The new kleptocracy
I hope we’ve all passed the point of believing who these evil MAGA ghouls are the first time they tell us. We should now be safely in the realm of hoping they will forget to do some of the evil things they said they’re going to do, or at least that they will change their minds.
For example, two things are now clear. The first is that Donald Trump really doesn’t understand how tariffs work. The second is that it’s now become so well known that Donald Trump doesn’t understand how tariffs work that even the mainstream media is starting to notice.
Whatever the case, Trump and his clown car of deplorables haven’t yet got the memo, or what’s more likely, they haven’t bothered to read it. Perhaps they thought the memo was food and tried to eat it. Whatever the case, Trump and company still appear to believe that tariffs exist to punish foreign exporters. He’s completely wrong, of course. Tariffs punish the importers, and when the American government applies tariffs to foreign goods the people who ultimately bear that burden of that increased cost are American consumers.
Trump now has a brand new reason for tariffs. Apparently, according to Trump, the “caravan” of illegal aliens that was inexorably marching toward “Biden’s open border” before the election by the tens of thousands or millions, that later turned back after the election, has once again changed its mind, turned around and is marching toward the border again. That crazy caravan!
Anyway, Trump has to do something about it and he has to do something right away, by golly! “As one of my many first Executive Orders,” Trump posted to “Truth” Social, “I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders. This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this invasion of our Country!”
Trump and his boatload of morons don’t understand how basic economics work. For example, most fruits and vegetables that wind up on American tables come from Mexico. If (or when) Trump applies his 25% blanket tariff to Mexico, American companies are going to have to make a choice. They are either going to have to pay the tariff and pass that cost onto American consumers, or they’re going to have to source their produce from other countries. If the former, it will mean huge and devastating price increases to American consumers. If the latter it will mean the new sources will not be sufficiently robust to handle the huge influx of orders. This will cause shortages, reduction in quality and, yes, increased prices to American consumers.
The answer is it will probably result in a combination of the two. Either way, it will be extremely bad news for Americans, especially Americans who are already suffering economically. What’s more, Canada and Mexico will have no choice but to attach Tariffs to American exports in retaliation. At that point America, Canada and Mexico will find themselves in a spiralling trade war with consumers caught in the middle. The only enemy in such a war is, you guessed it, tariffs.
See how stupid Trump’s tariff plan is now? Well you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Trump also plans to expel millions of undocumented workers from the United States, workers who pick the fruits and vegetables that are grown inside the US. That means that while the cost of foreign fruits and vegetables goes up, the cost of domestic fruits and vegetables will also go up.
But wait! There’s more! All these tariffs and arrests are going to be done in part to stop Fentanyl from coming into the country, right? Well apparently the “genius” Elon Musk thinks that these tariffs are going to increase the price of Fentanyl and thereby discourage its illegal use. Unfortunately, tariffs won’t touch the cost of illegally smuggled Fentanyl because — and I know this is going to come as a shock to Elon — smugglers don’t pay tariffs. Oh, and by the way, 99% of the people who smuggle Fentanyl across the border are American citizens.
But speaking of Elon, there is one thing that a blanket 25% will do — for HIM. It turns out that 85% of new American automobile sales come from Mexico or Canada. While Trump’s blanket tariff raises the prices of those goods, prices for cars manufactured domestically will remain untouched. And one car domestically produced is — you guessed it — Tesla! Maybe Elon isn’t as dumb as he looks.
Of course, this is all familiar territory for Trump. He engaged America in a brutal trade war with China in 2018, and he failed to learn anything from that. So hold onto your hats, not only are Americans going to have to endure another four years of that toxic moron in the White House, they’re going to have to pay higher prices while they watch.
If the cretinous idiots who voted for Trump did so because they “thought” he’d bring the price of gas and eggs down, I’ve got bad news for them. Not only is the price of gas and eggs going way, way up, so is the price of everything else. And this time they won’t be able to blame Biden. Whatever the case, brothers and sisters, take care of yourselves, and if you can, take care of someone else too.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.