IT'S funny the way small events very often have a big brother. This happened over the past week or two, and both brothers – and their effect – are still reverberating.
In the Dáil, a political explosion occurred when Micheál Martin tried to get (and succeeded) extra speaking time for the group propping up his government. In the course of the outcry the Dáil had to be closed down several times to quieten the outcry from Sinn Féin and just about every opposition party. Micheál won the fierce contest for the good reason that he had more TDs prepared to vote with him and his party. Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, Labour and People Before Profit were left to sit and simmer, occasionally yelling that they had no confidence in the highly-paid Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy.
A short but fierce clash, then, and one which has at least temporarily united the opposition, which is not what Micheál would have wanted.
Across the Atlantic, the big brother action was hot and heavy. Intent on making America great again (notice how the US considers itself America, ignoring the existence of Canada and all of South America). Anyway, Donald Trump announced a hefty tariff on goods coming from just about everywhere in the world. The US argues that for years other countries have “looted and pillaged” the American economy at will, leaving the poor little US a gutted nation.
I might explain the present trading system, and what exactly Trump has done in each case where he sees other countries taking advantage of the US, but alas I’m not an economist. Suffice to say that Trump is intent on American companies operating in the US, whether they like it or not. The problem is, even when you suspect that there might be a smidgin of truth in what he says, the words come from a pouting mouth that by default delivers lies.
This action of slapping huge tariffs on foreign countries has caused hysteria in the stock markets, with stocks and shares tumbling in a way last seen in the Covid years.
So who won and who lost?
In the Dail, it looks as if Fianna Fáil have won. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and its Michael Lowry lackeys have outvoted the opposition, which means the opposition is left to grind its teeth and pray for the day when they’ll get their own back on the government.
On the international stage, it looks like Trump and the US are going to get their way, despite the profound concern of experts in economics. The stage is set for a global trade war where, we’re assured, there will be no winners.
Most of us only half-understand what’s going on and why. If at school we’d been taught even International Economics for Dummies we might be in a better position to see how much Trump is making it up as he goes along and if there is even a modicum of sense to his blunderbuss tactics.
For now at least, the political atmosphere in the Dáil is poisonous – a government insisting that it is improving Dáil procedures while an Opposition believes the total opposite. Internationally, Trump’s opponents (i.e., the rest of the world) are terrified that Trump’s actions will produce a global recession or even depression.
Occasionally I hear otherwise sensible people say that, well, at least Trump is doing something and fulfilling his promises, unlike other administrations. In the Dáil, Micheál Martin must be feeling pretty smug, given the ferocity of the attacks on his government, that he has got his way.
His oversight? He may have under-calculated the outrage of opposition parties and the electorate over mavericks like the Healey-Raes getting more speaking time than that of the ordinary Fianna Fáil backbencher. The law of unintended consequences, you might murmur.
In Washington DC, Trump may have made a similar miscalculation. It’s one thing to say that you’ll Make America Great Again; it’s another matter if you’ve pulled down the economic house, with everyone, including yourself, inside it.
