Fiddle On, Bubba...

Out of all of the stupid raft of trade tariffs that the stupid Trump administration have announced this week, perhaps the stupidest is the one on foreign vehicle imports. Two things. Number one, America is the land of the automobile. It's intrinsic to the American psyche and to it's modern mythology: the automobile is one of the symbols of American freedom. Screw with that and people will get mighty pissed [off] in short order. Second is the fact that the domestic US automobile industry is a very pale version of itself as it was in its heyday of the 1920s through '70s. Detroit ain't what it used to be for a very large basket of economic reasons. Truth is that imported automobiles are now pretty much the backbone of the US market, with many dealers turning most of their profit from the incomers: tariffs on foreign vehicles will only damage US dealerships, not the countries selling into the States. To quote Steve Gates, of 'Gates Auto Family' in Kentucky, referring to the potential  of a $1,000 dollar hike in vehicle sticker price resulting in a $20 payment increase on finance: "It kills us, it doesn't hurt us, it kills us." [source, FT today]. It's patently obvious that the serial bankrupt US President understands little to nothing about actual business, and even less about world economics and diplomacy. But the glimmer of hope is that the American right wing is gradually shedding the scales from its eyes as Trump demonstrates this self-evidency day by day. Wisconsin is fair warning to the Orange One that his choice of Musk as his cheerleader-in-chief is finally stirring democrats out of their post election, rabbit-caught-in-the-headlights paralysis into kicking back at the administration in the ballot box. Not even Nero shat his nest as quickly as this failing emperor has. Long may his ineptitude continue and his defenestration hastened...