Trump's, "Day of Liberation" is actually, "D-Day" in the Tariff assault on your household bills
Trump's tariffs are coming for every one of us!
TAT readers,
Thank you to all, for your patience these past few days. There was far too much going on personally, to sit down and write an essay. Now, with some long overdue organization restored, it’s time to get back to work.
Today, we are only two days away from what Trump and his cronies call their “Day of Liberation.” If you thought that COVID inflation was bad, just wait until Trump’s tariffs take effect this coming Wednesday. To be perfectly clear, I have long written that other than the darkest days of COVID, approximately the first two years, that there was far more price-gouging going on, than “inflation.” Trump’s “Day of Liberation,” is actually the beginning of his global tariff war. Only a fool would believe this war to be good for the US economy, and which will be especially painful for the overwhelming majority of US households.
As of this morning, the stock market opened with a great deal of selling off of stocks that are expected to make a strong downturn. Although there was recovery, palpable jitters are the best way to explain Wall Street at the moment. Employees are becoming increasingly nervous about employment, from a Trump fueled economic downturn, that could directly and negatively impact manufacturing, sales, supply chains and yes, the size of your bill at the supermarket. Most nations are already planning to reciprocate with their own tariffs and this too, will negatively impact your household budgets.
Another enormous problem with these tariffs is that any stock market manipulation by a handful of billionaires with insider information, will use these economy shocking tariffs, to wildly profit. Those without such information, will simply be passing the money they lost on the market, over to a bunch of billionaire oligarchs, aligned with the Trump, Musk and GOP coup. The truth is, the majority of problems will affect every American, not just those in the stock market or with retirement accounts.
It also doesn’t just end with the American people being slammed with higher prices. Foreign families will also be directly impacted as well. Employment, shelter, stability will be impacted, in every single country that Trump and his henchmen, plan to assault. Considering that safety, food and water insecurity and violence are key drivers to mass migration, this will also affect regions of the globe, where there are already, dire circumstances for survival.
One of the first places that most Americans will feel “sticker shock” will be at the supermarket. A full 69% of our veggies come from Mexico, followed by 51% of our fruits. Even beer falls into these categories of horticultural exports consumed by Americans. For example, the number one beer in America, is now Modelo that like its Mexican beer brother, Corona, have substantial American markets.
"Overall, Mexico made up 69% of U.S. vegetable imports and 51% percent of U.S. fresh fruit imports in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Between 2000 and 2021, the value of Mexico’s horticultural exports into the U.S. quadrupled. Beer is included in those categories — and a huge share of American drinkers could face higher costs too, given the popularity of Corona and Modelo, the latter of which is now the No. 1 brew in the U.S." - Here are the fruits and vegetables from Mexico that could see higher prices from Trump tariffs - NBC News - Rob Wile - November 26th, 2024
If you or the company you own or work for, requires new vehicles, you will be punished too, as that tariffs on cars and other vehicles, will be steep as well. Despite the typical political dishonesty about “cars made in America,” none fully are. Parts for so-called “American made vehicles” come from a wide variety of places in the world, including the assembly of certain parts and sections of key components of all vehicles, in foreign countries. Yes, this also means that buying “tech,” whether a cell phone, TV or a new Ford truck, will cost more because of tariffs.
"No cars sold to American consumers are fully made in the U.S. because they require imported parts that need to cross the country's borders, sometimes several times, during assembly. The marketplace's American-Made Index ranks the "most American" cars, and none of them are made with parts fully sourced in the U.S." - Trump wants cars made in USA amid trade battle. None fully are - USA TODAY - Rachel Barber - March 31st, 2025
Sure, economics are complicated but like most professions, there are those who are quite good at explaining complexity clearly, so that everyone to understand. I look for these types of sources for not only my sake, but of readers as well. When I write to you, I always wish to make sure that I draw my opinions and conclusions, from the very best sources. For example, although I have a little formal training in the economics of national security, but it is not my strongest strength. To support my work, I rely heavily on expertise, including the research that supports my publishing. Today’s search found me reading the writing of a certain, Matthew Rooney of the George W. Bush Institute. He did a fine a job of explaining the threat from tariffs as much as anyone. You can find his short, well-penned article, at the embedded link.
"In the 1930s, the United States and other industrialized countries raised tariffs across the board, each hoping that by protecting domestic manufacturing they could limit the job losses of the Great Depression and return to prosperity. The result was a series of tariff hikes and retaliatory tariff hikes that wound up choking off world trade. The U.S. and the other wealthy countries of the day were cut off from export markets, which led to a collapse in manufacturing output and only deepened the misery of job loss and depression. Protection only left everyone exposed." - Tariffs Are Great – If You Like Raising Prices, Undermining Jobs, and Inhibiting Innovation - Matthew Rooney - George W. Bush Institute - Fall of 2018
My long life, especially in business prior to returning to the military after 9-11, has given me a great deal of OJT or on-the-job-training in economics. My building business survived at least two, serious recessions, major disasters and of course, the regimen required to stay in business for two and a half decades. The economics of rebuilding nations post conflict. The intricacies of major finance involved in contracting for $ 325 million dollars’ worth of projects in Baghdad throughout 2004 and just prior to returning home from my Iraqi vacation, assisting in programming another $ 500 M in future projects, were demanding and an education all by themselves. While that I consider my economic experience my lesser strength, I do not consider myself an amateur either. For this reason, I always look for consensus among the very best experts. The political party of those experts are never a consideration. The goal is simply to offer readers, the benefits of my experience, in conjunction with facts and supporting expertise.
The overwhelming majority of experts, political affiliations aside, agree with Rooney. History agrees with Rooney and in fact, we should all listen to him and the rest. It is in our own best interests to do so. Any Republican in congress that agrees with Trump on this, is imposing even heavier financial burdens onto their own constituents, that are working Americans. This is what the GOP in particular has been doing now, for well over a decade. Tax breaks for the wealthiest, the elimination of tax opportunities for working Americans and diminished or non-effective oversight on Congressional spending are their doing, not ours, but you and I pay the price.
These tariffs for his Day of Liberation are a joke and almost exclusively tools to pound entire nations and industries to conform to Trump, Musk and Putin’s worldviews, not assist the US economy. Trump’s tariffs are in short, a power-play by the elite wealth and power crowd, that you and I pay for. They sure as hell aren’t for us, the non-one percent. In fact, Rooney’s headline tells you all that you need to know about Trump’s dystopian power-play: “Tariffs Are Great – If You Like Raising Prices, Undermining Jobs, and Inhibiting Innovation.”
If we do not put enough pressure on the White House and every single Republican congressman to shut this down, they will continue their streak of imposing serfdom onto all Americans, while the elite prosper. This is how the Republican Party taxes US citizens, for the gain of a very few oligarchs and power-hungry high-level Republicans.
As I edge on towards the end of this essay, I want to leave you with a couple of links to previous essays about oligarchy, price-gouging and a deep essay about the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. Tariffs became a mostly Republican tool, after the turn of the 19th century to the 20th. Smoot-Hawley by all standards, deepened and worsened the Great Depression and was a supporting factor to the outbreak of WW II. What exactly is Trump’s endgame? Why are we doing this? Why is it all so hush-hush? These are questions that I hope all of you, will be asking or rather demanding answers to, from your congressmen. They work for us, and we want answers. Please, also ask if they will support or speak against Trump’s Tariff war.
Here are a couple of essays that support my opinions in this essay. I think that in retrospect, you just may find one or more of these legacy essays, worthwhile.
Trump's tariff threats, through the lens of the disastrous 1930, Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
Oligarchy + Media = Hyper Partisanship, Hyper Partisanship = the death of the Republic.
Big oil, oligarchy, and the threat they pose to US and global security.
Time to replay this essay on price-gouging vs. inflation and oligarchy
Finally, I hope that you will find time to read or at least scan this essay and one or two of the others listed, sometime this week or over the weekend. If Trump continues down this path, it doesn’t end well for the US, our friends and allies or associated citizens. I simply wish us all to understand sooner than later. The sooner we are accurately informed and prepared, the sooner that we can become more effective activists, against elected representatives and their campaign donors, that support this bizarre and very risky, tariff war.
Let’s make Trump’s, Day of Liberation, actually a liberation from his poorly conceived tariff war.
My very best for your coming week,
Paul
¡Viva la Revolución!