Trump Tariffs

It's interesting to think about when you hear Trump explaining his tariff policies. Now, he wants to target patented drugs with tariffs. Remember, the narrative has pretty much from the beginning been that tariffs would help manufacturing in the US, and you should buy American alternatives. This is an odd narrative when you consider that patented drugs are one of the main things in this world that don't have alternatives. That's the whole idea of patenting your medical drug. - So if you ever was in doubt what their goal was - this is the final proof you are an idiot - the only thing they want is for you to pay more taxes

The US already pays the most for script drugs and now he wants to charge a tariff to make drugs even more expensive. It sounds like a poorly thought out project 2025 Trump scheme again.

Big difference in our approach and I am not faulting you for approaching as you do, it works for you just fine but it is not how I am personally. You seek others views, others data and others conclusions based on the sources you trust. I do not draw conclusions only from others data and conclusions and in fact I usually discount what others say and conclude as I think most all facts are not facts but are formed narratives for an objective.

You come here and throw terms like FACTS and TRUTH at me to minimize and reduce the replies I make, you use others work to try and break down my thoughts and views. I never do that, I never try and say you are wrong and you are mistaken and I do not tell you to go and read other peoples words to educate yourself. I state my OPINIONS based on my research and if I feel strongly about something I will make comments and if not I will not.  When you throw mud at me with generalities and put downs when you are condescending and closed minded to an extreme then I might challenge your approach as lacking understanding and personal research.

I find zero value in reading the conclusions of others and taking those as my views. I will read plenty and research on my own usually reading multiple perspectives and viewpoints and my conclusions are not someone elses and I will never point you to a website or a youtube clip as a means to prove my point.

@wallstreetcappers

 You do not have 'to take them as your views'.  It is something empirical that would substantiate them or show why you may have to look at something differently.

Obviously, some jobs lack supply.  Even you acknowledge this with the healthcare sector.

So, if the healthcare increases their visa workers would it not follow they would be doing it for a need and not to save money.  Of course, it would.

Just as there are money-saving reasons to do it there are also other reasons to do it.

You have a worker that you have to pay the salary range to but not always at the high end of course.

You also have a worker that cannot also easily get the experience and go job chasing because they're obligated to you for a time and it costs them to move on.

You cannot just take a very, very small sample size based on your experience, at best, or someone else's possibly biased opinion, at worst.

You have to have a collective view and see what the nation as a whole is doing and needs.  Then you can examine why they are doing it.

You can also look at once they start if it is still needed or are they now doing it 'solely' for money even if it did not start that way.

If you feel that people are abusing or using these 'fraudulently' there are ways to address that.  Just ask Hyundai.

But the vast majority of the folks that study these things and the industries that use them and say they need them have to use something to set policy and practices based on.

They cannot simply use their feelings, emotions or what they have experienced in isolated instances.

Maybe in Arizona the schools are producing fantastic kids that love getting into these fields and are elite.  But what if the other 49 states are not.  Because the data shows the country as a whole is not doing it.

My own personal experience also shows that simply by talking to folks that run the businesses and say they need them and need even more of them.  So, that data simply backs up my own perception.

@Raiders22

 Not sure I get why you make comments as you are  in that reply, I never said that AZ schools are producing fantastic kids I think you take a group of people from near any area and evaluate them you will find similar outcomes with similar characteristics anywhere. I think Arizona schools are terrible, they are under funded and do not properly pay for teachers and resources because taxpayers here do not value education at the expense of their property taxes to the degree they should. My AZ comment was that people shade private or charter schools and form a narrative to compare them to public schools and then put down public schools when there is no comparison between the two they have extremely different dynamics and as I said to your argument about data sets you cannot draw conclusions on inaccurate and incongruent data sets. So charter school results or Basis education system test results cannot be equally compared to public schools for multiple reasons and the same goes for the conclusions and comparisons you are claiming as FACT...when data sets are not congruent your conclusions cannot be FACT. If the purpose is to form a narrative and an agenda then for sure you can play loose and use fake data comparisons then parade the conclusions as FACT but that is wrong and a waste of time.

Healthcare supply to me is a problem because the requirements are very difficult, the pay is absurd and the stress is very high. My best friends wife is a RN who manages a large group of RNs for one of the largest public corporations in the Medicare space and she feels the reality is if you want to attract top talent then pay the talent and do not treat them like fast food workers, this is due to cuts in Medicare and Medicaid and shrinking profit margins which makes corps push line workers like RNs to extreme work queues and quotas with poor pay and high stress. I think the answer is always that if you want to increase supply in the workforce then pay them appropriately and have education programs that offset the high cost and barrier to entry, same goes with specialized services professionals. You cant pay cut rate wages and then solve the problem by relying on foreign workers through visas when you have a workforce here that could be enhanced and maximized.

 Not sure I get why you make comments as you are  in that reply, I never said that AZ schools are producing fantastic kids

I say this just because you used a personal local example. So, some states or jobs or sectors may look fine; but, overall things are not that way.

The point is you have to do a broader inspection.

@wallstreetcappers

 My AZ comment was that people shade private or charter schools and form a narrative to compare them to public schools and then put down public schools when there is no comparison between the two they have extremely different dynamics and as I said to your argument about data sets you cannot draw conclusions on inaccurate and incongruent data sets.

Correct.  That is why your assumption that the data is inaccurate is wrong.  

The folks that do this for a living and use data and statistics know how to take out the noise, as it were.

How did the guy word it:

"Evidence is always more credible than theory."

I would add that widespread data is more credible than personal anecdotal examples.

@wallstreetcappers

 when you have a workforce here that could be enhanced and maximized.

I am not so sure that this is not a large part of the problem.  You cannot always 'enhance and maximize' a workforce that is not fit for the job.

Again, just because someone does something for a living does NOT mean they are good at it and for sure not elite at it.

You can put people in nearly any job and train them for it.  That does not mean that they should be in that job to start with.

You want the best you can get and the ones that will get even better at it.

@wallstreetcappers

 I think the answer is always that if you want to increase supply in the workforce then pay them appropriately and have education programs that offset the high cost and barrier to entry

Sure.  But this only works if you assume money will attract the folks that will be best at it and not just people that can do it and want the money.

This is the same balance you will find in any job.

This goes back to my whole point about the lack of exceptional talent in the USA.

I had an interview going in the background during the football game and looking at market stuff for tomorrow and the week.

I was listening to an interview with Kathryn Porter, whom I have met and know well enough to respect her opinion on potential directions in the energy sector.

The interviewer asked her, “… he hears that energy prices in Britain are high and is this true?”

She responds with, “Yes, it is true.”

He asks if she can quantify that?

She says that the UK has the highest industrial electricity prices in the developed world and the fourth-highest household electricity prices.  

The interviewer then goes on to ask her why that is.  Then she goes on to break down the policies and that sort of thing.

But I noticed that the interviewer did not say she was using those data points to promote the narrative she was driving towards about the policies.  He did not say the numbers were not accurate and could not be trusted.

It made me wonder why people pick and choose numbers that they choose to be accurate or not.  I think it really does depend on their whether it supports their narrative on issue(s) or not.

Even when you point out that gas prices are lower every single month since Trump went in office compared to the last year under Biden — some folks refuse to believe it.  They simply say their gas prices are up.

When it is pointed out that inflation has leveled off, they simply say their groceries are more expensive.

When you point out that the tariffs have not shown the sudden surge in prices that everyone feared, they say that it is still coming or that any increase in anything at all is tariff related when it is demonstrably not true.

You see this with fans in sports.  Whether you are a fan of analytics or not, they have been a big changer in sports lately.  But the average fan simply refuses to believe that teams should be doing some of the things they are doing in-game.  It is far more noticeable when it does not work out.  Even when you explain to them that it is the correct +EV play in that situation long-term —they refuse to accept it.  They do not remember the times when it worked out.

I think this demonstrates the issue with folks nowadays.  They have not been taught critical-thinking skills.  You have to be able to examine and evaluate numbers and data and evidence in order to make a well-informed opinion on your own.

If folks are slipping in reading and writing and math skills and general knowledge — there should be no question that this is causing them to lose ground on critical thinking as well.

@Calde13 "the only thing they want is for you to pay more taxes."

 Some of Trump tariffs are cash grabs that do not benefit US industry.  Problem is US government is ruled by billionaires.  Self serving elites use their political power to shift tax burden from the rich to other tax payers.  Lowering income tax while increasing tariffs and spending cuts.  But progressive income tax is fairer because the rich pay more and the poor pay less.  President Roosevelt once refer to tyranny of plutocracy as the most vulgar.