"... If a farm family voted for Trump, believing that his policies were good, it seems strange that they would then demand that they, and only they, should be spared the full consequences of those policies. Tariffs are the dish that rural America ordered for everyone. Now the dish has arrived at the table. For some reason, they do not want to partake themselves or pay their share of the bill. That’s not how it should work. What you serve to others you should eat yourself. And if rural America cannot choke down its portion, why must other Americans stomach theirs?" -- David Frum, in The Atlantic ($), on why Trumpers in the farm community need to eat the results of the tariffs their votes brought on. They shouldn't be bailed out any more than any other sector, in our opinion. Unfortunately, the full glory of Trumpism needs to be felt by all, innocent and guilty.
My eyes were opened years ago about family farming. 2 of my sister in laws 8 husbands were farmers. One thing they had in common was playing fast and loose with Gov. funds to not grow certain crops, then growing them in wink wink, "rented" fields. there was a lot of money available for different programs to help the family farmer, and they used them all. Wall street had nothing on them in how to bend and twist rules. Every time I see a commercial showing a Marlboro man holding a steaming cup of coffee, looking out on a sunrise over his fields I want to puke.
ReplyDelete🤢🤮 I agree, Seafury! When we get news of tariffs and the "pain for a little while," only to get wind of the wink-wink, nudge-nudge of exemptions, it feels both unfair and more of the moronic lack of thought in any of this! I heard on MSNBC an almost throw-away statement about how Trump doesn't give a damn about stopping fentanyl or he wouldn't exempt the small packages from China...whuh? 😳
DeleteI admit I am still trying to understand this "de minimis" rule* and Trump keeps changing his mind on it because he doesn't understand it either! Of course, no consumer in this country wants to pay duty or tariffs on inexpensive goods from companies like Temu. But, exempting small packages from China, with a declared value of under $800, undoubtedly allows a literal shit-ton of narcotics into the country along with my Hubby's favorite shoes!! And, why should Hubby be exempt from the pain of tariffs? The latest info I can find on this rule is from Bloomberg last week. Any thoughts? 🤔
* https://www.ttnews.com/articles/china-small-packages-us