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PGTS Humble BlogThread: Only in the USA |
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Gerry Patterson. The world's most humble blogger |
| Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make -- Lord Farquaad | |
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Tariff On ... Tariff Off |
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Chronogical Blog Entries: |
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Date: Fri, 23 May 2025 10:52:39 +1000Jabba the Hut continues to hold court in the Oval Office. |
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Various representatives of, what now passes for media entities, huddle around the throne, waiting in breathless anticipation ... Who will be next to be fed to Sarlacc? When and what will comprise the next round of Tariff Madness? Some of then, while out of earshot of Jabba, whisper a new word TACO which is beginning to do the rounds on YouTube.
How long could this insanity continue? Is he fair dinkum about the tariffs? The following was extracted from an email in my "outbox":
It is likely that the tariffs will continue. Trump has a personality disorder exacerbated by dementia ... He has an irrational fixation on tariffs and no clear idea of how trade or business works. Apart from playing the role of a successful CEO in a reality TV show, all of his business ventures have failed. This included running Casinos (remarkable that anyone could fail to make money running a casino), "Trump University" (a fraudulent scheme), numerous lame single product brands with the name "Trump", etc. When he got the gig for "The Apprentice" he was on a bankruptcy allowance, having frittered away all of the money he had obtained from his father and misappropriated from his siblings. He did get a generous commission for products that would he promoted on the reality TV show, and being a consummate bullshit artist, proved to be an excellent salesman.
Sadly for the world, the success of his bullshit reality TV show brought him back from the brink. According to Mary Trump, Dr. Gartner, Dr. Segal and many other psychologists Trump has a grandiose sense of self-importance, a need for excessive admiration, a lack of empathy, and a sense of entitlement that leads to taking advantage of others, as well as deriving a sadistic pleasure from causing injury. (Dr. Gartner quotes Eric Fromm in his diagnosis).
Lutnik, on the other hand, has an exceptionally good business record and unlike Trump, brings his own money (not just other people's money) and will put it all on the table if he sees an opportunity. Had he been able to control Trump, I suspect that he (and Peter Navarro) would have set the tariffs at their current level (without any bullshit about pauses and tariffs in excess of 30% etc). The tariffs as they stand are still the highest seen in the USA for a 100 years. Before Trump was elected, average US tariffs were about 3%. At the current level the average is around 17%. I find it extraordinary to be saying this, but the chaos that Trump has brought with him may be a positive sign that he will fail. The irrational, unpredictable, constantly changing tariffs have introduced so much instability into supply chains that there is a good chance that the global economy will tank before Trump and his minions are able to corrupt and/or destroy all checks and balances on executive power. Yes it is amazing that I am actually putting it in writing ... That this is something to hope for. It is a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea.