Trump Welfare
As a general rule, I refuse to accept the notion of
“unintended consequences” when it involves anything concerning the
government. Any form of government,
large or small, has an inherit responsibility to deliberate over any action
they make and the possible consequences of those actions. That is why they are there in the first
place. If they do not do this, then they
are guilty of incompetence, period. They
cannot and should never be allowed to plead ignorance for what happens after
they pass a law or enact a policy or impose regulations.
That especially includes our orange-skinned narcissistic
self-professed “very stable genius”, President Donald Trump and his sociopathic
gang of enablers and myrmidons in Congress.
The Narcissist Trump sells himself as a master
dealmaker. A lot of the stupid things he
does is apparently done as a way for him to offer a solution to a problem that
he created, so he can then pat himself on the back for the “masterful deal” that
he made “for us”. He’s like the
attention-seeking arsonist that sets fires so he can call himself a
“firefighter”.
Case-in-point, the Trump Tariffs.
Now, bit of history here. Once upon a time, before the
federal income tax was made part of the U.S. Constitution, the only
constitutionally-recognized form of income for the federal government was
through tariffs and duties. They served
a dual purpose of getting revenue for the government and also in preventing
other countries from undercutting businesses in America with cheaper
goods. In fact, the GOP’s predecessors,
the Whig Party, prided themselves in continuing Alexander Hamilton’s idea of
using tariffs to supposedly “protect” American goods and services. The push for “free trade” didn’t even come
about until the end of World War II as one of the many ways to hold off the
scourge of communism.
Fast forward to today...
The Narcissist Trump thinks that America isn’t being treated
“fairly” in global trade, so he’s slapping tariffs on goods coming into America
from countries like China, Canada, and Germany.
Those countries are then jacking up tariffs on the products that we
export to them. The end result, of
course, is that everything will soon be more and more expensive.
The Narcissist Trump thinks that those other countries would
be “hurt” by the tariffs so they’ll come begging to him to “renegotiate”. The fires are set, and now the
arsonist-firefighter is waiting for someone to cry “fire” so he can put them
out.
But the truth is that those other countries will *not* be hurt by the Trump Tariffs
in the least. We will. America will.
Companies and countries that get hit with the tariffs do not
pay for those themselves. They pass
those costs to the consumer in the form of higher prices. So that soda can that used to cost $1 in the
vending machine may soon cost $1.50 or even $2 because of the added price of
aluminum for the can. That $7 cup of
coffee from Starbucks may cost $10 because of the coffee being imported.
The whole idea behind tariffs is to make it more expensive
to rely on the imported goods, so we would favor our own. But that presupposes that we have those.
We don’t make aluminum like we used to back in the day. We don’t grow coffee like the Latin American
and South American countries do. Your
already-expensive SUV or truck will soon be more expensive because we don’t
make many of the components in that vehicle in America. We only put them together and slap logos and
labels on them and sell them in America.
We have gotten so used to getting stuff from other countries that we
stopped making them here. That’s why
it’ll hurt Americans long before it bothers any other country.
The Trump Tariffs will hurt everyone, but Narcissist Trump
thinks that it will hurt the American farmer more than anyone else. So much so that Narcissist Trump wants so
spend $12
billion taxpayer dollars on aid to those struggling farmers.
So now we have Trump Welfare to go with the Trump Tariffs.
I know that word “welfare” feels insulting to the Trump
cultists and his enablers, but that is what it is. It is welfare to farmers. A government handout to those Narcissist Trump
feels will be “hurting” from the Trump Tariffs.
Bear in mind that this comes just months after Narcissist Trump’s
cronies instituted
new policies that cut down on the other kind of welfare… the ones
that help those already hurting from our maliciously abusive economy. A maliciously abusive economy where wages
have been stagnant for so long that already-hard-working Americans have to ask
for help just to make ends meet. Hell,
one certain notorious big-box store is known for showing their low-paid employees
how to apply for that help. And that
also includes people who are on disability that are being told they need to find
work to keep getting the money they need to make ends meet, even though many of
them are not able to work in the first place.
Those are the people that were deemed to be “deadbeats” by Narcissist
Trump and his gang of sociopaths and that money is now going to be given to the
farmers to compensate them for the Trump Tariffs.
Let’s get brutally honest here... the whole mess is just another
example of the sheer incompetence of our narcissistic president and his
toadies. Narcissist Trump, the
self-professed master of “the deal”, clearly did not grasp the full extent of
his Trump Tariffs and how they will hurt the very Americans that voted him in
office, and his band-aid solution with the Trump Welfare going to the farmers
only adds insult to the injury he incurs on us.
His gross incompetence on this matter was made plain in June
when Harley Davidson announced that they would be moving their manufacturing
overseas, partially to escape the Trump Tariffs. Narcissist Trump responded with
an outright tantrum, threatening to tax the American company into
bankruptcy.
This is who you elected, America. An incompetent man-child with an eggshell ego
who calls himself a “very stable genius”.
You should be so proud of yourselves!
Winning!
Of course, America will not be winning this. America will be paying the price for the
follies of Narcissist Trump for years to come.
We will pay for this with higher prices, a sinking economy, and a
sullied global reputation. Like all
other deals broken by Narcissist Trump, the rest of the world will look at our
future trade deals with a hint of mistrust, always having to wonder whether the
next elected leader will proclaim that we’re not being “treated fairly”. Instead of bargaining from a position of
strength, we will be begging for forgiveness in future trade negotiations,
apologizing for our momentary lunacy, and trying in vain to let the world know
that Narcissist Trump is not representative of the nation.
Protectionism and tariffs only work when you are in a
position to be self-sufficient. You’re
only hurting those other countries with tariffs if you still have the same
products here for people to turn to.
Otherwise, you’re just price-gouging your own people.
We have enjoyed the blessings of a global economy for sixty
years; struggling to reach a point to where the world can enjoy our goods and
services, and vice-versa. And, quite
frankly, we’ve gotten so used to that blessing that we now depend on those
other countries for the little things.
That is why Narcissist Trump’s “America First” trade policies will not
only make us “America Last”, but also “America Lost”.
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