First Blog

When you are under the strike by a rattlesnake, the smart money says be very quiet, be motionless, and otherwise not even blink, lest the snake will strike. The alternative money says pull your revolver and shoot the snake.   But is there time to shoot?   You are at extreme risk.   Yet, you don’t know what it will do. What is your assessment?   You are smart, you are practical, and you can see both solutions as viable. The answer is subtle, and not to be found in textbooks or at the knee of a learned guru.   The answer is measured in fractions of a second, and with an intuition of what is best – at the instant of danger. This is the issue with trade disputes and tariffs.   What to do?   The smart solution is to lay low, be quiet, and trust on a favorable outcome.   The alternative is to take charge, apply the tariffs, and destroy the risk before near certain strike. So we have... A. Play it safe and hope against risk? B. Destroy the risk at peril?

In negotiations, your opponents would rather have you for lunch than invite you.  ------------------ Tariffs are like bad sex. You do get screwed. You just don’t like it.  ------------------ Important it is to reflect on every day.   Look for progress, love, and happiness. These give lasting pleasure. All the rest come in second.

On tariffs.   Commentators recite over and over again how the imposed tariffs are paid by the people, the taxpayer, the consumer.   True, perhaps.   But without the tariffs and with the current horrific trade arrangements between China and the USA, how many US jobs are lost, how many US industries move off-shore, how much is the imbalance of payments increased, and how much less competitive is our economy?   Something must be done to stop the usurious Chinese business practices. Too many critics imply we should negotiate “smarter.” Then tariffs won’t be needed. This is the buzz from people who really don’t know what to do.  Beware of the professors and pundits.   At most, they have negotiated the price of a used car for their kids. The Chinese cheat, and love it.   In fact, the English word “inscrutable” is a word almost exclusively used to describe the Chinese.   This word is cloaked with cloth made from threads of misdirection, misconception, and misrepresentation.   In sho