The Masters of Mankind

Last Saturday, hundreds of people protested on the Oswego bridge. They joined the one million Americans nationwide who organized and demanded, “Hands off!” It was a direct message about the power of public protest to the US government and the corporations that shape government policy. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “It is one of the greatest glories of America that we have the right of protest.”
Our Billionaire-in-Chief announced that Liberation Day would “make America wealthy again.” Three days prior, the New York Times wrote “America is more prosperous than ever,” in an article titled “America Has Never Been Wealthier.” The only problem in our land of plenty was that “The U.S. economy remains deeply unequal, with vast gaps in wealth and financial security.” The Trump tariffs are a tax that will only exacerbate the deep inequality.
Tariffs are a protectionist measure; “It protects the consumer against low prices.” Fortune called the tariffs “a massive tax hike on consumers.” The Center for American Progress said, “Trump’s new tariffs are the largest tax hike in nearly 60 years.” The tariffs will “equate to an average tax increase of more than $1,900 per US household in 2025.” The Financial Times wrote that the tariffs will increase “taxes on the consumption of working-class households to finance lower income taxes for well-off households.” The Wall Street Journal said the global trade war will “transfer wealth from consumers to businesses.” Trump donor and billionaire Bill Ackman said, “We are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter.” The price of coffee, clothing, groceries, cars, and building a house will all be more expensive. Inflation will increase. Unemployment and layoffs will increase.
It’s not all bad news. The New Reupublic wrote, “The Trump tariff will make people who own domestic manufacturing companies rich beyond their greediest dreams, aggressively redistributing wealth and income upward in the United States.”
At the same time, Senate Republicans push to pass a tax package. It would “cut taxes disproportionately for the wealthiest Americans while taking away Medicaid and food assistance and adding $3.8 trillion in deficits over 10 years.” The rich will get richer from the President’s beautiful tariffs, and the poor will get poorer. This is a function of our system. For the 99% of the US population, our economy is inherently unfair. But, for the 1%, our economic system is a stupendous success. The idea that a few elites who concentrate wealth and power decide economic policy goes as far back as Adam Smith in “The Wealth of Nations.” “The principal architects” of state policy were the “merchants and manufacturers,” whose interest “has been most peculiarly attended to,” no matter the grievous impact on the population. The principal architects of state policy generally have “an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public.”
To be clear, this is America first. The elite ruling class of America first. Adam Smith wrote, “All for ourselves and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.”

Anton Porcari

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