Those who worry about the tariffs and Wall Street’s reaction should remember the song Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera). You know its chorus.
Que sera, sera.
Whatever will be, will be.
The future’s not ours to see.
Que sera, sera.
What will be, will be.
The story behind the song lives up to the chorus. Alfred Hitchcock wanted to do a movie with Jimmy Stewart. He agreed to but only if Doris Day co-starred. She agreed to but only if she got a song. Hitchcock didn’t like her but he liked Stewart better than he disliked Day. So a song was commissioned. She hated it.
Now for the kicker. The song won an Oscar. It became her signature song. Also unbeknownst to her, Martin Melcher, her husband/agent at the time, signed a five-year contract for her to do a sitcom on CBS. The show paid off some bad debt including overdue taxes.
The Smithsonian said, “The song became so associated with the star that it ultimately became the theme song for The Doris Day Show, a sitcom that aired between 1968 and 1973. In her 1976 autobiography, Day revealed that she was contracted to do the sitcom by Melcher and hadn’t even been aware of the arrangement before his death in 1968. She didn’t want to do a television show, much less one with that song as a theme.”
The future truly was not hers to see.
But a few things are predictable, such as the overreaction to tariffs by Wall Street and DC. I think the Dow closed on Monday at a penny, a thimble and 3 magic beans.
In DC, the RINOs and the Democrats proposed eliminating Trump’s power to tariff. Senators Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, and Chuck Grassley, a Republican, sponsored the bill.
Trump will veto it. Everyone in the world knows that. To override, Democrats will have to get 20 Republicans to go along.
The old hens—Collins, Murkowski and McConnell—will back the Democrats but there’s this dude called Elon Musk who will primary those who will vote against Trump. I hear this Musk man has some money. Shelley Capito ain’t about to risk becoming the Liz Cheney of West Virginia next year.
But Republicans back the tariffs because they want America to succeed. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming said, “Australia has sold $29 billion worth of beef in the United States, and we haven’t been able to sell one hamburger in Australia because of barriers.”
He’s the majority whip, a leadership position. This bill is so dead on arrival that Bloodrock wrote a song about it.
Some things are not predictable.
The Kyiv Independent tweeted, “Kremlin panics as Russian Urals crude oil price nears crucial $50 mark.
“Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov attributed the price decline to ‘the US decision to introduce tariffs for most countries in the world.’ ”
Clearly, if you oppose tariffs, by definition you are a Putin puppet.
Very predictable was Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, who told his shareholders that he is worried about inflation. He’s always worried about inflation. That seems to be his job at JPMorgan. He is good at that. I remember paying 15% interest on my trailer. No thank you.
The only thing worse than inflation is deflation because while inflation kills demand, deflation kills supply. My life has been spared that experience.
TDS people read into his statement an opposition to tariffs. I didn’t, but if he did, so what? He’s not the boss of me. He bought into that ESG rating system (virtue signaling over profits) whose proponents now deny it ever happened.
Wall Street is not the economy nor is it peopled with geniuses as the dotcom bubble, Enron and subprime mortgages showed.
Hey, remember when AOL replaced the media and bought (merged with) Time Warner? I mean it is still around and making money but its market cap is nowhere near the $360 billion AOL Time Warner enjoyed 22 years ago.
Wall Street has made another big boo-boo with its unhinged opposition to Trump using tariffs to end globalism and make America great again.
Charles Gasparino of the New York Post tweeted, “Part of Trump’s negotiating style is to instill fear in his opponents through opacity; he really doesn’t want to tell the other side his objective because, he fears, it weakens his hand. This opacity is what’s roiling markets, which hate uncertainty.
“But why are the markets running government policy? Who elected all these algos that send out sell orders? Who elected the heads of the big banks?
“Six months ago, Jamie Dimon was absurdly extolling the benefits of DEI, maybe the most divisive, and idiotic, corporate experiment in history. It degrades merit for intersectionality, which is a merit-less and nonsensical construct, devised by some leftist at the Ivies, the same places that allowed Jew hatred to flourish as part of their diversity efforts.
“Sure, The Street can have its opinions, and on some matters they get it right. Trump could have done the tax cuts first, revved the economy then do his trade thing. But after taking a bullet, he was elected president on this stuff, and none of these guys were, nor could they be.”
Erich Hartmann replied, “Very interesting. Was just thinking about the same things.
“In 2008 they got what they wanted. They absolutely ran policy back then, even though it went against public opinion as well as sound economic policy.
“They got to keep their yachts.”
He’s right as President Bush 43 threw a TARP over the mess. That led to DC taking the lid off the national debt, which tripled since 2008 just as the Dow has tripled. What co-inky-dense as Curly would say.
Some people have simplified this as a battle between Wall Street and Main Street. They may be onto something. (Poca actually has a Main Street that has all the businesses on it.) The battle is long overdue.
Michael Walsh wrote, “To begin, what it’s not about is tariffs. What it is about is repatriating American manufacturing and thereby restoring Great Power status to the U.S.A. Tariffs are merely the mechanism by which to get the ball rolling. Adam Smith’s hidden hand is about to come roaring back into play.”
An actual free market would allow us to sell burgers in Australia. Trump’s Tariffs make that possible by forcing the Aussies to open their market or watch demand for their products drop like iguanas from trees when it freezes in Florida.
Tariffs also produce revenue which you could use when your debt reaches $37 trillion.
Walsh cut to the chase: “Which would you prefer: plastic junk from China under free trade or helping your neighbor down the street to keep his job by buying American? This is Trump’s whole point. Wall Street is not America.”
The hate for Trump’s tariffs go beyond TDS, though not that far beyond. They are the Make America Into A Failure. But after a decade of their attacks on Trump, they have become kneejerk jerks.
They are Doris Day hating Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera), the very song that extended her career well past her 40th birthday when most beautiful actresses become real estate agents.
TDS killed the career of every conservative who ever drank that Kool-Aid.
You’re on fire these days, Don. I tried to tell a TDS pickleball player last Friday that exact thing-it’s not about tariffs, it’s about bringing companies and manufacturers home. “But the market! My IRA!” She wailed. I said Wall Street is a casino. The house always wins. It will be back up on Monday, which it was. Wall Street was the vehicle that took out all the storefronts on Main Street. I’m sticking with that guy who was in the cab of the trash truck last year. He’s heading to Wall Street to pick up the garbage.
Michael Walsh wrote, “To begin, what it’s not about is tariffs. What it is about is repatriating American manufacturing and thereby restoring Great Power status to the U.S.…..”
I think it’s not just bringing back production and making things of all kinds in the US. I believe it’s about ending the expectation since WWII that America is the equivalent of the Bank of Mom n Dad and we will forever feel guilty about having imagination, drive and self direction. Disparate tariffs, foreign “aid,” NGO “grants,” - all welfare and shakedown payments.
If countries don’t want to be colonized with American money they can stop acting like pampered pets asking for treats.