Slate Money: “Let’s TACO ‘Bout It”

Date: June 7, 2025
Host: Felix Salmon
Co-hosts: Elizabeth Spiers, Emily Peck

Episode Overview

This week’s Slate Money is a lively tour through key topics in business, finance, and the political atmosphere of 2025. The panel—Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck—breaks down the current state and perception of inflation, unpacks the “TACO” meme (Trump Always Chickens Out) sweeping through financial and political circles, discusses the strange and stormy world of rare earths and trade wars, explores the reading habits of Americans in 2025, and finishes with their signature “numbers round.”
The tone is sharp, skeptical, and laced with humor.

Inflation Vibes and Tariffs

Where Does Inflation Stand?

• Inflation is lower now than in recent years, particularly compared to the Biden administration’s peak, but there are fresh concerns around tariffs and global supply chains.

• Emily notes the vibes of consumer frustration and concern have faded:

  “The inflation vibes are not as strong in 2025 as they were… Inflation is still low. If you look at CPI or the Fed’s preferred gauge, inflation is in with the two handle now. It’s not as bad.” (02:00)

• Businesses are reporting they are raising prices due to tariffs, though these increases haven’t yet shown up in the official data:

  “There are some worrying signs… all the companies are saying they’re being asked, did you raise prices because of tariffs? And the companies are like, yes, we did. So it just hasn’t trickled into the data yet.” (02:12)

• Consumer anger hasn't intensified because eggs and gasoline (the two goods “people care about”) haven’t seen big hikes—and these aren’t directly affected by tariffs. (03:14)

Potential Future Pressure from Tariffs

• The group debates whether tariffs will have a dramatic effect—concluding it could end up a “nothing burger” for broader inflation unless key everyday goods are hit.

• Elizabeth points out that under the Trump administration, public focus is fragmented across issues, compared to the single-issue focus (inflation) during the Biden years:

  “…People are not as focused on a single economic issue… There’s a lot of stuff… built into people’s everyday economic concerns, and it’s not as centralized.” (04:23)

• Felix highlights:

  "Maybe all of this worry about tariffs causing inflation is a bit overblown and it could wind up being a bit of a nothing burger." (04:15)

Rare Earths and Global Trade Tensions

[05:32–10:09]

Why Rare Earths Matter

• Emily admits to underestimating rare earths’ importance; now recognizes their critical role in manufacturing, especially for magnets in cars.
• Felix explains extraction is less about rarity and more about environmental cost—mining rare earths in the U.S. is expensive and dirty compared to China, where regulations are more relaxed:

  “They’re not rare… They’re just environmentally damaging to extract.” (07:35)
  “There’s absolutely no way you can do this in a way that’s price competitive with China. It’s not something we want to compete on.” (08:32)

The Mystery of Stable Prices

• Despite headlines about a Chinese blockade, rare earth prices remain low, defying expectations.

• Felix is puzzled:

  “…The price signal doesn’t seem to be agreeing with the headlines. And that’s what’s confusing me.” (09:03)

• They hypothesize ample stockpiles may be buffering immediate shortages (10:18), though longer-term risks linger.

Markets’ Shrug

• Felix observes that markets seem unfazed, echoing a theme that the trade wars are mostly noise so far, not existential disruption:

  “I think for the time being people are ignoring the noise and the people who are buying their RFs are not panicking, even if the headlines say that they are.” (11:13)

Is the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Broken?

[13:06–21:18]

Staffing Crisis

• Emily discusses the BLS hiring freeze and resource shortages, which may affect inflation data accuracy.

  “…Headcount is down like 15% at the Bureau… Just like a lot of disruption for these people… budget cuts, stretched resources, low response rates.” (14:19)

Does This Matter?

• There’s consensus that reliable stats are vital, but the real-world impact—and public concern—is debatable.

• Elizabeth warns:

  “…A lot of businesses rely on that data for planning… a short term risk is that Trump has also dismantled some of the advisory boards… If the data… is unflattering then undermining it or manipulating it is in his interest.” (17:18)

• Felix remains somewhat skeptical:

  “Again, I just have to admit I find it hard to get excited about the dismantling of an advisory board.” (17:53)

Systemic Impact

• Beyond CPI (Consumer Price Index), the erosion of BLS capacity could undermine many government data sets, affecting everything from Social Security adjustments to labor contracts.
• Emily highlights why the CPI matters:

  “First to determine Social Security… federal tax brackets… contracts between labor and management are indexed to CPI… Seems important.” (19:18)

Meme of the Moment: TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out)

[22:02–27:52]

Meme Origin and Market Impact

• The “TACO” meme, coined by Robert Armstrong of the Financial Times, claims markets ignore Trump’s loudest tariff threats because he always backs down.

• Felix says:

  “You did it. You created this thing called taco—Trump always chickens out… It really caught on… now become this sort of phrase that people throw at Trump…” (22:16)

• Emily and Felix agree TACO is a main reason why financial markets remain calm in the face of political volatility:

  “Taco is just a version of that delusion that’s been in place for a long time.” (24:12)

• The panel discusses Trump’s reaction: he hates the implication of cowardice, but has come to dismiss it as partisan noise.

  “I was very worried for a couple of days there that he would take it very seriously… But now I think it’s just become standard issue political noise and he can ignore it.” (26:11)

Trump and Tariffs

• Despite the meme, Trump’s one consistency over decades is a love of tariffs.

  “The one thing he’s displayed consistency on for decades is that he loves tariffs and he thinks that we should have more of them and higher of them.” (26:40)

• The group notes the randomness and unpredictability of who gets tariff exemptions (e.g., the UK).

Do People Still Read?

[27:52–37:41]

Book Consumption Myths and Data

• Elizabeth dismisses claims that young people have stopped reading, calling such narratives “moral panic”:

  “I think that latter hypothesis is bullshit… book sales are up… whenever I see articles suggesting that the Youngs don’t read anymore, they all just reek of this kind of ‘kids these days’ moral panic.” (28:24)

• Emily references a Guardian story suggesting a drop in parents reading to children, but questions data reliability and generational self-reporting differences:

  “This is parents not wanting to read very basic picture books to their children. So I did find that a little disturbing. Maybe I am the old.” (30:03)

Media Criticism and BookTok’s Boom

• Felix wryly notes that counterintuitive takes (“kids aren’t reading!” / “BookTok is saving books!”) are recurring journalistic tropes:

  “...It's always the fun counterintuitive take. If only there was a publication that was famous for counterintuitive takes. You could call it... the Slate pitch.” (32:30)

Reading Culture, Genres, and Celebrity

• They debate whether books and authors have lost cultural resonance, particularly among younger generations:

  “I don't think books have the cultural resonance that they used to. And I think book people would agree.” (37:23)

• Felix pushes back, arguing contemporary authors like Sally Rooney might have bigger reach than previous celebrities, but concedes metrics are elusive.

Numbers Round

[37:54–43:19]

Emily’s Number: 15

• 15% of mainstream movies this decade feature artificial intelligence as a central plot—positive and negative portrayals are evenly split.

  “That is the share of mainstream movies in this decade… that feature some kind of artificial intelligence as a crucial story element…” (38:12)

Elizabeth’s Number: 25

• A little over 25% of customers using Buy Now Pay Later systems are doing so to buy groceries, up from 14% a year ago—a possible stealth recession signal.

  “A little over a quarter of customers using Buy Now Pay Later systems are now using them to buy groceries…” (40:37)

Felix’s Number: 2

• 2 years: The prison sentence for Tim Leissner, former Goldman Sachs banker, for his role in the 1MDB scandal.

  “And he was… finally convicted, got given a two year sentence and interestingly, he's the first senior banker to be criminally convicted…” (42:32)

Memorable Quotes

• Emily on inflation’s impact:

  “There’s all these surveys that are done of business… all the companies are saying they’re being asked, did you raise prices because of tariffs? And the companies are like, yes, we did.” (02:12)

• Felix, skeptical of economic doom:

  “Maybe all of this worry about tariffs causing inflation is a bit overblown and it could wind up being a bit of a nothing burger.” (04:15)

• Elizabeth on reading panics:

  “I think that that latter hypothesis is bullshit… book sales are up… all the educators that I talk to say that’s not true.” (28:24)

• On TACO and markets:

  “It is the main driver of why the markets seem so sanguine and healthy right now. It’s that they just don’t believe most of the rhetoric coming out of the White House.” (23:08)

Key Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------------------- |-------------| | Introduction & Episode Teasers | 00:00–01:13 | | Inflation Check-In | 01:13–07:00 | | Rare Earths & Tariffs | 07:00–13:06 | | BLS: Measuring Inflation, Data Erosion | 13:06–21:18 | | TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out, Markets’ Response | 22:02–27:52 | | Are Americans Still Reading? | 27:52–37:41 | | Numbers Round | 37:54–43:19 |

Conclusion

The hosts close out with their signature mix of sharp analysis and humor, highlighting how today’s headline economic fears are often outstripped by political spectacle and narrative noise. For all the anxiety about inflation, data collapse, and cultural decline, the reality—as seen by the markets, data, and book sales—remains surprisingly steady.