Sunday, February 2, 2025

I Dissent

Actor Ben Stein was formerly, in real life, a conservative lawyer and economist. So, when doing this now-famous classroom scene for the movie Farris Bueller’s Day Off, he made sure that the facts being presented in his famous, dry, deadpan style, were accurate. Here’s a reminder of what he said:

What he’s talking about is the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act of 1932. The Republican-held Congress thought they could help alleviate the Great Depression by creating an environment more conducive to domestic production. They were wrong in every way possible. So much so that when the 1934 elections came around, the majority of those Republicans, including Hawley and Smoot, were not re-elected. Tariffs have never helped long-term economics, which is why most intelligent lawmakers avoid them.

Notice the expressions on the faces of the students in the class, though. That’s the exact same expression one gets from the MAGA crowd today when trying to explain why Felonious Punk’s tariff move is bad for the country. They’re just as bored, disinterested, and dumbfounded as adults as they were as teens in the 80s.

When Punk’s tariffs hit yesterday afternoon, no one was surprised when both Mexico and Canada immediately announced retaliatory tariffs of their own. China is taking a slightly different stance, invoking the regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Should the WTO find that the tariffs are indeed illegal, the entire world could levy additional fines and tariffs on the US. Given the anti-US sentiment that seems pervasive across much of the globe, don’t be surprised when the WTO follows China’s lead on this one.

Sadly, the net result of all this action is most likely to result in a global depression. This would be the kind of economic disaster that pushes countries more heavily toward war as they struggle to provide goods and services for their own people. While one might speculate whether this is exactly the type of chaos Punk wants, we can be quite sure he’s unprepared for the reality of yet a third world war, especially one where China, Russia, and quite possibly India, all three of which are nuclear powers, could unite against us.

Meanwhile, the US Airways are not safe. As of this writing, 7:52 AM EST, the “Notice to Air Mission” or NOTAM system, is down. The NOTAM system provides pilots, flight crews, and other users of U.S. airspace with critical safety notices. It could include items like taxiway lights being out at an airport, nearby parachute activity, or a specific runway being closed for construction. At the moment, no major airlines are reporting any delays or problems because of the outage. However, this comes at the end of a week where multiple deadly accidents have frequent flyers questioning how safe the skies are. What doesn’t help is knowing that Air traffic controllers were initially offered buyouts and told to consider leaving the government.

We also have to deal with the fact that Elon Musk has access to your Social Security number. All of them. The NYTimes broke the news yesterday that DOGE had gained access to the US Treasury’s payment system. Remember that DOGE is not a government-authorized entity; it’s just something Punk made up to take the power of the purse away from Congress. This means that anyone who gets any form of government payment, from Social Security and Medicaid to any company contracted by the US for things such as road improvements, healthcare, and thousands of other things, could see an illegal disruption. Again, this pushes the US closer to the brink of complete economic collapse.

The next shoe to drop is likely to come when the stock markets open in the morning. The markets were already nervous, anticipating a tech sell-off and possibly negative employment numbers. The tariffs could cause prices to plummet across the board, however. Companies are bracing for impact. Yet, even here, this could play right into Punk’s hands. A market crash would allow his billionaire buddies to scoop up valuable stocks for pennies on the dollar, putting even more wealth in the hands of those who already have too much.

I had to pause to take the dogs outside. While we were out, an incredibly large murder of crows, easily over 100 birds in size, flew over the house making so much noise that the dogs felt obligated to bark back at them.

Shortly after I started typing this morning, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, handlers say, predicting 6 more weeks of wintry weather.

Atmospheric river conditions could bring multiple feet of snow to the Sierra Nevadas and as much as 15 inches of rain to other parts of Northern California.

The warning signs of impending doom are not lost on me. Superstitions aside, I have no expectation that headlines are going to get any better. In fact, I’m seeing plenty of ways in which our lives and our government could get a lot worse. I’m thinking federal control over local police and the potential deputization of right-right groups such as the Patriot Front, who have already been seen out marching around in smaller cities. The SEC has already positioned itself to take tighter control over the stock market. The FCC is bullying news networks. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is all but dead.

Put all this together and I have to question whether staying alive is worth the effort. I’m not considering suicide, understand. I’m just wondering if I really want to keep taking this pile of medicine sitting in front of me. I have visits with my oncology team on Tuesday and then a thyroid biopsy on Thursday. Should either of those come out negative, I’ll have to seriously consider just how hard I want to fight. We already know healthcare isn’t going to get any better. Is it worth pushing through the pain to continue living in a country that already considers people like me to be worthless?

Maybe I just need another biscuit.

And more coffee.