Some further observations about the Trump tariff train wreck.
Recent Items
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Trump Tariff Climbdown: Consumer Impact Worse Due to China Retaliation; Who Wins Aside from Trump’s Ego
Topics: Currencies, Doomsday scenarios, Economic fundamentals, Globalization, Politics, Taxes
Posted by Yves Smith at 12:02 pm | 84 Comments »
Links 4/10/2025
Topics: Links
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:55 am | 141 Comments »
Top Trade Expert Says Trump Tariff Pause Lays Bare ‘Just One More Con on Working People’
Do Trump’s trade flip flops, destructive to everyone save perhaps insider traders, show that he has entered a Mad Ludwig phase?
Topics: Banana republic, China, Currencies, Economic fundamentals, Free markets and their discontents, Globalization, Guest Post, Income disparity, Politics, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:54 am | 23 Comments »
Food Banks Tighten Their Belts as Federal Cuts Keep Coming. Patrons Don’t Know Where Else to Turn.
Yet more Trump Administration cruelty: cutting support to food banks.
Topics: Guest Post, Income disparity, Politics, Social policy, Social values, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 3:32 am | 18 Comments »
Data Center Boom Sparks Utility Spending—But How Real Is the Demand?
In an unexpected break for the environment, might much-hyped data center energy demand fall short of projections?
Topics: Dubious statistics, Economic fundamentals, Energy markets, Environment, Guest Post
Posted by Yves Smith at 2:34 am | 10 Comments »
Trump’s Additional 50% Tariff Against China and China’s Tit for Tat Retaliation: Trump Own-Goals Himself Into Where China Would Want Him
Some further thoughts on the radical US-destructiveness of the Trump tariff regime.
Topics: Banana republic, China, Credit markets, Currencies, Doomsday scenarios, Free markets and their discontents, Globalization, Politics, The dismal science
Posted by Yves Smith at 10:35 am | 91 Comments »
Links 4/9/2025
Topics: Links
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:58 am | 170 Comments »
Christopher Lasch and the Distemper of Our Time: A Chronicle Foretold
Why Christopher Lasch, who died over 30 years ago, is the historian of our times…or perhaps our first psychohistorian?
Topics: Guest Post, Income disparity, Social policy, Social values, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by KLG at 6:50 am | 28 Comments »
Longer-Dated Treasuries Sell Off Sharply, Increasing Interest Rates: The Exact Opposite of What Trump Says He Wants
Mr. Market, in the form of longer-dated Treasury yields, is not on board with the Trump tariff scheme.
Topics: Credit markets, Economic fundamentals, Globalization, Guest Post, Investment outlook, Politics
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:49 am | 38 Comments »
Trump Thinks Tariffs Can Bring Back the Glory Days of US Manufacturing. Here’s Why He’s Wrong
More on the false premise that Trump can restore the US as a manufacturing powerhouse.
Topics: Economic fundamentals, Free markets and their discontents, Globalization, Guest Post, Technology and innovation, The destruction of the middle class, The dismal science
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:32 am | 68 Comments »
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – Stealth Revealed
Our warfare focused Coffee Break: The promise, problems, and profitability of stealth technology
Topics: Coffee Break
Posted by Haig Hovaness at 2:00 pm | 29 Comments »
‘We’re Turning Into a Dictatorship’: Trump Tariffs Seen as Ploy to Further Consolidate Power
Senator Chris Murphy called President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs “a political weapon designed to collapse our democracy.”
Topics: China, Globalization, Guest Post, Legal, Politics
Posted by Yves Smith at 11:43 am | 58 Comments »
Links 4/8/2025
Topics: Links
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:55 am | 183 Comments »
What Is Blackwater Founder, Erik Prince, Doing in Ecuador a Week Before the Country’s Presidential Elections?
Prince is making bank as a security advisor for US-friendly governments in Latin America while trying to raise funds for coups against less friendly ones.
Topics: Guest Post
Posted by Nick Corbishley at 6:45 am | 15 Comments »
Why America Is Acting This Way on Trade: A Globotics Shock, a Failed Social Policy, and Middle-Class Fury
An attempt to divine the political roots of Trump’s trade and tariff policies.
Topics: China, Free markets and their discontents, Globalization, Guest Post, Income disparity, Politics, Social policy, Social values, Technology and innovation, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 3:22 am | 39 Comments »