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I’m only writing about this because I’m getting so many questions about it.

I personally don’t give a shit. The Collapsing USA stopped being my problem many years ago. But since so many of you choose to still live in that disintegrating country (why?) I’ll address it.

I have discussed the topic of tariffs on my blogs several times before. What I said, and what I will repeat, is that the issue of tariffs, free trade, fair trade, and protectionism is perhaps the most complicated political issue there is.

Unlike other political issues that are usually more clear-cut (like gay marriage, gun control, or the border), the issue of tariffs is absolutely riddled with numerous variables that vary widely between any example one could give of tariffs working or not working.

This makes the issue extremely complex.

Therefore, only a microscopic percentage of people who have opinions on tariffs have any fucking idea of what they’re talking about.

And to be objective and rational, this includes me. Though I’m able to think rationally and I’ve done research into this over the past 20 years, I am no expert on this topic at all, but unlike most people, I know enough to know what I don’t know, and therefore don’t go around shooting my mouth off about this just because I love or hate Trump.

I’ll give you an example of one of the many incorrect, stupid, overly-simplistic statements people make about tariffs.

Sometimes a dumb American will say, “Hey, tariffs worked great for Taiwan and Japan! So WE should do them too!”

That’s a perfect example of someone oversimplifying a very complex issue and sounding like a moron.

The reason tariffs worked for Taiwan and Japan is because Taiwan and Japan can manufacture the shit they need.

Can the USA manufacture the stuff they need? NO.

Try buying a car, phone, computer, or TV in America that was 100% manufactured in America.

Uh, you can’t.

There are videos on YouTube that show people walking out of Walmart with a full basket of stuff, and when they go through each item they find that NONE of them were manufactured in the USA.

America completely destroyed its own manufacturing base way back in the 1990s (for another set of reasons that are also complicated). I actually started my career in the recession where this began (the “outsourcing” recession of the early 1990s that everyone has forgotten about).

Sometimes America indeed assembles stuff, which dumb people think is manufacturing, but it isn’t.

Example: if I ship you various pre-fabbed car parts and you use them to build your own car in your garage, you didn’t manufacture that car. You assembled it.

So knowing that the Collapsing USA can’t manufacture what it needs, if Americans are stupid enough (and they are) to elect someone stupid enough (and he is) to say “Tariffs worked for Taiwan and Japan so we’re going to fuckin’ do them too!” then all that’s going to happen is that prices in the USA are going to skyrocket, the stock market is going to crash, and you Americans are going to lose a shitload of money because you elected a moron (the fifth one in a row now; Jesus you guys).

If the USA can’t manufacture anything and you jack up tariffs, then anything not manufactured there (which is just about everything Americans want) will cost more.

If Trump Dufus Master Plan is to force a gigantic manufacturing base to magically return to the Collapsing USA via a bunch of painful tariffs, the problem is that it will take at least 10 years to even start to happen, if not 15-20.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but Americans aren’t exactly the most patient people. Americans aren’t going to suffer economic destruction for 15 years while they’re waiting around for a bunch of manufacturing plants to be built in Oklahoma.

Another example of this dumbassery is the statement, “America has a trade deficit with like 40 countries!!! OH NOOO!!!!! That’s totally not fair! We need to fix this!!!”

Well, yeah, America does have a trade deficit with lots of countries, but it doesn’t really matter in most cases.

For example, the USA has a trade deficit with Madagascar because America really, really needs nickel. But does Madagascar really, really need America’s high-tech financial services? Or high-end pharmaceuticals? Or crappy woke Hollywood movies?

No. It doesn’t need any of that stuff because it’s fucking Madagascar.

So yeah, the USA has a trade deficit with Madagascar, and that’s perfectly fine. It couldn’t be any other way.

Go back to some of my podcast livestreams I did a few weeks ago. What did I say about Trump’s tariffs?

I said that Trump, like most five-year-olds, has a habit of doing stupid shit, having that stupid shit fuck everything up, and then immediately rescinding his stupid shit when it looks like too many people are getting angry (like that idiotic Muslim ban he did a few years ago that snarled all of the airports in the USA for a week before he shut it off again).

I said that Trump would probably just shut off these tariffs as soon as they start making him look bad.

And what happened last week?

He shut off all of the tariffs (minus China), just like I said he would.

Now I can add another accurate Caleb prediction to the pile.

Am I saying tariffs are bad? No.

Tariffs can be extremely advantageous to a country’s economy IF, and only IF, they are used in a very, very targeted manner and very, very carefully. Tariffs must be used as a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.

The overall problem is that America keeps electing people like Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden, all of whom are sledgehammers.

Sledgehammer presidents are great if you’re in the middle of World War Two, but they’re absolutely awful if your country is in the latter stages of deep civilizational collapse.

One last thing, and I don’t like saying this, but it’s the truth…

China isn’t going to be swayed by these tariffs.

As I’ve said before, post-2019 China is run by people who are basically aliens from another dimension that don’t do things normal humans would do for reasons normal humans don’t understand.

For whatever reason, these people will gleefully destroy their own economy just to prove themselves right. Look at what they did with their real estate, their one-child policy, during and after the pandemic, how they suddenly kicked out all of the English teachers, how they embraced a dictator for no reason, etc.

And unlike the Collapsing USA, China has two huge advantages: they’re not a democracy, and they’re authoritarian. They can do whatever the hell they want and keep it up for as long as they want, even 20 years if they need to.

Whereas modern-day Americans are pussy snowflakes who don’t like any discomfort whatsoever and Trump is going to be gone in 3 years no matter well or how badly he does. Then the next moronic sledgehammer president will come in (Republican or Democrat won’t matter) and undo most or all of Trump’s stuff (and then will cause a whole new set of problems just like the last five presidents have).

The USA isn’t going to win this one.

If you insist on staying in the Collapsing USA, you should probably get used to that.

 

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