I Need To React But Can't Say It on Facebook

Sorry to tell you this but tariffs are just tax the end user has to pay. No foreign government is going to pay it and call it a loss. And if you think it will immediately promote more production in the country issuing the tariff, think again. How long does it take for a company to start with a blank slate, build the necessary infrastructure to produce an item, find and train staff, set up transportation, warehousing and distribution, then ... finally get an item to the end user? It isn't going to happen overnight. So our president is placing a 25% tariff (tax) on every vehicle not made in the United States of America. Every car, truck, tractor, aircraft, boat ... every vehicle not made here. Farmers, the price of your tractor is going to go up. Car owners, you too, new and used car prices are going to go up. Everyone but the country or company that made it is going to have to pay. And it is going to trickle down (remember Regan trickle down economics or "Reganomics"?) to you.

Oh yeah. I forgot. The president is now charging every ship that calls on a US port to pick up or drop off, $1,000,000 each time if that ship was not built in the United States. It doesn't matter if it is US flagged or not. One Million Dollars. And that cost is going to be passed on to you. Not the shipping companies. Not the manufacturers. Not the ship owners. You. Forget the fact that if you look at commercial shipping and where the ships are built, as of 2023, China is #1 at 1,794 vs the USA at 5 large commercial ships built for the year. The reason, except for government requirements for all US Military ships being built, maintained and dismantled here, it just costs too much. Plus, the United States does not have the capacity nor the trained workforce to accomplish design and manufacturing like other countries do. Read the article HERE

Let me give you an example. This is another transportation sector, but it still applies. Amtrak, the nations passenger rail service, purchases its new cars from Siemens Mobility, a German company with manufacturing facilities in the US. As for the Acela trainsets on the East Coast, those are made by Alstom a French company with a plant in upper New York. Except for locomotives of which very few passenger units are made by US owned companies, they are produced by foreign companies who may or may not have facilities her. 

Now here is the kicker, Amtrak has a major facility in Beech Grove, Indiana, just south of Indianapolis (the other is in Wilmington, DE). This facility handles all of the major repairs and rebuilds for the agency. Amtrak had a problem though. They had to find and train people to do the work because for years, they allowed the workforce to dwindle through attrition and they never replaced them. When it became apparent that they really did need people who understood passenger rail equipment, how it was built and how to repair or update it, none were to be found. Only now, years later, are they getting back to where they need to be in terms of knowledge and they are using that knowledge to train those who will someday be the 'old hands' or "professors" in the field.

We have, as a country become part of something much bigger. And yes, during WW2, we outproduced the enemy. But I remember something now deceased radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said concerning NAFTA. There was a LOT of anger that jobs were shifting from the US to Mexico where labor was much cheaper. That is when Limbaugh asked; "Which is it better to be known for? Making the blank CD's and DVD's or creating what is burned onto them?" It reduces cost, even if you need to ship it over borders or over the ocean, and makes it less expensive for the net user while providing work for those where the item is being produced.

Now, by taxing the import of items and goods; by imposing docking fees above what shipping companies already pay (really another tax) the United States is going to become one of the most expensive places to live. Couple that with everything else this administration is trying to dismantle ... I am talking about things like education (they are even cutting funding to Sesame Street); Social Security and its associated programs; the workforce backing up those programs; cutting back on our ability to utilize the vast acres of natural resources designated as National Parks; and threatening our closest allies and making them reassess their travel plans to this country (it's already happening, look at airlines cutting service because of very low bookings coming from other countries) and local hotels and associated hospitality industry effected by our country's actions, we are becoming that "shithole" country our president called Puerto Rico (yes-our own Puerto Rico) in 2018 ().

• Gas is going up.
• Food is going up.
• Vehicles are going up.
• Housing is going up.

It seems the only thing going down is the way we, the American people who are viewed by those who for years called us friends. And I can't blame them.

Please. I am asking nicely her. Please, let me know when America is great again. At this rate, it is going to be a very long time coming.

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