Scott Besant
speaker
860 appearances
122 recordings
17 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard 5 Jun
Scott Besant’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 77 in all, peaking in Jan 2026 with 26.
Appearances
Like, why are the herd in McDonald Islands, which don't export to the United States and are quite literally inhabited by penguins, why do they face a 10% tariffs? Did you use AI to generate this?
The president talked all the time during the campaign about tariffs. He put them at the centerpiece of his policy. He talked about the glory days of the 1800s and wanting to go back to him. Did Republicans just not take him seriously?
What? What is your message to Americans who want to retire right now and who've just seen their lifetime savings drop significantly?
Apple News Today · As Trump’s tariffs take hold, how much pain can Americans handle? · 7 Apr 2025
podcast
There doesn't have to be a recession. Who knows how the market is going to react in a day, in a week. What we are looking at is building the long-term economic fundamentals for prosperity that I think the previous administration had put us on the course toward financial calamity.
To rip somebody out of her life that has been her best friend for almost three years, you have no way to explain to her, oh, Alanis is being kicked out of the country and she can't come back.
I think that's a false narrative. Americans who want to retire right now, Americans who have put away for years in their savings account, I think they don't look at the day-to-day fluctuations of what's happening. And, you know, in fact, most Americans don't have everything in the market. Most Americans in a 401k have what's called a 60-40 account.
that 60 of 40 accounts are down 5% or 6% on the year. People have a long-term view. They have a program that the reason the stock market is considered a good investment is because it's a long-term investment. If you look day-to-day, week-to-week, it's very risky. Over the long term, it's a good investment.
I think that's a false narrative. Americans who want to retire right now, Americans who have put away for years in their savings account, I think they don't look at the day-to-day fluctuations of what's happening.
Look, Chris, markets are organic animals, and you never know what the reaction is going to be. One thing that I can tell you as the Treasury Secretary, what I've been very impressed with is the market infrastructure. that we had record volume on Friday and everything is working very smoothly. So the American people, they can be very, take great comfort in that.
My advice to every country right now is do not retaliate. Sit back, take it in. Let's see how it goes, because if you retaliate, there will be escalation. If you don't retaliate, this is the high water mark.
Before talking about the effects and that are bad, let me just say that I think that was the dumbest, most economically illiterate speech I have heard in my life. And I've heard a lot of bad ones. It was filled with lies and distortions, and I need to back that up. For example, the idea that the European Union has a 39% tariff rate on the United States.
the weighted average of EU tariffs on the US is 1%. Japan, which supposedly, according to Trump, had a 46% tariff rate, the weighted average of tariffs on US products is 3.2%.
Marcus Peterson, who was excellent, highlighted the fact that other countries which actually have high tariff rates, like Turkey, all of a sudden get favored treatment from Trump, at least relatively favored, by paying only 10%. What you had was someone who is the president of the United States speaking almost absolute nonsense.
And the biggest nonsense of all was the idea that tariffs can replace income taxes and that they will lead to economic growth. They won't. Now, how bad is this? You have varying rates across the board. You have 20% on the EU. You have 34% on China, even higher on some countries. lowest rates are still only going to be, you know, are still at least 10%.
The Aston Business School modeled this, and earlier this week came out and said, in the event of a 20 to 25% U.S. tariff, and we're roughly talking about that across the board, if the EU and other countries retaliate, the loss to the global economy will be $1.4 trillion, that is trillion with a T, dollars to the global economy.
The tax burden, effective tax burden on the US taxpayers will be $6 trillion with a T. This is one of the most, in addition to being economically illiterate speeches, it is accompanied by one of the most economically damaging actions that have been taken since the last round of high tariffs, which was in the 1930s, which helped lead to the Great Depression.
Nothing eminent.
Again, I'm not part of the negotiations. So, you know, we'll see. I am sure that there are going to be a lot of calls. I just don't know if they're going to be negotiations.
I'm not sure.
Well, I think there have been a lot of discussions, but I think we're just going to have to wait and see what would happen. What I would say, Anne-Marie, is I would advise none of the countries to panic. I wouldn't Try to retaliate because as long as you don't retaliate, this is the high end of the number. And I think the market could have certainty that this is the number barring retaliation.
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