:49 PM UTC

The American people will be robbed blind and beaten into submission until there is a reason not to. It's that simple. They have NEVER been punished, why would they stop?

Re: Judge orders government to begin refunding more than $130B in tariffs

#285

Post by bdangubic » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 3:50 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #19

bdangubic wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that was the plan all along

These people are evil, but also bumbling idiots, so sometimes there is no evil plan, just incompetence.

they are everything except incompetent when it comes to massively looting us and profiting.

Re: Judge orders government to begin refunding more than $130B in tariffs

#286

Post by llm_nerd » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 3:50 PM UTC

just-working wrote: post #12

hypeatei wrote: post #7

[flagged]

It's really more complicated than this. Onshoring manufacturing is something that has to be incentivized and that has positive externalities outside of dollars and cents. But some tariffs were really dumb, like on bananas. We can't grow bananas here...

>Onshoring manufacturing is something that has to be incentivized and that has positive externalities outside of dollars and cents.

That's what the CHIPS act did. Indeed, everyone talking about TSMC, Intel, etc -- that's all because of the CHIPS act.

Toddler tantrum tariffs, which in reality are a vehicle for massive level corruption (see how Vietnam got a "deal" by approving a Trump resort. Or how every business leader is stuck to Trump's anus lest they be targeted by his tyrant tantrums), are not an incentive. It has had the opposite effect, and new builds have basically dried up.

Re: Judge orders government to begin refunding more than $130B in tariffs

#287

Post by parineum » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 3:50 PM UTC

Herring wrote: post #33

hypeatei wrote: post #7

[flagged]

In 2023, 28% of U.S. adults scored at or below Level 1 literacy, indicating significant difficulty with everyday reading tasks. https://www.nu.edu/blog/49-adult-literacy-statistics-and-fac... You guys are surrounded by other college-educated SWE, you have no idea how bad it is out there. People without a college degree went Trump 56-43. People with a college degree went for Harris 56-42. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…

> People without a college degree went Trump 56-43. People with a college degree went for Harris 56-42.

One made more promises to the poor and working class. It seems baked into your comment that the distribution should be 50-50 which seems crazy. A swing of ~5 points isn't that much.

This math would work on any demographic.

Re: Judge orders government to begin refunding more than $130B in tariffs

#288

Post by petcat » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 3:50 PM UTC

irishcoffee wrote: post #218

mothballed wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.... what? 3 of the justices were nominated by Trump. You think the people appointing them didn't have internal deliberations before they were appointed, including about things Trump had thought about like tariffs? Even FDR knew the 'separation' was a farce, that's how he magically got the court to go along with progressive programs they prior didn't support, after the 'Switch in time that saved nine.' SCOTUS largely…

> 3 of the justices were nominated by Trump. You can blame RBG for one of those. It fascinates me that Biden made the same mistake RBG did, I’ll always wonder how different the would would be if she had stepped down and the democratic party had held a real primary. I don’t like trump, I think he stinks. The democratic party has a few own-goals in this current game.

I can't blame Ginsurg. She was still capable of performing her duties even at the end. She resisted an overtly political retirement and it wasn't even clear if a compatible replacement would be confirmed even if she did retire early.

It's unfortunate how it went, but I respect her decision.

Re: Judge orders government to begin refunding more than $130B in tariffs

#289

Post by chanitypham » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 3:50 PM UTC

[dead]

Re: Judge orders government to begin refunding more than $130B in tariffs

#290

Post by rayiner » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 3:50 PM UTC

irishcoffee wrote: post #218

mothballed wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.... what? 3 of the justices were nominated by Trump. You think the people appointing them didn't have internal deliberations before they were appointed, including about things Trump had thought about like tariffs? Even FDR knew the 'separation' was a farce, that's how he magically got the court to go along with progressive programs they prior didn't support, after the 'Switch in time that saved nine.' SCOTUS largely…

> 3 of the justices were nominated by Trump. You can blame RBG for one of those. It fascinates me that Biden made the same mistake RBG did, I’ll always wonder how different the would would be if she had stepped down and the democratic party had held a real primary. I don’t like trump, I think he stinks. The democratic party has a few own-goals in this current game.

> I don’t like trump, I think he stinks. The democratic party has a few own-goals in this current game.

You guys should have nominated Amy Klobuchar as VP so you had a credible backup when it became apparent that Biden was too old to run again. That’s a mistake that’s going to continue holding you back, since Biden made South Carolina the first primary state: https://www.masslive.com/politics/2025/06/2028-dem-frontrunn....

As Obama said, “never underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck things up.”