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

wsj.com

661–670 of 843 posts

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

#661
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…

The purpose of the tariffs was to strong-arm countries into unfair trade deals, not to collect revenue

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

#662
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…

The purpose of the tariffs was to strong-arm countries into unfair trade deals, not to collect revenue

The purpose of the tariffs was to appeal to the part of the domestic constituency that has belief in protectionist policies as a good in and of themselves rather than a means to an ends, not to achieve some direct material policy outcome outside of the scope of political enthusiasm.

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

#663
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…

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

#664
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…

[dead]

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

#665
post #593

Wouldn't it be simpler to implement a 'spend-forward scheme' rather than returning? For example, spend that money on research grants and health care. It is returning the money to the people. A man can dream, no?

Sounds like communism to me.

Socialism, you mean, not communism.

This is a way of spending taxes on the public, the kind Denmark does. It isn't "no private property; everything belongs to the govt".

Also, if we are redistributing taxes to fund endless wars and subsidizing almond/avocado farmers, and propping up public money to ensure banks don't collapse, we are already in socialist territory. Have always been. But God forbid we spend the money on healthcare ... that's "taking us back to Mao".

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

#666

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

yeah that's the trade off of having a state. the alternative is getting mugged and having to pay ExxonMobil Police Task Force sponsored by Verizon to get your shit back (or deciding it's not worth the cash).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLfghLQE3F4

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

#667
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…

[flagged]

That approach may need to be reexamined as it didn't appear to work.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4872657-us-goods-trade-defi...

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

#668
post #381
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…

It's unbelievable he's still given any semblance of credence for anything he does. Trump is just palpably stupid. He is bad at absorbing information, he is bad at analytical thinking, he is impatient, vain and rash. Aside from his tenuous legal justification, he never once publicly expressed even a fundamental understanding of the basic mechanics of tariff collection nor what balance of trade actually means. You'd co…

It is a different kind of intelligence: System 1 instead of System 2. I guess you could call it startup style.

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

#669
post #656

This is just the citizenry paying double tariffs. First, we bought the higher priced goods. Now, the companies are trying to take our tariff payments again, this time from the government, to "make up" for the tariff money that we had already paid them in the first place. What should happen is that $X of the budget should be put into escrow for the next administration to use after these criminals make their way out.

Maybe triple. (1) paid higher prices, (2) the government will issue debt to refund the tariffs to importers who we already reimbursed through higher prices, and then (3) Congress will use the extra debt from the refunds as justification for higher individual taxes to pay for the 2025 tax cuts for businesses.

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

#670
post #96

Absolutely absurd that we’re at this point. The courts / SCOTUS let the government roll out a massive and obviously illegal tax on citizens for a long time. They should have stepped in earlier. Now we the people probably don’t get our money back….

SCOTUS was told no injunction was warranted because IF the tariffs were found to be improper, the money could be returned-no harm.

Now the government says they can’t refund because the amount of money is too big and they already spent it.

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