Biden doubling down on tariffs

Make Me Smart May 24, 2024 Transcript

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Kimberly Adams

It’s time

Kai Ryssdal

It is time.

Kimberly Adams 

It is time. Hello everyone, I’m Kimberly Adams. Welcome back to Make Me Smart, where we make today make sense. It’s Friday, May the 24th.

Kai Ryssdal 

I’m Kai Ryssdal. Thanks for joining us on the podcast and on the YouTube livestream if you’re there. It is, as Kimberly said, Friday, so we will do a little weekly happy hour and then proceed from there.

Kimberly Adams 

Yes, as usual, we are going to get to some news. We’re going to take a break and play a game. But before we get into it, Kai, what are you drinking?

Kai Ryssdal 

Coffee in my wife’s Pewabic mug. I’m a fine guy kind of guy on a Friday afternoon.

Kimberly Adams

What happened to your mug?

Kai Ryssdal 

I know. I know. I know. I know. Well, what happens is the dishwasher cycle gets messed up. And so, she doesn’t get her coffee mug in the morning. She has to have the backup mug. And so, I get the good mug in the afternoon. Sucks for her.

Kimberly Adams 

You put that mug in the dishwasher.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah, dishwasher safe.

Kimberly Adams 

Oh, I don’t put like, my hand cast things in the dishwasher. I’m always paranoid it’s going to mess them up, but.

Kai Ryssdal 

Well, far bigger chance of me dropping if I had to wash it by hand, then safely ensconced in the upper deck on the dishwasher truly, you know?

Kimberly Adams 

Yes. Okay, so.

Kai Ryssdal

What are you drinking?

Kimberly Adams

Well, as I said in the newsletter, I have bought box wine from Costco. But I saw everybody in the YouTube chat asking how I was going to jazz it up and I had zero plans to jazz it up. So, I just ran downstairs right before the show and grabbed a whole bunch of things from my bar. And so, I will give folks the option. Should I jazz it up with a syrup? A shrub? Or bitters? And then, we’ll go from there.

Kai Ryssdal 

What? Okay, I mean, Costco. Okay. All right. Well, is Costco box wine bad wine? Because like, look Costco pizza is really good. And I drink, you know, Costco coffee. It’s quite good.

Kimberly Adams 

Lots of things from Costco are great, and the brands that we know and love just under a different label. Usually, actually what I mix it with is pomegranate juice because that sort of like, it lowers the alcohol content, but it keeps the flavor and it’s quite refreshing. But it looks like the vote is mainly for shrubs. Yeah, kind of a mix between the shrubs and the bitters. All right, let me see what I have. What do you think, Kai? Shrubs or bitters? You get to make the deciding choice.

Kai Ryssdal 

I would say shrubs.

Kimberly Adams 

Alright, the shrub that I brought upstairs is a chai pear shrub from Element. Let’s see how that goes. And meanwhile, you can see what everybody else is drinking.

Kai Ryssdal 

Well, hang on. I know you’ve explained this to me before, but when you say shrub, and then you gave some chai, whatever it is. That’s not like an actual bush. I mean is that like a process that you buy in a store?

Kimberly Adams 

It is a vinegar-based additive used for cocktails, especially if you’re making a mocktail it gives you the bite from that traditional alcohol gives you and so, it kind of gives your cocktails or mocktails a little bit more jazzy. And then you can also add flavoring to it. So, I have like a bunch of different flavors from this one particular company, along with the ones that listeners sent me a while back. And so yeah, it’s very potent, so you only add a little bit, so we’re going to see how this goes.

Kai Ryssdal 

I for reals thought it was like something green and leafy that you were going to throw and stir around.

Kimberly Adams 

Well, some people did think I was going to have some fancy garnish, but no I do not. Slipping out is drinking raspberry lemon drop. That sounds cool.

Kai Ryssdal 

Susanna Romick, “I thought she was talking about the fresh shrub too.” So, there you go. Boolean Lapolla is drinking Two Buck Chuck. Is it four bucks now? No, can’t be. They wouldn’t do that.

Kimberly Adams 

I don’t like it, so we’re going to try to save it.

Kai Ryssdal 

How are you going to save it? Now, what are you going to do, tough guy?

Kimberly Adams 

Well, when I went on my little ski trip in Vermont this winter, I went to this place that sells local liquors that are flavored like met calves and they had all these little bottles. And so, I’ve got blueberry liqueur, raspberry liqueur, and peach liqueur. And I think since we did chai pear, I’m going to go with peach. Let’s see how this does. That makes it tolerable. It’s fine. I’ll live. All right. What’s your news, Kai?

Kai Ryssdal 

Oh, okay. So, news. The actual reason we’re here. So, we all remember, you know, 10 days, two weeks or so ago, President Biden came out and announced two things about tariffs. One, that he was imposing tariffs on $18 billion worth of solar cells and imported EVs and all those kinds of things. Those are new Biden era tariffs put up, he says to protect domestic industry. He also officially kind of blessed, which he has not done before, the Trump era tariffs on give or take $350 billion worth of Chinese imports that go back to 2017, 2018. And while President Biden himself during the campaign in 2020 did criticize those tariffs, leading everybody to think that he was going to get rid of them. He has not done so. And in fact, at every turn when his trade representative or his Secretary of Commerce or the President himself has been asked, they said, we’re keeping the pressure on and we’re just trying to protect American consumers. Today in Bloomberg, sorry for the helicopter. Today in Bloomberg.

Kimberly Adams 

You have the helicopters today. Not me. Yay.

Kai Ryssdal 

I know, right? I know.

Kimberly Adams 

Probably for different reasons though.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah. Probably. Today in Bloomberg, a story that says, well, here’s the quote: “President Biden will reimpose tariffs on hundreds of goods imported from China, the Office of the USTR announced today as part of a broader plan to increase duties on strategic sectors and protect American manufacturing.” Now, what’s happening here is that when the Trump era tariffs were imposed, there is a process within the Commerce Department by which people who are affected by those tariffs and by people, I mean, American importers, whose goods that they were importing, whether it’s linen or leather or computer chips, or I’m making that up but whatever the imported good was, the importer could go to the government and say, I need an exclusion on this item because I can get it here. It’s ruinously expensive. It’s XYZ, whatever the rationale is, and something like 400 products were granted exemptions during the Trump era by the USTR. The Biden administration is now letting about half of those exemptions or exclusions expire, which is to say the tariffs are going back into effect. So, more tariffs now from the Biden administration on China, partly politics here, partly depending on the sectors legitimate, you know, wanting to protect American industries, like solar cells or EVs or what have you. But it’s very interesting. It’s not only he’s not backing down. He’s doubling down. And that’s not enough a deal.

Kimberly Adams 

You know what’s funny to me is that we no longer have this narrative in the media. And I don’t think we have it as much about going after politicians for breaking campaign promises because it’s just so established now that what people say on the campaign is irrelevant, almost. And I think we really saw, you know, in the story that I did for your show today, we talked about how George HW Bush said, you know, read my lips, no new taxes, and then lost an election because he broke that promise. And Bill Clinton hammered him on it mercilessly. And yet now, politicians can promise whatever they want on the campaign trail, blame Congress, or blame whoever else for why they didn’t get it done. And it’s just like doop, doop. Oh well, it happens. It’s politics.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah. And people wonder why you don’t trust politicians. But yeah, totally. Anyway, so here’s some of that.

Kimberly Adams 

Yeah, mine is a local news story that is just a warning of things to come. It comes out of Idaho. Headline from KTVB Channel 7 in Idaho: “Donnelly Public Library announces it will become an adults-only library, cite Idaho legislatures library bill.” So, the Idaho legislature passed a bill saying that basically if people complained about books in the library, they needed to be moved to an adults-only section that was inaccessible to children. And it had to be like a physically separate area out of children’s range. And if they don’t do it, there’ll be fined an amount of money that you know, could very easily added to the library’s whole budget. And so, in a statement, and I’m reading here from the story: “Officials with the library said because of its size, it can’t comply with the new law and create an adult section out of children’s range. The library is 1024 square feet, a tenth of the size of the state’s average library, which is 10,552 square feet.” So, library officials have to convert the whole library to an adults-only library.

Kai Ryssdal 

Wow. Just wow.

Kimberly Adams 

Yeah. “The Donnelly Public Library has encouraged the public to donate to the Donnelly Public Library building fund, a multi-year effort to expand the building. Without the expansion, the building will remain an adult-only library” with this new law.

Kai Ryssdal 

I spent so many hours in the back of the library when I was a kid. So many hours, truly.

Kimberly Adams 

Me too. The Barr Branch Public Library down the street from my house in St. Louis. And then I volunteered there. My first like Job was volunteering, you know, shelving books in the public library got that Dewey Decimal system down pat, card catalog for the win. But I should know that “officials said students participating in their programming will be able to sign a waiver allowing librarians to curate materials for them” for the after-school programming. But like these, individually, like local policies matter, state elections matter. Showing up to your local city, state hearings and councils matters because stuff like this ends up getting through. I have so many wonderful memories of the library. And it was a wonderful place. And it’s also a reminder that back in the day, that’s what billionaires used to do to stop the masses from rising up against them was built libraries because we had one of those Carnegie funded libraries, I think part of my neighborhood.

Kai Ryssdal 

I was in Bemidji, Minnesota two days ago and I saw the Carnegie public library there. Point of fact.

Kimberly Adams 

Yeah. Yeah. Musk, if when everybody to stop hating you, build some libraries, man.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah, totally. That is the news for the day. Quick break, and when we come back, Half Full/Half Empty.

Kimberly Adams 

For those following along in the podcast, I ended up dumping all of the raspberry liquor into the wine and added some bitters, and now I’m happy with my drink.

Kai Ryssdal 

Didn’t want to just go get yourself a new glass of wine?

Kimberly Adams 

No. No, I don’t believe in alcohol.

Kai Ryssdal

Okay. All right.

Kimberly Adams

All right, we are back. Time to play Half Full/Half Empty hosted by the wonderful Drew Jostad. Drew, take it away.

Drew Jostad 

Drew Jostad who has broken a mug hand washing it in his sink.

Kai Ryssdal

Yes, totally.

Kimberly Adams

But I still do it. I still do it.

Kimberly Adams 

I’ve only broken glassware. And generally, it’s when it’s like already been shipped by somebody else like wine glasses and stuff. But go ahead, Drew.

Drew Jostad 

Are you half full or half empty on employers matching student loan payments with 401(k) contributions?

Kimberly Adams

All the way full.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah, that was starting on the show this week. Companies, you know, trying to find ways to keep their employees happy. It’s a great idea. Totally. Totally.

Drew Jostad 

All right. Moving right along to some breaking news Chucky E. Cheese deciding to keep the animatronic band. Half full or half empty?

Kai Ryssdal

Kill me now.

Kimberly Adams 

Discord flagged this earlier, and I dropped it into the chat right before the show.

Kai Ryssdal 

Oh my god. Oh my god. So, the New York Times reported a couple of weeks ago that Chuck E. Cheese was going to close down all of those just absolutely terrible and horrible animatronic bands in all its outlets except for one. And now, apparently because of the outcry from, I don’t know, like five-year-olds, they’re going to put it back.

Kimberly Adams 

I’m guessing it’s overly nostalgic Millennials is my guess. This is the one time I will allow you to blame Millennials with all the condescension I know people love to have.

Kai Ryssdal 

I cannot. I’m so empty on this. So empty. So, so empty.

Kimberly Adams 

I’m going to go half full actually, even though I don’t like it. The fact that there was enough people who seem to like it, that a business made the decision to keep it going. Look, if you like it, I love it. I’m not going to yuck somebody else’s yuck. Go for it.

Kai Ryssdal

Okay. Okay.

Drew Jostad 

All right. Since 2020, there have been almost a thousand reports of orcas ramming boats off the coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Are you half full or half empty?

Kimberly Adams 

I saw another story about this this past week that they just keep going, and it’s quite organized now. Like, there’s a part of me that wants to be.

Kai Ryssdal 

Wait, sorry. Wait, wait. Hang on. The orcas are organized?

Kimberly Adams 

Yes, like it’s happening consistently. And there’s evidence that orcas will share, pods of orcas will share trends with each other. Like there was a trend at one point where all of them were wearing like salmons on their head just because like it was a thing.

Kai Ryssdal 

Shut up, seriously?

Kimberly Adams 

Yes, this is a real thing. Go to the internet. I’m not making this up unless it’s like, misinformation.

Kai Ryssdal 

I’m going to have to Google it later, once I’m done with this podcast.

Kimberly Adams 

Look, remember that story. I brought in a while back about how like, whales communicate with each other, and they have full on language. And there was another story out I think this week saying that they believe some species of whales have an alphabet. Like whales are extraordinarily intelligent and orcas. Are orcas actually whales though? Or are they in the shark family? Anyway, I don’t know. I’m sure somebody will know.

Kai Ryssdal 

I don’t know, but it’s a long way from whales having language to orcas wearing salmon on their heads.

Kimberly Adams 

Also. But what they are doing is they are consistently attacking the ships and they’re doing it in a very smart way. Like they’re hitting the rudders. They’re hitting the parts of the ship that will make them stop and sink. And it is definitely behavior that is sharing. People are telling me it’s a large species of dolphin. Thank you for that. Good on the YouTube chat. Lots of people telling me about the dolphins. I love our audience. Everybody knows something. We all get smarter together. But yeah, they’re sharing this behavior with each other and they’re going. And so it’s a little bit snotty in Florida of like, the rich kind of like getting it. But on the other hand, it’s dangerous and people could be injured, and I don’t like that. But yeah, I kind of love it.

Kai Ryssdal 

I’m going to half full just because it’s a wild story. How about that? I’m always down for a wild story.

Kimberly Adams 

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I appreciate the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference. Allen Patterson, so long and thanks for all the fish.

Kai Ryssdal 

Wow, good for you. Pulling that one out. Oh, my goodness Drew, what’s next?

Drew Jostad 

In 2023, a website called AppointmentTrader.com sold almost $6 million worth of restaurant reservations. Are you half full or half empty on the resale market for dinner tables?

Kai Ryssdal 

So, this was a story actually that I think aired on Marketplace one of the days I was in Bemidji. Look, market forces, you can’t really do much about it. But it still stinks, I kind of hate it. So, I’m half empty.

Kimberly Adams 

I happen to have like, a fancy credit card simply because I was grandfathered into like, an old system. And I found out by accident at one point that I have access to the system that can help get you dinner reservations because my Uncle David wanted to go eat at the super fancy restaurant in DC that the reservations were like booked out for months. And I call them up, and they’re like that we can get you in on Tuesday. And I was like what? And the way that like undercover restaurant reservations work. It’s like, if you have the right connections, you can get into these places. And on the one hand, you know, hey, I got the benefit. Thanks. But on the other hand, if I were somebody trying to plan a nice date for a partner and got the boot because I didn’t have the right connections, I’d be pretty good upset. I hope restaurants are getting a cut because I would only be half full if restaurants are getting a cut because restaurants are struggling so much. I wish there was a way for restaurants to monetize that system to be like, you know, get some revenue out of it. So, I’m going to say half empty actually. I just gave that whole long story for no reason.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah, I’m empty too. My guess is restaurants are not getting a cut because usually on secondary markets, the primary market people don’t get much.

Kimberly Adams 

Yeah, I’m sure they don’t.

Drew Jostad 

Apparently, some of the people who work at the restaurants are actually like, risking their jobs by selling these reservations. Secretly.

Kimberly Adams 

I actually used to work at a restaurant in high school, in my early days of college where people would try to bribe me for reservations. Like they’d show up off the street when we’d be completely booked up at night and like, try to slip me some money, like I was going to boot someone from their table for 20 bucks. And I was like, no, that’s not how any of this works.

Kai Ryssdal 

Wow.

Drew Jostad.

Ready for the next one?

Kai Ryssdal

Is this the poll. Are we right? Here’s a poll. So, those of you on the YouTube chat, vote early, vote often.

Drew Jostad 

Okay, a new survey from the Harris poll found that 37% of millennial workers have taken time off without telling their supervisor, are you half full or half empty on, I guess we’re calling it “quiet vacationing.”

Kai Ryssdal 

My guess would be that somewhere near 37% of workers across all demographics have taken time off without telling their supervisor. I don’t think we can pin this one on Millennials. Truly.

Drew Jostad 

Well, the numbers. I’m looking at the numbers, they’re slightly lower for the other. There in the 20% range.

Kimberly Adams

Of the people who admitted to it.

Kai Ryssdal 

Totally. Totally.

Drew Jostad 

Were particularly honest.

Kimberly Adams 

was about to say, I think millennials may just be more honest because we don’t know. You know, I hate to jump on the bandwagon of all the things we’re associating with late-stage capitalism. But I really do feel like the younger generations just do not have the same connection to their employers as older generations because we have recognized that they do not care about us. And work is not your friend. Work is not your family. Your employer will talk to you to decide if they need to with very little hesitation. And the idea that you’re going to kill yourself to, you know, make somebody else’s bottom line is not exactly a win anymore. Like yes, we’re going to put in our time. We’re going to do our work. We’re going to do our jobs but asking people to run themselves ragged for very little payoff, and especially when people feel like they can’t climb up the economic ladder anymore. Like I get it. I get it. We’ve had multiple discussions about this sort of branding of every single micro trend. I’m less optimistic about that. It’s like, is this just like, a different way of saying working remotely, working from a different place? Doesn’t matter if you’re getting your work done? Is that quiet vacationing? Does it matter if you’re getting your work done from Bali as opposed to getting your work done, you know, from your house? Well, you know, maybe taxes, I get it, but I don’t know. What do you think?

Kai Ryssdal 

I think the company does not care about you as long as you just worked on and you’re not cheating the company, then do what you’ve gotta do. Totally.

Kimberly Adams 

What’d you gotta do. All right. I’m guessing I know how this poll is going. Oh no, it’s pretty split.

Kai Ryssdal 

Very interesting actually. It’s really interesting. I’d like to see the demographic crosstabs on that one. You know?

Kimberly Adams 

Yeah. I am half full on “quiet vacationing.” I am half full about people getting their agreed upon work done in a way that boosts their mental health, that makes them happier. If you are a happier employee and you get the work done, I don’t think it should matter where you do it. Granted, this is a very privileged conversation for people who have the ability to do their work from anywhere. But if you can, and you do it, I am all for it.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah, so you guys can see this in the chat. It’s 164 votes, 51% half full on quiet vacationing, 48% half empty on quiet vacationing. I don’t know what the other 1% is doing.

Kimberly Adams

What do you think, Kai?

Kai Ryssdal

Oh, I’m half full. Oh, please. The company does not care about you. The company does not care about you. HR works for that company. You know?

Kimberly Adams 

But we love you, Ana.

Kai Ryssdal

Well, yeah, you know.

Kai Ryssdal 

But get your work done people. Do your deliverables. Get your work done. Be responsible and professional and manage your time. You know.

Kimberly Adams 

Be available in the time that you’re supposed to be available, and you know, call it a day. But look, we actually do show up to work. We show up to work, and we do our deliverables. We get our work done sometimes from home, sometimes from the office, sometimes from where were you in Minnesota?

Kai Ryssdal

Bemidji.

Kimberly Adams 

Sometimes from Bemidji, Wisconsin. I was out in Damascus, Maryland reporting a story on Saturday, last weekend, and to do all of those things and to go those places and to bring you stories from actual real people outside of the beltway, outside of LA it does take money, and thank you so much to everybody who has donated so far in our May fundraiser. We really appreciate it and shout out to the fundraising team that brought back the Jasper tumblers on the donation page. It almost made me cry a little bit. But we are in the final hours of the fundraiser, and we are making good progress to our towards our goal and we’d love to hit it before the holiday starts. We are down to just $20,500 and if we totally can do it we get your support and we’d be extra grateful for it.

Kai Ryssdal 

And we do have besides the Jasper tumbler, we’ve got the Shrinkflation mini tote bag, the t-shirt, water bottle and mug or hat. We also have for Make Me Smart fans who donate, you can get a set of three mini pencils. This is a big one, but I could like shave it down for you or something. So, you can take part in that mini pencil economy we’re talking about a couple of weeks ago. The gifts are marketplace.org/givesmart or the link in the show notes as always. Make Me Smart is produced by Courtney Bergsieker. Today’s episode was engineered by Jayk Cherry. Our intern is Thalia Menchaca.

Kimberly Adams 

The team behind our Friday game is Emily Macune, Jamila Huxtable and Antoinette Brock. Marissa Cabrera is our senior producer. Bridget Bodnar is the director of podcasts. And Francesca Levy is executive director of Digital and On-Demand. Just on Fridays. You know, they really did a good job with our theme song. It’s a bop.