Sept. 19: What an opportunity! This is the first election we can choose a convicted felon who spews nothing but hate and lies. Moreover, his only coherent economic policy of across-the-board tariffs will make us collectively worse off. Empirical evidence demonstrates that import tariffs, another type of sales tax, are 100% passed on to consumers through higher import prices. What are the costs and benefits you ask? Empirical evidence shows that, on average, each job protected costs consumers at least $200,000.00 through higher prices. But each trade-protected job pays or is worth much less than that. Collectively, we lose. Why? By doing the opposite of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations which involves specialization and trade and thereby increasing global wealth among trading nations, we are making America worse off. On top of that, tariff retaliation by our trading partners makes exports much more difficult so we stand to lose even more. It’s almost like the communists are trying to take over. Well, if you want a wanna-be communist dictator . . .

October 17: I should add that any type of sales tax, including tariffs, is a regressive tax. The incidence of a regressive tax falls proportionately more on lower-income taxpayers because they pay a higher proportion of their incomes on taxed items. In this case, tariffs on imported food and clothing would be examples of those taxed items. The tariff revenue, paid entirely by consumers, would then be used to fund tax cuts for millionaires. Thus, Trump’s followers would be among those transferring their incomes to the wealthiest in society. Most of the sheep standing in line to be fleeced appear to be wearing red MAGA caps.

Switching gears, let’s consider some stocks and funds. For growth: NCLR, THC, CLS, JD, YELP, FTDR, TZOO, WLDN, PETQ, HRTG, and SKM. For dividends and growth: ENR, SKM, GGHL, HESM, SBGI, AEYE, AMSC, DUOL, MCY, KMPR, TMDX, and HOOD. Over the previous 3 months, the top-performing ETFs were IHF, VFH, XLF, VOE, and XSW. As always, good investing!