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Comedy

Tariff Fight: California vs. Texas

The economics of spite.

Andrew Heaton and Austin Bragg | 6.28.2025 10:10 AM

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It's not who ends up worse off, but who ends up worst off.

  • Actor, writer: Andrew Heaton
  • Actor, writer, producer: Austin Bragg
  • Writer, producer: Meredith Bragg
  • Writer, producer: John Carter

NEXT: Legalize All Drugs! Reason Versus City Journal

Andrew Heaton is a producer at Reason. He is the author of, most recently, Tribalism Is Dumb: Where It Came From, How It Got so Bad, and What To Do About It.

Austin Bragg is a senior producer at Reason.

ComedyTariffsCaliforniaTexasEconomics
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  1. TJJ2000   2 months ago

    I know, I know ... Just BORROW more $! /s

    This is actually typical and a completely predictable response from leftard-CA. "How DARE you charge us one penny for all that spending [WE] voted for! The whole point of voting for 'Guns' to control it was so [WE] wouldn't have to pay for it! Make those 'icky' domestic US Patriots producing stuff in other states pay all those bills we voted to SPEND on! [WE] found a loophole to paying for anything called 0%-Tax dependency on foreigners."

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  2. tracerv   2 months ago

    https://youtube.com/shorts/RIPd_ydjzfI?si=AuCB8eR_tLcDAEXr

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  3. JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)   2 months ago

    Ripples man. Ripples.

    I'm sure all the unilateral trade religious zealots are fine with the digital services tax Canada just enacted. Even retroactive!

    Log in to Reply
    1. Stupid Government Tricks   2 months ago

      Just as all the anti-immigrant closed-borders zealots are happy to let Canada do their own thing within their own borders.

      Log in to Reply
    2. Sometimes a Great Notion   2 months ago

      You commie kids have no sense of humor. Getting all bothered over a Heaton/Braggs video. Lol.

      Log in to Reply
    3. Sometimes a Great Notion   2 months ago

      But the USMCA is the largest, fairest, most balanced, and modern trade agreement ever achieved.

      Did Trudeau get the best of Trump in the art of the deal?

      Log in to Reply
  4. Brandybuck   2 months ago

    People argue in favor of free trade. Reason Commentariat hardest hit. Full story at eleven.

    Log in to Reply
    1. JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)   2 months ago

      What you and reason call free trade isnt actually free trade dumdum. You've been lied to and are too dumb to understand how even when you get told.

      You've fallen for propaganda. Akin to climate alarmists.

      Log in to Reply
      1. Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)   2 months ago

        People often call the trade relationship between Canada and the U.S. “free trade,” but that’s more of a slogan than a reality. What we really have is a managed trade system with plenty of exceptions and political influence on both sides.

        Canada protects certain industries like dairy and poultry through supply management, which limits access for American producers. Meanwhile, the U.S. frequently imposes tariffs on Canadian goods like softwood lumber, even when international trade panels rule against them. Both countries apply non-tariff barriers through regulations, inspections, and red tape that slow down the movement of goods.

        On top of that, the U.S. uses "Buy American" rules to keep Canadian firms out of public contracts, while Canada sometimes limits U.S. access to its government procurement as well. Energy projects that should benefit both nations can be stalled or canceled by shifting political winds in either country.

        Subsidies and trade complaints also go both ways. The U.S. subsidizes agriculture heavily, but Canada isn’t innocent either when it comes to supporting certain industries or setting up protectionist policies.

        In short, the system isn’t truly free on either side. It’s a patchwork of negotiated advantages and political compromises, dressed up as free trade.

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      2. n00bdragon   2 months ago

        Ah, good old "false consciousness", the Marxist theory that people don't know what's good for them and cannot distinguish lies from truth without the aid of Marxist interpreters.

        Free trade isn't actually free trade. Love is hate. War is peace. Truth is fiction. If you disagree, then you've "fallen for propaganda". Except the weird thing about things that walk like a duck, quack like a duck, and paddle around in the pond and eat scum like a duck, is that usually they are ducks. You are the Marxists.

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    2. SQRLSY   2 months ago

      Free trade is free trade ONLY if said "free trade" obeys EVERY jot and tittle, tottle, and bottle of Dear Orange Leader AND His Faithful Servant, Serpent, and Slurp-Pants, AKA JesseBahnFarter-Fuhrer, AND also, of Spermy Daniels! (Spermy Daniels is AKA Spermy Denials, 'cause no matter HOW infinitely and infidelity and in-fiendishly JesseBahnFarter-Fuhrer Sucks Orange Cock, and Slurps the Pants, and Sperm, and Shit, of Dear Orange Orangutan-Leader, somehow, I am SHOCKED to say, Dear Orange Orangutan-Leader NEVER shares, let alone shares alike, Queen Spermy Daniels with JesseBahnFarter-Fuhrer, or other, udderly mad MAGA-maggots!)

      My heart bleeds profusely and obtusely for JesseBahnFarter-Fuhrer, butt I say... Buyer, beware! Dear Orange Orangutan-Leader is a lying CON MAN!!! Be ye hereby and alwaysby warned!!!

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  5. rswallen   2 months ago

    Reminds me of Remy's tariff song: https://reason.com/video/2025/04/21/remy-cupid-tariff-version/

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  6. voluntaryist   2 months ago

    Beware of all governments, big/medium/small, e.g., U.S. Empire, the United Nations, the E.U., the U.S. states/counties/cities. Why? None are protective of rights, all are authoritarian, i.e., violence first, last, and blame lawlessness (freedom) for crime, economic disorder, and discontent. A govt. named law or policy usually does the opposite, tax reform = tax increase, free trade = unfree trade, protect & serve = exploit & serve ourselves with public assets.

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    1. sarcasmic   2 months ago

      In my heart I’m an anarchist, but it would never work. Absent government there will be gangs of men who use organized violence to steal. They will fight over who gets the last word, and the winner becomes government. I don’t see any way around it.

      Log in to Reply
      1. TJJ2000   2 months ago

        Maybe an honored by the people written Supreme Law that LIMITS the [WE] Identify-as gangsters to non-criminalistic usage?

        Every curse this nation experiences is a result of being ignorant of the the USA having a definition that is NOT just a 'democracy'.

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    2. charliehall   2 months ago

      You might find Somalia a nice place for you to live. No taxes. No government.

      Log in to Reply
  7. Sometimes a Great Notion   2 months ago

    Finally we got our own P.A.
    Where do you think I got this guitar that you're hearing today?

    Whatever Bradley, Donny looting a steel mill and got controling shares of the whole damn place. Now that is some rioting and anarchy!

    Log in to Reply
  8. TJJ2000   2 months ago

    Once upon a time "free trade" was a domestic symbol.
    Thanks to TDS; the symbol has been hi-jacked to mean Tax-Exempt imports only & F the domestic USA.

    Log in to Reply
  9. Get To Da Chippah   2 months ago

    Eight trillion percent tax on people coming from California who continue to vote for Democrats.

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