The Trump Article

A third edit...yet more feedback:
If you can justify the statement that "Trump made me rich enough to retire" by being born in 1950, reaching actual retirement age in 2015, then waiting out the last year of Obama's presidency (and the economic recovery from the 2008-2010 Great Recession) before retiring in June 2017, then I can justify the statement that "Donald Trump's economic policies cost me 2 jobs."

The person who said this reentered the workforce in 2019 to get out and get some fresh air, taking the job I was being prepped for at a fraction of the cost (because he had a fully-funded union pension to retire on), and his hire was the reason I left that place of employment to take the job at the cabinetmaker.  When he reentered the workforce, he took the job I was slated to move into.

Yet another edit to this one, to address more feedback:
This was shared to illustrate my experience with certain controversial federal political concepts, and how they impacted Western Michigan.  It was not my intent to be preachy or to tell you who to vote for, or who to support.  I'm just sharing my own experiences.

Another article largely devoid of local history.  But, it's important for me to write this out and get a few things off my chest.  I'm a giant, nonconfrontational boob and tend to clam up in debates (especially with extended family members), and awkwardly mumble my way out of the conversation into a new topic.

In 2016, I was employed by a prolific homebuilder in the area.  All of the executives were stoked on getting this big-city real estate mogul into the White House.  They'd gone so far as to give employees free, paid time off to go to rallies, campaign events, and movies.  Half the office was out, being paid their regular wage, and not having their PTO deducted, during the last campaign rallies in West Michigan, and the first celebration rallies.  Part of their excitement was the real estate aspect:  The execs were so excited that they hashed out a plan in Quarter 4 of 2016 to essentially double their output.  This led to a lot of excitement, and as the company rapidly expanded, I was given a promotion.  The expansion was a 30-60-90 day rollout wherein my particular role was expected to spend 30 days "shadowing" with a new hire, 30 days where I'd do half days with the new hire and half days in my new role, and the third 30 days as a grace period for the new role.

I sat in the Q4 meetings about expansion and excitement, and how we can plus the plan to over 1,000 homes per year.  I also sat in the Q1 meetings that, just as quickly, rolled back on those plans.  See, the homebuilder had a lifetime business model:  Get first-time homebuyers into their low-level homes using tax credits and subsidies (Thanks, Obama, for your Recession-era remedies and stimuli); make them so happy that they buy a new home in 5ish years to have kids in; keep the customer rolling up to the third tier of homes within another 5 years; then have the customer retire into one of their top-tier "executive" homes.  One of the first things that then-president elect Trump knocked out with then-Speaker Of The House Paul Ryan did was knock out a budget:  An inaugural federal budget that promptly ended the Obama-era stimulus perks for first-time homebuyers.  I was present at these company meetings about what this meant for our expansion.  Ultimately, the Q1 2017 business model shifted back to that buzzword "rightsizing," and "preparing to be sustainable for the long haul."  This model was couched in the idea that explosive growth gives short term benefits, but creates peaks and valleys - a rubberband of sorts.  By purposely hobbling the company during the good times, that creates models of sustainability during downturns.  So, as a result of losing the first-time homebuyer tax credits that we planned on relying on to double our business, that wasn't sustainable, and the company expansion was undone.  As my previous role had been filled, they had nowhere for me to go, and I was fired.

TL;DR:  Company planned on expanding using federal funds and set into motion said expansion; federal funds never came; expansion CTRL+Z; I = downsized.

In 2019, I was riding high as a project manager for a cabinetmaker, specializing in high-end home renovations.  Our parent company was owned by a firm out of Italy, and as a result, we used a lot of European-sourced hardware.  By late summer 2019, Trump's tariffs had gone into effect for metal parts created in the European Union - metal parts like cabinet hinges, knobs, drawer slides, etc.  Again, I sat in these meetings wherein the Exec team discussed what this meant for the company.  While, again, the vast majority of the locally-based execs were pro-Trump, they had to make some hard decisions about rebranding and remarketing themselves in the face of a sudden 25% increase in materials.  A 25% price increase on the back end, coupled with a completely unrelated shake-up on the front end that reduced their sales force, meant that the lowest employees on the ladder got bumped off as a sort of temporary belt-tightening while they figured out what was going on long-term.  I got downsized, once again, as part of another company's restructuring.

TL;DR:  Tariffs hit, cause price increase; totally unrelated, sales drop; math doesn't add up anymore; new employees get booted while more experienced core employees stay on.

I've spent 13 out of the past 48 months on unemployment due to Trump's economic policies (and later, due to his lack of response to the CoVid-19 situation).  I was told in phone calls to my Republican state representatives things like "They can't help me with my unemployment due to CoVid; that falls on the US Congress."  I was told in emails from my state senator that "you will not receive additional benefits" due to CoVid.  Meanwhile, my national congressman (another GOP member) blamed the opposition party for not cooperating with him - as I was receiving emails from the opposition party with explicit explanations and details about how they wanted to work together to get relief to people like me.  Something didn't quite add up to me, looking at the messaging across the two parties.

Edited to add:
I've been confronted about these stories, being countered with things like "the homebuilder is building homes all across the state," and "The tariffs helped American business by making it more expensive to import stuff."  Yes - the homebuilder has recovered, reformed, and reallocated their business resources.  Part of that was the company contraction that I was a part of that allowed them to rightsize for a few months, readjust their sights, and come back swingin'.  That's what smart companies do:  They're continually reassessing and readjusting to maximize profits, to set up for long-term success.  What they've done since 2017 is exactly that:  Long-term.  And, in my current position, it seems like that first company isn't doing as well as they're letting on...not to air anyone's dirty laundry, but in the current real estate market, it seems like that sub-$100,000 new home build isn't what's selling.  But again, I sat in those company meetings where we discussed what to do and how to react as a result of losing the federal first-time homebuyer credits.  I won't post them here, but I still have those meeting minutes that I emailed myself!  I was let go, as was an administrative assistant, two field managers, and a few of the sales counselors who were not licensed real estate agents (as they tried to shift into more of a brokerage business).

"Tariffs making it more expensive to do business overseas," is a gross oversimplification of the issues at hand - fact is, most economists disagree with the idea that tariffs help at all.  And again, I sat in these company meetings as well, with the owner of the fucking company flying in from Italy to discuss with us the implications of our suppliers' costs going up.  This company, too, has grown leaps and bounds since 2019, but I must reiterate:  Smart, successful businesses need to reassess and readapt constantly to keep up with market conditions.  I was let go along with one of the shop foremen, another product engineer, and a salesperson; as the company brought on a customer liaison (to replace the three of us that got let go).