As children, we learn by doing. When we place our hand on the open flame of a gas burner, as I did at about age 4, we learn that it is hot, it hurts, and it gets us yelled at, so we don’t do it again. Well, most of us don’t. As adults, we have developed the ability to learn by not only our own past experiences, but also those of others, and at least in theory, we can use our ability to reason to determine likely outcomes for our actions. So, when I read that cigarette smoking is responsible for certain diseases, then I can make the decision to not smoke, right? Okay, bad example, for I am a 3-pack-a-day smoker, but you get the point. We don’t need to drive our car over a cliff to know that it is not a good idea.
However, as you’ve often heard me say, it seems that we … the human race in general … fail to learn the lessons of history. We keep making the same stupid mistakes, over and over.
Yesterday, Donald Trump imposed new tariffs on Chinese imports, to the tune of $200 billion, in addition to the $50 billion previously imposed.
“Today, following seven weeks of public notice, hearings, and extensive opportunities for comment, I directed the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to proceed with placing additional tariffs on roughly $200 billion of imports from China. The tariffs will take effect on September 24, 2018, and be set at a level of 10 percent until the end of the year. On January 1, the tariffs will rise to 25 percent. Further, if China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries, we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports.
We have been very clear about the type of changes that need to be made, and we have given China every opportunity to treat us more fairly. But, so far, China has been unwilling to change its practices. To counter China’s unfair practices, on June 15, I announced that the United States would impose tariffs of 25 percent on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports. China, however, still refuses to change its practices – and indeed recently imposed new tariffs in an effort to hurt the United States economy.
As President, it is my duty to protect the interests of working men and women, farmers, ranchers, businesses, and our country itself. My Administration will not remain idle when those interests are under attack.”
Even on the surface to those of us who are not economists, there are some obvious flaws with his plan. Make no mistake … there is no “if” here … there isn’t much doubt that China will impose retaliatory tariffs. But let’s take a look at another case, one from which we might have learned a lesson.
In 2009, American tire makers persuaded the Obama administration to impose tariffs on Chinese tires, and imports of tires from China fell sharply. But Chinese companies did not stop making tires in response to the tariffs — they simply moved production to other places, including to the United States.
Chinese tire manufacturer Giti, built a factory in South Carolina to make low-cost tires for Walmart. Did the move keep some jobs in the U.S.? Sure, but a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) showed that consumers paid a hefty price: an extra $1.1 billion on tires as a result of a tariff that preserved, at most, 1,200 jobs. That is almost $1 million per job, for jobs paying an average of about $40,000.
The 2009 tire tariffs — and similar efforts by past administrations to tax everything from socks to solar panels — have generally failed to protect existing factories and jobs. The Chinese factory in South Carolina created new jobs for American workers but, in effect, the tariffs only moved jobs from one place to another … at a very high price.
Steel tariffs imposed in 2002 by President George W. Bush yielded similar results, penalizing not just consumers but companies that use steel to make other products, like construction companies and carmakers. There are about 140,000 jobs in the U.S. steel-making industry, but by contrast, 6.5 million who work in industries that buy steel and will be hit hard by Trump’s steel tariffs.
Did you know that General Motors sells more cars in China than in the U.S.? What do you suppose happens when China imposes tariffs on U.S. autos? Or when the Chinese government calls for a boycott on U.S. goods? As an authoritarian government, they do not operate under the same constraints as the U.S.
Trump claims that thus far his tariffs have not had much impact on the U.S. consumer, but if you are a savvy food shopper and pay attention to prices, you will have noticed that certain items have increased, some by quite a bit. And … on 18 December 2017, the price per gallon for regular fuel was $2.16. Today it is $2.84, a 31.5% increase.
Simply put, tariffs are taxes ultimately paid by American consumers, in the form of higher prices. In addition to the latest round of tariffs on China, there are the steel tariffs on nearly every nation, plus the retaliatory tariffs imposed on the U.S. by other nations. Remember back when Trump said that trade wars are ‘easy to win’? Guess what, folks … there are no winners. Trump has not only failed to learn the many lessons of history but is seemingly unable or unwilling to apply reasoning and logic in his decision-making process. And guess who’s going to pay the price, my friends. Not Trump, not his rich cronies …
I’m sorry, but there is no excuse … simply NO EXCUSE!!! Surely more than one person looks at these signs during the manufacturing process, and then somebody puts them up. Now, granted I am not the best speller in the world, but every program I use has some form of spellcheck. If that fails, there is Grammarly. And if all else fails, my friend Herb edits all my blog posts, post-facto, and catches my errors. Shouldn’t people being paid for producing signs take at least as much care with their work? Sheesh.
(and Jolly!)
“How do you bring ethnic diversity? I mean they had to paint, what I guess they thought was some sort of African pattern on the side of Nia’s engine? How do you bring ethnic diversity to a show that literally has no ethnicities because they’re trains? They don’t even have skin pigmentation. Was there some concern that the show had racist undertones?”
When Trump demanded that military families no longer be allowed to accompany service members deployed to South Korea, Mattis refused, saying it could be seen by North Korea as a precursor to war. Mattis and Trump have also been at odds over NATO and Trump’s unwise decision to pull the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal. Possibly one of the biggest issues Trump has with Mattis is that despite Trump’s numerous requests that Mattis appear on Fox and Friends in order to praise Trump’s agenda, Mattis has declined to do so.
Why should we care? First, because the truth is that James Mattis is, in reality, often the only ‘adult in the room’. The fate of Mattis is important because he is widely viewed — by foreign allies and adversaries but also by the traditional national security establishment in the United States — as the cabinet official standing between a mercurial president and global tumult. Mattis is highly popular with the men and women of the American military. Most of the rest of his fans are people that Trump does not care about: Democrats, establishment Republicans and American allies. It is for this reason that Mattis’ job is safe until after November 6th, for even Trump realizes that it is not likely to be a popular move.
When Nike announced that their new ad campaign for the 30th anniversary of its “Just Do It” motto would feature Colin Kaepernick, the man who took a knee to take a stand against racial injustice, some portion of the nation went a bit berserk. There were reports of people burning their Nike clothing & shoes, cutting holes in their socks, and all manners of rather stupid (considering they paid for those clothes & shoes) protests. Boycotts were called for, and Donald Trump, of course had to get in on the act saying, “I don’t like what Nike did. I don’t think it’s appropriate what they did.” Rather tame for him, come to think of it.
Chris Cox is the head of the NRA lobbying efforts, and sure enough, earlier this month, the NRA spent more than $400,000 on ads hitting Rosendale’s democratic opponent, incumbent Jon Tester over the precise issue that Rosendale mentioned—the senator’s votes on Supreme Court nominations. Dirty pool? You betcha. Is anything likely to come of it? It is extremely doubtful, for there is no evidence in the audio recording that Rosendale consented or encouraged the contribution. Just one more of the many tricks the GOP and NRA have up their sleeves.
The town of Berkeley Springs is located in Morgan County, West Virginia. West Virginia voted 75% for Donald Trump in 2016, which says something about the state. Nonetheless, there is a library in Berkeley. The Director of the Morgan County Public Library is one Donna Crocker. On Tuesday, when Bob Woodward’s book, Fear: Trump in the White House, was released, Berkeley Springs resident Rob Campbell generously attempted to donate a copy of the book to the library but was turned down flat. Crocker declined his offer, saying that they “… wouldn’t be putting books like that on the shelves anymore.” Books like that??? Like what? What year is this, again?
Gwammie got stuck in a wabbit hole dis week, and she tol’ me since I keep disappearin’, it’s my turn to write Saturday Surprise ‘cause she ain’t here to write it. I tol’ her not to eat so much an’ she wouldn’t get stuck … but does she listen?
Dat’s all I got today. I hope you liked it, but if you dinna, will you tell Gwammie that you did so I don’ get in twouble?