Michael Ramirez: Friendly Fire 03-16-26
From America's Premier Editorial Cartoonist
FREE MARKET CAPITALISM
In 2025, the cost of the tariffs was estimated to be $1000 per household. Tariffs are a tax on US businesses and consumers. As important is the deleterious and impulsive nature used in imposing these taxes, which have inflicted huge costs on everyday Americans and American businesses.
It has triggered giant government subsidies to make up for those financial and trade losses. It has created uncertainty in the markets and in the national and global economy, and has severely tarnished our reputation, painting America as an unreliable economic partner… when we should be a beacon of liberty and free market capitalism.
According to a February New York Fed report, “U.S. importers and consumers bear nearly 90% of the economic burden from 2025 tariffs. The average tariff rate soared to 13%, with 86–94% of costs passed on to Americans. This has added an estimated $1,751 in yearly costs for the average New York household.”
Free market capitalism has produced unprecedented economic growth and lifted over a billion people out of poverty. This entrepreneurial spirt is responsible for innovation, the technological transformation of industries, higher living standards and has made America, the wealthiest nation, the global leader, and the uniquely exceptional country it is today.
McKinley used the threat of tariffs to lower tariffs, not to raise them.
In a perfect world, all tariffs would be reciprocal in nature, but keep in mind because of Free Market Capitalism and U.S. innovation, we remain one of the richest countries in per capita GDP income in the world.
According to the Federal Reserve Economic Data from the St. Louis FED in March 2026, “As of late 2025–2026, the U.S. per capita personal income is approximately $76,384 annually, while real per capita disposable income is around $53,142. The U.S. holds one of the highest per capita GDP levels in the world, with projections exceeding $90,000. Growth has been consistent, with 2024–2025 showing a 2.27% average annual rate over the long term.”
To put this in perspective, the median (nominal) global average income in 2024 was $15,280.
The money we get from these tariffs come from you and I, and American businesses. They do not circulate back into the free market economy, they go into the coffers of government, which decides how to spend it.
President Reagan believed, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Reagan believed the PEOPLE are the solution.
At a speech on September 29, 1981, at the Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund, President Reagan said, “We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and, ultimately, human fulfillment are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success -- only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, prosperous, progressive, and free.”
There is no question we should protect important strategic industries and resources for national security. Government can play a role there using tax incentives, tax rate reduction, and cutting regulations to create better incentives to drive and improve the production of these essential items and commodities.
Government funding in R & D for technological innovation is essential some times to keep us competitive in some areas. Because we do poorly in math and science, China is rapidly catching up (and surpassing) us in some areas of technology. Government’s role there is to reform our education system, make it focus on fundamental areas of math science, reading and writing comprehension and to make it more competitive to produce better schools and better scholars.
There are legitimate reasons for imposing some tariffs, but these decisions should be carefully considered, reflecting the long-term impact and consequences of imposing them.
Government must play a role in creating incentives for the US and western nations to be less reliant on China’s domination of rare earth minerals. This a good example of government working with the free-market to expedite the path to self-sufficiency.
There is also no question we should also diversify the supply chain… but, do we really need a 127% tariff on rubber bands? Do apples and potatoes from Canada and Mexico or Roquefort cheese, and sparkling wine from Europe represent a significant threat to our national security? Well, maybe Roquefort cheese… it is huge threat to my nasal passages.
-m
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I have seen those videos of interviews on the street, I do admit that I do not know who the persons were, i.e. MAGA folks, just plain persons walking down the sidewalks, acts?; regardless, they all answered that the tariffs were paid by the countries that the tariffs were placed on and simply refused to believe that ultimately, we were paying for them. They adamantly insisted that it was a tax on those countries and they were paying it.
Another thing that frankly got my goat was when Amazon initially showed how much the tariffs were adding to the cost of an item and Trump (Trumplgruber?) called it a hostile action. Cowardly Amazon stopped showing that additional cost at once.