{"id":11054,"date":"2025-08-03T21:31:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T19:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/?p=11054"},"modified":"2025-08-03T21:45:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T19:45:30","slug":"die-zerstoerung-des-amerikanischen-traums-die-haessliche-grosse-luege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/en\/die-zerstoerung-des-amerikanischen-traums-die-haessliche-grosse-luege\/","title":{"rendered":"The Destruction of the American Dream \u2013 The Ugly Big Lie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frenchtown, an unremarkable place with just under 2,000 residents in Missoula County in western Montana, exemplifies the rural West of the United States \u2013 and both the hope and the challenges associated with the American entrepreneurial spirit. The settlement was founded in the 19th century, when French-Canadian fur traders and trappers opened up the fertile valley and gave it its name. For a long time, Frenchtown lived primarily from agriculture, forestry, and later from a large paper mill that was the region\u2019s biggest employer for decades. With the closure of the mill in 2010, the town lost much of its industrial identity and had to realign itself economically. Today, smaller craft businesses, agriculture and forestry, tourism, and some innovative manufacturers like Montana Knife Company shape the town\u2019s character. Politically, Frenchtown is rather conservative \u2013 the majority of its inhabitants vote Republican, which is typical for rural areas of Montana. At the same time, the proximity to Missoula, a university-oriented, rather progressive city, ensures a certain cultural and economic exchange. Frenchtown thus stands symbolically for many small towns in the American West: caught between tradition and change, with a strong community, but also the uncertainties of the new economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frenchtown, Montana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Frenchtown, Montana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Frenchtown, Montana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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BNSF Northern Transcon Railway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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It is one of those stories that sums up everything that is so toxic and shortsighted about current US trade policy. Josh Smith, founder and CEO of Montana Knife Company, was once a fervent supporter of Donald Trump. He believed in the promise to make America great again, to protect industry, and to keep jobs in the country. Today, he is left with the shards of that illusion \u2013 and with him, a growing part of the American middle class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Josh Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Josh Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Smith is not an outsider, not a theorist, but a prime example of what Trump\u2019s team always called the \u201cheart of the nation\u201d: an entrepreneur who, during the pandemic, built a knife factory in his garage in the small town of Frenchtown, Montana, focusing entirely on quality and US production. His company boomed while politics in Washington stumbled from one recession to the next. But now, after Trump\u2019s tariff policy kicked in, Smith is feeling the full force of this supposedly patriotic agenda. A highly specialized grinding machine from Germany, originally ordered at a fair market price of $515,000, now costs $77,250 more thanks to punitive tariffs. Not because Smith is importing cheap mass-produced goods \u2013 but because there is no comparable machine available in the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Josh Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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\u201cThen punish those who make knives in Taiwan and China \u2013 that\u2019s fine by me. But I\u2019m the one who makes knives in America, Donald Trump. Don\u2019t punish me for making knives in America by slapping tariffs on my equipment and my steel. Slap tariffs on those who don\u2019t make anything in America at all. That\u2019s what\u2019s called differentiation in policy, and that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m asking for.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Smith now explains resignedly \u2013 and thus sums up what is long ignored in the political sphere. Trump\u2019s tariffs do not just hit Chinese dumping products or questionable cheap imports, but cut through the entire value chain. Steel, machinery, even the complex components that make up high-tech \u201cMade in USA,\u201d suddenly become luxury goods. The result: Companies like Montana Knife Company pay more and more, invest less, hire fewer people, and postpone innovations. In the end, products become more expensive for everyone, competition declines, and the supposed protection of the domestic economy turns into its opposite. What is sold as a signal to the stock market \u2013 constant muscle flexing, frantic tweets, artificially fueled price rallies \u2013 is, in truth, a risky game with the downfall of the real economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How dramatic the effects are is shown by specific price lists that have hardly ever been made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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