So the repercussions are now really beginning to hurt US consumers.

After gormlessly cheering Trump in the Rose Garden (after he inexplicably wandered off and had to be guided back) as he presented his weird Tariff chart, US auto workers got their just deserts as 900 were laid off the following day.

Now the giant trucking company Mack Trucks has laid off 400 workers.

The giant John Deere tractor company is having real problems as tariffs begin to hit it.

The problem for all these even US based corps is that so many parts for their engines are imported.

Boeing of course has just lost a huge Chinese order for over 5000 jets over the years.

The flow on effects are just beginning as shipping is predicted to flounder as Chinese imports dry up (100s of very small US companies that rely on imported parts or goods have gone to the wall)

So to date the only persons suffering in this "tariff war" is the American consumer. It will get worse, so much worse.

Yet the millions of MAGA fans still think they are winning something.

Maybe like Trump they think US manufacturers who moved abroad over the past 50 years will return which would take decades to happen and they would still be only able to produce an Iphone for over twice the current imported price.

On the positive side US farmers are begging US citizens to come and pick fruit and veggies for poverty wages (7 days a week) as their immigrant labour has fled.

Fortunately Florida has ditched child labour laws so MAGA kids can look forward to life on a strawberry farm.

Yes this policy might prove to be wrong just as I think Brexit was a mistake (not so much the effect of leaving the EU but the stupidity of changing horses in mid race) and I think strict immigration control is a mistake by all countries - we should think like humans and adapt accordingly. But none of this affects me; there are far more important problems in the world. I actually think it's quite a bright negotiation technique. And I agree with some of his other positions - like considering it disgraceful that for 50 years America has had to fund NATO whilst so many European countries ripped the US off. Mainly though I admire the fact that Trump chose to take on both political "wisdom" (it isn't - it's often stupidity) and media which has been able to manipulate, control and direct leaders so totally for decades.

Still not a Trump fan (anyone who hasn't watched The Apprentice film has really missed out). He looks and sounds like a ghastly man. But so are many who reach "the top". And the reality is - democracy no longer works as media has learned how to make profits by popular stupidity. Benign autocracy is the best form of government - preferably by a decent, honourable person (of either gender).

The benign autocracy I can think of which has been a huge success is Singapore.

The citizens have amazing benefits, great housing and a superb economy with good wages and conditions.

China is also one I guess although Xi Zinping is really a front man for the all powerful Communist Party.

What is amazing about the Chinese miracle economy is that Communism has cherry picked the best parts of Capitalism and used them to build China's wealth.

Is Trump intent on dismantly Capitalism in the US or is it he just hasn't got a clue ?.

Farmers have stopped buying John Deere tractors for a while now Hedda you city slicker.

www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/a...-layoffs-mexico.html

www.johnboydjr.com/blog/national-black-f...oycott-of-john-deere

Fortunately Florida has ditched child labour laws so MAGA kids can look forward to life on a strawberry farm.

I like the idea of kids working outside picking crops in the fresh air. Kids have paper rounds, Summer jobs, apprenticeships, work experience and in the past we had Saturday jobs.

I am sure parents will encourage their kids to work for their own money and learn that the Bank of Mummy and Daddy does eventually close.

I don't understand tariffs - could you explain them to us again Hedda?

Wyot wrote:
I don't understand tariffs - could you explain them to us again Hedda?


No. It's bloody self evident a new tax will drive up prices.

And I said John Deere were in trouble. But it's complex as a lot of their sales are abroad especially in South American where they have a Mexican factory. In the USA not so good.

The other Great Irony with China using Capitalism to build it's extraordinary economic miracle over the decades is that US Capitalist corporations have used Communism in China by sending their manufacturing there. How ironic.

This whole situation is not of Trump's making (although the Tariff War is) as every US president since JFK has sat by & watched corporate America send manufacturing off shore without a single one using any sort of encouragement to stay in the US.

It's the beginning of the end of the American Empire which ruled the 20th Century.

One reason why China will win any sort of "tariff war" as Trump now appears to be backing down.

I think this comes after apparent meetings with the heads of Walmart. Lowes, Costco and other good suppliers who no doubt explained real problems with their supply chains were about to emerge.

My father worked in China in the 70s on and off over about 4 years helping set up and lecture young Chinese business folk on how Western banking systems worked.

Apart from concluding China would run the world one day, he was amazed how in the whole of Chinese society there was a cultural belief that each generation had serious obligations to future generations which was something that existed before and after Communism took over.

The Chinese not only beavered away to improve their current lives, they see it essential that their current efforts also help improve the lives of citizens in 100/200 years. All to do with the huge respect they have for their ancestors.

So the current leaders can not just back down for current quick advantage rather they have to keep the future in mind. They play the long game.

# lecture ends here.