Do you feel like the winds of change are blowing today too?
POSTED BY: 6ixStringJack
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 16:05
VIEWED: 185382
PAGE 136 of 479
April 5, 2025
Condensed from the Winnipeg Free Press
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/2025/04/05/chaos-
follows-trumps-liberation-day
Chaos follows Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’
. . . Trump claims that the U.S. is being raped and pillaged — his words — by foreign nations, that Americans were subsidizing economies all over the world, because Americans buy more foreign products than foreign nations buy American.
But there’s a clear problem with that analysis. A trade deficit is not a debt or a subsidy.
Let’s say you want a good sandwich. Bob can make it better or more cheaply or more conveniently than you can.
You pay Bob $5. Bob hands you your sandwich.
Yes, Bob gets your money, but you get the sandwich you wanted at the price you were willing to pay. You arguably have a $5 trade deficit with Bob, because Bob didn’t buy anything from you.
Donald Trump would argue that you’re propping Bob up with a $5 subsidy.
But you didn’t subsidize Bob. Bob did not steal anything from you. You didn’t give Bob a gift — you chose to buy his sandwich for your own reasons.
Much the way Americans have chosen to buy products from Canada or any other nation — because the value or quality was worth the money.
Trump has decided to add a tariff, a tax on Bob’s sandwiches.
A host of economists have suggested what’s likely to come next — significant inflation for American consumers, chaos in the global supply chain, and, most likely, layoffs and business closures. Stock markets are already delivering their verdicts.
The irony is that, as president, Trump’s ability to levy tariffs is tangential at best — he has had to manufacture emergencies to justify his actions. And there’s been a gross failure by the legislative branch in the United States to rein him in and represent the interests of their own constituents.
The real question now is whether anyone in America will stand up to him.
The damage to Canada’s relationship is obvious and will be long-lasting — one can only imagine what that damage will be to the reputation of the U.S. globally.
The damage to America — and Americans — may be incalculable.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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A Primer on Trade Wars
Why they happen, and why they’re bad
By Paul Krugman | Apr 06, 2025
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-primer-on-trade-wars
Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs aren’t just the biggest trade shock in history. They’re also in clear violation of U.S. international agreements, including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the GATT), a multinational, reciprocal trade agreement that has governed most nations’ trade policies since 1947. In effect, Trump has set fire to a finely balanced mechanism that has fostered the growth of international trade by constraining how countries can set tariffs. In so doing, Trump has set the stage not just for his own tariffs but for retaliatory tariffs by other countries. That is, he has started a global trade war.
This week’s primer will explain why trade wars are bad, and why they can happen anyway. I’ll address the following:
1. The case for low tariffs even if other countries have high tariffs, and the caveats to that case
2. The monopoly power theory of trade wars, which makes economic sense but probably isn’t what’s going on
3. The interest-group theory of trade wars, which most international trade economists probably subscribe to
4. Do we also need a stupidity theory of tariffs?
Source: USITC and Yale Budget Lab
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Trump voters are pretending like they were duped. Don't believe it.
By John Stoehr | April 06, 2025
https://www.alternet.org/alternet-exclusives/trump-voters-are-pretendi
ng-like-they-were-duped-don-t-believe-it/
The Dow dropped 1,700 points on opening this Friday morning. Thursday, it closed after falling to its worst level since the covid era. JP Morgan Chase said it was raising the odds of a recession to 60 percent.
This is all in reaction to the decision this week by the president to put an average 22 percent tax on all imports. He called it “Liberation Day.”
As I’m watching this unfold, I can’t help thinking about something that may seem unrelated to trade, economics and the harms coming our way, but in fact is central to it all. I’m talking about resentment.
Resentment is usually associated with the right. Time and again, over the last ten years, we were told that the people who voted for Donald Trump are deeply resentful about the state of the nation: about immigrants pouring over the border, about men competing in women’s sports, about the “radical woke agenda.” The list goes on and on.
It was on the strength of this resentment that voters in this country chose for president a convicted felon and failed businessman who promised to hurt everyone in the name of making America great again.
And what I want to say this:
If you thought that was resentment, just wait.
Only five months ago, the head economist for Moody’s said the economy under Joe Biden was the best he’d seen. Mark Zandi said “this is among the best performing economies in my 35-plus years as an economist.”
• “Economic growth is rip-roaring, with real GDP up 3 percent over the past year. Unemployment is low, at near 4 percent, consistent with full employment.
• “Inflation is fast closing in on the Fed’s 2 percent target.
• “Grocery prices, rents and gas prices are flat to down over the past more than a year. Households’ financial obligations are light, and set to get lighter with the Fed cutting rates.
• “House prices have never been higher, and most homeowners have more equity in their homes than ever.
• “Corporate profits are robust, and the stock market is hitting a record high on a seemingly daily basis.
And now?
On March 30, before this week’s tariff news, Zandi said:
“I’m raising my odds that a recession will begin sometime this year to 40 percent, up from 15 percent at the start of the year. Last week’s economic data were disconcerting, including the slide in consumer confidence, punk consumer spending, and persistently high inflation. The intensifying trade war and DOGE cuts are behind all this and with last week’s announcement of big tariff increases on vehicle imports and the coming reciprocal tariffs, things are sure to get worse.”
How much worse?
The Financial Times: “one of the greatest acts of self-harm in American economic history. Tariffs’ will wreak untold damage on households, businesses and financial markets around the world, upending a global economic order that America benefited from and helped create.”
The Economist: “The most profound, harmful & unnecessary economic error in the modern era. Almost everything he said — on history, economics and the technicalities of trade — was utterly deluded.”
This is where we are, but never forget: this was a choice.
It was made by people who were so resentful about something-something, for now it doesn’t matter what, that they didn’t notice they’re wages were growing, their expenses were falling and they had more power in the workplace than they’d had in their whole lives.
Everything Trump claims to be doing – bringing jobs back home, supporting domestic industries, revitalizing infrastructure and investing in the future — Biden actually did. Most everyone prospered, including all those resentful people. As the former president was fond of saying, Trump talks a good game, but never built a damn thing.
But that wasn’t enough because seeing other people doing well, that is, Black and brown people doing well, hurt th
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“He tried to kill his own Vice President, do you think he cares about you?”
The post misquotes Obama, who said if Trump "does not care that a mob might attack his own vice president, do you think he cares about you?" Obama did not say Trump "tried to kill" former Vice President Mike Pence.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/10/23/obama-misquot
ed-trump-jan-6-fact-check/75678173007/
“Stupid is thinking a guy who stiffs all of his friends and business partners is going to come through for you.”
Obama did not say that about Trump, either. But another lawyer did say Trump is "mercurial" in 2017.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/mercurial-presidency-trump-and-go
verning-crisis
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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WTF is THIS about??
Seems Trump is more pro Israel than pro America.
Quote:
Pentagon's Yemen Operations Nearing $1 Billion Price Tag
Fresh analysis in both the NY Times and CNN have estimated that America's Yemen operations will soon hit the $1 billion mark. Still, war-planners are admitting only 'limited success' in degrading and dismantling the Houthis sophisticated weapons network.
'Operation Rough Rider' has seen warplanes and warships in the Red Sea go through at least $200 million in launched munitions alone since March 15, the Times report says. An in total, CNN says the overall operation is "nearing $1 billion in just under three weeks, even as the attacks have had limited impact on destroying the terror group’s capabilities," according to several US defense officials.
Lockheed-made JASSM long-range cruise missile, via Wiki Commons
US military assets in the region have utilized JASSM long-range cruise missiles, JSOWs (GPS-guided glide bombs), and Tomahawk missiles - all of which are very costly, advanced munitions.
Pricey air operations are also being run out of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean:
US defense officials announced earlier this week that B-2 bombers out of Diego Garcia — a British-administered atoll — are also being used against the Yemeni military, and an additional aircraft carrier as well as several fighter squadrons and air defense systems will soon be moved into the Central Command region.
“They’ve taken out some sites, but that hasn’t affected the Houthis’ ability to continue shooting at ships in the Red Sea or shooting down US drones,” said one of the sources, referring to Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement.
“Meanwhile, we are burning through readiness—munitions, fuel, deployment time.”
American taxpayers, who are ultimately the ones footing the bill, are unable to have a say in any of this given the Trump-ordered military action has not been brought before Congress.
Washington has actually been bombing Yemen off-and-on for years, spanning back to the Obama administration, without so much as a single vote in Congress. Past efforts by Libertarian-leaning Republicans to reign in the Executive's war powers have failed.
However, CNN notes that as Pentagon resources become more and more strained, also amid the Ukraine war, this could force Congress to take up the question of funding down the line:
One of the sources said the Pentagon will likely need to request supplemental funding from Congress to continue the operation, but may not receive it — the offensive has already been criticized on both sides of the aisle, and even Vice President JD Vance said he thought the operation was “a mistake” in a Signal chat published by The Atlantic last week.
Some analysts have pointed out that the major anti-Houthi operations actually mainly benefit Israel, while others have said that Europe should shoulder more of the burden in protecting Red Sea shipping lanes, however the consensus is that European navies are relatively weak, and don't have advanced enough technology to properly defend against Houthi missiles and drones.
There are also fears this could turn into another US quagmire in the Middle East with little to show for in terms of strategic gains or positive results. The White House is characterizing this as a blow to Iran, given the Houthis have long been Tehran's proxies, but it's also clear the Yemeni group acts independently.
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/pentagons-yemen-operations-nearing-
1-billion-price-tag
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA
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Meanwhile...
Quote:
Vietnam, Taiwan Capitulate: Offer To Remove All US Tariffs, Boost Investment
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA
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Quote:Meanwhile, Vietnam and Taiwan were already charging close to 0% tariffs. But Trump used fake numbers to justify charging high tariffs:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Meanwhile...Quote:
Vietnam, Taiwan Capitulate: Offer To Remove All US Tariffs, Boost Investment
Quote:http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=66397&mid=12157
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
China: 34% (charges U.S. 67%)—though Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the 34% will be in addition to tariffs China already faces, bringing its tariff rate to 54%.
European Union: 20% (charges U.S. 39%)
Vietnam: 46% (charges U.S 90%)
Taiwan: 32% (charges U.S. 64%)
01#1215701
Basically, Trump’s claiming that the rest of the world is placing very high tariffs on U.S. products, and that he’s imposing “reciprocal” tariffs that are only half what they impose on us.
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-goes-crazy-on-trade
Here’s the chart he showed:
The left column show the tariffs others are supposedly charging on US products — and it’s completely crazy. Focus on the European Union. The EU, like the United States, has generally low tariffs; the average tariff it charges on US goods is less than 3 percent.
So where does this 39 percent number come from? I have no idea. Many people speculated that Trump would count value-added taxes as tariffs, even though they aren’t — European producers selling to the EU market pay the same VAT as US producers, so it doesn’t discriminate and therefore isn’t protectionist. But even if you get that wrong, EU VAT rates are in the vicinity of 20 percent, so you still can’t get anywhere close to 39 percent.
You have to wonder whether Elon Musk’s Dunning-Kruger kids are now producing tariff numbers.
But you know that having once claimed that Europe charges tariffs more than 10 times as high as reality, Trump will never drop that claim. I don’t know how many people noticed, but he’s still claiming that we’re subsidizing Canada by $200 billion a year. Aside from the basic mistake of claiming that a Canadian trade surplus means that we’re somehow subsidizing Canada, he’s inflating the actual trade surplus by a factor of three. Many, many people have pointed out the error, but Trump is sticking with it, the same way Musk is sticking with the millions of dead Social Security beneficiaries thing.
If you had any hopes that Trump would step back from the brink, this announcement, between the very high tariff rates and the complete falsehoods about what other countries do, should kill them.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Paul Krugman is setting himself up for his final fall.
But I'm sure idiot assholes like Second will keep listening to him after everyone else has finally turned their back on him and his bogus predictions once and for all.
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"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
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Quote:Trump said the EU is charging 39% tariffs. Krugman, the EU, and the entire world says the EU charges less than 3% tariffs. So how could Trump be correct? Just asking.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Paul Krugman is setting himself up for his final fall.
But I'm sure idiot assholes like Second will keep listening to him after everyone else has finally turned their back on him and his bogus predictions once and for all.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
Are Donald Trump's tariffs on the EU really reciprocal? NO!
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/04/03/fact-check-are-donald-tr
umps-tariffs-on-the-eu-really-reciprocal
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Trump said the EU is charging 39% tariffs. Krugman, the EU, and the entire world says the EU charges less than 3% tariffs. So how could Trump be correct? Just asking.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Paul Krugman is setting himself up for his final fall.
But I'm sure idiot assholes like Second will keep listening to him after everyone else has finally turned their back on him and his bogus predictions once and for all.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
The people you're quoting are all known liars who have everything to lose, and listening to them is how our country has fallen so far in the first place. And people like Paul Krugman have been telling everyone the economy is doing fine while the country was burning down all around us. Your last joke of a President added 1/4 of our current $37 Trillion debt in only 4 years, and there was midget Krugman, kneeling on a milk crate with Sleepy Joe*'s baby dick in his mouth the whole time he did it.
You have no credibility and your opinion holds no currency.
You refuse to adapt to the new normal, so we're leaving you in the rear-view mirror.
I'd love to say it was nice knowing you, buddy. But it really wasn't.
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"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
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