By Erick-Woods Erickson
The new left and new right, safely ensconced in the protective bubble of I-495 and cosplaying as heartland adjacent through their use of Zyn and consumption of relevant cultural content, all while receiving paychecks generated by donors or taxpayers instead of jobs in the real world, have all forgotten the very basic foundational knowledge needed for the healthy advancement of society.
The left has rejected the basic laws of biology for madness and the basic laws of economics for modern monetary theory, which led to Biden’s inflationary policies.
The right has, like the left, rejected basic laws of economics, but for tariffs, and rejected basic constitutional and capitalist principles for some bastarded Christian Nationalism.
The common trait among both is that the loudest voices are subsidized by either non-profit donors or taxpayers while they scream about their fidelity and allegiance to the working class, which both sides would destroy.
Progressives would destroy the working class through their ongoing and systematic campaign to destroy the two-parent nuclear household and embrace a radical individualism that allows one to be a tyrant of many.
The new right would destroy the working class through their ongoing and systematic campaign to destroy the free market and embrace a radical collectivism that would allow the few to be the tyrant of the many.
And note they all want to talk about the working class, not the Middle Class, which both the new left and new right find very contemptibly bourgeoisie.
Notably, the left’s primary attack is against basic cultural building blocks of society, and the right’s primary attack is against basic economic building blocks of society. But together, in the name of preserving, they would all destroy instead.
It’s a very weird time to observe the professional, institutional class of ideologues in the bubble of Washington convinced they know best. Both sides believe that we are both post-constitutional and post-capitalist and have become a society governed by technocrats. Both sides now compete to pull the levers to reward friends while pushing the buttons to punish their enemies. They’ve all given up on the American Experiment and want something new in their image.
Dangerously, they are disconnected from the world around them while convinced that they, in their donor-funded institutions, are totally plugged into the world outside their D.C. bubble. They exist off the grace and favor of donors or taxpayers’ largess. They would insist on reshaping the family and middle class into that image where the working class depends on the grace and favor of those in Washington while being deprived of the means to advance on their own in society.
Put another way, neither the new left nor new right likes the idea of anyone advancing up the economic ladder without crediting that advancement to a patron class of donor-dependent crackers in Washington think tank land.
On the right, the fixation is now on destroying the basic, fundamental laws of economics, which includes a wholesale embrace of tariffs.
As the Heritage Foundation once noted,
A tariff is a government-imposed tax on goods imported into a country. Imposing a tax on imports makes them more expensive. The government’s goal is to increase revenue—but another aim is to reduce the amount of goods people import.
Many people believe that when tariffs are imposed on a country, that country bears the costs. However, this is not the case. Tariffs are paid by an individual or business importing the subjected good. When a government collects revenue from tariffs, it is collecting it from its own citizens—not from the citizens of the country upon whose goods tariffs were imposed.
Now, some on the right want to embrace tariffs and are pushing Donald Trump to not just enact tariffs but replace the whole income tax system with tariffs. But note that they won’t repeal the 16th Amendment, so when Democrats return to power, they will open us all to tariffs and an income tax as well.
They might as well move to a European-style VAT system. I am sure that is coming. Also, please note that replacing the income tax with just tariffs will not generate comparable revenue to current revenue, which we already exceed in expenditures and would also amount to a massive tax on…wait for it…no,no, seriously…wait for it… it would amount to a massive tax on the working class who, at the lower economic rungs of the ladder right now pay no income tax at all.
If you buy a $5 shirt from China and the government imposes a 100% tariff on Chinese imported goods, the United States does not make China pay the tariff. Instead, the American company importing the Chinese shirt passes the cost to you.
The cost of the $5.00 shirt becomes $10.00.
Like the modern monetary theory of the left, that is an inflationary event.
You now have $5.00 less to spend on other things.
“But wait!,” you say. “Surely I can buy a shirt for $7.00 instead of paying $10.00.”
Perhaps, but you have $2.00 less to spend on other stuff than you had before. So it remain inflationary.
“But wait!” you say, “Surely we can buy from some other country, or the tariff will incentivize manufacturers to make shirts in other countries.”
Perhaps, but investing in other countries after the tariff will still drive up prices for some time due to the costs of investing in new manufacturing. Any shirt you buy elsewhere will probably be more expensive, still depriving you of money. In other words, it is inflationary.
If you want to force companies to divest from China without provoking inflationary and economically destructive events, the government can incentivize companies to move their manufacturing to allies without tariffs. I am a big proponent of “ally-shoring,” whereby the government provides economic incentives for companies to build manufacturing in allied countries, not China.
If you want to re-establish manufacturing in the United States, you will spark inflation and higher prices, because the labor, land, and regulatory costs are vastly more here than abroad and those higher prices will amount to a reduction in demand of goods, thereby reducing the actual labor demand in the United States. In other words, you won’t create as many jobs as you think you will and you’ll spark inflation along the way.
This is literally basic economics and also basic common sense.
Essentially, the new right is telling you that Joe Biden’s inflation at the grocery store is bad, but the inflation they would cause everywhere else is good.
They will not call the tariff a tax, though that is exactly what it is.
We are left in this strange new world where the left cannot tell you what a boy is and the right cannot tell you what a tax is and both demand we abandon our common sense and basic foundational knowledge of what creates a healthy, stable society.
But trust them. Up there in their Washington bubble, they know what is best for you. Just ask them, and if you dare point out the logical outcome of their policies based on the basic laws of economics, you’re a uniparty establishmentarian. After all, they cosplay as the working class in their established donor-funded institutions without ever working in the real world. Or something like that.
These people need to get out of Washington, get a real job, and touch some grass.