Frank's Musings

Careerist Congressmen are happy when the President comes up with a way to raise revenue without having to increase income taxes. Trump’s tariff scheme makes American consumers pay higher prices for imports by adding duties to the cost of engaging in global trade. Those consumption taxes are politically more palatable to wealthy funders of both Trump’s dishonest schemes and of legislators’ reelection campaigns.

In her opinion piece in the 8/13/2026 NY Times, Natasha Sarin is vain to “hope that Congress will eventually push back” against Trump’s audacious subterfuge. He wants to give politicians a way to spend more on government contracts without having proportionately to assess those contractors for the privilege.