Made in America Again—Maybe.

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We talk endlessly about solving poverty in this country—so you'd think, despite the hurdles, more Americans (especially on the left) would be celebrating tariffs as a tool for change. Or, in reality, going back to the way things were. But we've grown so accustomed to taxes, we've forgotten there's another lever to pull. The default assumption is tax more, fix more. Yet the hard truth is, you can't tax your way out of every problem. The math simply doesn't hold. Just for perspective, if you seized every dollar from the nation's wealthiest individuals, it would only keep the government running for about eight months. I said we should be celebrating a return to how things used to be. Before 1943, there was no federal income tax as we know it. That system was born out of wartime necessity—designed to fund World War II. But once the revenue started flowing, it didn't stop. The government found news ways to spend, especially in the postwar boom. So, how did we fund the country before that shift? Mostly through tariffs. And if there was a tax, it was a modest 3%—paid quarterly, not siphoned off your paycheck before you even saw it. But something else was different back then—our jobs. We were an industrial powerhouse with factories lining city blocks from coast to coast. We built things. And because we built things, wages were solid. A single income could support a family, buy a home, and still leave room for dignity and a little fun. Then came the shift. Slow at first. But by the 1970s, it was in full swing. We wanted cheaper goods, so we opened the floodgates to imports. For a while it seemed like a win. We still had our jobs, and now we had cheaper stuff. But the tide turned. Corporations realized they could chase bigger profits by moving production overseas—to China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan. The factories followed the money. And the American worker? They were left behind. High paying manufacturing jobs gave way to lower wage retail and service work. The backbone of the middle class began to buckle. Poverty has risen since the 1970s. If globalization had real benefits for the average American, they've been hard to spot. Cheap started as a novelty. Now it's a survival strategy. Trump's new wave of tariffs may not be enough to dismantle the IRS or return us to the pre-income tax era. We've spent too much and borrowed too long. It'll take generations to unwind that tab. But what these tariffs can do is reignite something we haven't seen in over half a century. A reason to build again. And with it, a rise in wages. We're already seeing the early signs it could work. The conversation is no longer theoretical. It's on the table. We're not talking about ending poverty. Tariffs can't do that. But they can rebuild the backbone of the American middle class. It can open the doors wide to allow for stable, well paying jobs rooted in domestic industry. Major players are stepping up with big bucks in hand. Johnson & Johnson has pledged $55 billion toward U.S. manufacturing. SoftBank plans to invest $100 billion and create 100,000 jobs. Taiwan Semiconductor is putting $165 billion into chip production on American soil. Apple is committing $500 billion to domestic manufacturing, including a major partnership with Corning. This isn't just policy, it's a pivot. From outsourcing to reinvesting. From cheap to sustainable. From survival to strength. At their core, these tariffs are about jobs. Not just the $15 an hour kind, but real jobs. Jobs with solid wages, meaningful benefits, and the power to support a family. Family supporting work that could help rebuild not just the economy, but the foundation of stronger families and enduring values. Picture a world where one income covers the bills. Where parents raise their own children. Where work isn't just a grind to survive, but a path toward a future. That's the vision Trump is aiming for. Not just cheaper goods, but a richer life. Not just policy, but possibility.