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Noem: National Economy Booming… South Dakota Left Stagnant by Tariffs?

Kristi Noem runs hot and cold on the economy. In April, she said South Dakota’s economy is “stagnant“:

Noem cited the state’s slow economic growth, saying South Dakota’s Gross Domestic Product, a measure of economic output, lags behind the national average.

“We’re just kind of treading water right now,” Noem said [Nick Lowrey, “Noem Makes Campaign Stop in Pierre,” Pierre Capital Journal, 2018.04.08].

But in her weekly column (which goes without comment on the spin blog where she pays to play), she says the U.S. economy is booming, thanks to Il Duce:

The U.S. economy is booming right now. After years of snail’s-pace growth, it surged ahead 4.1 percent last quarter, which economists called a “blockbuster” and “rip-roaring” number. What’s more, worker pay reached the highest level since 2008, with wages, salaries, and benefits all increasing by significant margins.

This economic resurgence didn’t just happen, however. Over the last two years, we have dramatically reduced both taxes and regulations, giving families and businesses the freedom to grow they’ve been waiting for.

More specifically, since President Trump took office, we have dismantled 2,000+ regulations – one of the most significant government rollbacks in recent memory [Rep. Kristi Noem, weekly column, 2018.08.03].

Noem can’t quite hold these two positions entirely and simultaneously. She can claim that the Trump regime’s “conservative” policies are leading to economic growth, but then she’s going to need to explain the factors that counter those policies in South Dakota and leave us stagnant. In particular, she’s going to have to explain how the most likely dominant factor in our state stagnation, a bad farm economy, is not the fault of the tariffs caused by the same Great Leader she’s praising for a national economic boom.

So, readers, help Kristi out! See if you can salvage her national economic optimism from the mess facing her tariff-battered South Dakota voters.

11 Comments

  1. mike from iowa

    which economists called a “blockbuster” and “rip-roaring” number. What’s more, worker pay reached the highest level since 2008, with wages, salaries, and benefits all increasing by significant margins.

    Biggest Summer snowjob ever and you don’t need experts to explain why.

  2. mike from iowa

    Someone needs to be drug tested before she can hold office.

  3. Eve Fisher

    Courtesy of WaPo:
    Trump portrays the tariffs as a tax on foreigners, but the reality is that tariffs are taxes on U.S. companies and consumers. When a big U.S. retail chain or an equipment manufacturer has to pay 10 or 25 percent more to get steel from Canada or a certain part from China, that U.S. company has to pay the tax when it imports that item. U.S. businesses either eat that extra cost or pass it along to consumers.

    There are already signs that prices are rising because of Trump’s tariffs. Coca-Cola is raising prices on its drinks because his aluminum tariffs are making its cans more expensive, the company says. Winnebago, maker of RVs, also has raised some of its prices, blaming higher steel and aluminum costs.

    But, of course, Kristi doesn’t read…

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/08/05/trump-makes-bizarre-claim-that-tariffs-will-help-pay-down-massive-us-debt/?utm_term=.4486118c2b3d&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1

  4. Nick Nemec

    Thanks to Donald Trump tariffs have taken +/-$2/bu. off the price of soybeans. On 40 bu. beans that is $80/acre or put another way the entire profit margin. Thanks Donald. And thanks Noem for being to stupid to call out a stupid policy when it stares you in the face.

  5. Porter Lansing

    Is ethanol becoming “meh”thanol?
    It was recently reported that the EPA is providing Renewable Fuel Standard waivers to small refineries, thereby reducing the amount of ethanol required by the Renewable Fuel Standard and reducing the demand on corn and corn ethanol. – Rounds (R) SD
    Sen. Rounds solution? Ask the Aryan King to stop doing that. Good luck to the Soybean Senator on this one.

  6. Perhaps Kristi, Professor of Trumponomics, can explain how tariffs will get us out of debt at the same time that Trump writes $12 billion in farm welfare checks to make up for the lost profits his tariffs are causing.

  7. Debbo

    How many SD farmers and other business people are wondering what she’s been smoking?

  8. jerry

    Booming alright, layoffs, here we come.

    “Fairfield County TV Plant Closing, Laying Off 126 Employees, Due to Tariffs
    A TV plant in Fairfield County says it is closing as a result of tariffs, laying off 126 employees.
    Author: WLTX Staff
    Published: 11:12 AM EDT August 7, 2018
    Updated: 6:16 PM EDT August 7, 2018
    Winnsboro, SC (WLTX) — A TV plant in Fairfield County says it is closing as a result of tariffs, laying off 126 employees.

    Element TV Company in Winnsboro has served notice to the S.C. Department of Workforce and Employment (SCDEW) that it will close in October, which will result in the layoff of 126 of its 134 full-time employees.” https://www.wltx.com/article/news/local/fairfield-county-tv-plant-closing-laying-off-126-employees-due-to-tariffs/101-581306681

    Assembled in America for the America First nonsense. First to surrender that is for sure, what idiots voted this clown in? Oh yeah, 3 million less than who voted to fire this fraudulent conman. Lock him up! Lock trump up!

  9. mike from iowa

    ttps://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/heres-betsy-devos-family-flies-cayman-flag-instead-american-one-yacht/

    Maybe South Dakota farmers could register their combines and 300k tractors in the Caymans and avoid paying US taxes. Works for the Suckretary of Mis Education.

  10. Ryan

    mike, south dakota farmers don’t have to register their combines or tractors at all. They don’t have to avoid any tax, it is graciously removed for them.

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