Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 73. Sunrise is 5:37 and sunset is 8:06, for 14 hours, 28 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 95.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1773, the Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by reducing taxes on its tea and granting it the right to sell tea directly to North America:
The Act granted the Company the right to directly ship its tea to North America and the right to the duty-free export of tea from Britain, although the tax imposed by the Townshend Acts and collected in the colonies remained in force. It received the royal assent on May 10, 1773.
Colonists in the Thirteen Colonies recognized the implications of the Act’s provisions, and a coalition of merchants, smugglers, and artisans similar to that which had opposed the Stamp Act 1765 mobilized opposition to the delivery and distribution of the tea.
So there’s a claim that if you impose tariffs (they’re taxes) on imports from foreign manufacturers, then out from the ground will spring domestic manufacturing. It’s a dubious claim. Consider textiles:
Iris Acevedo of Milwaukee researches sustainable textile materials, like plant-based fibers, to teach students at Mount Mary University and Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design how to create low cost, high quality clothing.
On “Wisconsin Today,” she said tariffs in the textile and apparel industry are concerning, as China is the leading exporter of denim in the world. Meanwhile, the U.S. is the top consumer of denim.
In 2023, America imported about $31 billion in apparel from China and Vietnam, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Last month, President Trump imposed a 145 percent tariff on Chinese imports, while there’s a 125 percent retaliatory tariff by China on U.S. goods.
“We do a lot with China,” she said. “I know [U.S.] cotton producers who export to China for manufacturing are concerned.”
….
Acevedo said it would be a great time to think about reintroducing domestic production to reduce the cost of shipping jeans overseas — effectively a tax due to the tariffs.
However, that comes with costs of building infrastructure that could replace the supply coming from China, as well as labor to produce the apparel.
….
And despite small-scale businesses like Acevedo’s and growing interest in the textile and apparel industry, there’s simply no quick, straightforward transition away from the current global market.
See Courtney Everett, Facing tariffs, Wisconsin clothing makers consider what onshoring production would take, Wisconsin Public Radio, May 9, 2025.
Under tariffs, Americans will pay more or go without for years in the hope that more expensive domestic options will eventually arise. Tariffs are an imposition on consumers and a reallocation of wealth that could be better applied where Americans are already more efficient than foreign producers.
They’re an ignorant person’s idea of being knowledgeable.
(It’s a coyote not a wolf, but the person speaking on the recording is likely experiencing a coyote invasion for the first time and so does not identify this invader accurately. He’ll become more experienced after many thousands of these animals conquer his borough block by block.)