Yes yes we can get into demand elasticity, but that’s well beyond “China pays thr tariff” which has such favorable political messaging
He also never ultimately addressed the question. Even if we assume for a moment that tariffs are capable of eliminating our deficit, he claims that it will also pay for childcare.
How? From where does the childcare come? JD Vance believes that daycare requires a six-year degree to work. Will his proposal fund masters degrees for federalized daycare centers? Is this going to be universal daycare for all citizens?
His answer is “The solution to daycare is tariffs. Tariffs bring money and money does daycare.”
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mexico pays for the wall, china pays for childcare. problem solved.
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I assume the answer people are hoping to hear is a big transfer of wealth from sexually frustrated single men to mothers and families, to subsidize the price of daycare. Is there something else that would actually work? (Point noted about also subsidizing some of the inputs to daycare centers.)
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Momgpt?
You will save so much money not buying the things you can no longer afford due to tariffs that you will have plenty of money for childcare.
I mean, you could not buy those things now, but think how much more money you’ll save by not buying them when they’re much more expensive.
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You can force grandma and grandpa to provide daycare for free easily now in this economy, believe me.
Because you’ll have to live with them anyway.
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Attracting attention on the late-night circuit:
Why do they have to be frustrated?
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You were able to follow that well enough to conclude anything about what he did and didn’t say?
Yeah, my grandfather had dementia for years.
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Well obviously, it’s a transfer of wealth from all non-beneficiary taxpayers to beneficiaries, with possible gray areas for indirect beneficiaries. I just picked a cohort that I thought would be particularly resentful.
Isn’t the incel crowd a core constituency within MAGA?
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I don’t think it’s entirely unreasonable. If you’re a single, sexually satisfied man who never has kids you’re free riding off the labors of those who do have kids to take care of you when you’re old.
Sort of the NerdAlert opposite
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They already get tax breaks for having kids. I though Social Security and Medicare tax were already supposed to cover the “take care of people when they’re old” bit.
I’m aware of the funding shortfalls, but a new entitlement would only exacerbate them.
Yes parents get a tax credit. It’s a bit of a drop in the bucket relative to child costs, so no risk of anyone trying to game the system.
And the free riding is because if no one had kids it doesn’t matter how much you save, there would be no one to provide the services for you to buy in many years time.
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I’m aware of the first part. I’m not suggesting anyone is gaming the system. I’m suggesting it’s not the government’s responsibility to reimburse every expense of having children. At some point, the parents made a lifestyle choice, knowing it would cost them.
The second part would be an issue if I thought people needed to be incentivized to have children, but I don’t think we’re there yet, at least not in the USA. We can always recruit skilled, educated, able-bodied immigrants, so I’m confident there will be someone to provide services when I’m old, given the money.
I think that’s fair, and agree it’s a lifestyle choice. It’s generally a pro-society choice though, so think it’s pretty defensible that society would take an interest in it. Similar to how homeownership is subsidized.
The services you may be requiring don’t necessarily need skilled educated providers. You may find it difficult to afford those kind of workers. We are more likely to be able to recruit unskilled, poorly educated migrants to fill those low-wage jobs.
Japan said “Robots” when faced with this choice.
It will be interesting to see how things change.