Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson
“In economics, there are scenarios where ‘no pain, no gain’ might hold. Entrepreneurs, for example, often will risk their own funds and put in many hours (without financial compensation) to chase an idea and attempt to turn it into reality. A country cannot build up a capital base without there being real savings, and the only way people can save money is to postpone some present consumption and divert that money to financial instruments that pay for capital development. … But [US Senator Tommy] Tuberville’s use of the term when it comes to tariffs is mistaken. While there is no doubt that tariffs do benefit some people — and one can expect to see many of the beneficiaries petitioning their government for trade restrictions — when applied to an economy overall, it is clear to say that they make an economy worse off, on net, than would have occurred had no tariff been levied.” (03/20/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/tariffs-bring-pain-without-gain