Good morning. ☀️☀️☀️
8 December 2025
My coffee is cooling, and I probably ought to get up to top off the cup. It’s still drinkable, though, and with my feet propped on the edge of the desk, it may be a few minutes before I muster the motivation to walk the thirty feet into the kitchen.
Speaking of coffee, I went online yesterday to buy the same gourmet beans I picked up last month, only to find the price had climbed yet again. My first reaction was a startled oh wow, followed quickly by the decision to wait it out and settle for a less expensive brand.
Still, I can’t help but wonder how much of that price is tied to tariffs. The administration may have lifted the coffee duties, but surely there are lingering adjustments baked into the market. After all, tariffs had spiked to nearly 50% just weeks ago. Add in Brazil’s droughts and Vietnam’s floods, and supply is bound to tighten. Shipping across South America only complicates matters—though the danger seems to fall more on small boats than
... show moreGood morning. ☀️☀️☀️
8 December 2025
My coffee is cooling, and I probably ought to get up to top off the cup. It’s still drinkable, though, and with my feet propped on the edge of the desk, it may be a few minutes before I muster the motivation to walk the thirty feet into the kitchen.
Speaking of coffee, I went online yesterday to buy the same gourmet beans I picked up last month, only to find the price had climbed yet again. My first reaction was a startled oh wow, followed quickly by the decision to wait it out and settle for a less expensive brand.
Still, I can’t help but wonder how much of that price is tied to tariffs. The administration may have lifted the coffee duties, but surely there are lingering adjustments baked into the market. After all, tariffs had spiked to nearly 50% just weeks ago. Add in Brazil’s droughts and Vietnam’s floods, and supply is bound to tighten. Shipping across South America only complicates matters—though the danger seems to fall more on small boats than on large vessels.
Gunboat diplomacy appears to be the order of the day in those waters, with the navy striking and sinking small craft. It’s hard to make sense of. If traffickers are losing boats, surely, they’ve already found other routes. Assuming they’re clever enough to adapt, what exactly are these destroyed boats carrying? It can’t be that the navy is blasting away indiscriminately, Yosemite Sam–style… can it? I hope not. Still, some of the targeting feels questionable, and I know one thing for certain: I wouldn’t want to be fishing in that region right now.
Meanwhile, the price of beans continues to rise.
“What protectionism teaches us, is to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.” – Henry George
“Gunboat diplomacy is the old way of saying: we will use force to get our way, without calling it war.” – Paul Pillar
#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #morning #sun #coffee #trade #tariffs #gunboat_diplomacy
