Economics is not my jam, so I rarely write about it. I do, however, know how tariffs really work and that the trade war with Canada is Team Trump’s stupidest policy. I’m also fond of our neighbors to the North and proud of them for standing up to the Insult Comedian’s threats.
I thought Donald Trump would drive the economy into the ditch, but it’s happened sooner than expected. I am now convinced that he believes his own ridiculous rhetoric about tariffs. It’s not a negotiating tactic, it’s magical MAGA thinking.
Like most Americans, President Pennywise believes the Great Depression was caused by the 1929 stock market crash. It was a factor but an even bigger factor was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. It was fiercely and stupidly protectionist. It led to massive price rises, business failures, and tremendous pressure on financial institutions. Banks were then unregulated since laissez faire economics was the American way until FDR saved the country from Smoot, Hawley, and Hoover.
The featured image is of the two Republicans who tanked the economy in the run-up to the 1932 election. On the left is Rep. Willis Hawley of Oregon, then chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. On the right, the man with the silly name, Utah Senator Reed Smoot then chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. One would think that the chairs of those committees should have known better than to take the protectionist plunge, but isolationism and nationalism were the order of the day. Hello, tariffs; goodbye economy.
We’re beginning to see the effects of the Trump tariffs. The stock market is tanking because of them and the impact of Reich Chancellor Musk’s savagely incoherent spending cuts. Neither the Kaiser of Chaos nor his Chancellor knows anything about the government’s role in the economy. They think the federal government is like a private company ripe for the stripping.
Josh Marshall wrote a great post about this stupidity last week, An Economy and a Government Are Not Like a Business. Here’s how he closed:
“What Trump has done globally – in both senses of the word – is create a climate of extreme uncertainty around the US and global economies. If you have a business that is in any way exposed to global trade you almost certainly are being very wary of the current environment and probably putting on hold any new ventures until things calm down. Certainly there are a couple million civil servants in the federal government who are probably not planning any new spending for the foreseeable future. That’s not that many people relative to the whole national population, though it’s a big, big deal in certain regions. But universities and research institutions are doing the same things. Those are the most obvious examples. But it applies in less obvious ways throughout the economy. Right now everything seems very uncertain and up-in-the-air, both for a lot of businesses and consumers. If everyone decides they’re going to step back and not make any big purchases at the same time that gets you a sharp recession. And that’s pretty much the kind of economic moment Donald Trump has created.”
Read the whole damn thing. You’ll learn a lot. I know I did.
The trade war with Canada is stupid even for the Insult Comedian. Fighting with one’s friends is dumb and imposing tariffs on them is even dumber. It’s something even these guys wouldn’t do:
Musk is perfect casting as the Jim Carrey character in Dumb and Dumber, which makes Trump Jeff Daniels. Apologies to the real Jeff Daniels who’s one of the good guys. Now that I think of it, Ontario Premier Doug Ford kinda resembles Daniels. FYI, Ford used to like Trump. He, too, is a right-wing populist but unlike the Current Occupant he cares about his country. The Kaiser of Chaos only cares about Russia.
Before the tariffs and Prime Minister Trudeau’s decision not to lead the Liberal party into the next election, they were sure losers. Now that Trudeau has been replaced as party leader by economist Mark Carney, the Liberals are surging in the polls. Voters trust them more to withstand the war of words being waged against Canada by Team MAGA than the Canadian Conservative party who have turned against Trump since his return to power. Hence Doug Ford’s hardline against the Trump tariffs and moronic annexation threat.
I take no pleasure in the prospect of a Trumpcession. I expect him to blame Joe Biden but only the most demented Trumpers will believe him. The economy was in a good place on January 19th, right now it seems to be crashing by design. Spasibo, Donald. Danke, Elon.
Repeat after me: The trade war with Canada is Team Trump’s stupidest policy.
The last word goes to Pete Townshend: