CARTOON: GET READY, TRUMPERS -- Donald's Tariff Tax Bomb Will Skyrocket Inflation
With his tariffs and impending knee-capping of regulatory agencies, Trump is handing corporations a big tarp to cover up their greedflation scam.
“One thing I’ve learned this election cycle is a lot of people who have claimed to be anarchists or anti-state were really just waiting for the right king to come along.
“Manufacture complacency and blindly trusting the plan, whether Q-anon or Blue-anon, will enable tyranny, shake off the complacency and pay attention to policy action over rhetoric now that the election is over.”*
— Everyone Needs To Pay Attention To What's Really Happening | Whitney Webb, link to 8-minute video. * Quote lightly edited for clarity
Cartoon by Mark Taylor / DeMOCKracy.ink
By Mark Taylor
DeMOCKracy.ink (11/26/24)
Donald Trump campaigned on jacking up import tariffs as a magic pill to address structural weaknesses in America’s creaky, looted economy. He has promised on day one of his second round in the White House to impose a 25% tariff on all goods from Mexico and Canada and 10-60% on China.
With the combined net wealth of Trump’s Cabinet picks hitting $344.4 billion, more than the gross domestic product of 169 countries, Trump will have the willing capitalist saboteurs to siphon money from workers to Wall Street. And with Elon Musk ($332 billion in purloined wealth) heading up the new unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, he has just the right hit man in place to hack essential earned benefit programs people need to survive.
Add to that the fact Republicans control both Houses of Congress and the Supreme Court, and that the Democrats are as much in the petty change drawer of Wall Street as the GOP, the tariffs will get slammed through, even though even Ferris Bueller knows tariffs are BS.
But surely, if WalMart, Target or Amazon have to pay an extra 60% for products from China they won’t stick you with that added cost, right?
No, really folks, not to worry. Trump’s oligarchs are watching out for you.
To run you down and empty your flattened wallet.
More wealth to the wealthy
Economists reported somewhere around 60% of the inflationary burden during the first years of the Biden reign was actually greedflation: price gouging by corporations hiding behind actual inflation. With his tariffs and impending knee-capping of regulatory agencies, Trump is handing corporations a big tarp to cover up their greedflation scam.
Riding on the magic carpet of corporate donations, Biden steadfastly refused to address greedflation and you’d have to be high on ‘shrooms to think Trump will do anything about it. It’s government by and for the skamming wealthy, people.
Trump’s migrant round-up may well mean crops go unharvested and food processing plants slow down while the supply of needed cheap manual labor dries up, punching up food and other costs, adding another element to higher prices. It’s gonna be ugly.
If at all possible, prepare
Now is the time to purchase items you need or need to replace. If you can, pay down debt and stock up on canned food. Perhaps buy and set aside some basic clothing and shoes for future need. If you have access to gardening space or vegetable grow pots, buy and safely store vegetable seeds. Of course, if you are struggling to get by now, none of this will be possible, so learn about any community assistance programs you may be able to turn to. And, everyone, get to know your neighbors and help with community mutual aid efforts.
On a recent podcast journalist Whitney Webb had some very constructive advice on how best to prepare for the coming hellscape. Link here and begin at the 7:30-mark on “How To Prepare” and watch through to the end.
Pay attention. And if you get a chance to heckle a Congress member, give ‘em a dose.
"For example…. a $40 toaster oven could cost up to $12 more after the tariffs. A $50 pair of athletic shoes would climb to $59-$64 and a $2000 mattress and box spring set would wind up costing $2128-$2190."
— 'Comes out of consumers’ pockets': Here’s how much more you’ll pay under Trump’s tariffs
RELATED EARLIER POST: CARTOON: Gee, That Didn't Take Long -- MAGA Cult Suckered & Played Just Like Democrats. Link Here
Economist Richard Wolff: Trump's Tariff Tax On YOU Will Make Inflation EXPLODE
The Real News Network (11/25/24)
Trump wants to slap tariffs on China and other countries. What are tariffs? How will they affect your wallet and ability to care for your family? Economist Richard Wolff gives a quick rundown and warning.
5-minute video
UPDATE: Trump 'Can't Guarantee' Tariffs Won't Cost Americans More
By Kelby Vera
HuffPo (12/8/24)
Donald Trump says he can’t guarantee his plan to impose sweeping tariffs on America’s top trade partners won’t hurt people’s pocketbooks.
Asked if he could promise Americans won’t pay more under his proposed trade policies during Sunday’s episode of “Meet the Press,” the president-elect conceded, “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow.”
But during his first major interview since November’s election, he told host Kristen Welker he still believed imposing tariffs on goods from China, Canada, Mexico and beyond would “cost Americans nothing,” contrary to what many economists have predicted.
Trump’s plan to levy double digit tariffs on trade partners could ding middle-income households $2,600 a year, according to estimates from the Peterson Institute for International Economics. …
Photo credit: Jon Richards / WhoWhatWhy
Mexico Suggests It Would Launch Its Own Tariffs To Target Trump Tariffs
“One tariff would be followed by another in response, and so on until we put at risk common businesses,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said.
AP (11/26/24)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested Tuesday that Mexico could retaliate with tariffs of its own, after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% import duties on Mexican goods if the country doesn’t stop the flow of drugs and migrants across the border.
Sheinbaum said she was willing to engage in talks on the issues, but said drugs were a U.S. problem.
“One tariff would be followed by another in response, and so on until we put at risk common businesses,” Sheinbaum said, referring to U.S. automakers that have plants on both sides of the border.
But Sheinbaum, who took office Oct. 1, is a stern leftist ideologue trained in radical student protest movements, and appears less willing to pacify or mollify Trump.
“We negotiate as equals, there is no subordination here, because we are a great nation,” Sheinbaum said, while adding, “I think we are going to reach an agreement.”
She said Tuesday that Mexico had done a lot to stem the flow of migrants, noting “caravans of migrants no longer reach the border.” However, Mexico’s efforts to fight drugs like the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl — which is manufactured by Mexican cartels using chemicals imported from China — have weakened in the last year.
American gun running and how to fix immigration
Sheinbaum said Mexico suffered from an influx of weapons smuggled in from the United States, and said the flow of drugs “is a problem of public health and consumption in your country’s society.”
Sheinbaum also criticized U.S. spending on weapons, saying the money should instead be spent regionally to address the problem of migration. “If a percentage of what the United States spends on war were dedicated to peace and development, that would address the underlying causes of migration,” she said.
Sheinbaum’s bristly response suggests that Trump faces a much different Mexican president than he did in his first term. …
Good job America!
Too bad there was not a viable alternative. IMO, etc. The Dems have been shipping $billions and $billions out of the country, and who would trust someone who paid Beyonce $10 million just to give a three minute "speech" to make any sort of financial decisions at all? .FEMA deliberate mismanagement, millions of immigrants just flooding in - the hubris of expecting others to think the Dems know how to run the country is astounding. Wars. I used to be a Dem, now I am independent/unaffiliated.