April 4 Open Thread: Trade War Means Cheaper Bacon
When Trump was wrecking the parts of America that liberals like, the asswipes who elected him were thrilled. Now he’s started a trade war with China, and China retaliated by slapping high tariffs on pork, which will cause pork prices to plummet, and suddenly they realize they elected a moron. I would feel sorrier for them if I weren’t looking forward to cheap ribs all summer.
The Blue Wave continues to build. It swept through Wisconsin yesterday and gave Scott Walker’s Supreme Court candidate a double-digit loss, leading the dimwitted Walker to warn Republicans that a blue wave is coming. No shit, Scott.
Why is the NRA acting even more unhinged than normal? Panic, pure and simple. The authors of this article, who have been battling the organization for years, say its never been as vulnerable as it is now.
Democrats in Ohio are worried their hopes of taking the governor’s office will be undermined by pint-sized gadfly Dennis Kucinich, who remains popular in his native Cleveland and nowhere else.
Now that Republicans control pretty much everything, you’d expect them to run for re-election in November on their policies. Heh, just kidding. Their strategy will be what it always is: They will run against Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton. You can already feel the excitement.
They will run on the benefits of the tax cut, AND against Nancy, Hillary, and Liz.
Except there are no benefits from the tax cut to run on.
And they tried that in Allegheny county and it didn’t move the needle even a little bit. Nope, they will have to run against Hillary and Nancy. Which might be OK, if Dems just run against Donald, Paul and Mitch. People literally cannot wait to come out to vote against Trump. The Republican’s strategy will have to be to damage Dems. They have nothing else.
That they don’t exist has never proven to be an impediment to running on the great economic benefits of tax cut.
Does anyone remember the Ray Bradbury short story “A Sound of Thunder”? It looks as though Bradbury was prescient about the orange menace. The current thing in the White House seems a lot like his off-screen character Deutscher. They both even have Germanic surnames.
What I want to know is, who the hell stepped on the butterfly?
@A “China retaliated by slapping high tariffs on pork…”
What’s really interesting is that nearly the entire list of things that China slapped a tariff on are all red-state products. This cannot be an accident.
China has clearly decided to meddle in US politics by striking at the heart of Trump country.
The Trump guy quoted as saying that he “might” change his vote if is business goes to shit is an outlier.
Most of those idiots will continue loving Trump, watching Fox News, and simply blame Mexicans or Pelosi for whatever economic/medical disaster befalls them.
It just one of our biggest exports to China. So yeah in that sense it’s not an accident. Most big factory farms are in “red states.”
Another very poor take from the Elite.
Trump supporters need to be embarrassed, ridiculed, mocked and made to feel uncomfortable at every opportunity. These people need to pay a price for the cancer they have brought to the world. They are stupid self righteous stubborn people lacking the most basic moral and intellectual development so when it becomes obvious that 45’s policies are hurting them they will need to see billboards telling them
@REV
No. Look at the full list of 30 top products hit with a tariff by China.
What’s missing are blue-state products, and that is significant.
Here is the top 30 list (from FOX News).
1 Soybeans
2 Corn
3 Corn flour
4 Pork
5 Certain fruits, including apples
6 Uncombed cotton, cotton linters
7 Aluminum straps
8 Sorghum
9 Brewing or distilling dregs and waste
10 Other durum wheat
11 Wheat and mixed wheat
12 Whole and half head fresh and cold beef
13 Fresh and cold beef with bones
14 Fresh and cold boneless beef
15 Dried cranberries
16 Frozen orange juice
17 Non-frozen orange juice
18 Whiskey
19 Types of tobacco, including cigars and cigarettes
20 SUVs with discharge capacity of 2.5L to 3L
21 Vehicles with discharge capacity of 1.5L to 2L
22 Passenger cars with discharge capacity 1.5L to 2L, 9 seats or less
23 Off-road vehicles with discharge capacity of 2L to 2.5L
24 Other gasoline trucks of less than five tons
25 Liquefied propane
26 Acrylonitrile
27 Other polyesters
28 Certain lubricants
29 Aircraft with an empty weight of more than 15,000kg but not exceeding 45,000kg
30 Certain plastics
What makes this list really interesting is what is not on it that could have been…
It’s almost like they’re targeting specific congressional districts.
Here are our top exports to China. Which “blue state” product did they skip for American political reasons?
1. Soybeans: $15 billion
2. Civilian aircraft: $8.4 billion
3. Cotton: $3.4 billion
4. Copper materials: $3 billion
5. Passenger vehicles (small engines): $3 billion
6. Aluminum materials: $2.4 billion
7. Passenger vehicles (large engines): $2.2 billion
8. Electronic integrated circuits: $1.7 billion
9. Corn: $1.3 billion
10. Coal: $1.2 billion
Other than Commercial aircraft (Boeing in Washington and MD in Cali) it’s all “red state”. And tariff were proposed on aircraft exports….
I really hate this conspiratorial shit.
Of course they are. So why include aircraft which are assembled in Washington and California?
And which are the “blue state” products that were left off?
Yeah, China is targeting certain district…
Jesus fucking Christ we’re all doomed.
What is a blue state product and how did you determine this? Which “blue state” product was omitted from the Chinese proposal? How much of it does the US export?
How can a President unilaterally impose tariffs anyway? Is he the fucking King now?
Largest US soybean production by state.
1. Illinois
2. Iowa
3. Minnesota
Illinois and Minnesota went for Hillary. Please stop this dumb media narrative.
Also these are all proposals. The new tariffs that have been levied = zero.
Are we straight now?
Tariffs were only put on smaller aircraft (less than 45Mg – think 737 and smaller), sparing major products from both Boeing and MD. What this hits are the the red-state airline manufacturers (e.g. Leerjets and the like).
Technology products (primarily blue-state products) are notably missing.
I don’t have time to argue about something you heard on the news. I’m out.
You win. China is targeting Congressional districts. With tariffs that will very likely never been implemented.
@REV “…heard on the news.”
Sorry. No TV in my life, and rarely any radio…
One of my points was that some of the proposed tariffs affect a single or a small handful of congressional districts (e.g. dried cranberries — Iowa, and not all dried fruit — California). And that’s why the list seems to me to be somewhat targeted.
I don’t care.
Here’s a look at the effect on the soybean farmers. Soybean futures are already down enough to have cost farmers over $1.72 billion:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/4/1754424/-Trump-s-self-created-trade-disaster-already-imperiling-Republican-candidates-in-farm-country
These stories are going to multiply like mice in the basement of a cat-free home in the next two days.
@REV “I don’t care.” “I don’t have time to argue…”
Then why challenge people like this?
“Another very poor take from the Elite.”
My content was spot-on, and relevant to the discussion.
And quite honestly, if Russia is blatantly supporting the GOP (to maximize chaos in the US), then why wouldn’t we expect to see the opposite from our dysfunctional-duo partner that is China? What China wants is the opposite of chaos.
I love it. Trump has finally stepped on his supporters in the middle of the country. Let the pig farmers take a hit, along with all the other farmers who voted for him. Let the stock market keep falling…sooner or later they will turn on the con man.
There’s a health-care angle on the new tariffs announced by the Trump administration: They could make drugs more expensive.
The Trump administration’s list of Chinese-manufactured products that could be slapped with a 25 percent tariff includes many ingredients used to manufacture drugs such as insulin, antidepressants and the anti-allergic-reaction drug epinephrine.
China, according to the Food and Drug Administration, is one of the largest suppliers of ingredients used to make U.S.-consumed prescription drugs.
Advocates and drugmakers worry that the tariffs would make generic products more expensive as the nation continues to struggle with already high drug prices.
“We are concerned that the proposed tariffs may lead to increased costs of manufacturing for generics and biosimilars and thus higher prescription drug prices for patients in the U.S.,” said a statement from the Association for Accessible Medicines, an organization that represents prescription drug manufacturers.
Why this could be trouble for the president: Advocates point out that tariffs on ingredients in drugs could undercut Trump’s promise to lower drug prices.
Read more here.
Anyone know why congress has fuck all to say about all of this?
@J “Anyone know why congress has fuck all to say about all of this?”
They have said nothing at all. And don’t expect more, because they are still hiding from Trump supporters. If they cross them, they’ll be gone for sure, blue-wave or not.
So Trump is basically King now. Great work Carper and Coons.
Trumpolini is king only in his delusional mind.