Random Thoughts #53

More Random thoughts #52

Josh Hawley wants a credit card rate cap. Didn’t Trump say the same?  Trump talked about capping credit card interest rates on the campaign trail in the fall of 2024. And now Hawley along with Bernie Sanders, recently proposed legislation that would cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent. Bad idea. Interest rate caps turn out to be anti-poor, harming the people that it is meant to help. People with poor credits will not get loans. They won’t get credit cards either. The left knows this. I was at a hearing once where one advocate said that she would rather the poor not ever borrow if they have to borrow at “predatory” rates.

If Bernie approves of Trump’s pivot toward Putin, he’s not saying. I wonder why?

What’s next? Wage and price controls?

Threaten the auto companies not to raise prices? Sounds like Kamala Harris wanting to enact a federal ban on “price gouging.”  

.Trump is a mercantilist not a capitalist.

The media – including the Wall Street Journal – is after Pete Hegseth. First the Signal snafu which some accounts say was Michael Waltz’s responsibility but somehow Hegseth is targeted instead. Then the Journal says that Hegseth’s wife is traveling with him and is attending high level meetings. Certainly Hegseth knows better. Of course, the media was silent when Jill Biden was chairing cabinet meetings. Then there are the accounts that Hegseth’s brother is along for the trips too. While it seems like there is some nepotism it turns out that Phil Hegseth is senior advisor to the secretary of Homeland Security and liaison with the defense department. But Hegseth needs to tread lightly. Doesn’t he know that each thing he does will be closely scrutinized? 

Should a country retaliate to Trump’s tariffs? Of course, that is the natural reaction. But why should a country punish its own citizens by imposing tariffs on imports? I wouldn’t. Supposed Canada did nothing. In the US, the cost of energy would increase. The housing industry would suffer due to the increased cost of lumber. How would Americans react when their gas prices go up 50 cents a gallon? How would Americans react when what they buy at Walmart  and the price of automobiles go up?

Part two of Trump’s tariffs is the reciprocal part. Here there is some complicated formula to determine what that tariff is for what good in what country. Or maybe it is an overall tariff? Regardless, I would guess that most countries will kiss Trump’s ring assuming that if they lower their tariffs they will not be subject to the overarching 25% rate. But is that true? Lowering their tariffs or matching that of the US will not eliminate trade deficits. The only way to lower trade deficits will be for the US to cut its imports to match the other country’s exports, not matching their tariffs.

I just want to know Trump’s end game. He says he wants all that we import from Canada to be produced in the United States. What about Mexico? What about the rest of the world? He hates trade deficits and yet reciprocal tariffs will not eliminate them. Personally I would like to see all tariffs and quotas eliminated worldwide. Most tariffs are simply stupid. And by the way, the country with the highest tariffs is Bermuda. Who has the lowest? Hong Kong.

Baseball is back but unfortunately the Braves haven’t got the message, getting swept by the Padres and are now 0-4.