Dear John: China is our landlord   

中國是我們的房東

親愛的約翰：您最近關於關稅和中國的文章聽起來是這樣的：

“欺負不斷，每天把你的午飯錢的一半。但是，不要面對他，因為他會揍你。相反，只要繼續支付一半，如果他要求多一點，就去做吧！我的意思是，我們不想讓他變得非常生氣。“

可怕。 DLM

親愛的DLM：讓我們用不同的比喻，因為“小霸王”在你的故事並不真正適合。

讓我們成為一個房東來代替。

你是落後於租金年，但房東留下你一個人，無論出於何種原因。但是有一天你決定，這將是有趣的激怒了他。所以，你開始做的要求 - 你不喜歡他待人的方式。而更多的要求 - 你希望他在你的公寓升級的東西。然後，只是為了好玩，你開始告訴人們你的要求只是為了讓房東看起來很糟糕。

你會在街上很快。

中國人擁有的1.3萬億$在美國政府的債務，這是所有已經借由美國政府的錢大約7％。當您排除錢，美國欠的社會安全或公民，欠中國的錢是最大的債務。

中國是我們的房東。它並不擁有整個房子。但它也有權力儘管如此我們。

親愛的約翰：這是一個新的想法。如何負的銷售稅，以鼓勵消費？

因此，而不是政府給予減稅 - 人們節約 - 這將鼓勵人們消費。 M.I。

親愛的M.I：所以，一個人進入商店買的，而不是支付7％的銷售稅，政府給他回扣膠和一包 - 或折扣 - 7％，或2％，或1％。

有趣。

雖然“消極”的銷售稅或銷售稅退稅可以有利於富人（誰多買高價的應稅貨物）的過於傾斜，它可以被調整，以有一些物品（如遊艇和豪華車），可從免稅回扣。

如果有，該經濟將增長足夠快，以吸收givebacks的保證，那麼它可能會奏效。我不喜歡這個的是，它是不同的 - 炒冷飯只是不工作。

感謝您的註釋。

親愛的約翰：難道希拉里·克林頓承諾，或暗示，從高盛的人將成為財政部長？ J.M.

親愛的J.M.我還沒有談過，希拉里女士，我懷疑我曾經會。

但顯然勝算有利於​​從高盛的人在她的管理越來越關鍵的作用。前高盛EXEC羅伯特·魯賓是她丈夫任期最長的財政部長老闆。

Dear John: Your recent article about tariffs and the Chinese sounds like this:

“The bully keeps taking half of your lunch money each day. But don’t confront him because he might beat you up. Instead, just keep paying half and if he asks for a little more, just do it! I mean, we don’t want him getting really mad.”

Awful. DLM

Dear DLM: Let’s use a different analogy because the “bully” in your story doesn’t really fit.

Let’s make it a landlord instead.

You are years behind on the rent but the landlord is leaving you alone, for whatever reason. But one day you decide that it would be fun to piss him off. So you start making demands — you don’t like the way he treats people. And more demands — you want him to upgrade stuff in your apartment. And then, just for fun, you start telling people about your demands just to make the landlord look bad.

You’d be out on the street pretty quickly.

The Chinese own $1.3 trillion in US government debt, which is roughly 7 percent of all the money that has been borrowed by the US government. When you exclude money that America owes to Social Security or its citizens, the money owed to China is the largest debt.

China is our landlord. It doesn’t own the whole house. But it has power over us nonetheless.

Dear John: Here’s a new idea. How about a negative sales tax to encourage spending?

So, rather than the government giving a tax cut — which people save — it will encourage people to spend. M.I.

Dear M.I.: So, a guy goes into the store to buy a pack of gum and instead of paying the 7 percent sales tax the government gives him a rebate — or a discount — of 7 percent, or 2 percent, or 1 percent.

Interesting.

While a “negative” sales tax, or a sales tax rebate can be too tilted in favor of the wealthy (who buy more and pricier taxable goods) it could be tweaked to have some items (like yachts and luxury cars) be exempt from the rebate.

If there’s a guarantee that the economy will grow fast enough to absorb the givebacks, then it might work. What I do like about this is that it is different — the same old stuff just isn’t working.

Thanks for the note.

Dear John: Did Hillary Clinton promise, or hint, that someone from Goldman Sachs would become Secretary of the Treasury? J.M.

Dear J.M. I haven’t ever spoken to Ms. Clinton and I doubt I ever will.

But clearly the odds favor someone from Goldman Sachs getting key roles in her administration. Ex-Goldman Robert Rubin was her husband’s longest-serving Treasury boss.