FAFO, Donald, by Robert Gore
Liberation Day has come and gone. If Trump’s War on Foreign Goods (WOFG) is genius, we’ll take idiocy. It’s a stitched-together concatenation based on meretricious metrics, a Son of Smoot-Hawley that will ensure Trump a place in the presidential pantheon right next to Herbert Hoover. Like Hoover, Trump has a business background; like Hoover he never shuts up, and like Hoover he will preside over a disastrous tariff regime.
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The best that can be said of the tariffs is that they will hasten what was going to happen anyway. Trump wants to FA, he will FO. The WOFG will be his biggest mistake since Warp Speed, although both may be eclipsed by nuclear war with Iran. If he makes it to the end of his second term, nobody will be talking about a third, and his visage won’t be the fifth face carved into Mount Rushmore.
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The best that can be said of the tariffs is that they will hasten what was going to happen anyway. Trump wants to FA, he will FO. The WOFG will be his biggest mistake since Warp Speed, although both may be eclipsed by nuclear war with Iran. If he makes it to the end of his second term, nobody will be talking about a third, and his visage won’t be the fifth face carved into Mount Rushmore.
If tariffs are SO BAD of an idea. Why is it EVERY country charges US Tariffs? And where is their suffering?
The argument that all Tariffs are BAD... And destroys the country that uses them... Fails the logical test that many countries, CHINA included, do just fine with Tariffs.
So... Why can't we?
Next up. We are one of the few countries in the world that could close up our borders, and do quite well. We have Wood, Food, Ash, etc.
You know what we don't have? The basics to make things here. We can't produce our own Antibiotics... That's INSANITY.
And Walmart just proved that the tariffs don't always increase the cost to the consumer. Many times, the producer has to pay them, to stay competitive. Walmart called "There's a 10% tariff on X. You need to lower your price 10% so we don't see it!" And they companies are doing it.
Also, lets play the game HONESTLY. A 10% tariff on an item at walmart that SELLS for $10 is NOT $1... Walmart pays $3 for that item, maybe $5. The item would get a 50 Cent Tariff.
The seller will EAT some of that. And they usually do. Lets say they eat 1/2. Now you are talking a 0.25 (A Quarter) increase on a $10 item.
First, I can survive the $11 price, but count me as special. But going from $10 to $10.25
BIDEN did worse than that to the American people, and we were told his Economy was "Glorious".
Perspective matters. We are bankrupt.
Trump is trying to increase our position, and decrease our wasteful spending.
He is trying to drive investments to make things here. Like the iPhone, and the new Chips. And we will get those things here (without the EPA).
Yeah, FA and FO.
I believe on this one. We will FO that the long-term benefits of Tariffs are inline with why other countries had them against us!
Let the guy cook. I commit to giving him 10yrs for his plans to work. And I expect he will get ZERO thank yous when they do, if he is still around.
Nice post, Captain Kirk.
They do not ask or charge us to pay them a tax or duty for a purchase, but rather ask their purchasers of US goods to pay a tax to their treasury, just as a US tariff on a foreign good asks the purchaser to pay a duty or tax to the US treasury, i.e.,to remove the tariff from the economy and send it to the US government.
Rand was very clear about discussions, to define your terms.In discussions on tariffs, e.g., each side uses a different definition of tariff, one is favorable to standard of living and one that in long run reduces the standard of living by reducing purchasing power.
The people who are screaming the loudest are the importers such as Walmart and Harbor Freight.
Meanwhile industries close up here and lay off workers so that some kid in the far east can work.
Enough's enough. Prior to WWII, the US produced most of what we consumed, and half of what everyone else did. I would rather pay higher prices and have local workers start producing and competing again.
It appears that, at least, in the agricultural sectors, they are praising Trump, because for years local farmers have been driven out of business as the bih importers have been dumping cheap foreign products on our market.
The Banksters LOOTED every country, and they used the USA PoW (Proof of Weapons) as their backing, and EXPORTED the INFLATION they were guaranteed to generate.
And any country that didn't play their game. Well, we'd call them commies, and LIBERATE them. And then REBUILD THEM with taxpayer money. And claim "Hero Status".
I realize now. We were a great ideal that was stolen around 1913 when a small group usurped control of the money, and then of our country!
Now we have to suffer along side of them, to shake the disease.
In the decades that followed, the USA lost early training for manufacturing jobs by eliminating industrial arts from high school curriculum.
In addition, the people who truly work (baby-boomers) are retiring in droves.
Unfortunately, President Trump's policy decisions aren't based in reality and reason. They won't work.
The problem with this is:
Once a "governmet organization" (an oxymoron, to be sure...) is established, it's job becomes to sustain itself by spending all of it's budget so that it gets next year's budget increase.
There isn't an "end-game" to solving problems. The game eventually evolves into creating problems in order solve the problems that THEY CREATED !
Nothing good can ever come from that.
High school education, as you say, took a college prep route. Even in the '70's, kids who went to Vocational School were looked down upon. Even before that, the government had outlawed most child labor, finally destroying the apprentice system which worked well for thousands of years, so now we have kids who can fre Willy and save the whales, but can't run a drill press.
As far as Trump's tariffs, though, when many say they won't work, why are they working so well for all these other countries?
Side story to the big story: In 1986 I was installing research equipment on a plating line in a steel mill not far from Pittsburgh and always got chatty with the folks doing the work. I was told one of the operators (let's call him Charlie) that retired a few years back had a legendary encounter. The management of the mill was bringing a delegation of Japanese steel manufacturers through on a tour (industrial spy mission, actually) and when they got to Charlie's station on the plating line he was asked to explain what he was doing and how the line worked. Charlie just huffed and turned his back rather rudely so the manager in charge asked him why he was being rude. Charlie, red faced and furrowed brow, answered in hearing range of the Japanese, "I didn't tell those yellow bastards anything on Bhutan and I'm not telling them anything now!". They quickly moved on.
and
Find out
(i had to look also LOL)
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/vie...
If we apply this to the Federal debt, then when the increase in debt reaches exponential levels and the resources to service this debt grow linearly, then economic collapse is guaranteed.
The day of reckoning can be delayed by the massive injection of counterfeit (fiat) currency (Wiemar Republic style) but in the end to no avail.
I wonder how many humans will have to die before a balance is restored?
Did I miss it, or is it not there - any mention in the article of US gov debt?
What is it at this moment? A few dozen trillions?
What Trump is doing is raising money to slow the rise in debt. This is in parallel with reducing gov expenditure -see DOGE - tariffs seem, so far, to be immune to Obama Judge interference.
Tariffs will increase prices, yes, but I'd argue there is voluntary element to paying a higher price in that a customer can decline to purchase, unlike tax on income.
Any policy creates friends and foes. Trump's two-prong attempt to save the economy and the currency by tariffs could work.
I'm more than a little surprised by this. The President can't raise or lower income tax rates, or change income tax rules, without going through Congress, and I've always assumed it was the same with tariffs.
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, Part III, Ch. 7.
It seems to me that President Trump is retaliating. One may argue that he could possibly do a better job but at least (as I see it) he is struggling to get there. I haven't seen his like since Ronald Regan.
The EPA is arguably a worse enemy than any foreign power.
But speaking of plundering honest people, the banking/WallSt cartel is even worse.
See your actions and words through the lens of the other person and then decide whether or not to act.
I hope that President Trump can put aside his agenda and see his moves more globally.
It's never a good idea to create enemies, if avoidable.
Henry Kissinger was correct when he stated that the overall inconsistent foreign policy of the United States would be our demise.
We are sometimes the peacemakers and sometimes the creators of wars (depending upon who is in charge and what that particular President decides is important).
I love this country but the politicians since WWII have been spreading this country's "legs" mighty wide.
If I were other nations, I would certainly take a "wait-and-see" attitude toward this new administration.
Hopefully, these "tarriff wars" will end in many thoughtful free-trade agreements.
For now, I'll take a "wait-and-see" attitude.