4/6/2025 (Sunday)   How’s Your IRA? Your 401K?   There are so many questions I have about Trump’s infatuation with tariffs I don’t know where to start.  He has been promoting them since the 1980’s.  Is his unconventional application of them something he learned in business school or is it an original idea he developed?  One of Trump’s marketing professors at the Wharton Business School,   William Kelley, said he was the dumbest student he ever had.   And Trump has threatened to sue any school he attended if they release his academic records.  There might be a clue buried under those documents. This is a man who drove six different businesses into bankruptcy after all.  He does not seem to be a terribly bright man,  but what he does possess are superior marketing skills and in my mind  one of the most cunningly manipulative minds to ever evolve.

Trump made a lot of campaign promises that he said he would fulfill on the first day of his presidency.  With typical Trump showmanship he signed a flurry of exective orders that at least provided the appearance of his commitment.  But most are tied up in 130 different law suits.   However, the two big issues that he swore he would take care of on day one, and  got him elected,  are immigration and the economy.  You’ve got to hand it to him on immigration.  His team is moving right along there, so much so now even some Trump loyaists are questioning the legality of parts of the maneuvering.

But the economy?  He flat out lied during his campaiging when he said he would lower the price of food on day one and he knew it was a lie.  He even admitted it after he was elected. Well, ok.  Maybe he has never actually understood what groceries are. What Are Groceries Anyway?  I have to say I can’t picture him loading up a grocery cart at Hy Vee.

The master mind behind the current tariff debacle is Trump.  It’s all on him, and it will be very interesting to see who he tries to blame this time if the stock market keeps tanking.  The only economist  I have seen supporting Trump’s tariffs is his friend Peter Navarro, recently released from prison after serving  time for obstruction of justice.  Every other economist I have heard   describes his tariffs in general as everything from moronic to catastrophic.  Trump calls them reciprocal, but there is nothing to support that assertion.  I was curious about tariff rates,  obsessed you might say, how he arrived at what seemed to  me to be incongruous figures, and did some research, basic I will admit, but my source is the World Trade Organization.  It showed the U.S.had a trade-weighted average tariff rate of 2.2 in 2023,  2.7 for the European Union, 1.9 for japan, 3.3 for Canada, and 3 percent for China.  Those are averages, and most of what  I saw was in that range.

Some poorer countries do have higher rates.   India’s trade-weighted tariff rate is 12 percent, Mexico’s is 3.9  percent and Viet Nam’s is 5.1.   Of course to protect local interests every country will increase a tariff on specific goods- thus the double digit tariffs that the U.S. and China inflict on each other. But generally average numbers for tariffs are single digits.  That’s what’s so flagrantly misleading about Trumps claim that his tariffs are  fair and reciprocal and caused such turmoil.  The basic “formula” someone came up with in the administration amounts to a ratio of U.S. trade deficit to U.S. imports from a foreign country, divided by two, or 10%, whichever rate is higher.  Run those numbers and you get a result  that is substantially inequitable according to economists here. Economics negative 101  What’s even more nuts  is the 10 percent across the board  tariff on any country that  the formula does not apply to.  Everybody gets a tariff- including uninhabited islands.  Well somehow Russia is exempt from the new tariffs, strange in that just a week or so ago he was all set to “put secondary tariffs…on all oil coming out of Russia” when he thought Putin was being uncooperative regarding the Ukranian war negotiations.

Even more mind boggling, Trump has placed tariffs on stuff we don’t make and need to import, like coffee and bananas.  The guy just does not understand tariffs.  He keeps insisting the exporting country pays the tariff.   Another Bamboozle from the Big Bamboozler That is not how it works. The U.S. importer does, and more than likely will pass the extra cost onto the consumer. He does understand that  tariffs can be a boon to the economy if they incentivize enough manufactuerers to build in the U;S. instead of a foreign country.  That of course means more jobs. But again, he does not appreciate the fact that that will take years, and much of the boost in job production will be negated by automation.  It is likely for many businesses that will be the only way they are able to compete with the low wages paid in foreign countries.  Basic shit that I guess he can’t comprehend.

Then there is the end game.   Trump says his tariffs are going to make us all rich, an economic bounty “the likes of which we have never seen.” He said there will be only “slight discomfort”, and it will happen quickly, a claim the economists I’ve observed refute as nonsense.   Even though Trump can’t devine the arrival date for such a blessing,  he has to be hoping it will providentially materialize in time to help pay for his massive tax gift to the ultra wealthy.

Hold on though.  At other times he maintains his tariffs are a  prime negotiating tool, leverage to use against foreign countries to extract a benefit.  It’s a version of the modified extortion techniques he uses to intimidate people and institutions to acquiesce to one of his petty demands.  Here’s the thing though.  It can’t be both.  A successful tariff negotiation means you drop the tariff.  Good bye luxuriant bounty.

But if the end game is the first- to make us all rich, (reminder- that would not occur from penalties paid by foreign countries but by a massive, gradual and slow rebuild of the county’s manufacturing sector)   that could result in a dangerous backfire.  That’s because Trump is a pathological narcissist.  An exhibiting trait of someone with that  disorder is an unability to admit a mistake.  With Trump, that means he would not give up on the tariffs no matter how destructive they become, causing a recession or worse.

Meanwhile, while most of America suffers through all this “slight discomfort” our fearless leader is dealing with it all by playing golf, promoting his LIV golf interests and investment, and consulting with podcasters who promote conspiracy theories. Think Tank Chairman

As my wife and I were leaving Omaha’s “Hands Off” protest of  Trump Saturday, we ran into a local resident  and as we discussed the event she said something that brought to mind a New York Times article by Jamelle Bouie I read a couple weeks ago.  What she said was “Trump is screwing all of us and I think that  has been his plan all along.”  When I arrived home I resurrected that article and am compelled to provide a link. It is a long article, and if you’ve reached this point you probably have had your fill of my griping.  If you are pressed for time or to continue reading is a joyless drudgery, I have below an encapsulation of the aritcle’s sentiment.

Lib and MAGA, big and small, D J Trump has f****d us all.

Sorry.  I believe I am experiencing residual mind worming from  all the Trump protest group chanting.  And in case you would rather do anything to keep you from taking a peek at your retirement account, here is the Times link. Trump’s Scattershot Revenge I think it explains a lot.

How this all plays out we will have to just hang on and see.  We can hope Republicans will show some courage, take back their rightful constitutional power and slam the brakes on some of these tariffs.  But besides the incongruity of penalizing  our most important allies and trading partners with his disproportionate  tariffs,  there are other actions Trump has taken that could have a significant impact on our economy. Trump is killing the country’s defense industry.  EU countries are already contemplaing purchasing fighter jets and other military equipment from France and countries in their economic community.  They consider the Trumpified U.S. to be an unreliable  supplier .  They have witnessed many times  how Trump extortionist motives can create a climate of uncertainty.  Strong U.S. allies Japan and South Korea have formed trading agreements with their historical economic and political adversary China, since they also believe the U.S. is an unreliable trading partner.

It’s a scary time.  If you have a moment, contact your political representatives and voice your concerns.  Utilize the power you have because Trump is bent on taking it away from us.

“If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we start to reject any evidence of the bamboozle.   We are no longer interested in finding out the truth.  The bamboozle has captured us.   It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken.  Once you give a charlatan power over you, you rarely get it back.”  That is one of the saddest lessons of history as related by Carl Sagan.  I use the quote a lot.

 

 

 

Just a few days after proclaiming English as the official language of the United States, President Trump has changed his mind and decided Russian will be his choice going forward.  The modification is yet another example of the president’s  implementation of his plan to think on the fly during his second administration.  Confusing vacillations on tariffs, firing then rehiring federal employees, cutting off and then reinstating funds for federal agencies, on then off then on again with military and intelligence aid to Ukraine, are examples of his current approach to governing, a stategy you would typically recognize if you are the caretaker of someone with advanced dementia.  And one must not forget his signature volte-face.  After campaigning on the promise to lower food prices on day one of his presidency, by day 45 he decided that a more satisfying experience for the country’s citizens would be to reward them  with “a little bit of pain.” The Big Waffle

It has emerged that there are a couple of recent decisions the president plans to flip-flop on in the next few days. He has decided to rescind his posthumous pardon of baseball legend Pete Rose after he found out about all the bases he stole.  And he has soured on his support of the proposed Trump/Gaza revitalization plan since he learned the golden statue of his image was only eight stories tall.  Now We Know Why Trump Inspected Fort Knox

“Melania!  Help me find my house keys!”

 

There’s shit falling out of the sky again.  Grab Your Bullitproof Umbrella    NASA says your risk of injury from their wayward debris is “very low.”  Just 1 in 9,400.  Excuse me!  That’s not exactly comforting. That’s the range of possibilty of dying by accidental electrocution.  When I was a teenager I watched my little brother test the limits of that statistic when he attempted to extract a slice of bread stuck in our toaster with a metal-handled knife.  And according to NASA’s calculation you’re about four times as likey to get speared by their rubbish than dying in a cataclysmic storm.  How many incidents of that type do you read about every day?

Odds of dying from a dog attack are 1 in 69 thousand.  I realize we’re talking death here, but once I was attacked by a dog.  I was walking back to my apartment from a park where I had been practicing my pitch shot with  my 9 iron.  A scrawny, mud-matted mut bolted from his yard and sunk his teeth into the leg of my pants.  Overall I was pleased with my stance and form as the face of my club struck his boney rib cage. Had the little bastard broken any skin on my calf I would have made sure his skull was analyzed for rabbies, conventionally or by the modified 9 iron procedure.

The odds of being injured by a toilet are right there with what NASA is suggesting here- 1 in 10,000.  The CDC actually documents this.  Look it up if you don’t believe me.  Though congress feels gun violence is not the purvue of the CDC,  equally significant is the odds of not serviving the accidental discharge of a firearm. That happens to be 1 in 7,900. Of course in America the odds of dying from a gun assualt are 1 in 221.  And now that 6 year olds are getting in on the action, look for that statistic to become even more alamring.  .Member of NRA Junior

Anyway, just a heads up for a few days.

Cyber Ninja, the security firm contracted to perform the audit of 2020 election ballots in Arizona that was requested by the state’s Republican Senate, is about to engage in more out of state analysis.  Already facing scrutiny over the reasons and legality of transporting ballots to a secluded cabin in Montana, it has emerged that the company will be sending even more ballots to  locations outside of Arizona.  Although specific details  are still unconfirmed, sites range from an abandoned mine shaft in mountainous  West Virginia where it is rummored an inquisitive band of faerie folk reside, to the impenetrable bayous of Louisiana inhabited by practicing creole sorcerers versed in the conjouring arts.  Because Cyber Ninja’s staff includes a small contingent of people able to communicate intergalactically, it is rumored another possible location for ballot transport is somewhere in Nevada bordering area 51.

Spokesmen for Cyber Ninja say they are confident the company has the resources and contacts to expose any sort of voting shenanigans 

Cyber Ninja, the cybersecurity firm hired by Arizona Republicans to conduct their 2020 election re-audit of that states Maricopa County, is pulling out all the stops in order to get to the bottom of what is widely perceived in Republican circles to be incomprehensible- a legitimate Democrat victory.  Convinced the American public understands that an election is only free and fair if Republicans win, Arizona Republicans have assigned the task of codifying this new, inovative interpretation of the US constitution to Cyber Ninja.

Though Cyber Ninja has absolutly no experience in elections, company CEO and “stop the steal” conspiracy promoter Doug Logan says that will be no impediment to competent execution of the work at hand.  Logan stated his company has  methods to thoroughly search for signs of fraud that are normally not conducted. Of particular concern to him are the pens filled with disappearing ink that he believes were handed out to Republican voters, and he is confident his knowleged of chemical subsances will facilitate reappearance of markings and detect any traces of lemon juice.

Logan has been even more vigilant in his dogged pursuit of the massive dump of Biden ballots by the Chinese goverment he is certain has occured.  Critical to that exposer, Logan believes, is locating ballots embedded with bamboo filament specific to Chinese paper products.  So far Logan has implemented the use of various lighting techniques, like untraviolet and fluorescent, but says he has not ruled out strobe or backlighting, indoor solar, black, or disco.

Though the rather unconvenional use of bamboo sniffing dogs proved to be a bust, starting this coming week Logan is stepping up that approach. It has emerged that he has clandestinely procured a couple of panda bears that he is certain will turn the tide.  In the words of Mr. Logan, “We’ll just turn the pandas loose and let them go to work. Nothing will deter us from restoring America’s confidence in our electoral system.”  Added Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, ” It is critically important that people know they can always depend on the Republican Party to do what’s right for democracy by insuring every election has enough Republican votes to make it legitimate.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

During his evening program, Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson commended Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for her creativity in promoting white nationalism.  Recently criticized for spouting  “great replacement” rhetoric  by suggesting that the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate with “voters from the third world,” Carlson nonetheless praised Greene for “telling it like it is” with her bold initiative to establish her nativist America First Caucus.

At the heart of the America First ideology is “respect for Anglo-Saxon political traditions.”  When Democrats and a few scatered Republican colleagues voiced criticism of the proposed organization for it’s blatant racism, Greene decided to shelve the idea for now.  But Carlson said that is a mistake, and suggested that with a simple name change  the central idea would have more appeal.

“A lot of what America First emphasizes is already being done in the GOP’s Freedom Caucus,” Carlson said.  Changing the name of the America First Caucus to the Caucasian Caucus would go a long way to clarify things. First of all, America First’s primary objective appears to actually be discriminatory.  Not racist, but discriminatory.  The organization should make it clear our country accepts ALL white people, not just  Anglo Saxons.  Second, believe it or not there is not one congressional organization that is specifically dedicated to voicing only white demands and grievances.  Representative Greene has identified a need that has been neglected for too long.”

When it was suggested what he was proposing was promoting white supremacy just as egregiously as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Carlson  immediatly assumed his ever familiar appearance of profound, cross-eyed confusion and restated his firm belief that no such thing exists.  “There is no white supremacy in this country.  Show me where there is white supremacy.  Yes some people like myself believe only white people should be living in our country and all non-white people here are occupying precious space reserved for deserving white people, but that doesn’t mean white people consider themselves superior.  We just don’t particlarly care for people with a different pigmentation.  The constitution was written by white people, for white people.  Not one black, brown yellow or red person signed the Declaration of Independence.  Those are the plain facts.”

When Carlson was asked what his understanding was of the “all men are created equal” clause in the Declaration of Independence, his deflective reply focused on the importance of the indivdual liberties gauranteed by our foundational documents.  ” We have pleny of diversity in the white American population.  That’s what’s great about our country. The Republicans and this new caucus Representative Greene is proposing is a perfect illustration.   Just look at what Marjorie Taylor Greene herself brings to the table.  She knows the importance of Second Amendment rights and leads by example.  When she spotted an annoyingly unarmed gun safety advocate walking down the street, she threatened and harassed him for an entire city block.  And she was only carrying a concealed hand gun.  Image how intimidating she can be with one of her assault rifles clutched in her hands.  That’s an image that’s American to the core.”

  MTG-  Busy Making America Great

Carlson went on to catalogue the congressmen he was certain the Caucasian Caucus will attract.  Representative Matt Gaetz he believes is a shoo in since he was already on board with America First.  Gaetz represents that segment of the American white male population that, according to Carlson,  believes in the  uninhibited freedom and duty of white men to give counsel and guidance to adolecent females and provide for their interstate transportation needs.

Carslon also believes all indications are that Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan will also  be eager to join the organization.  Jordan recently confronted the GOP’s enemy number one, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and in typical bombastic, jordanary fashion,  solidly established himself as the future of Republican public health information with his whithering rebuke of Fauci implanted socialistic practices like wearing protective face masks.  Jordan’s showdown with Fauci more importantly cemented him as spokseman for all liberty loving caucasians who are sick and tired of big government imposing rational public health guidelines that selfishly protect the health and well being of the nation at the expense of freedom loving Americans who are simply seeking to do whatever they want.   Carlson is confident the GOP will continue asserting this primary perogative- that the freedoms of individual white people should always take precedence over the common good.