Comments
ACCORDING TO LIZ - It shocks me how many Americans see Canada as an extension of the United States that should welcome annexation on one hand or, on the other, perceive it as an existential economic threat and a source of raw materials that might ameliorate the inflationary pressures they continue to experience south of the border.
I now live 50 miles from the Canadian border instead of a day-and-a-half’s drive through alternating bands of West Coast progressive and scarily-conservative communities. But how much does that benefit me with both countries now being sucked into the economic wreckage of the tariff tornado?
Despite yesterday’s boomerang effect on Wall Street from Trump’s 90-day reprieve for every country other than Canada, Mexico, and China – the three largest trading partners for the United States in 2024, the reverberations and anxiety have severely and permanently damaged livelihoods here and around the world.
It still doesn't help that both American political parties rely on metrics that are grossly skewed by the power of the financial industry to present a far rosier picture of the country’s prosperity than reality due to the ballooning wealth of the top 0.1 percent.
The top ten percent of families holds almost 70 percent of America’s wealth according to the Congressional Budget Office; the bottom 50 percent? A measly three.
“America” has never been richer. But too many Americans don’t feel the love because the wealth surge in the upper tier overbalances the stagnation and losses for the bottom half. Especially in a time of inflationary spirals and threats of further tariff yanks.
The vision of plenty painted by the Wall Street pundits prior to the precipitous losses from the Trump tariffs never resonated with ordinary heroes trying to put food on the table and a roof overhead. Nor will they benefit from the bounce-back of the stock market on Wednesday, even if it hadn’t been followed by today’s tumble.
There is increasing discontent among middle and working classes alike, a malaise driving the disconnect from a government which has ceased to be for the people but for the billionaires.
In Canada, the wealth divide is also growing but an enduring economic security net – especially health care which drives too many families many south of its border into bankruptcy or having to choose between life-saving medications or food and shelter – has muted the blows this inequality delivers.
And, for all the focus on its crime and poverty in the U.S. news, Mexico does much better than its neighbor to the north in measurements of economic and infrastructure expansion courtesy of NAFTA and USMCA.
Despite income disparities that exceed those in the United States, Mexican social programs, public healthcare and education are burgeoning bolstered by the moderate coalition-building and progressive policies of presidents Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Claudia Sheinbaum. Literacy is over 95% compared to 79% here.
Last weekend, demonstrators packed public areas in cities and towns across the States to vociferously protest the government’s slashing both of programs benefiting them directly and those such as U.S.A.I.D. and other humanitarian outreach that makes them proud to be Americans.
They clearly perceived the imposition of onerous tariffs not only as creating financial turmoil but as having severe implications for jobs, access to affordable housing, and a driving force for further price escalations.
And that cutbacks to federally-funded departments, from Education to NOAA will affect their quality of life for years to come.
By driving up the cost of government, the President is also alienating a core part of the Republican party which has, since the days of Reagan, beat the drum for tax cuts to solve this country’s ills.
Point of fact, Trump choir boy and House Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to delay a budget vote when the fiscal conservatives expressed alarm over how much it would add to the national debt.
In the name of bringing skilled jobs home, Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs drove down the stock market to a degree approaching the freefall of the pandemic’s early days.
Repatriation of any promised jobs could take decades to materialize, if at all, given the ever-rising costs for rebuilding infrastructure and training workers. And the dangers of investing at all under the yo-yoing policies emanating from the White House will forever deter potential investors.
Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Party leader in Canada’s April 28 snap election, kept spouting policies that Trump was only too happy to manipulate to his advantage. But, instead, has made it a neck-and-neck race.
Trudeau-replacement Liberal Mark Carney, initially tarred by his predecessor’s tanked approval ratings, now has a mandate from angry Canadians to stand up to the bully in the White House.
Carney faces serious headwinds, however. Reeling from the tariffs’ continuing impact, Canadian families and businesses are also calling for instant relief from current and foreseeable economic suffering that increased counter-tariffs may or may not deliver. But “Trust Trump” is a poutine of red herrings.
Right-wing conservatives and hardline militants in the United States no longer see Canada as an automatic ally, protecting them from Russia, but as a potential thorn in the side of the Putin-Trump mutual admiration society.
Along with Carney and Sheinbaum, other countries’ leaders have tried to make nice, but nothing seems to deflect Trump’s determination to crater economies worldwide.
Appeasement never wins. The aggressor just keeps pushing further.
There can be little nuance when idealogues dominate news cycles.
On one hand, freedom of the press has been intimidated by the flood of Trump lawsuits against anyone questioning his Great-Again-ness. On another, cowing their corporate owners who also benefit from the Wall Street spinmeisters driving the demise of public good in favor of short-term profit. And their greedy self-interest embraces lower taxation promised for the uber-rich.
And Trump's sociopathic egotism doesn't allow him to perceive anything outside of his own mind, and striking out against anyone and anything that impedes his fantasies. Unfortunately, for now his marketing skills have given him a Teflon coating allowing him to slither away from any accountability for actions that should have landed him in jail.
The only potential benefit has been that rational voices here are beginning to be heard. Even if dampened by under-reporting by traditional news outlets.
While in California and across the country, employment opportunities for unskilled labor go unfilled due to the fears of deportation if one looks like or may have associated with undocumented immigrants.
Who are going to rebuild the housing lost to the Palisades and Altadena fires? Who will harvest the crops as they ripen in Ventura County and the Central Valley?
Who knows? Perhaps California should become Canada’s 11th province.
Since the Donald only thinks in dollars while Canada is still committed to common decency…
(Liz Amsden is a former Angeleno who now resides in Vermont and is a regular contributor to CityWatch on issues that she is passionate about. She can be reached at [email protected].)
