Are you blind to customer inflation due to tariffs?
Hi, Terry. See you show up on WGN News sometimes. You (mistakenly) said on September 10th that we “aren’t seeing the costs of tariffs” affecting consumers yet. Um, where are you looking? The Nintendo Switch, a console released in 2017, went from $300 to $340 for a standard model and $350 to $400 for an OLED. Sony raised the price of the PS5 to such an unreasonable price that I can’t afford one for my kids. My niece only wanted a Pop Mart toy for her birthday, but since it now costs $49, rather than $30-32 like the previous ones, that isn’t happening. Food prices are up. I can’t even get my Japanese skincare items, because Japan Post stopped shipping due to Trump ending de minimis. Hersey announced it is raising prices on candy by 26% ahead of Halloween. (Here’s a source for that: https://bsky.app/profile/teroterotero.bsky.social/post/3lyglv34v5c2b)
Where are you looking and in what world are you living in where tariffs *aren’t* already making things impossible? Why are you lying to protect Trump and Republicans? Is it because You are rich and aren’t affected by $10-50 price hikes in the same way us normal people are?
Terry Says
Well, you weren’t listening closely enough. I do not deny the fact of inflation over the past decade! BUT, what did say is that we are not seeing a major increase in inflation (the Consumer Price Index) since the tariffs were instituted. And we haven’t seen a major rise in Wholesale Inflation (PPI) since the tariffs started. Yet the Treasury has collected $1 trillion in tariff money!
Maybe corporate profits are going to be squeezed. But with stocks continuing to rise, the market doesn’t seem too worried about a profit squeeze. Or MAYBE — those tariffs are just about to be passed on to consumers in teh coming money –on top of previous inflationary increases in prices! That’s the trillion dollar question!
