Tariffs: Economic Warfare?

Yesterday, the American President, Donald J. Trump, made good on yet another promise he discussed throughout his successful campaign.

^{Source: GoComics webpage for "Pearls Before Swine," Thursday, 3 April 2025}

• ^{I love good humor!  Especially humor used to make a serious point.  Seeing this comic this morning seemed to fit nicely with the main topic of this post.}

Implementing tariffs, as a means of addressing what he views as the unfair trade practices of other countries?  Whether anyone agrees with how fair or unfair, he is attempting to address the large and growing imbalance in trade, of the largest economy in the world.

The Great Reset.

Round 2?

One of the many outcomes of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, was reference to what became commonly known as, "The Great Reset."  Which was the 2021 theme of the World Economic Forum's annual summit in Davos, Switzerland.

What was one of the quotes reported as arising from this concept of a Great Reset? Some variation of the following:

"You will own nothing.  And you will be happy!"

In this post, I won't be getting into weeds about any of this, as it seems endlessly controversial and it is not uncommon to see references to conspiracies theories and the like to shut it down.  I have brought it up to ask a relatively simple and straightforward question?

What has been the majority reaction of people all over the world to it?  Does a reference to Newton's Third Law work, in response?

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

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To whatever extent you, or I, or anyone else would agree with the idea that a powerful driving force behind the Great Reset was the view increasing globalization was net positive, clearly there is currently a large and growing number of people which disagrees.

Resulting in a reverse trend back toward more of a nationalist and even an individualistic mindset?  If so, do the American tariffs announced yesterday help or hinder this reversal?

Round and Round

One critical aspect of the American system of governance, which applies to much of the western world, is that it is not permanent, e.g. like the monarchies of old or the dictatorships of today.  Venezuela anyone?

No, they change with every election cycle.  People are at least theoretically free to vote for those they voluntarily submit to ruling over them.  While everyone knows how these votes went yesterday, how will they go tomorrow?

When combining this with financial and business considerations which often and unavoidably take literally years to come to full fruition, it should be no wonder the stock markets are taking a dim view, beginning with a reported $1.65 trillion dollar loss to begin the day on the NYSE.

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Simply stated, there is uncertainty about how long this current mindset is going to hold up. Avoiding the risk of starting into something which cannot be reasonably expected to finish in a profitable way is no small matter.

Hive Version?

In my introduction, I mentioned the Free Compliments community, as one which stood out to me, during my long discovery phase.  From my limited understanding and reading about it, backed by a doctor who references what to me is a key word.  Integrity.  In all that this account is doing to help build a community on the Hive blockchain.

Today, in my feed, I see this:

^{Source: @freecompliments latest post}

As I read through it and some of the comments following, all I can say is

"Good grief!"

Most would agree what is playing out before us on a macro scale is beyond our control.  How about closer to home?  "It's all good!"  Right?

On a macro scale, there are many old sayings, along the lines of the following:

"Might makes right!"

"The Golden Rule. He who has the gold makes the rules!"

It is a good thing that here in the virtual world of the Hive blockchain, free of the shackles of the "system," etc. of the real world, one need not worry about such thoughts.  At least in here, "It's all good!"  Right?

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With my appreciation for a little bit of interaction, with what appears to be a well-established account, I wonder what @shanibeer would say to me and other new accounts about what this represents?

So, while all this unfolds around us, how are we doing?

^{Source: Creator curlyk77 on Tenor}

Are we all maintaining a reasonable balance in our perspectives, as much as we can manage it?  Staying focused on what we have to do and letting go of the rest?

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War is ancient. Physical damage and destruction, whether of life and limb, or property, or all of the above, is pretty simple and straightforward to understand.

What about warfare taking more of an economic form?  Depending on all sorts of factors and to some extent understandably so, people can get fired up over it quickly.  Based on what?  I ask the question to underscore my own view it is not nearly so simple to understand. 

A lot of heat is being generated at the moment.  Light, though?

What are your thoughts?  How are you doing?

Best wishes, until we meet again,
QT

👋❤️👋

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