Subject: Re: "The Art of The Deal"
I disagree a bit.

I come from a different concern. I agree that tariffs influence the natural optimization of labor and economic output. But that may not be the best outcome for a single country. Keep in mind that we are not starting off with a base of no tariffs in the world. So there is already a built in bias. So some of this is correcting back.

My bigger concern is that our current tax system does not produce enough revenue to support our current spending habits. Of course spending less would be nice, but not likely. Some of the shortfall is that many people cheat and underreport income (look at all of the people who require payment in cash). I just did a remodel and many vendors would only work for cash. I tried to at least pay with a check when I could. One of the best ideas Biden had, IMO, was increasing the staff at the IRS. We need more revenue, which is not the same as additional taxes. Just people paying what they should owe may make a big difference. However, we don't seem to be making any real progress on that front. So the next best thing to me, is introduce a consumption tax. Which I believe will increase compliance and may in fact be fairer. You buy a yacht for $200 MM you pay a big fat tax. Current sales taxes are a state and local revenue source. Not the federal government. Tariffs allow the federal government to participate.