gdanmitchell
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 p.6 #10 · Canon price increase has arrived. | |
EGrav wrote:
The U.S. economy expanded at a surprising 3% annual pace from April through June. The bounceback was expected, but the size of it wasn’t. People just need a little patience.
Keep in mind that the actual effects of the tariffs (aka “import taxes paid by American consumers”) have not actually arrived yet. Most of what has happened up until now has been short-term blustering and threats, and manufacturers have employed short-term strategies to avoid having to raise prices… until now.
But, assuming that the tariff agreements in the news now are real (never certain wit this administration), there is not going to be any more pretending. And now, literally within the last few weeks, we have seen what we were only fearing before — the announcements of actual and substantial price increases. Just in the photography sphere we have seen all of the mainline manufacturers (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, etc.) announce substantial list price increases in the 10% range.
And clearly this isn’t just about camera gear. Someone recently stated that something like 1/3 of the world’s physical products are now produced in China. (I don’t recall if it might have actually been 1/3 of the product imported to the US or something else — sorry.) But, for fun, add 10% to the direct prices of all of the things we consumer that come from overseas: Your $50k car, your television, your kitchen appliances, your furniture, a good deal of your food, your computer, your phone, and tons of little odds and ends you don’t think about like batteries, towels, cloths, garden equipment, lightbulbs, and on and on and on…
Then keep in mind that these increased prices affect things that you might not imagine. Your insurance rates will almost certainly rise (if they haven’t already) since the costs of those parts to fix your accident-damaged car or your burned home will rise. Assuming that the number of imports decreases — and that’s the supposed point, right? — shipping companies and warehouses are going to have to lay off workers and/or raise prices.
For the past 40-50 years, the American conservative political establishment has told us over and over that raising taxes suppresses the economy and that lowering them sets it free. Yet here we are… tariffs are (quite significant) taxes paid by American consumers. You can’t have it both ways — claiming for decades that “too high taxes” were bad for the economy and now that putting a 10%, 15%, 25% or higher tax paid by American consumers on a huge range of products and services is somehow going to improve the economy.
Just watch…
… and, just back from checking the NY Times, today’s news is that “U.S. Economy Slowed in First Half of 2025 as Tariffs Scrambled Data”
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But I have some confidence it will go lower. Rome wasn't built in a day.