People always complain about polls they don't like. But as I posted. Rasmussen was closest in '16 election. And if he had a bias Obama would have been nowhere near 62 when he left office. That is very high for a guy ending his second term. People are typically sick of them by then.

More rats deserting the ship of fools. Hope Hicks bailing. Blue dress and all.

Keep dreaming Alice

The GOP's Tax-Cut Narrative Is Already Unraveling

The law’s role in boosting wages was overblown. Its deficits are scaring investors. And fears that it might accelerate inflation could push the Federal Reserve to choke off growth.

The big Republican tax cut isn’t even three months old yet. But it’s already confounding.

For months, critics (like me) predicted that the new law would be a handout for large corporations, which would drive up their stock prices and enrich wealthy investors. Instead, the stock market has been a riot of volatility since Trump signed the tax cut into law. Many (myself included) predicted that companies wouldn’t pass on their fresh lucre to workers. Instead, several big firms celebrated the new law by publicly announcing a parade of bonuses and raises for workers. On top of that, wage growth in January accelerated to its highest level since the recession. The critics predicted rising stocks and flat wages. But reality seemed to deliver flat stocks and rising wages.

But, wait, maybe that narrative has got it all wrong. The most basic criticism of the GOP’s tax cut was that the boons for corporations and their shareholders would far outweigh the benefits for ordinary workers. That’s exactly what seems to be happening. Stock buybacks announced between January 1st and February 15th reached historically high levels, totaling about $170 billion in that period. That’s 28 times larger than the total value of end-of-year bonuses that were credited to the corporate tax bill—some of which had been announced months earlier and had nothing to do with the tax cuts. Companies might be advertising new bonuses. But they’re quietly reaping the benefits of higher profits.

There is, as well, a third possibility: The corporate tax cut might actually endanger Wall Street’s winning streak. When the Dow Jones plummeted by more than 1,000 points twice within a week in February, many analysts interpreted the flight from equities as a sign of fear—fear of inflation, fear of deficits, and fear of expedited rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Where did that sudden fear come from? Some analysts point to the corporate tax bill, which injects hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy, buoying inflation, raising the deficit, and encouraging the Federal Reserve to raise rates accordingly. Just yesterday, stocks fell and the dollar rose after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the tax cut should boost consumer spending and increase productivity by making businesses invest in more technology.

In sum, the GOP tax cut is raising wages (except it isn’t); it’s good for stocks (except the market has been a nauseous mess all year); and it’s poised to grow the economy—so much so that the Fed is determined to choke off inflation and discourage more business investment, which will hurt economic growth.

If this is beginning to sound confusing, perhaps that’s because, well, it is confusing. Nothing like this has happened before—a massive, deficit-busting tax cut on capital during a period of steady growth and nearly full employment.

Economic historians can’t easily predict what’s going to happen because big rich countries practically never do what Republicans just did. The closest parallel in modern American history may be the early 1980s. Facing a deep recession in the midst of the Cold War, Ronald Reagan and the GOP slashed taxes and expanded military spending. When the economy recovered, the deficit bloomed and domestic spending increased. As the dollar strengthened, Americans bought more foreign goods than domestic goods. This created what the economist Martin Feldstein called the “twin deficits”—the budget deficit grew, of course, but so did the trade deficit.

Could that happen again? Maybe. But there is another possibility. Since the Republican tax cut effectively lowers the price of capital but not labor, it encourages large companies to invest in more buildings and technology. That could boost productivity growth, since a fixed number of workers plus a rising stock of capital should theoretically improve per-worker output.

It all adds up to this: The GOP law was always an enduring corporate tax cut advertised as fast middle-class tax relief. But because it represents a novel fiscal experiment, it’s not entirely clear what the short-term or long-term implications of the plan will be. If I wrote, “The GOP tax cut is essentially a discount coupon for technology that will raise corporate profits at the expense of labor in the long run,” I’d be telling a reasonable story. If I wrote, “The GOP tax cut is an inflation machine that will raise the price of goods and labor and encourage the Fed to raise rates accordingly, thus punishing corporate profits,” I’d also be telling a reasonable story.

Critics weren’t wrong in 2017 to say that the tax cut would exacerbate inequality, helping rich investors at the expense of workers. But the Republican tax plan is a radical and unprecedented experiment in fiscal policy, and time tends to make a mockery of certainty.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/ar ... ve/554504/

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Rachel Maddow's "Trump Administration Departures" list keep rolling on. If I counted right from the TV screen, the list is approaching the 50 departure mark. 50 departures in a little more than a year. The white house is being sanitized. Need Drano for the swamp.

Looks like trump is jumping the NRA ship and boarding the anti- assault gun train.

Gotta get the ratings up!

The mid terms are just around the corner and the GOP could use a positive boost after getting their butts kicked in the special elections.

A bunch of seats are getting flipped. Must be up to 50 or so by now.

Walmart and Dick's sporting goods just raised the minimum age to buy guns and cartridges to 21. NRA has to love that one. There's an anti assault gun wave rolling in. All those GOP folks on the NRA take could be in some serious trouble. Those Parkland kids are stirring up a big hornets nest.

So much news out today.....hard to keep up with it all.

Some headlines today:

"The Deep State Takes Out the White House’s Dark Clown Prince"

"Kushner Co. Got Loans From Businesses After White House Visits"

"Mueller Probing Trump Efforts to Fire Jeff Sessions"

"NRA’s Dana Loesch Hammers Trump's ‘Due Process’ Comments on Fox News"

"Hope Hicks Is Leaving the White House, Depriving Donald Trump of His Most Loyal Soldier"

"Sessions Defends Himself Against Trump's Latest Attack"

"The Sharp Rise and Sudden Departure of Hope Hicks"

"NRA, GOP senators push back on Trump's gun proposals"

"Scoop: Besieged Sessions dines with Rosenstein"

"More than 30 Trump aides losing top-secret clearance"

"Trump: We’re delaying California border wall until entire project is approved"

"Congress punctures Trump’s infrastructure and aviation plans, in one day"

"Jared Kushner’s very bad week, explained"

"20 states file a new lawsuit arguing Obamacare is illegal"

“Teenagers don’t really take no for an answer”: young activists see a turning point on guns"

"There’s a heat wave. In the Arctic. In the middle of winter."

"Pennsylvania’s neck-and-neck special congressional election, explained"

"Mass shootings have made gun stocks toxic assets on Wall Street"

"Source calls Trump's son-in-law paranoid after his security downgrade"

And More.............

U.S. News and World Report just released their report on best states to live in America. California came in dead last. Shocking. People like Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters are great at blaming others for your problems but have zero ideas how to fix them.

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California received an overall score of 32 in 2018, based on sub-category rankings for ...

Health Care (11)
Education (26)
Economy (4)
Opportunity (46)
Infrastructure (38)
Crime and Corrections (28)
Fiscal Stability (43)
Quality of Life (50)

PeterSweden @PeterSweden7 Mar 1

Headlines in Sweden last 48hr.

- Goat kidnapped and raped.
- Young girl genital mutilated on kitchen table by parents.
- 15yr girl force married to adult man. Swedish state now paying tax money to "husband" to "take care" of child wife.

..

Oh, for you guys that have not heard the story of the 15 year old girl ... she was forced to marry this older muslim man. Well this is against the law in Sweden so they took the girl to place in Foster care. Well, she was placed in the care of her husband. So now the man who illegally married the 15 year old girl is being paid by the state to care for her.

There was also a pregnant Swedish lady raped by knife point in her bed this week by a muslim migrant that he reported earlier but didn't mention in tweet above.

And no, the goat kidnapping & rape is not a joke.

Will the Last Person to Leave the West Wing Please Turn Out the Lights?

As the administration faces a spate of departures from its top ranks, filling their posts will be a major challenge.

It’s looking like it might be spring-cleaning season at the White House.

Not only did Communications Director Hope Hicks announce her departure on Wednesday, ending her run as President Trump’s longest-tenured staffer, but a series of reports have suggested a number of other top-ranking officials might be clearing out their offices and desks soon. Those rumored to be considering exits include Jared Kushner, John Kelly, H.R. McMaster, Gary Cohn, and Jeff Sessions.

One could be forgiven for treating these reports with some skepticism. Every one of them has been the subject of similar speculation in the past—which could indicate just how long the final departure has been coming, or could suggest the reports not be taken seriously. Yet there are also plenty of reasons why officials might be interested in leaving, many of them interwoven. It is common for administrations to see turnover in their second year. But there are also Trump-specific circumstances: It’s clear that working for this president is particularly trying; there remain serious disagreements about policy; and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation haunts the White House.

At the top of the card is Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser. Kushner, who quickly acquired a sprawling portfolio despite having no experience in government and diplomacy nor a permanent security clearance, has clashed with other administration officials at times, but he has appeared to be somewhat insulated by the fact that the president is his father-in-law. It’s no longer clear that’s enough protection. Last week, Kushner lost his clearance to see top-secret material, a change that Trump could have blocked but did not.

Since then, there’s been a remarkable flurry of stories about Kushner. The Washington Post reported that according to intelligence officials, at least four countries had contemplated ways to manipulate the U.S. government using Kushner’s business ties, one reason he hadn’t gotten a permanent clearance. The New York Times reported that Kushner’s family’s real-estate business, from which he separated but did not fully divest himself, had received large loans from Citigroup and Apollo, a private-equity firm, following meetings with Kushner at the White House. (All denied any connection between the meetings and the loans.) The Associated Press found that the Securities and Exchange Commission had dropped an inquiry into Apollo shortly after it made a loan to the Kushner Companies. The Intercept reported that the Kushner Companies sought and were denied a loan from the Qatari government, one month before the Trump administration sided against Qatar in a Persian Gulf dispute.

The Times suggested that even Trump would like to see Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump leave the West Wing: “Aides also noted that Mr. Trump has told the couple that they should keep serving in their roles, even as he has privately asked Mr. Kelly for his help in moving them out.” Getting rid of one’s own son-in-law and daughter is delicate business, though as I wrote in July 2017, Trump has not hesitated to turn on his own family members in the past.

If Kelly pushes Kushner out, it would be a remarkable turn of events. Although Kelly badly botched the White House’s handling of domestic-abuse allegations against then-Staff Secretary Rob Porter, he used the episode to tighten rules on clearances, which places Kushner on the ropes. Politico reported he had favored a Hicks departure, too.

Kelly might not stop there. NBC News reported Thursday that Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis are angling to depose National-Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, with an actual departure as soon as April. McMaster was a widely hailed successor to Michael Flynn, who was fired for lying to Vice President Mike Pence and has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, too, but his personality clashed with Trump’s nearly from the start. In mid-February, after McMaster responded to Mueller’s indictments of Russians for interfering in the election by saying the evidence was “incontrovertible,” Trump dressed him down on Twitter.

Moving McMaster out is a delicate business. He entered the White House as a rising star in the military. (It’s intriguing to see two older, retired generals maneuvering to oust him.) The trick is to find a good landing spot for McMaster, rather than effectively end his career because he took a nearly impossible job. Doing so would not only be a bad break for McMaster, but it might make other people far less likely to take White House jobs, if they fear it will kill their own careers.

In any case, Kelly himself could still leave before too long. The chief of staff has been said to be clashing with Trump more or less since he took the job in August 2017, but repeated impending-departure stories have come to naught. He’s now lasted about as long in the job as Reince Priebus, and even in more conventional administrations, chiefs of staff have often stayed in the role for only a year or two. On Thursday, Kelly joked about how little fun he was having. “The last thing I wanted to do was walk away from one of the great honors of my life, being the secretary of homeland security, but I did something wrong and God punished me, I guess,” he said at an event celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security.

The reasons why Gary Cohn, who leads the National Economic Council, is said to be considering leaving are specific to this week. In a strange meltdown Wednesday night, the White House (or parts of it) announced that Trump would put forth new sanctions Thursday, taking other parts of the White House by surprise. Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs and Democrat who practically embodies the globalist free-trade establishment against which Trump ran, fiercely opposes this kind of protectionism, and Politico reported that Cohn was on the verge of leaving.

Yes, you’ve heard this before. Cohn was going to leave the White House after Trump offered kind words for white-supremacist marchers in Charlottesville in August; after he was passed over for chair of the Federal Reserve; and after the president’s tax plan was complete. Each moment passed, and Cohn remains. Perhaps this will really be the breaking point, but it’s hard to tell.

Trump also rekindled his feud with Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week, once again attacking him on Twitter. In this case, the president offered a factually challenged demand for Sessions to circumvent the investigative process at the Department of Justice. Faced with these attacks in the past, Sessions has taken a variety of approaches: He reportedly offered to resign, but was denied; he has sometimes simply ignored them. This time, he fired back, sort of. Sessions was seen at dinner with his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, and the solicitor general, Noel Francisco, in what looked like a united DOJ front. He also issued a statement:

We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this Department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary. As long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.

That reads almost like a dare to Trump: If you’re so unhappy, why don’t you fire me? But the president has proven extremely reluctant to actually terminate anyone, catchphrase notwithstanding. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s exit has been foretold so many times that it’s easy to forget he’s still at Foggy Bottom, though based on his influence in discussions like tariffs, perhaps he might as well not be.

The in-or-out dance for most of these figures is so well-rehearsed that it’s easy to just tune them out as more white noise. Even if current rumors don’t come to anything immediately, these staffers will leave at some point, and then they’ll have to be replaced. As in the case of McMaster, the question of who might fill those roles remains a barrier to the incumbents leaving in the first place. The Trump administration had trouble recruiting for many jobs when it began, and convincing qualified people to work there hasn’t gotten any easier. Prospective hires face the challenge of a president who will berate them publicly, the humiliation of colleagues who will leak damaging information about them to the press without a second thought, the danger of having to retain costly attorneys amid Mueller’s Russia probe, and the reputational risk of association with this administration. Who wants to come work for a president whose own officials describe his behavior this week as “unglued”?

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... se/554738/

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It’s Time for Paul Ryan to Remove Devin Nunes

Leaking a senator’s text message to Fox News should be the California congressman’s last act of partisan hackery at the helm of one of the House’s most important committees.

At a time when insane is the new normal, our ability to be outraged is dulled amid daily incoming. But Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee—led by their chairman, Trump lackey Devin Nunes—somehow hit a new low with Thursday’s revelation that they leaked to Fox News texts from Senate Intelligence Committee Co-Chairman Mark Warner and a Russian businessman in a desperate attempt to discredit the senator. Those texts were then retweeted by our president, in a brush back pitch for Warner’s insistence on investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election—and potential collusion with the Trump campaign—without fear or favor.

This bombshell story, first reported by The New York Times, is not your garden variety Trump-related drama. It’s worse. At a time when institutional checks and balances are needed more than ever, it underscored just how bad the blood is on Capitol Hill—not just between the two parties, but between the House and the Senate itself.

Devin Nunes—a California dairy farmer who degraded himself by becoming a congressman—deserves disproportionate blame for this pathetic mess. His committee has turned the pursuit of truth into a partisan mockery, choosing to do the White House’s bidding at the expense of honest inquiry and fact-based debate.

This is a stunning violation of whatever is left of congressional norms, but it also establishes the collusive relationship between hyperpartisans on the Hill and hyperpartisan media, particularly the opinion side of Fox News (there are some good reporters at Fox News, including Shepard Smith, Bret Baier, and Chris Wallace, who don’t deserve to get dragged into this swamp). This sharing of private information was apparently designed not just to influence domestic debate and inflame internal divisions but also to supply talking points to the president, who dutifully retweeted the information as if it was impartial evidence.

In fact, as Republican senators, including Marco Rubio, immediately pointed out, the spoon-fed Fox News “scoop” was simply dishonest deflection and distraction. But that has become the calling card of the Trump administration and its apologists.
This cold congressional civil war is another departure from normal, let alone our best traditions. The Senate committee run by Warner and Burr has been, however fitfully, working toward fulfilling its bipartisan obligation to find the facts on Russia and put the national security of the United States ahead of partisan interests; they remember Republican Sen. Arthur Vandenberg’s belief that “partisan politics ought to end at the water’s edge.”

In contrast, Devin Nunes keeps getting caught playing a flailing game of footsie with the Trump White House, which led to his being sidelined by ethics investigations last year (Nunes was subsequently cleared). He still seems determined to muddy the national debate on President Trump’s behalf.

With this latest internecine insult, Nunes has lost whatever remaining shred of credibility he could claim qualified him to lead the House Intelligence Committee. And that’s why it’s now on Speaker Paul Ryan to assert his principled independence by replacing Nunes as chairman. In some ways, it’s a shame because Nunes had a decent reputation before assuming chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee. But this position seems to have made him more of a hack instead of elevating his game.

The once and future dairy farmer should know when he’s shoveling manure. And Speaker Ryan should recognize that the integrity of the institution he leads requires that he admit the problem and correct it quickly before Trump’s contagion further compromises the co-equal branch of government.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/its-time- ... s?ref=home

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Ex-Trump adviser sold $31m in shares days before president announced steel tariffs

Carl Icahn sold $31.3m of shares in a company dependent on steel imports days before the commerce department mooted stiff tariffs on imports

Carl Icahn, a former special adviser to Donald Trump, sold $31.3m of shares in a company heavily dependent on steel imports last week, shortly before Trump’s announcement of new tariffs sent its shares plummeting.

Icahn, a billionaire investor who was a major Trump supporter, started selling shares in the crane and lifting equipment supplier Manitowoc Company on 12 February, days before the commerce department first mooted on foreign steel imports.

The news was first reported by Think Progress.

On Thursday Trump said he would press ahead with the commerce department’s plans to levy 25% tariffs on imports of steel and 10% on aluminium.

According to a regulatory filing Icahn was able to sell his shares for $32 to $34. On Friday morning Manitowoc’s shares had fallen 5.48% to $26.37. The fall was in line with drops seen by other companies dependent on cheap steel imports, including Boeing and Caterpillar.......................

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ent-timing

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The stock market, which plunged following President Donald Trump’s announcement of steel and aluminum tariffs on Thursday, continued its descent Friday morning. Here, traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as Trump is seen on TV. | Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

Officials try to contain damage from Trump trade war declaration

The announcement spooked investors, enraged allies and left pro-trade White House officials scrambling to change the president’s mind.

Officials inside the White House and the Treasury Department were trying on Friday to contain the fallout from President Donald Trump’s declaration of a trade war and to ensure that new levies are not imposed on all trading partners.

In an early-morning Twitter post, the president cast off decades of consensus that trade wars damage the U.S. economy and hurt more workers than they help, embracing a strategy that many scholars believe helped deepen and extend the Great Depression.

Trump tweeted that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.”

The announcement spooked investors, enraged U.S. allies and left pro-trade White House officials scrambling to limit the damage and change the president’s mind.

“I think by the time this is actually finished, there’s at least a chance it won’t look like it did on Thursday,” one senior administration official said Friday afternoon.

But the stock market, which plunged following Trump’s haphazard announcement of steel and aluminum tariffs on Thursday, continued its descent Friday. The Dow dropped over 300 points shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street, adding to a 420-point decline on Thursday.

Stocks recovered somewhat later in the day as traders hoped that by the time the tariffs become actual policy, they will be more targeted and spare major U.S. allies.

Trump’s trade war tweet came the morning after the president rebuked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, siding with economic nationalists in his administration and announcing plans to impose steep 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum.

The decision led Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs president viewed as the main check on Trump’s protectionist impulses, to threaten to resign, according to two people familiar with the situation. And it had Treasury officials scrambling to reassure U.S. allies while monitoring the market fallout..........................

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/ ... war-433596

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Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs have angered nearly every US industry

Retailers, carmakers, brewers — the list goes on.

President Trump's announcement Thursday to slap sweeping tariffs on steel and aluminum imports has triggered turmoil across the American economy.

The Dow slid 600 points in the hours following his statement.

The stock market dip reflects the enormous impact that a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum will have on the economy. That's because so many American industries need steel and aluminum: They’re used to build cars, skyscrapers, roads, bridges, washing machines, refrigerators, and a whole host of other products. More expensive steel and aluminum means higher costs for the American businesses that make these products — higher costs that will likely get passed on to consumers.

Trade groups and businesses didn't wait long to slam the president's decision. Some of the country's most influential industry groups warned that the tariffs would hurt more than a company's bottom line:

@MillerCoors
Replying to @MillerCoors
Like most brewers, we are selling an increasing amount of our beers in aluminum cans, and this action will cause aluminum prices to rise. It is likely to lead to job losses across the beer industry. (2/3)

@MillerCoors
We buy as much domestic can sheet aluminum as is available, however, there simply isn’t enough supply to satisfy the demands of American beverage makers like us. American workers and American consumers will suffer as a result of
this misguided tariff. (3/3)

But the outrage didn't seem to faze Trump. Instead, the president doubled down on his decision in a series of Friday morning tweets.

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump
We must protect our country and our workers. Our steel industry is in bad shape. IF YOU DON’T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON’T HAVE A COUNTRY!

7:01 AM - Mar 2, 2018

In another tweet, he claimed that a trade war would actually be good for America:

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump
When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy! 4:50 AM - Mar 2, 2018

It may not be as easy as he thinks, based on the reactions from American businesses. Here’s a sampling of businesses and industries that have come out against the steel and aluminum tariffs.

US car dealers: “These proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports couldn’t come at a worse time,” Cody Lusk, president of the American International Automobile Dealers Association, said in a statement. “Auto sales have flattened in recent months, and manufacturers are not prepared to absorb a sharp increase in the cost to build cars and trucks in America. The burden of these tariffs, as always, will be passed on to the American consumer."

Auto manufacturers: “We are concerned with the unintended consequences the proposals would have, particularly that it will lead to higher prices for steel and aluminum here in the United States, compared to the price paid by our global competitors," Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, said in a statement. “This would place the U.S. automotive industry, which supports more than 7 million American jobs, at a competitive disadvantage.”

“The President’s pending decision on tariffs and quotas for steel and aluminum trade highlights several unfortunate ironies,” John Bozzella, president of the Association of Global Automakers, said in a statement. “With one stroke of the pen, much of the promised benefit of tax reform and other Administration initiatives aimed at reviving manufacturing and protecting national security could be undercut.”

Boat manufacturers: “The implementation of these aluminum tariffs ... will drive up the costs of the aluminum used to manufacture more than 111,000 aluminum boats, such as pontoons and fishing boats, which make up 43 percent of new powerboat sales each year," Thom Dammrich, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, said in a statement. "Further harming the industry, the aluminum sheet our members are forced to source overseas will likely continue to be in short supply in the U.S., destroying our members’ ability to build boats in the U.S. As a result, the jobs of the American workers who build these boats, their engines and components, are now in jeopardy.”

The beer industry: "About 2 million jobs depend on America’s beer industry. We urge the Department of Commerce and U.S. President Trump to consider the impact of trade restriction tariffs,” Felipe Dutra, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s chief financial officer, said on a call with analysts.

Retailers: “Make no mistake, this is a tax on American families," Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, said in a statement. "When costs of raw materials like steel and aluminum are artificially driven up, all Americans ultimately foot the bill in the form of higher prices for everything from canned goods to electronics and automobiles. The reality is that there is nothing this country will gain from such a one-sided policy. These tariffs threaten to destroy more US jobs than they will create while sending an alarming signal to our trading partners and diminishing markets for American-made products overseas.”

Machinery manufacturers: Caterpillar’s director of investor relations, Amy Campbell, told Reuters that the tariffs would pose a “challenge” and would put Caterpillar at a competitive disadvantage with foreign competitors.

US business groups: “Business Roundtable strongly disagrees with today’s announcement because it will hurt the U.S. economy and American companies, workers and consumers by raising prices and resulting in foreign retaliation against U.S. exporters," Joshua Bolten, president of the influential Business Roundtable, said in a statement. “Using ‘national security’ tools to implement tariffs could embolden other countries to impose ‘national security’ tariffs on U.S. exporters or otherwise restrict U.S. goods and services sold to their markets.”

But not everyone disapproves

There are a handful of winners from the proposed tariffs: the companies that produce steel and aluminum in the United States.

The CEOs of the big American steel companies were invited to the White House for Trump's big announcement. David Burritt, the CEO of US Steel, was thrilled. "This is vital to the interests of the United States," he said at the White House after the announcement, according to a pool report. "This is our moment, and it’s really important that we get this right."

As the stock market slid, share prices for his company — and other steel companies — jumped.

[Our company depends on steel and aluminum as well as copper and brass. There's not a day that goes by when we do not buy steel and aluminum. Liebovich, Jorgensen, Columbia Pipe Supplys, Central Steel and Wire, McMaster Carr, and others]

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics ... businesses

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