Tuesday, July 24, 2018

TRUMP'S TARIFF POLICIES GET EVEN WEIRDER ... A Synopsis, From My Friend Seven

Image result for farmers for free trade ad

Rather than back away from his disastrous tariff policies, Donald Trump wants to offer public assistance to farmers hurt by his trade policies. So yeah, we've gone from the Trump administration not knowing WTF they're doing to putting fingers in the dike, pretending everything's going to turn out all right.

Sigh ...

My friend, and all around good guy, Seven, has a nice synopsis of how disorganized and poorly thought through Trump's trade policies are below. Sure, Seven's a little ticked off, but it really hits home when it's written this way. Enjoy ...

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Image result for trump's tariffs and farmers comic
Follow this logic.
1) Trump passes record breaking welfare (tax cuts) for corporations and the wealthy. Gives a nugget to the upper middle class and tells us all to be thankful, because it will raise wages and ignite the economy.
2) Those tax cuts disappear into capital gains and never "trickle down" into wages or anything workers need. GDP increases (yet again) on the backs of workers.
3) Investment banks demand rolling back the same regulations that kept us out of trouble for most of the 20th century, until they were relaxed under Clinton and Bush. This is literally what created the housing crisis and Great Recession. We're doing it again.
4) Trump enacts a very clumsy trade war with the world (mostly our allies) that threatens tens of millions of American jobs with tariffs that don't have a significant benefit to our revenue generation.
5) Trump passes 12 Billion in welfare as a defensive hedge around the agricultural industry he nearly collapsed with his petulant trade war.
So he's defunded a wide variety of social infrastructure that people rely on for safety, education and health. He's gutted the revenue of our country so we can't pay for these things we've committed to pay for. Everything from homeless veterans to cancer research are scrambling for funding.
We're making tariff exemptions for friends of Trump from China. We're hosting Putin at the White House, after Helsinki. There's a ridiculous military parade that will cost an astronomical sum, and we're still locking children up in cages.
We've created a massive welfare program and special favors for businesses, removed welfare programs for the poor, screwed workers over again, and we're trying to end the homeless veterans program but we can spend millions on a parade.
Oh...and apparently we've already indicted people for being foreign agents, working in and around Trump. Y'know...cuz...fuck I can't even finish this, I'm so emotionally exhausted.

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I have nothing else to add.

- Mark

OK, I do have something to add. This comic ...

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