Day 72: Liberation Day from your Wallet

 

In the late 1920s, two Republicans, Senator Reed Smoot of Utah and Representative Willis C. Hawley of Oregon decided that they had the solution to America's worsening economic situation due to what would become known as The Great Depression. Their answer was simple: tariffs. America would tax its way to prosperity - a tariff being nothing more than a tax on imported goods paid by the consumer.  Anyone with a high school education in either history or politics knows the results: an economic disaster that only worsened the depression. As Wikipedia relates:

Some countries protested and others also retaliated with trade restrictions and tariffs. American exports to the protesters fell 18% and exports to those who retaliated fell 31%.[18] Threats of retaliation by other countries began long before the bill was enacted into law in June 1930. As the House of Representatives passed it in May 1929, boycotts broke out, and foreign governments moved to increase rates against American products, although rates could be increased or decreased by the Senate or by the conference committee. By September 1929, Hoover's administration had received protest notes from 23 trading partners, but the threats of retaliatory actions were ignored.[11]

In May 1930, Canada, the most loyal trading partner for the U.S., retaliated by imposing new tariffs on 16 products that accounted altogether for approximately 30% of U.S. exports to Canada.[19] Later, Canada also forged closer economic links with the British Empire via the British Empire Economic Conference of 1932. France and Britain protested and developed new trade partners. Germany developed a system of trade via clearing.

The depression worsened for workers and farmers despite Smoot and Hawley's promises of prosperity from high tariffs; consequently, Hawley lost re-nomination, while Smoot was one of 12 Republican Senators who lost their seats in the 1932 elections, with the swing being the largest in Senate history (being equaled in 1958 and 1980).[20] Nations other than Canada that enacted retaliatory tariffs included Cuba, Mexico, France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland.[4]

And the rest is, as they say, history. The results of Smoot-Hawley were so devastating, that tariffs became synonymous with bad economic policy. With that in mind, it is entirely understandable why tariffs would become popular with MAGA, a political movement that is a bizarre mix of studied ignorance and retrograde policy.  Hence, this abomination:

Trump Imposes Vast Global Tariffs; Some Key Partners Hit Hard

President Trump unveiled his most expansive tariffs to date in a ceremony at the White House on Wednesday, saying he will impose a 10 percent tariff on all trading partners except Canada and Mexico, as well as double-digits tariffs on dozens of other countries.

The damage is already being done: 

Yes, you are reading that right. As of 7:50 PM EST, the projected opening for the Dow will be a staggering drop of 1044 points.  And that is just the opening shot across the bow.  

The damage will not just be economic—and by 'economic' I mean an inflated cost of living for Americans as companies don't pay tariffs; consumers do—but also in terms of foreign policy. As happened in the wake of Smoot-Hawley, America's former trading partners are sensibly looking for new trading partners.  

China, Japan, South Korea mulling joint response to Trump tariffs, Chinese state media says

Japan and South Korea are seeking to import semiconductor raw materials from China and China is interested in purchasing chip products from Japan and South Korea, the account, Yuyuan Tantian, said in a post on Weibo.

All three sides agreed to strengthen supply chain cooperation and engage in more dialogue on export controls, the post said.

Think about that: China is despised by both Japan and South Korea, but in response to American economic aggression, all three are coming together in a defensive response. Trump might finally get that Nobel Peace Prize he craves, but for all the wrong reasons. 

In addition to this, Europe has begun to divest from America, particularly when it comes to defense armaments:

EU slams the door on US in colossal defense plan

United States arms-makers are being frozen out of the European Union’s massive new defense spending plan, which aims to splash the cash for EU and allied countries, according to defense spending plans released Wednesday.

Why? Because America is now viewed as a foe:

 “We need to see not only Russia as a threat, but also ... more global geopolitical developments and where Americans will put their strategic attention,” European Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius told reporters.

Nobody trusts us. Worse, that lost trust will be hard to win back as long as the GOP remains a force in American politics. After all, what nation would want to take a chance on getting kicked in the teeth again, especially after putting in the work to successfully divest from American goods? Just as Europe is not going back to importing Russian natural gas, I suspect few of our trading partners will be eager to return to American markets for a long time, something that will prove to be economically devastating. 

Mark today's date because it will be a watershed moment in history.  As with Smoot-Hawley, people will look back and say that this was the moment that the US, at the height of its economic power, decided to commit suicide with bad economic policy.  As The Economist wrote about Smoot-Hawley:

"... global trade fell by two-thirds. It was so catastrophic for growth in America and around the world that legislators have not touched the issue since. 'Smoot-Hawley' became synonymous with disastrous policy making".

I'll give Ronald Reagan the final word:

"You see, at first, when someone says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works —but only for a short time.

”What eventually occurs is: First, homegrown industries start relying on government protection in the form of high tariffs. They stop competing and stop making the innovative management and technological changes they need to succeed in world markets. And then, while all this is going on, something even worse occurs. High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars.

“The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less competition. So, soon, because of the prices made artificially high by tariffs that subsidize inefficiency and poor management, people stop buying.”

“Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.”

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At one time, I was known as the 'Apostle of Gaming' because I did my best to spread the good news of PC gaming to what was then a largely ignorant public. Jump ahead a few decades, and PC gaming is now outpacing consoles. Indeed, video games as an industry now outgrosses Hollywood.  

I bring this up because, in the same fashion that people often read based on their interests, I use video games to explore topics. Not surprisingly, of late, this has me playing many games about World War II.

I was never a big WWII gamer. The primary reason is that WWII has saturated pop culture in a way other historical events have failed to do, from limitless books to movies, video games, tabletop wargames, YouTube documentaries, and magazines.  After nearly half a century of marinating in it, it all gets to be a bit threadbare.  What is more, WWII concluded almost a century ago; it hasn't seemed particularly relevant to me. 

But now...well, now things are different. Not only does Trump 2.0 resemble a fascist takeover of America, but international events also seem to be trending in the same direction as the 1930s, with territorial conquests and threats of conquest, racist domestic policies, jingoism, and trade wars now being the norm around the globe. It is all very disquieting.

There are oh-so-many World War II games to choose from these days (far too many if you ask me!), but one I would like to recommend is Barbedwire Studios Call to Arms: Gates of Hell Ostfront. It is a thoroughly entertaining WWII real-time strategy game where the player controls small units and individual vehicles in skirmish battles, a story-driven campaign, and even a randomly generated campaign that ensures plenty of replayability.

As someone who has often been tempted to get into miniatures wargaming in a big way, but was always put off by not only the cost but also the requirement for lots of time set aside for painting them and lots of space for building a battlefield, Gates of Hell is a fine substitute. The images in this entry were from tonight's play session, a brisk half-hour where my Wehrmacht troops fought some Russians commanded by Michael Flynn (I might have made that last part up). As you can see in the screenshots, as well as the gameplay video at the bottom of this post, the game has a beautifully detailed presentation that reminds me of toy soldiers brought alive. 

And, no, I am not proud of taking the side of Hitler, but in a time when mask-wearing ICE secret police are abducting immigrants off the street and deporting them to a Central American concentration camp without due process, I might as well lean into the prevailing vibe. 

However, if someone isn't comfortable with that, there is DLC for both American and Finnish troops as well, content I will be getting as soon a sale comes along.  

These are stressful times so it is good to have some recreational outlets. There has never been a better time for PC gaming as a vast library of games exploring every conceivable topic is readily available, often for deep discounts as the digital distribution nature of PC gaming avoids Sony's and Microsoft's price-fixing for physical media.  Even better, thanks to modern internet speeds, a prospective gamer doesn't even need an expensive powerhouse of a PC as cloud gaming services, such as Amazon Luna and nVidia's Geforce Now (my personal favorite), allow even the cheapest laptop to run some of the most demanding of games.  Those screenshots above (and the one below) were all taken while I used Geforce Now to run Gates of Hell in the cloud! Not bad, eh?

You can learn more about CtA Gates of Hell Ostfront at its Steam webpage here.

And here is a sloppily produced video I threw together with the help of AI and Clipchamp (it was 2 AM when I made it, so be kind):