I didn't do any posts for today. Took the day off to spend it with family.
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Friday, November 29, 2024
These Products Will Be Affected By Trump's Tariffs On Mexico/Canada
The following is from Newsweek:
If the tariffs are imposed, they could cost Americans an estimated $78 billion annually, NBC News reported, with everyday goods costing more.
Below are the seven major product categories that would be most affected.
Automobiles and Automotive Parts
Canada and Mexico are major suppliers of vehicles and parts, and many cars sold in the U.S. are assembled in those countries or use components sourced from them. Analysts have estimated that a tariff could add $1,000 to $5,000 to the price of a new car, with parts such as engines, transmissions and tires becoming more expensive. Replacement parts would also become more expensive because of the tariffs.
Agricultural Products
Canada and Mexico are also significant exporters of agricultural goods to the U.S., including fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy. A 25 percent tariff would make everyday staples such as avocados, tomatoes, beef and cheese more expensive for U.S. consumers.
Canadian beef exports across all markets are projected to total 595,000 tons this year, with about 80 percent destined for U.S. customers. Last year, the U.S. imported $2.7 billion worth of avocados from Mexico, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported.
Electronics
Many electronics—including smartphones—are assembled in Mexico or rely on components manufactured there. Tariffs on electronics could lead to higher prices for consumer goods, especially devices such as TVs, laptops and home appliances that rely on Mexican manufacturing.
Mineral Fuels and Oils
Canada is the largest exporter of crude oil and refined petroleum to the U.S. A 25 percent tariff would increase fuel costs, affecting gas prices and heating oil. This means consumers would likely see higher prices at the pump, with several cents per gallon being added to gasoline and diesel prices.
Plastics and Plastic Products
Canada and Mexico supply a significant amount of plastic materials and products used in packaging, construction and consumer goods. Tariffs would raise costs for businesses and consumers across industries that rely on plastic.
Machinery and Industrial Equipment
Canada and Mexico also export heavy machinery, engines and industrial tools used in manufacturing and construction.
If Trump's tariffs are imposed, U.S. industries will face higher costs for equipment, such as industrial machinery, boilers and electrical equipment. The higher costs could slow down construction and manufacturing projects, which in turn could hit companies in those industries.
"If you voted for Trump because you thought he was going to bring down the cost of housing, a lot of our lumber, cement and other materials comes from Canada, which means that construction costs are going to go up," commentator Catherine Rampell said on CNN on Monday.
Aluminum and Steel Products
Canada is a top supplier of aluminum and steel, which are essential for construction, automotive manufacturing and packaging. Tariffs would raise the cost of raw materials, affecting industries that use these metals and even products such as soda cans.
Thursday, November 28, 2024
Happy Thanksgiving
I wish all my readers a very happy Thanksgiving holiday. I hope it is filled with food and fun - and I hope you get to spend it with people you love.
I Am Thankful For These Things
Like many other Americans, I was shocked at the outcome of the election. And I am convinced that Donald Trump will cause serious damage to the economy, and possibly our democracy. It will be a dark period in our history.
But there are things I am thankful for on this holiday.
I am thankful for the 74,368,622 voters who cast their ballot for Kamala Harris. And I hope they will all turn out again in 2024.
I am thankful for the Democratic Party. Although outnumbered in Congress, they will do their best to minimize the damage Trump tries to do.
I am thankful for the millions of federal government workers. They will continue to do their jobs well, and most will oppose any unconstitutional demands fro Trump and his cabinet picks.
I am thankful for the ACLU, the NAACP, LULAC, Planned Parenthood, and dozens of other organizations that will continue to fight for the rights of all Americans.
I am thankful for the mainstream media (both print and broadcast). They are necessary for the survival of our democracy.
I am thankful for the honest pollsters. They will keep the politicians somewhat in check by revealing what the people really want.
I am thankful for the undocumented immigrant workers who do the jobs that citizens don't want to do - keeping our economy strong. And I hope most survive Trump's deportation plans.
And I am thankful for the organizations that will protect our environment from the ravages of a Trump presidency.
The next two-four years will be tough, but all is not lost. There are still things to be thankful for.
The Real Story Of The First Thanksgiving
The following is from MSN.com:
Every November, Americans gather around the table to celebrate Thanksgiving in commemoration of the 17th-century partnership between the newly arrived English colonists and the Indigenous Wampanoag people.
Well, at least that's the simplified story kids are taught in school. The truth is more complex. So what really happened on the first Thanksgiving in 1621?
"The missing parts of the story are quite dark and not the stuff of family celebrations," David J. Silverman, a historian who specializes in early American and Native American history at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., told Live Science. He added that its historical relevance was determined retroactively hundreds of years later.
In 1620, about 100 religious Pilgrims left England on the Mayflower for the "New World" and landed in modern-day southeastern Massachusetts, a region inhabited by the Wampanoag people. They'd originally planned to settle in the northern part of the preexisting Virginia Colony, but bad weather led them to seek shelter in Cape Cod, where they then decided to stay, according to the Plimouth Patuxet Museums. The Pilgrims subsequently founded Plymouth Colony and formed an alliance with the Wampanoag.
"The Thanksgiving myth that many Americans have been brought up with would have us believe that the English were lucky enough to stumble upon friendly Indians," Silverman said. He explained that, in reality, the Wampanoag were willing to form a military alliance because disease had recently decimated their populations and made them vulnerable to enemy tribes, such as the Narragansett people. Although scholars don't know what the disease was, it's known that the pathogen arrived on a previous European expedition.
By that point, the Wampanoag had been in contact with Europeans for over a century, including expeditions by the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, the English Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602, the English Martin Pring in 1603 and the French Samuel de Champlain in 1605. These encounters "routinely degenerated into violence and even kidnapping" on both sides, Silverman said. Nevertheless, the Wampanoag still chose to form an alliance because of, among other things, the colonists' military technology: metal weaponry and guns.
"The fact that their friendship was also a military alliance against the Narragansetts understandably usually isn't included in the kids versions," Kathleen DuVal, a historian who specializes in early American history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Live Science in an email.
But the English also benefited greatly from the alliance. The Wampanoag protected them from other Indigenous tribes and taught them how to fish, plant crops and gather shellfish.
In the fall of 1621, the English decided to celebrate their first harvest, but the Wampanoag weren't originally invited. The colonists' celebration included firing guns into the air, which the Wampanoag interpreted as a call for help, Silverman said. Massasoit, the Wampanoag high chief, rushed to the colony with 90 warriors to discover that the English were feasting instead of fighting — so the fighters joined them, Silverman said.
"They ate corn, fish, deer, and local fowl, which probably included wild turkey," DuVal said. The Wampanoag "probably brought corn and meat as well," she added.
About 213,000 Workers Filed For Unemployment Last Week
The Labor Department released its weekly unemployment report on Wednesday (due to Thursday being a holiday). It showed that about 213,000 thousand workers filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending on November 23rd. Here is the official Labor Department statement:
In the week ending November 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 213,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 213,000 to 215,000. The 4-week moving average was 217,000, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 217,750 to 218,250.
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Thanksgiving In The United Staes
The charts above are from a Pew Research Center survey -- done between November 12th and 17th of a nationwide sample of 9,609 adults, with a 1.3 point margin of error.
Disdain Of Women Is Deeply Imbedded In Trumpism
The following post is by Robert Reich. He Is RIGHT!
Connect these dots:
Trump initially nominated Matt Gaetz for attorney general despite charges that Gaetz paid for drug-filled orgies with underage girls.
Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice for secretary of defense, is alleged to have raped a woman. In a newly released police report, the woman said Hegseth took her phone, blocked his hotel room door when she tried to leave, and sexually assaulted her. Hegseth has admitted paying the woman hush money because, he says, he was afraid he’d lose his job at Fox News if the allegation became public.
Hegseth’s nomination had already generated concern because of his opposition to women serving in combat.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for secretary of health and human services, is alleged to have groped a family babysitter. She went public with her allegation in July.
Kennedy allegedly had an affair with reporter Olivia Nuzzi, whose former fiance said in a court filing that she told him Kennedy wanted to “possess,” “control,” and “impregnate” her.
Elon Musk is being sued by several former employees for “treating women as sexual objects to be evaluated on their bra size,” “bombarding the workplace with lewd sexual banter,” and creating a sexually charged workplace that treats women as objects.
Trump himself was found in civil trial to have sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll, and she won two civil court judgments against him for $83.3 million.
Trump says that the more than two dozen other women who have accused him of sexual misconduct were lying.
And, of course, Trump is heard on the “Access Hollywood” tape saying, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
Trump’s Republican National Convention was an exercise in hyper-masculinity, including Hulk Hogan roaring and ripping off his shirt.
During the 2024 election, Trump surrogates mocked Democrats for not being able to define a “woman.”
In the election, more than 40 percent of the advertisements aired by Trump's campaign and pro-Trump groups focused on Harris’s support for transgender people: The ads claimed Harris “supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners” and “even supports letting biological men compete against our girls in their sports.”
Trump said he would protect women “whether the women like it or not.”
During the campaign, JD Vance said that declining rates of birth in the U.S. constituted a “civilizational crisis” and proposed that adults without children should pay higher taxes and have fewer voting rights.
In a 2021 interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, then-Senate-candidate Vance complained that the U.S. was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.” Vance continued: “It’s just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”
Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
Among them was Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation was dominated by allegations that he sexually assaulted a young woman.
In recent court filings, the attorneys general of Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri claim that expanded access to abortion pills is “causing a loss in potential population or potential population increase” and that “decreased births” were inflicting “a sovereign injury to the state itself.”
What’s the connection?
Disdain of women, a belief that they exist for male pleasure and reproduction, and fear of non-standard forms of gender identity and sexual orientation.
All are deeply embedded in Trumpism.
Zoom out and we can see that neofascism (as exemplified by Trump, Viktor Orbán, and Vladimir Putin) is organized around male dominance. Women are relegated to subservient roles.
Under neofascism, anything that challenges the traditional heroic male roles of protector, provider, and controller of the family is considered a threat to the social order. Anything that challenges the traditional female role as reproducer of the male bloodline is viewed as a danger to society.
Neofascism targets gay and transgender people because they are thought to challenge or weaken the heroic male warrior.
Seen through this prism, Trump’s appointment of many men charged with sexual harassment, men who believe women should not be in combat and should be mothers, and men who oppose abortion and believe women should be forced to have babies even if they don’t want them, forms a coherent neofascist belief system.
The basic tenet is male dominance and female subservience.
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Poll Shows Public Willing To Back Trump On Economy And Immigration
The charts above are from the CBS News / YouGov Poll -- done between November 19th and 22nd of a nationwide sample of 2,232 adults, with a 2.3 point margin of error.
U.S. Public Is Confused About Jobs And Immigration
The charts above are from a survey done by the Pew Research Center in August of 2024. They questioned 9,201 nationwide adults, and the survey has a 1.3 point margin of error.
Donald Trump campaigned on carrying out mass deportation of undocumented immigrants if elected, and his appointments show he is determined to carry out that promise. He said two things to justify his desire - that the undocumented immigrants were criminals, and that they were taking jobs that citizens wanted.
Neither of those things are true. Crime statistics show that these immigrants have a far lower crime rate than citizens. They know they will be deported (or imprisoned and then deported) if they commit a crime - and that has been true of all past administrations (both Republican and Democrat).
It is also true that the immigrants are not taking jobs wanted by citizens. The employers who hire undocumented immigrants would much rather hire citizens. That would keep them out of danger of disobeying the law and possibly being subject to large fines. But citizens don't want those jobs, because they are generally dirty or dangerous, low-paying, and low (or no) benefit jobs.
But the same public that wants undocumented immigrants deported would be happy to see more highly-skilled immigrants allowed to enter the country. That is very confusing, because those are the immigrants that would take jobs wanted by U.S. citizens - high-paying jobs with good benefits and good working conditions!
It doesn't make sense that people favor admitting immigrants to take good jobs, but want to deport the immigrants that take bad jobs no one else wants. Isn't that backwards?
Monday, November 25, 2024
Do Americans Realize The Huge Cost Of Massive Deportations?
Part of an article by Michael A. Cohen at MSNBC:
It’s a question that Americans might be asking pretty soon themselves. Is the price of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants worth the cost? . . .
What was omitted from Trump’s anti-immigrant diatribes were the significant economic costs of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants.
According to one estimate from the pro-immigration advocacy group American Immigration Council, arresting, detaining and deporting the 13.3 million people who are either in the United States illegally — or are in the country temporarily without legal status — could cost $315 billion. . . .
Even deporting 1 million people yearly could cost nearly $90 billion. Apprehending immigrants, detaining them, court procedures and transporting them out of the country makes mass deportation a complicated and costly endeavor. Indeed, the estimated cost of deporting a single undocumented immigrant is estimated to run as high as $13,000. . . .
To achieve his anti-immigration goals, Trump will likely need Congress to authorize billions of dollars in new spending and hire tens of thousands of new government employees.
Let’s suppose, for a moment, that Trump is actually successful at getting the mass deportation project off the ground. In Trump’s words, there can be “no price tag” on such an effort. In reality, there is a price — and it will quickly be felt by American consumers.
Today, undocumented immigrants represent 5% of the U.S. workforce, and because two-thirds of them are between the ages of 25 and 54 (compared to less than 40% of the U.S.-born population), they are overrepresented in the workforce.
Many undocumented immigrants take on dangerous, menial and low-paying jobs. They are maids and housekeepers, construction laborers and agricultural workers. Indeed, a whopping 45 percent of agricultural workers are undocumented along with 15 percent of construction workers.
If millions of undocumented immigrants are forced to leave the country, these industries will bear the brunt — as will consumers.
Farms, construction companies and restaurants may find themselves short-staffed and unable to bring on new workers at a time of low unemployment.
the labor disruptions will almost certainly lead to higher prices on everything from food to housing. And working class Americans — many of whom voted for Trump — will get hit the hardest.
There are other indirect costs that many Americans who voted for mass deportation probably didn’t consider. For example, many undocumented immigrants work in child care. If they are forced to leave the country, the number of women in the labor force could decrease.
Then there are the tax implications. In 2022, undocumented immigrants paid close to $50 billion in federal taxes and nearly $30 billion in state taxes. They also contributed more than $28 billion to Social Security and Medicare (even though they don’t benefit from those programs).
Migrants are also consumers. Removing them from the country means decreased spending, further undermining the economy.
By nearly any appreciable measure, immigration to the United States is a net economic positive, contributing to higher growth, greater productivity and even a reduced budget deficit.
Conversely, mass deportations will almost certainly lead to slower economic growth, increased unemployment and, ironically, higher inflation.
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