Many sectors and geographical areas within the United States are already experiencing a recession. Faced with the choice of raising prices or cutting employees hours to pay for the tariffs, many are officially backed into a corner.
While the mainstream media and the political establishment continue to claim China is paying for the tariffs, those actually stuck paying them are calling it what it is: propaganda. It’s just politics as usual. “It’s just an outright lie, and he [Trump] knows it,” says Greg Petras, president of Kuhn North America, which employs some 600 people at its farm-equipment factory in Wisconsin. For Kuhn, Trump’s trade war has produced a toxic mix of rising costs and falling revenues. “You’re slamming your fist on the steering wheel and saying ‘Why would you tell people this?’”
According to Bloomberg, hours are being cut and the workforce is being furloughed to make ends meet. About 250 Kuhn employees spent the Labor Day holiday caught in a two-week furlough, and they’re facing another in early October. A shrinking order book means Kuhn is cutting costs and slashing production as Petras and his managers peer out at a U.S. economy that looks far bleaker from the swing-state heartland than it does in either the White House or on Wall Street.
Financial Experts Warn: Americans WILL Pay The Cost Of A Trade War
Whether the U.S. is headed for a recession or not appears to be the main debate right now. However, there is plenty of evidence that corners of the economy may already have stumbled into one thanks to the tariffs. Manufacturing is already officially in a recession as the costs of doing business after the tariffs (tax on American businesses and consumers) have begun to sink their claws in.
https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/u-s-manufacturing-is-officially-in-recession_07172019
The sad truth is that Americans simply don’t want to face the facts when it comes to the trade war. Trump’s words appear good enough for too many while they assume his intentions are what we should be judging. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and while he may want to “level the playing field” when it comes to China, the damage being done in the United States to businesses and already tapped out consumers borders on cruel. The truth doesn’t care about Trump’s intentions, unfortunately, and it’s time to face the facts.
The Ugly Truth About The Trade War
And Donald Trump himself said it if anyone cared to listen. He doesn’t see the economy as important as “sticking it” to China. “To me, this is much more important than the economy,” Trump told reporters on September 4. “Somebody had to do this.” Trump has also placed the blame on the businesses that are heavily impacted by his tariffs for their woes, calling them “badly run and weak,” and threatened to force American companies to abandon China.
Great article Mac, and while it only cites one mid-western manufacturing company I’m sure there are many more affected. Having said that I do believe President Trump is right. We either take a short term loss and restructure trade with China, or in the long term we give up our nation’s wealth and the largest economy in the world. Trade with China is still based on the 40+ year old status given to them under President Nixon when they were a 3rd world nation, and they continue to receive American tax payer supported subsidies. Since then they have grown to the second largest economy in the world, thanks in large part to American industry who recognized China’s cheap labor force. As difficult and painful as the situation is to fix now, it will only get more painful and possibly devastating to our business and economy the longer we wait.
It has to be done. At first it will take the weak and poorly managed out like Trump said. It is being done to get business back and create more jobs. More than likely these so-called businesses that are complaining would have been out of business anyways if trade war was not going on. Kind of like that TV show Bar Rescue. These businesses are failing and need some help in managing them. And naturally not all businesses survive anyways and some fold. SO this is just more fear porn. I don’t see businesses where I live having any problems but more are opening up …
This is all done by design, they, meaning the people behind the power structures know the end result, they are going after the few areas of the economy that were not decimated when the globalization began and are still functioning and therefore carrying the American economy. That is not manufacturing since that was exported to China decades ago. One of them is farming and food production.You control the food supply and you control everything. I would not be surprised to find out that these tariffs were put in place to finance deficit spending, any other justification for them is just dishonest. Remember, The US is having trouble financing the government debt since they owe so much money, no one is willing to lend the United States any more money. Still have doubts, follow the Treasury bonds auctioning and you will see for yourself.
Yet the average American, child or adult, has never been heavier.
Shame on you.
I’m taller, I exercise, and get hungry.
I have been a bad influence on fat people.
Well yeah no shit. What costs more, protein or white carbs? As a general rule.
Include in that cost the cost of equipment and skill required to prepare it…
Your business model was to collect human wreckage, like a cat hoarder, and launder the subsidies.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogfight_(film)
Just for the heck of it
I checked the Kuhn North America
web site. They are still hiring.
They make Ag Tractor attachments
Mowers, spreaders, and such.
I personally don’t believe most government
figures as they were made up by Democrat
union employees. For example I’m not counted as
un-employed, because I quit looking for work.
But I am un-employed, but able to work if I so wished.
Anecdotally, here in Hawaii, if you
want a job you can get one. It won’t pay very well.
You probably can’t afford a house. I haven’t seen
house prices do anything but trending up.
Multi-generational housing is very common as a result.
So I don’t see much evidence of recession. I’m of the opinion that this whole thing is a Democrat media effort to influence elections on the behalf of Democrats.
We’ve been in a recession ever since the 2008 “financial crisis” aka the Bush and Obama bailouts for Wall Street. I don’t see this economy ever making any full recovery.
The trading platforms have different levels. So, at which level is the recession.
Well, then, maybe this is more optimistic…or not.
Seven new petrochemical projects to begin on Gulf Coast. They will be used to convert the glut of Permian condensate and NGLs into plastic. Tight oil is mostly feedstock for petrochemicals and not conducive to production of middle distillates like diesel, fuel oil, jet fuel and bunker fuel that power the heavy work in today’s industrial civilization.
Say…mebbe the US will become the plastic junk capital and China will buy plastic junk from them instead of the other way around? Nah…labor costs too much. The plastic pellets and film will be shipped to China as raw material and bought back as plastic junk.
Now back to your regular doom and gloom.
JRS
After I retired (but still kept in contact with the refinery) the sweet ultra light crude from the Dakotas fracking was brought to the refinery. It flashed into vapor and could only be refined if blended with much heavier crude. The refinery was designed for heavy sour crude which aided in its survival when crude was at a premium and the very viscus crude was cheap but not easy to refine. Interestingly 15-20 years ago the small sweet crude refineries being uneconomical to run were closed. The larger sweet crude refineries were de-bottlenecked (and sour modified somewhat) to make up for the lost capacity. The sour crude refineries, once the “bottom feeders” gained prominence. Now it’s reversed as fracking has produced more than originally thought. It’s a dynamic interesting industry.
JRS
Natural Gas (methane) makes a good feedstock for fertilizer manufacturing. I wondered why being its in abundance in grain producing areas that a synergy of productive technologies didn’t converge.
Hello Kevin
Maybe there is a lack of infrastructure to pipe natgas from those wells. Most of it is flared. The wells don’t produce long enough to invest in pipelines. There’s so much ND flaring it can be seen from space. The natgas liquids (NGLs), however, are sent to be processed. I guess the API gravity of NGLs is lower than the flared natgas and doesn’t need any special infrastructure to get to the refinery. I think fertilizer can also be made from liquid natgas and condensate,not?
There is no infrastructure and the crude is sent to refineries by rail car which is expensive. As I understand it with zero first hand knowledge because refining and mainly power is my field the pet check industry can use any of the light ends that are pure. Refineries in the middle of nowhere have a local crude source that will be in abundance for decades. It’s a shame to waste those BTUs with flaring. A portable gas turbine can power a gas compressor or generator but if there is no demand you have a product W/O customer.
pet chem not pet check
Its booming here in the valley. I do see a slow down in autos,they are piling up at all the dealers and few people are buying. There is more leasing and more automating going on.
The establishment choice against Trump is Biden. Nobody likes this entrenched a**hole except the same old corruption retaining control. The press all in on this joke of an opponent. No viable choice to escape the tyranny as the fix is in already over a year out.
On the Democrat side of NWO the Establishments choice is anyone except Tulsi Gabbard. The rest are workable but some more than others. If Biden gets the nomination the real choice for TPTB will be his VP. Obama kept Biden to protect him. Joe is getting senile, add that to inherently verbally foolish (Obama occasionally banished him to places away from the media) and its not workable even for a sock puppet.
Fortunately, I have a six-year emergency fund and only need to earn $1,000 a month to cover my expenses without having to dip into savings–and it’s really easy to earn $1,000 a month. No worries 🙂
Was 90 degrees with clear skies here in Central Texas when a storm blew passed bringing wind and rain, then left as abruptly as it arrived. Must be the tail end of that hurricane, or maybe climate change. Can’t get dollars during recessions. I guess we’ll just keep getting change, pennies from heaven.
Tariffs are designed to put pressure on the other side, but no one said it would be painless for the USA initially. The purpose is to bring back industry. Is it working? Has any USA Company moved its operations back here from China? That’s what I want to talk about, not how much suffering it is causing us now in the interim, which is normal and to be expected.
.
why speak?
free speech not allowed here.
This is the part where you find out they aren’t YOUR slaves. It’s really rather the opposite.
Learn to speak Mandarin.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and while he may want to “level the playing field” when it comes to China, the damage being done in the United States to businesses and already tapped out consumers borders on cruel.
This comment from THIS site of all places?
Remember. You wanted this.
Remember back in Obama?