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Why Hi-Fi Prices Have Risen
I wrote much of this column, including the title, in early April before the Trump administration announced "reciprocal" tariffs on imported goods. A random example: Switzerland, home of CH Precision, darTZeel, Goldmund, Orpheus Lab, Piega, Stenheim, Thorens, and Wattson, among other hi-fi companies, where the tariff is 31%. Before this issue closed, the Trump administration announced a 90-day reprieve for everyone but China, then exempted computers and smartphones (and a few other categories) from the China tariffs. Importers and foreign manufacturers I talked to at AXPONA in April were happy for the reprieve but remained on edge. Uncertainty reigned.
Footnote 1: In early May, Masimo entered into an agreement to sell its Sound United audio brands to Harman.
What is Switzerland's tariff on US goods? Nichts! Rien! Walou! Which is why I put the word "reciprocal" in quotes.
Switzerland is the source of the Stenheim Two.Five loudspeaker, favorably reviewed by John Atkinson in this issue (see p.73), which costs $23,500/pair. How much would it cost with tariffs? Everyone I talked to at AXPONA was biding time, hoping the tariffs would just go away. Some, especially those from China, said that if the tariffs stay, business in the US will no longer be viable.
Of course, Switzerland was just one example. The new tariff on imports from the EU is 20%. That includes Finland, from whence comes the Amphion Krypton3X loudspeaker (currently $25,000/pair), the subject of a glowing review by Tom Fine in this issue (p.53). The same tariff rate applies to Poland, source of the Fezz Equinox DAC ($2995) that Herb Reichert so enjoyed this month (p.63), and Denmark, where the excellent Lyngdorf MXA-8400 amplifier ($8900) is manufactured. (See KR's review on p.85.) How much would these products cost with tariffs? How much would be absorbed by the manufacturer and distributor and how much would the customer be asked to pay?
High prices for hi-fi are nothing new. Prices have risen incessantly for at least a couple of decades, especially at the highest-priced end of the hi-fi market—and that's got nothing to do with tariffs. What we've seen isn't inflation exactly, or not mainly that. Companies have discovered that there's a market for ever more expensive stuff, so they started making it. There's a story about Swiss watches that may be apocryphal: A poorly edited ad for a very expensive watch added an extra zero to the price, and the watch sold out in days. I get the feeling that even companies themselves are surprised sometimes at how much people are willing to pay for this stuff.
Why is it happening? I'm no economist, but one answer seems obvious: There are more rich people than ever, and they're richer than ever. In late February, the Wall Street Journal published an article with the headline "The U.S. Economy Depends More Than Ever on Rich People." It seems to me that this applies to hi-fi as much as it does to other industries.
"The top 10% of earners—households making about $250,000 a year or more—are splurging on everything from vacations to designer handbags, buoyed by big gains in stocks, real estate and other assets," wrote Rachel Louise Ensign, the WSJ reporter. "Those consumers now account for 49.7% of all spending, a record in data going back to 1989, according to an analysis by Moody's Analytics. Three decades ago, they accounted for about 36%. ... Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, estimated that spending by the top 10% alone accounted for almost one-third of gross domestic product." That's a lot of amplifiers and high-end DACs. A graphic from the article shows that since 1990, the fraction of total spending by the top 20% of all earners rose from 55% to 75%.
Another chart shows that starting in early 2020—the start of the pandemic—everyone's savings rose quickly. But for the lowest 90% of earners, savings peaked around August 2021 and then fell, almost down to pre-COVID levels. For "top earners," savings increased at the same high rate for another half-year, then leveled off. The top 10% kept their pandemic gains; the rest didn't.
You can see this very clearly in the hi-fi industry. Most companies did great during the pandemic, but for makers of lower and moderately priced equipment, things got pretty bad after, while many high-end manufacturers continued to do well. Recent financial reports from public companies—Masimo (footnote 1), Voxx—suggest that it's a real struggle to make money manufacturing hi-fi equipment at low-to-mid prices.
"It's an extreme bifurcation" between companies selling to wealthier customers and companies that cater to the less affluent, said JPMorgan Chase analyst Matthew Boss, quoted in the article. Big Lots filed for bankruptcy last fall, and Kohl's and Family Dollar are closing stores across the country.
Meanwhile, the top 5% of earners increased spending on "luxury goods abroad" by about 10% in a single year. (The article I saw this in didn't say which year.) Those people were, to quote Bank of America senior economist David Tinsley, "going to Paris and loading up their suitcases with luxury bags and shoes and clothes." Presumably they had their big speakers and amplifiers shipped rather than putting them in their suitcases, but the same principle applies.
If you were running a hi-fi company, what would you do? You'd probably produce more stuff that rich folks are likely to buy, since that's where the money is and those are the folks who are buying. So there's pressure on hi-fi companies not to raise their prices but to build pricier stuff (footnote 2).
Looking at the big picture, the main impact of tariffs is not higher prices but the destruction of giant swaths of wealth. It's not so much the tariffs (which for the moment have mostly gone away) but the uncertainty (which very much hasn't). At one point in the middle of the day this issue went to press, the S&P 500 had rallied but was still off by about 12%. That's something like $6 trillion, considering only the market cap of the S&P 500 and not the market as a whole. (The S&P 500 is often used as a barometer for the whole stock market.) A lot of those stocks are owned by people of significant means—so will this cause hi-fi prices to go back down? It seems more likely to me to stifle the part of the hi-fi industry that's currently healthiest while doing nothing good.
Footnote 1: In early May, Masimo entered into an agreement to sell its Sound United audio brands to Harman.
Footnote 2: John Atkinson examined other reasons for the increasing prices of high-end audio components in 2018, 2017, and 2011.
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Prices had risen pretty substantially before that too.
Even months ago, I'd read reviews from 2 or 3 years back of items that said they were $5000 and then go to the companies site to look at them and they'd be $6500 or more.
but even the other side agrees that only China having high tariffs is bad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LayOiPkvKBw
What’s “the other side”? Either you’re maga, or you’re pro American democracy. And pro business.
You do realize that video is just about 30 years old, don’t you?
Things have changed quite a bit since then.
Is the key word here. Manufacturers really don't know what to charge to keep their margins the same when there's no way for them to know what their costs are going to be in 6 months (tariffs on their products PLUS on their inputs even for American companies). Even McIntosh is raising prices due to the steel tariffs (there's a lot of steel in a Mac amp for example).
Also, Lawrence Dickie is quoted as saying that he's been urged to increase prices to increase sales. Instead he released the beast: the Vivid Giya M1 at like $600k so you at least kinda get what you pay for (a rediculously large, and likely great sounding, speaker).
Yep, and when it comes to manufacturing, which requires significant materials planning and cost management, uncertainty is really bad.
trump is ineptly causing much uncertainty through his capricious, knee jerk actions. He was a poor businessman before he became president, and he’s an even poorer one now.
Spoken like a true uneducated Socialist. Where has that ever worked? Does your net worth compare ti the Donald's?
In this hobby we are chasing a phenomena that occurs in the intersection between external stimuli and the individual human brain. Not just the conscious rational mind but the unconscious as well. If on some level you revere wealth despite your best intentions you will find ear bleeding prices a powerful placebo.
I totally agree with this statement. At the very high end, it’s almost impossible to separate any pure, true quest for the best in fidelity from the concepts of luxury and prestige.
In some cases it’s like watching a person driving a $2 million Ferrari and they can’t drive worth a lick.
This will be a key time for consumers before the next round of tariff discussions. Will consumers take advantage of this time now or wait?
Speaking to one important speaker manufacturer at AXPONA, higher-end manufacturers do keep producing more gear on the higher-price end, for rich folks and to the detriment of the rest of the market.
I disagree to some extent, as reviewers and reviews also drive the higher-priced focus. But even then, these new way-expensive products DO equate to better trickle-down technology, wherein audiophiles enjoy their lesser-priced products' and efforts (and those obvious improvements in sound that didn't exist prior).
Some examples- I can think of Holo Audio as a lesser priced set of examples, but Aurender's products are a great example of a $3500 streamer DAC that takes much of the DNA from its more expensive products (it's also very audible to listeners).
I also think Audio Research and Vandersteen are great examples of the 'ultra to the affordable' trickle-down that retain technology enhancements and advantages of it's higher-priced stablemates. I've heard those manufacturers prove it in demos multiple times. There are many others. dCS and SME also have similar manufactured line-ups I see the DNA of the more expensive brethren. The audio shows has those examples to hear for ourselves as well.
Fortunately, my next purchase is out of the UK but almost everything else is US based. I will not be making any purchases of goods coming in with Tariffs. Granted, I am not in the big leagues. Let the rich part with their coin.
Not in the big leagues nor purchasing anything right now.
I'd like to buy another Hana phono cartridge, but I need more time to determine if a backup cartridge is a smart idea right now.
Yeah, I agree on that last comment too.
... produced in Taiwan?
I was at Axpona again this year, and prices are rising. It is nothing out of expectations using some products as guides, i.e. Klipsch La Scala and such. Some of the more upscale products are rising at a greater percentage. That is image based, and also a risky proposition should the market change. Products such as the Thales I believe are in the right position. I'm probably not the customer however, without a rise in income.
I have other hobbies such as photography where the costs are rising as well. Tariffs are dumb, but somebody voted for them. Another Garrard is being built out, and speaker drivers are on order. I recently acquired a bunch of older/new Auditorium 23 cables and a SUT, so you can see that my aesthetic is more aligned with Art's. My vinyl purchases are solid, and I bought a few ERC's this year.
Not everything is rising out of reason, but it is similar to restaurants — most restaurants are not as good as they claim to be. Service matters. And, I can cook as well as most of the mid-range plus restaurants, so my dollars have shifted largely to the home. I'll remain focused on the people who make solid products. Sonner is on my radar. Goldenberg likewise. Aidas.
There's lots of great stuff that is affordable, once we get past the sticker shock. Prices change.
Your comment "A poorly edited ad for a very expensive watch added an extra zero to the price, and the watch sold out in days" is interesting. I recall the maker of a high end audio product (who consistently received awards from the magazines) telling me that when he increased his price, arbitrarily, he couldn't keep up with demand from China. His take was that the higher price was associated with better quality, and they had the money (from the real estate boom), and didn't flinch when he tacked about $40k onto the cost of his primary and flagship product.
The tariff issue is complicated by the whole supply chain. I recall the somewhat pointed comment that "[it's not sustainable] to have 350M people and nobody makes anything"; a dig at the US. Apart from the ever-present Pareto distribution in these matters, US GDP is a mirror image key to China's lock: we are dependent on spending just as China is dependent on export, somewhat protected structurally by the plumbing and massive USD reserves. But I find it mind boggling to think about all the manufacturing components, e.g., it sometimes requires thousands of raw materials to make a semiconductor, these materials themselves subject to the economics of the chain (hence some of the initiatives we are seeing like belt road).
In the US there's been a generational inversion of the economics a la Maslov in that, two decades ago a home, healthcare, food, and a car was largely attainable, with televisions and cell phones and computers being very expensive luxury items. Today this is inverted, where many people can't afford the basics, but having the latest and largest flatscreen is cheap. With the US GINI Index at all time highs, it's no surprise that small, boutique companies that can't compete in low margin and high volume industries turn to luxury goods and conspicuous consumption on the right side of the fat-tailed wealth and income distribution. Similarly, it's no surprise that there are complaints from the same demographic that feels marginalized by the inability to go to the US Open like they used to when they were younger.
I still can't conceive of who will pick up the baton for hi-fi, nor can I imagine how the industry could evolve in anticipation of whatever demand the future holds, assuming you could even call it hi-fi at that point. I could be wrong but I think it's dead, at least in it's current form. If my wealth was tied to this fact I'd do what all good CFOs do for their CEOs: find a way to accelerate profits to monetize and, if things work out you can sell your way out, else you at least made your nut. Barring any new innovations, which seem unlikely, the premia associated with luxury will continue to be a sore spot since 1) it's not pegged to any actual innovation and 2) it's tantamount to telling a whole demographic that they're poor. But, on the latter, isn't that what private school, a nice handbag, or a watch is supposed to do and how they maintain their selling points?
The (economic) law of diminishing marginal utility.
But hey, if you're so rich that you think this law doesn't apply to you ....
My grandfather always said "you don't stay rich by spending". He taught me common sense and economically rational thinking.
How much better is a 2022 Château Margaux (720 euros in the EU per bottle) compared to a 2022 Château Branaire-Ducru (55 per bottle). According to 6 reviewers, the first scores 98 points, the second 96 points. For 2 points better (out of 50, the count starts at 50) you have to pay 665 euros more. 655 more than 55! With audio, this economic principle works exactly the same, so let's say .... how much better does a 100k audio set sound compared to a 10K set?
So does a 250k or 100k audio set give you a lot of prestige and admiration or just .....
By the way, the head of the current US administration (I won't mention his name) says that it is unfair that EU consumers have to pay 21% VAT on US goods. What he forgets (to say) is that EU consumers pay 21% on all goods, whether they come from the US, China or within the EU. And why is there a negative trade surplus in the US? "Simply" because US consumers want cheap stuff. like most consumers worldwide. Or, as with audio, a few consumers absurdly expensive stuff, aka overpriced stuff.
For those with small rooms especially, I think they can get some pretty damn good sound for far less than $100k. And I think that headphone desktop users can also get great sound with a $10k budget.
Let’s hope the disappearing middle ground of audio sticks around for them.
I have to say that Stereophile contributes to the normalization of absurdly high audio equipment prices by reviewing that kind of equipment over and over again. You can say what you want about the business model and British (audio) chauvinism of What Hi-Fi? (or of most German audio reviewers), they mainly review and test (for most) affordable audio equipment. Every now and then so called high-end audio comes along.
And as for the law of diminishing marginal utility for audio equipment, based on 1 source I think this limit is somewhere between 25k and 35k, depending on your currency and VAT rate. For sets above that amount it is no longer about sound improvements but about psychological issues (my advice, spend the extra money on a good psychologist instead of on audio equipment, then you will also benefit from it in everyday life). Because any amount above this 25k - 35K is really pouring water into the sea. And who wants to do that? For what?
I SO AGREE WITH THIS. I think it’s pretty clear that HiFiNews and HiFIChoice have stuck with reviewing more mainstream audio products, while Stereophile seems intent on carving out a niche in the really high end, sort of like TAS.
As sister publications, I can see why they want to differentiate from each other and not cannibalize readership by covering the same products.
But I would love to see Stereophile do more of their usual in-depth reviews on more obtainable products. While I also enjoy the other pubs, their reviews are less in depth, and usually lack detailed measurements. But they do a decent job of covering the things that matter to most consumers- feature sets, usability, and design.
The My Back Pages column suggests a good antidote to ever-rising prices for ever-more-luxe gear: find your bliss, get off the "compare and upgrade" treadmill, and deeply enjoy the music you love. If the music sounds good and engages you, the system is what you need. Period.
There is no way I am going to pay the tariff on an expensive product and empower Trump by giving him thousands of dollars. I'll either buy American goods or go without. Most of my gear is American or British already.
Thank god there are still high end US audio manufacturers. Though many if not most of the components are imported. At least the semiconductor tariff has been relaxed for now.
The tariffs supposedly go into US coffers, but I agree that the Trump admin is CORRUPT and that they intend to use those funds for programs that I oppose.
First, even though his motives were NOT capitalistic, Karl Marx supported Free Trade because he (wrongly) believed it would hasten the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
Also: The Masimo situation; I have been assured, by someone who claims inside knowledge, is one-of-a-kind (and, potentially, REALLY DUMB) folly.
The (IMHO, Plausible) Conspiracy Theory is that, Masimo bought those audio companies to get ownership for the patents to Marantz's HEOS data-transfer technology. The premise was that Masimo believed that Apple was infringing Marantz's patents, and that Apple was a sitting duck for Billions of dollars in infringement damages.
William of Occam (1287 - 1347), were he here, would say, "Then why the Fark did not Apple itself just buy Marantz???"
It sounds like Corner Office Groupthink to me. They paid $1 Billion+ for a bunch of companies they cut loose for $350 million. I assure you, a Brazilian girlfriend and a Ferrari with an automatic transmission for her would have been MUCH cheaper!
I totally trust whatever Ted Green says about such matters:
https://www.strata-gee.com/masimo-sells-sound-united-to-harman-excited-temper-your-enthusiasm/
And Stereophile helps with their reviews of the most expensive products (that almost no one can afford) to this wild increase in prices.
1. The tariffs can be thought as a Value Added Tax that most western countries have already. The real question is, where is the tariff revenue going, hopefully to reduce the deficit, I hope someone is checking?
2. The sophistication, performance, variety & cost of ChiFi has been rising for several years now. Does everyone realise where that revenue is going?
3. How is the total reliance on imports for all small products good for national defence?
4. The tariffs will reduce consumption, less going into landfills, more stuff being recycled or repaired, that is a good thing for the planet & your pocketbook.
# 4 is frankly a right wing justification for the rise in prices that are directly attributable to the tariffs.
The same things being more expensive to the same people is not good for the economy, nor is it good for business. And even in the cases where the product is repairable, the marginal cost of getting a new one often makes repair not cost effective. This will still be true even after the tariffs.
Plus, good luck repairing most of the electronics being made today. Just like with the most recently made automobiles, they aren’t user friendly at all when it comes to repairs.
Please present your plan for the survival of the human race for the next 1000 years? Presently the focus is on energy, once that's overcome the focus will have to shift to raw materials. If you read mining reports it's obvious that manufactured goods will have to last a lot longer (10x?) than present, to slow consumption of raw materials. We have become used to the convenience of a throwaway society, that will have to change.
LOL, even if I did have a plan for humanity for the next 1,000 years, I’m not so grandiosely self important that I would expect the world to follow it, let alone even care what it is.
In a 1,000 years, you and I will both be long dead, and what’s more, forgottten.
Really, we should leave that future problem to those who will be living it.
That’s not to say I’m indifferent to the problem- I recycle and conserve water and energy where I can, and certainly more assiduously than most of the people around me. It would be great if everyone were concerned and chipped in, but really- can you make them?
Besides, ecologically, things have a way of reaching equilibrium. When natural resources become truly scarce, consumption will, by necessity, be forced to adjust.
Short term, there is no easy solution to the problem. Human nature is imitative and aspirational, and modern culture is materialistic. We are all, unfortunately, along for the ride.
Let me ask you - do you have children? Because I don’t. And those with children no question are burdening the environment far more than those who do not. You’re talking a next generation of lifetime consumption. So please- don’t preach.
Look, things like consumption of consumer electronics has always come down to economics. As long as the cost of having new items being made in China, Asia, or wherever, is more cost efficient for the consumer than it is to have them repaired with in the US with US labor, you are fighting an uphill battle.
Besides, you need to blame tech companies, not the consumer. Let’s take smartphones for example. At their size and processing power, these highly sophisticate devices are inherently not user repairable. They are also rapidly antiquated due to tech advances. With OS and app updates, anything that is still in perfect working condition (like my last 3 iPhones) will still be virtually unusable in 5-6 years.
So I do what I think is the best for my pocketbook and the environment- I’m not an early adopter switching out iPhones every time one comes out. I use them as long as they continue to function well, which has been about every 5-6 years. I’ve always traded them in to be recycled and have never had to replace a battery in any of them.
I think most people balance their everyday practical needs with other concerns like cost, environmental impact, etc. and really - can you blame them? And one things for sure- trump’s tariffs have nothing to do with environment concerns (“Drill,baby, drill!”) and everything to do with politics. They won’t stop or curtail consumption on a global basis, which seems to be your concern.
I appreciate your passion for the environment, but tarrifs are not any kind of solution for environmental concerns.
I agree personally there's only so much one can do, as long as you're aware, many arn't. The 1000 year question is more for politicians & leaders, I wonder what the answers would be? Cellphones have become the ultimate unnecessary tech (which comes first the demanding app or the new phone?). If you don't like tariffs how about Federal VAT of 20% (same as the UK) guaranteed to go to deficit (presently $35T+) reduction?
I know that the EU has always had higher taxation rates than the US, as well as seemingly more concern about environmental regulations that affect human health (RoHS, REACH, CE, etc).
The problem with the US is that they’ve continually kicked the can down the road when it comes to the federal deficit. Americans should note that the last American presidency to produce a budget surplus and not deficit was a Democrat: CLINTON.
Since then, it’s been carte blanche spending of the GOP administrations of GWB and trump. So much for fiscal conservatism. The GOP in the US has lost its way, concerned about power to the exclusion of everything else, especially the environment. In fact, they are actively hostile to environmentalists, and haven’t even tried to hide the fact that they are trying to dismantle the EPA!
And I have reason to doubt that tariffs or any sort of funds raised by VAT would go towards the federal deficit under a warmonger like trump. In fact, this latest offensive proposed spending bill calls for huge increases in defense spending. There is probably NOTHING more wasteful of humanity and the environment than war.
So first thing is: get those clowns out of there.
“No tax increases!” has been the rallying cry of almost every US President in recent history, so a VAT isn’t going to be popular and could spell political suicide for anyone running on such a platform IMO. I’m not saying it’s right, but that’s how it is, it seems.
But I do like your idea of some sort of VAT, maybe on luxury goods, that are earmarked specifically for the federal deficit. I believe It would need to cover a wide range of goods to have any sort of appreciable impact, but at least it would tax non essentials, and ostensibly those who can afford such goods, while discouraging overconsumption.
I just think the current administration is clearly not the one to do it. Their tariff plan is clearly a power play and a ruse to distract from all the other damage they are doing to the country.
Peak Employment:
In 1979, U.S. manufacturing employment reached an all-time peak of around 19.6 million.
Decline Since 1980:
Manufacturing employment has been on a downward trend since 1980.
Reasons for Decline:
Several factors have contributed to this decline, including:
Globalization and offshoring: Companies have moved manufacturing jobs to other countries with lower labor costs.
Trade imbalances: Growing trade deficits, particularly with countries like China, have led to job losses.
and wishing they would is a pipe dream. We are an information/technology and service economy now. Re-industrialization would be a bad thing overall.
Hard truth.
The US has a long history of innovating and inventing new products, scaling them up, then outsourcing production once they become commodities.
It happened with semiconductors, LCD displays, PCs, etc. Smartphone production went straight to Asia.
So I think that you’re right, and that US manufacturing will be limited to non mass pro, specialty or luxury items, at least as long as wages are so high compared to Asia.
And not only cheap labor, but American manufacturing workers have long seen a shrinking of the job market through automation. And now AI will threaten even some information tech jobs.
Gouging and more money than brains.
About the negative trade balance of the US (and the blackmail of higher import tariffs by the US); the negative trade balance is caused by US consumers wanting to buy a lot of cheap junk, which is too expensive to produce in the US because labor productivity in the US is too low (with (therefore) too high labor costs) because the US worker thinks "why should I work harder (for my boss) if my boss (CEO) earns too much more than me, that's unfair" and then we haven't even talked about the real rich, the big shareholders. So yes, it's not China's fault but the cheap junk addicts aka the China slaves aka US (or EU or Canada or Australia/New Zealand) consumers.
This whole idea of Americans just wanting to buy too much cheap Chinese made junk is a fallacy.
Sure, we live in a materialistic, consumer society.
That doesn’t mean that Americans shouldn’t have access to affordable, everyday necessities.
Just go to any Wal Mart or Target store and walk the aisles to see where just about everything is made. The answer is: NOT IN THE UNITED STATES.
By excessively tariffing foreign made goods you will be hurting low income and retired people the most by raising the prices of all these goods. Everything from laundry baskets to clothes, affordable housewares, etc.
Last time I checked, the US is a free market capitalist society. Capitalism is based on supply and demand. It isn’t your place to dictate to people what they should and shouldn’t want or should and shouldn’t buy. If the demand is there for cheap goods, it’s because those are what people can afford.
If they can’t afford what *you* happen to think is good enough quality, you risk coming across as a Marie Antoinette.
This months column explains something I have been observing for several months reading "Stereophile."
I have noticed a marked increase of the prices of gear reviewed, advertised, and discussed. My interest in the audio hobby is grounded on my frugal Midwest roots. I am the "champagne tastes on a beer budget" kind of guy. My present system is no slouch. (Decware Zen Triode, Zu Audio Dirty Weekends, Eversolo A6 Master, and a Marantz 15-tt). All in, I am at about $7000. We audition from time to time systems 5 times that cost and don't find reason to upgrade.
I miss the columns of old featuring affordable gear and especially tweaks.
I now live in a very high wealth zip code. There are Ferraris, Range Rovers, and all forms of very conspicuous consumption. What I don't run into are many audiophiles with great high end systems. Most of the time I witness Mcmansions with owners who are content to plug in a Sonos from Costco and call it a day.
The future of this hobby is the young. $25,000 speakers have little appeal to them or me.
How do you propose to get them interested?
On tariffs I can only say one political neutral thing: SOMEONE has to do SOMETHING.
The US has been getting screwed for years. Reciprocal benefit must rule.
Nah, tariffs are just another trump ruse to distract from all the damage he and his stooges have been doing to the country.
No one in the GOP was complaining about foreign tariffs even a year ago, which means it was a non issue.
And the clearly haphazard, reckless, and feckless way that they have been implemented, retracted, etc., just goes to show how Trump is clearly incompetent.
The End.
We won't be fooled again as the Who sang.
Certainly you also believe that Covid 19 vaccines were ok, the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian collusion, Joe Biden was the best ever these last 4 years and 12 million jobs were added.
You are not qualified to opine on tariffs.
Don’t believe me, believe the economists who say that the tariffs will backfire. Don’t believe Wall Street, which is down due to tariffs
Don’t believe the scientists and epidemiologists, who have proven that the vaccines have saved countless lives and shortened the pandemic.
Don’t believe the video of Jan 6th that shows the Capitol insurrectionists egged on by trump by a speech he made in public and on the record.
Don’t believe the court records that show trump’s multiple bankruptcies.
I don’t care if you think I’m qualified to discuss tariffs - I will do so, and there’s not a damn thing you will do about it, so pipe down.
I deal in facts and reality. And I’m not so arrogant as to think that I know better than experts in their respective fields.
Enjoy your cognitive dissonance. I can’t believe I’m actually trying to reason with an anti vaxxer. How absurd.
Serious TDS
Back to the article.
I love TACO!