It happened in 2018 when trump put tariffs on china; China started buying soybeans from Brazil, US soybean farmers were going broke & trump bailed them out. Is he going to bail them out this time or let them feel pain? Today he said it's good for the economy to crash! LOL!
We'd have to train people on how to fix stuff. I called my Uncle the "furnace whisperer" because he just knew what was wrong with a furnace and could fix it, most of the time. That's rare now - now, it's just "You need a new furnace, mam" and the old one goes to the landfill.
And they will stop buying US debt and tank the bond market which will limit credit and raise costs to everyone, including the countries who now buy US goods. These self destructive policies are pure idiocy. We want growth and that is a world, not a US issue.
As you probably know, the interest costs on the US debt will reach a record 3.2 percent of GDP this year – thus exceeding the cost of the Defense Department and Medicare combined. Moreover, the US federal deficit for the fiscal year 2025 is projected to be 6.3 percent of GDP. And as of December 2024, the US government debt was 124.0% of GDP. All while President Trump's Secretary of the Treasury is a hyper-Keynesian whose economic modeling is derived from the macroeconomic model of the Keynes General theory and most likely Bessent is a closet-Fabian.
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent served as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Key Square Capital Management, a global hedge fund focused on macro-economic investing that he founded in 2015. Prior to that time, Mr. Bessent was the Chief Investment Officer of Soros Fund Management. Mr. Bessent was an adjunct professor at Yale University, where he taught economic history. From 1991 to 2000, he was managing partner of Soros Fund Management’s London office.
"As Immanuel Wallerstein observed, Capitalism may no longer be attractive to capitalists as all these dynamics play out in a vast, inter-connected, unpredictable rebalancing of global interests and increasingly destabilizing attempts to solve complex, intractable problems with cobbled-together expediencies or doing more of what's already failed.
There won't be any "saves" in this rebalancing, and so the global recession will be deeper and longer than those relying on models based on the past two decades of hyper-globalization and hyper-financialization anticipate."
As a follower of Jesus Christ who supported Donald J. Trump in the last election; I decided to pass on a link I received yesterday about President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
As can be seen, Jared Kushner's investment company has acquired $4.8 Billion from middle east oil sheiks. A critical thinker using linear logic would ask the questions; did the middle east oil oligarchs invest $4.8 Billion in Jared Kushner because he is a genius and savvy investor? Or are they buying influence in the Trump White House? Also take notice of the person in the background of the photograph, It is none other than President Donald Trump's Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent:
Executive Order 13770, issued by President Donald Trump on January 28, 2017, was titled "Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees" and directed executive branch employees to sign a pledge banning them from lobbying any government official for two years and the agency they worked in for five years. Additionally, it prohibited them from ever lobbying the US on behalf of a foreign government or foreign political parties.
Trump revoked this order on January 20, 2021, the final day of his presidency, allowing his administration's officials to immediately begin working as lobbyists. This action was criticized by government watchdog groups, who saw it as contradictory to Trump's earlier pledge to "drain the swamp".
I'm intrigued. How long do we think the short term pain will be? For example, if certain manufacturing returns to America, how long will it take to get the infrastructure up to snuff?
Note that the biggest tariffs were placed on 3rd world locales like Bangladesh where wages are so low goods can be produced more cheaply. With most trumpers living pay check to pay check, they have the cash to pay even more for stuff?
Soooooo... what's your pain tolerance? Maybe you're willing to roll the dice for a better life for your kids, or are you lot wanting some fun too?
I say never trust a convicted felon whose crime was hundreds of millions of USDs of financial fraud vs. the vast majority of the world's leading economists., but what do I know.
Realistically it will take at least a decade. Also realistically, we don't need more stuff. Take a look at any homeless encampment, filled to the brim with stuff. Take a decade to simplify, invest in US manufacturing, rebuild the middle class, and yeah own less. Other than food, fuel, and housing, you can live on used things from your neighbors. I furnished an entire three bedroom condo with used stuff on Facebook marketplace. Thrift stores are filled with beautiful clothes. Nothing needs to be made anymore.
I think our children deserve this effort in resilience. So does the planet.
There is no plan. Trump is a sub-moron completely detached from reality. Anyone with a human brain can see that he doesn't have one. Today he wrote "not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy." Any human reading that (or many of the detached from reality posts) immediately recognizes this creature is completely mentally incompetent and completely divorced from reality. The only good news is the tariffs will hurt the ignorant creatures who voted for Trump more than anyone else.
OMG. We’re so sick of you people. You are deranged and pathetic. Please go away … you belong in a “home” along with your other vicious, America hating, cultural wrecking cronies.
You are sick of people who actually have a human brain. When all you can do is regurgitate brainwashing that any human rejects it proves you are not a human. No human is as stupid as this.
Seems that anyone who disagrees with you is a sub-moron. Must be hard to breathe, up there in the lofty stratosphere. Oh well, I crave dispensation, not having a human brain. I wish that people posting would get rid of the ad hominems. They convey emotion, not argument.
Yes, truly Trump seems to wing it. He's plays sufficient golf and has his hands in so many pots and grifts that he could hardly be expected to have much time left to run the country too!
But he gets up there and says his latest scam will be the best one yet! One the world hasn't ever seen or even thought possible! It'll be a return to the golden age!
And he'll serve a 3rd term when he's 82-86, an age range said to be far too old when Biden got dementia and forgot he was going to leave. Such hypocrites, but so entertaining to observe.
You seem to me to be blinded by your demon slaying, Boogeyman building, mentality. I am unable to tell if there is any worth in your comment, because of your hatred.
If you do believe there is "no plan", then you are denying the two most basic strategies, I know of to combat inflation, namely; decrease the consumer's purchasing power by raising unemployment, as President Ronald Reagan did when fighting Jimmy Carter's inflation numbers; or artificially inflate the prices further to bring down consumption, as President Trump is doing now.
Both president's are guilty of the same sin, the lie of omission. Their tactics have, and most likely will work, but at a price.
You seem to hate Trump and see the price, namely, higher prices and less employment.
You really should question your tactic of insulting a highly effective and successful politician. If my guess is wrong about your meaning, I think it is due to your hatred. Jim.
I believe Trump is using reciprocal tariffs to destroy tariffs. If you tariff us we will tariff you. In the end both sides agree to zero out the tariffs. Our towns were hollowed out by "free trade." It allowed manufacturers to seek out the lowest wages in the world and leave us while still selling to us. They call it "the rust belt". Our hometowns were destroyed. Meanwhile during "free trade" other countries have huge tariffs on our goods. Try buying an American car in Europe. Or an American motorcycle in India. India has the largest motorcycle company in the word. Hero motorcycles. Because they have no foreign competition due to, you guessed it, impossible tariffs. Buy American! If we make it here at least. There will be no tariffs in America on American made goods!
Yes. In an ideal world, I am a supporter of free trade. However, most of the free trade advocates do not have a plan to lower that tariffs other countries impose.
I've become habituated (and I speculate I am not alone) to the chattering classes underestimating the intelligence of President Trump and his supporters. It's a truism among the intelligentsia that Trump is stupid. They are talking about his tariffs in the same manner in which they have spoken of everything he's done - that Trump's ideas are ill-informed and stupid. So far, the commentariat has been wrong. Each time they are wrong, I give their hyperventilating less credence. The tariffs Trump announced yesterday are more extreme than I was expecting, but I am willing to wait a few months before condemning them.
So if I'm reading you, no tariffs will lead to the least expensive goods being produced by countries with the cheapest labor and that ain't America.
If America buys only or mostly America, they'll be paying far higher prices than they are currently as they rack up more and more debt or subsist The Grapes of Wrath like as they live pay check to pay check. Anyway I look at it, it doesn't feel maga has thought this through in a common sense way, because if Trump says it, it must be fine.
Again, why would anyone need to buy anything more? Other than food, gas, and housing, there's more than enough stuff floating around. Go to a thrift store. At this moment right now, everything I'm wearing other than my underwear is from a thrift store. My shoes I found on a morning hike. Someone left them behind. I furnished an entire home with used stuff on Facebook marketplace. This is not a bad thing in the long term. Live with less and pay for the craftsman.
I think food, transportation and housing are MAJOR necessities that people nare having trouble affording but must have if they want to avoid starving & becoming homeless! You think tgey are just casual purchases. People can put off purcasing other goods for a while.
Because Biden's inflation was caused by printing money to spend on more programs, including overseas military aid. That inflation is based on debt and only puts us in more trouble. Money printing is not working and it isn't fixing things. The debt and trade deficits soared. Tariffs and reducing spending will hurt in the same way, but ideally will balance out and stabilize in a decade.
Here's a local example. Take the Chicago public schools. We are now spending more than ever on the schools. Thousands of new employees were added when the Fed gave us covid money. They knew this money was temporary but hired a if it were forever. Now, the budget is skyrocketing as test scores plummet. The city is demanding we take out debt to keep the excessive budget. More money, printed by the Fed, didn't help create a better program, yet humans can't understand the issue of printed money and debt, and now, the city schools will most likely default within two years unless the Fed bails them out. We need to cut spending, reduce the budget, and simplify the system so that there is a system. Eventually the inflation caused by the excessive money printing and gifts will go down and things stabilize. But it hurts to correct it and it will hurt when the bill comes due. Pain either way but one pain considers a longer timeline rather than instant gratification.
That said, inflation during the Biden admin was the butterfly effect of covid (we thought we'd move on from this scott free?) and I believe, the Biden infrastructure spending. At least we'll eventually see some benefits from the latter.
I recall getting a $1,200 check during covid with Trump's name on it as if it was his $s he was kindly bestowing on us during his 1st go around. I hardly needed the cash. Similarly, I received a most delightful email 2 weeks ago from Trump personally that said "should I give DOGE savings back to you?" I suggested it might be more prudent to pay down the debt given it ratcheted up by a full one third from 2016-2020. Giving free $s to multi millionaires at this juncture is ill advised.
If tariffs are so horrible why does every country have tariffs on us? No you aren't reading me. No tariffs on us means we opened up their markets to us. We can sell more things in other countries and have higher exports. If goods are manufactured here, Americans can have manufacturing jobs which pay more than service industry jobs. Our country was founded with no income taxes, it funded govt through tariffs only. And Americans at that time carried Gold coins in their pockets as currency. You have any gold coins in your pocket now?
If American made goods are less affordable or unaffordable inside and outside of America because of higher wages and tariffs, how will American manufacturers have viable businesses? Workers won't be needed if factories are shut.
In 1776, when the United States declared independence, the estimated population was about 2.5 million people. This included European settlers, enslaved Africans, and Indigenous peoples, though Native American populations were often undercounted or not included in colonial records.
For comparison, today the U.S. population is 340.1 million. Comparisons this far back don't seem particularly relevant.
I voted for Trump 3 times but now think he’s a disaster. How could anyone not be appalled by idiocy like the “Gulf of America,” Canada as the 51st state, taking over Greenland, “buying” Gaza from Israel and “owning” it. And of course there’s the Signal leak farce that showed that most on his team, who I used to admire, are war mongering morons who have no qualms about bombing civilians to kill one man who they consider a terrorist. And how about the fact that Trump specifically campaigned on America First and no more wars yet now puts Israel First and bombs Yemen for them?
Tariffs are the only way to save our middle class. China has built their entire world leading economy with US dollars that could have flowed inside our own nation to rebuild and restore.
We've seen what global trade does. The one percent ends up with all the cash. The poor are still poor, the middle class gets decimated. Only the elite thrive. Look around. Who has all the money right now? Not the middle class, they are suffering.
We, the USA, our consumption drives the world economy. Us and us alone.
Tariffs prevent the world from undercutting our workers, and creates good paying jobs right here.
WTF are we doing enriching China, growing the Vietnamese economy, and flooding the world with our currency and making their middle class grow and become wealthy, as here the one percent collects it all.
Tariffs will restore our own country to greatness. Where a man can make $ 45 an hour on the production line, and support his family.
Always curious about these instances re what's produced, is it unique, is it exportable given well paid workers... or is it sold mostly in America, etc?
Canada is the US's largest importer I believe and are now by and large actively boycotting purchasing American made goods aided by on-shelf signage.
This is one of the most pragmatic moves we've witnessed from a U.S. president in modern history. It represents putting America first by issuing a long overdue reckoning - no more asymmetrical trade relationships that exploit our economy and cheat our workers.
The Left is screaming because they know it's going to work, and to Sasha's point, they have NO plan to offer except for the screaming. Once prices begin to ease through lower energy costs and the geopolitical impact of these tariffs emerge, the long term benefit of these maneuvers will be obvious to anyone paying attention. That is, those people who have critical thinking skills and are not completely driven by emotion and hate. You know who I'm talking about.
I studied economics in school, where free trade was an article of faith.
Now I’m starting to see Trump like Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School. The real world businessman listening to the ivory tower professor drone on about starting a business, then telling the class how things actually work.
I’m willing to give this a chance. The experts haven’t had a good track record in the real world for years.
The Ross Perot Al Gore debate (it's on youtube) is wild. 95% of Perot's predictions have come true, and Gore just sits there snickering at him and speaks to him like he's a child. Perot was a prophet. I remember not to long ago when the left was all about "fair" trade not "free" trade.
This country has a cancer, we can refuse treatment and die. Or we can put everything on it's head, as most people do once they find out that they will die soon. Most people don't understand how bad our situation is, we should be hearing more of that as explanation for what has to happen.
Communism (Democrats plan) doesn't work.
We have to try to explain to everyone we know what is happening, even if they never talk to us again afterwards.
Ross Perot was right about all of it. He wasn’t as strong and determined as Trump. He caved when threats were made on his family. I believe he had a great shot of winning that 3 way race had he not dropped out for three months. By the time he decided to jump back in it was too late. He would have stopped NAFTA and saved our country.
The sad thing is that the dems want to tax the billionaire rich but of course define "rich" as $400k...never adjusted for inflation. That giant sucking sound is the wealth of the middle/upper middle class going to Washington to be wasted and grifted by a very corrupt government.
We are at war around the globe and at home. China is doing to the West what Britain did to them during the opium wars. Pure Evil. War at home with the deep State and the MSM corrupting the narrative, corrupting the truth. We all need to step up and make sure out friends, neighbors, and relatives understand the true definition of "democracy" and "fascism". It seems about half the country seems a little confused.
Trump was elected by the people without cheating. That’s what happens in a Democracy or in our Democratic Republic which is our form of governance. I find it interesting you’re confused about that?
Okay, go ahead and defend open borders, an inundation of illegal aliens, rampant waste/fraud/abuse to the tune of over $500B/year, war in Europe, loose elections, oikophobia, using undemocratic methods to "save democracy", choosing "truth over facts", and finally beating Medicare.
IF they are a short-term tactic for forcing other countries to reduce THEIR tariffs, however, AND the tactic is successful, so we remove them, then it can have long-term benefits.
In others words, we shall see. We are in a stronger position than our competitors, generally speaking.
Sorry, but your basic understanding of economics is wrong. What Trump is doing is making tariffs equal. The US will still be at a disadvantage in most countries because of our other regulations. However, we will be at LESS of a disadvantage. If you are an American and CARE about middle and lower class Americans then you would be happy Trump is going to have 30-40 dollar and hour mfg jobs coming back instead of people working for 15 dollar an hour service jobs. I guess foreigners and upper class will be upset about stocks going down. Screw them and screw you.
Sorry, but your basic understanding of economics is wrong. Read up on the idea of comparative advantage to understand why free trade will always maximize the GDP for ALL countries participating. The problem is that there is no guarantee that the increased GDP will be distributed equally. Free trade sucks for those working in areas where you do not have comparative advantage.
I am all for no tariffs. But the only way to get there is by applying tariffs to those who refuse to play along. I am also in favor of labor standards and environmental standards. Just as our betters in the NIH pursued their illegal gain of function research in China, manufacturers pursue poor labor and environmental standards around the world to cut costs. The American people seem blissfully unaware as we damage the developing world and harm their people with poor standards.
I don't believe this is necessary. Manufacturing has 6-sigma quality standards in these factories to ensure quality products are produced. That level of effort could also go into improving standards to a point where they would be sufficient to meet OUR standards. At that point and without tariffs, we can have fair and free trade. Exploiting children in the congo to mine minerals is not a standard that we should accept. Nor is polluting rivers and the air, nor is slave labor.
That money mostly went to foreign NGO's and the local tyrants holding boot to neck of their people. That money enabled TYRANY and funded foreigners. What little was left "trickled down" to the hungry people. It also distorted markets where it went. What is the value of growing rice when it is given for free?
I am in regular communication with people at kakuma refugee camp in kenya and their food rations which was already inadequate is being cut because unsaid was shut down.
"Speaking in Mombasa during the East Africa Region Global Health Security Summit 2025, Uhuru called for greater self-reliance among African nations, questioning the continent’s dependence on foreign aid.
Further, he stated that there was a need for Africa to prioritize its own development, dismissing the panic among Kenyans, for lack of humanitarian aid.
Moreover, he has asked Kenyans to take charge of their own future, saying that America did not owe Africans any aid.
“Funding for this has to come from ourselves because we have to begin to reprioritise what is important for us as Africans and where we put our resources. Let us be ready and prepared. Let us be self-reliant by ensuring that we deal with the challenges that we have.
“I saw some people the other day crying that Trump has removed funding. Why are you crying? It is not your govt nor your country. He has no reason to give you anything. You don’t pay taxes in America,” said Uhuru." -- Kenya Times, 1/29/2025
Trump is trying to reset the world economic order. The post WW2 settlement greatly benefited Americans up to about 1991. Since then, it has only benefited the globalist oligarchs. Tariffs are part of the reset. Redoing the security architecture is also important. We have been paying for the European welfare state by playing globocop. Trump needs to stop keeping the Red Sea open for European trade. Let them do it. The way the EU is acting, I am leaning towards just crushing them. Stopping the protection of their trade plus a LNG embargo should do the trick. At the very least, they will have to return to Russian gas which will end their lunacy about Ukraine. Finally, we need industrial policy. Drill, baby, drill. Plus actually start producing stuff with the Biden era CHIPS act. Ditch EV subsidies and the CAFE regulations. More nuclear power. There is a lot of fixing to be done with health and not just Obamacare. MAHA , rural health care, provider supply and corporate medicine all need attention. If you think I am more aggressive than Trump, you have that right although I will trust the team as to what is doable, for now.
The Red Sea issue is a 3 part issue. Yes, international trade. Yes, Israel is our ally. Lastly, we do not want Iran and China to take over the middle east.
Israel is perfectly capable of taking care of itself. I commented elsewhere that if the Euros can't take care of business, they should contract with Israel. That might temper their antisemitism. At some point Israel and KSA need to deal with Iran since they are the ones most directly threatened. If it takes long enough perhaps Europe could join in to protect its trade. We have no need to play globocop.
The US has had record high oil production for the last 6 years. RFK, JR letting measles outbreak spread in the SW. MIchelle Obama tried to promote healthy food and was despised & ridiculed by Repubs. I'm for the new smaller passively safe nuclear plants - Russia & China have each built one. Musk is trying to sell EV. Trump thinks putun is his "friend" and wants to work with him to end the Ukraine war& putin is telling him to GTH. Trump is alienating our long time allies and aligning with putin.
If everything from China soars in price we might start buying less cheap garbage we don't need and that would be a good thing
In addition, I prefer paying taxes on consumption rather than taxes on income.
Flat Tax!
Like food?
Most actual food (not the processed garbage) is exempt from sales tax.
Sadly, even processed garbage is exempt from sales tax. That needs to change, imho...
Tariffs will make farmers prices go up even put some out of business which in turn will increase grocery (trumps favorite old fashioned word) prices.
Please get the TDS vaccine ASAP!
It happened in 2018 when trump put tariffs on china; China started buying soybeans from Brazil, US soybean farmers were going broke & trump bailed them out. Is he going to bail them out this time or let them feel pain? Today he said it's good for the economy to crash! LOL!
We buy locally produced only.And I grow quite a bit of what we use.
Good for you. Where I live , farmers markets sell produce much higher than grocery stores & not every one has land to grow food.
Who is talking about taxing food?
Hawaii does. It is called an excise tax. It is different than a sales tax but few know the difference.
In addition, our landfills wound less strained.
We'd have to train people on how to fix stuff. I called my Uncle the "furnace whisperer" because he just knew what was wrong with a furnace and could fix it, most of the time. That's rare now - now, it's just "You need a new furnace, mam" and the old one goes to the landfill.
Computerized stuff is difficult to fix.
“AI Experts Q&A: How Every Industry Is About To Be Transformed by Humanoids.” (36 min)
Peter Diamandis. Apr 2, 2025
https://youtu.be/-YWWXwTCnVw?si=DivfKbY0UvUXetCp
“Tesla in Crisis? We need to talk…(Tariffs, BYD, and China’s AI.” (13 min)
TechLead. Apr 2, 2025
https://youtu.be/qCzZvmq7oWg?si=gywcOtsE4e_RaS0R
😂
And they will stop buying US debt and tank the bond market which will limit credit and raise costs to everyone, including the countries who now buy US goods. These self destructive policies are pure idiocy. We want growth and that is a world, not a US issue.
With a trillion dollar trade deficit and 90% of our medicines manufactured in China I'll take that risk to re-orient our priorities
Touche
They can't do that ... the Chinese government's US debt is probably its safest investment, especially in the face of their real estate crisis
As you probably know, the interest costs on the US debt will reach a record 3.2 percent of GDP this year – thus exceeding the cost of the Defense Department and Medicare combined. Moreover, the US federal deficit for the fiscal year 2025 is projected to be 6.3 percent of GDP. And as of December 2024, the US government debt was 124.0% of GDP. All while President Trump's Secretary of the Treasury is a hyper-Keynesian whose economic modeling is derived from the macroeconomic model of the Keynes General theory and most likely Bessent is a closet-Fabian.
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent served as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Key Square Capital Management, a global hedge fund focused on macro-economic investing that he founded in 2015. Prior to that time, Mr. Bessent was the Chief Investment Officer of Soros Fund Management. Mr. Bessent was an adjunct professor at Yale University, where he taught economic history. From 1991 to 2000, he was managing partner of Soros Fund Management’s London office.
"As Immanuel Wallerstein observed, Capitalism may no longer be attractive to capitalists as all these dynamics play out in a vast, inter-connected, unpredictable rebalancing of global interests and increasingly destabilizing attempts to solve complex, intractable problems with cobbled-together expediencies or doing more of what's already failed.
There won't be any "saves" in this rebalancing, and so the global recession will be deeper and longer than those relying on models based on the past two decades of hyper-globalization and hyper-financialization anticipate."
As a follower of Jesus Christ who supported Donald J. Trump in the last election; I decided to pass on a link I received yesterday about President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
As can be seen, Jared Kushner's investment company has acquired $4.8 Billion from middle east oil sheiks. A critical thinker using linear logic would ask the questions; did the middle east oil oligarchs invest $4.8 Billion in Jared Kushner because he is a genius and savvy investor? Or are they buying influence in the Trump White House? Also take notice of the person in the background of the photograph, It is none other than President Donald Trump's Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent:
https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/Kushner-s-Affinity-s-assets-jump-to-4-8-billion-after-Gulf-cash-injection-49468548/
Google Executive order 13770 for the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say.
Google Executive Order 13770
Executive Order 13770, issued by President Donald Trump on January 28, 2017, was titled "Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees" and directed executive branch employees to sign a pledge banning them from lobbying any government official for two years and the agency they worked in for five years. Additionally, it prohibited them from ever lobbying the US on behalf of a foreign government or foreign political parties.
Trump revoked this order on January 20, 2021, the final day of his presidency, allowing his administration's officials to immediately begin working as lobbyists. This action was criticized by government watchdog groups, who saw it as contradictory to Trump's earlier pledge to "drain the swamp".
Uh, they only own 3% of our debt.
Smells like Teen Bot.
Sasha,
Right now our family is struggling economically. This is not easy. But we really believe in the short term pain for long term gain.
I believe in Trump’s plan. As Americans we used to be more resilient. Now we just talk. For example- go big or go home.
This is a game of chicken. Let’s go!
I'm intrigued. How long do we think the short term pain will be? For example, if certain manufacturing returns to America, how long will it take to get the infrastructure up to snuff?
Note that the biggest tariffs were placed on 3rd world locales like Bangladesh where wages are so low goods can be produced more cheaply. With most trumpers living pay check to pay check, they have the cash to pay even more for stuff?
Soooooo... what's your pain tolerance? Maybe you're willing to roll the dice for a better life for your kids, or are you lot wanting some fun too?
I say never trust a convicted felon whose crime was hundreds of millions of USDs of financial fraud vs. the vast majority of the world's leading economists., but what do I know.
Realistically it will take at least a decade. Also realistically, we don't need more stuff. Take a look at any homeless encampment, filled to the brim with stuff. Take a decade to simplify, invest in US manufacturing, rebuild the middle class, and yeah own less. Other than food, fuel, and housing, you can live on used things from your neighbors. I furnished an entire three bedroom condo with used stuff on Facebook marketplace. Thrift stores are filled with beautiful clothes. Nothing needs to be made anymore.
I think our children deserve this effort in resilience. So does the planet.
Madeline, so well said. My adult children are back home for the second time. I’m trying to explain to them that this is for your future.
Also my question, what in fact do you know?
There is no plan. Trump is a sub-moron completely detached from reality. Anyone with a human brain can see that he doesn't have one. Today he wrote "not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy." Any human reading that (or many of the detached from reality posts) immediately recognizes this creature is completely mentally incompetent and completely divorced from reality. The only good news is the tariffs will hurt the ignorant creatures who voted for Trump more than anyone else.
OMG. We’re so sick of you people. You are deranged and pathetic. Please go away … you belong in a “home” along with your other vicious, America hating, cultural wrecking cronies.
You are sick of people who actually have a human brain. When all you can do is regurgitate brainwashing that any human rejects it proves you are not a human. No human is as stupid as this.
John - You are, of course, describing liberals, democrats, and the mentally handicapped…but you did it cleverly. Thanks for the post and the chuckles.
Seems that anyone who disagrees with you is a sub-moron. Must be hard to breathe, up there in the lofty stratosphere. Oh well, I crave dispensation, not having a human brain. I wish that people posting would get rid of the ad hominems. They convey emotion, not argument.
But Mary thinks HE's the deranged one. Sub-moron or deranged. Putin is having a laugh!
Once again my prescription is the Pfizer vaccine for TDS. They should have added it to the Covid shots.
Yes, truly Trump seems to wing it. He's plays sufficient golf and has his hands in so many pots and grifts that he could hardly be expected to have much time left to run the country too!
But he gets up there and says his latest scam will be the best one yet! One the world hasn't ever seen or even thought possible! It'll be a return to the golden age!
And he'll serve a 3rd term when he's 82-86, an age range said to be far too old when Biden got dementia and forgot he was going to leave. Such hypocrites, but so entertaining to observe.
You seem to me to be blinded by your demon slaying, Boogeyman building, mentality. I am unable to tell if there is any worth in your comment, because of your hatred.
If you do believe there is "no plan", then you are denying the two most basic strategies, I know of to combat inflation, namely; decrease the consumer's purchasing power by raising unemployment, as President Ronald Reagan did when fighting Jimmy Carter's inflation numbers; or artificially inflate the prices further to bring down consumption, as President Trump is doing now.
Both president's are guilty of the same sin, the lie of omission. Their tactics have, and most likely will work, but at a price.
You seem to hate Trump and see the price, namely, higher prices and less employment.
You really should question your tactic of insulting a highly effective and successful politician. If my guess is wrong about your meaning, I think it is due to your hatred. Jim.
I have friends who voted for trump because he was going to eliminate inflation on "day 1." Of course it was a total scam !
Makes perfect sense to me.
Short term pain for long term pain.
However, the billionaires will be delighted to buy up cheap everything ordinary Americans have to hold a fire sale for.
I believe Trump is using reciprocal tariffs to destroy tariffs. If you tariff us we will tariff you. In the end both sides agree to zero out the tariffs. Our towns were hollowed out by "free trade." It allowed manufacturers to seek out the lowest wages in the world and leave us while still selling to us. They call it "the rust belt". Our hometowns were destroyed. Meanwhile during "free trade" other countries have huge tariffs on our goods. Try buying an American car in Europe. Or an American motorcycle in India. India has the largest motorcycle company in the word. Hero motorcycles. Because they have no foreign competition due to, you guessed it, impossible tariffs. Buy American! If we make it here at least. There will be no tariffs in America on American made goods!
Yes. In an ideal world, I am a supporter of free trade. However, most of the free trade advocates do not have a plan to lower that tariffs other countries impose.
I've become habituated (and I speculate I am not alone) to the chattering classes underestimating the intelligence of President Trump and his supporters. It's a truism among the intelligentsia that Trump is stupid. They are talking about his tariffs in the same manner in which they have spoken of everything he's done - that Trump's ideas are ill-informed and stupid. So far, the commentariat has been wrong. Each time they are wrong, I give their hyperventilating less credence. The tariffs Trump announced yesterday are more extreme than I was expecting, but I am willing to wait a few months before condemning them.
Exactly.
So if I'm reading you, no tariffs will lead to the least expensive goods being produced by countries with the cheapest labor and that ain't America.
If America buys only or mostly America, they'll be paying far higher prices than they are currently as they rack up more and more debt or subsist The Grapes of Wrath like as they live pay check to pay check. Anyway I look at it, it doesn't feel maga has thought this through in a common sense way, because if Trump says it, it must be fine.
Again, why would anyone need to buy anything more? Other than food, gas, and housing, there's more than enough stuff floating around. Go to a thrift store. At this moment right now, everything I'm wearing other than my underwear is from a thrift store. My shoes I found on a morning hike. Someone left them behind. I furnished an entire home with used stuff on Facebook marketplace. This is not a bad thing in the long term. Live with less and pay for the craftsman.
I think food, transportation and housing are MAJOR necessities that people nare having trouble affording but must have if they want to avoid starving & becoming homeless! You think tgey are just casual purchases. People can put off purcasing other goods for a while.
I get your point and think it's wonderful and admirable.
Conversely, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the hypocrisy of Biden inflation bad, Trump inflation not bad.
Because Biden's inflation was caused by printing money to spend on more programs, including overseas military aid. That inflation is based on debt and only puts us in more trouble. Money printing is not working and it isn't fixing things. The debt and trade deficits soared. Tariffs and reducing spending will hurt in the same way, but ideally will balance out and stabilize in a decade.
Here's a local example. Take the Chicago public schools. We are now spending more than ever on the schools. Thousands of new employees were added when the Fed gave us covid money. They knew this money was temporary but hired a if it were forever. Now, the budget is skyrocketing as test scores plummet. The city is demanding we take out debt to keep the excessive budget. More money, printed by the Fed, didn't help create a better program, yet humans can't understand the issue of printed money and debt, and now, the city schools will most likely default within two years unless the Fed bails them out. We need to cut spending, reduce the budget, and simplify the system so that there is a system. Eventually the inflation caused by the excessive money printing and gifts will go down and things stabilize. But it hurts to correct it and it will hurt when the bill comes due. Pain either way but one pain considers a longer timeline rather than instant gratification.
Agreed.
That said, inflation during the Biden admin was the butterfly effect of covid (we thought we'd move on from this scott free?) and I believe, the Biden infrastructure spending. At least we'll eventually see some benefits from the latter.
I recall getting a $1,200 check during covid with Trump's name on it as if it was his $s he was kindly bestowing on us during his 1st go around. I hardly needed the cash. Similarly, I received a most delightful email 2 weeks ago from Trump personally that said "should I give DOGE savings back to you?" I suggested it might be more prudent to pay down the debt given it ratcheted up by a full one third from 2016-2020. Giving free $s to multi millionaires at this juncture is ill advised.
If tariffs are so horrible why does every country have tariffs on us? No you aren't reading me. No tariffs on us means we opened up their markets to us. We can sell more things in other countries and have higher exports. If goods are manufactured here, Americans can have manufacturing jobs which pay more than service industry jobs. Our country was founded with no income taxes, it funded govt through tariffs only. And Americans at that time carried Gold coins in their pockets as currency. You have any gold coins in your pocket now?
If American made goods are less affordable or unaffordable inside and outside of America because of higher wages and tariffs, how will American manufacturers have viable businesses? Workers won't be needed if factories are shut.
In 1776, when the United States declared independence, the estimated population was about 2.5 million people. This included European settlers, enslaved Africans, and Indigenous peoples, though Native American populations were often undercounted or not included in colonial records.
For comparison, today the U.S. population is 340.1 million. Comparisons this far back don't seem particularly relevant.
I voted for Trump 3 times but now think he’s a disaster. How could anyone not be appalled by idiocy like the “Gulf of America,” Canada as the 51st state, taking over Greenland, “buying” Gaza from Israel and “owning” it. And of course there’s the Signal leak farce that showed that most on his team, who I used to admire, are war mongering morons who have no qualms about bombing civilians to kill one man who they consider a terrorist. And how about the fact that Trump specifically campaigned on America First and no more wars yet now puts Israel First and bombs Yemen for them?
They pay you to write this tripe, right? Why else would you expose your lack of reflection to the public?
“We can run but we can't hide from it
Of all possible worlds we only got one we gotta ride on it
Whatever we've done
We'll never get far from what we leave behind”
https://youtu.be/SSZXihfk_wk?si=l3NvYRs125QodLOV
Tariffs are the only way to save our middle class. China has built their entire world leading economy with US dollars that could have flowed inside our own nation to rebuild and restore.
We've seen what global trade does. The one percent ends up with all the cash. The poor are still poor, the middle class gets decimated. Only the elite thrive. Look around. Who has all the money right now? Not the middle class, they are suffering.
We, the USA, our consumption drives the world economy. Us and us alone.
Tariffs prevent the world from undercutting our workers, and creates good paying jobs right here.
WTF are we doing enriching China, growing the Vietnamese economy, and flooding the world with our currency and making their middle class grow and become wealthy, as here the one percent collects it all.
Tariffs will restore our own country to greatness. Where a man can make $ 45 an hour on the production line, and support his family.
You mean where a Ai driven robot can replace a man making $45/hr.
Not where I work. Our assemblers are well paid, with excellent benefits. And not a robot assembling anything.
Always curious about these instances re what's produced, is it unique, is it exportable given well paid workers... or is it sold mostly in America, etc?
Canada is the US's largest importer I believe and are now by and large actively boycotting purchasing American made goods aided by on-shelf signage.
This is one of the most pragmatic moves we've witnessed from a U.S. president in modern history. It represents putting America first by issuing a long overdue reckoning - no more asymmetrical trade relationships that exploit our economy and cheat our workers.
The Left is screaming because they know it's going to work, and to Sasha's point, they have NO plan to offer except for the screaming. Once prices begin to ease through lower energy costs and the geopolitical impact of these tariffs emerge, the long term benefit of these maneuvers will be obvious to anyone paying attention. That is, those people who have critical thinking skills and are not completely driven by emotion and hate. You know who I'm talking about.
Excellent post, Keith.
I studied economics in school, where free trade was an article of faith.
Now I’m starting to see Trump like Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School. The real world businessman listening to the ivory tower professor drone on about starting a business, then telling the class how things actually work.
I’m willing to give this a chance. The experts haven’t had a good track record in the real world for years.
Well that depends on what their goals actually were.
You left out a lotta stuff
The Ross Perot Al Gore debate (it's on youtube) is wild. 95% of Perot's predictions have come true, and Gore just sits there snickering at him and speaks to him like he's a child. Perot was a prophet. I remember not to long ago when the left was all about "fair" trade not "free" trade.
Perot was a businessman; so is Trump, Elon…
Peter Navarro explained over and over again.
This country has a cancer, we can refuse treatment and die. Or we can put everything on it's head, as most people do once they find out that they will die soon. Most people don't understand how bad our situation is, we should be hearing more of that as explanation for what has to happen.
Communism (Democrats plan) doesn't work.
We have to try to explain to everyone we know what is happening, even if they never talk to us again afterwards.
Not explain tell people either you agree or you have TDS that is what they are doing.
Wow, Ross Perot mapped out the very same tariff plan Trump is enacting right now. Why did it take so long? Oh wait, government.
Ross Perot was right about all of it. He wasn’t as strong and determined as Trump. He caved when threats were made on his family. I believe he had a great shot of winning that 3 way race had he not dropped out for three months. By the time he decided to jump back in it was too late. He would have stopped NAFTA and saved our country.
Perot is the only reason Clinton won the election.
That was true in the end. But he was ahead before he dropped out.
And the hole so much deeper!
Tariffs are tactics to achieve an end — they are not, necessarily, long-term policy.
The long game, I believe, is to even the playing field with each trading partner.
Some partners will come around more quickly than others.
The sad thing is that the dems want to tax the billionaire rich but of course define "rich" as $400k...never adjusted for inflation. That giant sucking sound is the wealth of the middle/upper middle class going to Washington to be wasted and grifted by a very corrupt government.
and they manage to find loopholes for themselves... and their 'buds'. So you thing Gates and Soros are paying in the same percentage as Musk?
Truthfully the budget deficit should be paid for by raising capital gains taxes from 15 to 30%
I’m betting on Trumps team’s vision!
We are at war around the globe and at home. China is doing to the West what Britain did to them during the opium wars. Pure Evil. War at home with the deep State and the MSM corrupting the narrative, corrupting the truth. We all need to step up and make sure out friends, neighbors, and relatives understand the true definition of "democracy" and "fascism". It seems about half the country seems a little confused.
Yes, they certainly are confused about democracy as they cheer trump on as he destroys it.
Trump was elected by the people without cheating. That’s what happens in a Democracy or in our Democratic Republic which is our form of governance. I find it interesting you’re confused about that?
Okay, go ahead and defend open borders, an inundation of illegal aliens, rampant waste/fraud/abuse to the tune of over $500B/year, war in Europe, loose elections, oikophobia, using undemocratic methods to "save democracy", choosing "truth over facts", and finally beating Medicare.
Tariffs are a bad idea. That's basic economics.
IF, that is, they are a long-term strategy.
IF they are a short-term tactic for forcing other countries to reduce THEIR tariffs, however, AND the tactic is successful, so we remove them, then it can have long-term benefits.
In others words, we shall see. We are in a stronger position than our competitors, generally speaking.
Let's give it two years, meet you back here.
Sorry, but your basic understanding of economics is wrong. What Trump is doing is making tariffs equal. The US will still be at a disadvantage in most countries because of our other regulations. However, we will be at LESS of a disadvantage. If you are an American and CARE about middle and lower class Americans then you would be happy Trump is going to have 30-40 dollar and hour mfg jobs coming back instead of people working for 15 dollar an hour service jobs. I guess foreigners and upper class will be upset about stocks going down. Screw them and screw you.
Sorry, but your basic understanding of economics is wrong. Read up on the idea of comparative advantage to understand why free trade will always maximize the GDP for ALL countries participating. The problem is that there is no guarantee that the increased GDP will be distributed equally. Free trade sucks for those working in areas where you do not have comparative advantage.
Nonsense.
I am all for no tariffs. But the only way to get there is by applying tariffs to those who refuse to play along. I am also in favor of labor standards and environmental standards. Just as our betters in the NIH pursued their illegal gain of function research in China, manufacturers pursue poor labor and environmental standards around the world to cut costs. The American people seem blissfully unaware as we damage the developing world and harm their people with poor standards.
I don't believe this is necessary. Manufacturing has 6-sigma quality standards in these factories to ensure quality products are produced. That level of effort could also go into improving standards to a point where they would be sufficient to meet OUR standards. At that point and without tariffs, we can have fair and free trade. Exploiting children in the congo to mine minerals is not a standard that we should accept. Nor is polluting rivers and the air, nor is slave labor.
Letting children in poor countries starve while we eliminate USAID which provided food & medicine is a standard we accept.
If you really believe all that USAID money went where it was intended, I am sorry for you.
That money mostly went to foreign NGO's and the local tyrants holding boot to neck of their people. That money enabled TYRANY and funded foreigners. What little was left "trickled down" to the hungry people. It also distorted markets where it went. What is the value of growing rice when it is given for free?
Well, if you can't grow rice like people in refugee camps & poor people in cities , it keeps you from starvung.
That is a different situation. There are many.
The State Dept. will oversee foreign aid now, rather than unaccountable, DNC money-laundering, "non-governmental" organizations.
Sure, trumsk cares so much about starving people.
FYI, those corrupt NGOs are not starving, neighbor.
I am in regular communication with people at kakuma refugee camp in kenya and their food rations which was already inadequate is being cut because unsaid was shut down.
"Speaking in Mombasa during the East Africa Region Global Health Security Summit 2025, Uhuru called for greater self-reliance among African nations, questioning the continent’s dependence on foreign aid.
Further, he stated that there was a need for Africa to prioritize its own development, dismissing the panic among Kenyans, for lack of humanitarian aid.
Moreover, he has asked Kenyans to take charge of their own future, saying that America did not owe Africans any aid.
“Funding for this has to come from ourselves because we have to begin to reprioritise what is important for us as Africans and where we put our resources. Let us be ready and prepared. Let us be self-reliant by ensuring that we deal with the challenges that we have.
“I saw some people the other day crying that Trump has removed funding. Why are you crying? It is not your govt nor your country. He has no reason to give you anything. You don’t pay taxes in America,” said Uhuru." -- Kenya Times, 1/29/2025
The state department will still fund those programs. They don’t need corrupt NGOs to do it for them.
Trump is trying to reset the world economic order. The post WW2 settlement greatly benefited Americans up to about 1991. Since then, it has only benefited the globalist oligarchs. Tariffs are part of the reset. Redoing the security architecture is also important. We have been paying for the European welfare state by playing globocop. Trump needs to stop keeping the Red Sea open for European trade. Let them do it. The way the EU is acting, I am leaning towards just crushing them. Stopping the protection of their trade plus a LNG embargo should do the trick. At the very least, they will have to return to Russian gas which will end their lunacy about Ukraine. Finally, we need industrial policy. Drill, baby, drill. Plus actually start producing stuff with the Biden era CHIPS act. Ditch EV subsidies and the CAFE regulations. More nuclear power. There is a lot of fixing to be done with health and not just Obamacare. MAHA , rural health care, provider supply and corporate medicine all need attention. If you think I am more aggressive than Trump, you have that right although I will trust the team as to what is doable, for now.
100%. Am glad you wrote this, Richard
The Red Sea issue is a 3 part issue. Yes, international trade. Yes, Israel is our ally. Lastly, we do not want Iran and China to take over the middle east.
Israel is perfectly capable of taking care of itself. I commented elsewhere that if the Euros can't take care of business, they should contract with Israel. That might temper their antisemitism. At some point Israel and KSA need to deal with Iran since they are the ones most directly threatened. If it takes long enough perhaps Europe could join in to protect its trade. We have no need to play globocop.
The US has had record high oil production for the last 6 years. RFK, JR letting measles outbreak spread in the SW. MIchelle Obama tried to promote healthy food and was despised & ridiculed by Repubs. I'm for the new smaller passively safe nuclear plants - Russia & China have each built one. Musk is trying to sell EV. Trump thinks putun is his "friend" and wants to work with him to end the Ukraine war& putin is telling him to GTH. Trump is alienating our long time allies and aligning with putin.