Get Up Out of Your Chair....
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And, Go To The Store.
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Tue, May 6, 2025 —
(NewsNation) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent admitted to lawmakers that the U.S. is not currently in negotiations with China when it comes to tariffs.
That comes contrary to President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that China is “ready to deal” and that Chinese President Xi Jinping had called him to discuss trade.
When asked about Bessent’s remarks, Trump again repeated his assertion that China wants to make a deal but admitted there have been no meetings.
• • •While the president put a pause on other tariffs, he has continued his 145% tariff on Chinese goods coming to the U.S. He also removed the de minimis exception that allowed goods under $800 to enter the U.S. without tariffs, a policy relied on by both individual shoppers and small, independent business owners.
In response, China levied its own tariffs on U.S. goods as well as making deals with other countries for goods it typically imports from the U.S.
Xi has denied Trump’s assertions that he is ready to deal, something that appeared to be confirmed by Bessent’s comments to lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee. He said the U.S. was in talks with major trading partners except for China.
• • •Bessent said deals with some major trading partners were in the works and that he expected the majority of countries would reach a deal by the end of the year.
Already, tariffs have led to a significant slowdown in ships arriving at U.S. ports, with experts warning that consumers could see empty shelves in days to come.
— https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-not-negotiating-tariffs-us-164207500.html
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The first time I imagined myself posting This Notice was in 2003, on the eve of the Iraq War.
I had just began trading the FOREX, which is the currency market that enables global trade. It is a 24/7 market — the largest market in the world — and it was open to citizen-traders for the very first time. The FOREX presented me with a sudden and profound realization. I used to stare at the active electronic currency charts on my monitors for hours and hours, realizing that I was seeing the moment where global supply was being devoured by global demand. Without this constant market, global civilization would come to a stand still and no one would have the things they needed to survive and thrive.
The global trading market is also the one place where everything could change in an instant. That's why starting a Trade War is considered one of the stupidest things that a Leader can do. The world knows from long experience, that nations that start trade wars tend to suffer long periods of economic adversity.
After the Cold War, the US started using International Trade and its Reserve Currency ($$) like a whip to control various countries in the world for its own advantage. It unilaterally inflicted economic harm and destruction on various global populations. The US went rogue, just like its Spirit Animal, Israel. It became clear that the world could be saved from the unwelcome global domination of the US —if every nation avoided using US dollars to buy and sell what they needed. Using the Dollar was a dangerous trap called hegemony, and it robbed nations of their right to self-determination.
After that rush of realizations — nothing happened for a very long time.
Getting prepared for the World to take that next step in Peace, was going to be a very complicated endeavor. It would require committed leadership with a clear vision of purpose. It also required constant global communication through trade organizations, and an attitude of global cooperation and respect. The alternative to cooperative action was the unthinkable enslavement of the world to the will of the power-mad Psychopaths — which is currently on display in hot spots around the world.
Hopefully, we are witnessing the last of this global slaughter, which is burning up the Middle East and the gateway to Central Europe.
We are all standing today on a single inflection point of a new kind of world governance.
Meanwhile, I'm going shopping for things I know I will need, while everyone else is still distracted by derangement.
Comments
This interview was decent
Yanis says this is a replay of the Nixon shock. I won't pretend I understood this at the time it happened but I definitely felt its impact. I was dirt poor for years after. Couldn't find a decent job. Low standard of living, etc. Keep in mind the key impact of this up front is currency devaluation. He says the objective is a 30 percent devaluation. He also says the working class and middle class will be hurting. This is for the elites not for us. They will get giant tax cuts we get devaluation (ripped off). Another wealth transfer upward. Object export the US military infrastructure and weapons systems, he says outright move MIC overseas and bring more foreign capital investment to the US to build some real industrial production capability at home. But that won't provide many jobs.
So it isn't just stupid s..t, but I actually think it is. I don't think it will work but that's just me. It isn't tariffs per se, it's join the Empire, build our watchtowers and send your money to us! (in other words take from your society and give to us). A 30 percent devaluation here will be crushing for people on fixed incomes. I think the homeless problem will get a lot worse. Like the current bubble isn't bad enough.
So this is more buy everything before the price goes up. Timely essay PR.
語必忠信 行必正直
Yanis Varoufakis is often featured at China Academy.
He offers his unique experiences with Greece and economic failure as insights to these geopolitical upheavals. I couldn't agree more with your own insights and understanding of US economic adversity.
Varoufakis, along with John Mearsheimer (and a few other Western economists I could mention) are part of a group of gifted Western economists with deep understanding of how money works globally — but who are amazingly clueless about what motivates China; they just don't get China at all. They seem to think the Chinese are just like Westerners — but with slanted eyes. They try to explain what the Chinese are thinking — and proceed to miss reality by a hundred miles. Their assumptions and opinions are so wrong it's sort of comical, but what they are spouting are their own delusional projections — with a hint of American paranoia.
Conversely, I think that you, Soryang, do understand the enduring impact that dropping the gold standard has had in the US far better than most Westerners do, and all the kabuki organizations that exist to hide that impact. This is still affecting the US economy, and it will continue to do so, due to the suppression of gold prices, and other economic manipulations.
The US is not going to pull out of this risky construct. It will not repair its economy or its culture. The US Overlords will avoid paying taxes will push the nation into devouring its remaining national resources, first. US Legislators have deregulated every Federal policy that was put in place in the 20th century to protect the national economy. US Legislators (who rely on private money to buy their way into office) have normalized corruption for themselves and the very wealthy. They have promoted political divisiveness across the US population, and they continue to do so, in order to destroy any unity in the Voicer of the People. Over time, certain foreign interests have infiltrated the Federal government and gained control over US political ideology. The national goals of the US are not the primary goals of the People who live in the United States. Federal deficit spending is used to cover the costs of these alien goals, while whipping up the US population to blame their economic hardships on poor migrant workers who may be working in the US illegally to support their families. Genocide Nations like the US, tend to develop very twisted karma and hypocrisies.
YMMV
[Edited for clarity because content like mine does not resonate with online forums.]
PR,
I am trying to make sure all my appliances work and have assorted spare parts. Vehicles are being maintained now. Now is the time to buy simple things like window blinds, new shower curtains or rods. Battery chargers.
So many of these things throughout your homes are imported, mostly from China.
Shelves will be empty, and if anything if still for sale, it will be very expensive.
We are headed for disaster, unless we have a few billions stashed.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Trump is once again hurting American
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small businesses just like he did when he closed the country during Covid.
Big retail has the ability to make deals with Trump, but small businesses have to eat their losses. Nothing he has done has helped we the people like he promised he would do.
Trump supporters are seeing that they’ve been lied to. Again.
Apparently holocaust denial is not an issue anymore. Lots of people are denying the one in Gaza with absolutely no repercussions.
Always a good idea to be prepared...
...for disaster...natural, financial, political, etc. Don't forget about shopping at swap meets, Trade day, Estate sales and yard sales.
Thanks for the heads up!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I believe that most people here
.....are far more prepared and self-sufficient than I will ever be. For example, I will never plant a garden. Or go hunting. But I do stock food now. Hence my suggestion to go to the store. My contacts tell me that ships in the supply chain, on their way to the US from China this week (a three to four week voyage depending on the port) are sailing partially empty. Supply-chain shippping follows strict schedules. Ships do not wait around to fill up.
When the first of these partially empty ships get here, empty shelves will start to pop up around the US. The empty shelves could be in Grocery stores, Toy stores, Auto Supply stores, Drug stores, Hardware stores, corner stores, general stores, or main street stores. The big box stores will be fine ... at first. Walmart, Target, and Anchor stores have their own supply chains.
However, I was watching videos about the World's largest trade show in Canton, China last week. It was noted at the Canton Trade Fair that US Importers were placing smaller orders than normal. Why? China's prices are still relatively low this year. US Importers say they are concerned that US Consumers can't afford to pay the sticker price on Chinese products after US tarifs are imposed. The US tariffs will more than double the consumer price of products that are manufactured in China.
Is that a win for Trump's Tariffs?. Not exactly.... First, it is a loss to US businesses that sell products and parts that are manufactured only in China. Then it shows up as a loss to the US GDP, and it may affect the creditworthy rating of the US economy. Finally, the tariffs are a loss for US Consumers, who face steep price hikes or empty shelves for some necessities. They also face higher inflation, overall, that will be triggered by corporate profit-taking.
In any event, I didn't write this to warn about a sudden crisis in the US economy. I think most people know what's going on and what to expect. I was mostly posting a Friendly Reminder to non-peppers like myself to get to the stores right now, before the shopping panic begins and all the toilet paper is gone.