With gas approaching a level not seen this summer since the foreboding summer of 2008 .... over $4.00 per gallon and combined with Trump's self aggrandizing tariff moves the economy looks to be headed for some pretty bumpy times ahead.... times not seen since the last GOP regime in the Whitehouse.... "Increased costs for businesses that use steel and aluminum will put pressure on profits and force those companies to cut costs. Some of the necessary cost cutting is likely to come from the workforce, leading to layoffs. Joseph Francois and Laura M. Baughman, economists at consulting group The Trade Partnership, found in a recent study that the number of jobs lost in industries that rely on steel and aluminum to produce goods would far outweigh the jobs protected in the metals industry. "The tariffs and retaliation would increase U.S. steel employment and non-ferrous metals (primarily aluminum) employment by 26,346 jobs, but cost a net of 495,136 jobs throughout the rest of the economy, for a total net loss of nearly 470,000 jobs," the study said."
I bought gas in Fla. 2 weeks ago for 2.79. Is it $4.00 now? Funny thing about a free market system and the law of supply and demand as th e economy improves unemployment goes down. As more people work the number of commuters goes up and the demand for das goes up. As employment and wages increase more goods are made and sold. There is a shortage of truck drivers as the demand for fuel goes up. More people can afford vacations by car and plane. Yep, the demand for fuel rises. The rise in gas is an outgrowth of a booming economy. In contrast to the Obama administration, the Trump administration is encouraging increased energy by removing restrictions on drilling and approving pipelines such as the Keystone pipeline. As to the tariffs it’s a matter of national security. The past administration actually approved the sale of 30% of our uranium production to Russian owned companies. They gave hundreds of millions in cash to Iran helping them support terrorists in places like Syria and Yamen. The Trump administration recognizes a real threat to our military when the principle construction materials for ships, armor, and war planes are produced in foreign countries such as Red China. Did The Trade Partnership determine how many jobs would be lost if our military had no weapons?
Price of gas starting to drop now, Saudi and Russia are going ramp up their production. For me here in Houston, I'd like to see the return of 3$ or more gas, business would start booming again.
The boating industry is taking a huge hit over these tariffs. Buyers in Europe and Canada are cancelling orders..... one of which was a 65 foot 4 million dollar plus Bertram being built at the plant here in Tampa. Other big boat manufacturers are taking big reductions in sales as well such as Sea Ray which is shutting down it's big boat division and Carver Marquis. One boat builder is shutting down it's US plant and moving it's factory and jobs to Mexico.
Well with the price of gas going down I guess you have to complain about yachts. So Dave, do you think it's in the country's best interest to let China steal our intellectual property and buy American companies for their technical secrets?
It will be interesting to see how the Trump voting base such as the line worker in the boat building plant is further propagandized by the GOP and it's media machinery like Fox News in the next election to the point of not caring that Trump tariffs and other hostile actions cost him his job. In the last election Trump won out over "evil".... much the same as W won out over the BJ in 2000.... although neither won the popular vote strangely enough. I'm sure the GOP is cooking up some kind of Third Reich style mania to persuade the masses to continue to hate all else but what they are fed by the GOP.
Spoken from the side that hates, Evangelicals, gun owners, police, corporations, the military, and anyone that has a high office in this administration. Look in the mirror Dave, that's where the hate is.
Gipper, I fished Tampa Bay on Friday in several different spots and we caught a wide variety of fish in crystal clear water and we saw three cobia right by I-275 and in view of the Tampa downtown skyline. Growing up in Florida in the 60s and 70s all I heard was how polluted and useless Tampa Bay was. Trump feels that he has no use for the Dept. of Interior and the EPA or any of those responsible for making Tampa Bay and even the Detroit River and Lake Erie usable recreational resources. Yes..... I very much hate his type of thinking and his authoritarian way of dealing with any issue.
First of all it was Republican Nixon who pushed for and created the EPA not one of your caring Democratic presidents. Second, it didn't take long for the EPA to get out of control especially under the past administration. https://marcellusdrilling.com/2017/06/fixing-the-nearly-unfixable-epa-abuses-collusion-coverups/
Dave, Come on down my way to Hobe Sound -Jupiter - Stuart and check our water quality out. They have been dumping the world's largest port-a-john, Lake Okeechobee again. The St.Lucie river and Indian River estuary are now coffee brown and getting the look of French onion soup with algae crusts expanding daily. Water is brown coming out of the inlet for 4 miles off shore. All swimming banned in the rivers and beaches from Jensen Beach to Jupiter. I am heading down Saturday. Will probably head to the Keys next week in search of clean water. EPA? What's that?
I'll be in Jupiter myself this weekend George hoping to find some clean water offshore to catch a few muttons and other species. I know that Lake O dumping is always a huge problem for that area.... Do you feel that Donald Trump is the guy who will address this issue? Maybe the next GOP governor of Florida? Does the GOP of today give two shits about the environment? Ronald Reagan was a reasonable guy who cared. His party today bears no resemblance to the man.
For what it’s worth the stagnant algae infested waters are getting very old but I’ll speak for the small towns that don’t have a voice such as TV networks or large populations. First is the professional guides I call friends on Okeechobee are suffering the same fate the coastal folks are, they just experience it first. The emphasis has been and still is to somehow stop the water releases of Okeechobee into the rivers that dump both East and West. What is easily ignored because of the emotions and rhetoric is the Lake is experiencing this first, tourism, fishing etc is in the gutter because of the algae blooms. What is never mentioned is why Lake O gets in such condition to cause this. For some reason maybe politics it’s not said how the headwaters to Okeechobee starts in the Orlando/Kissimmee area and flows south down the Kissimmee river into Lake O. This accumulation of runoff water from more golf courses than the eye can behold and thousands of septic tanks leaching into the Kissimmee river as it flows south. Instead of singling out a by product of the condition maybe its time to consider the source... I receive both Ft. Myers news and Tampa and it’s amazing how Tampa rarely reports on the issue but in the Ft. Myers news its 50% of what the news cycle is. Observing this phenomenon over the years I’ve noticed how in the heart of drought season months away from a Lake O water release red tide is being reported in Southwest Florida. How is this possible if the water runoff is the culprit? Also over 25 years I’ve noticed that the Southwest coast who gets a good portion of their drinking water from the river which flows from Okeechobee will bitch and moan over the low river levels in our normal droughts. Send more water we are experiencing increased salt levels from the Gulf they cry and thirty days later they are holding news conferences on stopping Lake O water releases... Either way I would love to see a fix and all parties happy but between our bulging population and time it will take to fix the situation it will haunt us for some time...
Yessiree! GDP 3.5% Gas cheap unemployment low. This fits the definition of a "bumpy economy" to the left. People are working, people have more money, they don't need the government to live their lives....how bumpy can it get?