Mad King Watch (Take II): The Most Beautiful Word In The Dictionary...Until It's Not

 

<https://www.downwithtyranny.com/>

“The most beautiful word 

in the dictionary: tariffs!”~ Donald Trump

Suggested Soundtrack (tie): 

"Up, Up, And Away"/

"Which Way To Nowhere"

The Fifth Dimension

Day One has long since come and gone, and guess what? To nobody's great surprise, prices are arcing, like the song says (see links below) -- "Up, up, and away, in my beautiful, my beautiful, balllooonnn!" Suffice to say, historians will likely file Trump's signature campaign promise -- that prices would "start going down, on Day One" -- as one of the worst examples of election-era pandering, like the middle-class tax cut that President Clinton abruptly stopped dangling out to the masses, the minute he won his second term in 1996.

I'll just simply note where prices stand in my neck of the woods, namely, eggs and gasoline, two commodities that people seem to have seized on, as symbols of their struggles. First, the pump. Self-serve gas prices started at $2.93 per gallon last week, and finished at $3.09 per gallon, for a jump of 16 cents. It took $15 to keep the tank roughly half-full. All in all, not the worst outcome I've seen, but a definite upswing over the week before, with prices averaging $2.83 per gallon.

And now, to the eggs. Matthew's, our area grocery store chain, began imposing a limit on how many you can buy, as many other stores have done nationwide. No surprises there, right? As of 2/18, egg purchases are limited to one carton per customer (12 or 18 eggs, makes no difference).

Last night, the Squawker asked me to buy some eggs, to keep those breakfasts humming. Luckily for me, I snagged an 18-egg carton of Eggland's Best, for $5.56 -- good thing, too, because there was just one other carton, containing a couple of smashed eggs, leaking a fair amount of yolk. Ick! Think I'll give that one a miss, then.

Had I tarried a moment or two longer, though, I'd have surely been out of luck, because the cheapest cartons now start at $6.95, and rapidly escalate to $8.29, and $9.85, depending on how fancy you wish to get (brown? caged? free range? organic?). What does next week's price frontier hold? Time will tell, but it's not looking good, now that Trump's made good on his threat to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports.

There's just one slight problem, though, for those who aren't paying attention. Here's a few relevant facts that I found, using the magic of Google searching, in answer to this question: "What percent of our food, overall, comes from Canada and Mexico?" Here's what my screen spat back at me:

• In 2020, Mexico accounted for 77% of fresh vegetable imports to the US, while accounted for 11%. Mexico's share dipped in slightly in 2023, to 63%, which still gives them a pretty healthy market share, by any measure.
• Mexico is the largest source of US horticultural imports, including fruit, vegetables, and alcoholic beverages.
• Mexico accounted for 47% of US fruit and imports in 2023.
• Between 2017 and 2021, Canada and Mexico ranked as the first and third largest suppliers, respectively, of US agricultural products.
• Canada accounted for 16.3% of total US agricultural exports, ringing up $174.8 billion in sales.
• More than 30% of meat and meat products consumed in the US hail from Canada. 

Two takeaways stand out here, to any reasonable observer. First, Canada's chances of ever becoming the 51st state look rather remote. (Besides, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico should get first dibs on that privilege, snark, snark, snark. They've been waiting a bit longer for it.) Second, all things being equal, we'd miss our Canadian and Mexican brethren at the dinner table a hell of a lot more, than the other way around.

My own sense is that a targeted middle ground approach works best. Unrestricted free trade is bad, because it often leads to job losses, and the hollowing out of local industries -- who typically make way for corporate chains, with all the imperial dog-eat-dogism that such a tectonic shift implies -- one that opens the door to other hobgoblins, like loss of intellectual property, weaker environment regulations, and worker exploitation.

Yet rampant trade wars also yield mixed results (see link below) -- since it's consumers, not importers, who pay for those hefty tax hikes on their products. The notorious Smoot-Hawley Tariff, imposed in 1930 over President Herbert Hoover's objections -- which slapped punitive tariffs on over 1,000 products -- is considered the textbook example of blunt instrument protectionism that backfired, for its role in kick-starting the Great Depression internationally.

By and large, trade wars aren't something that any rational politician would do, though it's not hard to see why they periodically resort to them. Trade wars offer an easy way to push buttons, and play to emotions, without ever having to do anything about the problem that's causing so much economic queasiness.

This is the essence of populism, as alternative political satirist Jonathan Pie has observed -- promising the Moon, then handing you a copy of the Apollo 13 DVD. Not that this inconsistency slows Trump down -- as he zigzags between blaming his predecessor ("Inflation is back -- I had nothing to do with it"), and vague promises of fighting "every level of inflation," whatever that means. It's what he does; when confronted, double, triple, quadruple down, if necessary. Facts be damned, and public opinion, too.

Yet Biden is long gone, so whatever's happening under Trump's watch is his nut to crack, his problem to solve -- fair or unfair, like it not -- and he should be held accountable, obviously. But so should the party -- and the voters -- that  enabled him, and this particular brand of madness. Because "concepts of a plan," at least, as this incumbent defines them, offer cold comfort at the cash register. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry, 

Before Those Eggs Cost 15 Bucks A Carton):

CNN: Trump Is One Month In, And Already,

Americans Are Mad At Him For Inflation:
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/21/economy/us-economy-trump/index.html

CNN: Trump Says DOGE Could Return

20% Of Its Savings Directly To Taxpayers... :
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/20/business/doge-dividend-checks-plan-inflation/index.html

History.com: Seven Contentious Trade Wars In US History:
https://www.history.com/news/7-trade-wars-boston-tea-party-smoot-hawley

The Fifth Dimension: Up, Up, And Away (Official Audio):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKkNlwpajNk

The Fifth Dimension: Which Way To Nowhere:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfGHZzumXJ4