Let's talk about Trump’s washing the economy with his tariffs....

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:01]Well, howdy there internet people. It's Bell again.

[00:00:06]So, today we're going to talk about Trump washing the economy with his tariffs.

[00:00:13]Okay.

[00:00:14]So, one of the things that's misunderstood about tariffs is that strategically placed tariffs can help an industry.

[00:00:22]But, broad tariffs normally hurt the economy as a whole.

[00:00:26]One more time for the people in the back.

[00:00:29]A tariff's whole job is to raise the price.

[00:00:33]That's what it's supposed to do.

[00:00:35]Now, if you make your goods domestically, that could help you because your imported competition costs more.

[00:00:44]However, if the tariffs are on basically everything in the world, the price increases cause less spending, so it hurts you.

[00:00:53]Here's a question that perfectly illustrates it.

[00:00:57]Quote, Bell, I'm asking you because I'm not going to ask the person who told me buying a company that made their goods in the US was a safe bet because everybody else's prices would go up.

[00:01:13]And they'd be the appliance go-to.

[00:01:16]Now, their revenue fell by almost 10% year over year in the first quarter.

[00:01:22]And this just doesn't look good at all.

[00:01:24]I've lost half my money.

[00:01:26]What happened?

[00:01:29]Okay.

[00:01:30]I don't give investment advice. Talk to your advisor. But, nothing is a safe bet.

[00:01:36]But, I can talk about what might be behind what's happened.

[00:01:40]But, I'm going to take a shot in the dark here based on the word appliance and the rough numbers here.

[00:01:47]You bought Whirlpool, right?

[00:01:49]And even if that's not it, they're still a good example of this.

[00:01:54]For those who don't know, Whirlpool is a giant in the appliance world, and they make a massive percentage of their products in the US.

[00:02:03]So, they're a dominant brand in their industry, and they make their stuff here.

[00:02:09]This is exactly the type of company that should have been a huge winner from Trump's tariffs.

[00:02:16]But, that's assuming they worked the way he claimed they did.

[00:02:20]And, they don't.

[00:02:22]You can't tariff everything under the sun, and expect the consumer to still be out there spending.

[00:02:29]You certainly can't tariff everything under the sun, and then start some Don Quixote-esque war that sends gas prices up, and expect consumers to remain resilient.

[00:02:43]Whirlpool's CEO, Marc Bitzer, didn't really lay the blame, but he talked about the effect recently when he said, quote, "This level of industry decline is similar to what we have observed during the global financial crisis, and even higher than during other recessionary periods."

[00:03:04]To be clear, that's the CEO of a company that employs tens of thousands of people comparing our current economic state to the Great Recession.

[00:03:15]That's not a good sign at all.

[00:03:20]It's not just appliances.

[00:03:22]You see the same consumer strain in everything, from fast food to membership-driven services.

[00:03:29]The consumer is tapped out and nervous.

[00:03:32]That causes pullback in spending.

[00:03:36]It doesn't matter if, because of tariffs in your industry, your washing machine is hands-down the best and cheapest.

[00:03:43]If, because of tariffs across all industries, everybody's tapped out on disposable income, and nobody's buying new washing machines.

[00:03:55]Trump didn't understand tariffs.

[00:03:57]You're paying the price.

[00:04:00]Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a good day.