Trump tariffs and world trade

History tells us that, in a general overall sense, tariffs have seldom if ever benefitted resident citizens / consumers. There has been a subsequent  traditional air of distrust by involved trade partners which just adds to the chaos factor/s. It has become a tool of 'overleverage' ( like a long 'cheater pipe' or ' breaker bar' for those originally from Guymon, Oklahoma) during the Trump era, imo.

History  also tells us that socialism ( the type characterized by state-controlled collectivism vis a vis Marx and Engel) has never worked without some very significant synergistic introduction of market-based economic models and / or extremely high taxation and large welfare programs ( like that observed in some of the Nordic countries which on the surface appear to currently provide some appeal for socialism). At risk of possible naivete, I'm not concerned about an organization such as the DSA with their published absurd agendas ever gaining any kind of major influence in this country; much of their policy proposals are completely out of step with the traditional proletariat (working class) mindset. DSA backed candidates are  logically located in deep blue states and districts , with DSA members largely in the Gen-Z or Millenial age categories( just think young elitist university assistant professors as one subelement).  Currently the DSA claims 120,000 members in a country with 340 million citizens and 175 million registered voters. They are a miniscule minority who are really good at making noise, though, as evidenced by having made current in-rows in a few  primary elections and  backing of the elected NY Mayor Mamdani. If those big time, older Wall Street investors buck his policies ( or more of them leave town) , he won't have much influence anymore. Yet, Governor Hochul recently sent him a few billion I read somewhere. That resembled a life jacket after a boat wreck for him. Who knows?

Socialism  has little to do with tariffs other than my labeling of  both as  policies/ models the US should avoid and / or severely limit our involvement with.  Plus these two issues are currently all over the news unless there is a potential mass shooting or somebody publicly asks the question "Can a man get pregnant?".     

Yeah, the USDA has been slow to respond to the screworm issue. How much of that was  due to DOGE cuts? I don't know but the USDA (APHIS subgroup) has never been very Johnny - on- the -spot to address animal health crises. It analogously requires a huge pair of jumper cables and a giant can of ether to get that APHIS machine rolling. The beef and livestock industry as a whole is so strong and economically important in Texas that they'll lilkely end up executing control on their own and doing a better job of it. There's only been a bit  over 40 cases altogether and it's restricted to Texas outside of one canine case in New Mexico ( the dog has completely recovered). The Texas AG Commissioner is whailing about it all and, whether posturing or not he appears to be on it. There's a ton of money behind the beef industry in Texas, obviously.

Similarly, the real effects of the DOGE cuts on the cyclospora / lettuce outbreak are unknown. I can and have located article sources involving former CDC officials / investigators  involved in parasite tracking incidents who say the cuts wouldn't have affected the investigative response at all. You found sources suggesting the opposite; whom's right? I don't know. The Taylor Farms recall of prepackaged lettuce is underway and there's suggestions that they are the culprit. At this point, we don't know that for sure either. So again, I don't know how much the Trump policies hindered CDC progress on fighting this parasitic outbreak. I could certainly agree that it's possible . 

As to the Trump Parasite:

The outbreak comes after the Trump administration cut $12bn in public health funding in March 2025, including laboratory capacity, disease monitoring and outbreak investigation. Half of US states joined a lawsuit to claw the funding back, but the states not included in the lawsuit did not receive the funds – and the funds were delayed in being disbursed, leading to layoffs, furloughs and uncertainty.

Michigan, for example, lost an entire regional laboratory and 23 employees working in the state bureau of infectious diseases, while local health departments in the state lost 123 staff due to cuts in federal funding.

The CDC has lost about one-third of its staff, and the majority of permanent leadership positions are empty.

In 2025, the administration made cyclospora and several other pathogens optional for reporting to FoodNet, a national foodborne-illness tracker. These cuts will make it harder to identify trends and risk factors in foodborne illnesses over time, said Melanie Firestone, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and co-author of an analysis showing that states participating in federal food safety surveillance do a better job identifying and tracking outbreaks.

Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/18/trump-cyclosporiasis-outbreak

As to the Trump Worm:
The U.S. spent decades driving the New World screwworm far into South America. But now the parasite has reemerged, and officials are working to beat it back yet again using many of the same tried-and-true methods as the government did in the 1950s. 

However, the Agriculture Department is operating with significantly reduced staff due to Trump administration cuts.  

Between January 2025 and January 2026, USDA lost approximately 20,000 employees due to layoffs or financial incentives to leave, according to staffing data published by the Office of Personnel Management.  

The Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS) lost more than 2,000 employees between the start of 2025 and the start of 2026, according to a new analysis — a 25 percent reduction.  

Critics say the reductions have hampered U.S. response efforts. 

Source:
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5922510-screwworm-spread-tests-us-readiness-after-trump-staffing-cuts/

Responding to nines...

Your post embodies all  the conservative talking points for decades about Socialism .    Here's the problem......China is kinda putting all that to bed.    I'm not endorsing China as a model for the UNited States to follow.   But if you say Socialism is a recipe for failed economics then you are ignoring the 2nd largest economy on the planet.

China is the world's leading manufacturing hub....and they are the leading energy provider of all forms....leading EV maker with best quality EV's.....and their AI models are more efficient and cost effective than the ones in the US.    Thats not my definition of failure.

And many of the policies Mamdami is pursuing in NYC have already been implemented by multiple industiralized nations in the free world...and they havent collapsed the system.    Universal healthcare and subsidized daycare are not radical in the industrialized world.   The US is largely the only country that doesnt embrace those things as Federal Public services.     

Last point.....the United States is not "Capitalism" or "Socialism".    We are a democracy that passes policies that fall into both of those categories.  Its fair to have a good faith debate about what services should fall into which category - but to suggest putting one of the in the latter category somehow turns us into Venezeula is hyperbolic and a favorite, dismissive game the right likes to play whenever that debate is engaged.     Funny how they dont do that, though, when their team puts something in that category - like Trump's price controls on drugs as one example.

OK. I'll read these and will also present some alternate articles. Some response chain issues could have been plausible in both cases.

@ PJ...

And the reason you won't endorse China's economic model is probably at least related to the sufferage quotient of the citizens / population. No? Are those citizens happy or just resolved to the system?

Sure the US has some "socialistic" endeavors and one could even argue that the government intervenes in our so-called free market system every day. You could start with SSI ( though the people actually contribute to that system over time). Yes there are socialistic processes and tenets that exist. That's why I qualified my definition of socialism as the aged Marx / Engel system at the outset of that post; it's not a one size fits all description and there are subtypes. I condemn collective ownership of production and other tenets such as abolition of private property. Both those generally do away with  merit accomplishment and competition in many ways and somewhat resemble why this country endured a Revolutionary War roughly 250 years ago. In the end, I think you know what I inferred about socialism.

Do you support the DSA policies as published? I don't think you do, but so be it.

Socialism is not a synonym for Autocracy.

Regarding China's unhappy population - I fully agree people in China are not happy.  I suspect that has alot more to do with the fact they are ruled by a dictator that does not recognize human rights.   I suspect its not an attribute of their government-owned manufacturing sector.     Socialism is a form of economics - not politics.  China has a autocrat in charge of the government and a socialist economy.    Sweden has a democratically elected government with a socialist economy.    The latter ranks as the happiest citizenship on the planet.

China's economic achievements stand on their own feet.

Regarding the DSA - there's plenty on their agenda I dont agree with.   And plenty I do.     Same for Mamdami.

This is not a knock on you - but I would say the intelligent way to debate the individual  things on their agenda is to discuss the pros and cons of each of those ideas.   The unintelligent way to debate it is to simply write off an idea as "bad" by virtue of the fact it is "socialist"

Your blithe and silly statement about the DSA's platform ignores the fact that many of their policies and positions, such as universal health care and responsible stewardship of the environment, are in fact supported by a majority of Americans. And belittling and dismissing them by calling them a "miniscule minority" is stupid--they're much more numerous and much more significant than that. 

You're too intelligent to join the brainless SOOOCIALISM!!! chant. There are successful (tremendously so) socialist nations. There have also been failures, when such nations slide into autocracy. Most Western societies employ some degree of socialism. As socialism does restrict individual freedoms to some extent, it has been melded with democracy to produce many present societies--ours included.

 And you apparenly are unable to comprehend the effect tariffs have had to trade with the nations who ripped off America for years. 

This response of yours shows a surprising level of ignorance!

Neither collective ownership of production nor abolition of private property are tenets of socialism. You're conflating it with communism, the same way our COMMIE COMMIE COMMIE bleaters do. And modern socialism has very little to do with the works of Marx and Engels.

China isn't a paradise, but its people are far better off, and I would suspect happier, than when the entire citizenry were the property of various feudal overlords and every time there was a poor harvest, several million people died. Autocracy? Yes. Human rights? No. Success? Yes, by any measure.

"Merit accomplishment" is still the primary driving force in our society. You conservatives have been screaming for decades that policies that level the playing field unfairly disadvantage the meritorious (who, for some strange reason, are all white males). I would counter that the evaluation of said merit was horribly biased and still is, to some extent. The result has been that many, many people of merit are ignored and set aside--deprived of opportunity. But conservatives always label any attempts to rectify that as harmful to the body politic.