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My Point of View by Joe Pacovsky

Our economy is experiencing a devastating self-inflicted crisis. The tariffs unleashed by Trump are roiling markets for our products and increasing costs for goods needed by everyone. The average family may see increases of $4,000 or more in their living expenses. The cost of a new vehicle is estimated to increase by $2,500 to $12,000.

Farmers overwhelmingly voted for Trump. The rural vote is probably the difference that put him over the top in many swing states. His tariff fiasco has upended markets for many farm commodities and will further increase the cost of already expensive ag inputs, portending a further drop in farm income this year.

Admitting the potential damage that Trump’s tariffs may inflict on farmers, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins stated that the White House is already considering another huge $27 billion bailout for farmers. The lion’s share of the expensive bailout will go to the multi-millionaire segment of producers. The small and specialty producers will be left with crumbs if anything.

The irony is that farmers overwhelmingly voted for tariffs with their vote for Trump. Their tenuous situation is a consequence of their action.

I can sympathize with farmers and their suffering. The plans for Project 2025 were readily available before the election last fall. The segment on USDA program cuts was a dire warning for alert farmers who rightly believed that Trump would pursue his agenda.

This time around, special bailouts for farmers would probably be less popular since the lunatic that they overwhelmingly supported for president is harming so many of their rural friends and neighbors and hurting vulnerable segments of our society.

The tariffs will hugely increase tax receipts and be passed on to consumers as increased costs of basic products. Small local businesses that sell goods made in China must scramble to modify their business models during Trump’s unpredictable changes in tariffs. These tariff increases will primarily impact the buying power of people with lower incomes. At the same time, Republicans are moving tax legislation that will primarily benefit billionaires and corporations with extravagant tax breaks. This is a huge giveaway to the rich at the expense of everyone else.

Funding for programs essential for ordinary people to survive is being gutted, programs like Meals on Wheels, cutting 80,000 staff that serve our veterans, defunding school lunch programs and public schools. While billions of dollars more are proposed to be handed out to farmers to fix the damage of Trump’s disastrous policies, USAID is being destroyed, resulting in starving children and denied emergency health aid around the world which also stops epidemics before they reach us. Health research workers in the federal government and universities are being eliminated, setting back life-saving progress on cures for diseases that afflict millions of people for years if not decades.

The bottom line is that we can’t afford Trump’s economic crisis and the Republican majorities in Congress who are supporting him. Especially in rural areas, all of us, not just farmers, will need a bailout if this keeps up.

Joe Pacovsky of Hayward is a member of the Freeborn County DFL Party.