Beer Will Cost More And It’s Trump’s Fault

I was stunned yesterday by a prime example of lazy (or borderline deceptive) reporting.

The story lead-in was how the new tariffs would affect the price of beer.  A local news reporter talked to a local canner and a local college economics professor to get the scoop.  No one gave a definite answer, but the tone of the overall report was doom-and-gloom.  They left no doubt that either the canners or the beer drinkers would be suffering depending on who had to absorb the increased cost.

The size of the problem was never addressed, and it left me scratching my head.

Less than 15 minutes later I had an answer!  With the internet it was so easy.  (Even a college economics professor could have done it, but apparently he didn't bother.)

First, I looked up on a recycle website:  How many empty aluminum cans does it take to equal 1 pound?  Answer:  approximately 31 or more precisely 30.442 at an average weight of 14.9 grams.

Then I looked up the wholesale price of aluminum, assuming that is what the canner would pay.  On March 29 it was 91 cents per pound.

That puts the cost of a can at 91 cents divided by 30.442 cans or 2.99 cents per can, call it 3 cents.

Next we have to determine the affect of the tariffs on that price.  A third site confirmed what we heard at the time of the announcement last month.  Aluminum imports would be taxed at 10%.

That puts the added cost of your beer, assuming that the tariff equalizes the cost of both domestic and imported aluminum at – drumroll please – a whopping 0.3 cents per can.  That’s 1.8 cents for a six-pack.  At a beer a day that's almost $1.10 a year! How are the poor beer drinkers going to afford that?  They may be forced to switch to Starbucks coffee instead!

Of course, I’m being a little sarcastic.  But the point is that the news media will blow any story out of proportion just to keep our interest up (and possibly to promote a political agenda).  They have advertisers to attract and to do that they must keep viewers glued to the screen for the next bit of “breaking news.”  So it’s not in their best interests to do the 15 minutes of research to get the real answer to the question, especially when keeping the question hanging is a little scarier.  (It’s just a miniature version of the “summer of the shark attacks” and similar stories intended to induce panic when there is no reason for it.)

This is yet another reason for the importance of critical thinking in the modern world.  If we don't watch out for ourselves, no one else will - not the media, not advertisers, not the government!