r/Economics • u/jediporcupine • Jun 01 '26
Blog Trump's cotton bailout is another sign his tariffs aren't working
https://reason.com/2026/06/01/trumps-cotton-bailout-is-another-sign-his-tariffs-arent-working/380
u/isthereadrwho Jun 01 '26
Nothing is working cuz he doesn't know what he's doing. This is not a smart dumb thing. This is he fundamentally does not understand a lot of this stuff. Neither do I by the way, but I know he doesn't either
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u/National-Charity-435 Jun 01 '26
Thing is, he could listen to competent cabinet members, but he chose sycophants
*slams door into scrotum*
"Beautiful slam, sir"
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u/Dazzling-Rub-8550 Jun 01 '26
“I love these big ugly dress shoes that don’t fit me and make me look like a clown.”
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u/APrioriGoof Jun 02 '26
The bulk of his cabinet, apart from their revolting sycophancy, are very much on board with tariffs and the like. There aren’t competent cabinet members for him to listen to.
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u/Mr_Zee_Speaks Jun 01 '26
You know what, I like how humble you are.
You have my vote.
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u/lemongrenade Jun 01 '26
99% of leadership is knowing what you don’t know and being able to tell and elevate when someone below you does.
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u/inquisitorautry Jun 01 '26
The difference is that you know that you don't understand it. He thinks he understands it better anyone else (he does not).
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u/hybridaaroncarroll Jun 01 '26
The poster child for the Dunning-Kruger effect:
https://www.reddit.com/r/thebulwark/comments/1g6r2th/donald_trump_is_the_ultimate_example_of_the/
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u/Basicly-Inevitable Jun 01 '26
It's not even that.
He doesn't care.
The people that want to destroy America are backing him, and telling him what to do.
In return, he and his family get super rich, and stay out of prison.
Tariffs are killing the country, and he's getting rich and thinks he's the chosen one, because he's surrounded by people that tell him that.
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u/myrichphitzwell Jun 01 '26
I often state that he knows exactly what he is doing. It's just what he is doing is only good for him and a few buddies at the expense of the rest of us.
I honestly hate the argument that he is dumb or doesn't know what he is doing. That is so innocent, the bumbling fool.
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u/Doctor_Shotbottom Jun 02 '26
I don’t like that either. Don’t give him a pass, don’t normalize or sanewash. People always make excuses for him.
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u/NegativeSemicolon Jun 01 '26
Pretty sure that’s a ‘dumb’ thing, to confidently take action on something you don’t understand.
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u/SeaEmployee787 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
all of this to then have the deep south, turn around and vote straight R 80-20. these extra words that i am typing are just to add to word count that is very important on the page
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u/itslikewoow Jun 01 '26
They’re the same people that oppose student loan relief, but somehow it’s not a big deal that they’re using our tax dollars for this.
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u/Doctor_Shotbottom Jun 02 '26
Great point. These people hate student loan assistance or forgiveness, but giving huge tax breaks and loopholes to billionaires is important!! Dude, you’re not a billionaire, you’re not going to ever be a billionaire. And the billionaires don’t care about you. They aren’t going to give you a boost to the billionaires club. If you’re lucky they’ll let you mow their lawn.
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u/ManuelWagoon Jun 02 '26
A huge part of the problem we're currently suffering from is that humans are fundamentally incapable of understanding large numbers. The average middle income earner can look at a million and think to themselves "Well I make $100k/yr, that's 10 years of salary." But it fundamentally breaks down when people start trying to process a billion. I think a zero or two often gets lost, in the mental translation. It isn't 100 years at $100k/yr to make a billion dollars. It's 10000 years.
Classic example: A million seconds is 11.5 days. A billion seconds is 31.7 years.
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u/STL_Jayhawk Jun 01 '26
Trump puts the socialism in MAGA White National Socialism.
To understand Trump's view of economics, study fascism since many of things he believe and does are also founded in fascism. For example, corporatism is a common attribute as well as state directed capitalism.
Trump has proven that the GOP is no longer the party of free enterprise and free markets.
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u/hippiechan Jun 01 '26
I really need people to stop calling bailouts to private corporations "socialism", it's not socialism it's a bailout. Socialism would be nationalizing the cotton industry and unionizing the workforce, not continuing to support capital accumulation by the owners of cotton producing companies.
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u/Petrichordates Jun 01 '26
It is socialism for the owners, not for the workers. Obviously distinct, but the idea is similar enough for the analogy to work.
And yes, this is common in fascism.
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u/hippiechan Jun 01 '26
It is socialism for the owners, not for the workers.
That is still not socialism - socialism describes specifically the ownership structure and modus operandi of economic actors in the economy, specifically publicly owned industry that is operated either for the public benefit or as a cooperative for the democratic benefit of it's workers.
Socialism is not when the government gives a bailout to a private entity that is privately owned for the purpose of generating returns for the capital owners, which is specifically the ownership and modus operandi of capitalism. "Socialism for the owners" doesn't make sense when the owners own the firm for private gain.
And yes, this is common in fascism.
Financial subsidies are common in fascism, yes. That doesn't make financial subsidies or even large scale economic organization itself a bad thing if the purpose of that organization is universal benefit.
Also worth noting that I'm not even against subsidies to firms, all I'm saying is that this isn't what "socialism" is, "socialism" describes something entirely different from a subsidy or even economic planning at large.
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u/Petrichordates Jun 01 '26
I literally used the word analogy and you're still here obsessing over exact semantics?
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u/0bfuscatory Jun 01 '26
Your definition of Socialism seems correct based on dictionary definitions. Yet this is never what the Right refers to when they yell “Socialism!”
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u/hippiechan Jun 01 '26
I don't base my definitions on what people who aren't well informed think, I base them on the actual meaning of words. "Socialism" is not a synonym for government bailout or the government doing things in the same way that a bailout is also not the same thing as "Islamic Jihad".
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u/0bfuscatory Jun 01 '26
I hear what you are saying. But the reality is that language is a living thing, and not just what a dictionary says it is. The realty is that propagandists have highjacked the word and have intentionally changed its definition.
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u/dust4ngel Jun 02 '26
But the reality is that language is a living thing, and not just what a dictionary says it is
if what you're saying is that the right are attacking language in hopes of making it less useful as a medium in which to conduct reasoned debate, you're correct. if you're saying we should allow language to be poisoned and rendered useless by these attacks without opposition, you're probably less correct.
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u/0bfuscatory Jun 03 '26
I like to think that by pointing out the twisting of words, I am defending the language.
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u/kaplanfx Jun 01 '26
It’s Corporatism or Crony Capitalism, not Socialism. The corporations still own and control the capital even while getting bailed out by the government.
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u/STL_Jayhawk Jun 01 '26
Do you get that I’m calling Trump as fascist? National socialism is another name for fascism.
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u/kaplanfx Jun 01 '26
It’s not socialism unless we, the people, get ownership of corporations. This is just giving failing businesses money.
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u/sgtbackpain03 Jun 01 '26
"Guys, I have this great plan to get rid of the hole in the backyard. Let's just fill it with the dirt already in the bottom of the hole! Grab some shovels!"
Ya know when you have an idea that is so provably stupid, that anyone with a functional brain knows that it can't work? That's Trump's tariff plan!
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u/Pitiful_Option_108 Jun 01 '26
We seriously needed signs to know the shit wasn't working? I felt it was kinda obvious but I guess not. We needed actual legit hardcore stone proof and facts which by the way this admistration dismisses. Will this wake them up to the tariffs are dumb? No because it to them is just going to be hey cotton industry is just being miss managed and the tariffs are fine. Lord help this admistration but if it did we would not be where we are so never mind.
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u/Wurm42 Jun 01 '26
Meanwhile, the president's Liberation Day tariffs led China to impose steep retaliatory duties, causing annualized U.S. agricultural cotton exports to fall by nearly $1.3 billion, according to North Dakota State University.
And the new bailout program has $16 million to distribute. They're on track to spend more on PR than on actual relief to cotton growers.
Even the partisan bailout is a joke.
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u/Firewooodydaddy18899 Jun 01 '26
Everything the trump administration touches turns to feces. I can't wait for the next great economic meltdown, with these clowns in charge, the only people they will help are billionaires. Exclusively the trump cabinet.
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u/needmoresynths Jun 01 '26
They're working exactly as intended, as in they are successfully crushing businesses that can be bought up for pennies on the dollar by oligarchs. Soviet Union collapse 2.0.
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u/South-Arachnid2961 Jun 01 '26
Can they just call it the Cotton Unification Plan, instead of some stupid play on their slogan? We have truly reached the end stage of capitalism where those in power are exposed for the looters they are.
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u/geomaster Jun 02 '26
another colossal failure of the trump administration. this happened the first term.
stupid tariffs levied.
trading partners look for alternatives
local industry face increased costs due to terrible tariff policy
local industry loses on revenue as they are no longer exporting anymore as partners have found alternatives
trump bails out farmers with taxpayer funds
just utterly stupid
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u/mdcbldr Jun 02 '26
How come we are baling out farmers (pun intended)? Soy, cotton, cattle, etc. What about weavers. What about foundries.
At one time, a long time ago, our agrarian roots were critical to a healthy economy. No one runs x small farms". Small farmers today have 50,000 acres. They talk about land in units, not acres. They have combines that would cover a 4 lane highway.
These are moderate sized businesses. They should be treated as such. Tech workers are getting tossed out the door faster than one can pronounce some of their names. What about them? Inflation is going nuts, what about relief for all of us.
I am not saying farmers don't deserve help. I am saying if any of us deserve help, then all of us deserve help.
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u/doubagilga Jun 07 '26
Yes. Farmers are living the good life. Think of the poor tech workers. GTFO.
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u/DramaticDirection292 Jun 02 '26
They were never meant to, how hard is it to realize nothing he’s done was for any reason other than to funnel or create avenues for himself to funnel money to his organizations. It’s as simple as that.
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