1. United States
2. Wisc.
3. Letter

I am a mother of two school-age children, a teacher, and a proud member of my community in Waukesha, Wisconsin. I am opposed to the massive scale of tariffs being initiated by our federal government. These tariffs have been introduced all along to the American people in a misleading way. The president has often giving misleading or inaccurate definitions of what tariffs are and do, such as stating over and over that the other countries would pay the extra fees. Now, while the administration has started to shift their rhetoric to say that this is not really true, they are stating it as a way to force people to buy more local products. While this may be more truth in what the administration's goals are, it does not factor in the actual way our economy works today. Over the past decades, our world has grown into a worldwide economy. Our farmers provide food to parts of the world that have trouble growing it, while we import things that we do not have here. All kinds of businesses -- big and small -- have developed their processes and goods to fit this model. Abruptly making this entire model more expensive creates havoc in our economy and will decimate smaller businesses. They often operate close to their profit margins anyway, and now with availability and costs rising rapidly, many will not have any cushion to fall back on. These costs for goods will also be passed along to me, my family, and my community in the everyday things we need to buy. Our family works really hard, with two parents working full time jobs, to live with little debt and maintain a reasonable family budget. This has been harder and harder to do anyway with the cost of living rising the past few years -- and teachers do not make anywhere near fair living wages to start with -- and continued increases will drive us into debt. We do not want to take on extra work. We want to do really well at the jobs we have and be able to come home and spend time with our small children. We want to pay our bills, continue to support local businesses here in Waukesha as we have always done, and live good lives. These tariffs strip that away, not only for us but for all everyday Americans. Speak up now to stop this economic freefall. Speak up now to institute economic policies that actually work and that benefit those of us in Wisconsin who are depending on you.