People Who Voted for Trump

 A recent news story--post-election analysis--said that many young Black and Latino men voted for Trump because they see him as improving jobs and other financial/economic matters.

As  to those Latino folks: After January 20 they are likely to see their friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers being deported. Plus, no one  has said a word about the cost to the US--us taxpayers--for flying these immigrants back to their countries of origin. (Not even touching on the fact that today, the news showed Trump's about-to-be "immigration czar" replying to a question about families being separated by these deportations; his reply was, to paraphrase a bit, no, we won't need to separate families, just deport (US-born) children along with their parents.

And--to another group of voters who voted for Trump because they are unhappy with the rising prices the country has been experiencing: Again, wait until after January 20. Trump has pledged to raise tariffs on imported goods. Those voters who have been buying cheap Chinese goods at Walmart are going to see those items hugely increase in their prices to US consumers after Trump's tariffs are added.

If Trump makes good on his promise (threat) to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico, U. S. car manufacturers are going to be unhappy, and car buyers are going to see car prices go up. This is because car makers are making engines and transmissions in Canada and Mexico, for the sake of--can you guess?--cheaper labor. This was facilitated--maybe encouraged--by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed by Bill Clinton in 1989 (and replaced and superseded by another agreement, of which I do not know the terms) during Trump's first term.

Update, Jan. 31, 2025

Today ABC Television News said that Trump's increased tariffs on goods imported from Canada, Mexico, and China will be put into effect tomorrow, and quoted experts saying that US consumers can expect numerous prices to go up as a result.

Trump said there may be some "disruptions," and that he believes the American people will understand. Well, I don't think they will. I think many people will say, "We elected him to lower prices, and now he's doing the exact opposite."

I think that people--if they do in fact expect a candidate to keep his campaign promises once in office--don't examine issues in enough depth as to say to themselves, "Well, if he does such-and-such, will x happen--or y?"

I think that, rather than looking into the issues at depth, people allow themselves to be swayed by sound bytes and catchy slogans--maybe slogans that will fit on the front of a cap--and are quick to believe that we need a change because nearly everything the previous administration did was wrong or bad.

So...when you're buying food and you're shocked by what's happened to the price of avocadoes, be sure to say a silent Thank You to Mr. Trump. 

Update, Feb. 7

As you may know by now, the threatened tariffs are off--for now.

I'm pretty sure Trump got pressure from many quarters. The Wall Street Journal --not exactly a liberal or leftist publication--called them "the dumbest trade war in history."

Trump is made to look much better by the fact that he got agreements--concessions?--from both Canada and Mexico. Were the tariffs merely a threat and a bluff to secure these concessions? Unless there's someone around who knows the answer and is willing to publicly disclose, we, the public, can't know.

 

 

The "Buy American" Campaign and the Age of Global Trade

I was recently having a little dialog, via email, with a friend about Americans' buying products made in other countries. The ultimate inspiration behind this was a series on ABC TV news called "Made in America," which aims to make us Americans aware of how much imported merchandise we are buying and, presumably, stimulate us to look for domestically produced alternatives; that is, "buy American" and help the American economy.

There are a lot of reasons why so much of what Americans are buying and consuming is not domestically produced. Much of it comes from China these days, so we talk about the value of China's currency, which the government of China keeps artificially low, and low wages in China—both of which result in China being able to produce and sell its goods very cheaply.

But there is one reason that's possibly overlooked. At least I do not hear it mentioned. But I have occasion to see evidence of it.

If you look at freight trains, freight yards, or those yards where shipping containers are transferred from trains to trucks, you see just how wide-spread containerized shipping is these days. And the names on many of the containers show they're involved in the China trade.

Here is a quote from a Wikipedia article on "containerization":

The system, developed after World War II, led to greatly reduced transport costs, and supported a vast increase in international trade.

Therefore, items made in China (or in many other countries) can be shipped cheaply. Thus, starting with the items' original low cost and adding (as businesses must do) the cost of shipping and any tariffs, the items can still be sold cheaply because per-item shipping costs are low. Without this cheap means of shipping, it might not be profitable to sell much of the imported merchandise that we buy.

So a revolution in shipping has caused much more globalization and internationalization. No doubt it's not only Americans who are buying a lot of imported stuff of all kinds. In Europe, there is now more international trade: trade moves more freely within the "Eurozone" because of the removal of tariffs and other trade barriers, plus improved highways, tunnels, and bridges.

But to get back to the "Made in America" campaign: Actually, the whole idea that consumers need to go out of their way to support domestic manufacturing because American manufacturing has declined or is threatened is false. In fact, American manufacturing is thriving.* The value of American manufactures currently is greater than it ever has been, and is greater than that of any other country.
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*This information and the statements in the following sentence are based on assertions in an installment of the PBS television series "America Revealed."

Copyright © 2012 by Richard Stein

The Decline of the West

One hundred or even fifty years ago, the world was a very different place. Fifty years ago the age of Colonialism was just coming to an end. Most of the European countries—Great Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands--had had colonies in Africa, Asia, and the New World; and 50 years ago the last of those countries were gaining their independence.

So the age of European nations dominating their colonies was not that long ago. At about that time I saw the handwriting on the wall and foresaw that the era of the dominance of the White Man (Europeans and Americans) would come to an end at some point, and maybe within my lifetime.

Well, there are signs that it is, at least in the economic view. The US and other western nations have transferred enormous sums of money to Middle Eastern countries as payment for oil. So the tallest buildings in the world are now in the Middle East and Asia, not in the US. And China is on track to surpass the US and become the world's largest economy.

If you haven't noticed how much of what you buy says "Made in China" on it, I suggest you look at one of those terminals where shipping containers are transferred from trains to trucks. Then you can get some idea of the amount of commerce we have (mainly importing) with China.

In a sense—aside from what we pay for imports—China owns the United States. That's because they buy our government's debt, and the US economy would collapse if China ever stopped buying or sold what it already owns.

The US and its stock markets still make up more than half of the world's equities. I think it's something like 52%. But the volume of all the foreign exchanges has been catching up.

What much of the world perceives as the arrogance of the US is going to be harder and harder to justify as we become less and less able to call the shots for all the rest of the world.

Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein