Back in May, I posted the following opinion concerning the intent of the Trump Administration in its dealings with, well, everyone. In it, I acknowledge that I was a bit surprised, not at the blatant cruelty exhibited by Trump's MAGA policies, not even at the admission by him and many of his acolytes who openly state that making it uncomfortable for illegal immigrants to remain in America is the point, but by the overt cruelty being shown to Americans, whether they work in the federal workforce, or identify as transgender, or merely disagree with the current administration's policies.
Trump, along with people like Tom Homan, Stephen Miller and Russel Vought, have no qualms about treating people, Americans or otherwise, with disdain and inhumanity in the name of their ideology. They are as far from Christians as one can be without actually wearing a swastika.
As I have said a number of times in past posts, I no longer wonder why everyday Germans allowed, even participated in the attempted genocide of the Jewish people, as we are seeing, first hand, how millions of people who believe they will spend eternity in heaven, are OK with allowing the most vulnerable in our country, and around the globe, to suffer and die.
Here is a link to that post about cruelty.
https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2025/03/cruelty-is-point.html
I originally was going to title this post Cruelty, and Stupidity, but thought I would soften it, a bit, in hopes that some who might have not read it, choose to read it.
So, again, I am mortified at the cruelty of so many of Trump's MAGA policies. But this kind of disagreement might be considered emanating from, and evoking deep emotions.
But they are also, from a rational, or logical viewpoint, shortsighted, or stupid, if I may be so bold, for a number of reasons.
Take tariffs. A tariff is a tax on an imported good which is designed to raise revenue, or equalize the cost of the same product when manufactured in the home country, or to influence trade policies between countries.
The tax is paid for by the importer, which, unless that business decides to absorb the additional cost, is passed along to the consumer. Now, if all or most of that tax is passed along, everyday people pay more for the same product, leading to higher inflation, at least until a domestic manufacturer can match that new price, which won't necessarily equate to a lower price, but could result in more jobs at home. This seems to be the point of Trump's trade war, to bring jobs back to America.
But at the same time, he publicly reprimands, or threatens, any business that chooses to pass along that tax, which will not make the product more expensive, but which will also not incentivize a company to move the creation of that product back home.
At that point, the revenue becomes the point, which is fine, but it also means that either the business paying the tariff has to sacrifice profitability, and most likely job expansion, or will be forced to pass along the cost due to pressure from stockholders, creating inflation.
As for attaining better trade pacts, again, certainly a laudable goal, but Trump's proposed tariff rates are not a reaction to high tariffs by our trading partners, but due to trade imbalances. America is the largest buyer of goods in the world which has created a dynamic in the business world in which providing the goods and services we demand, at an affordable price, is accomplished by seeking the cheapest labor costs, either by moving jobs to the Southern states of America, or more commonly, offshore.
I can remember many business people bragging about increasing the standard of living in poorer countries by their moving manufacturing to those places. It was a win-win, cheaper products for Americans, better profits for the business community. Heck, I worked for a small business from 2000-2008 which imported over 90% of our product from China. During the busy season, we had upwards of 40 people in the office and warehouse. It was a small business, began in a garage, that was built into a profitable company that provided a living wage to dozens of Americans. The American dream, or at least a piece of it.
All because the labor market in China enabled sporting goods to be manufactured, and shipped to America, at a price that was competitive with other sporting goods wholesalers. And, again, this practice was defended by conservatives as good for everyone, as it is certainly true that poverty levels in China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, etc, were reduced through these efforts.
And, lets not forget that the vast amount of MAGA paraphernalia is made overseas.
So, if Trump wants to remake the global supply chain, that is certainly his prerogative, having been elected again, but it can not possibly happen without higher prices for the American consumer, and perhaps even a lower standard of living for all those overseas workers who are no longer employed, in addition to Americans who will not have the same purchasing power during the transition.
So, on one hand, he can't brag about revenue while pretending that the revenue isn't paid for by the American consumer, then tout his trade agreements as negotiating strategies to bring manufacturing jobs back when those pacts are dependent on businesses whose only concern is going to be where they can get a guarantee of stability in trade policy. They won't make 3 and 5 year plans to build plants in America, with Trump's on again, off again, pattern. Let alone his recent tendency of TACO.
Plus, and let's not forget this detail, executive orders to raise and lower tariffs are considered unconstitutional. The court cases are still in motion. So again, does a forward looking corporation take a chance on a multi-billion dollar investment with a completion date in 2027 or 2028, when, in the meantime, these tariffs may be ruled to be an executive overreach, illegal, in other words, or, taken off the table, should there be an election in 2026 and the Dems win the House, or in 2028, should Trump actually leave the White House?
For me though, the greatest example of shortsightedness by the Trump Administration is its attempt to deport a few million people in the next few years when we consider that our birth rate is declining at the same time that our county is aging, and retiring. We need more workers, not less, yet Trump is deporting the very people, immigrants, who have formed the backbone of the American workforce for generations.
So, while AI may replace some jobs with robots, we will still need people willing to work in the lower paid jobs that have always been filled by newly arrived people to our country, while also needing more advanced skills for those who remain in the workforce.
Which highlights another, and I will call it stupid, Trump focus, which is to make life miserable for young people who have student loan debt, while also discouraging our teenagers to attend college by reducing and eliminating programs which offset the costs.
At this point, there are actual times when Trump or one of his talking heads actively discourages young Americans from attending college. Can you imagine that, advocating for less educated people? I guess when the demographics of those who vote for you consists of a high percentage of voters without a college degree, it might make sense. But to pretend that such a shift away from college is good for America, let alone the businesses who require future workers with advanced knowledge, engineers, scientists, etc, not to mention our shortage of nurses and doctors, is foolish, in the extreme.
It is bad enough that young people, 35 years old and under, face difficulties in attaining home ownership and establishing funds for their futures, but to then make it harder for them to afford college, and the still documented economic advantage that a degree provides while also making student loan payments harsher, and eliminating public service forgiveness programs, is again, incredibly myopic.
Speaking of public service, again, why would any young person seek such a job, considering that attacks on the federal work force. Despite the lie (I should say, another lie) about the evil deep state propagated by Trump and his allies, we will always need people to work in public service positions knowing the financial compensation is less than similar jobs in the public sector. Yet, the goal seems to be to scare our young men and women from such ideals. Again, no surprise from a person who is completely transactional in everything he does, but one would think that our elected public servants, regardless of party affiliation, would understand and appreciate what these people do for America.
I certainly understand why the rich rail against IRS agents considering that it is the wealthy who avoid their taxes, to the tune of billions of dollars of uncollected dollars. What surprises me is that everyday voters buy into the lie that the IRS is coming after them, when there are many studies that show that slashing IRS staffing leads to less taxes being collected, generally from the rich who have clever accountants who hide money offshore, and/or use other tricks not available to regular tax payers.
But how does the everyday voter not understand that we need dedicated people to enforce pollution standards, inspect meat packing plants, work as air traffic controllers, audit our nation's books, guarantee fair labor relations, etc, etc, etc. The actual truth is that the federal work force, numerically, did not increase all that much from 1982 to 2023 while the overall population of the country has increased by 100 million people in those 40 years. See link below.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/204535/number-of-governmental-employees-in-the-us/
The reality is that we need more dedicated public servants in our federal work force, yet the Trump Project 2025 based philosophy is working against that requirement from both ends, eliminating jobs, in many cases without really knowing what those jobs entail, and discouraging the younger generations from considering those jobs as careers.
Lastly, and most critically, is Trump's insistence that climate change is a hoax, but even worse, the capitulation of Congress to this ridiculous claim. For those of you still learning about the big, beautiful bill, there are multiple assaults in this area.
First, the repeated attempts to claw back monies approved and in many cases, promised to businesses and individuals to install and maintain green energy projects, especially wind and solar as well as the elimination of subsidies going forward, even those that make roof top solar arrays less expensive.
Also, whether merely as a reflection of how much money the fossil fuel industry pumps into our elections, or just because Trump is incapable of understanding how alternate energy sources work, he is doubling down on coal. While I imagine that none of his family will ever find themselves working in a coal mine, he doesn't seem to mind sending mostly red-state Americans to such dirty, dangerous jobs.
So, while the demands on our electric grids continue to expand, he wants to eliminate the industries which have been responsible for the majority of growth in our country's energy creation.
As Forrest would say, "stupid is as stupid does."
In May of 2011, I wrote a story called The Energy Conundrum. At the time, it was set in the future, in the 2030's, a time not that far off as I type this today. It is the story of American shortsightedness as related to energy. Too bad our elected leaders didn't heed its message then, even sadder that Trump, the GOP, and millions of my fellow citizens are blind to its message today.
https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2011/05/energy-conundrum.html
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