Alright, buckle up, because we’re diving headfirst into a whirlwind of thoughts and rants about tariffs and history’s stubborn repetitiveness. So, here it goes.
You know, reading Veronique de Rugy’s piece about Trump’s tariffs felt like déjà vu. It’s like we’re stuck in a loop, repeating the Smoot-Hawley disaster of the 1930s. History, man. We just never learn, do we? I mean, tariffs are like a bad song — you think it’s over, but nope, it’s back on repeat. Other countries are watching and they’re like, “Oh, you wanna play games? Two can tango.”
What she didn’t mention, and here’s where it gets spicy, is that over a thousand — yeah, a THOUSAND — economists tried to warn ol’ Hoover. They basically waved giant red flags screaming, “Don’t do it, dude!” Even Henry Ford, yeah that Ford, trekked down to the White House and called the bill pure “economic stupidity.” Imagine that. J.P. Morgan’s big guy, Thomas Lamont, was practically begging Hoover. Like, on his knees, the whole nine yards.
And yet, Hoover was like, “Nah, gotta stick with the party, you know how it is.” So he signed it. Boom! Other countries clapped back with their own tariffs, and next thing you know, a simple recession morphs into the Great Depression. The very folks these tariffs aimed to protect ended up in a bigger mess. Ring any bells today?
Anyway, thanks for riding along this rollercoaster of thoughts. Til next time, yeah?
