Random thoughts #54

Random thoughts #54

I made meat loaf yesterday and I remembered the first time I googled for a recipe and Meatloaf the singer was cited in a Wall Street Journal article that referred to him as Mr Loaf.

I was talking about the Supreme Court in class and called them “The Supremes.” Turns out that not a single student had heard of them – or Diana Ross.

Trump said that he wanted iphones to be made in the US, whereupon the company said that it could but they would cost $3,500.

There is a commercial on TV for a Nissan Armada that says it costs “only” $59,000. For some reason I was bothered by that because no country on the African continent has a per capita income equal to that amount. The highest is Libya at $24,196 while South Sudan’s is $433. I bet there are no ads for the Nissan in Africa – or for that matter pizzas at $9.99.

I really need someone to explain to me why if I buy something from someone then it’s bad but if they buy something from me, its good. In essence that is what Trump keeps saying. Trade deficits are bad (we buy more from them than they do from us) while trade surpluses are good (they buy more from us than we buy from them). Again we buy more from the world than they buy from us because we are bigger than most and wealthier than all. Surely Trump knows this.

The Chinese-Trump tit-for-tat tariff spat continues. Trump’s tariffs on China are now 145% while the Chinese countered with 125%. Maybe its over since the Chinese announced that further increases serve no purpose saying “Even if the U.S. continues to impose higher tariffs, it would be economically meaningless and would become a joke in the history of the world economy.”

The Chinese are banning US movies. Too bad we can’t do the same.

Trump however has been strangely quiet when it comes to Canada which said it would retaliate the 25% tariffs that continue on aluminum, autos and steel. Didn’t Trump threaten to impose additional tariffs on countries that matched his “reciprocal” levies? So why haven’t Canadian tariffs risen to 50%?

If Trump’s tariffs are “reciprocal” then why did his National Economic Council Director say that the global 10 percent baseline tariff is here to stay? Recall that previously the average US tariff was 2.5%. Maybe Trump thinks that a ten percent tariff is not enough to seriously affect American consumer prices and industrial production while adding to the Federal coffers. Maybe.

The dollar keeps falling while the euro keeps rising. What is wrong with this picture? But doesn’t Trump want a weak dollar so that exports are cheaper and imports are more expensive? Well its working.

Bitcoin is falling and gold is rising. Isn’t this strange too?

Is Maine still defying Trump on trans athletes? I expect that he will start levying tariffs on Maine lobsters.

Trump is undoing Biden’s green war on appliances. He repealed the regulations governing the water flow of showerheads. The tankless water heater rule is next and look for repeals of the restrictions on household appliances.

The democrats have tried to frighten the public by calling DOGE as an “oligarchical techno-state” and as a “dystopian nightmare unfolding before our eyes.” Wow. Way to install fear, guys.

It was a bit weird that when Trump did his thing on “Liberation Day” I had feeling of dread. That got me thinking that this was the first time I had felt that way due to the economy. I did not feel that way when the real estate market crashed in 2007, or the dot.com crash in 2002 or even with COVID. I only recall feeling that way when after 2011 it was eerily quiet when no aircraft were flying.