13 Comments
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
David J. Sharp's avatar

There simply is no strategy behind these tariffs. Return manufacturing to America? Admirable … but next to impossible immediately. Especially with research funds decimated, minimum wage stuck below ten bucks an hour, a workforce limited to whites who have so far not surged to the forefront to snap up jobs formerly performed by immigrants.

Expand full comment
Elaine H's avatar

Exactly. So, manufacturers come to the United States, wages need to be more than minimum wage. Let’s say we get to that point, the product will be too expensive, nobody will buy it. Then we go to layoffs and unemployment.

Expand full comment
David J. Sharp's avatar

And another lovely Great Depression … but without the nasty boll weevils or Dust Bowl.

Expand full comment
JF's avatar

It’s starting to seem more possible with each passing day. Putin will be pleased. Will he send us tankers full of borscht?

Expand full comment
David J. Sharp's avatar

Hey, I like borscht! My late aunt, who was born in the Pale of Settlement, made wonderful borscht—a dollop of sour cream, heaven.

Expand full comment
JF's avatar

I probably never had the good stuff. My mother was of German extraction and used to serve canned beets. I shouldn’t judge!

Expand full comment
David J. Sharp's avatar

Don’t get me started in her matzoh ball soup …

Expand full comment
JF's avatar

Meanwhile local taxes have to rise to cover the lost federal funds, at a time when people have even less money to pay the taxes. We are starting a severe downward spiral.

Expand full comment
David J. Sharp's avatar

Endless injuries … all self-inflicted … while Mr. Untouchable golfs on.

Expand full comment
Don Sadowsky's avatar

It could get much worse: what if most of the world decided to shun the U.S. economically and create a free trade zone that included nearly everyone but us? Thte Orange Giant Id would never back down, never admit that he could be outmaneuvered by countries that aren't as "great" as the US. We'd be fucked.

Expand full comment
LostInAmerica's avatar

This would lead to a breakup faster than any armed rebellion. A better life in independent California in the free trade zone.

Expand full comment
Don Sadowsky's avatar

The civil war was fought for exactly that type of reason: states wanting to leave the US for economic reasons and the rest of the country wanting to keep them for economic reasons.

Expand full comment
David J. Sharp's avatar

Indeed. Trump is ever astonished that the entire world does not praise his business acumen. He aims to injure … no matter who’s the target.

Expand full comment