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Tariff Chaos
26 Plays3 months ago
The "Pieces" discuss the consequences of Trump's haphazard tariff plan. What new risks do we face with Trump waving his tariff dildo in everyone's face? Is the US becoming a rapidly declining world power?
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Transcript
Impact of Trump's Tariffs
00:00:00
Speaker
Lord forgive me for I have sinned. I am not well today. Trump's tariff dildo is boning us all. Number one, if you have some personal investments or wealth, then you're getting railed hard by Trump's tariff dildo.
00:00:14
Speaker
Your 401k is getting poked with intensity right now. Markets are dropping and it feels like your cave has no moisture. Ouch. Number two, if you own a company or work for a company, then Trump's tariff dildo is backside tapping your ass.
00:00:30
Speaker
You have no idea what to expect next because Trump keeps swapping out tariff dildos. How can you make good decisions if you don't know what dildo is being used on you? Number three, if you already struggle to make ends meet, then Trump's tariff dildo is devastating you in an unfunny way.
00:00:48
Speaker
Since you are potentially in a desperate situation, there's a strong chance Trump's tariff dildo will feel like non-consensual bondage. Number four, and finally, if you live and work in another country, Trump's tariff dildo is slapping you in the face, and it's forcing you to think about whether you have any self-respect.
00:01:08
Speaker
We're all getting boned.
00:01:30
Speaker
Yo, Trump's tariff dildo, he's like Beauregard, some frat boy at a boathouse dance who snuck in like a toy dildo and is walking around and fucking poking everybody with it until the frat leader Chaz comes over is like, that's
Global Perception of America
00:01:45
Speaker
not funny, dude.
00:01:45
Speaker
Fucking stop. Fucking stop, Beauregard. Put the dildo away. Nobody's laughing. The girls don't like it. Nobody likes it. Just fucking stop. How people dislike more than that? Like the guy being a dick or the guy who's like got everything under control at a frat party?
00:02:02
Speaker
Come on. Come on, bro. You crossed the line. You got to keep the trim happy, though, dude. You can't have Beauregard going around like abusing people. And this is what Trump's doing to other countries and doing, too. The trim is like France and yes China.
00:02:18
Speaker
Well, I've been checked out, dude. I don't even know. What's going You know, I have such a long-term investment plan. I don't even, day to day, i don't even get on it, bro. I've been out in the water surfing with my children for a few days.
00:02:34
Speaker
So, checking out. That's probably wise. Good times? Oh, yeah. That's great, dude. I mean, this... um mean, I talked about so much, but like, I don't know if it's good or bad now, the addiction of surfing.
00:02:46
Speaker
It's like, you really, I really just like anything else that when it's gone well, it's just like, ah, whatever. And, and then I get a text from you that the world's about to end, you know, because of, because of my president and the United States. But, um,
00:03:02
Speaker
but That's very interesting. Like, I don't know if if every, you know, you it was it was not my, okay, I went to a place that's not my scene. was like an all-inclusive place, but it's right in front of this awesome point break thing, and my son doesn't like to surf, could hang out while we're surfing.
00:03:17
Speaker
So you got a lot of gringos there and a lot of people from Europe. And you can tell that, you know, people are on vacation, so they're not, i don't know if they're, like, freaking out about what Trump's doing right now. But I will say, dude, Americans don't look well when they come south.
00:03:32
Speaker
i't know what you guys are doing, but it looks like you came out of solitary confinement. Just like disgustingly pale and like slouched posture issues. Terrible calves. Like the worst calves always. one that And then you got your fucking Tevas on.
00:03:49
Speaker
with like cargo shorts. like Stop with the divas when you go to the beach. yeah But they're stressed people, dude. They're stressed. Yeah. You can see. like you can what Actually, as the week goes on, you can watch them like decompress.
00:04:00
Speaker
But they look so depressed. like When Americans go travel, they look so sad. it's It's so weird. Yeah, there's a phenomenon in our country of like people sadness getting so well yes but getting so stressed prior to a trip when you're in the workforce. like It's like you have to have everything figured out or you'll never be able to enjoy vacation.
00:04:21
Speaker
That's such a sham, like a mental sham. Same with your house too, right? Family, house, every it's like... I cannot go there with one door like left open. or I don't know if that's the U.S. but No, that's that's everywhere. But like all that stress, but they just carry so much.
00:04:36
Speaker
But there also are not like a lot of people out in lawn chairs tanning in the winter in North America. so um wow People look so beaten down by winter. It's crazy. I mean, literally looks like you came out of solitary confinement, but solitary confinement had a dope buffet line.
Trust in U.S. as a Trading Partner
00:04:53
Speaker
that's what That's what Americans look like. You have the pale like you haven't seen light in a long time, but you've been eating well. it's It's so weird. Golden Corral. No light.
00:05:04
Speaker
Oh, boy. i mean, you see it, too, with, like, the Northern European people dressed horribly. Like, Germans got the cargo shorts. and like and then But then I spent the week, like, surfing with, people like, a lot of French people and Argentinian people, and the French people are just, like, got their shit together.
00:05:22
Speaker
But, uh... i still like I know there's a lot going on, but I'm still like, I've got to check out, got to check out. Don't want to get it don't want get wrapped up into what's going on with the tariffs, even though maybe I should because of the business. but I just feel like it's not real.
00:05:38
Speaker
I mean, so you have this idiot, like, doing this tariff stuff, our president, and then you have the market just completely, like, I don't know, kind of trading off and looking for looking for ways to make money. Like, none of it actually matters. Like, there's nothing real behind it. So it's like, right, I'm going to go catch some waves.
00:05:52
Speaker
Yeah. Sorry, dude. It's tough to decipher. Now you got to go for the next half hour. you have to You have to put some thought into this because I don't know.
00:06:04
Speaker
Okay, well, here's what I'll say is we're all going to be the dumpy, frumpy, pale, fat fuck coming to visit Costa Rica if DT continues down this path of chaos.
00:06:17
Speaker
And you're divas. Yeah. We're all going to be that person. Just a dumpy fucking mess. Because for whatever these dipshits think, the world economy is inextricably linked and we all feed off each other, so to speak. so This erraticism, what's going to happen?
00:06:37
Speaker
People stop trusting us because here's this teenager waving his dildo around, his tariff dildo, and they're just like, okay, I'm going look for other opportunities. it's already happening. That's the biggest risk is the U.S. gets isolated in this behavior.
00:06:51
Speaker
Now, yes, yesterday he reversed some shit and stocks went up for a little bit, but then the still people are... coming to terms with ridiculous tariffs on China, which at this point, they're so high that they're almost meaningless because you're essentially just going to shut off trade, which is a huge impact. It's like pissing match though, right?
00:07:09
Speaker
It's a pissing match, but this kind of stuff at this level leads to real war. And so there's just a ton of risk being introduced into the world effectively.
00:07:19
Speaker
By this behavior. And he could have done it strategically, could have done it smartly and gotten certain industries protected. But this is like, again, this is his teenage, drunk, drunk teenager behavior that he's known for. Teenage dream.
00:07:36
Speaker
We're going to get this chaos, not unlike his behavior after COVID. And it'll be a fucking mess, man. So let me ask you this. Since you you you have your pulse on what's going on My first question is, was there a need for any of this?
00:07:49
Speaker
is there Is there a trade imbalance? is there ah is there My perspective is, like, if I buy something from the U.S., like Amazon or something down here, the local government, I don't know why or, like, what it goes to, but slaps a shitload of, like, duties and fees on it where it like, doubles the price.
00:08:09
Speaker
It doesn't seem fair. But i I don't know if that's, like... You know, what do you call that? Your government's fucking you. That's Costa Rican government. But I'm saying is that is that at the base level, is that what Trump is trying to protect the U.S. s from? Because it's like, all right, Costa Rica, you're fucking taking 40 percent on everything that comes from the U.S. Why?
00:08:29
Speaker
Why can't we do that? So instinctually, maybe. what do you think about that, Lance? Okay, I'll hit you. So instinctually, maybe, yes. so And since the 80s, that guy has really had a hard-on for ah tariffs, and he's thought that that that was a way to, like, take... Trump, yeah.
00:08:46
Speaker
Yeah, all the way since the 80s, he was on TV talking about tariffs. And so he thinks they're a really great tool. Now, you can have an argument that they're a great tool for negotiating, but... And this sort of chaos, though, I don't think gets the job done.
00:09:00
Speaker
But yes, in general, if you wanted to keep a country from flooding your economy with cheap goods and putting certain industries out of business, a tariff or a duty are a good way to prevent that.
Effects on U.S. Economy
00:09:13
Speaker
um However... Our economy is 70% consumption and Americans are used to purchasing cheap goods and we have international corporations doing business all over the world.
00:09:26
Speaker
And we are wealthy. We are wealthy because we do design and we do business. complex product development, complex services. And no there's no future where manufacturing of small plastics and little cheap goods is going to come back to the US.
00:09:45
Speaker
So we want emerging economies to do that. We want to purchase those goods for them. And this whole idea that the trade deficit is bad, I don't see it. We buy their goods.
00:09:56
Speaker
They invest the money they get from us back into our economy in many cases. They come here. They go to school here. They buy real estate. They buy U.S. investments.
00:10:07
Speaker
I don't really see where the U.S. is hurting on this. Yes, industries have changed, but manufacturing has changed because of technology more than anything. And there's probably some solid arguments of things we want to protect.
00:10:20
Speaker
Semiconductors, etc., Fine, do that strategically and, you know, maybe push back on China for their cheating and taking IP.
00:10:31
Speaker
This is such a dumb approach. It's a Trumpian moron approach. Right. And then he's, I mean, even if you try to je like, go well, we need this. And then he's on TV going there.
00:10:43
Speaker
They're kissing my ass. It's like it's it's it's kind of ridiculous. Yeah, because now they're like, this is this has been the plan all along. This was what we expected to happen. Now they're all coming to negotiate with me.
00:10:56
Speaker
No, now they've all lost faith in you as a reliable trading partner. Yes, they will placate you in the short term, but every one of these countries, European Union, et cetera, is starting to say, okay, the U.S. is no longer reliable.
00:11:12
Speaker
And so let's start figuring out who else we can diversify with. That will hurt this economy. in the long term manufacturing is not fucking coming back just like your coal plant isn't coming back to west virginia so stop go get trained we are a service-based economy just like the championship's not coming back to the denver nuggets huh exactly you fucking panic you at you fucking put your dildo in mike malone's ass and basically the fan base's face and you're fucked
00:11:45
Speaker
i don't know, this almost sounds stupid to say, but the like the diplomacy, what's the word? Yes. It's kind of, you know, even depending on what you're saying, like he seems to be using it negotiation tool, and I think you're right. There's stuff that probably needs to be addressed, more like some of the IP stuff and maybe labor and stuff in these other places that we're using. But I just i just have a hard... It's like, even if you want to back it and then you hear comments like, these people are lining up to kiss my ass from the President United States, it's like...
00:12:18
Speaker
It's embarrassing. I mean, if you're trying to send a message that's controversial to begin with, like it should be important for the ah still bright most powerful but powerful man in the U.S. to speak eloquently and speak somewhat compassionately and be like, I'm implanting these things because of A, B, and C, and this is...
00:12:36
Speaker
Not just say, ah, you got to come kiss my ass. You're lying up to kiss my ass. like Nobody would say that. But Kennedy, Reagan, nobody would use that. No. No. That's why he's got a dildo in his hand at all times.
00:12:48
Speaker
I mean, I'm just saying, like, from my perspective, i'm not quite as anti-Trump as maybe you and some other people. up But when I hear that shit, it's really hard to be to try to be like, well, I want to i want to hear his side of it. It's like, ah, Jesus Christ.
00:13:01
Speaker
This guy can't get out of his own way, you know? No, but they they couldn't handle the pain that the bond market was causing. bonds were Bond prices were plummeting because yields were going up.
00:13:12
Speaker
Right. It's basically saying the U.S. has gotten more risky. They couldn't handle that. Are you able to, for our listeners, summarize that? Because I think everyone gets caught up in this just following what the headline is like 15%, Dow down 30%.
00:13:27
Speaker
what what's actually happening okay so bonds are a way that organizations or governments raise money
Developing Economies and Global Risk
00:13:35
Speaker
the interest rate on that bond is often driven by the ability of that organization or government to pay it back the interest rates usually fluctuates like yes with with market conditions and stuff like that and yeah internal conditions Yes. And the U.S. has been viewed for decades as the most safe place to park your money in the world.
00:13:56
Speaker
And so our bonds are really a big part of our stability. What the market is saying after Trump has initiated his his nuclear tariff plan was the U.S. is looking a lot more risky um and a lot more unreliable.
00:14:11
Speaker
I mean, that's my interpretation. And so we're going to drive We're going to drive the yield up, which is the amount that government would pay on these bonds. So they have a higher interest rate, which has all sorts of problems economically. It raises mortgage rates. ah It raises that how much the government has to pay to service their debt, which we have a lot of debt, as you know.
00:14:32
Speaker
It's just not a good thing. But the bond market always speaks the truth. That's why they backed up. And where you see the stock market is a little more of a speculative asshole capitalistic. It's just like, this is great. Fluctuation is what we need to trade off of, right? We need that up and down to take a position. But the bond market is more like the reality is X, right?
00:14:51
Speaker
To some extent. Yeah. I mean, I'm not an expert in any of this, but like the stock market is like a future. It's predictions. It's like, look, if you're cutting off trade with countries and making everything more expensive for consumers the future earnings and cash flows of these companies is going to decrease dramatically and so that's what the stock market reacts to and it tries to figure out what the future is going to look and feel like every day it seems and in some of these volatile moments it's insane and so you see these swings that are absolutely asinine and so for anybody that invests in the stock market that's why the recommendation is like if you have stocks that money is for the future don't succumb to the volatility and take it out
00:15:31
Speaker
um That money should be targeted for 5, 10, 15, 20 years later. at Five at a minimum. And then, you know, you use bonds, which typically don't fucking go up and down like they have in the last few days, only because Trump's dildo has been, tariff dildo has been flying around, are the bonds going up and down.
00:15:49
Speaker
So you use those for like a two to five... year time frame of like, okay, if I need the money and then you're in cash. So, so if you're a retiree, I'm sorry, you got bad advice. If you don't have enough cash to sustain yourself for a couple years, if you relied on all that money, you know I get, you're worried that your stocks are falling, but that shit should be, you should have time to recover.
00:16:10
Speaker
In rare cases, does it not recover in those, uh, five, 10, 15, 20 year periods. Well, you just said he used kind of a nuclear option. Do you think the fear is that we can't recover from this?
00:16:23
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's starting to feel that way where people will go, well, and and it's obviously emotion driving it. It's possible to analyze all of the impacts of fear. There's so many second and third order variables and outcomes Like, I don't really, you can't really say, well, what it what will France do if Trump does this? It just becomes like this very what if game, very game theory.
00:16:46
Speaker
You can't really figure it out, but you can say, man, what would happen if the U.S. gets isolated in the world market and people start to partner with each other? You know, and you have a you have a country that you can model this kind of behavior after, Russia.
00:17:00
Speaker
What happens when you get isolated? And as people go, that's some liberal freak getting all psycho about what's happening. But look at what he's done. The tariff rates that he implemented a few days ago, and then he reversed some of it. The effective rate was the highest since the Great Depression.
00:17:17
Speaker
Which that Smoot-Hawley Act, which you referenced a couple weeks ago or maybe last week, that fucking kept us in the depression for a lot longer. What benefit is this having? There's a headline on CNN, red the red rag CNN.
00:17:35
Speaker
I don't look at that. I don't want i don't go to CNN. nine I'm just kidding. but it I'm not kidding. It says White House clarifies tariffs on China are now 145%.
00:17:45
Speaker
What the fuck, dude? So dumb. I just would love, even though I hold some Apple, I would love that to mean that iPhones are now like 4,000 bucks. Well, somebody predicted they would be $9,000 if all else equal if they're produced in the U.S. Because they're about $1,000 now.
00:18:03
Speaker
the hard Yeah, they're already crazy expensive. But the I mean, the hard thing is if all the point of this is balanced trade, balanced manufacturing, and bring manufacturing back to the U.S. is just There's going to be, it has to be a huge wake-up call about the labor rates.
00:18:17
Speaker
And it's just not sustainable probably to do a lot of labor in the U.S. Well, here's what we could do. Sorry to interrupt. but here's what we sorry Besides jacking the price of things, what what else can you do?
00:18:29
Speaker
What is the minimum wage right now, by the way? Depends on the state.
00:18:34
Speaker
Some states are like 20 bucks.
00:18:38
Speaker
Missouri, always lagging Missouri, $13.75 for order. Here's what you could do. You shut off trade of the world and therefore you shut off access to cheaper goods.
00:18:49
Speaker
Eventually, everything we need or want will get produced here. And it will get produced at a much higher cost. And it'll take decades. But then maybe you have a few better jobs here.
00:19:00
Speaker
course, all the goods are are still super expensive. So who knows on a relative basis if better paying job actually would matter. But you could say, one could theorize that maybe more small business gets supported in this equation.
00:19:15
Speaker
People move more towards their local community. They're going to give up certain things. That's going to be that. Now, in the meantime, what happens is you're going to destroy, and I mean destroy wealth,
00:19:27
Speaker
It'll be the biggest wealth destruction destruction in the history of the United States. And we're talking what? How much has he destroyed on the stock market? $10 trillion already? So like multiply that by five. like If people are no longer relying on these these corporate investments.
00:19:43
Speaker
That's a potential, that that would be a positive for me in a sense of like, yeah, so we now have more localized economy, which would be more green in all likelihood. And we'd be supporting people in our local area as opposed to like funneling more and more money to Amazon or whoever, whatever major corporation.
00:20:02
Speaker
Is that going to happen in an idealistic way? No. So he just moves us more to sort of some imbalanced dystopia. I don't see any positive to this. you know People have a hard time with what you just described also because the endless growth model wouldn't because you're, you know, a lot of the reason we're selling overseas is just because people are looking for new growth opportunities, right? Sure. Businesses are trying to profit. Investors are trying to get return.
00:20:27
Speaker
Yeah. So I just don't know what the fuck, dude. That's why I have to make a joke about it. He just seems to enjoy this. Yeah. That's why he's out saying I got people lining up kissing my ass, but, uh,
00:20:39
Speaker
i just don't I just don't know what the point is. I mean, I say bring manufacturing jobs back to the us maybe Maybe there is a trade imbalance, but I don't know what the... It's just a... I think he maybe he feels like or that to get countries negotiate, he has to do this.
00:20:57
Speaker
That's the most positive spin I can think. Maybe I'm just an idiot. Negotiate what, though? I know, but what's the point? Because I can't just hear, oh, it's because he can and he's an egotistical maniac.
00:21:12
Speaker
I feel like there's heat in his head or his cabinet's head. There's a point to this, but i don't know what it everybody in the world is telling him it's stupid. you know that? What do you think his point is? I can't figure it out. The trajectory of economies is such that you will probably, as you're developing and emerging, be more of an exporter because your labor is super cheap and you can create cheap products.
00:21:35
Speaker
that wealthier countries would buy. So that in essence is what happened to China. Now China's get growing more developed and so they wanna start moving away from exports. So this actually, this whole game might be good for them, might make their country more resilient and more advanced.
00:21:52
Speaker
But then and manufacturing starts moving to other countries like Cambodia and Vietnam. And that's the hope, right? That the we're funneling money to them and we get the goods we want cheap and their economy grows and get stronger and they become more advanced. And then maybe we shift manufacturing, moves over to Africa. And now the whole world is a part of this world trade ah agreement starts to improve and maybe get more economically secure and more stable.
00:22:21
Speaker
And that works. That works. The U.S. should not want to go back and manufacture cheap goods. There is an argument to say buy American in certain instances. And there is an argument to have certain critical goods in our country that we can have access to and in case we get into conflict.
00:22:39
Speaker
But dude, there's no going back. That would be not in our best interest. Do you want to be manufacturing plastic coat hangers? Well, who wants that job? It's the same argument with immigrants coming over here.
00:22:51
Speaker
Tell me one guy you know that you went to college with that says, you know, really like to pick blueberries. This is fucking stupid. I would love that. You know one guy? You. You'd be fucking exhausted. Your back, when' you just couldn't handle it. You're too much of a white pussy.
00:23:05
Speaker
None of us could. Our backs would fucking be dude full. Don't say that. That hurts. I'm just kidding. I mean, I just don't. People will like, that's a peasant's job. like, that's better than the fucking the other shit people are doing.
00:23:18
Speaker
Oh, yeah, it's better in an influencer. But um influencer, so funny. I just got to tune it out, I think. i Well, but this is what we talked about last week is I wanted to see suffering.
00:23:31
Speaker
And I loved here's what loved, that the billionaires felt that supported Trump felt like they needed to come out and speak out about how terror, how destructive this tariff plan was.
00:23:42
Speaker
I love that they had to like contemplate that and then backtrack on their support for Donald Trump's actions. Because everybody thought, oh, that's just Donald threatening things. He's not going to follow through. And I love that you're actually getting to see how erratic, how chaotic this person is.
00:23:59
Speaker
This is not a leader. I challenge anyone to say truthfully that they would work for this guy in any context. Just kneel on. Like, yeah, that's ah that's a guy that I would admire as a boss in my company or in anything that I actually had in. imagine working for him?
00:24:17
Speaker
He just walks in the office like at whatever he rolls in. It's just like, oh, by the way, change your process. we have ah If these people buy shit from us, charge of an extra 200%. do still What?
00:24:30
Speaker
Yeah. and so I'm surprised that the president, I'm always telling people down here, like the president doesn't really have that much power. Like we think, think he does cause there's a vote, but I'm like, how is this not, not a votable thing?
00:24:42
Speaker
These like fat, like international tariffs. How does that not roll through? Like, you know, you need like Senate majority or house majority or like, how does that happen? Like, why is he the starting point? Not the end point, like the executive branch.
00:24:54
Speaker
It's kind of weird. Oh, the the Congress can take over tariff ah policy. Just in general, I think, I don't know if, I think it's like a tacit agreement for presidents to be able to make tariff policy.
00:25:09
Speaker
ah If the Congress feels that it's unwarranted or out of control, they can take it back. i So I don't know exactly the mechanics of that, but that's... You think that'll happen? Yeah.
00:25:21
Speaker
and It was getting close, I think, in terms of the rumblings until he reversed course on a lot of other countries. I think the biggest concern for those people, even if they're Republican and they did support Trump, is that year you're punishing your allies. So now it's like, who's so like why would you do that?
00:25:40
Speaker
It just, that's the part that's confounding. I get you want to go after an adversary like China and hold them accountable, but like, why are you punishing allies? It just doesn't doesn' make any sense. So this is some egghead shit, but at the end of the day, we're getting fucked. He was pretty adamant and he campaigned hard on that he could end the Ukrainian-Russian conflict or war. war depending on how you look at it, like within like two days, that hasn't happened. It's actually like push things, but made things worse. And I'm wondering some of this stuff is just, you know, so this is in the public eyes. as All people are talking about right now and he can quickly stop them as he did. And I'm wondering if it's just kind of like, wow, we'll just let, let these idiot Americans like think about this, why I fail in other areas or do other shit or to take the heat off of what Elon Musk is doing.
00:26:31
Speaker
And so you're like, here, look at this, look at this shiny object over here, fucked up tariffs. And meanwhile, I'm failing on the war front. Elon Musk is a clown that nobody wants to look at anymore. And as' I think it's a little bit as a sort of some sort of like showmanship to to keep people occupied, which is not abnormal in politics.
00:26:49
Speaker
and And also with kind of the current state, the way news rolls out, it's just like, what's what's the latest headline? So. Yeah, but there's no comparison. ah You can't tell me a president or any leader in any organization that introduces chaos at this pace. Well, no, yeah, that's but that's obvious. But that's what people like. That's people are like addicted to.
Trump's Unpredictable Policies
00:27:10
Speaker
Right, and that's why I say let's let the suffering begin. Let's go back to last week's episode. Let the suffering begin because you guys need to get ah a taste. Like, I think fine. Especially the billionaires.
00:27:21
Speaker
You guys, I just want you to be fucked. I want you to really fucked. They can't be fucked. They're not going to be fucked. Well, but I want them to be whining. i just ah it's ah it's It's a sad instinct on my own part, but like this dude is so stupid.
00:27:36
Speaker
He's so stupid in terms of his decision making. He doesn't really care. i don't think he really cares. I think the guy's worried about cementing his legacy, but he's about to be like Herbert Hoover who started the fucking Great Depression or whatever. That's where we're, here I mean, that's exactly where we could head with this type of insanity.
00:27:53
Speaker
It doesn't take it honestly the sound this will sound like hyperbole or sound like panic. It doesn't take much to suck the optimism out of people.
00:28:06
Speaker
I'm wondering if how quickly you start to see like unemployment go our people start going out we're cutting this business segment out or you know I wonder when that starts to happen because that's like Maybe people like me or people that are like, whatever life goes on, that might start to feel it a little more.
00:28:22
Speaker
That's like there's got to be a time where people go, oh, wait a minute. This isn't like this isn't just some clown, some orange clown. This is like actually starting to affect people at the ground level because the terrorists aren't like.
00:28:35
Speaker
tangible to most people. Like the 145% to China, what the fuck does that mean to me? I don't know. I mean, even think about my small business, like I'm buying these brackets from China, they're like a buck 75 a piece.
00:28:46
Speaker
I'm almost like, go you can make the tariff a thousand. I don't fucking care. It's going to make something that's three bucks, like 10 bucks. But that's why I say like an iPhone or something, if it might hurt more. But I would pass that 10 bucks along to you. Maybe I'll get less sales or maybe just the end user has to pay more.
00:29:02
Speaker
But like what what happens where people people that are either believers or like me, they're kind of like there's some apathy where it's like, oh, whatever. It's just grandstanding. Is it jobs? Like what happens? Is it like a fentanyl epidemic? Like what happens that people start to freak violence?
00:29:18
Speaker
No. it' now I mean, this whole capitalistic economy and the whole world economy is built on how you feel confidence in what you're going to see and already of seeing as a a decrease. And you see it in the bond market, which is a mechanical way to reflect it.
00:29:38
Speaker
You see decreasing confidence across the world, in business and commerce and even our money like our our money is built on a trust and a confidence you know even when you invest or when i invest it's a vote of confidence on behalf of society in america it's like i believe in that businesses will be successful and i and if you start to not believe that right like when there's a war when there's some crazy shit like this that's when shit goes down and people suffer that's where we're at man based on one dude waving his dildo around
00:30:13
Speaker
What would take a MAGA person off a sucking Trump's dick? Nothing. They're always clamping down on that cock, bro, no matter what he does. So, yeah.
00:30:24
Speaker
You could line up some white trash kids of a family in a mobile home park. Trump comes and he fucking hangs all the kids in front of the guy and he's just saying, well, you know, he's a brilliant businessman. He's a brilliant man.
00:30:36
Speaker
Kills all the kids. MAGA for life. Imagine if Obama did anything that Trump was doing right now. Civil War. yeah I mean, yeah.
00:30:48
Speaker
Civil War. If he was going into red states and accusing people of being white supremacists and shipping them off to, let's say, Siberian Russian prison or something equivalent, civil war.
00:31:04
Speaker
If he came out and destroyed our economy single-handedly by attacking all of our trading partners, civil war. I mean, I'm not even exaggerating. Like,
00:31:16
Speaker
What this guy is being allowed to get away with is so fucking insane. got you've Got you pissed off, dude.
00:31:25
Speaker
Well, I'm not i'm not even pissed anymore. I'm just perplexed. like There's this talk about Trump derangement syndrome, like, oh, that people who are anti or are are confounded by his decisions have derangement syndrome, like they're overly sensitive to what he's doing.
00:31:41
Speaker
Well, i think I think that probably was true for some stuff. This this whole thing seems like historically, like ah it seems different. you know People that are consumed by the way, even what I just said, but the way he talks, the way he delivers a message, the way he can like sort of pour salt in the wound, is it' some people are obsessed with that, or it's like, you're just goingnna have to get over it's way it way he talks.
00:32:05
Speaker
this Yeah, but I'm just saying that's probably what that is, what that refers to. But this is like, there's probably legitimate worry. Yeah, I won't be surprised if we're not in a war of some sort here in the next year.
00:32:19
Speaker
But I want, but that's why, and i mean, I don't like, and maybe I need to do more research, but that's why I'm asking like, what is what is their, what is his point with this? Like, and maybe he needs to actually say what the point is.
00:32:34
Speaker
That has he said that? Is it just, I haven't seen it? Yeah, I mean, he said variants of it. like But suppose his point is to bring country. we've been being It's been unfair trade practices and the U.S. is getting robbed, whatever.
00:32:48
Speaker
Let's say you had that perspective. You had that perspective. You're going to bring people to the negotiation table. But now you've humiliated them on the world stage and you've blindsided them.
00:33:00
Speaker
And I just know human beings, right? When there's too much hubris, when there's too much... king-like behavior people resisted what seems weird to me this policy is like all right if you if the real like battles with china so what i feel like like if you take the automobile industry is like when costa rican's ticos are gonna buy a car and right now it feels like by i know he pulled it but if they have put a 10 tariff on everything coming from costa rica i don't know if costa rica plans on reacting but if they do eventually they probably would or somebody would
00:33:36
Speaker
and then you put it on and then they put a tariff on like cars coming in. It's not going to like force Costa Rica, Costa Ricans to do anything but purchase more shit from China. And China has more flexibility. Like the way their system is set up, they can immediately just drop their pants and make things like zero. they They can make prices like zero because all the commodities are controlled by the government.
00:33:56
Speaker
And then, yeah, so Yeah, which and may not always be good for Costa Rica in that case, but depend but they don't make cars in Costa Rica, correct? No, that's that's where I go. oh like I don't know if it's just going to be like, oh, we're gonna source like they can just source things locally or they're not going to buy U.S. I think that the issue is not that they won't buy U.S. It's that they'll just be like, all right, going buy more shit from China.
00:34:18
Speaker
And China will take advantage of... like uh this it's like all right we got them good they're probably sending out messages that get it from us we'll we'll lower our tariffs right now you know like to everywhere so they're doing it yeah that's what's happening the tactic seems weird to do both attack china and attack the other people it seems like you would attack china and tell everyone else the u.s is on like a tariff uh like vacation or something Well, no, you would. ah Yeah, you would go after what your biggest concern is and then to the rest of the world say we're open for business.
00:34:52
Speaker
Yeah, we'll match China. We'll match you. ah China um will beat them by 5 percent on any tariff or something. Yeah. And you know what? You we buy a lot of your European cars. they're nice, high quality cars, but we want to continue to expand our technology services.
00:35:06
Speaker
in block of countries. So that that's all rational thinking. We have moved so far from rational. What I don't understand is who can still sit on the sidelines and go, oh, okay, I see what he's trying to do.
00:35:20
Speaker
There's all this pontification and analysis on what this guy is thinking. And I don't think there is any thinking. I think there's just a drunk teenager who enjoys chaos and enjoys being ah the primary headline every single day of every single week that he can't resist.
00:35:38
Speaker
But are we doing him a service? Is he like, oh, you you idiots are talking about me. So it's working. Maybe, but I think we're seeing sort of, I don't know if there's a ah parallel in history of like a king that was insane, like a king of a country that was insane and everybody just had to deal with it.
00:35:57
Speaker
I feel like un of them we just have to watch him. And that's why I use the dildo comment, because there's something so absurd that I'm like, this guy, I don't i don't think he cares anymore. It could be... As long as he's front and center and feels like he's in control and almighty powerful, I think he's happy.
00:36:14
Speaker
And that's what drives him. Not any sort of deep analysis about how to make this country better. So like analyzing Trump at this point, it's really a waste of time. The thought that there are people like Lauren Bobart who are trying to figure out how to get Trump a third term and he's talking about and analyzing, having people analyze how he can get a third term.
00:36:34
Speaker
These are things that if Obama were doing that or any other president. Actually, that's a good point. If if that happened, if he approved the third term, Obama probably could win pretty easily, think?
00:36:47
Speaker
Like you they'd have to open it up and then Obama could run. I think they would strategize in a way that... Have to be like incumbent or something. He would be a vice president for J.D. Vance, and then J.D. Vance would step down.
00:37:02
Speaker
Yeah, he's he's already said that as a way to do it, right? Yeah. So then I guess Obama could be vice president for his wife. People would be happy about that. But you know when did America get so chaotic since this guy was introduced into our lives?
00:37:19
Speaker
That's all i'll say, man. And and and like the terrorists are so emblematic of the chaos. i think that's I think that might be a story. I think it's been chaotic for a while. i mean, I remember that real hatred and just sort of like divisive politics when Bush was in office.
00:37:36
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe it's because I was old enough to care, but it started to get a little crazy with with Clinton. Like when Clinton, the economy is doing well and things were doing well, like he was under attack and he brought a lot of it upon himself with his actions.
00:37:48
Speaker
But nowhere near this scale. Yeah, but the Bush-Cheney thing, people were like those like really got into like how evil those people were. So I love the balancing act of like, if you say you call out Trump's erraticism and his chaos chaotic nature and how psycho he is, then people try to like, well, Joe Biden was asleep at the wheel.
00:38:11
Speaker
And it's like they've got to figure out something equivalently ah disastrous. And that it's such a stretch. I think even ah normal people such as ourselves try to do it now. It's almost like an instinctual thing of like, yeah, but the left is a little crazy too.
00:38:27
Speaker
It's starting to get tiring. I just can't believe you're still engaged with it I don't even know how you how you stay engaged. I stay engaged because I think that, like I said last week, the risks have gotten more real.
00:38:40
Speaker
Buy some cattle, bro. you got i would I would go mode. You know, we sit here, a lot of us will sit here and we'll rant and we'll talk about the world and we'll like compare Trump to Hitler or whatever in the first term and do all kinds of crazy shit. And and it's sort of like a game. It's like a intellectual game.
U.S. Global Influence
00:38:59
Speaker
And now with some of the things that he's doing, including ignoring the rule of law and ignoring sort of like the foundation of the U.S. Constitution, of separate branches of government, rounding people up without due process and sending them to other countries, attacking our universities.
00:39:17
Speaker
and you keep i can keep going. Trump's now trying to enter the Rhineland. there's There's so much absurdity. It seems risky to the future of this country. Sometimes I'll sit back and rant and be like, if I can't.
00:39:30
Speaker
But no, no, this is like some serious risk. I do think you've increased the risk of ah of a armed conflict with at least China. Armed conflicts aren't what they were in the 1930s and 40s now either.
00:39:43
Speaker
The technology has made it like pretty high risk. The technology made it higher risk in terms of like the the weaponry, but you still need- Possibility for destruction. If you're going to take territory or you're going to do something like that, you still need troops. You need humans going over there to control the situation. I mean, you so so this this would be stuff that would be like, oh, I'd sit there and pontificate about, but now there's actually like a decent enough worry.
00:40:12
Speaker
And that's why I challenge you of like, oh, you're going to check out, but like, do you think at this this point, Should you? Is it not? Maybe Costa Rica insulates you from any of that fear. And Costa Rica, who knows if they would ever be involved or what the impact would be if the world were to get more chaotic. Would Central American countries seek to take advantage of Costa Rica somehow or other countries around? I mean, I don't really know what the risk is there.
00:40:39
Speaker
But the U.S. is ah is a feels like a failing power. Yeah, I don't... How it affect this place? I mean, they we align with the U.S. here a lot, but...
00:40:49
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, there's there's a there's always been the threat of Nicaragua and Venezuela that are they are are places in this neighborhood, so to speak, that are aligned with our our enemies in the US, but it's all fucking kind of gray right now.
00:41:03
Speaker
Like you said, Nicaragua always aligned with the Soviet Union or Russia. It's like, well, our presidency actually aligns with them too now. So I don't know. so i don't i don't know What would be the things that would cause you to wanna move out of where you are, take the kids and go somewhere else?
00:41:21
Speaker
What things would happen in your country that would make you do that? and And I only say that, I say that with total sincerity now because of things that I feel like are happening in the world. I think it's a reasonable thing to actually assess now.
00:41:34
Speaker
I have a hard time, like i'm I'm just literally assessing it for myself, not like, cause I'm like, ah, you know what? Your kids aren't that young. You don't have anything Costa Rica once you don't have your kids.
00:41:45
Speaker
Like, um mean and I mean, I say that sounds terrible. Like I have friends and whatever, and they in there it's good that my kids here are close to their mom, my wife and their grandma and whatever. But but yeah, I'm like, I could have pretty much like pretty flexible after after they're done with their school here right now. Like we're really happy with their school.
00:42:08
Speaker
The fact that they're not in that fucked up US education system is nice. Yeah, so the so what things that people worry about in Central America, a lot of security related to like, and a lot of it's just narco, it's corruption and narco presence that people start to worry about.
00:42:24
Speaker
And um so there's that, like if this place just became extremely dangerous, although I have a hard time deciphering reality from from people's fears, there's lot of fear here. And so I'm like, is this place becoming unsafe? I don't know.
00:42:39
Speaker
but But I think if... there was a massive world restructuring and and then someone like China or Russia or someone else just decided we need a presence in so and Central America.
00:42:49
Speaker
cost Rica doesn't have a military. We could take the canal. We could take like that area and control, like have a Western hemisphere presence. Obviously that would scare the fuck out of me. Mm-hmm.
00:43:00
Speaker
I mean, that seems crazy, but what you're saying is that that craziness could become a reality with what's happening. Like those kind of like major world shifts, you know? Yeah, the unthinkable yeah unthinkable is possible now. That's what I'm feeling.
00:43:14
Speaker
Right. Or like I just think one of the things, because and I got to do this, dude, because it's been an hour of of real serious shit. So some of the stuff that's happening, like people shopping at like $10,
00:43:29
Speaker
Costco and some of the processed foods, it's like making a lot of the trim down here, like overweight and almost like unbearable to look at And you're in a warm climate, so you're seeing a lot of people bathing suits and stuff.
00:43:40
Speaker
And I'll bounce, dude. If all the trim gets, it like all the sevens, eights, and nines in Costa Rica, drop down to like three, four, fives.
00:43:51
Speaker
I'll bounce, dude. Like, I need good cave, dude.
00:44:01
Speaker
All right. Whew. Had to do it. Had to do it. Like, what what, I mean, but what would, is is the is is a Western Hemisphere security at risk in our our lifetime?
00:44:12
Speaker
And I think we all feel like no. But like, Costa Rica in many ways, not to offend Costa Ricans, is kind of extension of the U.S. right now because it's an ally of the U.S. And you have the canal close by, so U.S. is always like, there's some presence in this part of the world. Like, uh,
00:44:31
Speaker
I'm yeah, like what would happen like maybe like the other thing what happened is like Actually, maybe this is a fear in the US. There's always a like a kind of cyclical and so now we push far right and and like more conservative more just like fuck the woke and fuck It's funny that actually the rights using taxation is what they what they've been rallying against since Reagan is like lower taxes forever and now they're using taxation as a weapon Uh, but if, if this place just went far, far left, like, like real far left, like dictatorship left or when like fascist, right.
00:45:05
Speaker
I would, I would want to leave. Like, those are two things. Like if that happened and and maybe as an anti-Trump, this place could go. Cause it's like far, I don't mean far left, like in a good way where it's like, ah, more, more thinking about social concerns. Marxist left. Yeah.
00:45:19
Speaker
Dictator left. like, ah, that would scare me. But that could happen here. People could, because people lean left here, they could go real far left. or you could go like far right, like fascist right, like Mussolini right, or like, you know, like Nicaragua is basically under a dictatorship that like, any sort of like commentary against the regime is like faced with force internally in jail time.
00:45:44
Speaker
And, you know, that might happen here. And that would, if I could escape, I'd probably want to get away from that. Yeah, you'll probably be too late, but... That's when I go John Rambo on this bitch, dude.
00:45:59
Speaker
And... you gotta You gotta make it to the port. You gotta make it to, like, a shrimp boat and get the fuck out. Yeah, right. and gotta get out. Oh, man.
00:46:10
Speaker
Yeah, but the some of the tactics... Where would you go, dude? Where would you go? I don't really know. Some of the tactics ICE is using... And some of the people they're detaining as they go in and out of
Potential Safe Havens Amid Chaos
00:46:23
Speaker
the U.S. border, it's pretty it's changed dramatically, let's say, in a concerning way. Where's a safe safe haven in the world it's kind of what – I mean, I would say I might be in one.
00:46:36
Speaker
ah A little bit. Yeah, they would ignore. I think a lot of countries would ignore ah place like Costa Rica for a long time. I think your major risk is you'd be susceptible to local chaos, Nicaragua, other places coming in as ah world powers are distracted.
00:46:54
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of people here that are... it's I mean, you have the same stuff happening here. We have a president that actually like has a lot of the public public people support it, but there's a lot of people that like,
00:47:06
Speaker
This guy is insane. Like the security is getting worse. He speaks like an idiot. He's crazy. And a lot of people are like, including like my, my friend, you know, I won't say their names case, case there's a witch hunt going on, but like,
00:47:20
Speaker
Yeah, I kind of ask those people, why do you think the why do you think people are supporting this guy? and so It's like a mystery. like why people it's like these It doesn't matter what the message is. is like If people can rally behind it, like immigration in the U.S., whether it affects them or not, people are like, yeah, that's right.
00:47:37
Speaker
Those people are screwing us. It's like people rally behind the message. Yeah. but um Yeah. I don't know if there's, I don't know. I think over time that other countries, if this were to continue to deteriorate, aren't going to be very interested in taking Americans in, not only because it would be a risk politically to them, but also just like, why do you want like to associate with them? I don't i don't see that happening ever.
00:48:05
Speaker
Really? People talk shit all the time about Americans, but it's like, come on down. You don't think if Trump is the catalyst for complete world chaos. I just don't see people denying Americans access to their so their're countries But you don't think they would resent? i I bet you it's already happening in Europe and Canada. If you're coming through, if you were wearing like an American T-shirt or some shit or something that would identify as American, I bet you it's happening at a higher level than it used to already.
00:48:39
Speaker
But I don't know. You're right. I don't really know. But I would say maybe New Zealand or Australia is a potential. Yeah, at least geographically you're kind of protected from like from my being in the the center of it all.
00:48:52
Speaker
But again, how many people would flood in that direction and ah what would you have to buy your way in? so Maybe Western Australia, Perth is my home. It's a surfing mecca. It's like one of the true surfing meccas in the world. It's geographically, it's not even like close to Australia. for great like You have to go across the whole continental mainland i'll Australia you to get there.
00:49:14
Speaker
and And race racially speaking, it's very isolated. You know what I haven't seen? i haven't seen good or bad down there. Caves.
00:49:28
Speaker
Actually, I have. It's an interesting look. It's interesting look. But, i yeah, I'm going to Western Australia. Next episode. bro