May 19, 2025
"This is, like, utter chaos that Trump started. Utter chaos. I understand that you want to make product in your country, but you also need to trade."
Said Pauline Ridley, the union chairwoman at KB components, quoted in "Canadians Fear Trump’s Tariffs Will Create a ‘Ghost Town’ in Ontario/President Trump’s tariffs on auto parts are already causing job losses in Windsor, Ontario, the heart of an industry that makes components for vehicles bound for the United States" (NYT).
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63 comments:
Well, it was more important that they made a big show out of refusing to do anything about the fentanyl that enters their ports through their customs, then easily leaks across the border, or migrants who fly into their airports, there is realistically no other way to get to Canada from anywhere but the US, and simply walk into the US.
Really, the point was that the Liberals saw a way to win the election by running against Trump, so they used the fact that they have been paying millions and millions to press outlets to keep them alive to lie about the real issues, and it sort of worked.
Well, Canucks. Knuckle under. That was the whole point of the tariffs. Do a deal with the US or expect more pain.
Buh, Buh, but all the experts told us that tsriffs were paid by us buyers.
Is it possible that the experts were wrong?
Oh, no. This changes everthinh
John Henry
No sympathy for frostie! I bet her comments were made with Canadian upspeak. Disgusting
…speaking of disruptive, this is the good kind newly minted economists…and soorey if I’m not focused, my brain has a hard time processing the directions from Windsor to Detroit that say drive due North…
Sucks to be you, I guess.
“Utter chaos” = we don’t get to thrive off the backs of the US taxpayers.
"newly minted economists"
Well it seems like the experts who are fully steeped in the rules and lore of economics, and have been directing things for decades, have kind of hollowed out the American industrial economy, manufacturing jobs are virtually flat despite population growth, and the jobs available to people with high school educations will hardly support a family.
An expert in economics can tell you exactly how to maximize the benefits for affluent Americans by squeezing the working class by shipping jobs overseas. What has happened to jobs in the midwest available to high school graduates while Warren Buffet's vault looks like that of Scrooge McDuck? This is what "economics experts" are very good at doing.
Quick, someone run a commercial with a Canadian flag! That will fix everything.
Trump created the chaos of Canadian parts in US vehicles?
I think what Trump is actually doing is reducing chaos and helping to heal the planet by reducing the need to transport bit parts from one country to another just to allow automobiles to function. He’s fighting global warming. And look at that, already one Canadian town is producing less emissions.
No, we don't need to trade, especially when the trading partner has overly protective tariffs on dairy, etc., and refuses to acknowledge or correct that situation.
What has happened to jobs in the midwest available to high school graduates while Warren Buffet's vault looks like that of Scrooge McDuck?
…well newly minted economist I could tell you Warren Buffet didn’t became wealthy by sucking the marrow from assembly plant workers, he did it through using a well devised vehicle to invest his and other people’s money in quality companies and let compound interest do the rest over many decades but that doesn't fit the false narrative. It is simply a fallacy that the way wealthy people become wealthy is exploiting labor. A fallacy that will never die but a fallacy nonetheless…
All the experts said prices would rise uncontrollably. They are wrong. Inflation is at its lowest point since 2020. “Unexpectedly” as the old Taranto refrain goes.
I suspect the Open Society or some related money funnel is paying some sweet cash straight up for every use of the word 'chaos' when writing or speaking on Trump's second admin.
Embedding is a long term project. Got to keep the base focused on that narrative.
If you exceed the allowed limits on exporting milk to Canada, the tariffs can go as high as 240% In other words, they keep rising until you get the message that they don't want your milk because they want to protect Canadian farmers. I don't blame them, to be honest, farm country in Quebec is far more heavily populated than farm country in the US, where large expanses of land are farmed by a single family, compared to the narrow strip farms there, farms that date back to colonial times. It's a pleasant way to live, there are restaurants in farm country, bars, grocery stores, whereas in the US, it's a Dollar General every twenty miles, and the occasional Tractor Supply, and tiny little coffee shops that can barely survive due to the spread out population.
So they fully understand why Trump is doing it, since they do the exact same thing.
I can remember when people at the NYT's (and Mitt Romney) where against the auto bailout in 2008. Having the automakers go bankrupt would shut down large numbers of subcontractors making auto parts in the midwest and turned places into "Ghost towns". But that was OK, cause "free market".
Now, the NYT's supposedly cares about Canadian auto part makers. Really. The real question is why should we subsidize the Canadian auto industry? As Trump says, Canada runs up a massive trade surplus with us, selling stuff we can make ourselves. If Canada wants to make their living off us, they can do their job and control the border for drugs and illegals.
Well then, Utter Chaos it is!
It is simply a fallacy that the way wealthy people become wealthy is exploiting labor.
And yet the rich continue to get richer, and labor has been screwed over, and for that reason, I doubt that you can marshal a mathematical or logical proof that it's a fallacy. Just because the exploitation of labor is hidden by many degrees of separation between the financial instruments used and the actual production of goods and services at the lowest level doesn't mean that the fundamental truths don't apply.
Besides, I am not talking about "exploiting labor," I am talking about declining to exploit US labor because it's cheaper and more profitable to exploit labor overseas, and undercutting the bargaining position of US labor by creating relatively fewer well paying jobs and importing millions of migrants with similar levels of skill.
How does a trained economist describe a well paying factory job in the US? "Economic inefficiency."
…and further it is another fallacy that the ‘middle class’ has been hollowed out. Over the last couple of generations the US has created 120 million jobs that didn’t exist in 1957 or whatever high water benchmark labor unions use to justify their agenda. Jobs in IT, health care, education, transportation…all of which require a degree or equivalent, constant retraining, jobs that should pay more than a worker who takes his high school diploma and heads down to the assembly plant. So far from hollowing out the middle class, we graduated millions of households out if the middle class into the upper classes…
…and that’s not to say we destroyed manufacturing, either. The moved it from high cost, high risk blue states to places like georgia, south carolina, tennessee, alabama- places near big east coast ports for export
What, like the Ghost towns made in Pontiac Mi, Flint Mi, Janesville Wi, Lordestown Oh? Those ghost towns destroyed by Clintons NAFTA. Yep you heard it right. There was a Giant sucking sound - just as predicted by Ross Perot.
We didn’t elect Trump to worry about the comfort of a union boss in Canada. He was elected to Make America Great Again. The Canadians elected Carney to pick fights with Trump. They might have wanted to think about consequences before they did that.
…you think you’re championing labor but you just haven’t examined history, looked at the data and recognized what’s happening…
The statement about WarrenBuffett couldn’t be more wrong. Look at the companies Buffett owns. Dairy Queen, GEICO, truck stops etc. tons of American based companies with people working that are not ivy leaguers and in blue cities.
Not to worry Canada, there will be a lefty judge along any minute to strike down all of Trumps tariffs. Be patient and all will be well.
It used to be that you read a newspaper or listened to the radio to understand the impact that world events was having on people and societies. Nowadays, all you hear about is the emotional reaction from world events, and it's usually some derivative of 'scary'. People are 'scared', so you ought to be frightened, too. Weird, isn't it? If you listen long enough from you 'safe place', you might eventually hear what happened, i.e. the actual thing that happened, the 'effect' that came from the 'cause' - but first they gotta prime the pump and share the damage report from all those victims, who apparently scare easily.
The Net Zero policy of the Liberal government in Canada ensures the de-industrialization of that country, as it does in Germany. Their high level of social spending is bankrolled by Alberta oil and gas, which Liberals prefer they leave in the ground. Today Canada has California prices but MIssissippi wages
Well, maybe the answer is for Canada to negotiate a serious reduction in the tariffs they charge for American products.
Job losses in Canada? That's kinda the point. When it gets painful, meaningful negotiations can begin.
"we graduated millions of households out if the middle class into the upper classes…"
I don't know about you, but I went to high school in a working class neighborhood, where the men almost all worked in factories, or driving delivery trucks, or what have you. I only knew one person aside from the teachers who went to college. There were lots of people in those classes in high school who didn't have a prayer in the advanced math classes that I took, do they just disappear? No. They are still here, forced into more and more menial jobs as millions of competing workers are imported by the globalists and their puppets in governments. Or they just give up and take to begging at intersections and using the proceeds to buy drugs, or worse. BTW, if what you are saying were actually true and as significant as you claim, Trump would never have been elected.
It's funny you mention IT, because the large companies basically use the same concept of indentured servant to import labor from overseas to do the IT work "Americans won't do." I worked in IT, a lot of these jobs are not the premium stuff that demands deep thinking, complex problem space analysis, and advanced mathematics to do, but the IT equivalent of rote work. Lots of Americans could do these jobs, but they would cost too much, it would be *economically inefficient* to pay Americans to do them. We need to fill our spare bedrooms with unused Chinese made toys! Our pickup trucks need to be tricked out with options that not only would our fathers not recognize, but that they would not need. I am with Althouse on this, that all of this "economic efficiency" is calculated based on metrics that give equal weight to unneeded junk as they do to necessary goods.
"you think you’re championing labor but you just haven’t examined history, looked at the data and recognized what’s happening…"
Which of us sounds like we haven't thought about what is happening? You don't seem to have any concrete replies, just bromides and word thinking.
I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'm pretty sure I understand this is point to Trump's strategy. The NYT may disagree with his approach, but are they really that clueless?
So, Ms. Ridley is saying the current set up is unfair to America and we damn well need to preserve that imbalance...
Chaos is getting what you want and then complaining that you got it.
Ironic that, according to the Times article, auto parts manufacturing was started in Windsor by Henry Ford more than 100 years ago to avoid Canadian tariffs on U.S. made cars. What goes around comes around.
rehajm said...
…you think you’re championing labor but you just haven’t examined history, looked at the data and recognized what’s happening…
Are you being serious or are you joking?
The US economy has transferred massive wealth from the poor to the rich.
This was done by favoring assets holders over labor. for decades.
At no point has a person had to work more hours to buy an average house on an average wage.
I really hope you were joking.
GRW3 said...
Well, maybe the answer is for Canada to negotiate a serious reduction in the tariffs they charge for American products.
More importantly they can stop helping China evade tariffs.
Sounds like some people need to learn how to code, eh.
Quebec's dairy tariffs are working as intended. I would hate to see small Canadian dairy farmers put out of business and rural Quebec face the same depredations that "free trade" and globalism in general have visited on the American industrial heartland.
As long as Windsor continues to have good Chinese food and all-nude table dancing, the city will be just fine.
Personally, having my labor exploited was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I'm not alone. I spent years making myself more exploitable, looking to be exploited, trying to convince people to exploit me, and then doing as much as possible to make sure they exploited me to my maximum potential. Suddenly I found myself as the exploiter. Frankly, it was more fun being exploited.
Even in his deteriorated cognitive state, Biden never came close ot his level of infantile lunacy.
“According to news reports, Beyoncé was paid $11,000,000 to walk onto a stage, quickly ENDORSE KAMALA, and walk off to loud booing for never having performed, NOT EVEN ONE SONG! Remember, the Democrats and Kamala illegally paid her millions of Dollars for doing nothing other than giving Kamala a full throated ENDORSEMENT. THIS IS AN ILLEGAL ELECTION SCAM AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL! IT IS AN ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION! BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, OPRAH, BONO AND, PERHAPS, MANY OTHERS, HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!!!” ~ Donald J Trump @realDonaldTrump
Chaos for everybody!
"This is, like, utter chaos that Trump started. Utter chaos. I understand that you want to make product in your country, but you also need to trade."
Americans didn't elect Trump in order to preserve jobs in Ontario. Perhaps you should be directing your concerns to the guy you just elected, Pauline.
"Suddenly I found myself as the exploiter. Frankly, it was more fun being exploited."
Yeah, it was more fun doing the science on my mentors' grants than being the mentor scrambling to keep everybody employed.
Mason G said...
"Americans didn't elect Trump in order to preserve jobs in Ontario. Perhaps you should be directing your concerns to the guy you just elected, Pauline.”
Maybe Pauline is tacitly admitting that Canada really is the 51st state.
"Personally, having my labor exploited was the best thing that ever happened to me,"
Sure, me too, but when the game is rigged, the exploitation can become abusive. For instance, Achilles' point about how many hours of labor it now takes to buy a home compared to before Warren Buffet got so rich. Of course some of this is due to the millions of illegals Biden let across the border, but let's not pretend that shifting the balance of power between labor and management by the exercise of government power and by government looking the other way as businesses ship jobs overseas doesn't change the terms in ways that are not exactly "free market"
Well Buckwheat, those are the new rules. Learn to play the game.
"Maybe Pauline is tacitly admitting that Canada really is the 51st state."
Seeing as how their identity is so tightly wrapped up in being "Not Americans", what Pauline (and a lot of other Canadians) want is the benefit of being the 51st state without actually having to face up to the reality of their desires.
And then, there are the Canadians who say, right out loud, that becoming the 51st state is what they want.
"It is simply a fallacy that the way wealthy people become wealthy is exploiting labor."
So, they use robots?
The "libertarian" argument has always been "...but the lower costs of manufactured items makes up for the job losses. The standard of living is higher because people can afford cheap flat-screen TVs with their lower wages: the price of those is always going down!"
So what. Those kinds of calculations never capture is the trivial difference in marginal utility between one TV and another. And although the nominal price of appliances may have gone down, the utility and the lifespan of those appliances has been radically reduced. 1980s refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, and electric stoves all broke less frequently and lasted much, much longer than the cheaper imports from Korea. Factor in the inconvenience of breaking (and unable to be fixed) appliances and the disposal costs, and I doubt we are really saving that much at the cost of our countrymen's livelihoods and dignity.
Jupiter said...
"It is simply a fallacy that the way wealthy people become wealthy is exploiting labor."
"So, they use robots?"
Are you chained to that computer?
Just had a discussion with Grok, who was incensed about a computer chip company that was moving production to the U.S. and increasing prices 30%. Cost would be born by consumers and all.
I asked Grok if that 30% would primarily go to American workers. Grok replied that it would and referred me to a recent study. Then launched into a discussion of the multiplier effect, which I would be proud of as a former economics professor.
I ask why he didn’t just tell me that part in the beginning.
I’m beginning to wonder about Grok.
"Well Buckwheat, those are the new rules. Learn to play the game."
A game with more losers and fewer winners, but if you are one of those losers, it's plainly your fault.
I like the part about how the "rules" just appeared, with no human agency and democracy is not allowed into the discussion.
"Just had a discussion with Grok, who was incensed about a computer chip company that was moving production to the U.S. and increasing prices 30%. Cost would be born by consumers and all.
I’m beginning to wonder about Grok."
And who bears the cost of Grok's shortsightedness when we lose access to overseas chips due to China's invasion of Taiwan? This fixation on cost to the exclusion of all else is penny wise and pound foolish.
Of course NYT had a reporter on hand to insure this quote from Ridley was correct. LOL! In their zeal to go 100% negative on Trump the leftmediaswine at NYT have secured the paper’s position as a tabloid for neurotic nitwits. I submit the comments therein as evidence.
"Said Pauline Ridley, the union chairwoman at KB components"
This was the part the immediately leapt out at me. Find a self-interested and grotesquely biased partisan, and then quote them as if their take had a shred of objective credibility. Like it's the early 1990's and there's few alternative sources of information. NYT readers must be Luddite morons, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.
"Are you chained to that computer?"
No, no! I'm exploiting this computer. Well, actually, the other one. The one I get paid to type on.
"Just had a discussion with Grok, who was incensed about a computer chip company that was moving production to the U.S. and increasing prices 30%."
Ummm, I don't think Grok was actually "incensed". In fact, I don't really think Grok is a "who".
From Wikipedia:
"In 2025, vehicles manufactured in Canada include the Chevrolet Silverado, Chrysler Pacifica, Dodge Charger, Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Lexus RX, and Toyota RAV4, among others. These vehicles are produced in various assembly plants across the country, supporting the local economy."
All our minivans - and we've owned seven - were manufactured in Windsor. Ford has manufactured engines in Canada for a long time, too.
It's not just bitsy components that are made there, but as the industry changes, the fortunes of the plants there may wax or wane.
"It's not just bitsy components that are made there, but as the industry changes, the fortunes of the plants there may wax or wane."
Perhaps their leaders should address the issue. Trump's job is to look out for US interests.
“Ford has manufactured engines in Canada for a long time, too.”
That explains the blown head gaskets.
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