they sat there on tv with their slick hair and shark teeth
talking about how the foreigners were gonna pay
for the privilege of selling junk to america—
tariffs, they called it.
a toll at the gate.
but the gate’s in detroit.
and the toll booth’s in kansas.
and the guy paying it is some overworked sap
trying to buy a new washing machine
that now costs a hundred bucks more
because some orange-faced clown in d.c.
wants to swing his economic dick
like it’s the 1950s again.
you slap a tariff on imported steel,
and who eats it?
the guy building your trailer park.
you tax the aluminium,
and it’s your six-pack of beer that costs more.
the foreign companies?
they laugh and pass the bill
to the american distributor,
who passes it to the store,
who sticks it right in your face
with a smile and a barcode.
and you pay it,
like a good little idiot.
they tell you it’s about jobs.
sure.
jobs that never come back,
because factories don’t rise from asphalt
just because you made imported bolts more expensive.
they rise from innovation,
from blood and fire and guts—
none of which you’ll find in a government memo.

and this talk about making china bleed?
hell, china’s got back doors, side deals,
a whole continent to sell to.
they ride the wave.
it’s the american sucker
that gets the boot in the teeth.
but maybe that’s the point.
maybe the real aim is collapse.
to burn the house down and say,
“look, it was termites.”
drag the whole world down
just to prove you could throw a punch.
but when the fire spreads,
it’s your mattress that burns,
not theirs.
they’ve got exits.
you’ve got credit card debt
and a fridge made in korea
that just broke again.
so yeah, they said the world would pay.
but it was always you.
always.

S. Tominaga AKA CSW
Apr 5, 2025
https://x.com/CsTominaga/status/1908357403198054777?t=t8HeWpGVrEiw-dYfiIGxyA&s=19

https://t.me/S_Tominaga/2776