Tariffs, Tea Leaves, and the Fifty-Fifty Gospel of Governance

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   tsmogposted 3 weeks ago

   August 7th, 2025 has passed, and we sit with or without patience. Change, in fact, occurred. Whether we noticed or not, whether we welcomed it or resisted—it happened. And now we steep in its aftermath, like tea leaves swirling in a cup that was never quite ours to begin with.
   
   The Boston Tea Party wasn’t just about tea—it was about tariffs. About taxation without representation. About powdered leaves dumped into a harbor as a symbolic middle finger to imperial economics. Fast forward a few centuries, and here we are again, steeped in a new brew of trade tensions and executive maneuvers.
   
   Today, tariffs are back in vogue—not as legislative instruments wielded by Congress, but as emergency powers summoned like economic incantations. The Constitution outlines representation. But emergency powers? They bypass the tea table entirely. The spirit of the Boston protest—representation, deliberation, resistance—now floats like a soggy Lipton bag in the wake of unilateral action.
   
   Is this a trade war? Or is it World War III with spreadsheets and shipping containers?
   
   The roulette wheel spins. The dice tumble. The cards are dealt by invisible hands. And time, ever the trickster, watches with no allegiance. It’s not that the future is unknowable—it’s that it refuses to be loyal. One day, tariffs are patriotic. The next, they’re inflationary. The narrative shifts like sand under a boardwalk.
   
   Frank Zappa once sang:
   
   “I figure the odds be fifty-fifty
   I just might have something to say”
   
   And so I say this—not to condemn, not to cheerlead, but to contrast. To hold up the powdered past against the present’s digital dust. The Boston rebels wanted a voice. Today’s constituents want the same. But instead of Parliament, we have algorithms. Instead of harbor protests, we have hashtags.
   
   Emergency powers may be legal. But are they representative?
   
   The hymn says, “Trust and obey.” Zappa says, “Fifty-fifty.” Somewhere between those two lies the American experiment—equal parts faith and farce. We trust the system, until it bypasses us. We obey the rules, until they’re rewritten mid-game.
   
   So here’s my wager: the spirit of the Tea Party isn’t dead. It’s just confused. It’s trying to find its footing in a world where representation is pixelated and policy is performative. And maybe, just maybe, someone out there will read this and pause—not to agree, but to wonder.
   
   Because in the end, that’s all I ask. One person. One moment. One flicker of thought.
   
   The odds are fifty-fifty. And that’s enough.
   
   What say you?

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      Ken Burgessposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

      That's pretty good... you might have a future as a writer.
      
      I say... we have a Trump Presidency because we have just lived through 25-30 years of "We trust the system, until it bypasses us. We obey the rules, until they’re rewritten mid-game."
      
      Michael Moore had it exactly correct all those years ago:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEHekdQSiXg
      Right up to the 3:50 mark... then he was very wrong... else we wouldn't have Trump 2.0.
      
      Trump is the American People's reaction to Open Borders... NAFTA... China's Favored Nation Status... the 2008 Bailouts ... The Repeal of Glass Steagall ... and all the recent nonsense from the Biden years from Transgender minority protections to 25% fleecing of the American dollar.
      
      You reap what you... what is that saying?
      
      The American people have had enough of America looking like this:
      Fentanyl Turning Philadelphia into City of Walking Dead? It's Worse Than You Think - Documentary
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v99W179HRPo
      
      A Rust Belt City’s Economic Struggle | Left Behind America (documentary)
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7-Te7JEqrQ
      
      Will The Immigration Crisis Bankrupt U.S. Cities?
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5w9rTvlgTM
      
      Go down the list... American's have been told for decades now that they don't matter... that they are not the priority ... the migrants need help ... the Chinese need help ... American's are tired of being on the bottom of the list and feeling like their own government is crapping all over them, selling them out, and flushing the future of the nation down the drain.
      
      That is how you get Trump and his 'emergency powers' bypassing a corrupt system and corrupt Congress.
      
      If Trump fails... it only gets worse from here ... I hate to think of what extremist comes into power behind him if the rest of the country starts looking like the cities in CA and PA.

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         tsmogposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

         Ken, I appreciate the cinematic sweep of your reply—felt like I was binge-watching the fall of Rome narrated by Michael Moore and scored by Nine Inch Nails. I’ll need a second monitor just to keep up with the hyperlinks.
         
         But here’s my takeaway: if Trump is the emergency plumber called in to fix the leaky pipes of governance, I’m starting to think we’re living in a house built on a sinkhole. Meanwhile, I’m just trying to afford a pint of Häagen-Dazs and keep my A/C off long enough to feel morally superior and financially solvent.
         
         Still, maybe this road of tariffs and disruption is the bitter medicine needed to treat a long-ignored ailment. The question is—who’s footing the bill for the cure? Which generation is being asked to tighten its belt while the system detoxes? I suppose we’ll know when the fever breaks… or when the ice cream finally costs less than a gallon of gas. Remember that book in ’71 None Dare Call it Conspiracy? I think I will dust it off.
         
         Cairns offer direction, yet there is only one. Where to next?
         
         

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            Ken Burgessposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

            You have been on a role... your posts are appreciated.
            
            Nine Inch Nails... surprising reference.
            
            "I’m starting to think we’re living in a house built on a sinkhole."
            
            Very possible... I think the 4 Biden years were enough for the Deal to be sealed.  That 25% dollar devaluation was mostly the trillions that were shipped off to BlackRock, with enough doled out to others to keep them from squawking about it... and then there was the fleecing hidden by a war in Ukraine... but that is small potatoes to BlackRock.
            
            If memory serves, Blackrock went from being worth 7 Trillion in 2019 to 15.5 Trillion today ... things that make you go hmmmm...
            
            So your reference to None Dare Call It Conspiracy might not be off.
            
            As the conspiracy told it, for those unfamiliar, every war of the 20th and 21st century was staged and run by the Author’s “insiders” to make more money, leverage their power, and consolidate their control over the masses.
            
            This evolved into something different the last 25 years perhaps... with the WEF union to the UN... with the BIS and IMF spreading their tendrils out... and China joining the WTO in 2001... but the premise still holds.
            
            One shouldn't write off None Dare as a work of antisemitic nonsense, the author goes out of his way to make clear that the Jewish families he attacks, most especially the Rothschilds and Warburgs, are not being attacked because of their Judaism, but because of their actions.
            
            “It is just as unreasonable and immoral to blame all Jews for the crimes of the Rothschilds as it is to hold all Baptists accountable for the crimes of the Rockefellers,”
            
            Then again... it would seem Netanyahu (AIPAC) pretty much addresses Congress whenever he wants and gets whatever he wants... unlike any other nation on the planet... so make of that what you will.  Not even the UK can pull our strings like Israel can.
            
            And... one could look at the global conflict today as those under 'Central Banking' control and those that are not... Russia, North Korea, and Iran being the primary holdouts left... which makes one wonder about China, perhaps it has plans of its own?
            
            Ahhhhhh  hell... let me throw this in... just for fun:
            https://www.youtube.com/shorts/08adiYTD1tY

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               tsmogposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

               "Ahhhhhh  hell... let me throw this in... just for fun:"
               
               I hear an echo of the many composing the choir standing firm in a wilderness without a compass. Do you play darts at the local tavern or have you?

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                  Ken Burgessposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

                  Many years ago... when hanging out in bars was something I would do.
                  
                  A lifetime ago it seems now... before the wife and kids... before I left the Army.
                  
                  When you see the bigger picture(s)... like International Banking and International Corporations having 75% or more of the world's wealth and power... and realizing not even America... the Nation... the People... can compete with that when they unite that wealth and power to accomplish something...
                  
                  Or if you want to get to an even bigger picture... and consider we are just one of many previous civilizations to inhabit planet earth... and that the cycles of nature, be it polar shifts, the fluctuating orbit of the earth around the sun, etc.  causes ice ages to repeat on earth like a heartbeat, or the occasional super volcano which will eradicate any civilization... a minor fluctuation in temperature along with a plague brought down the Roman Empire which took humanity centuries to get back to that level of technological and civil cohesion...
                  
                  Or go even beyond that, to a bigger picture, and consider that we are not even a speck of dust in the grand scheme of the cosmos... so minute in comparison to the Cosmos, as we understand it to be, to not even equate to what an atom is compared to planet earth.
                  
                  So... while I think the severity of what is to come for our civilization could be severely problematic in the not to distant future... on the grand scheme of things, I think it matters not one wit...
                  
                  Your idea of enjoying the moment... the day... trying to do good to others, enhance the positive karma and reduce the dark energies encountered in life is the right way to go.
                  
                  And when you get a chance, try some psilocybe azurescens or semilanceata always something I recommend to help expand one's understanding and enlightenment... when I am a bit older and not so concerned about my responsibilities I hope to indulge in those journeys quite a bit.

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   Venkatachari Mposted 3 weeks ago

   Hi, Tim. I pause and think. But find no answers, nor laments. Just live in it.

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      tsmogposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

      Appreciate the response, Venkat!
      
      I suspect that might be all any of us can do. There is a saying here. It goes like this, "Just living the dream." Its meaning is enjoying the present moment and being content with one's current circumstances.
      
      Knowing India is your homeland, I wonder what the pulse is there with the tariffs from your personal experience. Trump levied 50% upon India it seems.
      
      Curious, I read an article from NDTV. A somewhat sarcastic tone to it. I posted it a little bit following. However, I did read an article from Hindustan Times, which is a series of updates giving perspective in a timeline format.
      https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne … 82352.html
      
      "Perfect Time To...": Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon Slam Trump's India Tariffs by NDTV (Aug 10, 2025 - 2 min read)
      Donald Trump has imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods.
      https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/stephen … to-9055770

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   Sharlee01posted 3 weeks ago

   Your poetic reflection on August 7th and the echoes of the Boston Tea Party beautifully captures the tension between past and present, rebellion and order. Yet, while it’s tempting to view emergency powers and executive actions as a betrayal of democratic representation, there’s another side worth considering, one where decisive leadership in uncertain times is not only necessary but essential. After all, men wear long pants now and women mini skirts, just a simple reminder that with time, great change is inevitable and often necessary.
   
   The Founders designed a system built on checks and balances, but also foresaw moments when swift action would be required to protect the nation’s interests. Economic emergencies, trade disputes, and geopolitical shifts demand agility that the slow churn of Congress cannot always provide. Executive powers, including the imposition of tariffs, can be tools, not usurpations, to safeguard economic security and national sovereignty in a volatile global landscape.
   
   While the Boston Tea Party was a defiant stand against distant tyranny, today’s challenges are complex and multifaceted, often unfolding at the speed of digital commerce and international politics. Algorithms and hashtags may feel impersonal, but they also democratize voices, giving ordinary citizens platforms previously unimaginable.
   
   Representation now isn’t confined to physical halls or paper ballots; it’s woven into the digital fabric of society, messy, noisy, but profoundly real due to our enormous population. In fact, these very algorithms and technologies are the connective tissue that keep our vast, diverse society functioning. They filter information, facilitate communication across time zones and cultures, and create virtual spaces where communities can form, debate, and organize. Without this digital infrastructure, the scale of our population and the complexity of modern life would overwhelm traditional methods of representation and governance. It’s messy and imperfect, yes, but it’s also adaptive and inclusive, reflecting the dynamic, sprawling nature of America itself.
   
   There are no longer lone bell ringers sounding alarms in town squares; back then, the bell ringer’s call alerted communities to danger, summoned people to action, and united them around a cause. Today, that role is shared across millions of voices amplified by technology, chaotic perhaps, but collectively powerful in keeping our democracy alive.
   
   I say the wager remains open, but let us place our bets not only on skepticism but on reasoned faith in the system’s capacity to balance both. After all, history’s lessons teach us that survival requires both rebellion and order, reflection and action. The fifty-fifty odds? They keep us honest, and engaged.

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      tsmogposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

      Sharlee, your reply carries the rhythm of conviction, and I respect the clarity with which you trace the arc of change. Yet I find myself lingering in the mist between tradition and transformation. Emergency powers, summoned through Executive Orders, may serve immediacy—but they sidestep the slow, sacred ritual of representation. Isn’t that the very ceremony our founders sought to preserve? When the people’s voice is bypassed, even for strategic ends, what remains of the covenant?
      
      MAGA speaks often of restoring tradition. But I wonder—what tradition is being restored when liberal instruments of unilateral power are embraced? Expedience may wear the cloak of patriotism, but beneath it, does the spirit of deliberation still breathe? I don’t claim certainty, only curiosity. Zappa’s odds—fifty-fifty—remind me that truth often walks a tightrope between faith and farce. And so I ask, not to oppose, but to wonder aloud:
      
      •    Representation once meant debate in chambers; now it’s a signature in silence.
      •    Gen Z tightens belts in their parents’ homes, while elders tighten blankets on city benches.
      •    Tariffs ripple through kitchen tables, not just boardrooms.
      •    Emergency powers may protect borders, but do they erode alliances?
      •    If tradition is the compass, why does the needle point toward expedience?
      
      A little wandering . . .
      
      Whither?
      Does citizenry whither as expediency rises as a new life form?
      
      The day trades in elements—steel, grain, and breath—
      but essence drifts, unmeasured by the ledger.
      Liberty, once loud in the halls of Congress,
      now whispers beneath the weight of a signature.
      Do both the helm and the hull still seek the same star?
      
      And if the founders’ compass lies beneath glass—
      a relic admired but rarely consulted—
      has science outrun the soul’s slow questions?
      Do leaders mold citizens, or do citizens mold the mold?
      Tariffs may be tools, but stability is the forge.

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         Ken Burgessposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

         I think you see it in a perspective that is more aligned with what the media (CNN - NY Times - Etc.) is projecting.
         
         Congress has proven to be broken for more than a quarter century... they have not been the People's voice, they have been the voice of Financial Institutions, Big Pharma, even foreign nation interests over that of the People.
         
         The Repeal of Glass Steagall is a prime example.
         
         The bailout of banks (and GM) that were "too big to fail".
         
         NAFTA... that was a great for the workers of America... raises and benefits stalling or reversing course can be directly tied to when that took effect.
         
         Congress is not the voice of the people... I strongly suggest:
         
         Corporate Lobbying
         https://yalebooks.yale.edu/2020/07/21/c … -lobbying/
         
         An example of how corporate interests have taken control over the government agencies meant to protect the People:
         
         Monsanto Government Influence Has Fueled Unrivaled Corporate Power
         https://www.wisnerbaum.com/blog/2017/ma … d-unrival/
         
         Trump is not bypassing the Voice of the People... he is the only tool they have left... how legit he is... if he can hold back the economic tsunami coming to crash down on us, remains to be seen.

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      Ken Burgessposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

      Not addressed to me... but a great bit of insight, I like it.
      
      Gives me hope that if/when they do implant us all with Neuralinks and we are able to communicate with a higher collective we will be able to rid ourselves of this divisiveness... this Democrat - Republican ... Black - White ... etc. nonsense.
      
      But that will probably require amazing global stability to achieve... economic... climate... no major natural catastrophes.
      
      Fingers crossed.

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   Ken Burgessposted 2 weeks ago

   Who really controls our politicians?
   
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6BMM-c0SWI
   
   Three financial institutions control 95% of all businesses in America.
   
   Our politicians, over the course of the last 30 years, have transferred over 25 Trillion to those institutions... the bulk of our national debt.  More than 10 trillion during/after the Pandemic.

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