I'm not sure I fully understand all the layers of irony and absurdity in the latest economic news, but Trump seems to be offering American farmers (particularly soybean farmers) a 12 billion dollar bailout because they have been adversely affected by his unilateral implementation of tariffs-- especially on China, which used to buy U.S. soybeans-- so we're using taxpayer money generated by the tariffs, which decreased exports, to bail-out the farmers-- who will have to store the soybeans or sell them at a deep discount-- creating market instability and the need for government assistance; meanwhile, China has found other suppliers and has also made its way into other markets, partially fueled by the absence of the United States in these markets because of Trump's tariffs-- so China has increased its trade surplus by over twenty percent, to the tune of a trillion dollars . . . meanwhile the United States is running its usual trade deficit (which doesn't seem to be influenced in any particular way by tariffs and has to do with other economic forces) and apparently many large businesses have been absorbing the costs of the tariffs but come January there may be cost increases to reflect this . . . this is all above my pay grade but it seems to me we should want China to be buying stuff from us-- such as soybeans-- but I also understand that globalization has its costs (thus, our populist president) but I think the genie is out of the bottle and it's too late to turn back the clock, so we want to be as involved in the global market as we can be . . . but what the fuck do I know, I'm just a dog (sometimes, for an extra treat, Dave has me write his blog).
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