Fox's Cavuto questions Rep. Brady - He dodges and weaves

[Martinius]

I happened to check Fox News today and caught an interview that Neil Cavuto, the top business analyst for Fox, had with Rep. Kevin Brady, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. His committee would be on the front lines for tax and spending requests.

Brady was talking about how the U.S. would impose tariffs on imports from Mexico and ALL other countries. The amount would vary, because what they are trying to do is "level the playing field". So if a product from Mexico is 20% cheaper than the same product made here, they would tax it to make the "cost" equal. Twice, Cavuto asked Brady about who would actually pay this tariff. Wouldn't it be American consumers and companies? Brady evaded the question. A little later, Cavuto tried again. Same non-response. At the end of the interview, Cavuto said to Brady and to viewers: That's bad news.

Simply, Cavuto knows, and business people know, and hopefully politicians should know, that the cost of these tariffs will be placed on the backs of all Americans. Rather than increasing jobs, it could actually decrease them, and directly hurt the wallets of every consumer. One economic analyst said a universal tariff could lead to worldwide recession.

Why don't these guys get that?

 

[Saucy]

You don't think Donald Trump might know a bit more about business than Cavuto? If it's one area perhaps we could trust the guy in is business sense?

 

[Martinius]

You don't think Donald Trump might know a bit more about business than Cavuto? If it's one area perhaps we could trust the guy in is business sense?

No, not at all. Trump knows how to take advantage of people and laws to make money. He obviously has no knowledge of, nor seems to care about, the U.S. or the world economy. Ask yourself what the electricians in D.C. who were recently stiffed by Trump for a couple million dollars on his hotel project think about Trump's business acumen.

It shouldn't take more than a half hour or so of researching some basic economics to see what could easily happen. Cavuto asked a simple question, using some Economics 101 thinking, and Brady could not and/or would not answer. Maybe Brady is too honorable and moral to tell an outright lie to the country.

 

[Hank77]

I happened to check Fox News today and caught an interview that Neil Cavuto, the top business analyst for Fox, had with Rep. Kevin Brady, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. His committee would be on the front lines for tax and spending requests.

Brady was talking about how the U.S. would impose tariffs on imports from Mexico and ALL other countries. The amount would vary, because what they are trying to do is "level the playing field". So if a product from Mexico is 20% cheaper than the same product made here, they would tax it to make the "cost" equal. Twice, Cavuto asked Brady about who would actually pay this tariff. Wouldn't it be American consumers and companies? Brady evaded the question. A little later, Cavuto tried again. Same non-response. At the end of the interview, Cavuto said to Brady and to viewers: That's bad news.

Simply, Cavuto knows, and business people know, and hopefully politicians should know, that the cost of these tariffs will be placed on the backs of all Americans. Rather than increasing jobs, it could actually decrease them, and directly hurt the wallets of every consumer. One economic analyst said a universal tariff could lead to worldwide recession.

Why don't these guys get that?

Other countries, such as the UK put tariffs/taxes on US products sold in their countries, which makes it hard for us to compete.

Another thing, and I don't have any clear vision of how this might work out for the consumer in the end, but if they drop corporate taxes to 15% maybe it could balance things out, not to mention encouraging new industry.

 

[Saucy]

No, not at all. Trump knows how to take advantage of people and laws to make money. He obviously has no knowledge of, nor seems to care about, the U.S. or the world economy. Ask yourself what the electricians in D.C. who were recently stiffed by Trump for a couple million dollars on his hotel project think about Trump's business acumen.

It shouldn't take more than a half hour or so of researching some basic economics to see what could easily happen. Cavuto asked a simple question, using some Economics 101 thinking, and Brady could not and/or would not answer. Maybe Brady is too honorable and moral to tell an outright lie to the country.

Well, a simpler answer could be that he didn't know the answer to the question. It's not always OH MY GOSH TRUMP IS GOING TO DESTROY THE COUNTRY!!!!!! A non-answer doesn't always mean the opposite answer is true. It could mean they're still working out the details.

Trump campaigned on tax breaks and cuts for businesses and the American people, so I don't see how he'd impose this tax on the people and not the businesses who import. He said the whole time he was going add an import tax of 35%.

And finally, there are two sides to every story. I doubt Trump doesn't just not pay out of spite or because he's a bad guy. There were many times in my own business at the beginning that my work wasn't too great and I didn't get paid for it. Also, pay isn't always regulated until after the job is finished. So I'm sure they got paid something.

 

[Martinius]

Other countries, such as the UK put tariffs/taxes on US products sold in their countries, which makes it hard for us to compete.

Another thing, and I don't have any clear vision of how this might work out for the consumer in the end, but if they drop corporate taxes to 15% maybe it could balance things out, not to mention encouraging new industry.

Sure they do. But if that is done here, let's be honest about who actually pays for it. Let's say that this tariff plan causes an increase in manufacturing in the U.S. Maybe 100,000 more jobs, maybe a million. But hundreds of millions of consumers will be paying for the cost of that in higher prices. So if the cost of these tariffs is, say, $3000 per year for every American household, will all the employers in America increase every worker's wages by that amount? No, I don't think so either. And if they did, we would have a spike in inflation, and then what?

Another point, which people involved in manufacturing and economics know, is that if this happens and businesses retool for more production, they will be looking at ways to do it economically. They are profit-oriented, you know. So that means more automation, and fewer workers. So the employment increase may not pan out.

Third, if our products increase in price, fewer Americans and fewer people other countries will be buying them, or buying fewer of them. And that means cuts in production and layoffs. Rep. Brady didn't want to talk about any of this, because it would show that the plan they want to impose just won't work. Sorry to have to break this "bad news" (as Caputo labeled it) to you.

 

[Martinius]

Trump campaigned on tax breaks and cuts for businesses and the American people, so I don't see how he'd impose this tax on the people and not the businesses who import. He said the whole time he was going add an import tax of 35%.

Well, a lot of other people, experts in business and economics, know exactly who will pay for it. If Brady did not know the answer, he should have said "we are studying the impact of these tariffs, and don't have an exact answer yet." But he pretended, TWICE, that he didn't hear the question, and you could see discomfort on his face as he tried to dodge it. What surprises me is that he should have expected the question. Cavuto asked the exact same question I would have asked. For a guy who is Chair of Ways and Means, Brady seems to have little grasp of basic business, taxes, tariffs and economics.

 

[Martinius]

And finally, there are two sides to every story. I doubt Trump doesn't just not pay out of spite or because he's a bad guy. There were many times in my own business at the beginning that my work wasn't too great and I didn't get paid for it. Also, pay isn't always regulated until after the job is finished. So I'm sure they got paid something.

Oh, they did get paid, a lot of money, for a lot of work. Trump wanted them to rush the work so he could get his hotel open. So these electricians worked overtime and weekends to finish it. But Trump stiffed them on the last payment. Something he has done many, many times. Now he is going to stiff us, and leave us with a big bill.

 

[Martinius]

Oh, one more thing I just remembered. Mexico is our biggest export partner. They buy hundreds of billions of dollars of stuff from American companies. If the Mexican companies stop producing cars and other stuff for us, they will also stop BUYING the equipment and materials they no longer need. And if Mexican workers are laid off, then their economy suffers and their people buy less from the U.S. IT IS A TWO STREET.

I have seen talks and articles by heads of U.S companies that depend on imports from Mexico to make their products. So either they will have higher costs (which get passed on to us) or they reduce production and lay off workers. Either way, Americans pay the price.

American food producers buy a LOT of sugar from Mexico. Unless they can find this food material from another source at comparable prices, the cost of almost everything you eat that has sugar in it will go up. Your Fruit Loops, Snicker's, and energy bars. Again, the American consumer pays. When that happens, try going to your boss and tell him you need a raise because the cost of your kids' Fruit Loops have gone up.

There is no magic bullet to bring jobs back. And if that gun is fired as currently proposed, it may shoot us in the foot.

 

[Saucy]

We're not doing anything to Mexico. They're the ones who let their people come in. They're the ones not doing enough along the border to cut drugs, guns, and criminals from coming in. WE have a RIGHT to defend our border, regardless of how much it upsets Mexico.

If a business wants to pass a tax on to the consumers, the consumers then have a right now to buy from that business. That will open the door for American competitors to provide a cheaper product where a tariff isn't passed down.

By taking care of the immigration issue, we will solve SO many problems. We won't be spending billions of dollars every year on giving aid, food stamps, welfare, etc on illegal immigrants. There will be more open jobs for Americans. Crime will go down.

Having such a huge deficit means Mexico makes much more money than we do off of trade. If we correct some of these deficit problems, we start moving the flow of money into our country.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Well, a simpler answer could be that he didn't know the answer to the question. It's not always OH MY GOSH TRUMP IS GOING TO DESTROY THE COUNTRY!!!!!! A non-answer doesn't always mean the opposite answer is true. It could mean they're still working out the details.

If you're going on tv to sell people on your massive tariff plan, you ought to have some of the fundamentals down already, like who will bear the cost of the plan. If you haven't figured out something as simple as that, you have no business putting the plan in place and trying to sell it to people.

 

[AvgJoe]

I have seen talks and articles by heads of U.S companies that depend on imports from Mexico to make their products. So either they will have higher costs (which get passed on to us) or they reduce production and lay off workers. Either way, Americans pay the price.

American food producers buy a LOT of sugar from Mexico. Unless they can find this food material from another source at comparable prices, the cost of almost everything you eat that has sugar in it will go up. Your Fruit Loops, Snicker's, and energy bars. Again, the American consumer pays. When that happens, try going to your boss and tell him you need a raise because the cost of your kids' Fruit Loops have gone up.

There is no magic bullet to bring jobs back. And if that gun is fired as currently proposed, it may shoot us in the foot.

You have hit on a current hot button topic for me, personally. You are absolutely correct that Americans will pay the price if the GOP's current tax plan~~~> ( A Better Way Forward on Tax Reform - Ways and Means ), is passed in it's current form. It does have some good parts to it, as the corporate tax rate is reduced from the current rate of 35% down to 20%. Then come the border adjustments; partly, really good and partly, really bad.

First the really good part, the border adjustment export tax. If you manufacture a product here in the US and sell it to someone outside of the US (export), then you would pay $0 in taxes on that sale. Under current tax law, in this same scenario, you would pay taxes on the profit from the sale. Ex: Make a $10,000 sale - $7,000 cost = $3,000 - $1,000 expenses = $2,000 profit x .35 (35% tax rate) = $700 tax bill. This is a great incentive to increase exports.

Now the really bad part, the border adjustment import tax. If you import a product into the US and sell it in the US, then you pay the new 20% tax on the total price of that sale. Let's use a $100 product as an example, which the company paid $70 for, has $20 in expenses and the remaining $10 is their profit. Under current tax law, only the profit is taxed, so we have $10 x .35 (35% tax rate) = $3.50 tax bill. Under the new law the total amount of the sale is taxed, there are no deductions for your cost and expenses, so $100 x .2 (20% tax rate) = $20 tax bill.

As you can see, under the new tax law, this company's tax bill just went up by 471%, plus their tax bill is now twice as much as their profit on the sale. Now think about, all of the Walmart & Target stores, all of the 90% of clothes and shoes (that are made overseas) stores, all of the smartphone/electronics stores and all of the other countless businesses that import their products, where are they going to come up with the money to pay for this??? The ONLY place they can, from you and me, the consumer. Just in the example above, the company would have to raise their price, by 20.6%, just to break even with their new tax burden. Imagine going to your favorite store and the price of everything has risen by 20+%. If this border adjustment import tax passes, Americans will pay, dearly, and the government will receive a tax windfall.

The possibility of this becoming law has me scared to death. I am a small family business owner and most of my products are imports, and with the highly competitive market we're in, if the border adjustment import tax passes, it may very well kill my business.

And for the record, this isn't Trump's plan, it's the House Republican's plan. Trump's plan is to place a 35% import tax on companies that have moved their operations to other countries.

 

[KCfromNC]

Why don't these guys get that?

Because they realize there's a lot of votes to get by playing to the "brown people are responsible for the problems in my life" crowd.

 

[KCfromNC]

You don't think Donald Trump might know a bit more about business than Cavuto?

I don't know. I'd guess that Cavuto hasn't bankrupted multiple companies and is successful enough to actually have to pay taxes. Donnie? Who knows what to believe?

 

[Martinius]

Other countries, such as the UK put tariffs/taxes on US products sold in their countries, which makes it hard for us to compete.

Another thing, and I don't have any clear vision of how this might work out for the consumer in the end, but if they drop corporate taxes to 15% maybe it could balance things out, not to mention encouraging new industry.

Well, corporate taxes are different than border tariffs, and are calculated entirely differently. When you buy something, does the seller normally pay the sales tax? Does the hotel or restaurant cover the taxes that appear on your bill? Me either.

It is informative that several congress people, including TWO Texas Republicans, are saying that the idea of the tariff is bad, and will cost their constituents a lot of money and a lot of jobs. A Republican advisor and strategist just said the same on one of the news networks. The Congressman from San Diego says there are THREE walls in his district already, and a fourth won't change much. He also does not want to lose the great cooperation between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement, which keeps crime rates in his area low.

Trump needs to stop listening to Bannon and start dialoguing with people who understand the ramifications of his proposals.

 

[Armoured]

We're not doing anything to Mexico.

Putting a 20% trade tariff on them seems like "something".

 

[Saucy]

I don't know. I'd guess that Cavuto hasn't bankrupted multiple companies and is successful enough to actually have to pay taxes. Donnie? Who knows what to believe?

Last I read, Trump has/had over 515 businesses. What, maybe four of them went under? He's personally never gone bankrupt. I think for the most part, every single billionaire has encountered a few losses because they invest in so many different things.

The list of wealthy people with failures to their name, who also declared bankruptcy includes:

Warren Buffet
Jeff Bezos
Bill Gates
Larry Ellison
Richard Branson
Michael Bloomberg
Rupert Murdoch
Charles and David Koch
Sam Walton
Elon Musk
Ralph Lauren
George Soros
Mark Zuckerberg
Michael Dell
Henry Ford
Milton Hershey
P.T. Barnum
Walt Disney
Abraham Lincoln
Ulysses S. Grant
William McKinley
Oscar Wilde
Steve Jobs
Mark Twain
Martha Stewart

You get my point. All of these people (and many, many more), lost fortunes and/or went bankrupt. I don't care how powerful you are, how much money you have, or how massive your company...you're going to lose money. Not all of your ideas will succeed.

I think four losses out of 515 is pretty darn good.

 

[Armoured]

Last I read, Trump has/had over 515 businesses. What, maybe four of them went under? He's personally never gone bankrupt. I think for the most part, every single billionaire has encountered a few losses because they invest in so many different things.

The list of wealthy people with failures to their name, who also declared bankruptcy includes:

Warren Buffet
Jeff Bezos
Bill Gates
Larry Ellison
Richard Branson
Michael Bloomberg
Rupert Murdoch
Charles and David Koch
Sam Walton
Elon Musk
Ralph Lauren
George Soros
Mark Zuckerberg
Michael Dell
Henry Ford
Milton Hershey
P.T. Barnum
Walt Disney
Abraham Lincoln
Ulysses S. Grant
William McKinley
Oscar Wilde
Steve Jobs
Mark Twain
Martha Stewart

You get my point. All of these people (and many, many more), lost fortunes and/or went bankrupt. I don't care how powerful you are, how much money you have, or how massive your company...you're going to lose money. Not all of your ideas will succeed.

I think four losses out of 515 is pretty darn good.

It's a couple more than 4
A Complete List of Donald Trump’s Business Disasters

 

[Saucy]

Putting a 20% trade tariff on them seems like "something".

When you consider how much money Mexico and the Mexican people cost us, that's peanuts. We can't keep footing the bill for everyone.

 

[Martinius]

We're not doing anything to Mexico

Well, yes we would be. Which would backfire big time and hurt all of us.

Putting a 20% trade tariff on them seems like "something".

Sure is, and I hope all those Mexicans send us thank you notes for paying that tariff for them.