RE: Tariffs - Two horses one saddle

All of us and you and me are no exception, tend to believe that "things were better" back in the day. It's a mental mechanism of sorts, a post mortem analysis that allows us to feel important emotions: Gratitude, nostalgia, love even. Emotions we can attach to our current idea of happiness. "In retrospect, I'm a happy man".

This mental mechanism has evolved for a reason. Some say, and I think they are correct, that since life never becomes easier, per say, we need a way to soften past experiences, to heal, if you will, as to be able to build confidence in who we are today, who we need to be.

In other words, there's a story we tell ourselves, that we need to tell ourselves, to be deal with our circumstances today.

Granted this seems like a detour, I do think keeping this in mind is relevant to understand the fear we have regarding Globalism.

We've effectively created a myth:

"When nations were completely isolated, life was better"

A rewriting of history, but not because there's ill intent of any sorts, but because this is how the brain is wired to remember the past.

None of the numbers available to us show this to be the case. Mortality rates have dropped drastically (life expectancy). Poverty has been reduced greatly, etc. Again, that's not an opinion, these are numbers anyone can verify.

Now this doesn't mean that globalism has no flaws. As with all systematic changes it comes at a cost. But, I guess if we don't zoom out, we can always find reasons as to why something is bad, because nothing is entirely good or bad.

Take your phone, for example. It has parts sourced from 20 countries in it. Without global supply chains it would be an impossibility for the tech to exist.

I feel almost obligated to share this video with you. It's entertaining, apolitical, but also works like cold water hitting the face.

But here's another point, and one that if I don't mention, I'm sure you will find yourself latching on to it.

Why are politicians and truth tellers always going on about Globalists?

For one, let's not forget they are showmen. You on the stage take on a persona to entertain the audience, and so do they. Instead of songs, their show consists of fear. Effectively "Globalists" are for them, the boogeymen, the elites behind the curtains destroying the little guy, us.

The show works, it triggers what I first described almost instantly. It latches on to our de facto re-writing of the past, and it sells us the idea that the system can be fixed, but only if we kill these ghosts. This is being said, while this same people enjoy all the fruits of global supply chains. They are passengers in the car, warning about Internal combustion engines destroying the air quality. (another cost/benefit conversation)

Again, I'm not saying our global economy is perfect, because nothing is. I'm saying that the nostalgia we feel, the temptation for isolationism and what have you, is not predicated on solid data, but more in emotion. And, even if the rhetoric of the politicians and talking heads sounds pretty, the pandora box was opened long ago.

We would be hard pressed to find people who want to live like the Amish do. Even the Amish found loopholes, to tap into some "globalism".