davidd's A DOLL A DAY 2025

[davidd]

Do you still have the first one?

...did you notice the "page loading" bar on Flickr was a lightsaber on Sunday? 

Yes, I still have my first Pullip Lala!

Since I signed up for Starlink I don't see "page loading" bars anymore!    (Sounds like that one woulda been pretty cool, tho'!)

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7 May - A Doll A Day 2025:

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Fat Lotta Good This'll Do

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7 May 2025

President Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC  20500

re: Secretary Bessent and the Two Dolls Issue

Dear President Trump:

Treasury Secretary Bessent recently appeared on a FOX News telecast. When asked about the “two dolls” comment and the tariff situation with China, Secretary Bessent responded (transcribed from an online source):

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has a message for a hypothetical little girl worried that she won’t have more than two dolls because of Donald Trump’s disastrous tariff policy.

“I would tell that young girl that you will have a better life than your parents,” Bessent said, during an appearance on Fox News Tuesday night. “That you and your family, thanks to President Trump, can now be confident again that you will have a better life than your parents, which, working-class Americans had abandoned that idea.”

“Your family will own a home, you will be able to advance. You will have a good education, you will have economic freedom,” Bessent continued.

Source:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-treasur...02335.html

Respectfully, sir: Secretary Bessent is SO out of touch! He’s all like, Blah blah blah, and all that time a "hypothetical little girl” would be thinking: "But my mom had SIXTY MONSTER HIGH DOLLS when she was little, and I only get TWO? How is that a 'better life?'"

And Mom is thinking, "Economic freedom? What 'economic freedom?' When I was a kid, my parents bought me SIXTY MONSTER HIGH DOLLS, not to mention all the My Little Pony stuff, and you're telling me I have 'economic freedom' when I can't afford to give my daughter TWO dolls?"

In general, and in principle, I understand and agree that the international tariff situation needs to be adjusted. For the most part I support your Administration’s approach to doing so.

But, c'mon, New Administration! You are making a serious public relations blunder here by taxing toys until they are out of reach while making concessions on the big ticket items the rich people think are important, like iPhones.

As a regular American consumer, I honestly don't give a rip about iPhones (which have been exempted from China tariffs). I don't need a new iPhone every year, or even every three or five years. But what your Administration thinks of as "plastic junk," what your Administration tells us we "don't need" or “can live without" is the stuff those of us in the real world buy and use EVERY DAY!

Yeah, it sucks that greedy American companies produce everything in China. Barbie and Hot Wheels used to be made in Hawthorne, California, not in China.

But today, EVERYTHING comes from China. That’s not the fault of the consumer. That’s a conscious decision on the part of the Boards of Directors of America’s corporations.

Do something to Mattel to force them to bring production back. Hit Hasbro with some legislation. Incentivize domestic production of everything. Stop punishing the consumers. WE HAVE NO SAY in where things are made. Call your pals who sit on the Boards of Directors of Corporate America in to a room and read ‘em the riot act! Stop kicking the little guy… or the little girls.

Sticking it to the American consumer, and then gloating over it, and telling us “it’s for your own good,” as Secretary Bessent seems to be doing, is NOT the right approach.

Y'all are gonna make everybody hate you. You understand that, right? You understand that it's not just about affluent Silicon Valley hipsters and their phones, right?

No... no, apparently your Administration does NOT understand that.

And unless toy prices come DOWN, not go UP — along with the prices of toothbrushes and soap dishes and artificial flowers and bath mats and extension cords and shampoo — you guys are gonna be out on your backsides faster than you can blink.

You're turning the country over to the other party with this doll thing. Do you not understand that? The doll thing is like that squirrel thing was to the other party. Do NOT underestimate the doll thing. Do not make light of the doll thing. The doll thing is a symbol for all the stuff we buy and use in our daily lives. The doll thing impacts everybody, not just suburban moms buying dolls for their little girls.

Your Administration is absolutely losing the battle for hearts and minds with your ignorant, callous attitudes.

Why couldn’t Secretary Bessent have said, instead, something like: “We are aware of the Quality of Life issues affecting the American consumer, and rest assured the Administration is working around the clock to negotiate fair and equitable trade deals that will benefit everyone and ensure an affordable selection of dolls and every other item the American consumer uses and enjoys.”

Make Dolls Great Again…. please!

Thank you for your consideration,