On March 23, Donald Trump pressed Play on his impulsive, destructive tariffs against Chinese steel and aluminum. Yesterday (Monday in China, so kinda-sorta today), the calm, rational Chinese responded predictably with retaliatory tariffs on 128 United States products:
The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council decided to impose a tariff of 15 percent on 120 items of products including fruits from the US and a tariff of 25 percent on eight items, including pork, from the US, according to a statement posted on Sunday on the Ministry of Finance website.
The commission, headed by former finance minister Xiao Jie, said the tariffs are aimed at safeguarding China’s interests and balancing the losses caused to China by the new US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
…Farmers for Free Trade, a non-profit campaign chaired by former Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus and former Indiana Republican Senator Richard Lugar have run ads on major TV networks warning Trump of the adverse effect of the tariffs on US farmers, many of whom voted for Trump in the 2016 election [Chen Weihua, “China Begins New Tariffs on 128 US Products,” China Daily, updated 2018.04.02].
Items on complete list of tariffed products of interest to South Dakota producers are pork products, which draw a 25% tariff, and modified ethanol, which draws a 15% tariff. Producers aired concerns about these tariffs at China’s first rumble of retaliation:
“The figures proposed at this point are 25 percent, which is extremely detrimental,” Glenn Muller, the South Dakota Pork Producers Association Executive Director said.
Pork was one of China’s first targets for tariffs.
“China is a very large customer of ours, we export 27 percent of the pork that we produce in the United States,” Muller said.
The tariff threatens to hurt not only South Dakota’s hog producers, but processing plants like Smithfield foods in Sioux Falls.
“They employee about 3500 people, the economic impact of the swine industry in this state is phenomenal and it’s going to have tremendous impacts,” Muller said.
…China is the largest purchaser of South Dakota soybeans and a growing market for ethanol.
“South Dakota produces over a billion gallons of ethanol,” Richardson said. “China for instance just passed an ethanol mandate last year to clean their air up” [“China’s Threatened Tariff Would Impact South Dakota Pork Industry,” KSFY, 2018.03.23].
Recall that a Chinese manufacturer bought Smithfield Foods in 2013. Maybe Trump is really thinking like a good Wendell Berry liberal environmentalist, trying to stop the spread of Chinese CAFOs in the United States, and driving American food production and manufacturing back to small-scale local self-sufficiency. Yeah, sure. Trumpists, ready your post-facto excuses. Everyone else, brace for more impacts from the damage Trump is doing to South Dakota, the nation, and the world.
As predicted, the Dow dropped over 500 points..again..We will stay in negative territory until trump sobers up and retweets. At that point the market will rally and that will be that. In the meantime, insiders will reap the profits from this familiar scam that started with the steel tariff news.
So it costs ag producers a few billion, no big deal as they can sell bacon now to the locals for at least half of what they would normally get. We all get fat in the belly while the insiders get fat in the pocketbooks and everyone is happy. Hey, maybe the poor on SNAP like our military will now be able to have more access to that program.
Fox News with Lou Dobbs appear to be the driving force behind the drop in bacon and pork prices.
“What sets Dobbs apart is the degree to which the president views him as a political and populism godfather, the #MAGA Socrates to Trump’s Plato.
As such, Dobbs doesn’t get to just interview and socialize with the president; he is involved in some of the administration’s more sensitive discussions. During the first year of the Trump era, the president has patched in Dobbs via speakerphone to multiple meetings in the Oval Office so that he could offer his two cents, according to three sources familiar with these conversations. Trump will ask Dobbs for his opinion before and after his senior aides or Cabinet members have spoken. Occasionally, he will cut off an official so the Fox Business host can jump in.”
We should ask NOem/Thune/Rounds/Krebs and Opie how they like the idea of Crazy Pants Lou Dobbs as the Secretary of Commerce. Soon, Gary Busey and Meatloaf will be making war policy with Mattis just because Dennis Rodman is the new ambassador to both Koreas. At our house, we wonder when Pee Wee Herman will get his office in the West Wing.
Even our newspaper print paper is being manipulated. More money for your paper may mean that you may have to go without that news from small hometown papers. Here is one from Spearfish, South Dakota. More ways in which to shut down the freedom of the press. What is the good of the press when they cannot afford to print the news?
“A tariff is a tax or duty that is placed on foreign companies by the importing country as a way to essentially price fix and put economic and political pressure on the exporting country.
NORPAC’s single mill is located in Washington state and their company is owned by a New York-based hedge fund. You know, the type of business that could not care less about the newspaper industry or small town America. They claimed imported paper from Canada was hurting the U.S. paper industry, when in reality they were only driven by the self-interest of their bottom line.”
This goes in place that the manipulation of the tariffs is set to benefit the insiders in trump land.
And now, the worst possible news regarding that manipulation.
“Not one other U.S. paper mill supported NORPAC or its petitions for tariffs. The American Forest and Paper Industry opposes it as well because it is widely known that these tariffs will cause further damage to an already struggling newspaper industry and further reduce the demand for newsprint, threatening over 600,000 U.S. jobs.
Since November, newsprint suppliers have been adding incremental fees (three in the last four months) in anticipation of these tariffs. We don’t believe our customers should incur a price hike every time this happens, so the Black Hills Pioneer has made the decision to absorb these increases, but the question is how much longer can we do that?
Then last week, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced their preliminary decision to side with NORPAC paper mill and called for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to start the immediate collection of major tariffs on all Canadian newsprint imports. We have seen these tariffs reach as high as 32 percent.” http://www.bhpioneer.com/opinion/editorials/new-tariffs-on-newsprint-threaten-our-newspaper-and-more-than/article_bf07d820-3369-11e8-9c11-b302793189e3.html
The farce of tariffs is that we think a trade war will solve problems of trade when all they do is cause the loss of even more jobs while putting incredible wealth into the pockets of the elite insiders like NOem/Thune/Rounds/Krebs and Opie. These are the faces of the trumpian insiders who profit from the misery caused by tariffs, are they worth your support?
Jerry,
Trump is forming his own propaganda machine….which is literally the MO for turning our country fascist:
“Just remember, Trump, Pai, and Kushner worked to help bring this around. Sinclair wouldn’t have reached the amount of power they have now if they hadn’t had political ties in power.
11/16 Ajit Pai, Trump’s pick to head the FCC, visits Sinclair station broadcasters, and executives, where he arranges a deal on a merger. http://variety.com/2017/politics/politics/fcc-sinclair-broadcast-group-merger-tribune-1202563578/
12/12/16 Kushner sets up a deal with Sinclair; they’ll broadcast good things for Trump, for consideration of other matters later. First step in setting up state sanctioned media. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-campaign-sinclair-broadcasting-jared-kushner-232764
1/5/17 Sinclair attacks Washington Post; calling them fake news. The first of Trumps propaganda pieces through them. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sinclair-responds-to-multiple-organizations-misleading-and-irresponsible-news-coverage-300389377.html
2/12/17 Trump bypasses established practices, conducts interview with only Sinclair media present. https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2017/02/13/trump-skips-establishment-networks-newspapers-trudeau-press
4/30/17 FCC plans to remove laws preventing companies from owning too many tv stations. A move backed by Sinclair. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/03/30/report-fcc-revise-broadcast-ownership-rule/99816092/
5/12/17 Sinclair orders their station managers to start tilting stories more towards the GOP line. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/business/media/sinclair-broadcast-komo-conservative-media.html
7/10/17 Sinclair begins pushing more Pro Trump propaganda. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/sinclair-orders-stations-to-air-more-pro-trump-commentary.html
8/6/17 Trump urges FCC to allow Sinclair Media (a right wing media company) to expand beyond their current market, allowing them to broadcast to 70% of the country.
10/11/17 Sinclair begins attacking politifact, accusing them of spreading fake news. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/oct/11/sinclair-targeting-politifact-you-need-know-facts/
10/24/17 In a move that benefits Sinclair Media, the FCC rolls back rules requiring broadcast companies to have a studio in the area they’re broadcasting in. http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0002/fcc-eliminates-main-studio-rule/282128
November 9, 2017: Aji Pai wants to end regulations keeping tv stations from purchasing local newspapers. A move backed by Sinclair. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/opinion/ajit-pai-media-ownership.html
11/16/17 42 year old rules regarding media mergers are finally removed. This is a win for Sinclair, allowing them to monopolize news sources in small towns. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/11/16/the-fcc-just-repealed-decades-old-rules-blocking-broadcast-media-mergers/
2/26/18 FCC Comissioner: Policy custom built for Sinclair media. https://www.thedailybeast.com/fcc-commissioner-our-policy-is-custom-built-for-right-wing-sinclair-broadcasting“
Remember, NONE of the tariffs our country has spoken about have been put into effect. The Chinese did this to show strength they do not have before our proposed tariffs are in effect. The Chinese are speaking from a position of weakness. This is an effort to scare the generally uneducated yet media obsessed American populace.
Our Nation sits in an unbelievably powerful position for equalizing international trade if only because of the absolutely stupid decisions made by the last 5 administrations.
They really sound weak, they preempted the threatened strike with a strong move. Good offense on their part that caught us with our proverbial pants down. So now, we play defense all the way. My guess is that trump and the rest of the trust babies are gonna screw this up big time. Or they will back down again like they did with South Korea and just collect on the windfalls from Wall Streets ups and downs.
While China retaliates with tariffs on agricultural products, it is displacing the United States as a dominant trader in the Pacific–and NAFTA. Mexico was once the biggest importer of U.S. corn and began negotiating with Brazil and Argentina more than a year ago when Trump began making noises about leaving NAFTA. In the meantime, the members of the Pacific Trade Agreement have been negotiating pacts from which the U.S. is absent. There is a concerted effort, spurred largely by Trump, for nations to circumvent America, which is not only ugly in their minds, but obnoxious. The facts about Trump as aa “businessman” have been publicly known since the 1980s to anyone who actually paid attention. His business acumen is the reason his supporters give for supporting him. We may decry Trump, but are afraid to face the facts of what happened to the American people and the political party that put him in office.
Jerry “Hey, maybe the poor on SNAP like our military will now be able to have more access to that program.” an E-4 on active duty makes more than you do now. Almost all enlistees come in as E-2 so it takes them 2 years to be an E-4 unless they do something special and lose a strip. In South Dakota a lowly E-4 years, no combat pay, just living at their assigned duty base makes $44,209.08/year (and still not have to pay for health insurance even though it sucks). To qualify for SNAP the gross monthly income of most households must be 130 percent or less of federal poverty guidelines which is $27,564/year for a family of four. The chance of a 20 year old having 4 kids already would be pretty unlikely but even more unlikely is that airman making less than $27,564. . . Now, I used an E-4 as the example but lets use “E-1” with less than 4 months! Oops, even here they make $31,375/year which is still too high for the SNAP program so the likelihood that ANY active duty soldier, airman, sailor or marine in South Dakota is receiving SNAP should be looked at as a crime rather than a benefit.
To my main research guy jerry.
What are the stats for members of the military receiving SNAP benefits? Would they be broken by states?
Thank you Roger. There are many reports but here is the latest one regarding active personnel and the SNAP program. This one deals with 27,000 military personnel as reported http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/military/sd-me-military-compensation-20161121-story.html
Of note is that this is Representative Darrell Issa’s district, the little weepy dweeb that has been a huge pain in the arse to all concerned. Good news on that though, he is done. But for the fun of it, here he is weeping like a school kid after Arnold drank his milkshake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2tdOqCwqww
Military news reporting has an even more disturbing news. https://www.military.com/paycheck-chronicles/2018/02/21/why-do-military-members-qualify-food-stamps.html
So the military is keenly aware of this issue, so that would mean NOem/Thune/Rounds/Krebs and Opie are as well. As the true trumpians they are, they do not say anything. In fact Rounds used to be on that committee regarding veterans and the military, so he above all would be in the know. trump supporters here in South Dakota have turned a blind eye to the SNAP for veterans, disabled, children and the elderly because they only think Indians get the SNAP. They don’t realize that those in need are their proud neighbors and relatives.
Thanks jerry. I knew you would come through.
As OS believes that it is a crime for military personnel to receive SNAP. Sounds like there should be arrests and prosecution for soldiers and their families that need to eat.
Beg to differ dep’t: E-4 over 4 (according to 2018 DFAS pay chart –https://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/payentitlements/military-pay-charts.html
gets $2940.60/month == $29877.20/year.
… and the healthcare I received while on active duty was excellent.
Bucko: You need to add in BAH and BAS. You only looked at “base pay”.
Jerry or Roger: Once again, give me the number of active duty receiving SNAP in South Dakota. You can’t. It doesn’t happen. It could happen if some person with 5 or 6 kids and just enlisted, had less that 2 years, no High School Alg II joined as an E-1 but the probability of that is null.
All of you are ginning opinions that are out of your lane. You should just stop.
Hey Jerry: did you read the article you linked? I did. 2K out of 1.7M active duty on SNAP. That is less than 1/10th of 1%. Even a E-1 in South Dakota earns more than you and I challenge you to prove otherwise.
Speaking of being out of lane, why would you argue with Military.com? Your words make me believe that you were never in uniform. NPR reports https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/04/19/524563155/when-active-duty-service-members-struggle-to-feed-their-families
One member of our military, regardless of where they are stationed, is one too many to be on SNAP.
That’s a damn shame.
Challenge accepted. Here is from the only active military base in South Dakota that is not Guard for Reserve.
” The Woman, Infants and Children program provides nutrition education, counseling, referrals, breastfeeding support and healthy food choices based on individual needs. Eligible individuals are postpartum, pregnant and breastfeeding women. Infants and children up to the age of five years are also eligible.
The Ellsworth Air Force Base Woman, Infants and Children office is located in Bldg. 6010 across the parking lot from the medical clinic and opposite the veterinary clinic.
Contact us at 385-3465 to see if you are eligible.
In accordance with Federal Law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability.”
http://www.ellsworth.af.mil/Home/Support-Resources/
So now, ag folks can tell our Russian congress people to get of their butts and find ways to buy pork and grain to feed our soldiers, sailors, marines and yes, air force. The poor, the disabled, the children, the veterans and on it goes. There is a market for all of these goods and it is right here in America!!
True that Roger, see how he agrees with what I said in the first place. Why the feller even has the statistics. They all sound like trump.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/05/24/proposed-food-stamp-cuts-would-hit-military-families.html
From the above article- The report found that about 23,000 active duty service members received food stamps in 2013, according to U.S. Census data. In addition, information from the Department of Defense Education Activity showed that in September 2015, 24 percent of 23,000 children in U.S. DoDEA schools were eligible for free meals, while 21 percent were eligible for reduced-price meals.
About 751,000 food stamp transactions, or almost $80 million in purchases, were completed at military commissaries in 2015, the latest year for which data is currently available.
If they disallow BAH costs then even more soldiers and their families would qualify for SNAP.
OS, Lets take a look at the 2018 pay rates for an E-4 with over 4 years of active duty living on base. The basic annual pay is $29.880.00. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare taxes are withheld from this.
Other allowances are not considered pay and are not taxed. Almost all active duty enlisted members draw subsistence allowance for food at the rate of $4,440.00 per year. Housing allowance is not paid to the member but has a basic rate amounting to $7400.00 per year. In addition a uniform clothing allowance is paid with the annual amount ranging from $360.00 (Air Force) to $687.00 (Navy) per year.
Total compensation comes to $42,259.00 (averaged uniform clothing allowance).
https://www.dfas.mil/dfas/militarymembers.html
I know from personal experience that some active duty members qualify for assistance. My daughter and son-in-law with two small children qualified for several years. He was an E-5 at the time and she was a stay at home Mom with their two small children.
Current figures are hard to come by because DOD doesn’t seem to report on an annual basis. I would say that Ellsworth would not have a WIC office if no one qualified.
Here’s another link that you may find of interest.
https://www.military.com/paycheck-chronicles/2014/02/18/military-and-food-stamps
This is really going to be a bitch for SD, Minn and Iowa farmers. Well really, all farmers. The small towns that farmers hold up are going to suffer too. All those institutions– schools, churches, civic organizations, clinics, hospitals –this misbegotten GOP tax scam will do serious damage.
The best bet for these rural folks is helping create the Blue Wave in all their political jurisdictions.
I have a hard time believing that the Chinese who own the largest vertically integrated pork production company in this country, Smithfield Foods, would make a move to hurt the pork industry. Heck, its the largest in the world! Hard to figure their exact strategy but you can bet its lots smarter than ours. For years they have been telling the world they were going to import or not import something from us while taking a position on the Board of Trade or Mercantile Exchange. They would then do the exact opposite and take home a pile of money from our gamblers.
Je-sus Christ. Great dialogue above.
Jerry, you’re my new stats guy, as well. Going with OldSarge was tempting, for a short time, but now… now, I just gotta go with Jerry because the difference is clear.
Jerry, WIC is not SNAP. Two different things. Read the SD requirements to qualify for WIC. http://sdwic.org/eligibility/ Ya can’t win by giving information for the wrong programs as justification.
This is the LOWEST level of pay in the military NOW:
An E-1 with less that 4 months in service gets the following:
Base pay: $18,168.00/yr
BAH (Housing allowance): $13,068/yr
BAS (Food allowance): $4,432.68/yr
Clothing Allowance: $360.32/yr
This comes to $36,029 for having less than 4 months in the military. None of you make that much!
Here are the other pays they are eligible for:
Health Insurance, Flight Pay, Special Duty Pay, Foreign Language pay, Hazardous duty pay, Pro pay.
Guys listen, I mean this from the heart: Active duty pay, even at the lowest grades (rank), is above the South Dakota poverty level of $24,250/year. There is NO ONE on Active Duty in South Dakota that is below the poverty level. They are paid very well. They drive nice cars. Rent nice apartments. Eat well. They have a good life. Being Active Duty in South Dakota is one of the very best jobs a high school graduate could hope to get. It is a higher wage than the majority of college graduates get the first year after graduation. It is not the military of the 60”s, 70’s or even 80’s.
As far as the WIC office goes they are three great ladies that work to teach 18 year old moms how to properly feed and care for their kids. I know them. Having WIC on base is not about low income so much as having a professional provide guidance to those who have never learned the skills of being a mom. SNAP and WIC. are two different things. Not the same.
WIC and SNAP are to feed the families of troopers. Troopers get all the chow they can handle in the mess hall. It appears that wherever your undercover base was, that was different.
The reporting I posted is not fake news, it is accurate. You can blather all you will. The facts are shown in the links. Asked and answered.
W R Old Guy, very informative post and link!
It can’t be conclusively stated that there are military personnel in South Dakota not on SNAP.
This requires sources, not wage scales, there are all sort reasons the military in South Dakota would be eligible for SNAP.
Clyde, I can tell you that China is a big purchaser of pork from Spain and the EU and is increasing their presence there. What really tips the scales are Canada’s direct sales to China. trump and the trust babies missed the point about global production. They have never successfully run a business, none of them. Now that there needs to be someone who can negotiate trade, who do we have? An old crook by the name of Wilbur running the show. Dude can barely stay awake in a meeting, so here we are. Yes the American producers are gonna take a huge hit on this. But maybe they can demand their Russian congress people access to American markets for straight forward commodity production. Don’t forget that we have no State Department either as that has been gutted. So there is no reach out to countries to begin the work of trade.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-trade-pork-china-insight/canada-beats-u-s-in-pork-sales-to-china-feet-elbows-and-all-idUSKBN18W0GB Or, we let the world trade and we talk about what great businessmen we have become.
Clyde,
Smithfield Foods will be fine. They will lose some margin on their current inventory, but soon their bids will reflect the new market dynamics. Furthermore, they can sustain losses for the long haul while other packers bite the dust or get bought out by Smithfield. In other words, Smithfield takes out the competition and makes up whatever they lost in the beginning of this scenario by increasing their margins after the competition is reduced.
From the Reuters article on another reason China can put the skids on American producers of pork.
“The European Union, which has long banned ractopamine, is China’s top foreign pork supplier, sending 393,365 tonnes there in the first quarter.
Chinese authorities banned the use of ractopamine in livestock in 2002. They say meat raised with the drug can cause nausea and diarrhea in people and be life-threatening to sufferers of heart disease.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, did not see the same dangers when it approved ractopamine in 1999, concluding that it would “not have a significant impact on the human environment.”
The FDA’s stance has drawn some criticism, including a 2014 lawsuit by environmental groups alleging the agency has not fully examined the drug’s impact. The suit was later dismissed on technical grounds but is being appealed.
Hog farmer and rancher groups defend ractopamine use, saying it allows them to grow livestock more efficiently, with less feed, said Dave Warner, spokesman for National Pork Producers Council. Canadian health authorities also allow consumption of pork from hogs raised with the drug.”
Pork on steroids…nice Banned in 160 nations, but not here. Might be one of the reasons for all the fat arse’s we see, but we can lift a truck, so we got that going for us…which is a good thing.
Fox Business news slaps trump across those pursed lips today about Amazon and the lies trump keeps blathering about Amazon screwing the Post Office. Funny as hell man to see when even they have had enough from this trust baby.
“Varney said, “The president’s gone after amazon again,” and he read off the tweet.
He asked, “Peter, when the president attacks you, your stock goes down, but do you think Amazon’s in trouble?”
Morici replied, “No. i don’t think Amazon’s in trouble. i think it’s on sound footing. the bottom line is the Post Office has to deliver six days a week to every address in America. That is a losing money proposition. by carrying packages for Amazon, UPS, FedEx, whatever, it basically reduces those losses and that’s a good thing.”
“If it wasn’t for Amazon and the others, the Post Office losses would be mammoth and the taxpayers would have to bail it out,” he said. (Ed. Note: This isn’t right either. Rates would rise, because the US Postal Service isn’t allowed to lose money and wouldn’t be losing money if it weren’t for the ridiculous constraints Congress places on their pension funding requirements)”
There ya go, this bunch of Russian dummies is now stuck with a tariff that spanks them and their main supporters while the head russian continues to tweet his screech.
Give ’em what they voted for; and hard, and often.
Matters not whether the proposed tariffs are active, ‘Sarge. The market is an emotional future machine. The market hates uncertainty. The market hates posturing and bluffing. The market hates rumor and myth as it relishes accurate news – news that is becoming more expensive and rare. The market is down 10% and going lower.
Give ’em what they voted for; and hard, and often.
We now have a full-blown trade war with China. Overnight, China announced 25% tariffs on $50 billion worth of US products including soybeans. Remind me, how are we winning again? Trump is an idiot.
Soybeans are down 40 cents a bushel this morning because of the Chinese tariffs. That’s a $90 million hit to South Dakota’s farmers and our economy. I can hardly stand all the winning.
But trade wars are easy to win. So sayeth the orange slicer in the WH.
Bet Drumpf will claim victory because he got China to retaliate. Remember, boys and girls, this isn’t about farmers and ranchers, this is all about Drumpf. It is always about Drumpf.
Holy cow! Trump responds with new tariff threats on 1,300 Chinese goods—TVs, airplane parts, medical devices—that will add up to more costs for American consumers. Goodbye to al that extra disposable income from the tax cuts.
The Chinese respond by threatening tariffs on another 106 U.S. products, including soybeans, cars, and planes. There go corporate profits and the markets.
Trump doesn’t care—he’s rich, so he’s insulated from any economic shock. As Mike says, Trump’s give-a-darn starts and stops with himself. As long as he has headlines, gold-framed portraits, and ever-younger models and porn stars to watch Shark Tank on TV with, he’s content, America be darned.
The stock market is down 500 points this morning. Trump used to tout the stock market rise as his great achievement. Now, he’s driving that down as well with his trade war.
Darin
Trump claims this morning that we are not in a trade war with China. He didn’t offer an alternative name for a trade war.
Roger,
This is kind of like Vietnam wasn’t technically a war, but Trump knew enough to stay out of it. If other people are fighting the battles, Trump seems to be fine with war.
Soybean producers shouldn’t be too worried.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-04/why-chinas-soybean-tariff-changed-everything
“Zero Hedge content has been criticized as alt-right, anti-establishment, conspiratorial, and economically pessimistic, and has been criticized for presenting extreme and sometimes pro-Russian views”
Wikepedia.
Thanks Roger, for that clarification on what Zero Hedge is. Their “info and conclusions” doesn’t seem to jibe with the facts on the ground. Now I can see why.
You’re right, Debbo, they don’t come close to reality.
Whenever Jason posts a link it always has to be fact checked.
It’s been seven hours and Debbo and Roger still haven’t proved how the article I linked to is false.
Why would you think I have to prove the article is false? I don’t ever have to prove anything to you.
The article wasn’t worth reading as soon as I researched Zero Hedge and revealed it is a propaganda website.
I don’t care what you do. It’s clear you don’t care if you are ignorant or not.
It is only the ignorant that read and digest known propaganda and believe it is real.
Roger,
You don’t have the intelligence to try to prove it is false. You can fact check the numbers in the article but you choose not to which makes your argument moot. Nobody cares what you think. The facts are the facts whether you believe them or not.
I beg to differ, Jason, plenty of Dakota Free Press readers do care what I think, it is you they don’t care about.
Why would facts and figures from a known propaganda site be of benefit to anyone?
If you choose to live your life wallowing in the ignorance and stupidity of propaganda, go for it with my blessings.
Roger,
You can verify the facts with other sources. I stick to the facts. You can call my facts wrong but they aren’t unless you can prove they are which you never have.
This fact is that you have used a less than credible source that automatically questions the credibility of any numbers they use.
And no, I don’t have to do research on any propaganda you produce.
Roger and Debbo do well to dismiss Jason’s link.
Roger,
They didn’t call zerohedge uncredible. Read what you posted Wiki.
Dakota Free Press friend and South Dakota farmer Nick Nemec is extremely worried about the impact a trade war will have on this year’s product.
Nick has done the necessary research and I trust his word above anyone’s else’s when it comes to farm products.
Cory,
This is from your article.
“Brazil still can’t supply all the Chinese demand alone,” he said. The U.S. is the world’s second-biggest exporter.
Is China going to hurt their own pork farmers?
Thanks for proving my link correct Cory.
Wiki didn’t call Zero Hedge “uncredible, I did. Based in part on the observations Cory has just made.
But you are uncredible Roger because you have never proved one of my facts wrong.
“uncredible”?
You don’t produce facts, Jason, you produce propaganda and delusions.
Jason, I have a life and don’t spend all my time online.
I engage with commenters who are proven reliable, honorable and truthful. Roger is all those things and I respect his opinions and information.
Jason, you have shown yourself to be childish and petulant. I won’t engage with you, nor read your comments because they don’t add value to the conversation.
Debbo,
It is my belief from the bottom of my heart that you aren’t “uncredible”.
Ditto. 😊
Debbo,
I also have a life and don’t spend all my time online.
You have time to ridicule me, but have no time to prove my facts are wrong.
The conversation is SD farmers and how it might not be as bad as what Cory is saying.
In case anyone is still interested. The USDA reports that 329,000 tons of US pork were sold to an unknown foreign buyer after the pork price collapsed in overnight trading. The same unknown buyer also bought 120,000 tons for fall delivery.
Chinese leadership is far smarter than ours…..
It is all manipulation Clyde. What you have shown is the same as we see on Wall Street itself. trump tweets some kind of silliness and the markets go south big time. Then, the same markets “find out” that the king has just been high or something and they go back north big time. In the meantime, insiders are making a mint on being in the right place at the right time. Ag folks, you are all just a sure vote for those that are laughing at you. The joke is on the poor schmuck that works the land in an honest way for those who disdain you for that. I see no end in sight because, you know, the Russians don’t laugh at anything but a good joke.
From ol’ Sarah Huckleberry herself at the White House, to show ag people just how they view us.
“We may have a little bit of short-term pain but we’re certainly going to have long-term success.”
Like having a colonoscopy without anesthesia. Stand in line farmers and ranchers for the look see. I think I hear the outcome, “I can see Russia from here”, spoken by NOem/Thune/Rounds/Krebs and Opie. Bonus points, Liz Cheney is coming to speak for NOem! So a hand will now be involved as well!
“Our worst Fears seem to be coming true”, indeed. Now you know the value of voting republican. Your worst fears coming true. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-china-tariffs-illinois-farmers-20180402-story.html
Hey Roger, I do care what you think and ask you this. How much sooner will the US have to ask for another 300 billion to offset the tax cuts and losses to the economy from this trade war now that NOem/Thune/Rounds/Krebs and Opie either vote for or thought was one helluva great idea?
One more. At what point will the economy contract to the days of 2008 thanks to the poor stewardship of the country by trump and his party?
Clyde,
Who sold at the lower price?
Why did they sell at the lower price?
Do you know how supply and demand works Clyde?
jerry
Most likely the U.S. won’t have to ask for another $300 Billion, it will most likely have to request more with all of Trump’s economic factors in play and sure to fail.
The Bush failed economy of 2007-2008 maybe considered nothing more than economic hiccup compared to what we are facing with the impending Trump economic disaster.
Nick Nemec reported on Facebook today that soybeans were down $0.25 yesterday effectively destroying the farmers equity line.
As consumers we can speculate and will feel the full impact of the tariffs the next time we go grocery shopping, but it is the American farmer, Nick Nemec, that will feel the hurt the most.
Clyde’s observation is right on, China will continue to play Trump and pretty much do what they want with American markets, they know Trump doesn’t know what he is doing and will use that.
Jason … buddy! A ground rule update. No one has to prove anyone’s assertions wrong. (e.g. “Don Trump is worth less than a million dollars.” Prove me wrong.) When you make an assertion you’ll give your source which will be analyzed and deemed credible or invalid by the history that source has. If you quote a source that’s anonymous your assertion is automatically rejected unless it’s common knowledge. If you quote a source such as FoxNews or Huffington Post your assertion is almost always rejected do the bias those sources have. If you quote NYTimes, WashPost, LATimes, Boston Herald your assertion is probably valid as those sources value their reputation as truth tellers, highly.
It matters little what you assert, unless it’s your opinion. It matters where you’re getting your information. It’s called journalistic method.
Mexico recently bought more grain from Brazil. They figure Brazil is a more stable trading partner than Drumpf and his addled brain.
BTW … Please, excuse my rudeness. I failed to say hello to all my friends and regulars on Cory’s highly informative and socially responsible blog. Now, I’ll combine a hello and a so long, for now. VOTE BLUE, America. Love is all it takes.
Hey Porter,
Nice to have you back gracing the DFP blog, you always make a significant contribution. Thank you.
“I’ll see your tariffs and raise you $100 Billion more in tariffs”, Trump told China today.
Remembering that Trump said yesterday that there isn’t a trade war, the Futures Market tanked at the end of the day.
Trump’s non-trade war is even making Mitch McConnell nervous as he fights to protect his states ag producers.
Porter-what Roger said. Welcome back.
Roger you beat me to the punch on another $100 Billion tariff on China.
Are my farmer friends tired of the winning yet?
Jason, as a matter of fact I’m very familiar with the laws of supply and demand. I’ve been their slave all my life. From what I can see we have an oversupply of one troll on DFP and from your questions its obvious you don’t know how supply and demand work.
I’ll do you a favor and educate you!
We have a couple of institutions in Chicago that run us farmers when the government isn’t. They are known as the “Board of Trade” and the “Mercantile Exchange” . If you have a bit of money even you can gamble it on the MERC where hogs are traded. Most trading is done in paper only but if you wish you can take delivery of a commodity. That is the trade’s that the USDA is reporting!
Clyde,
You haven’t told me anything I didn’t know. You also never answered my questions.
Jason, one of my favorite movie’s is “Trading Places”. I’m thinking it is before your time and I think you would enjoy it. Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis. Look it up.
It’s not before my time and you still haven’t answered my questions.
If you are unable to answer them, just say so.
Jason,
You still don’t seem to understand how the internet works. You keep asking questions that can be answered by using a free online search engine called Google. If you don’t understand or if you question the statements made on here, you too can find information on the internet in seconds. Now understanding that information may not come as easy for you.
Drumpf was whining China was unfair retaliating against America. Dang Chinese aren’t playing by the Marquise of DrumpfDummy’s rules.
Jason, no one here is under any obligation to answer any questions you toss out there. You apparently weren’t aware this is Cory’s blog, not Jason’s. Cory’s rules. Not Jason’s.
For DFP friends, please pardon my distraction.
Jason
Do you get in touch with Lalley to schedule your debate with him and Cory. You haven’t responded on the thread where you demanded to be included.
mike from iowa
Here’s a comment Trump made today about the trade war, maybe you can decipher it.
“We’ve already lost the trade war. We don’t have a trade war. We’ve already lost”.
Ihave no idea, Roger, unless Drumpf accidently told the truth for once. :)
mike
I’ve come to the conclusion that I will have to hire a Trump supporter to interpret his comments for me.
Here is a good read.
I’m guessing most of you won’t be able to understand it, but I can hope.
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/not-your-grandfathers-trade-war-the-revenge-of-bad-money-part-1/
How are the arrangements coming for the Great Debate with Lalley, Cory, and Jason?
Roger,
Cory can’t even debate his 20% tax deduction on the website he owns.
So, when are going on Lalley to debate Cory?
Roger,
As soon as Lalley comes on here and invites me.
Hey OldSarg, or is it now OldCorporal, as in Naploeon’s corporal, the densest guy in the regiment – the tariff trumpster market is down another 500+ points today and the farm economy is being ravaged. Feeling richer? Looks like we are winning now!! The farm economy is feeling richer, too!! Give ’em what they voted for.
Jason, like a broken watch, Stockman may eventually be right. He’s clamored for over a decade. It is likely that the Obama economy and measures only postponed the Bush depression. History teaches that the 3 times the US had a republican control for 4-years in the president and congress it always ended in economic catastrophe. Always.
http://thereformedbroker.com/2016/12/13/every-unified-republican-government-ever-has-led-to-a-financial-crash/
John,
GWB inherited a recession.
As for the 2008 crash, that was due to the fed the and the housing loans to unqualified people implemented by Clinton.
I sure hope you want to discuss that because I will.
Jason
Lalley isn’t going to come one here and invite you.
Cory said for you to give Lalley a call and provide your full name, contact information and request time with Cory. The ball is in your court, Jason.
All the speculation has been that you would chicken out and it waiting for a Lalley invitation is chickening out.
Reminder: You do have to provide your full name.
Roger,
If Lalley wants me on, he can contact me first on here.
I assume he reads this website.
Jason,
What makes you think Lalley wants you. How cowardly of you.
Roger,
I know Lalley doesn’t want me to be on because he would lose in a debate on most issues.
Jason
Keep those flimsy excuses coming, they are entertaining.
What’s you next excuse?
Roger,
Apparently you don’t know the definition of the word excuse.
I will gladly go on his show if he posts here that he wants me to.
What is the highest grade level you completed Roger?
How far I went in school is not an answer for your cowardice in refusing to call Lalley to arrange a debate with Cory.
So you are the coward now Roger. I expected nothing less from you.
You have demonstrated your cowardice by not simply contacting Lalley to arrange a debate, not I.
Scared that you have to reveal your true identity and can no longer be anonymous. Just admit it, Jason
You have demonstrated your cowardice by not simply telling us what the last grade what that you completed.
You are scared Roger.
The last grade I completed in high school remains irrelevant to your cowardice in refusing to debate Cory on the Lalley program.
Jason, ha, ha, ha, ha. Revisionism at its worst. Good luck with that. And perhaps embarking on 2 wars with tax cuts was also good public policy. Your MAGA hat is too tight.
John,
Please post the numbers showing GWB didn’t inherit a recession.
I can understand why you don’t want to debate it because it isn’t a debate. The fact is Clinton along with the federal reserve are responsible for the 2008 crash.
Jason
I can’t understand why don’t you want to debate Cory on the Lalley program.
John
Jason apparently doesn’t know how to Google for information and expects you to do his work for him.
Roger, exactly. Jason made an indefensible assertion. I refuse doing research for him or any other lazy smuck, especially doing reverse negative research – prove that something didn’t happen. It’s like arguing with a Russian bot.
John,
My statement is a fact. GWB inherited a recession.
I see you don’t have the intellect to discuss the 2008 crash. Let me know if you want to.
Jason,
My statement is fact, you are a coward that can’t back up his word and is afraid to debate Cory.
Roger,
Please explain to me why Cory will not discuss his 20% tax deduction with me?
Jason,
That would be a good topic once you schedule the debate, you can ask him than.
Roger,
I asked Cory to discuss it on here, and he doesn’t want to. Can you ask him why he doesn’t want to?
Jason ,
Seriously take a few classes in economics from MIT they’re free online.
Capitalism is always in cyclical crisis
Debbie,
Please explain to me how you think I am wrong.
Your post tells me you have nothing to debate me with.
Repeating for Jason, Cory will agree with me and ask you to save your questions for the debate.
He didn’t think your question was relevant before, what makes you think Cory will think they are relevant now.
Debbie,
Jason doesn’t need to take classes for anything, he thinks he is all knowing.
Roger,
Did you know that Cory gets a 20% tax deduction?
It is a fact he does if he makes a profit off off this site unless he has other business losses to offset that. Of course, if that is the case, than he is not making any money.
Jason
That is an excellent question and comment to ask Cory when you debate him on the Lalley program.
Roger,
It’s apprarant you are a troll and can’t have an adult conversation. Let me know when you become an adult.
Bacus is a wad and would fear monger his own mother if he could make a dime off of it.
The tariffs are just threats to try and get China to devalue their currency. Trade deficit is not really what it sounds like- The fundamental cause of a trade deficit is an imbalance between a country’s savings and investment rates.
So if China does not want to devalue it’s currency 1 of 2 things could happen- The interest on personal savings accounts could be raised or 2) Massive austerity hits us all.
Nixon and Reagan did the same thing worked out for Nixon but Reagan not so much and we were hit with austerity.
Just tell the idiot to stop giving away money to Corporations and the Pentagon.
Ms. Debbie, I am unsure what a “wad” means in your blather, and really I do suspect that fellow’s mother is probably older than I and is dead and rotting, like meat under a pile of sterilized and greasy dirt dug from your Uncle Bob’s parking spot.
But the mongering, I am all in on the mongering.
And my good friend Bob agrees.
Jason,
I’ve been posting on DFP for years and the only one that thinks I am a troll is an anonymous guy that is afraid to debate Cory.
You shot your mouth off about wanting to debate Cory and Lalley and when told how to arrange it, you made one excuse after another to avoid doing it.
A phone call to Lalley is simple, either make the call and be a man or cower in corner where you belong.
Hey Grudz
Have a good evening sir, we haven’t heard from you for sometime.
Roger is one of the most venerated posters to this site. There are very few posters that I would give that amount of reverence to.
And Jason, you ain’t one of them.
One more little snippet.
Jason claimed I hadn’t answered his question’s. I thought otherwise but would like to add…..
Jason, I assume you work for a living and aren’t living in your mothers basement. If you do you likely have a 401 K. Since the “funds” are the major investors in the commodity markets today I would suggest that YOU may have been the one selling pork to China at such a cheap price!
A little digging around on the “Trading Places” movie and I made a discovery that I hadn’t known about.
Apparently there was no law against obtaining and using “insider” commodity information until 2010!! If only I had had a friend in that department of the USDA! Anyway, in 2010 the “Eddie Murphy Rule” was put into effect to specifically target insider commodity trading. Of course it was called that because the movie ‘Trading Places’ was referenced when it was discussed in congress. The “Eddie Murphy Rule’ was part of the Dodd Frank legislation…..oh, son of a gun, I can get away with insider trading once again!!!
Good point Clyde. Here is another: “While Trump may not fear a trade war, farmers and ranchers across the U.S. heartland are increasingly nervous that a prolonged trade dispute with Beijing would hurt their exports at a time when they are suffering through a long-term slump in commodities prices.
“Escalating the potential of a trade war w/ China is reckless and it gambles the livelihoods of US farmers & ranchers across rural America,” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) wrote in a tweet, adding that 60 percent of North Dakota’s exports to China are agricultural products. “China’s unfair trade policies need to be reined in but this isn’t the way to do it.”
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) made a similar argument in a statement on Thursday night. “China is guilty of many things, but the president has no actual plan to win right now,” Sasse said. “He’s threatening to light American agriculture on fire.” https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/06/china-tariffs-trade-response-505380
Got that, no plan to win! It is clear to see that these reality tee vee dummies all, are clueless. trump is convinced, as he has been assured by fox and friends, that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. As long as we keep being ruled by tee vee personalities, I hope that we can somehow have a revision of Captain 11 to save our fannies.
Soybean producers knew all about this. ““It should surprise no one that China immediately retaliated against our most important exports, including soybeans. We have been warning the administration and members of Congress that this would happen since the prospect for tariffs was raised. That unfortunately doesn’t lend any comfort to the hundreds of thousands of soybean farmers who will be affected by these tariffs. This is no longer a hypothetical, and a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans into China will have a devastating effect on every soybean farmer in America.
“Soybean futures are already down nearly 40 cents a bushel as of this morning. At a projected 2018 crop of 4.3 billion bushels, soybean farmers lost $1.72 billion in value for our crop this morning alone. That’s real money lost for farmers, and it is entirely preventable.” https://soygrowers.com/chinese-retaliation-no-longer-soybean-farmers/
Seems like everyone was clear about all of this…even the insiders who profit the most on the manipulation. Ag folks, you’ve been conned by Don the con and company. Get used to it.
Good News for NOem! Good news for Mrs. Thune/Mrs. Rounds/Krebs and Mrs. Opie: “Ivanka Trump‘s clothing manufacturing company will be exempt from new proposed tariffs against China.
President Donald Trump announced the first round of tariffs against Chinese steel and aluminum industries on March 1. In response, China announced its first round of tariffs against 120 American products–including many consumer products–at the beginning of April. Each round of tariffs was worth an estimated $50 billion.” Yes ladies, you can still get your mitts on Ivanka’s stuff with no tariff’s!! Lucky girls! While the ag community just lost a billion, you all get to shop till you drop with no worries! You can’t be beat when you’re the elite! https://lawandcrime.com/awkward/ivanka-trumps-chinese-produced-clothing-not-subject-new-tariffs/
trump’s aluminum tariff has doubled the price to American importers. This has happened before with almost the same players in play. Goldman Sachs was the warehouse of aluminum in 2014-2015 and got their butts fined big time for it.
“This time around, rising premiums overlay an LME basis price that itself is in bull mode, up 25 percent since the start of 2017.
U.S. aluminum buyers still have one card to play.
Both the CMI and the Beer Institute are going to seek exemptions on the grounds that they won’t be able to source all the metal they need in the United States and that “imported aluminum used to make beer cans is not a threat to national security”.
It all depends on what counts as “national security” in this looking-glass aluminum world.”
National security, who is kidding who here? If you cannot see the con from Don, then you deserve to get fleeced like the sheep you are. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-aluminium-ahome/aluminum-through-the-looking-glass-after-trumps-tariffs-andy-home-idUSKCN1GP1TL
Kind of wondering what Ivanka had to give daddy for her clothing line exemption.
Roger, she probably told trump that she would spank him on his fat arse like Stormy did. As Stormy reminded him so much of Ivanka, that probably did the trick.
South Dakota farmers and all others who love the land, be vewwy afwaid-
Trump to farmers amid trade war: ‘We’ll make it up’ to you
‘The farmers will be better off than they ever were,’ the president said.
You are officially toast.
mfi, here is what he said:
“They want to hit the farmers because they think it hits me, I wouldn’t say that’s nice, but I’ll tell you our farmers are great patriots. These are great patriots and they understand that they’re doing this for the country. And we’ll make it up to them and in the end they’re going to be much stronger than they are now.
It’s not nice when they hit farmers specifically because they think it hits me. That being said we’re doing very well on trade and trade deals.” There ya go ag folks, the man is saying you all are patriots that can take a billion dollar hit because…well because you just can. So put those beans in the ground and go to your banker for some more loot. Don’t worry about it. Don the con has got your back. Think Carrier, he had their back as well and see how well that worked out for them.
Actually Congress is putting together another subsidy package to ag today. That means medicaid, social security, and medicare will have a good chance to win a vote at privatization –
“…we’ll make it up to them…“—how do we make it up to farmers who are driven out of business this year? Does Trump think farmers are all millionaires like him with lots of assets they can fall back on to ride out four bankruptcies? Trump’s tariff talk is more evidence that he can’t think beyond himself, that he has no empathy, and that his policies spring from his gut, not from any thorough deliberation.
President Obama hits back to prove that trump’s head is so far up his arse he can see Russia from there. From the can’t believe it’s true headline”
”
BREAKING NEWS
President Trump, in a surprising reversal, asked his advisers to look into rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact
Thursday, April 12, 2018 1:54 PM EST
President Trump told a gathering of farm state lawmakers and governors on Thursday morning that he was directing his advisers to look into rejoining the multicountry trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as the White House tries to come up with ways to protect the agriculture sector, which could be badly hurt by the president’s trade policies.
Rejoining the trade pact would be a surprising change in policy for Mr. Trump, who long criticized the deal and withdrew from it last January, in his first major trade action.”
Gwhaha, trump proves without a doubt that the Black Man in the White House, a legitimate president that was elected without Putin’s help, was correcto mundo regarding trade and how to do it. There ya go racists, dump trump and put either a woman or a minority in charge and then, let’s get stuff done.
jerry,
Trump’s reversal on TPP although surprising to some, was not surprising to me, it was also inevitable. It was Trump caving after he heard from republican agricultural lobbyists.
Trump is also trying to take back his tweets about bombing Syria, his tough talk only lasted long enough for Putin to tell Trump to ‘knock it off’.
One could view returning to TPP as a way to restore the U.S. position with its trade partners and put non-tariff pressure on China:
Senator Daines agrees that tariffs are bad, but Daines excuses Dear Leader’s bad policy by saying these threats are just negotiating tools.
Note also that Daines says Trump asked him to resend a letter in February. When someone asks you to resend a letter, that means that someone never paid attention to the letter in the first place. Such is Trump policy: made without paying attention to anything other than the latest couch chat on Fox and Friends.
President Obama could clearly see the benefits for not only ag producers, but also for trade itself. Senator Daines has to chew it back and say something other than trump is out of his league. Look who is wanting to be his secretary of state, a guy that is still in business with China! And, still in business with Russia! trump and his cabinet are all in on TPP because that has always been their business model.
There would be some good news for ag producers though and maybe some good news for taxpayers, when this TPP is put back into play. The first order of business would be for ag producers to get legitimate representation regarding fair pricing for product. That may mean to put some land into soil banks as an example. Flooding the market is not good for business.
Thune says that trump was “bullish” on restarting the TPP, only to walk it back a couple of hours later. ”
“Trump then told Lighthizer and Kudlow to “take a look at getting us back into that agreement, on our terms, of course,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). “He was very, I would say, bullish about that.”
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) also witnessed and applauded Trump’s surprise move.
Trump says he is open to negotiating with TPP countries
On Jan. 26, President Trump said he was open to a “mutually beneficial” trade agreement with the countries in the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement. (The Washington Post)
“We should be leading TPP,” Sasse said. “China is a bunch of cheaters and the best way to push back on their cheating would be to be leading all these other rule-of-law nations in the Pacific that would rather be aligned with the U.S. than with China.”
But some free-trade supporters viewed Trump’s remarks with skepticism.
“If it holds until this afternoon, that’s a good move,” said Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a free-trade advocate and frequent Trump critic who was not at the White House meeting.”
Jeff Flake is correct, trump has attention deficit disorder when it comes to anything but porn queens. Flake has his number for sure. Regarding Thune, the only thing bullish about trump has to do with the bullcrap he tosses. There is a difference Senator, but how would you know when you seem to be full of it as well.
I’d like to point out that it is very likely that the thing that won the election for D Trump was likely his stand against the TPP. Sanders was likewise against it and Hillary who had been a big advocate had had to change her stance to get more credibility. The American people are fed up with these trade agreements that take away our sovereignty and hand it to the “World Court”. They have come to realize that every trade agreement means they will be a little poorer.
I have relatives in New Zealand and conversed with them on what they were going to get out of the TPP. It sounded as if they would gain overall and I don’t remember the gist of it all but do remember that our big drug company’s were going to have them over a barrel.
That’s who benefit’s from these trade deals. Big multinationals, not pip-squeak farmers.
Clyde, the thing that won the election for trump was Russia.
Minnesota is the top turkey producing state in the nation. The manager of Holden Farms, the biggest turkey producer in Minn, was just in this coffee shop. Holden produces hogs too and this gentleman was saying that if President $hithole’s tariffs are allowed to take effect he’ll probably stop hog production all together and layoff half his turkey employees and cut that in half as well.
Jerry, lets get serious, a half dozen bots on social media made all the difference? Trump had a message that the American people were dying to hear. A big part of it was no more disastrous trade deals. Jobs for Americans and “Making America Great Again”.Of course he hasn’t kept his word on any of it.
Debbo, I’m not defending this ridiculous trade war. Not letting China walk on us should have been addressed long ago. Maybe Holden Farms wouldn’t have gotten so big if it had. Maybe there would have been more jobs back on the diversified small farms that have been done in by the vertical integrator’s like Holden Farms.