It should be obvious to anyone paying attention that King Trump considers tariffs his bargaining chip not against other nations but against America itself. He is neither patriot nor businessman. He is neither isolationist nor protectionist. There is no ideology behind any of this chaos and corruption. Trump reasoning is much simpler than that- he is a malignant narcissist. American companies must now keep their mouths shut and bend a knee to ask for relief from the tariff tax, thereby pleasing the king. The petulant king repeatedly told us his main objective for being elected- to seek revenge and cause harm to any and all who have wronged him- and the three ways he would do it- impose tariffs, deport mass populations and ignore the constitution and the rule of law.
Exactly. Tariffs themselves are not the point - its the exemptions. Trump will grant the "king's largess" to a favored few. That will depend upon can grovel the furthest or pay the most. And that favor can be withdrawn at any time. What the CEOs haven't figured out yet is that the supply of favors will be limited. It won't be simply write a check and you get exempted. You'll have a never-ending cut throat competition to stay in that top echelon of favorites.
'And here we are' is right...and here he we will stay. Not only are our leaders afraid to speak the truth, our electoral system has destroyed the confidence of our allies in the U.S. to be the predictable leader of the free world ever again. How can they, or we, when we rely on elections that determine the president by a small % of voters in a handful of states, every 4 years? They will never trust the U.S. again. When a mad man can become an authoritarian with less than half the popular vote...why should they? Or why should we?
IMO, most big corp entities are our enemies in the fight for democracy. They are more likely than not to aid and abet a trump dictatorship. They are largely run by unprincipled entitled white men who got where they are by sucking up to the right people at the right time. They know who they have to bow to and who they can piss on. They are comfortable in trump’s world and will sell us and democracy out to save themselves and their personal fiefdoms.
In that respect they are just like the German industrialists who backed Hitler. The principal difference is that the Germans did not have the benefit of an historical example. But of course hubris trumps history every time, and the world has seen no finer example of hubris than that of our tech/Wall Street/Silicon Valley billionaires.
Exactly! You have articulated my perception, they were pissed off at Biden because he was going to tax them a little, making them a tiny bit less rich, so they all supported Trump and now they can’t control him. Jamie Dimon and his rich friends are traitors to democracy. All they care about is capitalism and their power/riches. Assholes.
Stop saying things like "we are sliding toward autocracy". WE ARE THERE.
Your article explains how no one can speak freely. We see that individuals are "disappeared" off the street. Americans are advised to turn off their phones traveling through airports so they don't get detained in shacklesfor critizing our "dear leader". Our corporate news media do not show the crowds of 5.2 millions people who protested this weekend.
We are not heading toward, sliding toward, anything. WE ARE THERE.
Thank you for your meticulous examination of our corporations' response to imminent financial devastation. They have proved that these corporations are like "PEOPLE" as the SCOTUS deemed--petty, cowardly, defensive, and cold-hearted.
Thank you for pointing out that: "The willingness of corporate leaders to criticize the Biden administration was a positive sign for American democracy." How tragic that the negative spin on all that Biden accomplished influenced the uninformed and unwise enough to land a mentally ill--irrational--faker in the White House to wield destructive power.
Yes. Tragic is the word about how the media and the democrats' exceedingly poor use of media failed us. There was never that I can think of any useful counteroffensive strategy over many decades for the brainwashing that has taken place. The Dems should have used its PACs paying branding companies to do its promoting of good things done by Biden's administration during the pandemic years and pandemic recovery. They still could do that. And should. Trump's team is genius in its ability to sway and to coerce huge swaths of people. More young people need to be involved too. Young to me is ages 18 - 50.
Republican politicians cower in fear of Trump rather than the voters. (With exception for the fear of the violent MAGA voters). Corporations cower in fear of Trump rather than their customers. But soon their goods and services will be too expensive for most customers. And what happens to a corporation when it has no customers? Trump is temporary, business failure for lack of customers is permanent.
I don't think you have to worry about goods/services becoming "too expensive for most customers". Businesses will just relocate to other countries that can afford them. There is nothing to hold American businesses in America. If it becomes too expensive to do business here, or if people can no longer afford your product you move your plant to the Dubai or Russia or Hong Kong or India. This debacle is not going to hurt big business.
The American market is the largest in the world outside of China. Big corporations will not abandon it. And remember, all of this tariff nonsense is Trump's moronic response to the outsourcing of production by American companies that began in earnest under Reagan. The factories are not going to move to Dubai or Hong Kong, those are two of the most expensive cities in the world. They have already moved to Vietnam or Cambodia or Bangladesh or China. What they won't do under Trump's moronic tariff regime is move back to the USA. The costs are too high even to build the plant, especially now that Trump has targeted building materials like lumber and steel with high tariffs and is trying to deport all the labor. I stand by my comment - large corporations continue to cower to Trump at their long term peril.
Businesses need stability to plan and build. We don't have that anymore. No one's going to build factories here because of the tariffs. If anything, we'll see flight.
I don't think business can count on the American market remaining the largest in the world outside of China for long, in this economic environment. I don't believe big business cares about "expensive cities", they can charge more there. Most of the American businesses (Amazon, Walmart, Bershire Hathaway, etc) aren't "factory" based. And I stand by mine, they won't continue to cower to Trump. If he doesn't right the ship, they'll bail to a more friendly place to do business.
All three of those companies depend heavily on manufactured goods. Berkshire Hathaway owns several manufacturing concerns directly. The common thread is that all of them depend on low cost overseas factories for product. If the tariffs stay in place the cost of those products will rise and if they rise high enough they will lose their customers. That's the law of supply and demand at work. Remember, Walmart became Walmart by selling low priced goods to middle and lower class consumers. How do you think those customers will react when Walmart if forced to raise prices to Nordstrom levels? Businesses care about sales whether they come from expensive cities or Armpit Iowa. And Amazon depends on customers who either want free overnight shipping or who live in Armpit Iowa, a town so small even WalMart won't bother.
Just as Saturday's turnout got the attention of our so-called media, and the world, for that matter, We The People can get the attention of the corporate greed moguls as well. STOP BUYING!!! Nothing but essentials! Do not buy ANYTHING!! With the crashing of the markets, along with a precipitous drop in corporate income, these un-American corporate dictators will soon be crying on every evening 'news' channel. And when you must buy something, do all you can to purchase from a local, small business. WE can bring them to their collective knees, folks. And not one shot fired!
I don't really think that the boycotting strategy works in a world-wide economy. Companies have plants and stores in other countries, and many opportunities to have more. They have stayed in the US because for the last 50 years we have been consuming fools, but if the US consumer stops comsuming the businesses will just close up shops and move to other places, Russia, perhaps.
Let them go, and Good Riddance to them all! See how they like the markets in a country like Russia, or Hungary. Their profits will belong to the state, not them. In no time, they'll be begging for forgiveness.
No, at this point, with the damage they are responsible for, they deserve to be punished. With no DOJ at our backs, it's up to us, and money is the only thing they understand. Especially when it's theirs!
Readily criticized the Biden Administration which was hell bent on improving the lives of everyday Americans. Crickets when it comes to 47’s destructive Administration. Corporate America….cowards!!! Consumers…shop local!!! Forget Amazon, Walmart, etc!!!
Containment is the only strategy that will work. Like a toddler out of control he will push until this happens. Listen to the experts on dangerousness!
This is a man hellbent on revenge and power and he is capable of wielding revenge because, in America, what was once BS over the back fence is now amplified a million times on X and right-wing radio, TV and internet. We have a cult of 70 million people in this country, programmed to disbelieve what is before their eyes and to modify the thing they see - like for instance Trump playing golf - into something heroic and classy.
It does feel like we are living history more than any other time in my life, including assassinations, wars and terrorism. This feels like the thing that will lead the chapter of America's decline and demise 20 years from now in schools in Canada and Mexico, two democracies that are walled off from their former friend, the United States of Trump.
this may not be a direct response to this article but my comment for today all day everywhere: There is a group that knew Executive Orders would destroy Democracy and salivated at the idea... shall I say Heritage Foundation? Between EO's & Citizens United we had a Trojan Horse come in to take our country away and hand it to the oligarchs. They plopped a guy in the saddle that only responds to green shiny objects but their hands are on the wheel... We cannot stop, it will be hard work and we must build the wall they can't break down to get what they want. I am tired , scared and will do what I can...as my sign states "I can't believe I still have to protest this F**KING SH*T" your 78 yo hippie here..still standing.
These people are cowards hiding behind the shield of "shareholder price"......even though that is taking a beating.
I remember reading an article (the author escapes me), where it was explained that Business Schools used to teach that a company was built on the four pillars of Customers, employees, community and Shareholders. In the 1980's that switched to Shareholders only.
In two years when most of America has finally figured out they voted for incompetence these people will start issuing statements condemning him when his power has dissipated behind a wall of failure. They are pathetic.
It should be obvious to anyone paying attention that King Trump considers tariffs his bargaining chip not against other nations but against America itself. He is neither patriot nor businessman. He is neither isolationist nor protectionist. There is no ideology behind any of this chaos and corruption. Trump reasoning is much simpler than that- he is a malignant narcissist. American companies must now keep their mouths shut and bend a knee to ask for relief from the tariff tax, thereby pleasing the king. The petulant king repeatedly told us his main objective for being elected- to seek revenge and cause harm to any and all who have wronged him- and the three ways he would do it- impose tariffs, deport mass populations and ignore the constitution and the rule of law.
And, here we are.
Exactly. Tariffs themselves are not the point - its the exemptions. Trump will grant the "king's largess" to a favored few. That will depend upon can grovel the furthest or pay the most. And that favor can be withdrawn at any time. What the CEOs haven't figured out yet is that the supply of favors will be limited. It won't be simply write a check and you get exempted. You'll have a never-ending cut throat competition to stay in that top echelon of favorites.
Cut throat competition and a return to the Guilded era of government corruption from Reconstruction to Teddy Roosevelt
'And here we are' is right...and here he we will stay. Not only are our leaders afraid to speak the truth, our electoral system has destroyed the confidence of our allies in the U.S. to be the predictable leader of the free world ever again. How can they, or we, when we rely on elections that determine the president by a small % of voters in a handful of states, every 4 years? They will never trust the U.S. again. When a mad man can become an authoritarian with less than half the popular vote...why should they? Or why should we?
IMO, most big corp entities are our enemies in the fight for democracy. They are more likely than not to aid and abet a trump dictatorship. They are largely run by unprincipled entitled white men who got where they are by sucking up to the right people at the right time. They know who they have to bow to and who they can piss on. They are comfortable in trump’s world and will sell us and democracy out to save themselves and their personal fiefdoms.
In that respect they are just like the German industrialists who backed Hitler. The principal difference is that the Germans did not have the benefit of an historical example. But of course hubris trumps history every time, and the world has seen no finer example of hubris than that of our tech/Wall Street/Silicon Valley billionaires.
Exactly! You have articulated my perception, they were pissed off at Biden because he was going to tax them a little, making them a tiny bit less rich, so they all supported Trump and now they can’t control him. Jamie Dimon and his rich friends are traitors to democracy. All they care about is capitalism and their power/riches. Assholes.
I couldn't agree more.
Agreed!
Stop saying things like "we are sliding toward autocracy". WE ARE THERE.
Your article explains how no one can speak freely. We see that individuals are "disappeared" off the street. Americans are advised to turn off their phones traveling through airports so they don't get detained in shacklesfor critizing our "dear leader". Our corporate news media do not show the crowds of 5.2 millions people who protested this weekend.
We are not heading toward, sliding toward, anything. WE ARE THERE.
Turned off? No, use a burner phone.
Thank you for your meticulous examination of our corporations' response to imminent financial devastation. They have proved that these corporations are like "PEOPLE" as the SCOTUS deemed--petty, cowardly, defensive, and cold-hearted.
Thank you for pointing out that: "The willingness of corporate leaders to criticize the Biden administration was a positive sign for American democracy." How tragic that the negative spin on all that Biden accomplished influenced the uninformed and unwise enough to land a mentally ill--irrational--faker in the White House to wield destructive power.
Yes. Tragic is the word about how the media and the democrats' exceedingly poor use of media failed us. There was never that I can think of any useful counteroffensive strategy over many decades for the brainwashing that has taken place. The Dems should have used its PACs paying branding companies to do its promoting of good things done by Biden's administration during the pandemic years and pandemic recovery. They still could do that. And should. Trump's team is genius in its ability to sway and to coerce huge swaths of people. More young people need to be involved too. Young to me is ages 18 - 50.
Fascism won in November.
Republican politicians cower in fear of Trump rather than the voters. (With exception for the fear of the violent MAGA voters). Corporations cower in fear of Trump rather than their customers. But soon their goods and services will be too expensive for most customers. And what happens to a corporation when it has no customers? Trump is temporary, business failure for lack of customers is permanent.
I don't think you have to worry about goods/services becoming "too expensive for most customers". Businesses will just relocate to other countries that can afford them. There is nothing to hold American businesses in America. If it becomes too expensive to do business here, or if people can no longer afford your product you move your plant to the Dubai or Russia or Hong Kong or India. This debacle is not going to hurt big business.
The American market is the largest in the world outside of China. Big corporations will not abandon it. And remember, all of this tariff nonsense is Trump's moronic response to the outsourcing of production by American companies that began in earnest under Reagan. The factories are not going to move to Dubai or Hong Kong, those are two of the most expensive cities in the world. They have already moved to Vietnam or Cambodia or Bangladesh or China. What they won't do under Trump's moronic tariff regime is move back to the USA. The costs are too high even to build the plant, especially now that Trump has targeted building materials like lumber and steel with high tariffs and is trying to deport all the labor. I stand by my comment - large corporations continue to cower to Trump at their long term peril.
Businesses need stability to plan and build. We don't have that anymore. No one's going to build factories here because of the tariffs. If anything, we'll see flight.
I agree; this “policy” is at best, ill-conceived, at worst moronic. It will not achieve any of its stated goals.
I don't think business can count on the American market remaining the largest in the world outside of China for long, in this economic environment. I don't believe big business cares about "expensive cities", they can charge more there. Most of the American businesses (Amazon, Walmart, Bershire Hathaway, etc) aren't "factory" based. And I stand by mine, they won't continue to cower to Trump. If he doesn't right the ship, they'll bail to a more friendly place to do business.
All three of those companies depend heavily on manufactured goods. Berkshire Hathaway owns several manufacturing concerns directly. The common thread is that all of them depend on low cost overseas factories for product. If the tariffs stay in place the cost of those products will rise and if they rise high enough they will lose their customers. That's the law of supply and demand at work. Remember, Walmart became Walmart by selling low priced goods to middle and lower class consumers. How do you think those customers will react when Walmart if forced to raise prices to Nordstrom levels? Businesses care about sales whether they come from expensive cities or Armpit Iowa. And Amazon depends on customers who either want free overnight shipping or who live in Armpit Iowa, a town so small even WalMart won't bother.
Just as Saturday's turnout got the attention of our so-called media, and the world, for that matter, We The People can get the attention of the corporate greed moguls as well. STOP BUYING!!! Nothing but essentials! Do not buy ANYTHING!! With the crashing of the markets, along with a precipitous drop in corporate income, these un-American corporate dictators will soon be crying on every evening 'news' channel. And when you must buy something, do all you can to purchase from a local, small business. WE can bring them to their collective knees, folks. And not one shot fired!
I don't really think that the boycotting strategy works in a world-wide economy. Companies have plants and stores in other countries, and many opportunities to have more. They have stayed in the US because for the last 50 years we have been consuming fools, but if the US consumer stops comsuming the businesses will just close up shops and move to other places, Russia, perhaps.
Let them go, and Good Riddance to them all! See how they like the markets in a country like Russia, or Hungary. Their profits will belong to the state, not them. In no time, they'll be begging for forgiveness.
No, at this point, with the damage they are responsible for, they deserve to be punished. With no DOJ at our backs, it's up to us, and money is the only thing they understand. Especially when it's theirs!
GL with that.
If we are on a slide towards autocracy it must have been greased because we go faster every day.
We are truly fucked.
Readily criticized the Biden Administration which was hell bent on improving the lives of everyday Americans. Crickets when it comes to 47’s destructive Administration. Corporate America….cowards!!! Consumers…shop local!!! Forget Amazon, Walmart, etc!!!
Let’s not leave out Big Law!
He's going to destroy them all if they don't stand up to him, and they have a lot farther to fall than us regular folk.
Just Great Reporting that the media is to afraid to report.
Thank you Judd!
Containment is the only strategy that will work. Like a toddler out of control he will push until this happens. Listen to the experts on dangerousness!
Wise advice, because at some points those experts will also fall silent.
This is a man hellbent on revenge and power and he is capable of wielding revenge because, in America, what was once BS over the back fence is now amplified a million times on X and right-wing radio, TV and internet. We have a cult of 70 million people in this country, programmed to disbelieve what is before their eyes and to modify the thing they see - like for instance Trump playing golf - into something heroic and classy.
It does feel like we are living history more than any other time in my life, including assassinations, wars and terrorism. This feels like the thing that will lead the chapter of America's decline and demise 20 years from now in schools in Canada and Mexico, two democracies that are walled off from their former friend, the United States of Trump.
this may not be a direct response to this article but my comment for today all day everywhere: There is a group that knew Executive Orders would destroy Democracy and salivated at the idea... shall I say Heritage Foundation? Between EO's & Citizens United we had a Trojan Horse come in to take our country away and hand it to the oligarchs. They plopped a guy in the saddle that only responds to green shiny objects but their hands are on the wheel... We cannot stop, it will be hard work and we must build the wall they can't break down to get what they want. I am tired , scared and will do what I can...as my sign states "I can't believe I still have to protest this F**KING SH*T" your 78 yo hippie here..still standing.
These people are cowards hiding behind the shield of "shareholder price"......even though that is taking a beating.
I remember reading an article (the author escapes me), where it was explained that Business Schools used to teach that a company was built on the four pillars of Customers, employees, community and Shareholders. In the 1980's that switched to Shareholders only.
In two years when most of America has finally figured out they voted for incompetence these people will start issuing statements condemning him when his power has dissipated behind a wall of failure. They are pathetic.
Shockingly, corporations won't save us. </sarcasm>
You LIE!
/s