When my son was an infant, he loved pureed carrots. It got to the point where, at one well-baby checkup, his doctor asked why his skin was orange. I hadn't noticed it. I wracked my brain, and realized it was the carrots.
"What some of us want to know is why orange juice, which people can live without, is getting a break, while coffee, an absolutely essential nutrient, isn’t."
Questions like this are why Paul is a Nobel, and we isn't.
We coffee drinkers just need to tell him the caffeine in Diet Coke comes from coffee beans, truth aside. He will suddenly awaken to the fact that he ment to put coffee on the exempt list but just forgot.
Another possibility is that he is aware that oranges are grown in California and wants to punish them. Never mind that oranges are grown in Florida too and that the growers are overwhelmingly MAGA. If it made sense we could rule it out.
The Florida orange juice industry is dead thanks to climate change. Orange production is down 95% since 2004 and many groves have been repurposed. Look at the fine print on the carton of your "Florida's Natural" and it says "contains juice from Mexico and Brazil."
It's true that citrus greening is independent of climate change, but climate change-induced intensification of storms is hurting Florida citrus as well. Hurricane Milton in October pummeled 70% of Florida’s most productive acreage just as orange growers were recovering from previous hurricanes and disease threats.
California’s Orange production is also concentrated in its MAGA interior counties. If he thinks oranges are still produced in Orange County just south of LA, for example, that hasn’t been true since the 1970s. But it’s not surprising since everything he thinks and says is outdated by 35-65 years. So as usual, if he were really trying to hurt blue voters, he’s misfired.
Folks, I'm as blue as any of you, and I drink a big glass of OJ every morning and can't stand coffee. I hope that doesn't disqualify me from your ranks.
Mr. Krugman is mostly on point but I think misses one thing. The main point for Trump is not actually winning, but convincing his base that he is "winning" The headline in yesterday's NY Times was about Trump raising tariffs on Canada to 35%. You had to get to the seventh paragraph to find that it would not apply to an estimated 94% of Canadian exports to the U.S. Similarly, while Krugman and others have pointed out that the EU concessions are basically empty, the dominant narrative is that Trump "won" that one too. Trump's central skill is as a showman and performer, and he is very good at creating an alternative reality for his base to live in, and the base in turn pressures Republican "leaders" to act as if the alternative reality were real. As long as he keeps up the con game, which he has done for ten years now, he is in good shape, unfortunately.
The NYT is becoming an embarrassment to its former self. The headline should have been about Trump failing to get a single one of his illegal tariffs formally approved by any other country's government. This isn't new. In Trumps first admin, his "deal" with China on ag products was most notable because China simply ignored it.
Big discrepancy between the headlines and the actual articles. Ignore the headlines. They are designed for Trump who won't read beyond the headlines. I bet it drives the writers crazy.
"What some of us want to know is why orange juice, which people can live without, is getting a break, while coffee, an absolutely essential nutrient, isn’t."
Not for nothing, America does grow oranges in Florida & California, right? We produce orange juice, right? I’ve seen bottles at the grocery store that even say “Florida Orange Juice”—it’s a brand. I thought the whole entire point of tariffs was to protect American growth. Is it that we’ve deported everyone who’ll pick the oranges? Cuz I’d believe that.
Florida's Natural brand used to be all Florida oranges. Now it blends concentrate from other regions like Mexico and Brazil. It's noted on the package now, but not the percentages.
Florida's orange juice industry is failing/has failed between active hurricane seasons and tree disease. If you scroll up a few posts you'll see one from Edmund Clingan with a link to an article on it from The Guardian.
Meanwhile, as you've noted, Paul, the LameStream Media (yesterday CNN) continues to spout that he is "winning" his "tariff war". Sheesh!
Anyhoo, to rework an old (folically inappropriate) blond joke:
Recently, the Tariffer-in-Chief was found in front of a soft drink dispenser in the hallway of a Vegas casino, happily inserting quarter after quarter and receiving can after can of Diet Coke. When asked what he was doing, he replied, "DUH! I'm winning! I'm winning!" 🤓
The thing you forget to account for is that everything Trump does is for OPTICS. He doesn't care if his outrageous tactics work or not, as long as his rabid base gets the red meat they need.
22% of Brazilian beef exports go to the US, but over twice that goes to China. The EU also imports more Brazilian beef than the US does, so I think Brazil will come out OK. Brazilian beef is mainly used for ground beef and additions to processed foods in the US. As always with these tariffs, the low income people will get hit the worst.
I think this is a good point, but I'm not sure he even cares about the opinion of his base. Cutting Medicaid (which has terrible consequences for Red states), gutting renewable energy funding (again, a major impact on Red states), plus other actions I'm sure I'm forgetting about. His priority is optics, but he isn't bothered by which political side is effected by the optics.
Cutting Medicaid is Congress's doing. They're working independently, in parallel with Trump, to destroy the US. Trump's a drooling obsessive senile fool. Congress is full of corrupt hacks and KKK wanna-be-s.
As long as Fox and Newsmax come up with an effective soundbite why cutting Medicaid is someone else's fault, his base will stick with him. For awhile at least.
Brazil is a serious country with massive resources. Your chart illustrates the natural outcome of Trump's insanity. China will be the main beneficiary.
All these resource-rich countries will be drawn to the fruits of the Chinese economy, securing the United States as an increasingly isolated and weak country.
America accounts for about 10% of the world's exports so when you having a trade war against the other 90%, as Krugman writes, you don't have the juice. Or as Trump might say, you don't hold the cards. We did have about 13% of the world's imports before Trump had his TERRIBLE TARIFF TANTRUM.
I am glad there is still a place one can learn about reality, even as we swim in an ocean of lies, seemingly bought into by those claiming to be in charge of reality checks.
One more thing: A 39% tariff on Switzerland! This is prima facie evidence for corrupt use of the law regarding emergencies and invasion. Is there fentanyl coming from Berne? Is Lindt chocolate in the gunsights of the MAHA movement? Is the weight of a wristwatch constituting a health and safety risk?
I'm not sure. I'll take a look and see what I can find out. What I was thinking of is that here on this side of the Atl (I live in Ireland) the UK farmers have been putting something weird into the cattle feed to keep them from wrecking the environment with belches and farts (oh yah, couldn't be oil wells, could it) that wrecks the flavor of the milk, and Cadbury and the lovely Green and Blacks now taste like shit. We're spared that stuff so far in Ire. But the Swiss, bless them, have kept it as it was.
Got it! - "Dear Ms Daniel, Thank you your below email. At Lindt UK, we only import Lindt products into the UK and Ireland that have been manufactured in our European factories. I can confirm that our European factories do not use high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient in our chocolate. We use beet sugar and cane sugar. We hope that this information is of help to you, and thank you for your continued support of the Lindt brand. Consumer Affairs Executive, Lindt & Sprüngli (UK) Ltd"
"What some of us want to know is why orange juice, which people can live without, is getting a break, while coffee, an absolutely essential nutrient, isn’t."
So true! It's not a coincidence that Microsoft and Amazon started in the same town as Starbucks!
"What some of us want to know is why orange juice, which people can live without, is getting a break, while coffee, an absolutely essential nutrient, isn’t."
You said in your excellent article today "...So the confrontation with Brazil illustrates in especially stark form the lawlessness of Trump’s tariff spree. It also, however, illustrates the gap between the amount of power Trump apparently thinks he has and the reality..."
You are absolutely correct Prof. Krugman. However, what we cannot forget after all these very stupid and even childish government actions is that, most unfortunately, these decisions are coming from a country that once was a serious nation managed by intelligent and responsible individuals aiming always at benefiting the institutions and its people. All that is gone!
Instead of having this convicted criminal in jail, what we have is a clown performing miserably bad in a third rate circus-country...the most powerful country the world has ever known. Shame on these traitors!
Brazil faced the same danger as we did on January 6th, only a couple of years later, when Bolsonaro attempted to overthrow the government. But Brazil's constitution and judiciary proved stronger than ours in the face of blatant corruption, and Bolsonaro is being held accountable for his actions. He's facing trial and cannot run for president until 2030. And now our president is making Lula, Brazil's liberal president, more popular through his attempts to control Brazil's economy and judiciary.
Why? It's because he doesn't drink coffee but he does drink orange juice so it's all about him as always.
Yes, perhaps that's why he has an orange hue!
I make a mean tasty spicy tequila drink with oj that I enjoy almost daily now, but I’m not orange yet! 😂
When my son was an infant, he loved pureed carrots. It got to the point where, at one well-baby checkup, his doctor asked why his skin was orange. I hadn't noticed it. I wracked my brain, and realized it was the carrots.
Betsy, yes in the ‘70’s I drank fresh carrot juice almost daily and didn’t see my skin turn orange but have read about it.
What would you call that? A mariposa?
Anejo tequila, freshly squeezed oj, blood orange & chili pepper cocktail mix, lime juice…just a cocktail I made up!
"What some of us want to know is why orange juice, which people can live without, is getting a break, while coffee, an absolutely essential nutrient, isn’t."
Questions like this are why Paul is a Nobel, and we isn't.
We coffee drinkers just need to tell him the caffeine in Diet Coke comes from coffee beans, truth aside. He will suddenly awaken to the fact that he ment to put coffee on the exempt list but just forgot.
The coffee growers didn't contribute enough to Trump's well being. Cough it up folks!
Another possibility is that he is aware that oranges are grown in California and wants to punish them. Never mind that oranges are grown in Florida too and that the growers are overwhelmingly MAGA. If it made sense we could rule it out.
The Florida orange juice industry is dead thanks to climate change. Orange production is down 95% since 2004 and many groves have been repurposed. Look at the fine print on the carton of your "Florida's Natural" and it says "contains juice from Mexico and Brazil."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/22/florida-orange-industry
It’s actually due to a pathogen, “citrus greening,” and nothing to do with climate change.
It's true that citrus greening is independent of climate change, but climate change-induced intensification of storms is hurting Florida citrus as well. Hurricane Milton in October pummeled 70% of Florida’s most productive acreage just as orange growers were recovering from previous hurricanes and disease threats.
Fair enough, but the mere existence of hurricanes in Florida is not due to climate change. Let’s not join the other side.
Climate change can affect pathogen spread too, if only by stressing the trees.
Hurricanes and sustained high winds also cause pathogen spread.
California’s Orange production is also concentrated in its MAGA interior counties. If he thinks oranges are still produced in Orange County just south of LA, for example, that hasn’t been true since the 1970s. But it’s not surprising since everything he thinks and says is outdated by 35-65 years. So as usual, if he were really trying to hurt blue voters, he’s misfired.
Folks, I'm as blue as any of you, and I drink a big glass of OJ every morning and can't stand coffee. I hope that doesn't disqualify me from your ranks.
Why do you hate America?
:)
Seems reasonable but do you know this is true?
Mr. Krugman is mostly on point but I think misses one thing. The main point for Trump is not actually winning, but convincing his base that he is "winning" The headline in yesterday's NY Times was about Trump raising tariffs on Canada to 35%. You had to get to the seventh paragraph to find that it would not apply to an estimated 94% of Canadian exports to the U.S. Similarly, while Krugman and others have pointed out that the EU concessions are basically empty, the dominant narrative is that Trump "won" that one too. Trump's central skill is as a showman and performer, and he is very good at creating an alternative reality for his base to live in, and the base in turn pressures Republican "leaders" to act as if the alternative reality were real. As long as he keeps up the con game, which he has done for ten years now, he is in good shape, unfortunately.
as one commenter said during his first term, he's an idiot, but he's very good at it.
As the saying goes - never argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
The NYT is becoming an embarrassment to its former self. The headline should have been about Trump failing to get a single one of his illegal tariffs formally approved by any other country's government. This isn't new. In Trumps first admin, his "deal" with China on ag products was most notable because China simply ignored it.
Big discrepancy between the headlines and the actual articles. Ignore the headlines. They are designed for Trump who won't read beyond the headlines. I bet it drives the writers crazy.
Trump is very far from being in good shape. He is a physical catastrophe.
You have a valid point, but I didn't mean to refer to his personal health. I meant what would enable him to survive politically.
it was a bad joke :)
The US is going to be persona non grata all over the world before Dumpy hits his one-year anniversary.
"What some of us want to know is why orange juice, which people can live without, is getting a break, while coffee, an absolutely essential nutrient, isn’t."
That is so nicely put, sir.
Sitting here with my lovely coffee, oh yes!
Not for nothing, America does grow oranges in Florida & California, right? We produce orange juice, right? I’ve seen bottles at the grocery store that even say “Florida Orange Juice”—it’s a brand. I thought the whole entire point of tariffs was to protect American growth. Is it that we’ve deported everyone who’ll pick the oranges? Cuz I’d believe that.
Florida's Natural brand used to be all Florida oranges. Now it blends concentrate from other regions like Mexico and Brazil. It's noted on the package now, but not the percentages.
Not much oranges production (or OJ) left in Florida.
Florida's orange juice industry is failing/has failed between active hurricane seasons and tree disease. If you scroll up a few posts you'll see one from Edmund Clingan with a link to an article on it from The Guardian.
Cool thx!
Drinking my coffee as I read Dr. Krugman’s piece this morning, I would absolutely agree - both are essential nutrients. And GO Lula!
Meanwhile, as you've noted, Paul, the LameStream Media (yesterday CNN) continues to spout that he is "winning" his "tariff war". Sheesh!
Anyhoo, to rework an old (folically inappropriate) blond joke:
Recently, the Tariffer-in-Chief was found in front of a soft drink dispenser in the hallway of a Vegas casino, happily inserting quarter after quarter and receiving can after can of Diet Coke. When asked what he was doing, he replied, "DUH! I'm winning! I'm winning!" 🤓
When Trump makes any exemptions I wonder who is paying him off? Trump is corrupt to the bean…I mean bone.
it's the american people who are paying him off
whether they know it or not.
The thing you forget to account for is that everything Trump does is for OPTICS. He doesn't care if his outrageous tactics work or not, as long as his rabid base gets the red meat they need.
Their meat—we import a lot of Brazilian beef—is about to get pricier
22% of Brazilian beef exports go to the US, but over twice that goes to China. The EU also imports more Brazilian beef than the US does, so I think Brazil will come out OK. Brazilian beef is mainly used for ground beef and additions to processed foods in the US. As always with these tariffs, the low income people will get hit the worst.
I think this is a good point, but I'm not sure he even cares about the opinion of his base. Cutting Medicaid (which has terrible consequences for Red states), gutting renewable energy funding (again, a major impact on Red states), plus other actions I'm sure I'm forgetting about. His priority is optics, but he isn't bothered by which political side is effected by the optics.
Cutting Medicaid is Congress's doing. They're working independently, in parallel with Trump, to destroy the US. Trump's a drooling obsessive senile fool. Congress is full of corrupt hacks and KKK wanna-be-s.
As long as Fox and Newsmax come up with an effective soundbite why cutting Medicaid is someone else's fault, his base will stick with him. For awhile at least.
He probably doesn't even remember who the latest 'deal' is with. It's just a notch in his toy gun.
Brazil is a serious country with massive resources. Your chart illustrates the natural outcome of Trump's insanity. China will be the main beneficiary.
All these resource-rich countries will be drawn to the fruits of the Chinese economy, securing the United States as an increasingly isolated and weak country.
We know that's what is going to happen, because that's exactly what happened last time.
America accounts for about 10% of the world's exports so when you having a trade war against the other 90%, as Krugman writes, you don't have the juice. Or as Trump might say, you don't hold the cards. We did have about 13% of the world's imports before Trump had his TERRIBLE TARIFF TANTRUM.
https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/share_world_exports/
https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/share_world_imports/
I am glad there is still a place one can learn about reality, even as we swim in an ocean of lies, seemingly bought into by those claiming to be in charge of reality checks.
Trump and Bolsonaro have parallel lives.
Except that I think Bolsonaro is actually going to face consequences for what he's done.
One more thing: A 39% tariff on Switzerland! This is prima facie evidence for corrupt use of the law regarding emergencies and invasion. Is there fentanyl coming from Berne? Is Lindt chocolate in the gunsights of the MAHA movement? Is the weight of a wristwatch constituting a health and safety risk?
Maybe because swiss banks (no angels, mind you) are not as complacent as Deutsche Bank
Or because Swiss banks are famous and prominent, with mystique attached, which makes them special and he just hates that?
Well, Lindt chocolates are remarkably free of some of the weird additives in other brands, so maybe it's that!
Do they use fructose or cane sugar in their chocolates?
I have asked them. Don't have an answer specifically about that. But here's a good resource about what they use and how they do it etc. https://www.lindt.co.uk/help/lindt-frequently-asked-questions
I'm not sure. I'll take a look and see what I can find out. What I was thinking of is that here on this side of the Atl (I live in Ireland) the UK farmers have been putting something weird into the cattle feed to keep them from wrecking the environment with belches and farts (oh yah, couldn't be oil wells, could it) that wrecks the flavor of the milk, and Cadbury and the lovely Green and Blacks now taste like shit. We're spared that stuff so far in Ire. But the Swiss, bless them, have kept it as it was.
Got it! - "Dear Ms Daniel, Thank you your below email. At Lindt UK, we only import Lindt products into the UK and Ireland that have been manufactured in our European factories. I can confirm that our European factories do not use high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient in our chocolate. We use beet sugar and cane sugar. We hope that this information is of help to you, and thank you for your continued support of the Lindt brand. Consumer Affairs Executive, Lindt & Sprüngli (UK) Ltd"
"What some of us want to know is why orange juice, which people can live without, is getting a break, while coffee, an absolutely essential nutrient, isn’t."
So true! It's not a coincidence that Microsoft and Amazon started in the same town as Starbucks!
It doesn't pay to tax things people can do without. You tax necessities.
Krugman nails it again:
"What some of us want to know is why orange juice, which people can live without, is getting a break, while coffee, an absolutely essential nutrient, isn’t."
HAHAHHAHHAHHAH
Wait, we grow a lot of coffee, don't we? Checking .... Oops, no, we don't.
You said in your excellent article today "...So the confrontation with Brazil illustrates in especially stark form the lawlessness of Trump’s tariff spree. It also, however, illustrates the gap between the amount of power Trump apparently thinks he has and the reality..."
You are absolutely correct Prof. Krugman. However, what we cannot forget after all these very stupid and even childish government actions is that, most unfortunately, these decisions are coming from a country that once was a serious nation managed by intelligent and responsible individuals aiming always at benefiting the institutions and its people. All that is gone!
Instead of having this convicted criminal in jail, what we have is a clown performing miserably bad in a third rate circus-country...the most powerful country the world has ever known. Shame on these traitors!
Brazil faced the same danger as we did on January 6th, only a couple of years later, when Bolsonaro attempted to overthrow the government. But Brazil's constitution and judiciary proved stronger than ours in the face of blatant corruption, and Bolsonaro is being held accountable for his actions. He's facing trial and cannot run for president until 2030. And now our president is making Lula, Brazil's liberal president, more popular through his attempts to control Brazil's economy and judiciary.
He will not stop until he is stopped.