“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?