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Deficit in name only [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-04-09

The problem is that the man only knows one meaning for the word “deficits”, this man has no concept of context and nuances, let alone that a word can mean different things.

He latched on to the word deficit thinking countries were “fleecing the US”, and I’ve yet to hear one single reporter ask, how then is the US the richest country in the world? Any ten-year-old card collector or game player can tell you trading is based on need not prices. You want this, I got it, I want that, you have that, let’s trade. If your need is great enough, like it’s the one card missing to complete your set, you will trade a higher value care of which you have more, for a lower value one that you need to complete a set.

Likewise, between countries needs are different, it depends on what you produce, how much of it you can produce and the demands of your citizens and the outside world, you trade that for things that you do not in general have or produce.

Some countries don’t need anything from you, they might be too small or poor to afford your wares, but still they might have a special mineral, vegetable or fruit that you don’t grow in your soil, so you buy from them because the need is yours and they don’t have to buy anything from you. It is not a real “deficit” as you are not losing money. You are just acquiring what you need.

Canada may be as big, land wise as the US but it has fewer citizens it is ludicrous to expect them to buy as much from the US as the US does from them. It’s like asking the mother of one child to buy as much food as the mother of 10 children.

Another facet of this imbalance is that US regulations are subpar, below those of other first world nations, and that is because the US lets big business affect regulations, they put profit over your health. Because of this, certain goods cannot be sold to other countries because they do not meet their safety standards! The nincompoop would have the world lower its standards to ours, when we should be raising ours to meet or surpass them. (that’s what real leaders do).

The only strategic way to use tariffs is if you want to produce something locally, you build your business, start producing and then you put tariffs on the same product you use to get from another country, so that yours is cheaper. That’s it. That’s the only good use of a tariff.

#ThePoet

Muriel Vieux – April 9th, 2025, ©All rights reserved

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