John Hughes Already Explained Everything You Need to Know About Trump's Tariff Plan

In a frighteningly uncanny case of life imitating art, this well-known scene from John Hughes classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off features an economics teacher (real-life economics commentator Ben Stein) monotonously explaining the Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 to his class.

Though it's now more famous for the lines "Bueller?... Bueller?..." and "Anyone?... Anyone?...", the dialogue in this scene does a pretty tidy job of explaining the tariff, which raised taxes on imports to the United States. The goal was to protect American farmers and businesses by making foreign goods more expensive. This would, in theory, encourage Americans to buy domestically made products and help pull the country out of the Great Depression.

Sound familiar?... This is one hundred percent what the Trump administration is attemptingright now (albeit in a much more clumsy, illogical and random way.) After details of Trump's tariff plan were announced this week, the global economy was disrupted, U.S. markets sank and 401(k) and other investors experienced substantial losses, including significant decreases across portfolios, retirement funds, etc.

As Stein explains in painfully boring fashion, the Hawley-Smoot Tariff did not work. Foreign nations didn’t like it because it made their goods more expensive for American consumers and those nations responded by raising their own tariffs on American goods. This created a trade war and the result was international trade decreased, hurting businesses in both the U.S. and abroad. Instead of helping the economy, the tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression by reducing trade and making it harder for businesses to sell products overseas.

All of this is either explained in (or serves as the backstory for) Stein's dialogue in this scene, so as a student of history, I'll pick up the story from here.

The decline in international trade plunged some foreign nations, including Germany, into economic hardship because they could no longer easily sell their products to the U.S. In Germany, this in turn led to massive unemployment, poverty, and widespread discontent with the German government. Many Germans felt betrayed by their government and turned to extremist political movements, including the Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler. Hitler promised to restore Germany’s economy, bring back national pride, and provide jobs for the unemployed and by 1932 (just two years after Hawley-Smoot) the Nazis were the largest political party in the country. In January of the following year, with no other leader able to command sufficient support to govern, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor of Germany. 

Once in power, Hitler began dismantling his country's democratic institutions and weaponizing the government against all who opposed him. The Enabling Act of 1933, for example, gave him the power to make laws without the approval of the German parliament and he subsequently began manipulating the law to suit his agenda while ignoring any judicial orders that were in opposition to his policies... I'll ask again -- any of this sound familiar?

So when you follow the trail, it's not a stretch to say that tariffs had quite a lot to do with the rise of one of the most diabolical dictators in world history -- one who would go on to persecute foreign nationals and political opponents, threaten to (and successfully) seize strategic territories belonging to other nations, and ultimately ignite the greatest global conflict in world history.

Just something to think about.

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This World Changing Event Took Place Under Cover of the New Millennium...

While exploring the Pop Culture Fiend Archives, I came across the New York Times from Jan 1, 2000 -- which I obviously saved because it was the first 21st century edition of one of the largest newspapers in the country. Upon examination, I noticed that overlooked among the banner headline and all the talk about the new millennium was a story about the surprise resignation of Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the installation of one Vladimir Putin. 

Yeltsin resigned due to several factors, including instability in his Cabinet, health issues, a bribery scandal, and cratering popularity among the Russian people due to overall ineffectiveness. Under Putin, Russia has reverted toward its former identity on the world stage as an aggressor, enemy of the U.S., and a major threat to world democracy. Indeed, "President" Putin has become a de facto dictator who, in just a few days, will almost certainly be "elected" to his fifth term thanks to his continuous suppression and outright elimination of any true opposition. 

For close to a quarter century now, Putin has created havoc across the globe -- allying with State Sponsor of Terrorism-designated Syria, cozying up with communist China, invading and advancing a war against Ukraine, poisoning and otherwise assassinating multiple political enemies, interfering in the 2016 U.S presidential election, and rigging elections in his own country. 

Clearly we all had no idea how thuggish and sinister Putin would be back on 1/1/00 but this issue of the New York Times unknowingly announced the start of it all.

Board Games of the 1970's Highlighted Americans' Angst

*AUTHOR'S NOTE: Board games are commonly defined as "any game of strategy in which pieces are moved on a board." For the purposes of this article, I'm using the slightly broader definition of "any competitive or strategic game played with pieces or paraphernalia on a tabletop."

To be sure things were tense in the 1970's both domestically and abroad. In the previous decade, high profile assassinations, race riots from coast to coast, the Manson murders, chaos at the 1968 Democratic Convention, and southern backlash against the Civil Rights Movement highlighted a decade in which social unrest was more overt than any other time in our nation's history. But as the 70s rolled in, upheaval, threats and alarmism abounded in a much more subversive way — one that created a palpable tension among the American populace. While we distracted ourselves with innocuous AM radio hits like Me and You and a Dog Named Boo, One Bad Apple and Kung Fu Fighting, in our gut we were terrified by the stress-inducing events that were happening all around us. We lamented the Kent State shootings, fretted about gas shortages, shook our head in disbelief at the corruption of Love Canal, worried that Three Mile Island or some other nuclear disaster would cause our doom, and secretly feared murderous wackos like Ted Bundy, Son of Sam and Jim Jones.

So could it be that all of the fear, pressure and angst built up during the 1970's manifested itself in, of all things, the decade’s most popular board games? Consider some of the ones that were best selling and most played at the time and the gameplay each involved:

Operation put our nerves to the test as we tried to steel ourselves and "take out his spare rib for $100." Touch the sides with those tweezers and you’d trigger a loud buzzer indicating you’d botched the surgery and killed the patient. (Talk about stress!) Meanwhile Perfection, which debuted in 1973, had us racing against time to place cut out shapes in their corresponding holes before the timer ran out and the whole thing went kaplooey in our faces. This unforgiving game demanded just what its name specified -- perfection. Getting some or most of the shapes in place meant bupkis so the game's all or nothing, tension-building premise had us all sweating from start to finish.

Perhaps the most ominous-sounding popular games of the 70s — Headache, Trouble, and Sorry — all had us maneuvering our pieces across the board in an effort to either outrace or sabotage our opponents. In its way, it was the perfect metaphor for the rampant consumerism and "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality that drove the US economy in the 70's before inflation took hold during the Ford administration. 

Think this is all a bit of a stretch?...  Well clearly something was going on in the 70's as we Americans, for whatever reason, played out the abundance of stress the decade had to offer with our dice, game tokens and pop-o-matics. An assortment of other forebodingly named games gained popularity during the time:  Kerplunk, Down the Drain, Don’t Tip the Waiter, Ants in the Pants, and of course, Don’t Break the Ice, which can be considered a not so subtle metaphor for the spectre of the US-Soviet Cold War. Similarly, Risk provided a much more literal representation of what might occur if the USSR (or some other communist regime) conquered the globe.

Stay Alive, introduced in 1971 and advertised as being "quite deadly", had the stated objective of simply surviving. The game was wildly popular throughout the decade, possibly because it embodied our fears for our soldiers fighting in Vietnam, as well as for Patti Hearst during her kidnapping and the hostages held in Iran.

Finally, the defining political event of the 1970's was most certainly Watergate and its surrounding mysteries of who committed the actual break in, “what did the president know and when”, as well as who Deep Throat could be. Parker Brothers seized upon these same mystery and crime solving themes with its detective game Clue, released in the U.S. in 1972 within weeks of the actual Watergate break in. And just like Watergate, Clue featured investigation, cover ups, accusations, and efforts to either guess or prove which of several characters committed the crime. 

Whatever you choose to believe about our choice of board games during 1970's, thankfully, the 80's were a lot more relaxed and carefree. (Fyi, that's the decade when less emotionally taxing fare like Trivial Pursuit and Scattergories were best sellers, and just before the popularity of board games in general began to slump, thanks to the rise of home video consoles like Nintendo and Sega Genesis.)

Al Franken Wins Senate Seat (Finally)

I missed a lot of news over the past week or so, including the fact that the Minnesota Senatorial race was finally decided. (Are you kidding -- it took eight months to settle this thing?!... Only in America.) 

Anyway, for those who weren't aware, they've been trying to figure out who won this Senate seat since way back on election day in November. Turns out, it was one of the closest elections in the history of American politics, with less than 300 votes finally separating the two candidates. Then there were recounts, and protests, and more recounts, and then it went to the courts and now, finally, your newest United States Senator is... former Saturday Night Live writer and cast member Al Franken... 

Who?... 

Exactly... I barely remember this guy from SNL but I dug into the Pop Culture Fiend Archives and found this clip from 1988 that refreshed my memory. In it, Franken plays televangelist Pat Robertson -- ironically enough, at a time when Robertson himself was running for office.

Madonna Loves Obama! - Her Election Night Concert Recapped

President-elect Obama gets sworn in in just a few hours and the country is all excited. But not as excited as Madonna I'll bet. Caught her concert at Petco Park in San Diego back on election night and  was able to snap the cell phone shot below. (Coincidentally, I took that pic in the moments captured in this video shared on YouTube by Madonna herself.) 

After opening the show proclaiming, “I am so fucking happy right now!” Madonna went on to repeatedly express her unbridled joy after Barack won (the word came in about an hour before she took the stage.) She even incorporated an Obama video tribute/political commercial into the production for this tour.  Though most in the audience were just as pumped about Obama, the show itself was a curiosity.

After opening 90 minutes late (maybe she was watching the early returns) Madonna came on and proceeded to do a two-hour (on the nose) show that largely ignored the entirety of her early career. Here’s the recap:

To begin, I have to mention that Madonna is a physical stud. Absolutely buff. She sported multiple sleeveless outfits and you could see all the muscles in her very cut and vascular arms. I guess it shouldn't be that much of a surprise because for the whole two hours she sang (sometimes with the assistance of a lead backing track, but mostly live) while dancing her butt off.

As you’d expect, the set list included nearly all of the new album, Hard Candy, including nice performances of “4 Minutes”, “Miles Away”, and “Beat Goes On”. The only songs from the album she didn’t do were “Heartbeat”, “Dance 2Night” and “Incredible”. There was some very good production for “She’s Not Me” (where Madonna confronted a series of look-alike Madonna clones from the “Material Girl”, “Vogue”, and “Open Your Heart” videos) and also during her costume changes when there were some cool video montages that incorporated portions of “Die Another Day”, “Jump” and “Rain”.

But the disappointment began to grow as the show progressed and Madonna failed to perform any of her biggest hits from the eighties. Yes, she did “Borderline” and “Into the Groove” early on, and "La Isla Bonita" about halfway through, but those were the only cuts from her first FOUR albums (counting Who’s That Girl) that she performed. No “Holiday” (even though the lyrics would’ve made it perfect for celebrating the Obama win) no “Lucky Star”, no “Everybody” (another perfect song to perform live.) Also conspicuously absent were “Like a Virgin”, “Material Girl”, and “Dress You Up”. 

There’s more… No “Crazy For You”, “Papa Don’t Preach”, “Open Your Heart” or “Live to Tell”.

I know this tour is to promote the new album, and I also know a lot of artists don’t feel like their early stuff is on par with their later material. Madonna herself has gone on record saying she doesn’t like some of her early records. But come on… how could she not do “Like a Virgin”?

And what about the stuff from the “middle-years”? There was no “Take a Bow” or “This Used To Be My Playground” (songs that could’ve served the dual purpose of slowing things down and letting her catch her breath while also showing off her voice.)

Throw in the more forgivable omissions of “Cherish”, “Who’s That Girl”, “Justify My Love”, and “I Love New York” and you see how Madonna could’ve easily done another hour of just hits.

So what songs were covered and what stood out? “Music”, of course, and there was a kind of Spanish production that began with “La Isla Bonita”, and led into some sort of odd fusion of Mexican and Eastern European fiddling/folk music/folk dancing that just didn’t quite work. “Express Yourself” was turned into an a cappella audience sing-along (and effectively ruined) but there was a very heartfelt and enjoyable rendition of “You Must Love Me”.

Surprisingly, she also did “Human Nature”, off the Erotica album, and that was a highlight. But “Like a Prayer” was merely average and she forgot the words (twice) to “Ray of Light”. On that number, and a few other songs, Madonna also played (or more accurately, she strummed along on) guitar, including a pretty sweet Gibson SG. Unfortunately, she wasn’t amped up enough to really hear her, so what was the point?

I guess I have bad luck at Madonna shows. Last time I saw her, years ago at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, there was an effing monsoon. (Seriously, animals were lining up two by two.) While dancing, Madonna slipped and fell at least twice then ultimately cut the show short -- and really, you couldn't even blame her.

But as for her November show, at least I’ll have a cool story about where I was when Obama got elected.