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The Story Dilemma for Mintymile!
She contemplated what story to narrate to the kids—not her kids, but her nieces, who nicknamed themselves Alice and Flona, after their favorite characters from other stories they had heard.
Snow White? The problem for Mintymile was that she was mostly into crypto, Web3, and economic topics; she was out of touch with these traditional tales.
In fact, she initially felt irked that she had to forgo some mind-stimulating crypto reading to entertain these children
Time, Measured in Bitcoin Years!
Mintymile’s brain was so wired into crypto that she even measured the children’s ages based on Bitcoin’s existence.
Like BC and AD, she had created BBTC and ABTC—Before Bitcoin and After Bitcoin. These girls were 5 ABTC, meaning they were born five years after Bitcoin’s blockchain came to life. Bitcoin itself had recently turned 16.
Minty’s Tale of Trump’s Tariff Trouble
Deciding to go with what she knew best, Mintymile began:
"The entire world awaits that big day approaching very soon! It's all over the news; it’s the day President Trump calls Liberation Day."
“Ohh,” uttered Alice, a little surprised by Minty's subject.
"President Trump keeps saying he wants to make America great again."
“Good luck to him,” Alice muttered. She and her sister knew that President Trump was no fairy tale character; he was real.
The girls exchanged a glance. Their aunt clearly didn’t know how to tell stories. But being well-mannered, they stayed silent, willing to listen.
An Unusual Story? Maybe It's an Economic Story?
“Liberation Day is the day Trump has readied his gun that will shoot reciprocal tariffs. You see, he is known as the Tariff War Man, and tariffs are his weapon!”
“He aims to shoot those reciprocal tariffs on other countries—India, Europe, China, Mexico, among others—that have shielded their doors to America with a tariff shield called Trade Barriers.”
“These trade barriers allow domestic sellers and manufacturers to buy (import) U.S. products and raw materials only by paying taxes called import duties or tariffs.”
“Trump wants these trade shields vanquished, so American products become low-priced in other countries and are purchased by people living there.”
“Now, those countries with strong trade shields and high trade barriers will be hit by reciprocal tariffs.”
Flona interrupted Mintymile, feeling that whatever Mintymile was narrating did not sound like a story!
She asked, “Are you teaching us economics, Minty?”
Dry Flavor in Minty's Story, Devoid of Love and Adventure?
Mintymile was no economics professor capable of teaching economics to eleven-year-olds.
She responded, “Well, you get pocket money, and economics teaches you the science about money. You can’t buy those candies, storybooks, school bags, coloring books, or games without money. Nothing is free.”
Flona disagreed, “But love is free, so Mum says. Does economics teach us about love, friendship, courage, adventure, and all that? Mom narrates stories that talk about these things.”
Mintymile nodded; these girls had a point.
Lucky are these kids who have loving parents that show them affection, spend quality time with them, and teach them values that, as adults, we often forget.
Still, Mintymile defended her chosen theme for storytelling—the Trump Tariff story.
“But you watch those junk movies and cartoons where they hit others and find it funny, but it’s violence. I am telling you a real story; it’s just connected with the economy…”
The girls could not agree with Mintymile, yet they remained polite as instructed by their mother, Tracy. They looked disappointed but kept quiet, ready, albeit without eagerness, to listen to more of Minty’s Trump Tariff story.
The Visible Ingredient Set to Make Goods Costly - Tariffs!
Mintymile, on the other hand, was instructed to convey only positive messages to the girls and refrain from sharing negative half-truths about life with statements like, “love does not exist, and money is what counts” or “love is an illusion.”
These girls were still innocent and not yet toughened to be unaffected by her unintended negativity if she poured it out.
“So, other countries with high tariff walls, i.e., trade barriers, will have to deal with Trump Tariffs, where American merchants and product manufacturers who import products from those countries will pay taxes (import duties). This will make these products and materials brought from other countries costlier for U.S. customers.”
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The tariff fight—a war with no bloodshed?
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“So, this is what is causing the trade war, the tariff war, as we hear in the news,” Alice shared, pouring out her wisdom.
Her parents had discussed Trump and watched him so much that he seemed like a sitcom, providing them entertainment. Minty’s economic story session was quite familiar to them.
“That’s correct. The entire economic market is scared of April 2nd. Because goods with added tariffs become costly, everyone will impose tariffs. The U.S. imposes tariffs on products imported from China, and China imposes tariffs on goods imported from America. And everyone fights with each other, imposing tariffs, causing goods everywhere to become costlier.”
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“Tit for tat tariff shooting. Tariff war, no bloodshed, though. No violence, not like our junk cartoons you complain about,” Alice commented, making a witty statement.
Mintymile couldn't respond to this because she knew the girls were too young to understand that this too is a form of violence. For us adults, the red in the market feels like bloodshed, and it causes pain when you lose hard-earned money like this.
That pain, Mintymile would say, is akin to a lover's heartbreak. However, she couldn’t explain these concepts to these young girls just yet.
Junk Entertainment Once in a While is Okay!
So, Mintymile frowned thoughtfully and nodded her head, “Well, will you stop watching those programs where they hit each other for fun? Pain is not a funny thing!”
The girls shrugged. “It’s just junk entertainment, Mintymile. You can have it once in a while.”
Here, too, Mintymile nodded, this time agreeing with the girls. They were mature, intelligent, wise girls.
No April Fools Joke - the Liberation Day!
Now, it was time to conclude the story, Mintymile thought, as she found it hard to explain the tariff issue in story format anymore.
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“President Trump has made it very clear about American Trade Liberation Day! It’s fixed on April 2nd because he is not cracking an April Fools' joke, and April Fools' Day is April 1st!”
“Ha, ha! That’s funny,”
Flona and Alice said, almost laughing, as they took it as a joke, even though Trump clarified that it’s not a joke!
"Yeah, Trumpnomics is like a never-ending reality show.”
Mintymile added, and the girls laughed at this. They had heard their father mention that word often!
Bitcoin to Join Other Financial Markets to Fall Down Like Humpty Dumpty Did!
“So, April 2nd is a dreadful day, as predicted by the financial market oracle trackers. All financial markets are expected to tumble—S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones.”
“Bitcoin too!” Alice added. She and Flona had grown up listening to some songs, one of which was Mintymile’s, “Mighty, Mighty Bitcoin to Rescue Me.”
The girls also knew Mintymile calculates their age as 5 ABTC, meaning they were born 5 years after the commencement of the Bitcoin Era.
If she were technical, she might equate their age to the block height in the Bitcoin Blockchain, which represents the number of blocks processed since the Bitcoin Genesis Block, i.e., Block 0, created by Satoshi Nakamoto on January 9, 2009.
Of course, she would have loved to express the ages of the kids in terms of a timestamp hash on the Bitcoin Blockchain.
Many times, her family had shunned her for having such impractical ideas when she was younger, nicknaming her the Crypto Crack.
However, later they understood that Mintymile was not a Crypto Crack; she was a Crypto Quack, who quacked away about her crypto passion and began exploring the rabbit hole of Web3, which engaged her interests in things related to Web3 that they were not yet interested in!
Now, of course, Mintymile is not as Bitcoin crazy as she used to be.
“Yes, it’s a domino effect: Bitcoin falls as other financial markets tumble—S&P…” Mintymile could not finish her statement because Alice stepped in to finish off the story!
Trumpnomics Never Ends—But Lunchtime is More Important!
“The Trump Tariff storm effect will unfold on April 2nd, after April Fools' Day. It will be a day to remember, folks,” These were the final words uttered by Alice that completed Mintymile’s story with flair.
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Flona clapped, indicating they had decided the story was concluded, and they wanted to eat something tasty. So, Mintymile got busy with lunch preparations. The girls settled for capsicum fried rice and tomato fry. Mintymile wasn’t their mother, so they were not at liberty to demand their kind of tasty food. They were already instructed by their mother Tracy to eat whatever was given to them without grumbling.
Mintymile sighed in relief. Trumpnomics might be endless, but for now, fried rice and tomato fry took priority.
Mintymile, however, suspected that somewhere down the road, they’d be debating Trump’s tariffs just like the adults.
After all, the real world was no fairy tale.