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Are Trump's tariffs supposed to "make America rich again" or put stocks on sale for bottom feeding billionaires.

gdgyva said:
really
so Coca Cola is going bk heh?
Or Proctor & Gamble?
Or Sysco?
Or Nvidia?
Or Pepsi
Or Heinz?

I guess we just need to go lay down in the basement in a fetal position, and hope the world ends huh?

Maybe you see the world that way....but those companies, and many many more will still be doing business today, tomorrow, and next week. And earning money doing so....And that is how the world of capitalism works....you can make a little money by owning a small part of each, or you can do what some others are doing, sell everything....and lose whatever gains you had, and hope like hell you have enough sense to get back in at some point

Your choice....i know which way i am going.....and i have no qualms doing so
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This stock market crash has nothing to do with capitalism in fact it is the opposite. Trump is a communist who despises the free market. Stock are an anachronism under Trump's policies. He is using the Govt. to control corporations and it his tariffs are a huge VAT on consumers that will crush our GDP that is 75% consumer spending. You are free to invest as you wish but you are betting that Trump will fail and we will recover someday.

At a more fundamental level though tariffs are anti-capitalist. Capitalism thrives when capital can freely flow to where it’s most efficiently utilized. It’s not called “free” trade because it’s costless. There are always trade-offs in trade. It’s called free trade because traders are free to choose where they will allocate their trade. We let corporations choose where to allocate capital and labor because we know that free markets are better at allocating capital than governments. So it’s especially odd to see the party of free market capitalism promoting a policy agenda that is very much against free market individualism. It’s even weirder to see that party promoting a corporate tax increase that will ultimately end up being a consumer, labor and shareholder tax. I don’t intend to sound political. This is just a basic fundamental truth of free trade and Capitalism. If you think the government is great at fixing things then tariffs are for you. If you’re a true Capitalist then you should despise tariffs.

https://disciplinefunds.com/2025/02/03/lets-talk-about-tariffs/
 
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craig said:
Why is Trump negotiating in public. That allows rampant insider trading.
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???

What is he negotiating in public?
 
iguanaman said:
Some people can't afford to lose 50% of their money in a week and wait years for a recovery. To billionaires it is just another day. BTW some of these companies are not going to survive this deep recession we are heading for and their stock will be worthless. Again it will not worry the billionaires. Trump has again made false promises and threats to get elected....

It was just five years ago when Donald Trump, worried about a re-election race he would ultimately lose, warned that his defeat would lead to economic ruin. In fact, with just a couple of weeks remaining before Election Day, the two major-party nominees faced off in their final debate, which included a rather specific prediction.

“They say the stock market will rule if I’m elected,” Trump said, failing to identify who “they” might be. He added, in reference to Joe Biden: “If he’s elected, the stock market will crash.”

As it turns out, the Republican had the right concerns, but the wrong presidents. The major Wall Street indexes fared quite well throughout Biden’s term in the White House. Unfortunately for everyone, the Democrat’s Republican successor can’t say the same. NBC News reported:


We are not, of course, talking about a one-day sell-off. On the contrary, a day earlier — the day the White House unveiled its highly controversial policy on trade tariffs — the S&P had its worst day since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Nasdaq Composite is now down 22% from its high in December, and the S&P 500 is about 17% off its high in February.

Amid the downturn, the president — who left the White House for a Saudi-backed golf event in Florida — wrote to his social media platform, “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow...nted-discredited-campaign-promises-rcna199774
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OK. So we're all gonna go broke and die. That sucks.
 
craig said:
Announcing everything in the media.
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Ummm...

Announcing stuff isn't "negotiation".

What do you have against transparency?
 
Mycroft said:
Ummm...

Announcing stuff isn't "negotiation".

What do you have against transparency?
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It is when every phone call is announced to the public and it moves markets. Do you need examples?
 
craig said:
It is when every phone call is announced to the public and it moves markets. Do you need examples?
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Don't bother. You still don't understand what a negotiation is, so you would be wasting my time.
 
Mycroft said:
Don't bother. You still don't understand what a negotiation is, so you would be wasting my time.
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I know what malfeasance in office is.
 
my2sence said:
are they a transient market manipulation
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This week you will read many confused economists and political pundits who won’t understand how the tariffs make economic sense. That’s because they don’t. They aren’t designed as economic policy. The tariffs are simply a new, super dangerous political tool.

You see, our founders created a President with limited and checked powers. They specifically put the power of spending and taxation in the hands of the legislature. Why? Because they watched how kings and despots used spending and taxes to control their subjects.

British kings used taxation to reward loyalty and punish dissent. Our own revolution was spurred by the King’s use of heavy taxation of the colonies to punish our push for self governance. The King’s message was simple: stop protesting and I’ll stop taxing.

Trump knows that he can weaken (and maybe destroy) democracy by using spending and taxation in the same way. He is using access to government funds to bully universities, law firms and state and local governments into loyalty pledges.


Link
 
Mycroft said:
Ummm...

Announcing stuff isn't "negotiation".

What do you have against transparency?
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There is pleading from the countries he is harming but Trump has said he won't budge on the tariffs. They are set in stone according to him

In an all-caps message on his Truth Social social media platform, Trump sought to convey his defiance in the wake of news that Beijing is preparing to hit back with 34% tariffs of its own.


“TO THE MANY INVESTORS COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES AND INVESTING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF MONEY, MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE,” he claimed. “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH, RICHER THAN EVER BEFORE!!!”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/04/trump-tariffs-truth-social
 
Gozaburo said:
What's the idea here? That in the short term they take massive losses but in the long term they gobble up what the other 99% own, which is pretty much nothing anyway?
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No. They sold off their stock before the fall, then when the fall reaches where they think is the bottom, they buy them back up.
 
gdgyva said:
4. An ill advised plan to TRY and bring back manufacturing to America
The issue is twofold....one, it is a very long term plan if it would happen, and two, automation will beat him to the punch. It is already occurring in so many of the plants around the world as we speak....what will it be like 10-15 years from now.

I think i understand WHAT he and his cronies are trying to do, which is somehow bring the trade deficit into a more reasonable number. The problem is the way he is trying to accomplish said goal. We cant continue to add another trillion in trade deficits annually....America is being sold off in piecemeal as it is. But the tariffs, and the way his administration threw them out there is probably one of the worst ideas i have seen.

This needed to done through trade agreements....and one country or region at a time
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Nice to see a level headed post here. You obviously understand what Trump is trying to do, which is to bring back manufacturing to the US, and to bring the trade deficit more into balance. As you say, it would have been better to address trade agreements one country at a time. But Trump is impatient, and he likes to do things quickly, all at once, and in his bullying fashion.
The tariffs may or may not work, but doing nothing might be just as bad. OR accept the United States decline into a secondary power as it comes - which may have been the strategy of the globalists.

Anyway, all we can do is wait it out and see what happens. What measure of success (if any) will come because of the other countries response. Will they come negotiate, will they be angry, offended, and retaliate? Will they forget about us and ally themselves with China? Most likely there will probably be some pros and cons, it's just a question of where the balance between them will end up. As for the stock market, it will go back up once we all understand what the new rules of conducting business are going to be.
 
my2sence said:
The tariff induced market crash gives billionaires & insiders a way to steal stocks from panicked sellers.

Will the tariffs hold or are they a transient market manipulation that will go away as soon as the fat cats & insiders have pigged out on the carcasses of the small investors.
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well certainly this should be a buying opportunity.

Buffet got out of the stock market and has his company into cash at the moment. this should drive Trillions into treasury bonds for the scared money.

and we may get canada/mexico/greenland cheap when they default.

.
 
donhughesmusic said:
No. They sold off their stock before the fall, then when the fall reaches where they think is the bottom, they buy them back up.
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Is there an indication this happened?
 
Gozaburo said:
Is there an indication this happened?
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I've been hearing about wealthy investors selling off their stock for about the past six months now. Not sure what the reason was though. Maybe they were just expecting a correction.
 
forn said:
but doing nothing might be just as bad.
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LOL....seriously? You are witnessing the 2-day largest drop in a long time, world markets in decline, US GDP projected to go negative in the next quarter....but your argument is that doing nothing, ie remaining with the last admins soft landing......would be worse?

Is that an example of "level headedness"?

wow
 
Gozaburo said:
I'm curious: are you under the impression that tariffs which, at least in the short term, destroy the stock market and finance class, are an intentional move by the capitalist elite? What's the idea here? That in the short term they take massive losses but in the long term they gobble up what the other 99% own, which is pretty much nothing anyway?

Bizarre angle. It seems like they do great in a financialized economy. Why shouldn't Blackrock be more than happy to continue working with investment and venture capital to seize assets?
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Because they want it all, and don't realize having it all will mean they have nothing, in the end?
 
Lutherf said:
OK. So we're all gonna go broke and die. That sucks.
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Yes, it does. What is worse is the false hope that somehow things will all turn out ok even as Trump trashes everything and we should passively wait it out because things always magically get better.
 
Gimmesometruth said:
This week you will read many confused economists and political pundits who won’t understand how the tariffs make economic sense. That’s because they don’t. They aren’t designed as economic policy. The tariffs are simply a new, super dangerous political tool.

You see, our founders created a President with limited and checked powers. They specifically put the power of spending and taxation in the hands of the legislature. Why? Because they watched how kings and despots used spending and taxes to control their subjects.

British kings used taxation to reward loyalty and punish dissent. Our own revolution was spurred by the King’s use of heavy taxation of the colonies to punish our push for self governance. The King’s message was simple: stop protesting and I’ll stop taxing.

Trump knows that he can weaken (and maybe destroy) democracy by using spending and taxation in the same way. He is using access to government funds to bully universities, law firms and state and local governments into loyalty pledges.


Link
Click to expand...

Trump in effect is reversing the American Revolution. We can call it the American Devolution.
 
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