Tariff Day
Sue forwarded Robert Reich’s latest column today. I think you can access it here. It is worth your time: “Be warned, the financial bubble will soon burst” is the title. Also from Dr. Reich Friday, Trump destroys our source of information about jobs.
Of course, whatever one’s special interest is unique. So some will say ignore Reich’s alarms. I don’t.
Enjoy the remaining days of Summer (which for us informally end with Labor Day on Sept 1.). But now is the time to be vigilant and cautious.
I remember so well September, 2008, when the bottom very nearly fell out of the U.S. economy. It was a true emergency. Reality intruded on fanciful thinking then, too. That was 17 years ago, and it was a man-made catastrophe. If you’re reading this, you remember….
I thought Covid-19 catastrophe would teach us a permanent lesson in 2020-21. Not so.
Here we are.
The usual ‘rose-colored glasses’ predictions: like claiming that tariffs are not taxes, when on the contrary the least well-off are the unwitting targets, since tariffs trickle down to everyone who purchases anything..
Tariffs are taxes on consumers, period, and hurt worst the millions of folks who live paycheck to paycheck (and hurt least the billionaires who already have more money than they’ll ever need.).
The bad news will trickle down, and intentionally timed to hit home after the next election.
Watch your reality day-to-day, more so than rose-colored predictions.
The victims, always, the ones least in a position to defend themselves.
POSTNOTE August 2, 2025.
The Reign of King Donald I:
It is impossible to stay ahead of the flood of indicators that show we are no longer a democracy. You may be the only person who reads this. Thank you. What follows is not carefully fact-checked. I go only by news I have seen on the traditional media (as opposed to social media which I avoid.)
In no particular order, and by no means an exhaustive list: Ghislein Maxwell (Jeffrey Epstein) is being transferred from a Florida prison to a Texas country club lockup, pretty obviously to take the spotlight off of sex trafficking and the King and his castle in Florida. The gift of an imperial 747 from Qatar to the President is apparently being readied for a billion dollar renovation – a bow to stern redoing. Plans are being announced for a massive imperial ballroom to become a new East Wing of the White House. I doubt that the peasant class will be welcome if/when…. The Smithsonian has apparently decreased by one the four presidents who were listed as having been impeached in U.S. history. You know which one is being taken off. The firing of the chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics has become big news. On and on.
King Donald is 79 years old. I am six years his senior, so the odds are he has a few years. As elders know, the exit sign is closer and closer, and you have no idea how or when you’ll get the boot.
Behind King Donald are those in waiting. My favorite photo from recent history was Donald’s victory swagger over Iran – the “obliteration” speech. What makes it my favorite is who was behind him that day: my recollection, J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth. There was also a vacant place. I think it was Tulsi Gabbard’s and I think the reason was that she had accidentally and not properly spewed the party line. None of them inspire confidence.
The peasant class which is the overwhelming vast majority of us has to get over the tendency to feel powerless. We have all the power, but only if we exercise it one action at a time constantly.
Monarch’s come and go. Hitler died in his mid-50s, a little short of reaching his objective of a thousand year Reich.
COMMENTS
from Claude: Thanks, Dick. I always use the term Tariff Tax (because it’s a flat tax that doesn’t affect rich people much, only the poor. I use this term because it irritates the people who play along with the cover story that it’s not a tax.
from Lois:
After reading your blog, I read about tariffs for most of a day…as it seems to be of more importance than most of the other areas you mentioned.
My conclusion is that Congress, under Democratic leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, succeeded in passing an amendment to the Trade Act of 1934 thereby doing their job of oversight and now President Trump is doing his duty in reviewing the tariff rates for every country of the world to ensure we are treated fairly. I think we were “asleep at the wheel” in the past 20 years regarding the growth of world economy changes and this is overdue action.
Both the Presidential Memorandum and the Wolff articles enlightened me. I hope you will see value in them also.
NOTE from Dick: Lois also includes to April 2, 2025 Executive order, here, as well as an article without link about, “The 50th anniversary of the Trade Act of 1974 by Adam Wm. Wolf (Oct. 2024)”.
I appreciate any comments. When I say something here, I go on record. Most certainly I am (and no one I know is) no export on world trade, so as with many things I try to rely on people with informed opinions, and knowledge of history. Tariff is a Tax, period, and it affects all sides to an agreement. That is why tariffs result from negotiations which often take years to conclude, and require mutual agreement and understanding. What matters here, I think, is the long term effect of snap decisions affecting not only our economy but the global economy of which we are only a part. Best I can gather from experts on the other side is that we are courting long term disaster especially for those who are not ‘wealthy’ in any sense of the word.
There’s an old saying, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”. That will apply here, ultimately, as the average citizen comes to grip with the decisions that come with higher prices for goods because of tariffs passed down the line to the little folks.
more from Lois. I gather that the basic source for her information is the Wikipedia article on 2008. I wrote back after receiving the below : “PS: 2008 was the only time I’ve felt close to the edge of financial ruin, and it was in September when the Bush White House validated my concern. I don’t have that much money – for sure, we’re middle class, but not big ticket in any way. A specific move I made was with the 401-k, which I transferred into a much larger and conservative and stable financial products company. The other holder was someone I knew nothing about and was small, and I worried about that specifically. Most everything I did, I did in September and October that year.”
Possible scenario in 2032? Trump is being pushed to run for a fourth terms as he finishes up this third term thanks to the MAGA folks in Congress and one the SCOTUS. Just as he did during his second terms in office, he has been even more noticeably being seen falling asleep during important meetings. Even though democracy was thrown out in favor of an autocracy during his second terms in office and most of the outspoken liberals, progressives and Democrats were placed in concentration camps may years ago, there still is an occasional noise heard from those well guarded containment centers calling Trump, Sleepy Donny. Now, granted, there is no longer a free press that could pick up that comment but still somehow using the latest technology, that voice was heard and heard widely. It is my understanding that the DOJ with the help of the FBI are working hard to find that critic of donnee so as to arrest and publicly punish him as an example and as a warning to anyone who might be inclined to criticize donnee.
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