More Moronic By The Day

I admit it….this group in DC continually prove to me that they are not serious about anything but pleasing his Lord High Donny….and it gets more moronic by the day.

Just when the tariffs are starting to cause problems many thought that Greenland would be furthest from Donny’s mind…..well Bubba you be mistaken.

Yesterday was another on of those days….

Amid the Trump administration’s ongoing rhetoric regarding a possible takeover of Greenland, two sources tell the Wall Street Journal the US is ordering its intelligence agencies to increase spying in the semiautonomous Arctic territory. Specifically, the administration wants information on Greenland’s independence movement as well as how residents feel about US objectives on the island, including resource extraction, the sources say. By intercepting communications, using surveillance satellites, and gaining intel via actual spies on the ground, the agencies are tasked with identifying people in Greenland and Denmark who are friendly to those objectives, the sources say.

The Journal calls it “one of the first concrete steps Trump’s administration has taken toward fulfilling the president’s often-stated desire to acquire Greenland,” and it comes days after the president’s interview with NBC News in which he wouldn’t rule out the use of military force to seize the island. Most agencies declined to comment on the Journal‘s report, but Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, issued a statement saying the paper “should be ashamed of aiding deep state actors who seek to undermine the President by politicizing and leaking classified information. They are breaking the law and undermining our nation’s security and democracy.” See the full story at the Journal.

Someone please share with my readers what is it about seal hunting Inuits that would make them a ‘national security threat’?

Donny did not stop there….after renaming the Gulf of Mexico he now has his eyes set on another body of water for a name change….

President Trump is planning to rename another gulf, insiders say. The president is set to announce during his upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia that the United States will begin calling the Persian Gulf either the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia, according to two US officials who spoke to the AP on Tuesday on condition of anonymity. Arab nations, which already call it the Arabian Gulf, have advocated for the name change, while Iran, formerly Persia, unsurprisingly prefers Persian Gulf, the name that has been used for centuries.

The US military has been calling the body of water, which sits between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, the Arabian Gulf for years, the AP notes. Iran threatened to sue Google over a Google Maps change in 2012. In 2017, Iranian officials criticized Trump for calling it the Arabian Gulf. “Everyone knew Trump’s friendship was for sale to the highest bidder. We now know that his geography is, too,” said Javad Zarif, then the country’s foreign minister. As with Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, other countries aren’t obliged to go along with whatever the US decides to call the body of water.

What does Donny want from KSA in return?

Glad to see that Donny spends his time thinking up useless crap….what about the hardships he is foisting unto the American people with his damn ignorant tariffs?

What about those trade negotiations that he has said are taking place, hundreds of them, according to his count?

President Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that the U.S. doesn’t “have to sign” any trade deals, inadvertently admitting that his administration hasn’t made any progress during the 90-day pause on his disastrous tariffs.

During a tense meeting to discuss tariffs with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the president attempted to move the goal posts on actually completing any agreements with foreign countries.

“Everyone says, ‘When, when, when, are you going to sign deals?’ We don’t have to sign deals!” Trump said.

“We don’t have to sign deals. They have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market, we don’t want a piece of their market. We don’t care about their market. They want a piece of our market,” Trump rambled.

The president’s unwieldy statements downplaying the importance of the trade deals seemed to be cushioning the likelihood that negotiations would ultimately fail. Trump’s remarks also revealed that his administration has yet to complete a single trade deal.

https://newrepublic.com/post/194920/donald-trump-admits-no-trade-deals

There you have it.

This tool had rather spend his time playing golf and thinking of stupid sh*t that does nothing to help Americans as they struggle through his stupidity.

Those tariffs that are suppose to make us rich….not even the tool that came up with the damn stupid idea has anything positive to say….

President Trump is changing his tune on the economy, suggesting Americans should buy less and will probably pay more and bear the brunt of an uncertain economic landscape as his wide-ranging tariff policy takes effect.

Trump and his economic team have for weeks said the tariffs would result in only short-term pain and that the tumult in the stock market would eventually level out.

But the White House’s messaging has evolved from Trump on the campaign trail promising to lower prices and make America “wealthy” again to Trump suggesting the U.S. needs a cultural shift on consumer spending while accepting that his tariff plan will raise prices.

Trump was asked Sunday by NBC’s Kristen Welker if he would acknowledge that his tariff plan will result in higher prices.

At first, the president suggested tariffs will “make us rich” — similar to sentiments he’s expressed when touting his economic policy. But in the next turn, he suggested that American children, for example, do not need as many toys and that Americans do not need to spend as much money on “junk we don’t need.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5283974-trump-tariffs-economy/

His solution is that we to spend less…..(think about that)….in case you missed something thanks to these goddamn tariffs spending less for us is not an option.

We are told that we need to accept the idea we will be poorer….by some of Donny’s hatchet men…

… another case of Trump saying the quiet part out loud. If anything, Trump was merely underlining a sentiment that’s gained traction on the political right in recent years: that Americans should be forced to pay higher prices for basic goods and household items.

Don’t believe me? Here are four other recent incidents in which national conservatives in Trump’s orbit admitted as much.

https://reason.com/2025/05/02/5-times-the-trump-team-told-americans-to-accept-being-poorer/

Seriously people….what is it about this idiot that you support?

At what point do the idiots pause and watch the moths depart their wallets?

Waiting……

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Cost Of Tariffs

Welcome to May Day or the International Day of the Worker

I cannot believe that this needs repeating….but sadly it does.

But something of a conundrum….I see a lot of readers that are worried about their retirement with all the issues with DOGE and these same people when the topic of tariffs comes around they defend Donny’s tactics…they almost always reference the book “The Art Of The Deal” which at best is just bound toilet paper.

Onto the consequences of these damn silly tariffs….

For those that cannot quite grasp the reality of this pipe dream….the tariffs on a country like China or Canada is NOT…I repeat….I NOT paid by the country….NO it is paid by the US importers and is passed on to the consumer….that meaning YOU….at best it is just another tax that will be paid by the people of this nation.

Can you grasp the situation now?

No?

Tariffs cannot do certain things…(I try to keep it simple)

1. Tariffs can’t both create permanent domestic jobs and be a temporary negotiating tool.

2. Tariffs can’t both protect domestic industries and generate trillions of dollars in revenue.

Donny’s promise is that these tariffs will bring manufacturing and jobs back to the US….the estimates are that they will create about 100,000 jobs…good huh? Think again….while destroying about 500,000 jobs….destroying jobs and screwing the people is not a good trade off in my opinion.

As that dynamic plays out across the whole economy, the tariffs will create more losers than winners. A Goldman Sachs report published this week estimates that Trump’s tariffs will create about 100,000 new manufacturing jobs (a result of supply chains shifting to the U.S., as the president wants) but will destroy 500,000 other jobs in the process.

That would reflect what happened during Trump’s first term, when his tariffs cost about 245,000 American jobs, by one estimate.

More layoffs are almost certainly coming.

https://reason.com/2025/04/18/trumps-tariffs-are-starting-to-kill-jobs/

To illustrate…did you see where Mazda has shuttered its US operation because of the tariffs?

Following President Donald Trump’s introduction of the “Liberation Day” tariffs, the first major car manufacturer has announced plans to halt production in the United States.

The president, who initiated blanket tariffs of 10% on all countries except Canada, Mexico, and China, 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as on all automobiles, and a 125% tariff on China, has not backed down from his stance and has even issued threats to other countries.

…

While the president has stated that his tariffs will bring manufacturing back to the United States, one automaker seems to be leaving instead.

Mazda has confirmed it will halt production of CX-50 vehicles bound for Canada due to the tariffs in the U.S. and the corresponding retaliatory measures enacted in Canada.

The company confirmed that production at its Huntsville, Alabama, plant will be suspended beginning on May 12.

If tariff policies remain unchanged and the plant stays closed for an extended period, the price of the CX-50 in Canada could rise further.

(msn.com)

There is word that Mack, the builder of those semis, will be doing some hard thinking and making some very hard decisions soon….jobs included.

can consumers have been shielded from much of the impact. But as the world of international shipping adjusts to his policies, the president is facing a potential reckoning.

With the US-China trade war starting to gum up container traffic between the world’s two biggest economies, freight companies are warning of plunging bookings and a surge in “blank sailings” – where ports are skipped or voyages are called off altogether.

Earlier this week, America’s most powerful retail executives trooped into the White House to deliver a blunt prognosis: tariffs on Chinese goods risked causing “empty shelves” in two weeks without a change of course.

The three companies who attended the meeting – Walmart, Target and Home Depot – are among the most exposed to the president’s policies, which include tariffs of up to 145pc on Chinese goods and higher port fees for Chinese-made vessels.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/04/25/trump-has-two-weeks-to-save-america-from-empty-shelves/

Most Americans do not understand tariffs….most still believe that say China will be paying….which is completely wro9ng….this article explains the confusion somewhat….

One of the hot-button issues in US politics lately? Tariffs. President Donald Trump has gone back and forth on the controversial issue, announcing tariffs on imports from other countries before later imposing delays. The results have been nothing short of disastrous — from retaliatory tariffs to deep stock market declines to rising prices. Some of this has come as a shock to Trump supporters and conservatives, who seemed to think tariffs would A) force other countries to foot the bill and B) drive business back to America.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahmarder/31-americans-who-really-really-dont-understand-tariffs

I wish people would spend more time learning the mechanics of economics and less time worry about what some slutty bitch was wearing on Instagram….they would be better informed and better off in the lives.

Do I need to break it down further?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is Trump The Unifier?

Wait! Wait!

Before you bust out into side splitting laughter I am not talking about what he is doing in this country which could NEVER be misidentified as unity but rather what is happening in Europe.

No my friends I have not partaken in the mushroom thing or hit the Irish whisky a bit too hard today.

As countries across the globe rewrite their trade rule books following the uncertainty posed by US tariffs, a new strategic report predicts that US President Donald Trump’s policies are just the medicine that the European Union needs to become a true single market, fuelling growth, productivity, and profits over the long term.

Although Europe won’t avoid a recession, coordinated fiscal support, likely monetary policy easing from the European Central Bank (ECB), and a renewed integration push “will soften the blow and boost long-term growth”. That’s according to a report by investment research company BCA, called ‘Trump The Unifier’.

“Ironically, Trump is doing more to advance European unity than anyone since Schumann, Monnet, and Adenauer,” Mathieu Savary, BCA’s Chief European Strategist, noted.

Despite the temporary 90-day pause on the 20% tariffs hitting EU goods exports to the US, BCA said a recession is definitely on the cards.

According to the report, the eurozone economy is plagued with uncertainty, weakening business confidence and deteriorating capital expenditure. These challenges arrive at a time when the region is already struggling, with GDP only growing a modest 0.1% in the final three months of 2024.

Tariffs and uncertainty are expected to push an already fragile economy into contraction for at least for two consecutive quarters around mid-2025.

The European Commission estimated tariffs could wipe out 0.2% of eurozone GDP by 2027. In a more severe scenario, if tariffs are permanent or if there are sustained countermeasures, this hit count amount to 0.5%-0.6% in three years’ time.

https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/04/16/trump-the-unifier-how-europe-could-benefit-from-trumps-policies

Could Trump and his moronic economic games be a godsend to Europe and the hope of some unity?

Europe is at a crossroads: suffer continued decline, which Draghi labels “a slow agony,” or regain its former status as a global power. One of the biggest obstacles will be to convince the different member states, including their publics, to take on the challenge. Draghi and others advocate for increasing the EU budget to prioritize large-scale investment projects such as digitization and issuing “common assets” bonds. However, countries like France, which has always seen the EU budget support for agriculture as untouchable, as well as Germany and the Netherlands, which are wary of taking on more EU debt, could be against both of these ideas.

European publics could be even more intractable when it comes to making the sacrifices required to reignite the continent’s economy. France’s much-needed pension reform has been so unpopular that it has effectively disabled the Macron presidency. Across Europe, as in the United States, the popularity of right-wing and populist anti-EU parties is growing. In France’s parliamentary elections, France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) won almost double the number of votes gained by Macron’s centrist National Renaissance party. In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz “saw his Social Democratic Party forced into third place behind the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party. Overall, right-leaning parties in Germany took more than 45 percent of the vote.” More recently, Germany’s far-right AfD claimed its biggest electoral success since World War II, winning a regional vote in Thuringia and coming second in Saxony, two eastern German states. More years of slow growth and belt-tightening could increase public support for anti-EU populism.

Could Trump Be Good for Europe?

I hope Europe finds a way to use the Trump stupidity against him and locate the unity they truly deserve.

I would like to hear from my readers in Europe about this possibility.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

More Tariff Stuff

It is no secret that I believe these Little Donny tariffs are doing very little to enrich the people of this country and everything to help out his wealthy boot-lickers.

What are these tariffs really all about?

Now, the toughest tariffs by far are on China, and they’re paired with relatively much lower (but still significant) tariffs on the rest of the world while the administration seeks trade deals with various countries in hopes of forming a trade coalition against China.

Trump’s advisers hope that this policy will achieve several things at once: bring manufacturing (and manufacturing jobs) back to the US, address national security concerns about dependence on China, boost US exports, raise revenue to help address the US national debt — and maybe even pave the way toward a restructuring of the global currency system.

If all that sounds fanciful, that’s because it’s extremely fanciful.

Many of those hoped-for benefits are quite implausible and extremely difficult to achieve. Tariffs, meanwhile, bring extremely significant costs and downsides that could very easily wreck his team’s hopes of trying to achieve those lofty aims.

Furthermore, even Trump’s revised tariff policy isn’t at all well-tailored to achieve those aims — it’s still beating up allies we’d need against China, and targeting goods and industries it would make little sense to produce in the US. And his erratic implementation gets in the way even more by ruining businesses’ attempts to plan.

In practice, the only thing Trump is really doing is economic damage – by making things more expensive, chilling investment in the US, reducing confidence in the US’s stability, and casting a pall of uncertainty over everything.

https://www.vox.com/politics/408722/trump-tariffs-bessent-manufacturing-china

So how’s it going collecting these tariffs?

Customs and Border Protection has announced the amount of money it’s taking in under President Trump’s tariffs, and the figures do not agree with the president’s repeated declaration that the US is collecting $2 billion per day. That figure was said to include revenue tied to the tariffs Trump calls reciprocal. But the agency said in a statement this week to CNBC that “since April 5, CBP has collected over $500 million under the new reciprocal tariffs, contributing to more than $21 billion in total tariff revenue from 15 presidential trade actions implemented since Jan 20, 2025.”

And in discussing a system snag that kept freight on the water already from facing the higher tariffs, a situation that lasted 10 hours, the agency said, “Even during the brief glitch, CBP’s average $250 million/day revenue stream remained uninterrupted.” The Treasury Department released data this week reflecting its daily statement of total deposits— “Customs and Certain Excise Taxes”—at $305 million, per CNBC. US Customs collects all tariffs at point of entry.

Money is being collected but that means prices will shoot up…..glad we are collected the cash but at what cost to you and me?

I still not convince the need for these shots at the new trade war that is being fired by Little Donny and his Merry Band of thugs.

Does anyone else see the danger these tariffs impose?

Did you know that tariffs sparked a revolution…..the American Revolution….

The basic economy of the times was this: The Colonies were there to export raw goods to Britain. In the case of Virginia, that was primarily tobacco. British merchants then exported luxury goods to the Colonies that the Colonies couldn’t, or didn’t, produce on their own. The British felt that this was a fine arrangement and that they were helping the Virginia economy, in particular, when they banned British farmers from growing tobacco (not that Britain had a great climate for the leaf).

The Colonists, particularly those in Virginia and Massachusetts, didn’t see it that way. The reason that “debtors” makes its way into the title of Holton’s book is telling. He wasn’t talking about Dickensian debtors living in squalor; he was talking about the Virginia gentry, which found itself constantly in debt to British merchants. Those gentlemen farmers were almost totally dependent on the price of their tobacco exports — which varied wildly — but had to keep up appearances by continuing to import British goods (or so they thought; appearances were very important to them, Holton writes). Various British laws also restricted what the Colonies could produce and how they could sell it. At various times, the British banned the Colonies from making their own iron; Colonists could only sell woolen clothing within their own colony — they couldn’t export it. For anything they did export, such as that precious tobacco, it had to be done on British ships.

That meant Virginia planters couldn’t sell tobacco on the European market, they could only sell it through British middlemen, and those middlemen were the ones who profited most. That merchant class in London was growing in political power at home, so parliament was inclined to listen to what the merchant class wanted, while those Virginia farmers across the ocean had no vote at all. The British felt they were being “indulgent” with their North American Colonies when Parliament repealed the hated Stamp Act. The Fairfax County lawyer-planter George Mason was one who didn’t see it that way at all: “Is the indulgence of Great Britain manifested by prohibiting her colonies from exporting to foreign countries such commodities as she does not want and from importing such as she does not produce of manufacture …?” He was complaining about the restriction on trade; the addition of import duties on what Colonists felt they had to import made matters worse. In modern parlance, the Colonists wanted free trade for their agriculture-based economies.

How tariffs helped spark the American Revolution

Are these modern day tariffs bringing this nation to the cusp of a new American Revolution?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Just Who Are These Cheating Bastards?

Donny came to power with the promise of making all the trade partners that US has that are not treating us fairly….then he took the throne and the retaliation started and has continued since January….that is about100 days of so….

We know who he has targeted the likes of China, Mexico, Canada, etc…..but now that it has started I would like to knbow just who the cheating bastards are…..how about you?

If you listen to President Donald Trump and his allies discuss his sweeping tariff plans, one word pops up a lot: “Cheating”. (That is the common theme)

When he unveiled his initial tariffs plan, Trump said, “For nations that treat us badly, we will calculate the combined rate of all their tariffs, non-monetary barriers and other forms of cheating.”

Over the next few days, other administration figures echoed the “cheating” accusation.

“Our leaders allowed foreign countries to rig the rules of the game, to cheat, to steal, to rob, to plunder,” White House adviser Stephen Miller said on April 4 on Fox News. “That has cost America trillions of dollars in wealth. … They’ve stolen our industries.”

The White House didn’t provide any evidence.

While cheating on trade does happen – genuine accusations of it can be adjudicated at the World Trade Organization – the White House’s formula for calculating tariff rates leaned on how much of a trade imbalance a country has with the US, not on evidence of cheating.

Trump and his allies “tend to use the term ‘cheating’ as any action by a foreign country that leads to a bilateral goods trade deficit with the US”, said Kent Jones, professor emeritus of economics at Babson College, who specialises in trade policy. “On the face of it, this definition has no economic validity, since bilateral trade balances are generally determined not by trade and other government policies, but by specific patterns of trade by commodity.”

Our analysis of the 10 countries with the highest announced tariff rates on April 2 showed they are largely poor and small – and it is these factors, rather than unfair trade practices, that made them susceptible to the highest rates. Such countries export the resources they have and are too small and too poor, or both, to buy much from the United States.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/4/10/fact-check-are-other-countries-cheating-the-us-on-trade

Tariffs: The Real Story

***Note this is a rather lengthy post on the tariffs that the Trump Administration are so proud of and with the promise of a better tomorrow. If you do not care that your life and livelihood are about to change and not for the better then this post will mean nothing to you….pass it by***

Donny’s tariffs are the promise of so much and all it will deliver will be higher prices making your life difficult while billionaires will make up like bandits and without guns.

Let’s begin with the ‘Tariff King”…..that is what Donny named Pres. McKinley because of hos imposing of tariffs back in the day….I explain McKinley’s policies in a previous post….

More Tariff Talk

Here is the real story of McKinley’s tariffs….

It is true that the self-styled “tariff man”—his political opponents preferred the more derisive “Napoleon of protection”—was the biggest public face of mercantilism during America’s high-tariff era of 1870–1912. As a congressman, he wrote what came to be known as the “McKinley tariff” of 1890, and as president he signed another increase in 1897.

But a funny thing happened after the U.S. came out of the Panic (and subsequent four-year depression) of 1893: Goosed by sharp increases in domestic iron and copper production, Americans had too many goods chasing too few consumers. And McKinley himself began agitating to tear down some of those trade barriers.

“What we produce beyond our domestic consumption must have a vent abroad,” he said in September 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. “The excess must be relieved through a foreign outlet, and we should sell everywhere we can, and buy wherever the buying will enlarge our sales and productions, and thereby make a greater demand for home labor. The period of exclusiveness is past,” he continued. “The expansion of our trade and commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are unprofitable….If perchance some of our tariffs are no longer needed, for revenue or to encourage and protect our industries at home, why should they not be employed to extend and promote our markets abroad?”

McKinley’s presidency was ended by an assassin’s bullet the very next day. (please do not consider that option)

https://reason.com/2025/04/06/trump-is-wrong-about-mckinleys-tariff-legacy/

Donny has many promises around his ill advised tariffs and his calculations are in error….this analysis is issued by the AEI, a conserv think tank…..

Two scholars at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank, found the White House used the wrong value when assessing the rate at which prices would change as a result of tariffs. The correct version of the formula uses price changes in the cost of imports, meaning how much it costs a U.S.-based company to buy a good from a foreign seller. Instead, the White House factored in the retail price change, which is what consumers pay.

That meant the formula was off by a factor of four, because the White House valued the elasticity of import prices at 0.25 when it should have been 0.945, according to AEI.

“It’s pretty bush league,” Stan Veuger, one of the AEI fellows, told Fortune in a phone call. “For such a big policy you’d expect a much higher level of professionalism.”

Using the wrong value rendered the formula inaccurate, according to Veuger and his coauthor Kevin Corinth.

“Now, our view is that the formula the administration relied on has no foundation in either economic theory or trade law,” Corinth and Veuger wrote. “But if we are going to pretend that it is a sound basis for U.S. trade policy, we should at least be allowed to expect that the relevant White House officials do their calculations carefully.”

Another AEI economist, Derek Scissors, went even further, saying the administration hadn’t made a mistake so much as intentionally fudged the math to get the outcome officials wanted.

“This whole thing was rigged,” Scissors said Monday on CNBC. “It was a manipulated way to get very high tariffs because President Trump wanted to announce very high tariffs.”

https://fortune.com/2025/04/07/trumps-tariff-formula-was-rigged-to-get-inflated-rates-and-it-used-the-wrong-value-for-one-of-its-variables-conservative-think-tank-says/

Donny has taunted is “Liberation Day’ as a miracle off K Street….but he is wrong on so many accounts.

…

Economically, Trump’s fixation on goods makes no sense. This view is not unique to the president (though he feels it unusually strongly). There is a broader fetishisation of manufacturing in many countries. One theory is that it is potentially ingrained in human thinking by pre-historic experiences of finding food, fuel and shelter dominating all other activities.

But for Trump, the thinking is likely related to a combination of nostalgia for a bygone (somewhat imagined) age of manufacturing, and concern over the loss of quality jobs that provide a solid standard of living for blue collar workers – a core part of his political base.

Nostalgia is not a sensible basis for forming economic policy. But the role emotions play in international affairs has been receiving more attention. It has been identified as an “emotional turn” (where the importance of emotion is recognised) in the discipline of international relations.

Of course, that’s not to say that the concern over jobs and the unequal effects of globalisation is misplaced. It is clear that blue-collar workers have suffered in the US (and elsewhere) for the last 40 to 50 years, with governments paying little attention to the decline.

https://theconversation.com/trump-thinks-tariffs-can-bring-back-the-glory-days-of-us-manufacturing-heres-why-hes-wrong-253991

All this from the ‘stable genius’ who supposedly went to the Wharton Business School at the Univ of Penn….but he actually shows a kindergarten approach to economics…..

President Donald Trump said that he hopes to erase the U.S. trade deficit with other countries—but anyone who understands economics knows that wouldn’t be a good thing.

…

A trade deficit isn’t a “loss,” regardless of what Trump thinks. A trade deficit simply means that one country spends more on goods from another country than that country spends on goods from them.

Crucially, economists say that having a trade deficit is not an inherently bad thing at all, because the U.S. simply can’t and shouldn’t make everything. Trump’s insistence that the U.S. is being taken for a ride betrayed a fundamental misunderstanding of economics that is built on a dislike of other countries and a desire to be the dealmaker responsible for a new world order.

Trump warned that it would be the “worst” for China. In 2024, the United States had a $295.4 billion trade deficit with China. Trump said that China would need to “solve their surplus” before he would be willing to make a deal on tariffs.

https://newrepublic.com/post/193677/donald-trump-tariffs-deficit-understanding

Sorry Donny is a lot dumber than most consider….his tariffs prove it….

There’s a lot to say about these tariffs and how destructive they are, and most of it has been said. My colleague Timothy Noah wrote about the stupidity of tariffs as policy and how Trump has already cost him personally thousands of dollars. But I want to focus on something different here. I want to focus on Trump’s understanding of history. It’s so shockingly dumb—yes, even for him—that it’s hard to believe that we have a president of the United States who is this ignorant.

Here’s what Trump said the other day, and he has said versions of it a number of times: “In the 1880s, they established a commission to decide what they were going to do with the vast sums of money they were collecting. We were collecting so much money so fast, we didn’t know what to do with it. Isn’t that a nice problem to have?”

OK. First of all. Nobody can tell what commission he’s talking about. President Chester Arthur empaneled a commission that recommended reducing tariffs by 20 to 25 percent, going hard against the conventional wisdom of the day. But Congress defied him, lowering tariffs by just an average of around 1.5 percent (and yes, that’s another thing—Congress is supposed to set tariffs, not the president, making this move, among other things, an impeachment-worthy “abuse of power,” a phrase invoked by The Wall Street Journal editorial board Thursday).

But more importantly, there’s this. Allow me to put this as Trump himself might on Truth Social: THE MAN IS AN IDIOT!!!

https://newrepublic.com/post/193614/donald-trump-tariffs-dumb-history-income-tax

This is why his policy is so appealing (for now) to the peasants that support him….they have very, very limited knowledge of how economics works…so they will fall for some bullshit story every time.

Donald Trump has once again proven himself to be the most economically ignorant president in US history.

His so-called “Liberation Day” is nothing more than a desperate con job designed to fool Americans into believing he is fighting for their prosperity while, in reality, he is setting the economy on fire. His tariffs, sold as a bold move to protect American jobs and industries, will do no such thing. Instead, they will send prices soaring across the country, driving up costs for consumers, businesses, and manufacturers alike.

Trump has made a career out of blaming others for his failures, and this time, he is pinning economic hardship on foreign nations while forcing American families to foot the bill for his disastrous policies. At the same time, thousands across the world may lose their jobs.

Let’s not forget that Trump promised to cut inflation on “day one” of his presidency. Yet, what has he actually done? He has unleashed an economic wrecking ball on global markets, sending shockwaves through the financial world and triggering a fresh wave of instability.

Instead of taming inflation, he is fuelling it at a reckless pace, proving once again that his economic strategy is nothing more than hot air wrapped in populist bravado. The impact is already being felt worldwide, with British pensions losing billions in value as a direct consequence of Trump’s actions.

(irishstar.com)

But the truth is glaringly obvious to anyone with even a basic understanding of economics: tariffs are a tax on consumers. The burden doesn’t fall on China, Mexico, or Europe – it falls squarely on American workers, farmers, and families.

Prices on everyday goods will climb, businesses that rely on international supply chains will suffer, and the supposed economic “boom” Trump keeps bragging about will collapse under the weight of his own incompetence.

Trying to explain his tariffs Donny used Biden as an excuse….

“Our past ‘leaders’ are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our country,” the former host of The Apprentice declared. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump added: “This is despite the fact that the biggest abuser of them all, China, whose markets are crashing, just raised its tariffs by 34 percent], on top of its long term ridiculously high tariffs (Plus!), not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate. They’ve made enough, for decades, taking advantage of the Good OL’ USA!”

Of course he would use Biden….that is a cowards way out.

Sorry people but this whole tariff thing is one big con….

…

“Instead of coming up with a real plan to get American workers a fair shake, he’s making the United States into an international joke and driving up prices for U.S. consumers,” he added. “If Republicans in Congress allow him to keep this up, Trump will keep yo-yoing on tariffs and using threats to pressure U.S. companies to stay in line instead of fighting back against this senseless economic war on American families.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime critic of “disastrous unfettered free trade deals,” said in a lengthy statement that “targeted tariffs can be a powerful tool to stop corporations from outsourcing American jobs… But Trump’s chaotic across-the-board tariffs are not the way to do it.”

“What Trump is doing is unconstitutional. Trump has claimed supposed ’emergency’ powers to bypass Congress and impose unilateral tariffs on hundreds of countries… This is another step toward authoritarianism,” the senator asserted. “And let’s be clear about why Trump is doing all this: to give massive tax breaks to billionaires.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-pauses-tariffs

Side note: China tariffs will now be 125%….that means that iPhone and Apple geeks will be paying through the nose for the product….will they still wait in long lines for the newest version?

People need to read this especially those ‘smart’ people that think Donny is on their side.

As proof that he is not on your side…..after his infamous rollback….

Donald Trump is openly bragging about just how much money his billionaire buddies made off of his dangerous tariff gambit.

After announcing a 90-day pause Wednesday on his sweeping “reciprocal tariff” policy on nearly every country—with the exception of China—Trump was excited to take credit for making a buck for his guests at the Oval Office.

“He made $2.5 million today, and he made $900 million! That’s not bad,” Trump said, pointing to financial investor Charles Schwab and Roger Penske, a Nascar team owner, respectively.

Schwab’s estimated net worth is $12.6 billion, while Penske’s is $5.6 billion.

Bloomberg reported that Wednesday was the “best day ever” for billionaires, as the world’s wealthiest people raked in a heaping $304 billion as the markets shot back up.

The day’s biggest individual winner should come as no surprise: Elon Musk made a whopping $36 billion as Tesla stock soared up 23 percent. Trump’s surprising decision to temporarily back off his steep tariffs has sparked major concerns of obvious market manipulation, and even potential insider trading.

https://newrepublic.com/post/193860/donald-trump-brags-tariff-pause-made-billionaires-richer

How much did you make off his game?

Please look at all angles and stop letting petty biases get in the way.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Liberation Day”: Part Deux

A tariff on penguin crap?

Today the results of Donny’s “Liberation Day” has taken full effect….

The stock market opened on Thursday exactly as predicted—with a thud. Investors seemed rattled as they continued to digest the implications of President Trump’s bigger-than-expected tariffs, reports the Street.

The Dow fell more than 1,100 points, or 2.7%.

The S&P 500 fell 187 points, or 3.3%. The benchmark index is on track to have its worst day since September 2022, notes CNBC.

The Nasdaq, focused on tech stocks, plunged 790 points, or 4.3%.

Global markets also sank, and the US dollar fell to its lowest level of the year, per the Wall Street Journal. The dollar weakened more than 2% against the euro, the Swiss franc, and the Japanese yen, among others. Part of the reason is that “foreign investors are losing confidence in US investments that have come to dominate global portfolios,” per the story.

The ‘stable genius’ has done it again…screwed everything up.

Then when looking at his new round of tariffs we find a bizarre turn…..the McDonald Islands.

The unveiling of President Trump’s tariffs on Wednesday had White House journalists reaching for their atlases—or at least Google. On the list of penalized nations is one that’s actually an Australian territory in the Antarctic called Heard Island and McDonald Islands. Its inclusion is a bit of a puzzler:

Remote: The islands are about as remote as you can get, explains Wired. No humans live there, with the main inhabitants being penguins. It takes about two weeks to get there by boat from the Australian mainland. Combined, the islands are about the size of Philadelphia.

Zero trade: The islands were hit with the baseline tariff of 10%, the same as mainland Australia. Their trade with the US is $0, thus making the new penalty “somewhat moot,” notes the Washington Post.

Another island: The US imposed an even bigger tariff, 29%, on another remote Antarctic territory managed by Australia—Norfolk Island, per the Guardian. It has about 2,000 people and does conduct some trade with the US, with the big export being about $400,000 worth of leather footwear, according to stats from the Observatory of Economic Complexity. However, officials from the territory and Australia dispute those figures and voiced disbelief.

Leader vents: “Norfolk Island has got a 29% tariff,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. “I’m not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States, but that just shows and exemplifies the fact that nowhere on Earth is safe from this.”

There is a possibility of making a case against Norfolk Island….but what do the penguins on McDonald Islands produce that we import?

Penguin crap.

Have you ever considered where Donny got his idea for all these tariffs?

Here it is.

This is the formula that Trump's team says was used to calculate reciprocal tariffs. (Source: Office of the United States Trade Representative) — The formula shown uses a country’s trade surplus as the numerator — with “x” representing total exports for a given nation and “m” representing total imports.

That was then divided by total exports. In the below formula “ε” represents price elasticity for import demand and was set at 4. Meanwhile, “φ” represents the elasticity of import prices and was set to 0.25 — effectively canceling each other out.

It’s Here! “Liberation Day”!

Warning: This post contains words that some may find offensive….so if you are easily offended please pass this one by

After about a week of confusion and the lack of information Clueless leader has finally released what his new round of tariffs will be.

Let’s review shall we?

“It’s our declaration of economic independence,” President Trump said at a “Liberation Day” event at the White House on Wednesday, declaring it to be one of the most important days in American history. The president unveiled a slew of new tariffs that were higher than many analysts had expected, the New York Times reports. “Our country and its taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years but it’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said.

Trump declared a baseline tariff of 10% on imports from all countries and extra “reciprocal tariffs” on imports from dozens of countries, the AP reports. They include a 34% tax on imports from China, 32% on imports from Taiwan, 25% on imports from South Korea, 24% on imports from Japan, and 20% imports from the European Union. He said the rate for imports from the UK would be 10%.

According to a chart Trump displayed, Cambodia will face the highest reciprocal tariff, at 49%, CBS News reports. The chart showed a 48% rate for Laos and 47% for Madagascar.

In an executive order, Trump declared a national emergency “arising from conditions reflected in large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits.”

The 10% tariff on all imports, apart from those compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, will take effect at midnight Friday, CNN reports. Officials said the extra tariffs on goods from around 60 countries will take effect next Wednesday.

Trump accused other countries of unfair trade practices, saying the US “has been looted, pillaged, raped, plundered” in his Rose Garden speech. “In many cases, the friend is worse than the foe in terms of trade,” he said, per the Telegraph. “We subsidize a lot of countries and keep them going and keep them in business,” he added. “Why are we doing this?”

Trump claimed the tariffs were “kind,” saying his administration was only imposing tariffs at half the rate that should be applied based on other countries’ trade practices, the Times reports.

The chart Trump displayed, however, showed a tariff rate based on “currency manipulation and trade barriers,” and it’s not clear how it was calculated, the Guardian reports. University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers said the new tariffs will give the US “the highest tariff rates of any industrialized country. And it’s not even close.”

The president also confirmed that a 25% tariff on auto imports would take effect at midnight.

WTF?

Just what in Hell did Cambodia or Laos do to piss off the big idiot?

These lame ass crappy policies are from the mind of an fucking idiot.

But the dumbest part of this shit storm is the idea of tariffs on illegal drugs.

President Donald Trump says a primary reason for his new tariffs against the United States’ three largest trading partners is what he calls a “national emergency” brought on by fentanyl flowing across the country’s borders.

Trump says he is holding Canada, China and Mexico accountable for the spread of contraband drugs.

“They’ve allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before,” he said in a joint address to Congress on Tuesday night, referring to Mexico and Canada, “killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens and many very young, beautiful people, destroying families.”

You people realize that the importer pays the tariffs, right?

Okay now think about that for just a minute before your brain explodes.

You need some basic economic knowledge to see where this absolutely stupidity will fucking lead.

Here is a breakdown of some of the possibilities….

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/02/nx-s1-5345802/trump-tariffs-liberation-day

Let’s be honest the only people that will suffer are you and your family.

Donald Trump has been labeled the “most economically ignorant president in US history” following his recent actions.

His touted “Liberation Day” is being called out as a mere con job, aimed at deceiving Americans into thinking he’s championing their wealth, while he’s actually igniting an economic blaze. The tariffs he’s touting as a bold initiative to safeguard American jobs and industries are expected to do anything but that.

Instead, they’re predicted to cause prices to skyrocket nationwide, hiking expenses for consumers, businesses, and manufacturers alike.

Trump is notorious for shifting blame for his own shortcomings onto others, and this time he’s attributing economic woes to foreign countries, all while American families are left to pay the price for his catastrophic policies. Meanwhile, the threat looms that thousands around the globe could lose their jobs due to these decisions.

Despite promises to slash inflation from “day one” of his presidency, Trump has instead swung an economic sledgehammer at global markets, causing tremors across the financial landscape and ushering in a new era of uncertainty, reports the Mirror.

Far from curbing inflation, he’s accelerating it dangerously, confirming suspicions that his economic policies are merely bluster cloaked in populist rhetoric.

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/con-liberation-day-how-trumps-1067011

The markets have not responded well to Donny magic Sharlie…..

The US stock market is poised to open with a steep plunge on Thursday in the wake of President Trump’s tariff rollout, reports the Wall Street Journal. World markets sank as well.

Dow futures fell more than 1,100 points, or 2.6%, per CNBC. The benchmark S&P 500 fell 3.3% and the tech-centric Nasdaq was in the worst shape, down 3.6%. Markets in Asia and Europe also dropped sharply, all of which suggests traders didn’t expect Trump’s tariffs to be as large as they were, notes the New York Times.

Two big multinational companies in the red were Nike, with shares down 9%, and Apple, down 7%. Companies with a big investment in imported goods also were down, including Five Below (11%), Dollar Tree (10%) and Gap (9%).

Many nations were still assessing how to respond after Trump levied a 10% tariff on all imported goods, plus extra penalties on countries the White House considers to be “bad actors.”

China, for instance, got hit with a new 34% tariff on top of previous ones, bringing the base tariff on Chinese goods to 54%. In response, the nation’s commerce secretary accused Trump of “unilateral bullying.” A sampling of others: The European Union got hit with a 20% tariff, Japan 24%, India 26%, and Vietnam 46%.

The markets could recover but it will take creative crap for them to do so.

But wait!

Is there any nation/s that failed to make Donny’s ire? There are nations not on Donny’s list for harsher tariffs…..

The broad new tariffs unveiled by President Trump on Wednesday impose financial penalties on pretty much every country of note. However, Axios points out that one major nation is missing from the list—Russia. The White House says it isn’t about favoritism: Press secretary Karoline Leavitt says existing sanctions on Russia already “preclude any meaningful trade.” Axios, however, points out that the US does more trade with Russia than other nations on the list, including Mauritius or Brunei.

Three others: Cuba, North Korea, and Belarus also were not hit with new sanctions, with Leavitt again citing existing sanctions or tariffs.

Why are these American adversaries not on some list?

Do you really buy the bullshit of harsh sanctions precluded them from his anger?

A little economic knowledge would alert you to the possibilities facing you and your family.

I have had enough of trying to keep it civil….Okay let’s call a spade a spade….

Your president is one arrogant stupid motherfucker! A “stable genius” my boney ass! Anyone who thinks this stupid shit is going to make life better needs there tiny brain scrubbed out with hot sauce. There is NO fucking upside to anything this moron you elected is doing.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Is This Thing Called ‘Protectionism’?

Donny and his magic Sharpie are rolling out tariff after tariff all in the name of protecting America’s jobs and manufacturing….but we can debate their effectiveness but first how many actually know the history of protectionism?

I can help…..I am a bit of a history buff and want my readers to understand protectionism and the history behind it…..

While Britain has for the most part had a strong commitment to free trade, it’s a very different story in the US, which has a long history of protectionism. This means that President Donald Trump’s tariff wars are playing out very differently politically on his side of the Atlantic. And there is no certainty that domestic opposition will be strong enough to curb his enthusiasm for using tariffs as a weapon.

Britain’s political economy is still shaped by the battle over free trade that took place nearly 200 years ago. The bitter debate over the Corn Laws, which put high tariffs on imported food to protect UK landowners, led to a political triumph for the new Liberal party. It also led to wide support among working people and manufacturers for a policy of free trade.

Britain’s domination of the world economy in the 19th century owed much to the triumph of free trade. And the British public still largely backs free trade today.

In contrast, many American politicians in the 19th century believed that US industry needed protection from its more efficient rivals. It was Alexander Hamilton, one of the authors of the US constitution and America’s first treasury secretary, who introduced tariffs in 1789. Hamilton cited the need to protect America’s “infant industries” from foreign competition.

By the end of the 19th century, US manufacturers had surpassed their British rivals. Protectionism, however, remained a cornerstone of American international economic policy. It was the expanding US domestic market and not exports to foreign countries that was driving the growth of America’s giant corporations – which were closely allied with the ruling Republican party.

Between 1861 and 1933, US tariffs on foreign imports averaged 50% – among the highest in the world. Tariffs also contributed nearly half of all government revenues. Federal income taxes were only introduced, after much opposition, in 1913.

https://theconversation.com/protectionism-has-a-long-history-in-the-us-so-its-return-should-not-be-all-that-surprising-252073

To help further….is protectionism good or bad?

Key Takeaways: Protectionism

Protectionism is a government-imposed trade policy by which countries attempt to protect their industries and workers from foreign competition.

Protectionism is commonly implemented by the imposition of tariffs, quotas on import and exports, product standard, and government subsidies.

While it may be of temporary benefit in developing countries, total protectionism typically harms the country’s economy, industries, workers, and consumers.

Protectionism is a type of trade policy by which governments attempt to prevent or limit competition from other countries. While it may provide some short-term benefit, particularly in poor or developing nations, unlimited protectionism eventually harms the country’s ability to compete in international trade. This article examines the tools of protectionism, how they are applied in the real world, and the advantages and disadvantages of limiting free trade.

https://www.thoughtco.com/protectionism-definition-and-examples-4571027

In reality (you knows that thing that the Trumpites do not want you to understand.) is really bad historically….

Protectionism is currently in vogue, gaining support from both the left and the right. This isn’t the first time. As protectionism’s popularity ebbs and flows, it remains a constant presence. Each resurgence is driven by variations of the same argument, particularly the infant industry argument.

The argument is straightforward: protectionism, through tariffs or subsidies, helps young industries grow by shielding them from foreign competition until they can compete on their own, ultimately leading to more economic growth than would have occurred otherwise. As right-wing public intellectual Oren Cass recently summarized, “the way America went from colonial backwater to this globe-spanning industrial colossus was not free markets and free trade. It was aggressive protection of our domestic market.”

The problem is that, with each resurgence, the same replies can be made: the increase in domestic production of protected industries is not worth the lost welfare of consumers. In fact, there is not a bit of the statement made by Cass that squares with American economic history.

Protectionism’s Bad Economic History

The great American economist, Henry George, has some interesting take on protectionism…

Free trade consists simply in letting people buy and sell as they want to buy and sell. It is protection that requires force, for it consists in preventing people from doing what they want to do. Protective tariffs are as much applications of force as are blockading squadrons, and their object is the same—to prevent trade. The difference between the two is that blockading squadrons are a means whereby nations seek to prevent their enemies from trading; protective tariffs are a means whereby nations attempt to prevent their own people from trading. What protection teaches us, is to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.

How Do Tariffs Work?

The popular meme these days is the word ‘tariffs’….it is the weapon of choice by the president in his economic war with trading partners…some will applaud these actions and others, including myself, do not think it is the save all that we are told almost daily.

Donny the Man has upped the tariffs on 3 of our trading partners….and many Americans are confused.

Purely as an FYI post for those that do not completely understand what is involved with tariffs I offer this explanation….

Like the Townshend Acts and Bacon’s Rebellion, tariffs are one of those topics you may vaguely remember from high school history class. Let’s take another look at how tariffs work—and what happens to the economy when they don’t.

Tariffs are taxes imposed on imports or exports. If the U.S. government imposes a 25 percent tariff on imports of, say, Canadian timber, it means that American companies buying timber from Canada will have to pay a quarter of the price of timber to the U.S. government.

Tariffs can be imposed for a number of reasons, not all of them economic. Because they make importing more expensive, they can be used to promote the development of domestic industries. They can also be used as a geopolitical weapon to exert pressure on trading partners or to punish non-allies. Like all kinds of taxes, they are also a means of generating government revenue.

Crucially, none of these measures is foolproof. If the U.S. imposes tariffs on Canada, for example, Canada may simply start trading with countries that don’t impose tariffs, cutting the U.S. out of the equation. That could then weaken the U.S. economy and its ability to engage in international trade.

Tariffs impact companies that rely on imports as well as ordinary consumers. If a country that imposes tariffs fails to develop domestic production and find new trade partners—a process that can take years, if not decades—tariffs are bound to raise consumer prices, because the importers will need to recuperate the additional costs they pay to the government through higher markups on the products they sell. As a result, tariffs have often resulted in economic recessions in the countries that impose them.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/how-do-tariffs-work

I hope this article will everyone understand what is at risk by imposing them….and make up your mind (if that is possible) on whether you support or oppose these actions by the president.

Please read it carefully and just the parts that you think you know….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

In Saner Thought

"It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error"..Thomas Paine

Category: Trade

More Moronic By The Day

The Cost Of Tariffs

Is Trump The Unifier?

More Tariff Stuff

Just Who Are These Cheating Bastards?

Tariffs: The Real Story

“Liberation Day”: Part Deux

It’s Here! “Liberation Day”!

What Is This Thing Called ‘Protectionism’?

Key Takeaways: Protectionism

How Do Tariffs Work?