Because
I lack a degree in psychology or pathology, I
cannot speculate about the motives of the 47th President
who, on March 4, embarked on a tariff war with
our neighbors and closest allies, Mexico and
Canada. But I can emphatically say that the
47th President’s actions will hurt American
consumers. The President who promised to lower
prices and reduce inflation has taken actions
that will increase prices and increase
inflation. By inflicting tariffs on our major
trading partners (and neighbors), he has
aggressively ignited a destructive trade war.
Why?
Part of me is tempted to ask whether the 47th President
is really a Putin plant. Is he bound and
determined to destroy our country, our
political and economic relationships, and the
world as we know it? To what end, or is his
disruptive behavior just a manifestation of
his narcissism? For the 47th President,
everything is personal. He attempted to
humiliate Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy, with unseemly and undiplomatic
shouting in the House that Enslaved People
Built (also known by the racially myopic as
the White House). Zelenskyy pushed back and
the 47th President has paused aid to Ukraine
in retaliation.
It’s
retaliation all around. There is a witch hunt
against the federal agencies that the current
President opposes, including the National
Labor Relations Board, the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau, and many others. The
purchased Co-President Elon Musk, with his
attitude and oversized chain saw, has no
limits, or at least none that the 47th
President will impose. And while most
economists cringe at his economic policies, he
is hell-bent at making a disruptive set of
points about tariffs.
Imposing
25 percent tariffs on goods coming from Canada
(and 20 percent plus from China) hit
low-income consumers where they spend,
especially because many lower costs goods come
from China. Canada and China have imposed
retaliatory tariffs as soon as the US imposed
theirs. Mexico says it will announce its own
retaliatory tariffs on March 9. All these
tariffs do is increase the cost of imported
goods. So, a car manufactured in Mexico that
once cost $30,000 will now cost $37,500.
That’s inflationary. Whoever buys the car at
$37,500 will normally mark it up, and they
might absorb some of the costs or pass them
all along to the consumer. Inflationary. The
price hikes may drive consumers to lower
priced cars that are manufactured here, but
manufacturing is international. Auto parts
come from everywhere. Our markets are
international, something the current President
seems to have forgotten.
I’m
talking cars, but what about produce? Fruit
like strawberries, blueberries and avocados
are imported from Mexico. Energy products are
imported from Canada. While this will hit
consumers hard, the 47th President doesn’t
seem to care. This is an inflationary tax
increase, short and simple. The consumers who
will pay are those on the bottom. A ten or
fifteen cent increase on a pint of
strawberries won’t hurt the oligarchs, but it
will hurt those at the bottom who are
stretching their pennies. And with government
layoffs looming, many of those at the bottom,
not the administrators and leaders, but the
clerical workers and janitors, are the ones
most affected.
The
tariff wars will have a negative effect on the
US economy, courtesy of the President who said
he would bring prices down. Senate Majority
Leader John Trone (R-SD) says he doesn’t mind
paying more if it the “temporary” tariffs are
a means to an end. But what is the end? The
destruction of our nation as we know it? The
yielding of world leadership to Russia, China,
or BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and
South Africa)? The United States taking second
fiddle to the European Union?
With
our country playing the isolation game, those
at the bottom are most acutely hurt - by
tariffs, by layoffs and, at the end of the
day, by a despot whose narcissistic tendencies
oppress people all over the world.
