Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Rasulis]

Interesting reading.

“There’s definitely a bias towards Republican-voting areas,” said Robert Maxim, a fellow at Brookings Metro who worked on the jobs analysis. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence. China and Canada know what they’re doing.”

Counties that voted for President Donald Trump have a greater share of workers in industries targeted by retaliatory tariffs.

Roughly 3 million people in Trump-voting counties work in those industries, compared with about 2 million in counties that swung for Vice President Kamala Harris. And the counties that face the greatest potential impact from countertariffs were three times as likely to have voted for Trump.

Chinese and Canadian countertariffs are both aimed for political impact, but Canadian countertariffs are anticipated to have a much broader impact.

China’s latest tariffs place a tax of up to 15 percent on a variety of agricultural goods, the production of which employs about 1.3 million Americans. The levies include some of the United States’ most important exports to China, like soybeans, meat and grains. This comes after China set levies last month on U.S. coal and liquefied natural gas, agricultural equipment, and crude oil. Just over 600,000 Americans work in those industries, according to a previous Brookings analysis.

Canada levied 25 percent retaliatory tariffs on goods from manufacturing and agricultural sectors that employ 4.8 million Americans. Some are tailored to hit potent political symbols, like Kentucky bourbon and Florida orange groves.

The economic threat posed by countertariffs is especially potent in rural communities where one employer dominates the job market. The Brookings analysis found that more than 60 percent of employment in Sargent County, North Dakota, is based in industries threatened by Chinese and Canadian countertariffs. Rural counties are more than twice as likely to have at least 1 in 6 workers employed by targeted industries. All in all, these industries employ 7.5 percent of workers in nonmetropolitan areas, compared with 3.2 percent of workers in metropolitan areas.

The farming industry in particular will be squeezed from both sides: Countertariffs from both China and Canada cut down on the ability to sell crops abroad, while a 10 percent U.S. tariff on Canadian fertilizer increases the cost of production. This comes in addition to cuts at USAID, which serves as a major buyer of surplus crops for many U.S. farmers.

[Breccia]

“There’s definitely a bias towards Republican-voting areas. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

Was this...not known? I'm surprised someone at the Brookings Institute took this long to figure it out.

[Rasulis]

Was this...not known? I'm surprised someone at the Brookings Institute took this long to figure it out.

I am sure they suspected that was the case. Now they have the results of the economic analysis.

[Breccia]

I am sure they suspected that was the case. Now they have the results of the economic analysis.

Well yes, the article does have some good infographics, that's fair.

[Xyonai]

Kinda surprised it wasn't brought up yesterday, but the Trump Administration has disbanded two economic statistics committees that help track data related to GDP.

[Poopymonster]

Weekly check in.

Bowl & Basket Fresh White Eggs, Jumbo, 12 count, 30 oz $8.89

Up about 80 cents. On track to hit $10 in a few weeks.

Aldi near Trenton: Dozen eggs $6.59, up from last week $5.99 last Friday.
Local grocery with B&B brand, same white, jumbo, dozen is $8.69.
We cut eggs out, neither of us a lot of eggs outside of a rare instant pot crustless quiche.

[Endus]

Aldi near Trenton: Dozen eggs $6.59, up from last week $5.99 last Friday.
Local grocery with B&B brand, same white, jumbo, dozen is $8.69.
We cut eggs out, neither of us a lot of eggs outside of a rare instant pot crustless quiche.

Just to continue providing the outsider point of view for comparison, my local grocery store;

No Name large grade A eggs: C$3.93, so that's $2.72 USD, I think?
If Jumbo is more comparable to Extra Large, that's C$4.63, or $3.21 USD.

[Breccia]

I can't wait to see the Trump cultists come flocking back when egg prices actually do swap direction...likely due to decreased demand, likely due to high prices...desperate to use that single item they themselves have said isn't the issue, to deflect from how much damage Trump is doing to the economy. At this point, with the GDP likely going negative, the DOW Jones definitely going negative, and Trump's polling numbers gone negative for weeks now...egg prices are not the real issue anymore.

[Rasulis]

Kinda surprised it wasn't brought up yesterday, but the Trump Administration has disbanded two economic statistics committees that help track data related to GDP.

I meant to do that when it was discussed on NPR a couple of weeks back. Important to note that the panel members are unpaid volunteers. No cost saving there.

[Xyonai]

I meant to do that when it was discussed on NPR a couple of weeks back. Important to note that the panel members are unpaid volunteers. No cost saving there.

Yeah the obvious spin on this is that they see their stupid bullshit tanking markets and want to throw out garbage data to keep it from free falling and/or throw out talking points to mouth breathers; but like the Tariff Chicken that Donald's playing, it's just going to make businesses more wary about spending when they're increasingly unsure of what the market looks like.

Half of what Trump's doing look to be directly engineered to cause a recession, the other half seem to be focused on obfuscating that one is coming.

[Iliena]

US stocks plunged on Monday as fears grew over an economic slowdown, after President Donald Trump did not rule out a recession.

The Nasdaq sank by 4.0% at the close of trading, its largest single-day loss since 2022, and there were heavy losses on other markets with tech stocks seeing the largest drops.

Tesla shares fell about 15.4%, while chipmaker Nvidia was down more than 5%. Other major tech stocks including Meta, Amazon and Alphabet also sank.

The S&P 500 Index slid 2.7%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.1%.

It comes after Trump said the US economy was in a period of transition, after he was asked about concerns over a potential recession.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news

Similar example of short term austerity (one year) leading to big gains. And their economy is just a fraction of ours.

Trust the process. Cut waste, excess regulations - good things will happen. I'm glad we are following a similar model.

Is the "process" still on target?

[Kaleredar]

Kinda surprised it wasn't brought up yesterday, but the Trump Administration has disbanded two economic statistics committees that help track data related to GDP.

Unfortunately for Trump, whether some arcane number most people don’t understand is concealed when it goes down won’t matter if people are still feeling an economic pinch when everything else starts to go up in price. Or perhaps more accurately, continues to go up.

By most “metrics” Biden’s economy was actually pretty good but the consumer didn’t feel most of those benefits and didn’t care about the corresponding “good sounding” number. So trump lying and saying “we have the best GDP, the biggest GDP, the most beautiful GDP there ever was” while hiding any bad numbers wont really matter to anyone that wasn’t already a sycophant when they can’t afford eggs… or rent.

[Xyonai]

Unfortunately for Trump, whether some arcane number most people don’t understand is concealed when it goes down won’t matter if people are still feeling an economic pinch when everything else starts to go up in price. Or perhaps more accurately, continues to go up.

By most “metrics” Biden’s economy was actually pretty good but the consumer didn’t feel most of those benefits and didn’t care about the corresponding “good sounding” number. So trump lying and saying “we have the best GDP, the biggest GDP, the most beautiful GDP there ever was” while hiding any bad numbers wont really matter to anyone that wasn’t already a sycophant when they can’t afford eggs… or rent.

yeah that's the other thing; The Stock Market was doing 'great' and, on paper, unemployment and jobs numbers were holding strong. But a lot of consumers didn't -feel- the supposedly good economy (this belief reinforced by a Right Wing / Centrist Media apparatus 'just asking questions'). So they could probably still spin this... for a few months, until the median spender can't afford dick anymore and actually bothers asking 'hey, what gives?'.

[Ivanstone]

https://archive.ph/2025.03.10-195134...st-200-billion

“The start of Trump’s second term has delivered a stunning reversal for many of those billionaires sitting behind Trump in the Capitol Rotunda, with five having lost a combined $210 billion in wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.”

Go Fash, Lose Cash.

[We are covfefe]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Or something.

[Edge-]

https://archive.ph/2025.03.10-195134...st-200-billion

“The start of Trump’s second term has delivered a stunning reversal for many of those billionaires sitting behind Trump in the Capitol Rotunda, with five having lost a combined $210 billion in wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.”

Go Fash, Lose Cash.

It's fun because they can lose $210B in wealth and not even notice.

Meanwhile if regular folks lose a few thousand in a year that can be very, very felt.

[NED funded]

Trump can try and hide GDP numbers but the markets will still punish him for it.

[Corvus]

President Musk must be upset that Tesla is down over 15%. Well, if he even notices on his drug high.

[Poopymonster]

President Musk must be upset that Tesla is down over 15%. Well, if he even notices on his drug high.

He's raking in money hand over fist with gov contracts.

[Rasulis]

yeah that's the other thing; The Stock Market was doing 'great' and, on paper, unemployment and jobs numbers were holding strong. But a lot of consumers didn't -feel- the supposedly good economy (this belief reinforced by a Right Wing / Centrist Media apparatus 'just asking questions'). So they could probably still spin this... for a few months, until the median spender can't afford dick anymore and actually bothers asking 'hey, what gives?'.

That's the problem with macroeconomic numbers. Whether you put in 6 hours a week or 40 hours a week, or you are working two jobs and making below poverty line, you are still being counted as employed. The same Customer Price Index (CPI). Out of the 80 categories listed on CPI, most people only care about 3 or 4.

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President Musk must be upset that Tesla is down over 15%. Well, if he even notices on his drug high.

Tesla went down a lot more than 15%. At its peak it was $479.86 per share on Dec 17, 2024. Now it is $222.82 per share. His dalliance with Trump wiped out over $800 billion in Tesla's market cap.