Morning Coffee Insights: Unions and the Trump Economy
Welcome to my first episode of Morning Coffee with Professor Alex. Why am I doing this? Honestly, this is my first sip of the morning. Hold on… Damn, this is good coffee. I’m doing this because there are a lot of topics to cover, especially with the Trump economy. If you’ve been following me on my YouTube videos and reading my bankruptcy blog, you know that everything I talk about is either bankruptcy-related news, personal finances, or bankruptcy itself. Sometimes, I tie all that into what’s happening in the economy and the news, especially with President Trump and tariffs.
Listen to this blog post.
Welcome to Morning Coffee with Professor Alex
The problem is, there’s just too much to do. I can’t focus on every subject. So, I filter everything out, pick out what I think I need to focus on, make a video or a blog, and then move on. But because there’s so much, some things slip through the cracks, and I wish I had more time to cover them. That’s where the Morning Coffee gig comes in. I’m literally having my morning coffee right now. This is how I drink coffee in the morning, robe and all.
Because time is short and I can’t make more videos, so my wife and I were talking about it yesterday, and I told her, “Well, I can do something while I’m having coffee.” Typically, I work for a few hours, feed the pets, work out, and then continue working. If I’m making a video, I need certain lighting, certain clothing, etc. But I’m not changing my routine.
This is my routine: I have coffee in the morning and start working. The only difference is that the work is going to change a bit. We’ll go over subjects every morning, all finance-related—personal finances, bankruptcy, and the Trump economy.
President Trump Becomes the Federal Union Buster
Now, let’s get into today’s subject. I probably wouldn’t focus on it much otherwise, as it would take up too much time. Yesterday, I posted a screenshot of a Reuters article about President Trump going after unions at the federal level.
For example, I read—though I don’t remember the time frame—that Social Security, or at least one of their divisions, reached a bargaining agreement. They didn’t necessarily have to rush to work and were allowed to work a certain amount of time remotely. I read this a couple of months ago.
So, what is the big deal about this issue? Another executive order. Trump is literally making it up as he goes along. What did he do this time? Well, this time he decided that agreements made within 30 days of his inauguration would be canceled.
Let me read the title to you: “Trump moves to cancel recent union agreements with federal workers.” I said, before the inauguration, common sense is that you become president when you put your hand on the Bible. I know Trump didn’t put his hand on the Bible—whatever. At that point, you are the President, and you go ahead and do what you’ve got to do, right?
He’s saying 30 days before that, just an arbitrary number he picked out of the sky, he’s going to invalidate those agreements. You don’t need to go to school to know that’s not valid, right? What’s his legal theory? The legal theory of a 5-year-old.
This is what he wrote: “The prior administration had entered into certain agreements with federal workers to make me look bad.” Let me back up here. Any president, any job where you replace another person, your whole job is to make that other person look bad. That’s why you’re the one that was hired—because you did such a good job and you’re doing such a good job. That’s why I had to get rid of the other person.
That’s his legal argument: They’re making me look bad.
That one’s not going to fly. But what’s the issue with that? My issue is that this creates chaos, and I’ve had a consistent theme over the last month, and ever since Trump took office, where chaos creates financial instability. Financial instability is created by the political chaos that he is inciting.
Think about it. We don’t know if there’s a union or what happened to the federal funding. He’s been sending out emails like a spammer, telling people to quit their jobs. All that chaos creates political instability, which results in financial instability. It’s going to affect you one way or another.
Now, this issue with unions—I posted a few times on social media that when I developed a business law course, I decided to include unions. This goes out to the younger folks. Everything I talk about is not age-specific. It encompasses every age group, whether you’re in too much debt, how to get out of debt, or how to avoid debt. I hit all the age groups when I do my seminars.
This one goes out to the younger ones. For example, with my seminars, I tell my students that I probably wouldn’t have discussed unions 10 years ago.
It’s like unions didn’t exist for my entire generation. Unions existed for a time, but it seems we skipped two generations where nobody talked about them. Of course, there are certain unions like the teachers’ union, police union, and firefighters’ union—the big ones. But many other unions, especially in the private sector, just don’t seem to exist anymore. So, what happened?
The younger generation stepped in. That’s the only difference. You guys have a different perspective. You view things differently, from questioning why we work so hard to buy a McMansion to whether we really need it. It’s a different perspective and a different age.
With that, you start talking about things that weren’t discussed when I was in my 20s or 30s, like maternity leave. I saw this with Starbucks and Amazon, where employees fought for their rights and, in some parts of the country, managed to create unions.
Why don’t employers want unions? Because they don’t want to grant you rights. Their attitude is: “Shut up. Do your work. You’re lucky to have a job. Be grateful.” That’s honestly what it comes down to. But unions mean you have rights, whether it’s shorter work weeks, certain benefits, maternity leave, or insurance.
Think about the skyrocketing cost of insurance and medical bills. People file for bankruptcy because of medical bills, not because they’re buying Rolexes. Employers try to control costs by not granting certain rights.
So, I talk about unions in my classes, and I’m glad to see the younger generation getting organized, starting unions, and protecting their rights. Whether it’s for shorter work weeks, maternity leave, insurance, or 401(k)s, it’s important to prepare yourself financially.
Alright, as I mentioned, I’ll be discussing topics that won’t make it to the blog. This is my first episode of Morning Coffee with me, and I’m glad you joined me.
The Beginning of the Tariff War with Canada, China, and Mexico
But I felt it was important to talk about this, and I saw this yesterday. Once I saw that and posted the screenshot, I said, “I have to talk about unions because of what we’re seeing now.” All this political instability will affect you one way or another financially. Go read my blogs; you can see how I tie this all together with my videos.
One example is the tariffs. At the same time, this issue with the unions came up, a 25% tariff was imposed on Canada and a 10% tariff on Mexico. If you think that won’t affect you, then you haven’t been paying attention. It will.
If your answer is that you’re not going to buy a car, or if you’re going to buy a house in the northern part of the United States, guess what? We get our lumber from Canada. So, one way or another, this affects you. If you believe it doesn’t, it will mean less money coming into your city or even into your household because certain people lost their income or job.
I remember going back to the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Somehow, we can tie almost 30% of the money that flows through our country to the auto industry. Think about that. In an automobile, whether it’s the metal, steel, plastics, or electronics—all of that is tied together. It has a huge impact on our economy.
What I keep saying is, be prepared. Realize what’s going on out there. Analyze your own situation and just go with it.
Alright, I’m done with my first episode. I promised you it would be quick. I’ve got to finish my cup of coffee. I hope you enjoy your cup of coffee, and let’s see what I talk about tomorrow. See you tomorrow morning.
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