Since morning, my colleagues have been engaging in a heated debate over what will happen if
China places tariffs on soybeans and then
Soybean farmers in the region will suffer and then
This will negatively impact the entire farming sector and then
Even though the portion of the state’s GDP brought in by farming is negligible, it will really hurt the economy and then
The state funding for our school will be cut and then
The university will have to tighten its budget and then
There will be layoffs and then
It might get so bad we will all be fired.
I’m sure by the end of the day they will get this line of reasoning all the way to the apocalypse.
Clarissa's Blog 
Liberals are weirdly fixated on tariffs and are convinced they’ll deliver us major victories. Never mind that they didn’t have any opinion on tariffs before Trump announced them. Never mind that the vast majority of Americans don’t work in agriculture. Never mind that liberals didn’t have any opinion on tariffs before Trump announced them. They’re terrible!
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If Trump says today is Thursday, there will be massive anti-Thursday rallies.
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So, how often does the US Chamber of Commerce get its way? More or less often than the NRA?
Never mind that the vast majority of Americans don’t work in agriculture.
No and neither do most Americans work in the automotive industry. Was it wrong to bail them out? It is generally a terrible idea for a nation to get most of its food from elsewhere no matter how economically efficient. Agriculture is already subsidized a lot in part to prevent even more farmers from quitting.
This will negatively impact the entire farming sector and then
Even though the portion of the state’s GDP brought in by farming is negligible, it will really hurt the economy and then
Do the soyabean farmers punch above their weight in electoral terms? Because that’s…what matters when it comes to voting on a budget.
It’s not like crop growers can turn on a dime when it comes to deciding what to grow (instead of soyabeans/corn/whatever.)
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With all due respect to farmers, I don’t see in them the intellectual sophistication to vote for their economic interest over ideology. Not a single one of my colleagues has that sophistication either, so I don’t know how we can expect it. And look at me, I registered to vote as a Democrat, which is completely against my economic interests.
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The soyabean farmers don’t need “intellectual sophistication” to connect lowered crop income to funding for universities in the state budget. Or to vote against increasing or leaving that funding the same. “Why should I put money in the hands of city slickers when I’m about to lose my shirt on the farm. Again.There needs to be more relief in the budget for me.” I think that’s the assumption your anxiety spiraling colleagues were making.
I know on the Electoral College and the Senate level the rural states punch above their weight, but I don’t know how your state’s legislature operates. It can’t purely be based on population because then it would all be about what the Chicago metro wants.
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Today I discovered that several of my colleagues bought farms as a side hustle. We are definitely not too overworked if farming is a side hustle.
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Nobody buys a farm to farm nowadays unless they have a lot of money to spare. Farms are money pits. They most likely have managers.
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At least, the discussion veered off onto crops and fertilizers and never got to the apocalypse stage.
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Your post reads like a poem. 🙂
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People are so Homeric in the doom they anticipate that I had to give it all justice.
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Since you like to “side hustle,” why don’t you try selling that post to The Atlantic as a free-verse poem? It has a better rhythm and makes a lot more sense than the word-salad “poems” they routinely publish each month.
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Tell them that police and military spending will still run amok, soybeans tarrifs or not.
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Tell them that the vast majority of the electorate, especially Trump voters, doesn’t give a rat’s ass about deficits and debt.
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Her header picture looks unbearably smug for being unable to open jars. It’s exactly identical to being a Cross-Fitter.
“I stopped drinking coffee because of Trump. Now cocoa keeps me up all night.”
“I stopped watching tv because of Trump. Now I don’t know what ads are anymore.”
“I stopped wearing sunscreen because of Trump. Whoops, I have skin cancer.”
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“my colleagues have been engaging in a heated debate”
With all due respect, your colleagues are morons. In your department they’ve apparently put in considerable efforts into turning themselves into interchangeable and disposable minimum wage workers and I doubt if other departments have been any wiser.
And, from your description they’re all enjoying themselves immensely so I’d just leave them to it.
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