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Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

May 6

A CASE STUDY- that no one wanted to experience…

If you want to know what cutting Medicaid does to rural America—look at Mississippi.
#DontFuckWithMedicaid

Their Republican governor refused to expand Medicaid. Now over half their rural hospitals are at risk of shutting down and many already have.

Killing Medicaid kills healthcare in rural communities.
No Medicaid = no hospitals. No doctors. No care.
#DontFuckWithMedicaid

In states that rejected Medicaid expansion, rural hospitals are shutting down left and right.
People are dying because care is miles—or hours—away.
#DontFuckWithMedicaid

Read 7 tweets

Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

May 3

NAFTA: My Front-Row Seat to the Race to the Bottom…

Let me tell you what NAFTA looked like from the inside—because I lived it. Americans didn’t just lose jobs to Mexico, jobs were lost to China too.

When it was ratified in 1994, I was the head designer at a company called Z Cavaricci.

We tried moving production from Los Angeles to Mexico, thinking we could take advantage of the trade deal. But it was a disaster. Every factory we tried fell short—bad quality, missed timelines. Also, our styling was too complicated for most factories used to doing basic 5-pocket jeans.

And if you know manufacturing, you know it’s all about consistency and relationships. You can’t just bounce around.

So I told the owner: we had to do production in China if we wanted to compete. We did.
🧵

We started producing pants, non-denim fabrics, eventually denim with all kinds of treatments and novelty work. It was cheaper. A lot cheaper. And the capabilities in China were things we simply couldn’t pull off in the U.S.

We weren’t alone. Everyone in fashion was making the same move—Mexico or China. Because in this industry, it’s not just about style. It’s about price. The buyer sees two pairs of jeans, and the cheaper one usually wins.
2.

What came next was predictable: American denim mills after denim mill closed. Graniteville, Avondale, Burlington—these weren’t just businesses, they were the economic backbone of entire towns. Gone.

And over time, American consumers got used to cheap. Or at least the option of cheap.

NAFTA didn’t just shift where things were made—it rewired how we think about value. It sparked the era of price wars. Manufacturers racing to the bottom, and consumers rewarding it.

This race has no finish line. Just a slow grind downward in quality and stability.
3.

Read 5 tweets

Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

Apr 3

Trump’s trade war is going to cost you.

He’s jacking up tariffs because he claims trade deficits are bad for Americans—but guess what? We don’t grow coffee beans in the US. You’re going to pay more for coffee, bananas, avocados, olive oil, electronics, and more than half the stuff in your house.
🧵

Everyday imported goods because they aren’t made or grown in the US.

Food:

•Coffee (Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam)
Bananas (Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica)
•Olive oil (Spain, Italy, Greece)
•Cocoa/chocolate (Ivory Coast, Ghana)
•Tea (China, India, Sri Lanka)
•Avocados (Mexico)
•Spices (tropics)

2/7

Electronics & Tech:

•iPhones/smartphones (China, Vietnam, South Korea)
•Laptops & tablets (China, Taiwan)
•TVs (South Korea, China, Japan)
•Batteries (China, South Korea, Japan)
•Microwaves (China)

3/7

Read 7 tweets

Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

Mar 22

Pete Buttigieg breaks down DEI for everyday folks—keeps it simple without being condescending.

“The opposite of diversity is uniformity. The opposite of equity is inequity. The opposite of inclusion is exclusion. I don’t know a lot of people who think we’d be better off if our lives had more uniformity, inequity, and exclusion.” @PeteButtigieg

Our problem is clear though: too many value uniformity over inclusion, and they’re the ones running the government today.
🧵

Let me tell you about redlining in my own family. In 1957 my grandpa, Osborne Crews, a successful chemist at Stanford research, was ready to buy in Palo Alto & wanted to purchase from the architect Joseph Eichler. Eichler wouldn’t agree to build or sell to Black folks until the 1960’s. Also at the time, Bank of America was the only major lender that would lend to Blacks.
2/5

Imagine only having one mortgage lender option. No competition for your business or competitive rates.
Architect John Mackay agreed to build grandpa a house but he had to find his own lot (not easy to find someone who would agree to sell to a black man) and it could not be anywhere within the tracts designated for whites only.
3/5

Read 5 tweets

Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

Mar 3

I saw people protesting at my local Tesla service center today. Right on ✊🏾

I’m convinced that unelected co-president Elon Musk is turning the U.S. government into a version of how he runs Tesla—and that should terrify everyone. Hear me out.

When I first got my Tesla, I loved it. They delivered it straight to my home during peak COVID lockdown. Anytime I had a question, I could easily reach a sales rep or advisor. Sometimes, we’d even stop by the Tesla store just to check out the cars—always a friendly experience, no issues at all.
🧵

Fast forward three years. A customer loyalty advisor reached out with an incredible deal on a new Tesla. I figured, why not? I placed an order but made it clear I didn’t want to take delivery until my lease was up in a few months. No problem.

Then, about a month before my lease ended, I started getting notifications pressuring me to accept delivery of the new car. I declined every time. But suddenly, my Tesla app locked me into a delivery screen, refusing to let me use basic functions—like opening my own damn trunk.

Pissed off, I tried reaching my advisor through phone and email. Nothing.
2.

Meanwhile, my car developed a camera issue—probably from water damage after a bad storm—which disabled Autopilot. I couldn’t book a local service appointment through the app, so I tried calling. Messaging about loaners. No satisfactory response.

No real person, just an endless loop of recordings. Service center? Same thing. Retail store? Same thing. Corporate? Same thing.

Frustrated, I drove to a service center just to ask a simple question about my lease—something I should’ve been able to do with a damn phone call.

While there, I requested a new loyalty advisor since mine had vanished. The staff told me, “Oh, maybe she was laid off.” I said, “No, definitely not. Her voicemail still works, and I haven’t received any undelivered email notices.” They checked and informed me—she had been laid off that week, along with 1,000 other Tesla employees.
3.

Read 4 tweets

Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

Dec 27, 2024

Democrats,
We’re Missing Something. Hear Me Out…

Do you remember how Dems used to refer to large sections of the United States as ‘flyover country’? Somewhere along the way, we realized that by using that phrase, we were canceling voters—making them feel unimportant and unheard. So, we stopped using it.

We stopped using that phrase, but we have the same problem. We aren’t listening to folks outside of metropolitan cities. And on top of that, we aren’t even speaking to them. We’ve become so politically correct with our language that we’re not relatable to many people who should be Democratic voters.
🧵

For example, the party doesn’t address the closure of factories that policies—like NAFTA—caused. We can’t undo the past, but we need to acknowledge & listen to folks who suffered because of it. They blame Dems & voted for Trump because he makes them feel heard. He lies to them, saying he’ll fix it.

Take a look at towns and cities that used to be big manufacturing hubs. Now they’re poverty-stricken, deep in the opioid and meth crisis, and don’t even have Democratic candidates addressing these issues. Or if they do, they get no support from the party.
(2 of 7)

RECAP: Once-booming towns collapsed because of NAFTA, a Democratic policy. They’ve fallen victim to cheap drugs, opioids, and meth, and the Democratic Party ignores them. Why would they vote blue?

Voters in these towns and surrounding areas have decided our party is not for them, and Trump stokes the fire with the idea that BIPOC and immigrants are the cause of their problems. A problem he claims he can fix by deporting millions and canceling DEI.

Trump and Republicans don’t address how they can make higher education affordable or the fact that we need to change what we manufacture in this country and implement retraining programs, but it doesn’t matter. Blame and hate are powerful drugs.
(3 of 7)

Read 7 tweets

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