I see both sides of this. It is obvious to me that some generation or 2 generations will take the beating for policies none of us voted for nor benefitted from unless you count cheap goods. The biggest problem I have is that if not tariffs, what? We can not continue to leave our livelihood in the hands of those who can cut off our resources, including prescription drugs. Free trade has given us cheap goods at the price of our backbone, which has always been the working middle-class. What is the plan to restore the middle-class rather than making them the same as the dependent class? The thought process behind free trade is that those benefits would trickle down. They didn't. The massive transfer of wealth to the "educated" elites isn't working because there actually aren't enough jobs for them, either. The only difference is that the government created jobs for them that allowed a top down control mechanism on cultural issues. (DEI workers, anyone?) I get it. I'm not young, either and have money in stocks. I'm extremely tired of the benefits that should be going to the middle-class being funneled to the dependent class. If not tariffs, what?
Brandy, everything you say is why I am torn on this issue. I am fully aware that we have created a mess and I do believe Trump can fix this if we have time. Call me selfish but i do get tired of being the one asked to make the sacrifice and folks like you and I who have our retirement in the stock market are paying the price to fix this. Those above us, economically, can weather the storm better than we can and those below us economically are not as affected by the stock market. I think there are many like myself, who support Trump, believe he is honestly trying to fix the mess he was left but also are hesitant at the how to get things fixed. i wrote an article a couple weeks ago about the 10th amendment, i am concerned at the president being set of too much government control. Congress should have been doing its job and it hasn't. but leaving a strong executive branch of government is not a good move. the more problems the federal government solves the stronger it gets and the weaker the states become. a strong federal government will always trample the rights of the people. I may be rambling, but I appreciate that you are thinking more deeply on this issue than many others. By the way, i am sure you understand this, someone like me, can support Trump and still question him.
I agree with you and sounds like we might be close to the same age. I agree with Mr Trump. We grow about 90% of what we eat in this country and as long as their food on the table I believe we will be alright. I think if these other countries don’t come around soon to Mr Trumps thinking they may be the ones that really suffer. God bless the USA and may we put you first in everything we do!
Just an FYI, as you get older, be sure to invest your money in Money Market Funds or something more stable than the stock market. Unless you are hooked up with a financial advisor with knowledge of the Plus and Minus side of stock market investment, you might find your money gone up in smoke as you get older.
Also, the government many years ago, created the 401K to supplement Social Security.
It didn't take long for companies to realize that instead of offering "retirement plans" for dedicated and long term workers, they could benefit more by just supplementing a 401K plan. IT WAS ONE HUGE MISTAKE FOR WORKERS...or at least those without any knowledge of investing. As you can see, 401Ks are not immune to stock market brake downs either.
Many companies stole from their retirement plans and when the workers retired, the money wasn't there so they put the monkey on the back of workers....That's my view and I am over the age of 70.
I see both sides of this. It is obvious to me that some generation or 2 generations will take the beating for policies none of us voted for nor benefitted from unless you count cheap goods. The biggest problem I have is that if not tariffs, what? We can not continue to leave our livelihood in the hands of those who can cut off our resources, including prescription drugs. Free trade has given us cheap goods at the price of our backbone, which has always been the working middle-class. What is the plan to restore the middle-class rather than making them the same as the dependent class? The thought process behind free trade is that those benefits would trickle down. They didn't. The massive transfer of wealth to the "educated" elites isn't working because there actually aren't enough jobs for them, either. The only difference is that the government created jobs for them that allowed a top down control mechanism on cultural issues. (DEI workers, anyone?) I get it. I'm not young, either and have money in stocks. I'm extremely tired of the benefits that should be going to the middle-class being funneled to the dependent class. If not tariffs, what?
Brandy, everything you say is why I am torn on this issue. I am fully aware that we have created a mess and I do believe Trump can fix this if we have time. Call me selfish but i do get tired of being the one asked to make the sacrifice and folks like you and I who have our retirement in the stock market are paying the price to fix this. Those above us, economically, can weather the storm better than we can and those below us economically are not as affected by the stock market. I think there are many like myself, who support Trump, believe he is honestly trying to fix the mess he was left but also are hesitant at the how to get things fixed. i wrote an article a couple weeks ago about the 10th amendment, i am concerned at the president being set of too much government control. Congress should have been doing its job and it hasn't. but leaving a strong executive branch of government is not a good move. the more problems the federal government solves the stronger it gets and the weaker the states become. a strong federal government will always trample the rights of the people. I may be rambling, but I appreciate that you are thinking more deeply on this issue than many others. By the way, i am sure you understand this, someone like me, can support Trump and still question him.
I agree with you and sounds like we might be close to the same age. I agree with Mr Trump. We grow about 90% of what we eat in this country and as long as their food on the table I believe we will be alright. I think if these other countries don’t come around soon to Mr Trumps thinking they may be the ones that really suffer. God bless the USA and may we put you first in everything we do!
Just an FYI, as you get older, be sure to invest your money in Money Market Funds or something more stable than the stock market. Unless you are hooked up with a financial advisor with knowledge of the Plus and Minus side of stock market investment, you might find your money gone up in smoke as you get older.
Also, the government many years ago, created the 401K to supplement Social Security.
It didn't take long for companies to realize that instead of offering "retirement plans" for dedicated and long term workers, they could benefit more by just supplementing a 401K plan. IT WAS ONE HUGE MISTAKE FOR WORKERS...or at least those without any knowledge of investing. As you can see, 401Ks are not immune to stock market brake downs either.
Many companies stole from their retirement plans and when the workers retired, the money wasn't there so they put the monkey on the back of workers....That's my view and I am over the age of 70.
Good Luck.
Dana, well said, and Rand Paul is right. See article in following link.
https://magnoliatribune.com/2025/04/10/tariffs-and-markets/