McKee's NewsHour Economic Suggestions - March 2025

McKee’s NewsHour Economic Suggestions

Escalating Tariffs

Ontario exports electricity to New York, Michigan, Minnesota – trade war between US and Canada could cause US customers an increase of $70/mo in their bills, with the addition of a 25% surcharge being threatened by Ontario Premier Doug Ford – Canadian electricity is a major resource to US customers – Premier Ford says the government will intervene by allocating a surcharge if the US tariffs against Canadian goods are not removed

Ford talks about an Am-Can fortress, which is the traditional relationship between our countries – Ford professes his love for American people, saying he wants to allocate the resources of even more electricity and other key energy resources

Ford indicates the threat of tariffs has acted to unify Canadians and increased the tradition of patriotism across the country

More personnel on the border, boats, drones and other aircraft, etc are resources being allocated to increase border security on the Canadian side through government intervention/command

The back and forth of tariffs and surcharges leads to ever-increasing opportunity costs for Canadian and American consumers

 

Brief But Spectacular – Robert Trujillo

Like most musicians, Robert Trujillo was inspired traditionally by his heroes such as Ozzy Osbourne, Rush, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, which became musical resources for him

It is tradition to have music at the ice rink, which was where he developed his interest – Eruption, the famous Eddie Van Halen guitar solo, was the resource that hooked him

There is always a demand for cover bands at parties etc – that was how he developed his craft - he himself has become a resource for many bands, as he supplied his skills for them

Robert’s son is also a professional musician and composer who supplies some of the demand in the market for compositions -  Robert has joined him on stage, carrying on the tradition of generations playing music together

By putting in 12-hour days rehearsing and recording, Robert and his band mates experienced the opportunity cost of what else they might have been able to do with that time (including not being able to sleep in after late night gigs)