Posts Tagged → economy
Fair trade, not free trade
When I ran for Congress (at that time the PA 10th inhabited by Democrat Tim Holden, which included about all of Schuylkill County and parts or all of Berks, Lebanon, Dauphin and Perry counties) in 2009-2010, I remembered and repeated a phrase from my long ago 1980s political activism days in Centre County – Fair trade, not free trade.
Despite being fifteen years ago, this phrase caught on with our voter audiences. They really liked it, and many voters I met while campaigning had personal stories about their family’s various jobs in then-shuttered factories. And I was reminded of watching a high tech glass and industrial mirror factory close up shop in State College, PA, around 2000. It was the old Corning branch there on the Benner Pike. Literally sat there and watched the workers carefully, lovingly package up their machinery for its trip to the “new” factory in China. Some of the workers went over to train their Chinese counterparts, before returning to State College without a job.
Funny thing that President Trump’s tariff policy amounts to this exact summation of the more or less running bank account that every responsible nation keeps with all other trading partners. The fact that only most nations are tariffing American made goods at high rates, while enjoying very low tariffs on their products imported into America, is a sign of what ails us Americans: We think we can give give and give away everything we have, and we are too big to fail from it all. Which is nonsense.
Interestingly, we see the same argument about illegal immigration and endless government spending: No limits, America must take and absorb all of the costs that the world places on us…Everything is “free free free” except, of course, it isn’t free. These policies come with huge costs to Americans.
Free trade, as in giving away our trade imbalances for free, which enriches everyone else and impoverishes Americans, is a sign that our policy makers and indeed our own voters falsely believed that America is such a huge fountain of bounty and wealth that it can endlessly sustain this. What a silly and dangerous fantasy.
Sending our factory jobs, indeed our actual factories with all of their equipment and machinery, abroad to be re-born in China, Vietnam, India and elsewhere was nuts. It sent our means of production, our workers, our jobs, and our money out of America. All America got in return was maybe cheaper and junkier versions of what we had once made here, at a high quality. And yet this “free trade” thing picked up steam as big American corporations and their pet politicians began to take on a global view of trade. No longer were companies based in Delaware “American.” Rather, many of these companies’ senior leaders considered them to be global citizens that just happened to find a perch in America.
This off-shoring of everything America makes, grows, produces went on unchecked for a good thirty years, until everyone began to notice the downside, the cost. Just about every East Coast and Mid West state now has its own “rust belt” area. Areas filled with hulking, empty brick buildings and over-grown parking lots next to rivers and highways tell the sad tale of America’s economic downfall, and our nearing ruin.
Sure, we had a lot of government spending in the past twenty years to temporarily make up for the job losses, the depressed wages, the looming home foreclosures. But that spending is unsustainable. It is “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” It is simply printing Dollars for the sake of printing them. Less and less stands behind them. And yet someone standing way back there in the background was making a ton of money off of this screwy policy, while the rest of us Americans lost from it.
And so now we have a bold and very natural pro-America policy, the equalization of tariffs, making trade fair, not free, and the whole world is suddenly going upside down. My 401(k)! My dog’s retirement account! Oh my God, what will happen?
Folks, relax. Do a bong hit or have a glass of red wine. Our American world is not only not going to end, it is going to return to our glory days. Yes, it takes time, it will take time, so don’t be a bunch of prissy little Gen Z weenies demanding immediate gratification. America is worth fighting for, and these dueling tariffs are the opening salvo. Round One.
You know what is kind of oddly funny about that Fair trade, not free trade slogan? As apt as it is right now, I got that from some 1980s Centre County union workers, which trade or factory or coal mine they were in, I no longer recall. But they were right. And Trump is right. And we Americans are all aligned together on this to Make America’s Economy Great Again…
All together now, breeeaaathe…
No pain, no gain
The old gym motto “No Pain, No Gain” applies to the much-needed economic shakeup the Trump Administration is bringing to the entire planet. If we Americans do not put up with a little temporary pain and necessary readjustment now, for our own good, then we will enjoy no huge gain later on. It takes work to then earn and enjoy resulting benefits.
President Trump’s promise to American citizens was that he would return us to glory days, a golden age, which we richly deserve. Trump is correct that America has been the world’s piggy bank for decades, due to the huge tariff and trade imbalance. We should add that being the world’s piggy bank is an unsustainable and unfair arrangement paid for by the long forgotten American taxpayers, who see very few benefits in return for handing over their hard-earned cash to every Tom, Dick and Harry the American bureaucracy could dream up.
As we have learned over the past eight weeks from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), trillions of American taxpayer dollars have been illegally mis-spent on millions of dubious schemes, ideas, organizations, and fantasies, many of which directly aimed at harming the United States. American taxpayers have been funding their own sworn enemies through agencies like USAID, DHS, EPA, HHS, and the Department of Education.
In other words, domestic enemies here in America were running the federal government, and using our tax money to damage and destroy America. This egregious situation is only in addition to the lopsided international tariff arrangement that has grown out of control since about 1920.
The tariff situation is egregious by itself. All kinds of countries we Americans think of as “allies” have had heavy tariffs placed on importing American food and manufactured products, including milk and dairy, steel, etc. Many of these countries’ governments paid what minimal tariffs that the USA had in turn on products being imported into America, in effect buoying up their own private businesses.
America did not do that for our own businesses, and in fact America has had very low to no tariffs on most imports. And now after essentially handing over our own wealth and manufacturing sectors to foreigners for decades, we are tired of being the economic piggy bank or punching bag or host body for all of these takey-takey people around the world. It is hard to understand why Americans, particularly working and taxpaying Americans, support this large imbalance and wealth transfer from America to the world.
And yet, as we see, plenty of working Americans are arguing against tariff parity, and are setting fire to Tesla cars and dealerships as a form of protest against DOGE finding and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer money. Do you have to be mentally ill to belong to that one political party? Do you have to be self destructive to be a voting member of that one political party?
Do you have to hate America, Americans, the rule of law, and everything great about America to belong to that one political party?
Why would any normal American belong to that one political party?
Just as DOGE is causing Americans to take a long hard look at federal government mismanagement, Trump’s tariff parity is going to cause a shake-up in our international trade relationships, no doubt. It is going to cause some re-arrangements of pricing and products we are used to having easily available to us. For example, cheap Chinese crap on Amazon is probably not going to be as cheap any longer. And yesterday the Princess of Patience and I went to look at a new car for her, and we see how the new tariff parity might effect car prices. We learned that those foreign-brand vehicles already ordered and in the pipeline are not subject to tariffs (our family is positively prejudicial in favor of Toyota vehicles).
Of course, foreign brand vehicles made here in America are not subject to tariffs, either, and many Toyota cars and trucks are made in America.
Long and short of this subject is give these policy changes time to work. Already America is seeing immediate positive responses from many foreign trading partners, who are lowering their own tariffs because they know that their own industries cannot afford to absorb Trump’s tariffs. They will lose their export markets if they lose American buyers. So just be patient, remember that this is all being done for your own good and your own bank account, and know that it will work out well.
Putting up with these changes is like making deposits into your bank account. You might feel like you are missing opportunities to party with your money in the short term, but in the longer term you will be very happy.
Trump to Save America
Save America – Vote for Donald Trump to be our next president tomorrow, if you want to regain your freedom, your government, your good economy, your happy future, our America of law and order that you grew up with.
If you want America to be erased, and for Kamala Harris to keep our borders remaining wide open, as she has the past almost four years, with all of the destruction, rape, murder, chaos, fentanyl, child sex trafficking that her open border includes, then America is not for you.
Pictures worth a bazillion words
A picture is worth a thousand words
Thanksgiving
While fortunately spending a great deal of time out of doors over the past two weeks, often with old friends, in beautiful natural environments, I found myself feeling thankful over and over. What an incredible nation we live in, this America, to have so much opportunity and food and cars and clothing and so much else that it is easy to take any and all of it for granted.
If there is one thing that this debacle of a presidential administration in Washington DC is showing us Americans, it is how fragile our lives and indulgences really are here. In just ten months, the election-stealing Biden Administration has managed to joyfully throw America’s economy into a whirlpool, with spokesthing Jen Psaki laughing out loud and mocking questions about rising food prices, inflation.
“Sorry the treadmill is slowing down,” Psaki mocks, as the administration does everything in its power to keep ships off our coasts from delivering their cargo to us, to turn America from energy-independent to energy-weak and energy-dependent, with soaring gasoline prices as a result.
And in a bizarre way Psaki has done working Americans a favor. She and her confused boss Biden have shown us how thankful we should be. It is a fact that we should not take any of this incredible lifestyle for granted. Not even toilet paper, right? Look at what evil people can so easily do to us, if we just give them the opportunity!
Here below is George Washington’s original proclamation, establishing Thanksgiving Day. Remember that George Washington was one of our leading Founding Fathers who risked everything he had 245 years ago to bring us the opportunities and freedoms we enjoy today. When I read this, I wonder if enough Americans today feel the same way General Washington felt then; do we deeply appreciate what we have. I hope you all enjoyed this day of Thanksgiving as much as I did.
“Thanksgiving Proclamation
New York, 3 October 1789
By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
Go: Washington”
Dear GOP, it’s not about the economy, stupid
If you want to determine a person’s mindset, ask them tough questions. If they dodge those questions, or avoid them altogether, it is a clear signal where their mind is, and is not.
And thus we find the GOPe (Republican Party establishment) folks talking very loudly about the economy. As if that matters when a free America is being burnt to the ground, economy and all, by the Biden Administration and the Democrat Party’s anarchic friends like BLM, the anti-Republican so-called Lincoln Project, RINOs, and Antifa.
America’s most defining characteristic, the rule of law/ equal protection under the law/ equal accountability under the law regardless of station in life, has been utterly blown to smithereens in the past three months by the Biden Administration in coordination with the Washington, DC, administrative state like the FBI, DOJ, BATFE, etc.
Totally innocent Americans across the nation are having their front doors kicked in at 4:00am by heavily armed SWAT teams of FBI agents on made-up charges, brandishing search and seizure warrants out of a Cracker Jack box. These so-called “law enforcement agents” then steal everything of value or of necessity to the family in their home, lock down their bank accounts, and whisk these innocent people away to solitary confinement in jails without access to attorneys or prompt judicial hearings. These people are law-abiding patriots who had the temerity to lawfully assemble and petition their government for one main grievance: The Democrat Party’s theft of the 2020 election, and well, then about the two stolen senate seats in Georgia.
In doing these ultra-violent, over-gunned, unnecessary arrests, the corrupt, un-American, totalitarian message the corrupt Biden Administration and their corrupt administrative state allies at the FBI are sending is Don’t mess with us. We will destroy you. And they mean it, because while none of these innocent political prisoners the FBI is taking away and locking up in darkness have been accused of financial crimes, their bank accounts are being frozen. Which renders the family unable to pay bills, pay their mortgage, pay an attorney to defend them.
And while rifling through these people’s personal things inside their homes, the FBI agents are also taking family computers and tablets used for their small businesses and managing health medications that have zero to do with someone protesting at the US Capitol (The People’s House) on January 6th. The FBI is simply acting in a punitive way, using its huge law enforcement powers to abuse and hurt people because of basic political differences.
I don’t know why it is so hard for the GOP/GOPe to say this, but this FBI & DOJ detonation of the rule of law is the issue in America today. Everything else pales in comparison. Nothing else matters if your own government is using its huge police powers (given to it by We, The People to protect We, The People) to round up innocent citizen We, The People political prisoners, deprive them of their liberties, deprive them of due process, steal their personal property and never return it, and destroy their lives out of a vindictive political difference. Which should never matter to an impartial law enforcement agency, which of course the FBI and DOJ have shown themselves to no longer be; these two rogue agencies are strictly a domestic terror arm of the Democratic Party, used to punish its political enemies.
So hello, earth calling to GOPe, please stop sending out emails about how Joe Biden’s crappy economy is going to cause inflation. Of course Biden’s economy is going to be a disaster. How else do you think the Democrat Party will put as many Americans on the government dole as possible, if not by depriving us of an honest day’s living? Dependency on government handouts is a cornerstone of all tyrannies, as is the dependence on government leniency in law enforcement areas. The Democrat Party and its Washington, DC, minions want us all groveling on our knees, begging for bread and to not be beaten again.
America as we knew it since 1787 ended on January 20th 2021, and now it is up to Americans to re-assert their ownership of the government apparatus that is quickly making a mockery of the most basic tenets of democratic self-rule. We would like some help from the Republican Party in this undertaking. The people who work at the FBI and DOJ are paid by us, the US taxpayers, and they are supposed to work for us, not against us; not as some hired gun meant to terrorize the countryside and bring the population to heel, to get into line and do as we are told by our masters in DC. The FBI’s blatantly unconstitutional behavior does require some political pushback, by someone.
Dear GOPe, it is not about the economy, stupids. Rather, our present situation is about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the very core of being an American, all of which constitutional rights are under direct violent assault by the Biden administration and its taxpayer-paid henchmen at the FBI/DOJ/ US Postal Service/ BATFE etc. Could you Republicans please lend a hand, and help us citizens out of this un-American situation? Or are you guys all in such serious avoidance about the giant alligator that is not yet eating you, but which Sir Winston Churchill once warned will eventually get to you, too?

Months later the actual facts with this FBI-inspired violence remain unknown. Given that the Biden Administration is aggressively facilitating border crossing by criminals and child traffickers, why would the Biden FBI suddenly go after them inside America? This victim was probably a pro America patriot, defending himself against a lawless, politicized FBI assault.
Democrat Party: Burn Down America and See if Donald Trump is Still Standing
Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf just issued another edict: Nothing really opens in Pennsylvania until June 4th. Because he says so.
No science supports his action. All the Wuhan covid19 data now pouring in from around the country, and Pennsylvania, demonstrates the virus is an urban problem, a nursing home problem, an old age and bad existing health problem, an I-95 corridor problem that stretches from Richmond, Virginia, to Boston, Massachusetts.
Covid19 is most especially a New York and New Jersey problem, where the overwhelming proportion of deaths and hospitalizations have occurred. Thanks in great part to the decisions of Governor Cuomo and NYC Mayor de Blasio, both of whom encouraged sick people to move about freely, to ride the NYC subway, and for nursing homes to take in sick people known to be infected with covid19.
While Wuhan Flu is here because China wanted it to be here, if any one or two people in America are responsible for its spread and damage it is Cuomo and de Blasio.
Across America Democrat governors like Tom Wolf are throwing down the gauntlet, issuing fatwas, edicts, executive orders all extending the stay-the-f*k-at-home demand that has shut down businesses and bankrupted tens of millions of Americans. Putting people in jail merely for opening their barber shops and hair salons. None of these edicts are constitutional. None of these decisions emanate from the powers granted to elected officials. None of these are about health, they are about power. These are simply power grabs by elected officials looking to give themselves more power and to damage America.
This is economic warfare against the citizens of America. You and me.
Why would anyone want to damage America’s economy, you ask?
Because it is the only thing the Democrat Party has left to try to damage President Trump. They have tried everything else: False accusations, the Russia collusion hoax, the Ukraine hoax, fake impeachment hoax, hookergate, etc and at every turn, Trump has beaten them. Now all the Democrat Party has left is a scorched earth policy, burning down and blowing up America, and the Chinese covid19 virus is the last card in their hand for doing it.
Covid19 has given the Democrat Party their ability to try to blow up America and everything around President Trump, and then see if he is still standing. Never mind the collateral damage, like you, your job, your family, your business, your children. You and I are simply cannon fodder in the Democrat Party’s attempt to wrest control away from the one person who has the strength to stand up against them, against their media arm, and the GOPe (Republican establishment, AKA spineless jellyfish).
“But Josh, the Risks!”
Josh: Horsesh!t.
The epidemiological data shows us now exactly what the covid19 risks are and are not. Generally speaking, the risk from this virus is extremely low. America can function just fine going forward, and at-risk people will need to change their habits a bit, and there is no justification for this stay-the-f*k-at-home crap any longer.
But since November 10, 2016, the goal has been to get Donald Trump, no matter what.
And so now we are watching one aggressive political party blow up America in their pursuit of getting Donald Trump, while the opposing party is full of milquetoast, soft spoken, reasonable sounding, carefully coiffed, preened, gentlemen who would like nothing more than to have an early round of golf before going out to dinner and then to cocktail parties, where they can get their next insider information for their next big investment. That is why they got into politics in the first place.
Welcome to America 2020, where most of the politicians are utterly worthless. People, we ourselves are going to have to solve this ourselves, without the politicians. We cannot let them bankrupt us and destroy our families.
Stand up, stand tall, and tell Governor Tom Wolf to Stay The F*k At Home if he has a problem with you leading your life as you choose. Go get your hair cut.
UPDATE: After this was written, Dauphin and Lebanon counties joined Beaver and Greene counties in defying Governor Wolf. Thank God we have strong leaders here like commissioners Jeff Haste and Mike Pries.