By Robert Bradley Jr.
“To those who voted for this Administration … ask yourself if this is really what you voted for. I’m willing to bet that, for many of you, the answer is no.” ( Emily Rossi, former DOE employee, below)
Milton Friedman often warned that good intentions are not enough. It is results that matter. Thus, the right worldview is crucial.
I was reminded of this upon reading this farewell post by Emily Rossi, (former) Senior Advisor to the U.S. Dept. of Energy. [Note: these links do not work for me–I might have been blocked. Or she went underground.]
Yesterday was my last day as a federal employee with the U.S. Dept. of Energy [after almost three years]. I’ll have news to share soon about what comes next, but for today, I’d like to reflect on my time at the DOE under Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Deputy Secretary Dave Turk, and join the growing chorus of people lifting up the contributions of federal workers.
It was an ideological bunch, thinking that ringing up deficits to save the world with wind, solar, and batteries was on high. She continues:
The dedication I saw at DOE to bettering people’s lives was unmatched. During my tenure, the agency was driven by a bright and optimistic vision for the future; one that reflected the will of communities, that filled critical gaps, and that viewed the challenges before us as a chance to make people’s lives better in tangible ways.
I will forever be grateful to Secretary Granholm for her boundless joy and energy, motivating each of us to give as much as we could in service to our nation; and to her and Deputy Secretary Turk for their tireless work recruiting the next generation of leaders into public service.
Rossi’s description of the spirit at DOE is uplifting until one realizes that this agency was actually squandering scarce resources and penalizing consumers and taxpayers. “Greater speed to the wrong destination …”, as the saying goes.
Rossi then defends her work with a romantic view of government. (Public Choice economics was not her fare as a communications major and a theater major in college [1]).
For as long as I can remember, federal employees have been unfairly targeted in political spaces; framed as undeserving and a weight on the system.
In reality, federal employees are the backbone of critical national security, public health, and social systems that we all rely on. The federal workforce is also disproportionately made up of returned service members — roughly 1 in 3 federal workers are veterans, providing much needed and well earned career opportunities to the brave men and women of our armed services and their families.
She continues:
Ironically, if you were to talk to federal employees about the need for reforms, in my experience they would be the first ones to agree with you. These are people who have given up opportunities in the private sector and instead chosen public service because they want to help make this world a better place. They WANT the government to work better and they don’t want outdated systems and other bureaucratic challenges to stop them from achieving those goals.
These are people who are stopping Ebola outbreaks, fighting to end cancer, securing our nuclear arsenal, preserving our public lands, helping seniors stay safe, feeding hungry kids, rebuilding communities after natural disasters, and so much more. The way that Elon Musk and Donald Trump are targeting and vilifying these public servants is a disgrace.
This is mixing the good with the bad. It neglects the opportunity for private foundations and Civil Society writ large to do the things that really need to be done. It does not have to be a bureaucrat in Washington, DC. And it sure does not have to be wealth transfers from ordinary people to politically endowed rent-seeking corporations.
She ends:
To my colleagues who remain: I see you and I am so proud to have worked alongside you. To those who are leaving or have been forced out, thank you for your service. To those who voted for this Administration, I implore you to look at what they’re doing and the millions of Americans their actions will hurt, and ask yourself if this is really what you voted for. I’m willing to bet that, for many of you, the answer is no. And if that’s the case, please make your voices heard. Show that country always comes before politics. That is what I have seen in my three years at DOE, and that is the future I choose to believe in for all of us.
Thank you for the honor of serving you.
Really? It is naive to believe that federal employees do not want more money and greater departments and find room to slack without profit/loss discipline. Politics is hardly romantic, and the US federal debt clock is a constant reminder of “democracy in deficit.”
I wish Ms. Rossi a better career and life in the private sector–and in a position adding to the national wealth/consumer welfare, rather than redistributing in a zero- or negative-sum game. The US needs millions more net taxpayers in place of net taxreceivers.
————-
[1] Ms. Rossi is Progressive Left. Her prior job was Director of Digital Media with the Democratic Attorneys General Association and before worked for Senators Jeff Merkley and Claire McCaskill. She received a Masters in communications from Johns Hopkins and a BA in Theater at William & Mary.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Mainly Off Topic.
The most ominous recent development in the ongoing saga of the Trump tariffs is that China has just raised its tariff on US imports to 125%. Given that the US now has tariffs of 145% on Chinese imports, this amounts to the sudden end of all trade between the US and China.
Time to get very, very worried. This is not going to end well. There are two historical parallels. One is Snoot-Hawley. The other is the collapse of such previous reserve currencies as the Guilder and Sterling.
As Russell remarks in the History of Western Philosophy, writing about St Augustine, while the frontiers collapsed, the best and brightest were spending their time trying to define what sexual contacts exactly meant the loss of virginity. Write in place of that Gender, Race and Climate.
The cultural collapse preceded the social and economic collapse, but the economic collapse at a certain point becomes inevitable. We are living through once in one hundred plus year events and will look back on the 1950s, so despised by the radicals of the sixties, as an oasis of calm and prosperity.
Just a negotiating ploy by your new Jacksonian Democrat President and China has no chips to bargain with. Not saying it won’t cause some serious interim emptying of shelves at Walmart and the like but Trump knows China needs to boost their domestic consumption/reward for Chinese masses just as he needs to boost Main Street over Wall Street at home. The deficit cannot continue or the global economy will be in deep trouble anyway. He’s just triggered a Bretton Woods type get together to tackle the bleeding obvious and we’re all in this together you’ll notice.
PS: It’s like this and free trade theory is all very nice in polite society with the chattering classes but it has to be a level playing field with agreed rules to work-
The EV con: Spotlight investigation into the deadly side of electric vehicles sold in Australia | 7NEWS
Enviroweenies have been smoking stuff they shouldn’t on that score.
Does your level playing field refuse to recognize the good of unilateral zero tariffs? If so, your playing field will never be level because that kind of level is unmeasurable and incomparable.
How about free and fair trade? Then who defines what is fair?
Trump wants to weaken the Chinese economy so they won’t have so much cash to invest in their military. We’ve got to end the huge trade imbalance with China. They either have to find some American products and services to buy- to balance the trade- or there won’t be any trade. They’ve always claimed there wasn’t much America was making that they wanted. Well, when American industries come home- there will be. Previous presidents discussed the problem but didn’t have the guts to force a solution. There are many YouTube videos showing the massive problems in China- economic and population collapse. Good timing for a trade showdown.
Yes, China was having major economic and political problems before the tariffs were announced. A trade war will just make things worse for China. They have to sell things to the United States or their economy goes under. The United States does not have to buy things from China, and not buying from China will not put the United States under.
Most of the economic activity for the United States takes place within the United States. International trade makes up only about 11 percent of the U.S. economy, and our largest trading partners are Mexico and Canada.
The United States does not need China. China does needs the United States. China should recognize their situation and do a deal with Trump that will benefit them. Trump will throw them a bone if they ask nicely.
One of things I like about Trump is that he’s proving just how powerful America is when it wants to demonstrate that. The world shakes when America stands tall. Trump is now the center of attention, worldwide.
Yet we imposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and 10% tariffs are still in place with both trading partners.
That’s true. I think Fentanyl has something to do with the tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
And then Canadian politicians decide they are going to retaliate against the United States, so that will result in less favorable treatment for them.
Canadian politicians have put themselves right next to China as the only two nations who think retaliation will do them some good. It will not. Watch and see.
That Mark Carney fellow is a staunch Climate Alarmist, who thinks he can intimidate President Trump. Like Trump said, the United States doesn’t need anything Canada produces since the United States produces the very same things.
And Carney will not ingratiate himself with Trump pushing Climate Change propaganda.
Canada might as well have elected the United Nations head, Antonio Guterres as their Prime Minister. Both men are authoritarian Climate Change fanatics, who think they know better than everyone else.
Carney is an ignorant, dangerous radical. Just what Canada needed.
No good political choices in Canada apparently.
Regardless of everything else, your “huge trade imbalance with China” shows your economic ignorance. Trade balances between individual pairs of countries in a world of 200 countries are meaningless. Country A sells to Country B, B sells to C, C sells to A. All have positive and negative trade balances which are meaningless.
Come on, people, only 5 downvotes? Surely there’s more people who can’t follow simple logic!
Well, you certainly got the “simple” part right.
However, it will take years for manufacturing to “come home” to the US – need to refurbish existing factories or build new. Need to tool up. Need to implement the supply chain of raw materials to the factory, and finished product to the ultimate customer. Takes time, and if all companies come home at once, it will strain the entire system. Meanwhile, we have to have the tariffs in place to get the companies to come home.
A large amount of regulatory and labor-law reform will also be necessary.
Lastly, the companies “coming home” will need solid assurances that this new business environment in the US won’t just disappear on January 20th, 2029.
China could sell all the US Bonds it holds. There goes the USD.
I think China tried that right after Trump announced the tariffs.
The movers and shakers got nervous watching unusual activity in the bond markets and reports are that China was causing this activity, apparently in an effort to make the movers and shakers nervous, and regret placing tariffs.
The Treasury Secretary said the Trump administration had planned all along to call a “Pause” to the tariffs, which makes sense because you are not going to complete hundreds of new trade agreements in a couple of days. It’s going to take a little time.
And apparently, as a result of the consternation Chinese bond selling caused, the Trump administration announced a pause right after that, as a means of calming everyone down.
So China’s bond selling gambit didn’t work out quite the way they wanted it to.
Wait until Trump starts delisting Chinese companies on the American stock exchanges.
And Trump really ought to delist these companies. They don’t even follow standard accounting reporting like American companies do. China’s companies get special treatment on the American stock exchanges. It’s time to put a stop to this stupidity and hold Chinese companies to the same standards as American companies.
For the last 40 years, the west has off shored manufacturing jobs to places like China in the greedy pursuit of quicker profits & not looked at the long term damage; that policy has now come back to bite us in the bum.
If we start today, it will take 5–7 yrs to retrain lost skills, rebuild & be independent again ( and ironically we’ll have to buy from the far East to do it ).
Trump should have concentrated on cleaning the swamp & rebuilding the manufacturing base instead of grandstanding, alienating friendly countries & his own voters (as they see $1,000s wiped from their pensions) and then bragging about some alleged insider dealing, “He made $2.5 million, and he made $900 million! That’s not bad!” https://x.com/i/status/1910220382067384825 in public.
Sadly, in a tariff war, there will only be one winner … CHINA,
… they have cheap power, cheap labour, & plenty of resources.
Don’t poke a sleeping Tiger !!
China has been a bit of a sick tiger for some time with the RE collapse and as well it’s demographic bubble has burst and unlike the Anglo countries and Europe those with CCP Yen are leaving with no body rushing in the other direction. Beijing doesn’t like losing face but they’ll need to face some ugly facts and decide whether to negotiate or not-
U.S. Tariff War Is Killing China, Industries in Ruins! Beijing Resists, Unafraid of Starving People
Beijing wouldn’t want to make the mistake Putin did by underestimating how fragile command economies are beneath the surface with Party backhanders and corruption all the way down the food chain. You think DOGE has discovered some serious swamp in Washington then China is riddled with it and they’ll tell Beijing anything they want to hear about that but the truth is a lot of the Chinese miracle relies on US consumers.
I’m afraid you are all missing the underlying point. The reason why manufacture and investment have been offshored is that the competitive position of the US has declined. Capital flight, which is what it is, is the first stage of the decline.
Look up comparative electricity and steel production stats. Look at naval forces. Look at speed of production of ships.
The tariff action will only accelerate the decline of the US dollar as the global reserve currency. Such trigger events occur when a trend of this kind is already well underway. Reserve currency status can continue for a long time when the decline is well established, but when it falls it will happen with amazing speed.
Meanwhile in other parts of the wood we see the characteristic cultural signs of late stage peak dominant status, in particular obsessions with largely irrelevant matters. Like race, climate and gender. And also the completely destructive prevalence of moral and epistemological relativism. The penetration of post-modernism in the intellectual establishment is due to the collapse of confidence, not a cause of it. Its a symptom of the decline of a culture.
A littoral empire, which the US has held in the Pacific, can only be sustained with a dominant economic position, and a dominant position in military tech. When that goes, the populations of the littoral powers become too great, and the empire cannot be sustained by force. Its too resource demanding. Look at late 17c Sweden for an example of the catastrophic costs of trying to hold on at all costs, and an example of the ultimate failure.
At the end of this process there is devaluation and default. So no, the tariff wars are not going to sink China. On the contrary, they will accelerate the relative decline of the US global position.
You are all correct to say that the situation had become unsustainable, the deficits and imbalances too large. That is true. But the current actions are not going to fix that because they do not fix the underlying issue, which is loss of competitiveness and relative decline in economic position. In fact, they accelerate it.
There were other courses available which might have at least postponed the decline or slowed it. But its very hard for politicians to see that, because their mindset is to assume the world has not changed, what was familiar will continue. Only, it won’t.
Yep I can accept all that and the nadir for the US (and the West in general) was the gaslighting with Sleepy Joe and the word salad pickme girl etc but cometh the hour cometh the man and he may yet be one of the greatest Presidents in living memory.
He took everything that rotten corrupt system threw at him including a bullet and he’s back wiser about their ways with a coterie of like-minded and some of the best brains free enterprise can throw up to drain the swamp-
Elon Musk’s DOGE team breaks silence
You can see there how when Musk realized the size and nature of the corrupt swamp problem he only had to share it with some of Silicon Valley’s best and they were onboard with a higher calling.
Now look at what our Jacksonian Democrat has achieved so far and where they’re all going with it now. The West aint dead yet but Americans better get with the program and get loud with the swamp creatures pissed with the swamp draining.
Yes, Americans need to recognize that the radical Democrats are an Existential Threat to their personal freedoms.
The Democrats are authoritarians who desire to run everyone else’s life, in order to keep political power for themselves, in perpetuity. The opposite of personal freedoms.
“At the end of this process there is devaluation and default. So no, the tariff wars are not going to sink China. On the contrary, they will accelerate the relative decline of the US global position.”
Exactly !!!
There’s a good chance MAGA will turn into …
MAP (Made America Poor),
as always, it won’t affect the elites.
“At the end of this process there is devaluation and default. So no, the tariff wars are not going to sink China. On the contrary, they will accelerate the relative decline of the US global position.”
I usually agree with you, michel, but not on this one. I think China is the one in jeopardy, for a number of reasons.
Yes, the U.S, has fallen behind but that’s getting ready to change. That’s the entire focus of the Trump administration right now. Trump is pretty good at accomplishing what he sets out to do. He’s already taken the Panama Canal away from the Chicoms.
Indeed, you are correct on the competitiveness issue. I hope that will be addressed somewhat. The decline needs to be reversed.
The US is no longer the dominant power that it was. It still is one of the best configured nations in terms of its geography and will do well. The empire is over.
Correcting the competitiveness problem will require substantial regulatory reform, and some way to make a $35/hr US worker more productive than a $3/hr worker in another country.
“The empire is over.”
I don’t think so.
Funny, innit, how tariffs on things America imports is bad but tariffs by other nations on things America exports are fine and dandy.
The tariffs are strategic. Over 50 nations have come forward to negotiate fair trade agreements with the US.
The US needs to work with key trading partners to isolate China. We need to quit providing funding for China’s aggressive military expansion. We need to end our economic dependence on Chinese products.
“We need to end our economic dependence on Chinese products.”
YES,
But as I said, it will take 5+years to rebuild the west’s manufacturing base.
In the meantime, pissing off your other trading partners ain’t going to improve things for USA.
They’re only just waking up to the delusion they can change the weather with Chinese coal fired solar panels windmills batteries and EVs-
As Starmer relaxes electric car targets, here’s what it really means for YOU: Five major changes including a stay of execution for hybrids
Anyhow here’s why Biden and Co lost to Trump-
Tim Walz names the three mistakes Democrats made in the last election
Trump didn’t know squat about tampons
The US manufacturing base does not need rebuilding. It is at its highest output capacity and highest productivity ever. You are starting from a false premise, probably focusing on manufacturing jobs instead of manufacturing output.
If adding jobs were the goal, stop using tools and equipment which make workers more productive. As someone (Milton Friedman?) said to the Chinese supervisor bragging about how many workers with shovels were employed in some big infrastructure project, why not issue them spoons instead of shovels if the employee count were all he cared about?
If your assertion is true, then why do we import so many products from around the world?
“But as I said, it will take 5+years to rebuild the west’s manufacturing base.”
I think you are going to be surprised.
WE are not dependent on Chinese products. Those can be made anywhere, and a lot of them have moved elsewhere. But China is dependent on being the world’s producer, and their command economy is not flexible enough to accept internal innovation or adjust to their people’s rising expectations.
I think you summed the situation up perfectly.
Your economic ignorance shows too. US manufacturing, by output, is the highest it’s ever been. By jobs, it’s the lowest it’s ever been.
Both are good, because that is how you increase productivity. If you see it only in terms of jobs, then let’s bring back switchboard operators, elevator boys, and bank tellers.
American workers are paid so well because all the capital investment makes them so productive. The jobs that got offshored were the ones that could not be made more productive, which is why countries with less capital investment and less productive workers now handle those low-skill jobs.
Bringing those low-skill jobs back would require replacing other jobs, which are more productive. This is not 1930 with a quarter of the country unemployed. There are not enough idle workers and capital to bring back low pay low skill jobs unless you want to get rid of high pay high skill jobs.
I’ve always been amused by people who will spend hours shopping for the best prices on the things they buy, but in turn get all bent out of shape when companies do the same.
I’m old enough to remember when everyone was marching in the streets because cheap Japanese labor was “stealing American jobs”. At the time, Japan was barely a second world country, and many of their people lived in poverty. As their economy grew, the wages their companies had to pay grew as well, and the wage gap pretty much disappeared.
Then came S. Korea, and everybody was marching in the streets because cheap S. Korean labor was stealing American jobs. Then free trade allowed S. Korea to grow from a 2nd world country to a first world one, and their labor rates reflected that change.
Then it was Taiwan, then it was Malaysia, and then …
One of the funniest things I remember reading was back in the 90’s. It was a man in the street interview of some Japanese citizens. They were complaining about how cheap Korean labor was stealing Japanese jobs.
This is not to say that China is the same as all these other countries.
They are not. After WWII, Japan was no longer an aggressive, expansionist country. Nor were S. Korea, Tiawan, etc.
China is. They seek to dominate their region, in much the same way that Japan once did. They also use espionage to steal what they can’t buy.
With all those other countries, letting the free market run its course, was the best option. That isn’t an option with China.
Very well said. I too am old enough to remember my dad looking at something in a store and saying “Nope, Made in Japan. It’s junk.”
All those countries you mentioned used free trade to rebuild their economies and culture to become strong allies of America and the west.
China exploits free trade as a western weakness they can use to build their Empire and Global dominance.
I’m with you up to that last paragraph. You are forgetting that both South Korea and Taiwan were dictatorships for 20-30 years after WW II, unlike Japan.
One of the reasons Xi is cracking down is because the people have gotten wealthier and want things dictatorships can’t abide, like freedom. As a country gets wealthier, people want more than just have things, they want to do things. They want freedom, choice, travel, time off, better jobs.
I’m not saying ignore China and pretend Xi isn’t a danger. But the easiest way to undermine Xi is trade so he’s the one responsible for blocking dangerous imports like Winnie the Pooh stuffed bears. The dumbest thing we did with Cuba was embargo them; it gave the Castros the excuse they need to keep the populace on their side. Without the embargo, the Castros would have had to embargo themselves. Same with Xi. Trade is a too way street. When we buy their stuff, they get dollars, and they have to use dollars to buy foreign stuff — our stuff. Make Xi embargo that stuff, like he’s doing now with Hollywood movies. Make his own people, his own deputies, see that Xi is the one blocking progress.
“I’m not saying ignore China and pretend Xi isn’t a danger. But the easiest way to undermine Xi is trade so he’s the one responsible for blocking dangerous imports like Winnie the Pooh stuffed bears.”
Xi is apparently having some big political problems. Xi may not be around for much longer. It is reported that the Chinese military and Xi are at odds, and one of Xi’s closest aids has disappeared and it is claimed this was done by the Chinese military.
So stay tuned. Not only is China having economic problems, they are having serious political problems, too.
“China is. They seek to dominate their region, in much the same way that Japan once did. They also use espionage to steal what they can’t buy.”
I saw an estimate the other day that claimed the Chicoms stole about $600 billion worth of intellectual property rights from the United States every year.
Where would the Chicoms be without the United States?
I bet the Chicoms are trying to steal the designs for the new American F-47 fighter jet.right this minute.
The Chicoms are not innovators, they are thieves.
Trump got something like 62 million votes the first time. He “alienated” so many of his voters that he only got 73 million votes in 2020 and “alienated” so many when he was out of office that he only got 77 million in 2024 (you can nitpick the numbers if you want; they’re close enough for government work).
Obama got fewer votes the second time he ran for president.
Trump got his mandate the third time around, despite the best efforts of the Democrats to undermine him. Ongoing efforts, I might add. And it’s not just Trump they are trying to undermine, it is everyone who voted for Trump: The majority of voters.
Radical Democrats are anti-American.
China wants world domination. They want to be the world’s economic and military supreme superpower. Why should we help them do this?
The pandemic revealed the fragility of our supply chains for many common goods. More importantly, many critical goods are solely sourced from China. It is unwise to be so dependent upon a hostile nation.
Free traders do not have a practical response to unfair trade practices. Saying “they shouldn’t do that and neither should we” does not fix the issue.
They want to be the world’s economic and military supreme superpower. Why should we help them do this?
Yes, good question, and that is why the current tariff action is irrational, it fails to address the underlying reasons why China is supplanting the US. To address the problem requires a completely different approach, one focused on the US economy and society, and in the first place admitting the source of the problem: cultural complacency, denial, division and loss of competitiveness.
The head story here gives examples of the problem. There are many more where this came from.
Is reversal possible? Doubtful, there are large underlying forces at work here, but there are at least more sensible and logical ways of going about trying.
“it fails to address the underlying reasons why China is supplanting the US.”
Is China supplanting the U.S.? What does that mean, exactly? Do more nations “love” China than “love” the United States? The nations of the world are running to the United States to make deals. I don’t see any running to China.
Lots of China’s “Belt and Road” clients are not very happy with how China has treated them. South American leaders are welcoming initiatives by the United States to reengage with them under the Trump administration.
The only thing I can think of where China is supplanting the U.S. is in naval ships and ship building. I believe Trump is ramping up ship building in the United States now.
And keep in mind that many Chinese naval vessels are really fishing vessels, so their numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.
I don’t see China supplanting the United States as long as the United States has effective leadership. The American people are up to the challenge.
Does any nation love China? Does it have any real allies? I see only bullied indebted client states, and intimidated-subservient states. No love.
That’s what I see, too.
Look up the numbers on electricity, steel. Look up the speed of reaction on shipbuilding. On IT, just about everything they set their minds to. They are the largest economy in the world, by any proper standard, and getting bigger. I wish you guys were right. Maybe there is some chance that the present government represents a radical change of direction, and maybe they can bring it off. I would like to think so, but am not optimistic.
Could the British have reversed their relative decline in the 1950s? Maybe in theory. But as a matter of practical politics the odds were so against it.
“Maybe there is some chance that the present government represents a radical change of direction, and maybe they can bring it off.”
That’s what I’m counting on.
A leader like Trump can inspire great effort in the American people, especially if their lives are getting better because of that leadership.
The United States is the innovator, and we can solve problems.
The Chicoms are thieves that depend on stealing from the innovators.
The one advantage the Chicoms have is using dictatorial powers, they can focus the nation where they want it focused.
A strong leader like Trump can do the same thing (focus a nation on the important things) just like the Chicom dictatorship, but do it democratically, and the People follow him because they want to, not because they have to.
And all the while, the radical Democrats are doing everything they can think of to undermine Trump’s efforts. To no avail so far. Let’s hope that hold true in the future.
Radical Democrats are a great danger to the freedom of the United States. I don’t like saying that, but it’s true.
The Democrats had no answers and the Uniparty encouraged NAFTA.
“… admitting the source of the problem: cultural complacency, denial, division and loss of competitiveness.”
So, it’s our fault?
Country declines from a position of pre-eminence are always due to a combination of things. One is a failure to respond appropriately to the changing environment. The other is that the environment has changed.
So its a mixture, yes, it is partly or substantially the US fault, but it is failing in circumstances which would make success very difficult indeed. Perhaps politically impossible for the required measures.
It could have been slowed, probably still could be, given the right measures. Starting with a national realization that there is a crisis.
It was always going to be impossible to prevent China from industrializing and modernizing. But it would have been possible to manage its rise better. Still is, but not the way the current administration is going about it.
I wasn’t aware until all this kicked off just how agriculture is protected/subsidised globally. Not many countries don’t protect agriculture to some degree.
Despite the Corn Laws experience.
Food is a serious matter.
I don’t know about them wanting to be a world power.
They definitely want to be a regional power and to control what happens in any country that is in what they view as their sphere of influence.
Educated elites simply don’t do tariffs as they’re above that uncouth sort of thing-
Parliament to vote on nationalising British Steel in rare recall sitting | Your Local Guardian
“China wants world domination. They want to be the world’s economic and military supreme superpower.”
The Chicoms are so arrogant they want to control both the Material world and the Spiritual world. The Chicoms passed a law recently making it illegal for the Tibetan Dalai Lama to reincarnate anywhere but on Chinese territory.
It doesn’t get much more arrogant or delusional than that!
Go back to one way tariffs then?
No. What it would take would be very carefully targetted tariffs and subsidies to key sectors coupled with large scale social and cultural change. The tariffs and subsidies need to be, like the Chinese ones. just below the threshold which will provoke a violent response. And there needs to be a bipartisan 10-15 year plan. We are talking a purge and redirecting of education, changes to approaches to crime and welfare. You have to have as a goal where Chinese companies look longingly at workforce, supply chain and social conditions in the US and wish they could offshore to it because it would be so much cheaper, better quality and rapid turnaround.
And you have to get to a position where the US can build carriers and other ships, and aircraft and mechanized equipment faster and cheaper and in greater quantities than the Chinese.
Its a mammoth task, but that is what reversing relative decline will take. Will it happen? What do you think?
Michel, you mention Smoot-Hawley but don’t say anything about it. Did you do this to bring in the Spector of depression?
Milton Friedman has argued that the Feds money tightening policy is the cause because reducing the money supply shut down borrowing.
As for the Guilder as a world currency, a small country with limited global reach was never a world currency.
The Sterling was a world currency because unlike Netherlands Britain had a world empire. But tariffs had nothing to do with its decline. Let alone Soros going short against the pound and being correct.
I am more concerned about doing nothing with the debt. The debt will harm us faster and with more harm than tariffs.
As for the Guilder as a world currency, a small country with limited global reach was never a world currency.
It really was. Amazing, but it was. Ended at the end of the 18c, with the loss of a war with the British, and the French revolutionary conquest.
I was quoting Grok as far as saying the Guilder was never a world currency. Regional yes. Global no.
Did you do this to bring in the Spector of depression?
Yes, but I may have been wrong. Maybe wrong about the importance of S-H historically, and maybe also wrong about the likelihood of the present situation leading to a full scale financial crisis. I think its possible, but how likely is another matter.
I think the decline in the US relative position is well under way and that it will lead in the end to a change in the status of the US dollar. There are more ways to default on unsustainable debt loads than just failing to pay interest. But that can come about and continue without necessarily there being a large scale global financial crisis.
I think the best way to look at the tariffs is regard them as a symptom. The underlying situation is the important thing, what caused people in power in the US to have this instinctive reaction. Whether the tariffs will be effective or not, its the underlying situation that is the key thing to focus on.
The belief that Smoot-Hawley was a major cause of the Great Depression is more myth than reality.
Smoot-Hawley was also a blanket, large tariff on everything imported, regardless of country of origin.
Trump’s tariffs are much more targeted, and the vast majority of them are negotiated away before they have a chance to take effect.
As for China, they import very little from us.
What did Smoot Hawley cause ? not the Depression … it may have extended the Depression some but it was NOT the cause … and the US was a Net exporter when Smoot Hawley was passed … you have it 180 degrees out of synch … Trumps threatened tariffs are obviously a negotiating tactic/tool … using some “model” that assumes the tariffs are in place forever is simply an ignorant waste of time …
So she worked for Crooked Claire McCaskill, the former Missouri Senator who was as crooked as they come. If you ever see Crooked Claire, ask her how she made her money, and ask her how her forey into green power went-before it went bankrupt like they always seem to do. Ask her who got the money.
What was Ms Rossi’s job at the Department of Energy. Something to do with climate change, or DEI?
The life in a bubble is very nice. Especially if you only have progressive skills.
Until George Thompson @2:24 brought the thread back to the topic of the views of the former DOE employee, the comments were derailed by Mainly off Topic michel. That’s too bad.
Consider her view: “Show that country always comes before politics. ”
Yet her politics defined everything she speaks of. And instead of “country”, she should have been thinking of people.
Did I vote to get folks like her out of the government – you bet I did.
Spoken like a true theater major. Having worked twenty years in the receding past as a federal employee I can say with some authority why these people sought out government jobs: some of the best pay/benefit packages available, little accountability, and up till now, solid job security. I worked in Veterans healthcare, and to be fair I had some coworkers who were truly dedicated people. For most, however, it was a practical choice based on self interest, about like anybody else’s occupational choice.
The truth as I perceived it was that the bureaucracies of government are large jobs programs, having little to do with their nominal missions, which is why they often get nothing useful accomplished,
When I was a contractor we called it White Collar Welfare and with good reasons. We contractors did the work while the Govvies travelled and attended meetings and symposiums.
The supervisors attended meetings and symposiums.
The workers stayed at their work stations.
I worked for the Veterans Administration for about a decade, paying former military service members for education benefits they earned as part of their service. I was real easy to get along with when it came to settling claims. I gave the veteran the benefit of the doubt. 🙂
I generalized. Of course the VA is different from where I worked.
Forgive the unintended slight.
I knew people in Patents and in Copyrights who busted their tails with daily quotas.
I was in a science/technology agency. There it was different.
….and in breaking news Oz cracks Vehicle to Grid tech and we’re saved-
Electric cars to rev up the energy grid, one at a time
There is a wee catch with the price of the battery and case but I’m sure doomsters will dig deep for the grid and the planet.
As with all these “break-through” announcements, the whole system hasn’t been proven to fulfil the requirements at public utility scale of sustained demand.
It’s like getting a solar panel to charge up your phone while you’re out camping, and then believing that that kind of setup is how you’ll run your whole house when you get back home.
See, there’s this regular event called “sundown” . . .
“These are people who have given up opportunities in the private sector and instead chosen public service because they want to help make this world a better place.”
Nonsense. I’ve known many public sector workers. They don’t take those jobs while sacrificing better opportunities. They just happen to get them and they like the relatively easy and secure job compared to private sector employment. Now they are shocked that the jobs aren’t so secure- and now they actually will have to go back to the office!
Exactly, and I bet she couldn’t name one person who fits that description. Ironically though, I can name two off the top of my head: Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
It’s noteworthy that the glut of Christmas, Hanaca, Black Friday, etc. sales should be loading onto containers in China as you read this. They aren’t. The price uncertainty is simply too high. This is probably the highest leverage that President Trump will ever have over China for the next year. Expect things to move quickly. China can’t afford to miss out on the biggest sales opportunities of 2025.
I agree with Rossi’s quote at the beginning regarding many of the administrations we’ve elected.
The DOE lost their mission many many years ago. Just look at how they killed Nuclear power with regulation.
“that reflected the will of communities”
Not that I have ever noticed.
Climate change advocacy as a jobs program for people with otherwise unsalable degrees?
After reading this I would have to say it looks like DOGE is right on target.