I've too often (though understandably...) gotten away from my stated hope of focusing on just one issue during my articles and keeping them as short as possible.  I know I won't be able to hold to that -- as I haven't... -- but we'll try on occasion.  And today is one of those efforts.

This is a wonderful, thoughtful, "real world" interview with the owner of a bridal gown shop, Christine Greenberg, on wanting to buy American for making her products, but why the tariffs make that so difficult.  But I'd post this anyway just for the end -- that's when the CNN host Sara Sidner asks how she is dealing with the challenges and uncertainty, and her response prompts Sidner to comment, "I think that was probably the most honest answer we've had on TV today." (That answer?  "We drink a lot of wine.")

On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest contestant is Austan Goolsby, who was chair of Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, economic professor at the University of Chicago, and is currently president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.  Goolsby does his good job keeping the conversation light-hearted and enjoyable, though host Peter Sagal doesn’t do his best job with the questions, trying to get economics and the fed explained.
 
This is the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but you can jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it starts around the 18:30 mark.

​Among all the talk for many weeks now about tariffs, a thought occurred to me the other day – one which I’ve occasionally heard referenced in a related way – but it strikes me as so pointed and basic, that I think it bears addressing.  And is something I think Democrats should be reminding the public repeatedly and relentlessly.
 
As Trump and MAGOPs try to explain tariffs, they will be oh-so great for Americans – “independence day,” in fact, as Trump loved to put it.  Creating fairness in trade and building factories across the country, filling them with jobs for Americans – all of whom will be rushing to work in factories once they are finally built in a decade, except for all those jobs that aren’t remotely reliant on factories.  Like, y’know, farms and retail stores and the service industry and business offices and such.  But, okay, putting all of that aside, the point Trump and MAGOPs want Americans to know is that tariffs will be great, great, great for them because of unfair competition with other countries with their lower production costs.
 
Which brings us to the point.
 
Let’s say that everything Trump and MAGOPs say comes true.  Let’s say the tariffs hurt imports and let’s say factories pop up here like Johnny Appleseed was busy at work and let’s say Americans rush to work in factories –
 
Prices here in the U.S. will soar.
 
After all, the whole point of businesses having their products manufactured overseas is that costs are, indeed, lower.  So, if you take that away, and add tariffs to the prices here, those price tags will rise.  And that part of the equation most of the country knows, which is why polls show they expect prices to rise.  But the thing is, even if Trump and MAGOPs’ mother of all dreams comes true, and factories sprout up and jobs flourish – it’s not like those jobs will get paid at the low rates they have in China and India and Vietnam and Sri Lanka and wherever else.  They’ll get paid at U.S. rates, where minimum wage applies – as a starting point for entry workers.  And then go up with experience and time.  So, prices for products made in the U.S. will still be higher than when they were made overseas.  Even under the ideal conditions Trump and his team and enablers are trying to convince Americans will occur.
 
It can’t be otherwise.  And it’s really easy to see why --
 
The whole point of Trump wanting to put tariffs on the entire world is that it costs less to make products overseas than in the U.S.  So, when you bring production back to the U.S., prices will have to be higher.  It can’t be otherwise.
 
Yes, creating more jobs in the U.S. would be a great thing.  But it just won’t work that way, not how Trump and MAGOPs want to flim flam the public.  Some factories might be built.  Some products might get built here.  And that might happen in five to 10 years.  But overall?  No, you’re not going to bring back all production back to the U.S.  And the manufacturing you do bring back will most likely all cost more.
 
If you want to create new jobs in the U.S., it would seem the better and more realistic way to do that is not tariffs and fanciful factories and ruining the U.S. economy, but by creating new industries that don’t already exist and which ideally wouldn’t rely on lower manufacturing costs elsewhere.  But have a basis of existence here.  Technology-based, perhaps.  Green-based, maybe.  But all that’s another discussion for another time by those who know far more about such things than me.  The point here is tariffs – and how even if they work exactly the way Trump and MAGOPs desperately want to believe they will in a perfect world, without a single hiccup or glitch, thanks to Trump and his crackerjack team of world-class experts who haven't made a mistake yet, worth mentioning…prices will still go up for Americans.
 
It can’t be otherwise.

On Sunday, Trump sent out of his long, manic social media postings about saving Hollywood by imposing tariffs on “any and all” productions that are filmed overseas and shown in the U.S.
 
This is ludicrous.
 
I've worked in the film/TV industry for decades. Not only do I have no idea how this would work (or what it would even accomplish), I doubt that Trump does either. Besides which, the movie industry is not only the top export from the United States, but it has a massive $15 billion surplus!!  Let me repeat that:  The U.S. does not have a trade imbalance with movies.  They have a $15 billion surplus.  This is not what is generally considered a problem.  At least in a rational world.
 
Yes, what is known as "Runaway productions" are a problem, but this is completely counter-productive to that. "Runaway productions" are usually those that don’t film in Los Angeles, but rather shoot in other U.S. states like North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Illinois and NY where they get local tax breaks -- not overseas, other than Canada for some TV series -- so the very point of this whole "tariff" idiocy, saving the movie industry, is for the most part, 100% utterly meaningless.

The concept is bizarre and confusing and ill-thought out on so many levels.

Furthermore, it's completely unclear if Trump’s statement means that he wants to put a tariff just on U.S. movies that film outside the country, or also on foreign movies that are brought into the U.S.  It sounds like it does, since he talks about "any and all" movies made outside the U.S.  Which, if that was the case, would be even more ludicrous.  Those films, made by foreign countries themselves,  of course have absolutely zero to do with runaway productions and the production cost of movies, nor ticket prices.  And they have no impact on taking work away from Americans.  None.  Zero.

Moreover, how do you even put tariffs on making movies outside of the U.S.?   And again, what would it even accomplish?  It might possibly (might) offset foreign tax incentives enough on some films (some) to keep some U.S. productions from leaving the U.S.  (Keeping in mind that, as with all tariffs, a tariff is by the distributor on the U.S. side – which in the case of movies is often the studio that made the film.)  But a foreign country can just lower its own taxes and give other incentives to keep costs for the production low, in order to get all the financial benefits of having a film shooting there.  And also, unlike a hardware product, there’s no way for the “manufacturer” of a movie to reclaim the tariff by raising prices.  It’s not like a tariff would get theater chains to raise their ticket prices, since they’re not the ones paying the tariff.  (Could a studio try to get more from theaters if their costs rise?  It’s possible, but that’s not only how studios have operated with high budget films – but theater chains would likely balk at paying more, since they’d have to raise their ticket prices, at a time with theatergoing is facing challenges.)  But also, if a movie’s story takes place outside the U.S., which is usually the reason for filming many, if not most movies out of the country, it won’t stop anyone from going overseas.

But even more – and “but even more” is a recurring theme with this idiotic idea -- this doesn't take into consideration how so many U.S. movies in general, let alone U.S. movies shot overseas, and especially foreign-national productions (again, if this even is supposed to pertain to them) aren’t even “brought into” the country anymore to show in theaters, but stream online.  And they could stream from anywhere.
 
So, would these suggested tariffs apply to movies that stream, or only those that are shown in theaters?  And on what would the tariffs be based?  Production costs, box office revenue, profits -- and what about delayed royalties, which are foundational to film productions costs?

This "idea" is insane and unworkable.  And actually harmful to the U.S. film industry.
 
But “insane” is a good place to start – and end.
 
In fact, how insane is the idea?  Only one day after Trump made his manic posting, the White House released a statement that what Trump wrote was only a general idea and that nothing specific had been worked out.
 
Gee, no kidding.  Just what you want from a president.  General, insane rants that haven’t been worked out.  And, hopefully, may never be.

Contrast this with a proposal made yesterday by California Governor Gavin Newsom.  He brought up a $7.5 billion federal tax incentive to movie companies.  Adam Schiff is working on a similar idea in Congress.  Whether such measures ever become law, both are rational and sane, and would help accomplish precisely the point of creating incentives to keep movie productions from going overseas.

The one thing they're not -- is insane.
​

This past Wednesday, Chris Hayes did a terrific story on his MSNBC show about one of the lesser-discussed and major problems caused by Trump's actions, enabled by the MAGOPs in Congress.  And that's tourism.

His point was that, although tourism might seem like a small issue, it's actually the economic area where the United States not only has a surplus, but the one area that has always run a surplus, and a big surplus.  It's money that all goes one way, into the U.S.  Billions of dollars.  And not just money for coming into the country, but for hotels, renting cars, taking trains and buses, tickets for shows and entertainments, buying food, getting souvenirs and more.  And further, and perhaps most importantly, it creates jobs.  Huge numbers of jobs.

And it's cratering, thanks to Trump.

Imagine now, as the report starts out, how this could impact international visitors coming to the the U.S. for the 2028 Olympics.  Or not comings.  For that matter, which the segment doesn't touch on, who knows what conditions will be then and if any democratic countries refuse to even send their Olympics teams.  (I don't think it will come to that, but I don't know with absolute certainty, and it's a question that can't not​ be asked.)

On the Lockheed Martin website, they describe Trump's push for the Pentagon to develop a "Golden Dome" (Trump's version of the failed "Star Wars Defense Initiative" that Ronald Reagan tried) as the "Golden Dome stands as an impenetrable shield, safeguarding the American homeland with unwavering precision." 

There's no way of knowing yet if this effort will be successful, or as foolhardy and wasteful as Reagan's attempt.  The one thing we do have an idea about, though, since we're already seeing the first results, is that Trump is  doing a great job even without any technology creating an invisible force shield keeping other people from around the world out.  And not just minorities from his self-proclaimed "sh*thole countries," but everyone.

​Rather than me describe the segment more, it's best to turn these pages over to Chris Hayes, and let him dive deep into it.

And now, a brief musical interlude from shore to Dinah Shore...