I'm taking a momentary break from my blogcation to post this video. Like many readers here, I have been watching with fascination and horror the evolving economic turmoil generated by tariffs [I'll note here in passing that "tariffs" ends with FFS...]
I have been bouncing between reading mainstream media, fringe media, Reddit, The Onion, Facebook, Bloomberg TV, and the esoteric sources I browse to compile this blog. For a while I was fascinated by the somewhat conspiracy-minded proposal that the crashing of the stock market has been intentionally engineered by business oligarchs and billionaires who are encouraging Trump to implement his tariffs and thereby trigger recessionary forces that are already driving down asset prices of commodities and equities, thus setting the stage for their repurchase at bargain-basement prices by those with boatloads of $$$.
Maybe more on that later. But for now I'll just share the short video above. The embed is about 12 minutes long, but if that is to long for the TLDR crowd here, just use the slider to skip to the 6:20 mark to learn the real WTF fact about Trump's decision to use tariffs.
My list of bookmarks of "things to blog" has grown massively in the last couple days, but I'm going to wait to resume writing for TYWKIWDBI until after my taxes are done, the winter garden debris is cleaned up, the Easter season activities are over. Bye for now. And good luck.
Relevant addendum: "Billionaires Start to Buy Their Own Stock Amid Market Turmoil" "Some of the world’s super-rich are increasing allocations to their major listed assets amid the bedlam in global markets, defying fears of the worst stock meltdown since 2020 being far from over."
Another addendum: Trump ignites ‘insider trading’ accusations after global tariffs U-turn
(regular blogging resumes after the weekend before my folder of bookmarks explodes....)
There are logical grounds for tariffs. It makes sense that we do not give competitors a headstart. We would help poor countries by charging them lesser tariffs than we do rich and powerful countries.
ReplyDeleteFurther, it drains the surplus funds that powerful nations might otherwise direct toward military spending.
Like Reagan's Star Wars drive eventually caused the USSR to have to stand down on the arms race, so, too, might this ensure our enemies are never strong enough act in a manner that might draw our hostilities.
So, yes, there are valid reasons for tariffs. But I think Trump acted brashly by enacting tariffs ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!! A measured pace, targeting the rivals most likely to threaten our national security, would have been a better launch.
https://xkcd.com/3073/
DeleteI love the wit in xkcd panels.
Deletexkcd has two wits: the cartoon, and the "title" (the popup you see when you move your mouse cursor onto the drawing).
DeleteSaying he acted "brashly" is an incredible understatement, and, by your own argument, he's wrong for imposing high tariffs on poor countries. I'll just quote Michael Shermer:
Delete"One of the highest tariff rates, 50 percent, was imposed on the African nation of Lesotho, whose average citizen earns less than $5 a day.
Because Lesotho’s citizens are too poor to afford most U.S. exports, while the U.S. imports $237 million in diamonds and other goods from the small landlocked nation, we have reserved close to our highest-possible tariff rate for one of the world’s poorest countries.
The notion that taxing Lesotho gemstones is necessary for the U.S. to add steel jobs in Ohio is so absurd that I briefly lost consciousness in the middle of writing this sentence."
"Further, it drains the surplus funds that powerful nations might otherwise direct toward military spending"
DeleteIt drains domestic funds that might otherwise go to buying food, gas and heating.
o.f.f.s. you are watching Rachel Maddow on MSNBC ... known propagandists ...
ReplyDeleteAre you claiming it's not true that Navarro created "Ron Vara" as an authority on tariffs?
Deleteknown propagandists
DeletePray tell me, where do you find your propagandaless news?
I would also like to know the answer to Stan's question. Please & thank you.
DeleteIf you don't know what's going on with the turds plan look up 'disaster capitalism' and it will inform you. In short the rich get richer by crashing the market on purpose. Looks like thats whats happening to a lot of economy experts right now.
ReplyDelete"..thus setting the stage for their repurchase at bargain-basement prices by those with boatloads of $$$...."
ReplyDelete...or benefit of oversight by / reporting to those dastardly, but dismissed, regulators.
These cuts are going to harm so many people in ways that no one expects. The US government has been a risk management agency and it is now pushing the risks away. Villages and municipalities will be facing financial consequences in terms of fire support, public health, health and safety amongst other concerns. They are all in a trick bag: spend money and not be reimbursed through existing grants or not engage in their normal activity (fire relief, public health screenings, health and safety requirements for public buildings). In short, the outcomes are coming and will be compounding.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was pretty good (if you understand math):
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j04IAbWCszg 18:25 Explaining the Trump Tariff Equation
Tariffs are a fool's errand. For anyone interested watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1aFnl-x_3M
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/opinion/ross-douthat-interesting-times.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-k4.W4ET.qLDjW3kFTUDA&smid=url-share
ReplyDeleteBio of the interviewee in the (interesting) longread:
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oren_Cass
If Oren Cass still believes trade deficits should be brought to zero then he's a moron. If a developing nation with 20 million population and an average monthly wage of $100 (which would be on the high end) has a major export to America, then Cass expects that population to have spending parity with 400 million Americans with thirty times the spending power.
DeleteA zero deficit induced through tariffs doesn't create trade harmony, it deprives America of what it wants and the developing nation of a market.
Bearing in mind that those imports coming into America are often being sold by corporations from developed nations in the first place.
It's a monopolistic philosophy, at odds with Capitalism, that wants all power to reside with America, which has a decreasing share of world GDP and one which will likely crash if this policy gains any traction.
Fast forward to... Rachel Maddow. Seriously?
ReplyDelete