Stock markets are warning of a recession. Bond markets are anticipating inflation. We have a brief pause in Donald Trump’s tariff war, as he awaits our trading partners to come and beg for reductions. The general consensus is that tariffs are not a good thing, and Trump and Peter Navarro are among the only ones who think to the contrary.
Tanker traffic is already down 30%-40% at U.S. ports. Walmart is raising its prices, and sales at Target are down, as stores and small businesses are trying to adjust to the upcoming reality of cost increases. Businesses large and small do not know how to plan with the continuing uncertainty, as Trump thinks he is negotiating by putting on a three-month pause, increasing the chaos of what comes next for Europe, as well as China. These tariffs violate long-standing trade agreements.
Now, we have a spending bill passed by one vote in the House of Representatives, cutting grants to states and funding to the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the IRS, the Environmental Protection Agency, Medicaid and Medicare. As things stand, Medicaid will be cut by $700 billion, which means that 8.6 million people will lose medical coverage, and 2.6 million will lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. Medicare will be cut by $500 billion. As a result of these cuts, many hospitals, especially rural ones, will have to close. All this to provide tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations at the expense of the poor and middle class. This is a double dose of Republican cruelty, and, as a result, the poor will be poorer and the sick sicker.
So much for making America great again!
Julia Sperry
Hockessin
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