I don’t want to be a political blogger. I don't want to be a social commentator and certainly NOT any kind of influencer.

    I don’t. I also don’t want to be a contributor of the divisiveness on social media.

    I want to echo the philosophy of George Carlin and not give a fuck about the outcome. I want to sit idly by and just observe without caring about what’s going to happen and to look at it and say “You got what you deserved and you deserved what you get.” I’m just not there yet.

   I still care [as of today, we’ll see in a few more weeks] and I want to speak my peace. But I want to speak my peace without people adding their two cents about why I am wrong and without people arguing about why I am right and without the discourse that happens on social media platforms.

   So I will do it here. I KNOW nobody’s reading me here. I just want to unload my head.

 

   So despite what the public may be inferring from the words out of the President’s mouth and mouthpieces, tariffs are not paid by the exporter / exporting country. Tariffs are paid by the importer upon receipt.

   Tariffs are a tax. That money goes into the general fund.

   The idea of the tariff on the imported good is to make it more expensive, so expensive that the importer seeks out a local / domestic supplier of the same good.

   Do I personally understand why it is cheaper to import rolled steel from China than to get American steel? I do not. Is it inefficiency in the American maker’s outdated plants? Exorbitant labor costs due to a shortage of labor? Shipping costs? Some combination of all of these things and more?

   It’s apparent in the last few weeks that the President is looking at the Untied States as a business that’s losing money. How do you fix that? Well, you lower your outgoing [labor costs, office supplies, foreign aid, domestic programs] and try to add income [but without raising income taxes which hurt the economy you’re trying to save and piss off your billionaire donor friends]. And without touching third rail hot button issues like Social Security. The word he uses continuously is “deal.” He wants to make a better deal for the American people. How adding a quarter to the price of Mexican avocados or $ 10.00 to the price of Canadian whiskey is a better deal for the American people is a head scratcher. Oh, I’m sure it just temporary… yet prices never seem to quite go down after the public mumbles under their breath and shows that they are willing to cough up more dough for a product.

   [Or the producer pulls the old sleight of hand putting out less product in a similar sized can or box. Did you know that peanut butter companies use the same ‘jar’ but they increased the size of the punt on the bottom of it to decrease volume? Got to read those labels!]

   Unfortunately, the President can not have the United States go into Chapter Eleven bankruptcy reorganization., a process he is very familiar with having used it six times himself.

   Cutting spending is a good idea. Adding income into the treasury is a good idea. The way The President is doing it is not a good idea. Of course, The President doesn’t trust anyone anymore, least of all the Republicans in Congress. He doesn’t want anyone telling him “that’s not the way it’s done in Washington” anymore. After reading Bob Wooward’s Fear: Trump In the White House, I knew the second he was declared the winner that this was going to be  a much different term than Trump 45. This time, he was [is] going to have people who would swear allegiance to Donald J. Trump uber alles [above all]. Not the Constitution [as seen on day one when he signed the unconstitutional suspension of article 1 of the 14^th amendment] and certainly not the Republican Party.

   So he is not going to use Congress to do anything if he doesn’t have to. He is arbitrarily making the Executive Branch and by fiat, himself the most powerful force in the country.

   I certainly hope that the Judiciary finds the balls to stand up for what is right – that is separation of powers and the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States that Mr. Trump swore to preserve protect and defend on January 20^th. The oath does not include the phasing “unless I don’t want to” or “unless it interferes with my personal ambitions.” Although Mr. Trump also did not place his hand on The Holy Bible when he took the oath this time, so maybe that is his version of “I crossed my fingers.”

   So far, this has gone about like I expected. I knew it was going to be a shitstorm and so far it has. I know I am just going to have to hunker down and survive four more years of blowhard, far right bible thumping asshats like I have been suffering here in Texas since George W. left the state to become the President.

   I know the days of co-operation and moderation have probably gone the way of Hailey’s Comet – not to be seen again in my lifetime. I hope to see a slight swing of the pendulum back towards Common Sense again but it’s likely just wishful thinking.

   I guess I am just at the age where I look around and echo the voices of generation before me and bemoan “These are the end times.”