Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe, Katty Armstrong and
Jettie and he.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Arms Rong.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Are you terrified? It's a terrifle start to the day?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Terrified?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Live from studio.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Seats signor a dimly lit room deeper in the bowels
of the Armstrong and Getty Communications Compound.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hey, it's a little Friday. Let's get a the.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Weekend starts now, all right, Today we're under the tutelage
of our general manager, the trade war.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Excusey poo poo.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Here's something I thing I'd like to throw it.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
I think this would be helpful to everybody if you
watch any coverage of this terrifficing and it's a big deal,
it's it's it's a really really big deal. This is
not a blowing a story out of proportion thing. It's
a big story. It should be the lead story. It
should be talked about all day, maybe all week, maybe
all month. But any source that leads with the stock
markets already down three percent, anything that focuses on how
(01:19):
much the stock market's down in early hours or days,
then turn it off. They're not serious news brokers. They're
not They're not serious about discussing this because that's a
dumb way to look at it. There's nothing wrong with
including that in the coverage, but that's not the lead.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, it doesn't mean anything.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Do you have any ending if you can explain, Well,
you're right, right, yeah, yeah, I would argue it's going
to be more long term than that.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
But this is I you know, it's funny.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
I was going to say, in general about this story,
beware anyone oversimplifying it, because you will have Trump's a
monster and he's ruined the economy. The Wall Street Journal
editorial board, for instance, has not only wet its pants,
it's filled. It filled them pants. Why is pants plural
and shirt not? You got two arms?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Anyway?
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Well, I slowed down. What did you just say? Pants?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Pants?
Speaker 4 (02:17):
I bought a pair of pants, even though it's one
It's I didn't buy a pair hair. It's got two
legs because that's the way bipeds are built. Right, It's
why is it a pair? And why is it pants
and not a shirts? I got two arms, right, That's
what I'm saying. Huh So, anyway, the Wall Street Journalist
is filled. It's lower garment with its papoo is what
I'm hinting at U, saying that this is a disastrous, horrifying,
(02:41):
radical wild move and Trump will ruin the economy.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Uh, there are others who.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Are a street journal who's in love with globalism and
anything that makes giant corporations richer.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Sure they're not worried about you.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Meanwhile, on the MAGA right, you have people saying just
ridiculous things about, hey, products will cost the same, the
jobs will just be American, ignoring the fact that wait
a minute, my labor costs just sex tuppled. How am
I going to keep my prices the same? It's because well,
tariffs will be so high. So it's there's there's a
(03:19):
bit to untangle. But untangle it we will. It's a
pair of socks and a pair of gloves, but those
are two separate items. You can lose one glove and
still have the other ones. You can hold one in
each hand. Yeah, back to the tariff talk a pant.
Here's another thing that I think is misleading that you're
(03:39):
hearing on the want you to be scared channels, And
maybe you should be scared.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I don't I'm not claiming it's.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
All the people I tend to like on stuff like
this think it's a horrible idea. So but the hitting
you with the total number, the percentage of the tariff,
and leaving out the fact that, for instance, of today,
fifty four percent total tariff or they don't say total,
they just say fifty four percent now on China, which
(04:07):
sounds like an extraordinary number. Do you think, geez, my
iPhone's going to cost three thousand dollars and everything like that.
We're already at like thirty percent on most stuffs. We've
added another twenty some percent. So it's a little misleading
to hit you at the fifty four percent. We've been
living with another pretty big number for quite a while,
several years, right right. And you know what's funny, I'm
having so much trouble finding this. I assumed it would
be omnipresent. I need to have in front of me
(04:30):
the eight pages of tariff figures that Trump was holding
up and touting yesterday. And you may have seen on
conservative news outlets pointing out and again, I apologize that
I don't have the numbers in front of me. I
will in just a couple of minutes that, for instance,
Vietnam from which we get a great deal of our
manufactured items.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Is Nike. Most of your Nikes are made in vietnamme,
that's correct. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
And there's Sri Lanka and several other Southeast Asian countries, Malaysia, Thailand.
We have been charging them next to no tariff, and
they have been charging US sixty five seventy five, eighty
eight percent in the case of India. And you look
at that, and you say, and you hear somebody say
(05:15):
Trump started a trade war. There was already a trade war.
We had just gone ahead and conceded all the ground.
This is the beginning of a process, right, Okay, this
is where I'm perfectly willing to get into my ignorance
portion of this. I've never claimed to be an expert
in economics.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
See student over here, smartest horse on the whole trade
war thing.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
So when I hear people, a lot of the people
that I really like politically say I'm a free trader
to the bone, I'm a free trader to the bone,
free trade, yeah all the way. Okay, if Vietnam's got
eighty percent tariffs on us, then what does how does
that factor? Indo, You're a free trader. Well, it's dishonest.
They have accepted the post WW two ground as it lies,
(06:01):
free trade on that ground on that basis because you
can still make tremendous amounts of money because you're having
your manufacturing done over there for this gigantic economic market.
Vietnam is not a gigantic economic market. So if I'm
struggling to export to Vietnam, it doesn't matter. I'm selling
(06:24):
to America primarily ear Europe or whatever. I'm not trying
to be a smarty pants, got you ha ha guy.
I honestly don't understand this, because I've heard multiple people
say this recently. Their economic philosophy is free trade. Well,
it sounds to me like these other countries we deal with,
they've been tarifying the crap out of US. So where
does the free trade come in. Is there much free
(06:46):
trade going on? Yeah, you want free trade into the
United So that's what they mean. Yes, okay, Yeah, you
just want this giant juggernaut of a wonderful economy to
continue to accept good manufactured cheaply.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
In the third World.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
I get that argument, we used that yesterday. I forget
what thinker I like who said, why is every president
Republican or Democrat coming to office and take hold of
the world's most successful economy and think we've got to
change things, right, Yeah, which is a pretty good question.
Like I heard the stat on a japan who teariffs
the heck out of cars coming from US, and eighty
(07:24):
four percent of their vehicles are all Japanese made, right,
It's it's this is true of so many things, especially economically,
the post WW two era. And forgive me if you've
heard this screen many times, in which we stood astride
the globe as the only intact major economy. Europe was
(07:47):
in ruins, Asia was living in huts, and and so we,
in order to get the world up and running, partly
so they would be a good market for our goods,
accepted a certain amount of protectionism. Otherwise we would have
overwhelmed and they never would have gotten up on their feet.
Did I just say, feats Back to our theme anyway, So,
like so many other things that lasted for a very
(08:10):
very long time past the point, and I'm looking at you, China,
to some extent, India, Vietnam, all those countries, they're now
up and running economically speaking. They don't need a toddler
seat anymore. And the problem is, while the corporations and
corporate boards and stockholders, including myself, have been making lots
(08:31):
and lots of money on American companies profits because they've
offshored their labor and saved a ton of money, made
goods cheaper for everybody, the American worker has taken the
short end of that stick. And the argument from the
so called free traders has always been, well, you know,
we're all going to benefit rising tide lifts, so ali
boats blah blah blah blah. But they never talked about
(08:53):
the incredible tariffs on US goods being exported, and so
the global export market has been really stunt it for us.
That's part of the reason we've lost manufacturing jobs. But
the big corporations, they have free movement globally. They can
move any of their inputs and outputs to wherever they
want within reason shipping blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
But the American worker can't. And so it is time.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
It's far past time to reset global trade in a
way that isn't putting everybody put us in.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
A toddler seat.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
I got another question that only a dumb guy would ask.
So I'm the perfect man for the job, but I'll
do it after we start the official the show. Officially,
I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this It is Thursday,
April third, the year twenty twenty five. We are armstrong
in getting we approve of this program thirty five percent
tariff if we start the show late.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Oh jeez, I didn't know that.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
I know.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Here we go officially according the FCC rules, rags at mark.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
For decades, our country has been looted, pillage, raped, and
plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe.
Like our country and its taxpayers been ripped off for
more than fifty years. But it is not going to
happen anymore.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
It's not going to happen.
Speaker 6 (10:10):
So yeah, and we'll go through the list of the
different countries and all that sort of stuff, and some
of his charts is pretty interesting, and like I said,
this is for real giant news story, like what's an
iPhone gonna cost with the added multiple percentage tariffs thrown
on there.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
But here's one of my questions.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
So two of my favorite products in the world, Levi's
jeans and Converse shoes. I've got pairs of Levi's and
Converse that were made in the United States, because it
wasn't that long ago that Chucks were made in the
United States, think until the nineties. I don't know when
Levi's stopped early two thousands. Why was it profitable to
make Levi's in the United States and Converse in the
(10:48):
United States up until not that long ago?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
And then it and then they didn't.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
A handful of things technical and infrastructure capability is really
really risen up in the third.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
World world in the last thirty years, say a lot.
In both cases, the quality went down a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Yeah, yeah, and shipping efficiencies increased too. But right, there's
been a long running experiment because it's all about profit margin.
Not to get too complicated with this crap because it's
boring for one thing, but there's a long running experiment.
Can we make twenty dollars on one hundred dollars product?
(11:30):
What if we really lower our costs in the Third
World and sell a seventy dollars product, but instead of
making twenty.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Dollars, we're making twenty one dollars on it.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Will Americans accept that seventy dollars pair of Converse shoes
and the answer has been to a large extent, yes,
all right, So some of it is cultural, I think,
and this doesn't get discussed enough. The idea that there
used to be like a great pride in Levi's were
really high quality genes. Converts were I don't know how
(12:01):
quality they were, but they were better than they are now,
I guarantee because I've had both kinds. But Levi's were
really high quality jeens and like a lot of high qualities.
What was the American TV company, Magnavox or whatever it was,
They made high quality. But I think there was a
belief that you got to make a real high quality product,
and then everybody found out. Unfortunately, as I've complained about
(12:22):
for years, a lot of people are willing to buy crap.
Mostly by jeans are crap. They're just a crappy product.
They're really cheap, but they're crap. H They sell the
premium brand. I don't hope their lawyers aren't up yet.
There's an eddatorial opinion.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Damn it.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
I'm not allowed to review a product as they just
chose a guy in the media and I'm reviewing the
product is crap. They make a premium brand that is
like Levi's used to be not that many years ago,
and they're real expensive, but they're they're high quality, they're
real good.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
They can make them.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
They just figured out people are willing to buy tissue
paper pants that will fall apart for a lower price,
and it don't Speaking of this society, that all boils down.
I think to the fact that we're a immediate gratification
society in a way that was absolutely not true thirty
forty fifty years ago.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Cultural thing. I wonder how long it would take to
get out of that. Ah, yeah, or ten dollars.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
You should pay one hundred dollars for a toaster and
you have it for the next thirty years. You give
it to your kids when you croak, right, but you
don't you pay like I do. You pay twenty five
dollars for a toaster and it's crap, the handle breaks
off eventually or whatever.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, you're renting it. We should, We should get on.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
We got to Katie's headlines on the way, and a
lot more than I'd like to hear from you on
these topics. Text line four one, five, two nine five KFTC.
What do you guys talk about on your show? I've
never heard it in tariff's mostly mostly talk about tariff, Yeah,
tax rates and tariffs mostly, I mean in general. Yea
very fun I was very maga last segment. The other
(13:55):
side of the coin coming.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Up a little bit later.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
There's another side of the coin, of course, there is,
just you know, but we'll talk about that then.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I let's figure out who's reporting what.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
It's the lead story with the delightful Katie Green Katie delighted.
Speaker 7 (14:07):
Oh thank you, well, because it's of all that anybody's
talking about ABC. World leaders blast Trump tariffs as markets slump.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Yeah, right, world leaders, fine, Yeah, it would be more
fair if everybody included what Joe mentioned, what Trump mentioned yesterday.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
These other countries have been tariff in the hell out
of US forever. So how many of you knew that?
Speaker 4 (14:28):
For one thing, European Union, for instance, thirty nine percent
tariff's chart on the US thirty nine percent. We're bringing
them up now to twenty percent.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Oh half of what they're charging. It's a trade war.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
From Bridbart dot Com.
Speaker 7 (14:45):
Hiring accelerates in March despite tariff hysteria, adding one hundred
and fifty five thousand jobs.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Awesome wow.
Speaker 7 (14:56):
From Fox News Columbia University students chain themselves. It's a
gate in them there up Khalil's detention by eyes.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Add another chain that they don't have the key to.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Yeah, confiscate their keys. Good luck, Good luck kids. Hey,
you came here to learn, You're about to learn something. Yeah,
we'll come back and check on your bones in six months.
Speaker 7 (15:16):
From the New York Times, Amazon said to make bid
to buy TikTok.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
In the United States.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Really, okay, we're wondering about how what kind of last
minute deal could happen with TikTok, the world's second richest man, who,
for whatever reason, doesn't get labeled with that. You're not
evil if you're the second richest man in the world.
Only if you're the richest man in the world, but
the second richest man in the world thinking how I
can afford to buy TikTok and make a ton of
money off this thing? Boy, if you want to see
(15:42):
an epic poos storm, you got the tariff thing going on,
we bomb Iran and TikTok goes dark. You've got Wall
Street screaming its head off, You've got young wasting their
time America screaming it's head off. And then you know
the left, and some of the said, well, so let's
(16:04):
maybe we have wait a week on some of this.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
And this is written as a SOB story.
Speaker 7 (16:08):
From the Washington Post, a trans girl was banned from
her track team. Now she's competing with the boys.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Oh so a boy is competing with the boys. That
is heartbreaking. Wow, shut up, WAPO, cut the crap. Huh,
I'm going back to my old slogan didn't really catch on.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I'm gonna try again.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Brace Yourselves From The New York Post.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
Mom mortified when Toddler eats cremated grandfather's ashes.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Oh, well, you know, you know that sounds like a
ritual you would do in some you know, other culture
that we find beautiful and mysterious. First Blush was discussing
it's second Blush, it's kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Circle of lifeish, it's.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Gonna have some odd poops though for a while. Oh
will Will Junior.
Speaker 7 (16:58):
Finally, the Babylon Bee Corey Booker hosts twenty five hour
PSA on the dangers of crystal meth.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Boy, did that little stunt do nothing? We didn't mention
it shouldn't have been mentioned. Not mentionable. Joe's going to
talk about the other side of.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
The tariff thing. Yeah, there, it could be a downside
among other things on the way. I hope you can
stay here, armstrong and getty.
Speaker 8 (17:24):
My advice to every country right now is, do not retaliate,
Sit back, take it in, let's see how it goes,
because if you retaliate, there will be escalation if you
don't retaliate.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
This is the high water mark. I like it. I
like a threat.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
So the Mirroweeney's the big tariffs have been set by Trump.
A trade war has begun, reversing the trend of the
last seventy years post WW two, and nobody wants to admit,
as we were discussing earlier, that the other countries have
been tariffing.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
The hell out of us. We just haven't reciprocated.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
And Trump, and I agree with him, has said, hey,
the era for that is over. We need reciprocal tariff.
You're gonna hit us with twenty percent, We're gonna hit
you with something not even twenty percent, and it's discounted,
as he called it. And it's indisputable that we've been
sending American jobs overseas and buying cheap foreign crap and
(18:28):
putting our manufacturers out of business. Well, the numbers he
hit with was yesterday were Jesus, did my tongue get
cut off? The numbers he hit us with yesterday were
lower than people were expecting, were they not.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
That's why I saw on a bunch of headlines.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Yes, yeah, yeah, And we'll get into the actual numbers
the anti MAGA point of view in summary, and this
is also correct.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
He's hitler. Not that part that's not correct. The argument
is that.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
It would take a very long time of very consistent
higher tariffs to revive American manufacturing in the way Trump
and JD.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Vans are talking about, for instance.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
And that's because it takes a corporation a long time
to plan a new plant, never mind to build a
damn thing, finance it and get it up and run
it into actually producing, and then there's a certain time
before it's profitable because you'd poured so much.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Money into and your prices would be higher.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
If Converse brought making Converse shoes back to the United States,
it'd be the all the things you just mentioned. Yeah,
I'm gonna build a plant somewherewhere break ground, environmental reviews,
all those things. Build a plant and then start selling
them and they would cost more. So can it work
out and exactly the way Trump is promising. That's a
tough sled, really really tough. But that doesn't mean it's
(19:58):
all a bad idea. Again, everybody else has had training
wheels post WW two. Take a look at China, India,
you know, Vietnam. We've mentioned the European Union. For god's sake,
it's not nineteen forty five. They seem to have rebuilt.
So it's time for a new trade structure. Either of
(20:19):
the Honduras. I'm looking at you. So let's get some
arguments for and against and help you understand the different
points of view. There is right on both sides. And
you know, a lot of people are rushing to make predictions.
It's a it's silly to even try to make predictions
(20:41):
about next week, never mind, you know, way down the road,
because we have no idea how they're going to react,
for one thing, these other countries, and they're going to
react individually. I imagine some of them are going to immediately
change their tariff structure out of fear. Some of them
are going to hold their ground. Yeah, Canada, Israel, Indiana,
I'll find the complete list have said, no, we're not retaliating.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
We'll work this out. It'll be fine. So where this
is next month, on the third of the month. Nobody knows.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
So anyway, some arguments pro we heard Scott Bessen't they're
the Secretary of the Treasury saying, don't you be retaliating,
or we'll give you a good slap down.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Here's Howard.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Yes, maybe be a good idea to go to the
last Secretary of the Treasury, Janet yelling right after we
just heard from Besson. Sure different, Yeah, fifty Will American
consumers bear the cost of these tariffs?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
I don't believe that American consumers will see any meaningful
increase in the prices that they face.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
That was in twenty twenty four. Okay, gotcha. Oh that's interesting. Yeah, yeah,
I'd like to hear a little more. But the Secretary
of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, is beating the bushes and making
speeches and appearing on media as well. Fifty two, please, Michael.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
Your opinion. Won't take chicken from America. They won't take
lobsters from America. They hate our beef because our beef
is beautiful and theirs is weak.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
It's unbelievable. They won't.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
We can't sell corn to India. We can't sell rice
to Asia.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Okay, you used two adjectives for beef that nobody ever uses.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
How's your beef? How's your steak? Beautiful? Mine's kind of weak?
Speaker 4 (22:27):
What he's a New Yorker? They talked differently. Give us
one more, Howard Ludnik there and Michael.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
Finally, finally, the man behind the resolute desk, the man
in the Oval office, Donald Trump is finally standing up
for our farmers, our ranchers, and our manufacturers to let
the world understand either they're buying our products or don't
bother coming here unless you're paying for the right to come.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
It doesn't sound that crazy, no.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
The Wall Street Journal, the big headline last night was
Trump's message is clear. The era of globalization is over,
like you've been saying. The problem is it takes a
long time to unwind that. Can you do it in
the three and a half years before the next person
comes in and possibly reverses all of it? Right, Maybe
one of those situations where you make as much progress
(23:19):
as as is possible. It's not gonna be all the
way to where we ought to be but some progress.
Let's hear from the head guy himself. Give us a
forty seven in thirty one thirty two, back to back
forty seven meaning the president as I called for clips.
That was a confusing reference, and I apologize for it.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Hit it.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Thirty one and thirty two. Michael, dammit, thirty one and
thirty Now I'm yelling at him.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
For decades, our country has been looted, pillage, raped, and
plundered by nations near and far, both friend.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
And foe like.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Our country and its taxpayers have been ripped off for
more than fifty years. But it is not going to
happen anymore.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
It's not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
In a few moments, I will sign a historic executive
order instituting reciprocal tariffs on countries throughout the world.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Reciprocal.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
That means they do it to us and we do
it to them.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Very simple.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Can't get any simpler than that.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
So I'm maybe maybe you're speaking to the perfect audience,
dumb guy me who doesn't understanding this sort of stuff.
I don't understand the trade war talk. If they've been
doing it to us forever like that, I didn't know
the tariffs were this high, and all these different countries
for our stuff going over there, poor ehemplo, as they
would say, in the plants that are manufacturing our cars
(24:37):
in Mexico. European Union hits US with thirty nine percent
tariffs on our goods. The ones they let in, they
won't let in our beautiful beef, for instance, thirty nine
percent of.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Beef that they do, sir.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
The new trade warry US tariffs on the European Union
not thirty nine percent, but twenty percent. The US counted
reciprocal tariffs twenty percent, so that is virtually exactly half
of what they're charging.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Us a trade war. Trump started a trade war.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Well, like, so I would like this explained to me
by somebody smart, because I'm probably missing something. This is
not my area. But uh ah, how was it supposed
to go on like this forever? Y? Yes, until it
affected the stock prices and bottom lines of the major
corporations that profit from it, because they knew what to expect, so.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
It was factored into their business plan.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
But we're supposed to let Europe have a tariff of
almost forty percent forever and we don't?
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yes, why I know, I agree with you? And if
it would end, you know, the whole thing.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
If it can't go on forever, it must end that
I love, it can't go on forever like that, Well, at.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
What point was it going to end? Who is going
to do it?
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Vietnam hits US with ninety percent tariffs. Oh man, the
new discounted tariffs against their goods forty six percent. You
got to go back to start to trade war. We
gotta go back.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Oh, that's not even funny. Taiwan. Wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait a minute, Taiwan.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
The only reason shesion Ping isn't nude sunbathing on their
beaches right now is our armed forces and the thread
of using them, which nobody knows would have if it
would happen or not.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Taiwan hits US with sixty.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
Four percent our friends, now we're going to hit them
with thirty two percent.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Trump starting a trade war?
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Wellis seriously, I would love to take a class and
somebody explained to me why that was okay to continue
that way? Right the Well, the incentives to change the
post WW two norms just haven't been strong enough for
the actual people who run the world, the money guys,
(26:51):
to be in favor of it. They would rather know
what the numbers are, as I said, fashion the business
plan accordingly and make their profits. This is everything up
in the air. They can't plan. They don't know where
and how to invest, which has got them very frightened.
And that's why the stock market's doing what it's doing.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I haven't checked lately. Actually it bounds back down twelve
hundred last moment I saw. Oh, anyway, that's the problem.
It's not that this is bad policy.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
It's that it is a significant change and be a
whole load of uncertainty.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
That uncertainty will not last forever.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
But the dust absolutely does need to settle before anybody
knows what direction this is likely to move. It can't
be the founder's intent that one guy can make this decision,
though is It seems like an awful big decision to
be in the hands of one person.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
Take to ladies and gentlemen, I give you the curly
headed gentleman from Kentucky Senator and Paul clip fifty Michael.
Speaker 9 (27:58):
Tariffs have also to political decimation d McKinley most famous,
they put tariffs on in eighteen ninety. They lost fifty
percent of their seats in the next selection when Haigh
smoothly put on their tariff in their early nineteen thirties
and lost the House in the Senate for sixty years.
So they're not only bad economically or they're bad politically.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
That's funny. I heard him making the point you just
made that. The Constitution says the power to tax is
invested in Congress period. The tariff thing in a national
emergency gives the president a fair amount of discretion. But
I am really really troubled by one person, any person,
having this much power. That's another one of the downsides
(28:40):
to this. I mean, good lord, you get a you know,
Biden has gone and soon to be forgotten.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
But the next Democrat wack.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
Adoodle that gets in there, who knows what they'll decide,
and just whipsaw trade in a different direction for whatever reason.
I think Trump's motivations are honestly a righteous and b
long term in a way we have not seen for
a very long time.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
That does not mean it's gonna work.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
No, And we have an election every two years. That's
not very long, Termy. Wall Street is a quarter by
quarter situation, so that's not very long, Termy. Yeah, South
Korea hits US with fifty percent tariffs fifty percent, We're
now going to hit them with I lost it.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Twenty five percent. Well more people should.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Be aware that in Japan, which is what the fourth
biggest economy in the world, they make it so expensive
to buy a car from America that they drive almost
entirely cars made in their own country. And that's okay,
but us to do anything similar as a who trade war?
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Trump started a trade war.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
We need black bombs going off sounds and the ahuga
and stuff.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Can somebody mix that together? Okay? So that's my number
one question.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
So somebody's listening right now has got a PhD in
economic or you know, you do this for a living
or something. Here's my number one question for the day.
If you're a free trader, why does that not include
the almost fifty percent tax coming out of Europe or
tariff on their side. Don't get me started about boatswana bastards.
So never turn your back on a Boatswanan. Huh seventy
(30:20):
four percent? Yeah, in what sense is that free trade?
It's free trade into the United States because that is
my biggest market, that's what they mean. And we you know,
we've got the most dominant economy on the planet for
a very very long time. Egypt ten percent and we
(30:42):
hit them with ten percent. Feel free to walk like
an Egyptian if you choose too. They're free traders like ourselves.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Madagascar. How much trade do we do with Madagascar?
Speaker 6 (30:54):
You know?
Speaker 4 (30:54):
Another thing that I find kind of funny. Then we
got to take a break, shoot and get the mail bag.
Is everybody's described as ourumber one trading partner. I've heard
that applied to like nine different entities, not Boatswana, the Factors, Canada, Mexico, Europe, China,
whoever they mentioned. So is there a number one trading partner?
And I guess like within a certain segment or it
(31:16):
must be I don't even know, but yeah, I know
what you mean. It reminds me of one time a
tour came through the radio. There's six radio stations here
and a tour came through and then somebody mentioned every
radio station. We looked at the person said, we're the
number one radio station, and I thought, well, that's because
you know, you're number one young women, you're number one,
older men, you're number one all adults, you're number one
(31:36):
whatever you break it down, and me you call yourself
number one, which is fine.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
That must be the similar with the trade must be
must be.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Okay, we've got mail bag on the way, stay here.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Looted, pillage, raped and plundered.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
The old LPRP. You hate to have that going on.
It's a country pillaged, draped and plundered. He could leave
the R word out. It's a little harsh.
Speaker 9 (32:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Yeah, here's your freedom loving quote of the day from
the great Chinese businessman.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Jack Mom who's in prison. He's disappeared. Nobody's is probably
on the begion.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
We should keep going along the path of globalization. Globalization
is good. When trade stops, war comes, then you've got.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Donald J. Trump.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign
affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families.
We must protect our borders from the ravages of other
countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs.
Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength. There is
going to be something culturally. This is gonna be damned
interesting to watch. As prices go up. Do people think, okay,
(32:47):
long term this will benefit or are they just immediately
screw this boo Trump's eighteen percent approval.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Great deal.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
More to be said next hour, hoping stay tuned, mail
EG tromps, Nope mail bag at Armstrong you giddy dot.
A number of people wanting to comment on our fascinating
discussion of Ezra Kline explaining the progressive world view yesterday.
If you didn't listen to it, grab it via podcast
Armstrong you're getting on demand just a quick clip of
(33:14):
mister Klein.
Speaker 10 (33:15):
You can define the left in different ways. I think
the left has a couple fundamental views. One is it
life is unfair. We are born with different talents, we
are born into different nations.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Right.
Speaker 10 (33:28):
The luck of being born into America is right, different
than the luck of being born into Venezuela.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
And therefore they have the duty to equalize everything. Because
you didn't build that, you were just lucky, etc. That
was his next line. If you're successful, you didn't do that.
By the way, vocal you as vocal Fryan a teenage girl. Mmmmm,
vocal frying a grown ass man needs a slapping wow. Anyway,
Don writes, if you read only one of my emails
(33:55):
in your entire life, this is the one.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
I want you to be aware of that's a good opening.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
Yeah, Dan, Ezra didn't outright say it, but he's addressing
your point about people's life decisions when he says life
is unfair. Here's the scary Jack made the point that
they never talk about life decisions and we've all made
good ones and bad ones. Right, here's the scary, crazy point.
He's not saying out loud because he can't defend it
(34:20):
and would make him sound like a lunatic. He does
not believe in free will. Trust me, my brother and
his girlfriend are liberal, highly educated. When having a political
debate with me, they spat out Ezra's crazy worldview almost
word for word. When I brought up your point that
everyone makes decisions in life that greatly affects their outcomes,
they defended their position with this, There is a crazy
neo Marxist ideology going around with the progressives right now,
(34:42):
that we didn't make our own decisions, it was all
predetermined or destined. What they straight up said that to me,
I just got lucky in that every so called decision
I made in my life was predetermined because of I
think they would say his genetic makeup. Well, if you
believe that because of God, your nut job to those people.
But if you believe it through Marxism, it makes sense.
(35:04):
You know, we need to bring this up again. There's
much more said, hell of a topic. It all fits
together under the umbrella of what I would call learned dependency,
which is a huge part of the leftist political philosophy.
They teach people to be devoid of free will, devoid
of self determination agency as they call it, and to
(35:26):
be dependent on them.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Boy, we have a lot today.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
If you miss a segment, get the podcast Armstrong and
Getty on demand Armstrong and Getty