Comment by more_corn
7 hours ago
The thing about tariffs is you’re guaranteed to be on both sides because the other side retaliates.
Farmers get screwed twice because our tariffs increase the costs of their inputs and the retaliation reduces the value of outputs.
If I was a farmer I’d be tearing my hair out about now.
Farmers stand to benefit from the current administration's trade and immigration policy; bailouts are part of the program. Bailouts were given out during the trade wars in 2017-2020. Bailouts are expected to pay out in early 2026 as part of the annual farm aid bill due in November.
Farmers voted for tariffs so they should be happy. What, they didn't think tariffs were going to be bad when just slammed on the table? Maybe they should also think about higher education, to learn how things work beyond high school education.
They've had the education system they depend on attacked and weakened for generations, they've had fear and distrust of science, experts, and scholars drilled into them, and they've been told countless lies including very comforting lies about what tariffs would mean for them by the very people they were told were the only ones who could be trusted.
I can see the appeal of blaming farmers for getting exactly what they voted for, but honestly they were suckers who were victimized. My hope is that many of them will feel betrayed enough to break free from their indoctrination and start looking for truths and answers outside of the circles which have played them for fools, but that's not going to be an easy process since it'll mean challenging their closest held prejudices and the tearing down and rebuilding of core parts of their identity. That sort of thing is hard enough to do when your world isn't falling apart around you and the last thing the ones who are willing to try need is everyone telling them they deserved what was done to them and that they'll get no sympathy from anyone.
So I thought the same thing but this take persuaded me somewhat. https://youtu.be/badGHJLDpP8?si=5GgFcZky38V0wyCh
I feel as bad for the farmers who voted for this as I feel for the farmers who were hurt by the civil war and the ending of slavery. They knew what they were supporting, thought they would be unaffected and actually benefit from the result.
They are not some dumb poor podunks
That's a very empathetic take. But it's also essentially "society made them do it". When they also clearly voted to root out all their farm labor. They support their own education system.
They've spent enough joy owning the libs and scorning education. It's just FAFO.
In the last trade war (2017), the farmers got 18 billion dollars in bailouts. It's the same guy, so they're waiting again for their handouts.
I'd bet farmers would much rather have repeat customers or the promise of future valuable repeat customers over bailouts. But with these tariffs and retaliations, their former buyers are finding new sources. Even after the trade war ends, inertia will be another hurdle for our farmers.
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