Social Security Website Crashes as DOGE-Linked Disruption at the Agency Continues
![Heather Cox Richardson Musk’s Trump’s “Dumb Calculations” 4/2/2025
Trump claims he is imposing “reciprocal tariffs” and says they are about half of what other countries levy on U.S. goods. In fact, the numbers he is using for his claim that other countries are imposing high tariffs on U.S. goods are bonkers. Economist Paul Krugman points out that the European Union places tariffs of less than 3% on average on U.S. goods, while Trump maintained its tariffs are 39%. Krugman said he had no idea where that number had come from, but financial journalist James Surowiecki figured out that the White House “just took our trade deficit with [each] country and divided it by the country’s exports to us.” He called it “extraordinary nonsense.” Washington Post economic writer Catherine Rampell posted that she was reluctant to amplify Surowiecki's theory that the tariff rates were based on such a “dumb calculation,” but then the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative confirmed it.
Certain observers in business had apparently persuaded themselves that Trump didn’t really intend to raise tariffs very much and that his many vows to do so were simply rhetoric, since economists agree that tariffs are a tax on consumers and will raise inflation and slow down growth. Today'’s tariffs are higher than expected, and business leaders are alarmed.](https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/114/274/168/931/312/939/original/9c1113a3325c67de.jpeg "Heather Cox Richardson Musk’s Trump’s “Dumb Calculations” 4/2/2025
Trump claims he is imposing “reciprocal tariffs” and says they are about half of what other countries levy on U.S. goods. In fact, the numbers he is using for his claim that other countries are imposing high tariffs on U.S. goods are bonkers. Economist Paul Krugman points out that the European Union places tariffs of less than 3% on average on U.S. goods, while Trump maintained its tariffs are 39%. Krugman said he had no idea where that number had come from, but financial journalist James Surowiecki figured out that the White House “just took our trade deficit with [each] country and divided it by the country’s exports to us.” He called it “extraordinary nonsense.” Washington Post economic writer Catherine Rampell posted that she was reluctant to amplify Surowiecki's theory that the tariff rates were based on such a “dumb calculation,” but then the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative confirmed it.
Certain observers in business had apparently persuaded themselves that Trump didn’t really intend to raise tariffs very much and that his many vows to do so were simply rhetoric, since economists agree that tariffs are a tax on consumers and will raise inflation and slow down growth. Today'’s tariffs are higher than expected, and business leaders are alarmed.")
"The Senate is on the verge of confirming Harmeet Dhillon to lead the #CivilRights Division at the Department of Justice, putting someone who has spent years attacking #VotingRights, #AbortionRights, and #LGBTQrights in charge of protecting those rights for millions of Americans":
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/harmeet-dhillon-doj-civil-rights-voting_n_67ed7c26e4b0b937ab8f58f7
#politics #Trump #extremism
"DOGE has hit Social Security. These are the problems people are facing — and tips to cope":
https://www.sfchronicle.com/personal-finance/article/social-security-problems-musk-20246665.php
"Many people will now have to verify their identity using selfies and cellphones, or by traveling in person to a field office. Musk is also closing 47 of those." #politics #advice
Truth, not lies! Handy tip: Never believe a known pathological liar! https://tinyurl.com/bs4rhkfh #Politics
Jeremiah Johnson: "In the wake of 'we will deport random people with tattoos', actual Venezuelan journalists who study Tren de Aragua say that the gang doesn't have identifying tattoos at all. It's literally just something Americans (working for Trump) made up." #politics #injustice #racism
Ana Navarro-Cardenas wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio:
"Marco, you are a free-trader. You argued against tariffs until like 5 minutes ago. Did you have a lobotomy, or does your servility just have no limits?"
#NoLimits #OrMaybeALobotomy #WhoKnows
#politics #surgery
Grubhub is part of the Bezos/Amazon empire of evil. Delete your Grubhub app & toss them in the rubbish bin.
What does making good trouble look like?
Women make gains in Liberal, NDP, and Green party provincial caucuses. However, Conservative provincial party caucuses are still mostly men. "Ontario's February election saw 20 PC female MPPs voted in, representing 25% of the caucus, down from 28% in 2022. The NDP caucus is 65% female or nonbinary. Both the Liberals, with seven women in its 14member caucus, and the Greens, with one of two, are 50% female." #women #politics #canada #genderparity https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/are-women-well-represented-in-the-ontario-legislature-the-numbers-arent-going-to-lie/article_ebd1b1b3-25da-4101-8fa0-dc35e34507c8.html
Scott Lincicome: "Japan and Vietnam top Trump's reciprocal tariff list. If Trump hadn't abandoned the TransPacific Partnership in 2017, their tariffs on US exports would be basically ZERO today.
#politics #TrumpIsAlienatingOurAllies #inflation
Steven Dennis: "The last time the Republicans embraced a maximalist #tariff policy was 1930. The Republican Party then was obliterated in successive elections. Republicans went from a 270-164 majority to holding just *88* seats in 1937. With a few exceptions, Democrats dominated the House for decades." #inflation #economy #politics #history
Voter's remorse sets in bigly. #Politics
![Heather Cox Richardson 4/2/25
Just 5 months ago, 10/19/2024 , The Economist ran a special report on America’s economy. That economy was, the, “the envy of the world.” Today, stock market futures plummeted after Pres Trump announced that he will impose a 10% tariff on all imports to the U.S., with higher rates on about 60 countries he claims engage in unfair trade practices, including China, Japan, Vietnam, and S. Korea, as well as the EU. iDow Jones Industrial Average futures lost more than 1,000 points upon the news, falling by 2.5%; the S&P 500 dropped 3.6%.Trump's erratic approach to the economy had already rattled markets, which dropped significantly in the first quarter of this yedar, and consumer confidence, which recently hit a twelve-year low. Trump waited until the stock market had closed today before he announced the new tariffs. Then, in a speech in the White House Rose Garden, he said: “For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike. But it is not going to happen anymore.” .. he said, tariffs would create “the golden age of America.” “Never before has an hour of Presidential rhetoric cost so many people so much,” former treasury secretary Lawrence Summers posted. “The best estimate of the loss from tariff policy is now [close] to $30 trillion or $300,000 per family of four.” “The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history,” posted former vice president Mike Pence.](https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/114/274/107/252/979/825/original/763fa3991ddcc093.jpeg "Heather Cox Richardson 4/2/25
Just 5 months ago, 10/19/2024 , The Economist ran a special report on America’s economy. That economy was, the, “the envy of the world.” Today, stock market futures plummeted after Pres Trump announced that he will impose a 10% tariff on all imports to the U.S., with higher rates on about 60 countries he claims engage in unfair trade practices, including China, Japan, Vietnam, and S. Korea, as well as the EU. iDow Jones Industrial Average futures lost more than 1,000 points upon the news, falling by 2.5%; the S&P 500 dropped 3.6%.Trump's erratic approach to the economy had already rattled markets, which dropped significantly in the first quarter of this yedar, and consumer confidence, which recently hit a twelve-year low. Trump waited until the stock market had closed today before he announced the new tariffs. Then, in a speech in the White House Rose Garden, he said: “For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike. But it is not going to happen anymore.” .. he said, tariffs would create “the golden age of America.” “Never before has an hour of Presidential rhetoric cost so many people so much,” former treasury secretary Lawrence Summers posted. “The best estimate of the loss from tariff policy is now [close] to $30 trillion or $300,000 per family of four.” “The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history,” posted former vice president Mike Pence.")
