Tues Blogcast: Shut Dept of Ed; CO electricity prices; Christian Toto

Just One Thing: Now what for tariffs?

In what was not a huge surprise, Mexico and Canada somewhat caved in to President Trump's tariff threats. Too many folks on the left were acting as if a full-fledged trade war was going to start right now. But too many on the right are now acting as if there won't be significant trade problems caused by Trump. I still think Trump will impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico, albeit at much lower levels than the original threats. I don't know what, if anything, he'll want in order to get rid of those tariffs because he believes or claims to believe that they're good economic policy. It's more than a little weird to see a Republican support what is basically a national sales tax on some items, but Trump always lies about who pays the tariffs. (He talks as if the foreign exporter pays it but actually the American importer pays it. I also note that the difference is probably not very large to the end consumer.)

Trump has threatened tariffs on energy, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals. His goal is clearly to stimulate domestic production of those things. And making more stuff here could be OK but probably not as good as importing them at lower prices from elsewhere...as long as we're not reliant for critical goods on an enemy/competitor like China.

Trump and leaders of Canada and Mexico say tariffs will be delayed one month after talks

One other thing I'd like to mention: Trump talks about imports as bad and exports as good. That's because, like many politicians, he only focuses on American workers, and specifically on the small numbers of American workers who compete directly with the imported item, rather than on the more important American consumer or the American workers whose jobs exist because of the availability of low-priced imported inputs for the things they then produce with them. BE GRATEFUL FOR IMPORTS! Every import represents an American getting a better combination of price and value than they can get domestically. That leaves us with more money to buy other things domestically (or imported), to save for retirement or our kids' educations, to get a better car, to pay a medical bill, for employers to give raises and to expand businesses. Trump talks about imports as being a form of subsidizing the foreign country. In reality, the fact that we're importing means that we are getting a benefit and that effectively the other country is, while not exactly subsidizing, but financially benefiting us.

Consider the 17.5% tariff on baby formula. There's lots of great baby formula made in Europe. And you know how expensive baby formula is here, in part due to low levels of competition. Tariffs (and other regulation) are specifically designed to "protect" a couple of US producers...at the expense of millions of parents. The tariff on baby formula should not exist. Give consumers more choices and lower prices. This is just one (easy to understand) example of how tariffs hurt Americans while also hurting our trading partners.

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Today's Guests

Kelly Caufield is Executive Director of the Common Sense Institute. We'll discuss CSI's new report on why Colorado electricity prices are high, likely going much higher, and likely to harm economic growth in the state.

Future of Electricity Costs in Colorado

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Christian Toto is the proprietor of the Hollywood in Toto Podcast (and the website of the same name.) He's one of the rare conservative media and movie analysts/critics. We'll discuss the controversy around the transgender actress nominated an Academy Award for her role in Emelia Pérez”. And we'll talk a bit about the juicy Hollywood he-said she-said lawsuit between Blake Lively (who I'm supposed to know about but don't) and Justin Baldoni (who I'm not sure if I'm supposed to know about and I don't.)

Karla Sofía Gascón Twitter Scandal: How Can Her Oscars Campaign Go On?

For some of the "scandalous" tweets, see below.

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Lawyers for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni get a reality check from federal judge | AP News

Justin Baldoni releases texts from Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds on lawsuit website

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Anthony "A-Rod" Rodriguez, often my and Mandy's show producer, is covering Super Bowl week for us from New Orleans!

Other Stuff

One of the things I appreciate about Republicans is that they don't want government substituting for the best judgment of parents. Oh, wait...now they do. Trump's order is putting gender-affirming care at risk in blue states

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This is somewhat infuriating even though I also understand the point about how suddenly removing all immigrants, or even all illegal immigrants, would wreck our economy.

'Day Without Immigrants' protests snarl traffic in Southern California downtown

A funny reaction to a sorta serious thing: Illegal Immigrants Helpfully Wave Flags So ICE Knows Where To Send Them | Babylon Bee

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This would be a remarkable achievement. I think Dems will prevent eliminating the department but if it could be shrunk down to the size of a Wendy's that would be fantastic. There is no legitimate, constitutional, or even useful federal role in education. Trump order to dismantle the education department in the works, sources say - ABC News

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We got this news yesterday but I really didn't talk about it. Will mention today though I probably don't have much to add. What I'd like to do is go to my local King Soopers and talk to a few workers there: King Soopers workers to go on 14-day strike starting Thursday - The Colorado Sun

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USAID and US foreign aid need to be examined and reformed. Clearly there are billions of dollars wasted on nonsense left-wing projects. But that doesn't mean every aid dollar is wasted. And "throwing USAID into the wood chipper" as Elon Musk said he's done is likely to be hurting the US at least as much as it's helping. An interesting note on the subject from a former senior USAID employee: (32) Post | LinkedIn

Rubio seems to be on the page I recommend rather than the wood chipper, though it does involve a hell of a lot of pruning the tree and making sure that US foreign aid benefits our national interests, not parochial left-wing (or right-wing) interests: We have 'rank insubordination' at USAID, says Secretary of State Marco Rubio | Fox News Video

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Point

Counterpoint

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This is a truly terrible story...and an insane request by a defense attorney. She should absolutely go to prison for decades...until she's too old to have children.

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Democrats are in the wilderness but not doing anything they need to in order to stop or even effectively push back on Trump. Trump has the Dems (and much of the world) on their heels.

Trump 2.0: A Survival Guide for Democrats - by Ruy Teixeira

DNC lambasted for 'beyond parody' leadership vote that included singing, gender rules: 'can’t stop laughing' | Fox News

This is so much fun...These two clips show why Dems are now in such disfavor in the country (which is not to imply that Republicans are loved.)

And I have no idea what to say to this other than that she didn't win...

Today's Video

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