Speaking with one of my boiler manufacturers today, he said it was a gradual uptick of 15% on rolled steel over about 6-8 weeks after the tariff announcement and they purchase all steel from US mills. It's a pride issue with the company owner, he's got a thing about using US steel and not imports. It's kept them at a slight disadvantage on pricing all along since he bought the company in 2006 due to that insistence. Instead of leveling the playing field, US manufacturers raised the price on their customers because they could.
Intended or unintended consequences?
Yes. Both. Trump knows just enough about business to 'stir the pot' and maybe something will come drifting his way that he can cash in on. The other 350 million of us can go suck eggs. The cost associated with just this one item - trade war with the world - will cost our economy 10 times whatever minuscule "benefit" would ever be achieved by all this carp. Just China alone - we have about $650 billion in trade total - with the approx $50 billion deficit he is lying about. That means we buy another $300 billion from them and they buy $300 billion from us - the total non-"deficit" pieces. And these numbers change, so pick any point in time - the same principle applies.
How many years will it take just for your boiler guy just to get even with the increases that have hit him so far? My place only got hit with $4 million extra THIS MONTH. And last month was over $2. How much 'extra' profit is it gonna take to make that up and for how long? If you could just recover a million a month - after the bleeding stops some long time down the road - well, that 'extra' million a month ain't ever gonna happen, as you and I and your boiler guy know. Multiply that by all the companies in this country using steel and aluminum.
And then factor in the tens of billions of losses to our farmers - soybeans, wheat, corn, cattle. AND the $12 billion "bailout" that us taxpayers are gonna get to pay for to "help" farmers... By the way, $12 billion is a tiny drop in a very big bucket that they are gonna get...
And the unimaginably ignorant sh$t he has stirred up with Canada -our biggest trading partner next to China - right at $600 billion...and we have a surplus with them!! The Minions are arguably the most ignorant single group of people in existence on this planet today...and the rest of his supporters are Ku Klux Klanners, Nazi's, and other worthless pieces of trash. What a great country Trump is trying to make us into!
We were pretty great and very obviously getting greater every day, every year. Until Trump and his draft-dodging, racist, bigoted, misogynistic, lying, sick, warped and twisted world view came to office.
Meghan McCain;
“The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again, because America was always great!” She also said her father was “a great man” and “we gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness, the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who lived lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served.”
Oh, and I did finally start to see flags flown half mast. Half assed effort to "make up" and gloss over, by the low lives who left them up for several days. Got some pictures a couple of days at lunch - will have to go through them and put the list here of those who dragged their feet.
