DL Open Thread: Thursday, April 3, 2025
“It’s A Disaster”: Trump screwing the defenseless is one thing, but this, this, is a whole ‘nother thing:
Markets around the world tumbled on Thursday after President Trump announced across-the-board tariffs on America’s main trading partners, including the European Union and Japan.
Futures on the S&P 500, which allow investors to trade the index outside normal trading hours, slumped more than 3 percent. Asian and European stock markets fell sharply, with benchmark indexes dropping more than 3 percent in Japan, and nearly 2 percent in Hong Kong, South Korea, Germany and France.
The value of the U.S. dollar against a basket of other major currencies dropped more than 1 percent.
The market reaction suggested that the scale of the tariffs on Wednesday had come as a surprise, and there was confusion about how the figures had been derived.
“The numbers are shockingly high compared to what people were expecting and it is inexplicable in many ways,” said Peter Tchir, head of macro strategy at Academy Securities. “I think it’s a disaster.”
JPMorgan offered a grim outlook in its daily economic briefing following Trump’s tariff announcement.
“These policies, if sustained, would likely push the US and global economy into recession this year,” Wednesday’s briefing said, according to CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla.
“We view the full implementation of these policies as a substantial macro economic shock not currently incorporated in our forecasts,” the briefing continued.
Wonder what these penguins think:
President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced far-reaching tariffs on most of the United States’ trading partners. So far-reaching, in fact, that they include a remote, sub-Antarctic island group inhabited mainly by penguins — and a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean known for its polar bears.
They are unoccupied by humans and had zero trade with the U.S. last year, according to the latest available U.S. figures. That makes the 10 percent tariff imposed Wednesday somewhat moot. (Irony creeping into a WaPo story? Somebody call Bezos!)
BTW, Trump Doesn’t Have The Power To Unilaterally Impose Tariffs. Congress gave him that power, Congress could take it back:
Point one is that we should remember that Presidents have no inherent power over tariffs whatsoever. This isn’t like war powers or pardons where these are questions the Constitution assigns to the will of one person. They are entirely delegated by Congress and could be taken back at any moment. They are also explicitly reserved for emergencies. They aren’t meant to be used as to create entirely novel trade regimes. But Congress lets the President decide what constitutes an emergency. The logic of that delegation is based on the flexibility and convenience the delegation creates and the assumption that the president wouldn’t be nuts. The Republican Congress could bring this absurd gambit to a halt tonight. So it’s all on them, every one of them individually.
The Senate actually voted to get rid of the tariffs on Canada. The House, of course, won’t touch it. Democrats in Congress and all over the country should demand that Congress rescind those tariffs. If this policy reduces the economy to smouldering wreckage, the Rethugs need to be set afire in what they have enabled.
Guess Who Did Not Have Tariffs Imposed. OK, no guessing required: Russia, Cuba, North Korea, Belarus.
Gore-Tex Heir To Demand Investigation? The answer is: of course not. The heir?: Chris Coons:
The makers of Gore-Tex, a popular product commonly used to waterproof clothing by companies such as the North Face and Mountain Hardware, poisoned drinking water and sickened residents around their facilities in rural Maryland, two lawsuits allege.
The facilities, about 90 miles north-east of Baltimore, polluted drinking water with levels up to 700 times above federal limits with some kinds of Pfas, a group of toxins known as “forever chemicals” due to their environmental longevity. The tainted water caused high rates of cancers and other diseases linked to Pfas exposure in the area, a class action suit alleges.
Meanwhile, Maryland is suing WL Gore and Associates, Gore-Tex’s parent company, over alleged environmental violations. Each suit claims Gore knew about its products’ dangers as early as the 1980s, but continued to put Pfas into local waters, which drain into the Chesapeake Bay, and emit the substances from smokestacks.
The company has said it only learned about PFOA, a common type of Pfas compound, in nearby groundwater two years ago, and has suggested it is not responsible for at least some of the pollution.
Philip Federico, an attorney for the plaintiffs, dismissed the idea, noting the chemicals in the water match what Gore used. “They’re really not in a position to say it’s not their Pfas – they know it is, and everyone else knows it,” Federico said.
Might I point out that, without his family millions, Chris Coons would never have had a political career (kinda like ‘Pete’ duPont)?
No Leg Hall Expansion–For Now. Well, they’re gonna get a garage, but that’s it:
Delaware lawmakers are halting an expansion project at Legislative Hall in Dover after suffering millions of dollars in federal funding freezes from the Trump administration, including $38 million in health care dollars last week.
“In the coming months, lawmakers will be faced with tough decisions about how to balance our annual budget. We are committed to funding critical programs that benefit our students, our seniors, our veterans, and every day families,” the statement said. “We hope to revisit the expansion project soon.”
Uh, why? We’re still at 62 legislators (61, if you don’t count Rep. Stell Parker Selby). People can listen, and even testify, from home instead of in the Chamber, a relatively new advancement. They don’t even have to travel to the Hall. Budgeted at a minimum of $122 mill, this project should be axed and should stay axed.
End-Of-Life Bill Appears Headed Towards Senate Passage:
A bill that would make it legal for doctors to prescribe terminal medications to dying people is gaining momentum and now looks likely to land on the governor’s desk.
A month after the Delaware House of Representatives narrowly passed the legislation, House Bill 140, a spokeswoman for the Delaware Senate Democrats said on Wednesday that the two newest members in the upper legislative chamber support the bill.
In response to Sokola’s comments about his newest Senate colleagues, Spotlight Delaware asked Sarah Fulton, director of communications for the Delaware Senate Majority Caucus, whether Cruce and Siegfried support House Bill 140.
In an email, she said, “Both Cruce and Seigfried will be voting yes on HB 140 when it comes before the chamber.”
Former Senators Sarah McBride and Kyle Evans Gay had previously voted for the bill. Gov. Matt Meyer has said he will sign the bill, reversing the disastrous veto deployed by Delaware’s Worst Governor Ever, John Carney.
What do you want to talk about?
I wish Leg Hall could move forward. The House continues to fail to advance meaningful access virtually, for both Reps and residents. Plus employees deserve more than a yard of their own space to work, and committee scheduling is pretty much impossible because there are only five room options and three are small. Why is Meyer giving $20M to nontaxpayer well-endowed (haha) UD to build a new building but the Hall can’t move forward with at least an addition? Their budget for the project was extreme but something must be done. I think I’m most mad about this because it feels like they’re pulling a “comply in advance” with Meyer and cutting this so he can do his budget.
But I’ll begrudgingly congratulate the Senate on this 140 news — I hope it sticks.
I’m keeping an eye on prefile today, will a legislator put their name on the Meyer budget so we can finally see it?
I don’t think people realize how inadequate and outdated Legislative Hall (Delaware’s is the smallest state capitol building in the country) really is. The staff there work miracles to make things work with the limited useable space available. There are five rooms in the entire building capable of accommodating large meetings: both chambers, the JFC room and one hearing room on each side.
That means on a given committee day, there’s only space for two meetings of substance at a time. The others are meeting in glorified coat closets. Also, the rooms are barely equipped for WiFi (someone told me once that the walls are so thick that they needed to install repeaters in nearly every room to allow a signal to reach everywhere) and they’re not equipped for professional committee meetings.
There *should* be a half-dozen dedicated committee meeting rooms set up like the JFC room with mics and cameras so the public who don’t want to attend in person can actually see and hear what is happening virtually, while providing space for those who come to Dover to watch and testify.
And there isn’t enough space for staff and legislators combined, forcing staff to double up in offices and interns to sit in common areas. There’s minimal space for the public to gather as well inside the building, leading to overcrowding on busy days.
I’m not suggesting a Cadillac plan for Legislative Hall, but saying the project should be scrapped ignores these very real issues, some of which directly impact those who might never set foot in the building.
Well, I ‘set foot’ in the building for over 20 years.
So, I remember the last expansion of Leg Hall, which was a pretty significant expansion.
We are also one of the smallest states in the country with a similarly small number of legislators, so it’s not as if we need a building that exceeds our needs.
You both may have a point about a modest expansion, at best.
But $122 mill worth? While still funding a garage plan that ensures that a legislator never has to see anyone if they don’t choose to?
Especially since people (like me, at least) can view and participate from home, which wasn’t possible until COVID?
$122 mill IS a Cadillac Plan. Besides, if we’re gonna expand to that extent, why not have Elon pay for it? He owes us.
The space problem could be alleviated by reducing the number of House and Senate seats. In the last election 8 Senators faced no opponent. In the House 19 had no opponent (https://whyy.org/articles/democrats-win-statewide-races-elections-2024/.
The number of seats could be reduced if legislators from districts that had no opponents would be merged with neighboring districts that do.
I know this would require amending the state constitution so it won’t happen. Both parties benefit from this process. It leads to voter apathy especially in off year elections. It is a poor reflection on the democratic process.
I think the number is about right. Especially with continued growth.
The best legislators are committed to constituent services. Poor constituent services leads to incumbents losing office.
Unless the state population unexpectedly decreases, the General Assembly membership shouldn’t be reduced either.