His Tariff’s, Foreign Policy and Immigration Policies ARE digging the American Economy into a Hole…..
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Trump Tariff/American Import Tax burden Internationally/Domestically…
In the longer term, the tariffs leave projections looking weaker all around. Growth estimates for 2025 are coming in at 1.4%, compared to 2.8% in 2024. Since Trump’s so-called Liberation Day on April 2, many economists have revised their GDP growth estimates downward for the years ahead and kept them well below the U.S. historical average, even after the president’s much-ballyhooed trade deals have been announced.
Some argue that a little economic pain is necessary as Trump cleans up “the mess” left by former President Joe Biden, pointing to large budget deficits, regulatory overreach, and industrial policy interference. Unfortunately, the projected budget deficit is expected to be even worse than it was a year ago, and the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” has only made the 10-year debt outlook more ominous. While the previous regulatory regime froze nearly all mergers and acquisitions deal flow, championed pro-union labor laws and increased environmental protections, the new one requires veiled monetary and non-monetary contributions, mandates ideological concessions and directs predatory harassment towards disfavored parties. If the Biden administration can be blamed for picking favorite industries, what about the Trump administration’s sectoral tariffs and generous posture toward cryptocurrencies and fossil fuels?
Admittedly, Trump’s bullying tactics may provide some temporary cosmetic benefits to the U.S., as he threatened far worse than he executed. Still, the harm to America’s credibility and its relations with international partners is far more costly over the long run. The use of tariffs against countries, such as Brazil and Canada, to advance personal political agendas certainly looks like an abuse of power. Such actions might be acceptable in authoritarian regimes, but not in democratic countries. These moves are just another example of the president crossing lines previously never considered. His invocation of wartime powers through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to employ many of his tariffs has rightly been called into question by federal courts….
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Trump/Miller efforts to cancel migrant labor from America…
More than 1.2 million immigrants disappeared from the labor force from January through the end of July, according to preliminary Census Bureau data analyzed by the Pew Research Center. That includes people who are in the country illegally as well as legal residents.
Immigrants make up almost 20% of the U.S. workforce and that data shows 45% of workers in farming, fishing and forestry are immigrants, according to Pew senior researcher Stephanie Kramer. About 30% of all construction workers are immigrants and 24% of service workers are immigrants, she added.
The loss in immigrant workers comes as the nation is seeing the first decline in the overall immigrant population after the number of people in the U.S. illegally reached an all-time high of 14 million in 2023…
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Just across the border from Mexico in McAllen, Texas, corn and cotton fields are about ready for harvesting. Elizabeth Rodriguez worries there won’t be enough workers available for the gins and other machinery once the fields are cleared.
Immigration enforcement actions at farms, businesses and construction sites brought everything to a standstill, said Rodriguez, director of farmworker advocacy for the National Farmworker Ministry….
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Construction sites in and around McAllen also “are completely dead,” Rodriguez said.
“We have a large labor force that is undocumented,” she said. “We’ve seen ICE particularly targeting construction sites and attempting to target mechanic and repair shops.”
Kramer, with Pew, also warns about the potential impact on health care. She says immigrants make up about 43% of home health care aides.
The Service Employees International Union represents about 2 million workers in health care, the public sector and property services. An estimated half of long-term care workers who are members of SEIU 2015 in California are immigrants, said Arnulfo De La Cruz, the local’s president.
“What’s going to happen when millions of Americans can no longer find a home care provider?” De La Cruz said. “What happens when immigrants aren’t in the field to pick our crops? Who’s going to staff our hospitals and nursing homes?”…
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A gathering of countries looking to counter America’s Economic dominance….
The leaders of Russia, China, India and seven other nations met Monday in northern China for the latest annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in what could be an emerging challenge to America’s global leadership.
The 10-member SCO, which gathered in the port city of Tianjin, has grown in size and influence since its founding 24 years ago, even while its goals and programs remain murky and name recognition low.
The SCO counts some clear U.S. foes among its members
The full membership also includes Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Originally seen as a foil to U.S. influence in Central Asia, the organization expanded to include India and Pakistan in 2017, Iran in 2023 and Belarus in 2024…