Trump and the TACO Era: Trump's Terrible Tariffs Will Tear America Apart
Dr. Richard Wolff breaks down the real agenda behind Trump's draconian tariffs
President Donald Trump is known as TACO by his critics because, when it comes to his threats to impose high tariffs on other countries, he repeatedly reneges or “chickens out.”
Hence the acronym TACO — Trump Always Chickens Out. To understand the practical implications of living in the TACO era, I refer to two political thinkers who couldn’t be more different: Dr. Richard Wolff and President Grover Cleveland.
The former is one of the world’s premiere economists, a student of philosopher Karl Marx who eloquently argues that the state should help ordinary people in poverty. The latter was one of America’s most libertarian presidents, a man who sent the army to break up a railroad workers strike and unironically argued against relief to the poor by saying “federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character.”
Yet as I listened to Wolff recently explain to podcaster Ricky Strom about how Trump’s tariff policies will lead to an economic collapse, I kept thinking of one of Cleveland’s most memorable quotes. I should know: I spent more than a decade of my academic career studying Cleveland’s presidency. After Cleveland tried to lower exorbitant tariff rates during his second non-consecutive term (the only president other than Trump to serve non-consecutive terms), he was stymied by the various special interest groups that profited from exploiting consumers with oppressive rates.
“The trusts and combinations—the communism of pelf—whose machinations have prevented us from reaching the success we deserved, should not be forgotten nor forgiven,” Cleveland later wrote to a congressional confidant.
The president referred to those who want high tariffs as a “communism of pelf” because he recognized their ultimate agenda. They aspired to create an economy in which the wealthiest can worsen income inequality, to their benefit, by simultaneously gouging prices and throttling potential competitors. In effect, the high tariffs pushed by Cleveland’s opponents were a mass redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich.
Wolff argues that Trump is trying the same thing with his high tariffs today.
“I believe at this point, you know, it could change if policies change, but at this point, that is the end game for Mr. Trump: that we are going to see a collapse if he's allowed to continue,” Wolff warned. And that's a big ‘if.’ I'm not saying that it's done and he is finished it, not at all. This is where he would, he is going, here's what he hopes for, here's what his program adds up to. But whether he achieves it, that's open. And I don't know what the answer to, I don't think anybody does. I don't think we even know what kinds of changes into the tax bill, which was just passed by the House of Representatives, we don't even know what changes the Senate — and that means both Republicans and Democrats — are going to put into that bill.”
That last detail is critically important — that both Republicans and Democrats are going to stuff Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill (I always cringe when writing that name) with goodies to help their wealthy backers at the expense of their constituents. Cleveland — fighting for lower tariffs as a libertarian in the 1890s, not a democratic socialist in the 2020s — had the same frustration.
“We know they're gonna be changes, but we don't know what they are,” Wolff said. “And that's gonna affect what I'm about to say anyway. Here's the bottom line: What's going to bring industry back to America, if anything, and that's a big ‘if,’ but what's gonna bring it back is a wage level that makes us competitive with the rest of the world. We are not there yet. The gap between the rest of the world and the United States is shrinking. And it's shrinking because the rest of the world's standard of living its wage level, if you like, has risen faster than that of the United States for the last half century.”
Once again: Cleveland and Wolff are two very different types of thinkers. My point here is not that Cleveland’s economic policies were always wise; far from it. The salient observation is that intelligent men from all ideological vantage points can reach the same conclusion about Trump’s terrible tariffs.
Whether he chickens out or not, he is paving a path that — if America goes down it — will lead to high prices, low wages and an inferior quality of life for all but the rich.
Back Seat Socialism
Column by Matthew Rozsa who is a professional journalist for more than 13 years. Currently he is writing a book for Beacon Press, "Neurosocialism," which argues that autistic people like the author struggle under capitalism, and explains how neurosocialism - the distinct anticapitalist perspective one develops by living as a neurodiverse individual - can be an important organizing principle for the left.
A good analysis but I think it is too late. Tariffs or no tariffs the US is dead. It cannot pay its debt of 38 trillion, few want to hold it and the capitalist class would never see a debt jubilee.
Americans now must learn and understand that the last 100 years destroyed America as much as it uplifted it.
Now, The Empire's death throttle is war and more war and more war.
Get's rid of the debt.
History shows that countries in debt can erase it all with war.
And look at American culture: Puff Diddy, Hollywood and Netflix.
Americans best build a parallel community or the whole thing will go down the poop shoot.