Tractors and (upcoming) tariffs?

[rScotty]

Absolutely right. People who complain about "high interest rates today" simply aren't paying attention to historical rates. It's just a matter of education.

No, it’s a matter of recency bias.

True they are lower than the early 80’s, but I didn’t buy my first home until nearly 2000, so to me and people in their 40’s-50’s, they seem high.

Yes. I can see where you would feel that way, and good for you. You timed it well.

I'm a slow learner, but sometime in my 70s it finally dawned on me that our wealthy friends - the ones who just won the election, BTW - are on a whole different time line than the average guy like you or I.

Wealthy families have spare money, which they pass back and forth within their extended family down through the generations. They aren't spending paycheck-to-paycheck in order to eat; they have enough extra so they can time their expenditures and investments depending on the monetary rates.

And since the wealthy families can invest their money over several generations, as long as the rates go one way and then another, any % inflation that is greater than zero insures that they cannot help but make money on the swings. Their advantage is not evil, it is simply having a longer time line to work with than the average working family. A 50 year swing in rates is of little consequence to them, but it is everything to the working family.

None of this makes any difference except for one thing: Financially, any swing in money policy tends to benefits the wealthy, but may or may not benefit anyone else.
It's short vs long term.
rScotty

 

[jyoutz]

I mean, Joe B said he would raise min wage to $15/he when he pushed Bernie out of the race in 2020.

That didn't happen. That's why I don't believe all things. And I also understand the context of the tariffs. I don't ignore the context of them and blindly say they will be implemented. That's intellectually dishonest

Minimum wage is $15 or higher where I live. Not federal: local and state minimum wages.

 

[jyoutz]

No record inflation eating away at that “wonderful time to make money”?

This link shows annual US inflation rates from 1929 to present. There were many periods that had higher inflation than the recent past 5 years. The 1970s were far higher and the 40s saw inflation as high as 18.6%. A historical perspective.

Historical U.S. Inflation Rate by Year: 1929 to 2025

By looking at the inflation rate each year, you can gain insight into how prices changed and how events around the globe impacted the average U.S. consumer.

www.investopedia.com

 

[jyoutz]

Can't think of lots of tariff items for home construction outside from Canadian lumber and Chinese Drywall.

I could be out of date so maybe more is sourced overseas like copper wire and copper pipe?

Home prices are down here but materials still up...

The U.S. has a very robust copper industry so I’d be surprised if much was imported.

 

[jyoutz]

Absolutely right. People who complain about "high interest rates today" simply aren't paying attention to historical rates. It's just a matter of education.

My first mortgage in 1987 was at the market rate of 10.5%.

 

[rumwrks]

So you believe that we were on a good path and heading in the right direction, and you believe Kamala would have been a better choice?

The discussion here is "what effect will tariffs have" not some hypothetical alternative future we won't see,

 

[rumwrks]

The U.S. has a very robust copper industry so I’d be surprised if much was imported.

In 2022 the US exported $812M in refined copper and imported $6.16 Billion worth of which a bit over over 50% was from Chile (I have no idea how we'll treat Chile..).

I think a more apropos statement is that the US had a very robust copper industry but it's very insufficient to meet current demand.

 

[Fishin-4-a-Livin]

The discussion here is "what effect will tariffs have" not some hypothetical alternative future we won't see,

I actually asked you about the past.

Do you think our country is on the right track and that we should just keep on keeping on?

 

[jyoutz]

In 2022 the US exported $812M in refined copper and imported $6.16 Billion worth of which a bit over over 50% was from Chile (I have no idea how we'll treat Chile..).

I think a more apropos statement is that the US had a very robust copper industry but it's very insufficient to meet current demand.

Still a very big industry in Arizona; not sure about the other copper producing areas.

 

[rumwrks]

Still a very big industry in Arizona; not sure about the other copper producing areas.

Arizona is responsible for about 70% of current US copper production, so yeah it's still one of the five C's.