Today I read that President Donald Trump has placed a 25% to 100% tariff on imported drones. The rationale being that they can be used both for commercial and military uses, the military uses being the problematic one if used within our country by foreign powers or those with evil intent.
The President has placed tariffs on many things since he was elected to office from imported aluminum to trucks and buses to pharmaceuticals and timber. For those of us purchasing those products, it's pretty much a tax although it may hopefully induce corporations to start manufacturing these products in this country.
However, if used right, tariff monies could go toward fixing a most vexing problem of ours, namely the National Debt.
Currently, and thanks to our 'representatives in Congress, our federal government is carrying over $39 trillion in debt and that number is growing. It takes tax money away from needed projects and leaves inflation in its wake.
May I propose a use for the billions collected from tariffs: let's use that money to start paying down our debt. It seems about the least painful way to deal with that financial menace that robs us of the value of our money. Indeed, inflation created by printing money and 'promising' to pay it back some day really effects retirees on fixed income. We made this mess and we should pay it ourselves instead of sloughing it off on future generations.
Money collected by tariffs and a little fiscal restraint in Congress could go a long way to solving our debt problem. Otherwise we are looking at the fate of 1920s Germany under the Weimar Republic when you needed a wheelbarrow to move your money around.
by © Clyde James Aragon - All Rights Reserved
