Thoughts for the Day, April 9, 2025: Sanity temporarily prevails
Tariffs
Partial sanity has prevailed for a short period of time. Who knows how long it will last. The markets reacted positively on one of the best days in market history. The S&P was up 9.5%, the Dow 7.9% and the NASDAQ 12.1%.
I give President Trump credit for listening to the very loud critics of his tariff strategy. However, we do not know what his next move will be. It is important that the business leaders, politicians, and the media continue to speak up about the dangers of tariffs.
We cannot celebrate today’s short-term win. The S&P is still down 10% from its February high. We still must remember that a tariff of 110% still applies to China and the U.S, imports more than $500 billion in product from China on an annual basis.
It is naïve to think the tariffs on the products imported from China will be absorbed by the companies purchasing the products. The cost of the tariffs will be passed on to the consumer and we are the consumer. Prices will be going up. When prices go up, less buying occurs. When less buying occurs, the economy slows down. When the economy slows down layoffs occur, and the cycle continues.
We are not out of the woods. We must continue to voice our concerns about the insanity of Trump’s tariffs.
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There is a reason the founding fathers did not give the president the power to implement tariffs.
It is next to impossible to develop a business strategy when the leader of the free world and his staff give conflicting statements on a regular basis. The last week’s turmoil in the world markets is a direct result of a president who makes decisions based on gut feel and emotion. This creates uncertainty, and nothing upsets the business environment more than uncertainty.
Because the President’s decisions are based on gut feel and emotion, President Trump is constantly changing course. Even his own staff cannot keep up. Business leaders cannot believe what he says today will apply to tomorrow
Here are just a few examples of Trump’s and his staffs’ inconsistency:
· Today’s turnabout came just days after Mr. Trump declared on social media that he would never change his tariff policies,
· Mr. Trump himself acknowledged that his decision was made in response to the market turmoil, telling reporters Wednesday afternoon that “you have to be flexible,” and that “over the last few days it looked pretty glum.”
· In announcing the pause, the White House repeatedly tried to suggest it was part of a premeditated strategy. Ms. Leavitt accused reporters of having “failed to see what President Trump is doing here,” and Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said it was Mr. Trump’s “strategy all along.”
· “If you want your tariff rate to be zero,” Mr. Trump said outside the White House last Wednesday, “then you build your product right here in America.”
· “This is something, certainly, we’ve been talking about for a period of time,” President Trump said of his decision to pause his tariffs. Trump and his aides had maintained for days that he would institute no such delay to his tariffs. “We don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt,” he told reporters.
When the President is bouncing all over the place on something as important as tariffs, the business world will just hunker down.
It is also a reason that the founding fathers did not give the president the constitutional authority to implement tariffs. They gave the authority to congress because they wanted deliberation and public discussion before something as important as tariffs were assessed.
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Medicaid in Michigan is at risk
With the ice storm and all the other craziness going around, I have been holding off sharing this important editorial that appeared in Bridge Michigan by Jim Havemann, former DHS director, under governors Engler and Snyder. Michigan Medicaid is at risk because of Congress. The most vulnerable of Michigan citizens will be most affected. Here is Jim’s editorial.
When politicians consider budget cuts, Medicaid is usually one of the first programs to be scrutinized, and once again, it’s under attack. Congress is proposing an $880 billion cut over the course of 10 years — a devastating blow to health care in all 50 states, and one that would hit Michigan especially hard.
A strong economy depends on a strong health care system, and as the top employment sector in our state, employing more than 1 million residents, our economy only stands to suffer. Meanwhile, the motivation behind these cuts — while under the guise of rooting out fraud and waste — is far more nefarious.
One in every four Michiganders — our neighbors, friends, and family — are enrolled in Medicaid or the Healthy Michigan Plan. This includes children with special medical needs, seniors in nursing homes, individuals receiving home health care and hospice, and those battling mental illness and substance use disorders. It also supports working families who earn just below the poverty line and have nowhere else to turn for health care. Gutting $1.7 billion annually from Michigan’s trusted health care system over an arbitrary budget target is both irresponsible and dangerous.
Navigating the private and public health care system has become too complicated. With less bureaucratic oversight, it could be streamlined, resulting in cost savings and improved care. I agree that reforms are needed, but they must be done thoughtfully and responsibly — not through reckless cuts that will harm our economy and leave people without lifesaving care.
Given my previous roles working in government at the state and federal levels, I know that reforming federal rules and regulations would be a good starting point. The current federal rules and regulations have over 20,000 pages that need to be consolidated and streamlined. An undertaking such as this could result in significant cost savings.
We also need more innovation in health care to achieve positive health outcomes, and that’s a perfect reform where states can be a leader. For instance, we need to move Medicaid away from a fee-for-service model to a payment reimbursement based on value-based care (positive outcomes). Medicare pays in bundled rates, which streamlines a traditional fee-for-service model, and it’s something Medicaid could adopt with ease. In Michigan, each geographical area has differing rates and sets boundaries for services. By having benefits be portable and standardizing services throughout the state, we could both improve care and the costs associated with it.
There’s then the argument that Medicaid is riddled with fraud and waste, but Michigan already holds providers accountable. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services employs investigators who, in 2023 alone, saved $295 million through fraud detection and cost avoidance. The Michigan Attorney General’s Office also has staff members dedicated to prosecuting fraud. If the true intent of these federal changes was efficiency, they wouldn’t have gutted inspector general oversight at the national level.
Medicaid saves lives, improves health outcomes, and extends life expectancy. Instead of treating it as a burden, we should take pride in ensuring all residents have access to quality care. When you consider real options for reform that could truly benefit taxpayers, the true motivation behind these “cuts” becomes astoundingly clear: to fund tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy — at the expense of those who need care the most.
We still have time to prevent an economic and health crisis in Michigan. Call your representatives and senators, demand better, and let your voices be heard.
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Speak up and speak out.
There is a lesson to be learned from President Trump’s pause in the implementation of most of the tariffs. Even President Trump will listen when he is getting hit from all sides, especially those who supported him in the elections. We saw it today, and we saw it when he removed Matt Goetz for the nomination of Attorney General.
It is important that we continue to speak up and speak out. It is important that we say it loud, and we say it often.
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Paige Bueckers
Check out my Video of the Day, an interview with Paige Bueckers of UConn’s women’s national championship team. Bueckers was the national Player of the Year as a freshman. Injuries dominated her next three years as she took a backseat to the Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. Bueckers is expected to be the number one pick in the upcoming WNBA draff.
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Quote of the Day: “When I saw you with the chainsaw, I started praying that you wouldn’t hurt yourself.” Leah to me after I cut up one of the large tree trunks in our yard yesterday.
Orchid of the Day: We the people. When we are loud enough and when it comes from every direction, we still can have influence.
Onion of the Day: The Detroit Tiger during the ninth inning of today’s game against the Yankees. In the Yankee’s half of the inning, the Tigers’ catcher dropped two pop foul balls on successive pitches. In between the two pop fouls, the “Pitch Com” device for the Tiger catcher was not working, so there was a 5-minute delay while a new Pitch Com was obtained. The delay impacted on the Tiger’s pitcher who hit two batters immediately following the errors by the catcher. The Tigers had a chance to get out of the inning, but the Tigers’ second baseman made an error on a routine double play ball. In the end the Yankees scored two unearned runs to take a 4-0 lead. The Tigers rallied for three runs in the bottom half of the inning to lose by one run.
In all my years of watching baseball, I do not recall an inning as bizarre as the top half of the ninth.
Lyrics of the Day: Hey kids shake it loose together The spotlight's hittin' something that's been known to change the weather
We'll kill the fatted calf tonight so stick around You're gonna hear electric music solid walls of sound Say Candy and Ronnie have you seen them yet?
Answer to Lyrics of the Day for April 8, 2025: Don’t stop. Fleetwood Mac
Question of the Day: Will Trump take credit for having one of the greatest days in market history fall under his presidency?
Video of the Day:
Paige Bueckers talks UConn winning the NCAA championship
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