What is stupid?

That question arose when Trump just recently decided to hit Canadian aluminum imports with a 10% surcharge. I won’t ask what happened to the recent trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, but I will ask how that surcharge makes any sense.

US manufacturers presumably buy Canadian aluminum because it is at a lower cost than the US product. Forcing the price of Canadian aluminum up, will theoretically make US manufacturers look more favourably at the US product (at least that appears to be Trump’s position). However, paying the higher price for US aluminum will dictate higher costs for the end products … and there is a massive range of products that use aluminum (e.g. Transportation, Construction, Electrical & Consumer Goods industries)! The aircraft industry is a major user of aluminum, and we must not forget about the canned drinks industries! Logic would suggest that higher product costs will impact the cost of living which, based on history, will simply widen the gap between the “rich” and the “poor”.

As if that is not enough, Canada will almost certainly retaliate by imposing a surcharge, or import restrictions, on select US products.  So who wins in this situation? I would suggest nobody, and if Trump believes otherwise, then I would also suggest that he is a bigger fool than we currently believe.

Of course this is the same idiot who decided to block cross-border passage of immigrants by building a wall and hitting on the immigrants, while totally ignoring the US business that were hiring them.

NEWS FLASH Mr. Trump – You could save US citizens a fortune by hitting those US citizens who are hiring illegal labour. If there were no work opportunities available, the immigrants would have less reason to cross your southern border, and guess what? You probably would not need that wall.

So what is stupid? Given that the context has been stretched to new limits these past few years, I would hesitate to define it. Instead, I would just fall back onto Einstein’s thoughts that human stupidity has no limits. It truly is infinite.

45 thoughts on “What is stupid?”

  1. I agree with your assessment on tariffs. Tariffs are just a subtle way of taxing the consumer. Now, since this comment is crossing the Canadian border, that will be a 10-cent impost on you.

    I also agree with your assessment on immigration. However, a few of our states tried going after businesses that hire undocumented immigrants. It nearly wiped out their agricultural industries. So they quickly changed the laws back to going after the immigrants. It’s an inefficient and mostly ineffective approach, but at least the politicians can say they’re doing something about illegal immigration.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. I agree with your conclusion, Colin. As for the reason Trump does these things, I’d have to guess it benefits himself or his cronies, or will help him at election time, as those are the only three things he cares about.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I agree with you. Let’s hope that he has misjudged the voting public, and loses the next election. Of course we can predict cries of rigging, cheating, miscounts etc. etc., but this is to be expected when a privileged child is put into a position of authority. Throwing a temper tantrum and blaming the system will be no surprise.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Back during the Democratic debates leading up the primaries, they asked Mayor Pete (Buttigieg) what he would do if he won and Trump refused to leave the office and he said maybe they could “put him to work, doing chores around the White House.” LOL. The Big Cheeto hasn’t done an honest day’s labor in his life, but it was fun to picture him dusting and washing dishes and pulling weeds at the behest of a gay president.

        Liked by 2 people

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