Subject: Re: Why can't Democrats ...

Another easy bit of messaging is to show that tariffs are just a tax on
the American Consumer:

That runs afoul of the principle that it is unfair the ask Americans to compete with Mexicans or Indians. You can't live in the US on what a Mexican or Indian is paid, so the "jobs" are going to go where the labor is cheapest. Tariffs can be used to level the costs. There probably is no need for tariffs with Canada or the EU, but Mexico and India, for two examples, offer labor rates so low, it is impossible for Americans to compete. Use tariffs to remove the incentive to close plants in the US and shift production elsewhere.

Don't use tariffs as punishment, like his nibs is doing with Canada. More broadly, my sense is his nibs is using tariffs to shift more tax burden from the "JCs" to the Proles, which is an entirely different program, than using tariffs to offset the labor cost difference.

I had been keeping track of the list prices on a certain model of truck.

That is more a function of the program that is being sold to corporate honchos. Everyone wants to "go upmarket", seeking the deeper pocketed people, who they can take more money off of, and leaving people of lesser means in the dust.

Example:

American Airlines is arriving late to the luxury travel boom. Can it catch up?

American has fallen behind large rivals Delta Air Lines and United Airlines

in the post-Covid luxury travel boom that has taken Seoul spa vacations and 40th birthday bashes abroad out of the chat and armed millions of consumers with high-end rewards credit cards.

In the first nine months of this year, Delta made $3.8 billion and United made $2.3 billion. American made $12 million. That means that American, which offers more flights than any other airline, according to OAG, accounted for just 2% of the profit the biggest three U.S. carriers generated so far in 2025.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/2...

Steve