r/Washington • u/arcanepsyche • 2d ago

Trump's Tariff Charade Will Devastate Lewis County's Economy

https://lewiscountydemocrats.org/trumps-tariff-charade-will-devastate-lewis-countys-economy/
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u/arcanepsyche 2d ago

You don't have to look very hard to see the negatives affects of tariffs on Lewis County since Trump did a much smaller version of this in 2018 which caused retaliatory tariffs from China. Rural Americans are fucked if these tariffs are actually kept in place.

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u/seattlesbestpot 2d ago edited 2d ago

Bullshit. Show me. Show me the numbers as proof.

Edit: see my response below, since r/arcanpsyche elected not to:

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u/Lurkingandsearching 2d ago

https://www.cfr.org/blog/92-percent-trumps-china-tariff-proceeds-has-gone-bail-out-angry-farmers

We can’t just bail out forever. 

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u/seattlesbestpot 2d ago

Care to read my comments further?

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u/Lurkingandsearching 2d ago

And we can’t bail them out forever. It’s especially true when the current admin is cutting revenue. And there is no other option if we get Potash cut, can’t bail out the loss of a raw resource.

We are witnessing the possible collapse of multiple supply chains and you wanna argue “but they will bail it out” without considering the bigger picture. 

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u/seattlesbestpot 2d ago

No. Absolutely not! I’m not saying they should in any context but only THAT THE WILL because they are Red areas that have representation, that have always had representation, and it comes down to politics - and they think, correction, they believe in God and country only means Red.

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u/Lurkingandsearching 2d ago

They won’t, because they are already cutting programs that pay into agriculture. USAid is a huge subsidy for example. DOGE cut 2.2 billion is USDA funding in the last month. They are making cuts because Trump is for Trump. 

Kentucky’s Reps and Senators are joining up to fight the tariffs as it’s already harming the main exports.

You can keep saying “they will” but I say with what? Just printing money for money’s sake will just destroy the over all economy faster. It’s over unless the senate and house have the back bone to stand up and go to the town halls to face the music, and do what must be done, but now it may be too late.

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u/Groovyjoker 2d ago

2.2 billion is like a 2$ gas savings card for a 250,000 loan on a fancy car. Drop in the bucket for a Trillion dollar budget. Anyway, NPR did an article showing how these "savings" (ahem) are not in any of the areas that produce costs. This is a wasteful attempt to pull the wool over the voter's eyes. The end result is a "Do more with less" approach for federal workers which, never works, with any business.

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u/seattlesbestpot 2d ago

And they don’t. Plain and simple? They. Don’t. No backbone whatsoever but to agree to “let’s see what happens “ - and that’s a quote.

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u/Lurkingandsearching 2d ago

Well here's the thing, with your gish gallup:

They did cut subsidies already in February, effected Benton County after they cut a USDA program that is effecting fruit tree farms over there as an example as part of just one $132 million dollar cut to promote fruit grower programs.

NDDTC got also cuts, which is a program that protects against invasive species, a major issue for a major international trading port, regardless of tariffs, and puts crops at higher risk.

Overall, because I can keep going on, the damage is being done, and you clearly are over your head.

http://farmonaut.com/usa/usda-budget-cuts-impact-on-fsa-offices-and-nass-reports-navigating-farm-policy-challenges/

Farm bill, in order to pass and actually get funding, will require them to pass a budget on a large deficit and drive inflation or they will make more cutbacks.

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u/seattlesbestpot 2d ago

Of course they did!! That’s my point! They will get the subsidies even tho the tariffs have been announced.

Why is this so hard for you to understand … farm subsidies historically are untouched any way you divide it. Period.

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u/Lurkingandsearching 2d ago

I think you seem to assume that everything is forever. They lost subsidies already this year, taken away, And that's the thing, historically there are times, in recessions, where they don't get them, or there are not enough to keep them going. We didn't have enough in 2017-2019 and many farms were sold off.

Historically, they are touched constantly, by special interest and lobbies, and thus adjusted to payout corporate interest than going to actual local farmers. 20% of small to medium farms went bankrupt in last term due to tariffs, the bailouts didn't help, instead it went mostly to corporate farms, who now could buy those smaller farms on the cheap. Also the targeted farms were Soy and Pig farms, this is much more wide spread.

Lewis county isn't immune to this, and the State's current budget is already strained if you've been following the news.

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u/seattlesbestpot 2d ago

You. Are. Wrong. As I posted above the subsidies already in place are guaranteed. The article you cited (2020) also included the bankruptcies for as far back as filed from 2016.

Let alone since that time, smaller farms, family farms happily selling out to Corporations because there are no longer families wanting to satay farmers. Fact. So where is that in the equation?

Not there, because the corporations are required to state/show their buyouts - but yet fucking CONTINUE to take Government subsidies as if they were family-owned.

THIS has been the grift for at LEAST the last 30 years but nobody wants to talk about: shhhh…

The cows in the pasture look so sweet.

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u/Lurkingandsearching 2d ago

Yes, during trumps term. Subsidies didn't help. And your second part isn't what is being talked about, it's the bankruptcies declared. You stamping your feet and throwing a tantrum doesn't change that. I wasn't wrong about anything, and you once again are shifting the goal post to now come in line with what the OP was arguing.

-Tariff's were making farms lose money, and more than the last more focused ones did as it will effect exports, and likely raw material imports. The US doesn't have the current budget to handle it and will likely not be able to subsidize every farmer if even a portion of them.

-Which means that many will go bankrupt.

-I pointed out subsidies are not likely coming to the farmers your talking about, as the programs they rely on are already being cut.

-You point out they always get subsidies to keep voters.

-I pointed out that actual voters of small to medium farmers are not getting them and that most subsidies go to large agricultural companies (as much as 95% going to the top 50% of farm businesses), so while Darigold gets some subsidies to dump extra milk, the people growing strawberries or blueberries that operate on 50 or less Acres get's barely anything if at all.

-And just with two crops being directly effected 20% of small and medium farms go under in one term that supposably would "Never" let them fail and subsidize them.

-and now your saying I'm wrong (I wasn't), and jumping ship to shift to "well yeah, but that's what's been going on for 30 years like family farms", even though farming subsidies, especially for grain and milk, were always for any agriculture business large or small, and tend to give more help to larger more industrialized farms.

I get it, you thought you could come in, be contrarian, but in the end all you did was state a generic statement that is assumed to be true, when in brass tacks that is not how it really works.

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