US Politics

The Democrats didn't do very much right!

The way I read these people is there are a couple of assumptions/world views.

1. Progress is made by disruptive visionaries.
   
2. They are exceptionally intelligent visionaries who see things others do not.
   
   

Most other points stem from these core beliefs.

Apparently businesses are rushing to stock up on Chinese goods before the tariffs start. This cashflow hit is causing layoffs. Workers are shocked because they thought the tariffs would be paid by China. Less than 20% of voters know how tariffs work. (I got this from twitter - maybe it's just those naughty Dems lying again.)

Trump has asked Robert Lighthizer to be trade representative again. Lighthizer loves tariffs and says he used them to good effect in Trump's first presidency. He wrote a piece in the FT on Nov 1st. It paints a brutal picture of inequality. Which will be addressed by more tariffs. https://www.ft.com/content/c72fac7b-4b0c-4981-8bc8-8999bde17900 https://archive.ph/nifsx

from the perspective of an american voter, why are tariffs a bad thing?

american can manufacture stuff unlike uk

In simple terms, they make imports more expensive.

Basically tariffs are a good idea for a developing country that needs to nurture its own industries to allow them to get to the point where they are competitive internationally. At that point you suddenly want everyone to get rid of tariffs so your now world-leading industries can access the global market.

When the US became independent the British said, 'let's have free trade - you send us the raw materials, we'll make stuff and you buy it.' The Americans said 'Fuck that, we will put tariffs on everything and develop our own manufacturing.'

After the war, the US set up the IMF and World Bank, who said to Europe and all the developing countries 'Let's all have free markets so your people can buy our stuff more cheaply'. The developing countries said 'but don't developing countries need tariff protection for their emerging industries to develop, or else they will be trapped as permanent exporters of raw materials at low margins?' WB and IMF said 'that's right, but if you don't want your people to starve / have sanctions / be invaded / have coups / etc - no tariffs.' Europe and dev world said 'ok then'

Now, the US can no longer compete internationally in many markets, tariffs suddenly look like a less bad idea. But it would mean that American manufacturing would gardually become less and less competitive globally (think cars) and only focus on their domestic market. In many ways it would be similar to the 1930s. It would be bad for Americans, but worse for virtually everyone else.

À lot of businesses import the things they sell so if you put tarrifs on China, for example, then that cost ends up being passed on to the American consumer in the end. You also have businesses buying lots of stock before the tarrifs come in to play, this takes money out of the economy because they've spent money they would have spent on hiring more staff or other things to improve their businesses to just tie up in stock.

The argument on the other side is that in the long run this should lead to those outsourced manufacturing industries returning, but the horse seems to have bolted on that one because people might say they want to 'buy American' but no-one is actually willing to pay what things actually cost for that reality.

Tldr, in the modern free trade system tarrifs just make everything more expensive.

What irks me is that it seems like such a crass ideology for one based upon the existence of intelligent visionaries.

Maybe you’re right though and it’s not that complicated.

Consumers will have a hard time paying $16 for a $10 t shirt when avocados cost $10 because all the fruit and veg pickers have been deported. But this doesn't matter because rich Americans won't be affected. The poor ones can stop buying t shirts and just eat pop tarts.

Has this been photoshopped? Elon is in the Trump family pic, holding Lara's hand. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gb4wEdhXgAAb7XX?format=jpg&name=large

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/melania-trump-absent-donald-trump-photo-b2642808.html

No doubt Trump is busy telling everyone how hot his granddaughter is.

$10 t shirt

Would love to see the cost breakdown of production and distribution for this. The fashion industry is pretty fucked, relying on terrible labour pay and conditions from the cotton farms all the way through to stitching the final garment.

Crucially though, the margins often get larger the closer they get to the consumer, domestic retail at the point of sale usually taking the most. American firms may well only have to pay a small additional fee on the import of blanks, and then take a hit where they’re doubling the price for domestic consumers. They’ll obviously try and pass through that cost though, not that they need to.

T-shirts aren’t representative of the whole economy but there’s more to it than just ‘tariffs bad’

Why is his nose so red?

https://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-failure-of-democrats.html

Shit, he spotted us

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Would love to see the cost breakdown of production and distribution for this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CkgCYPe68Q
has a starter and provides sources/citations

Man, I love that guy

Nancy Pelosi saying that the Democrats lost because they did not have an open primary.

thank you for the explainer

makes sense, thanks!

Tariffs and tariff reform has a long and fascinating history. I wrote my Phd thesis on the The Long (or Great) Depression of 1873 to 1896 and the effect on British Fin de siècle politics with special reference to the election of 1906 which the Liberals won on an anti-tariff-reform platform. The Long Depression probable wasn't either long, great or even a depression but there you go.

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These pseudo first hand experiences are just getting more and more unbelievable.

Is this thing going to injure me?

Pops are NOT covered under warranty; please be careful when performing first turns. We will replace all broken pieces that occur up to 7 days after arrival.

Cubes can pop and exploded upon first use. Be careful and adjust if needed.

(From the despatch email)

I heard that the total average cost of deporting each illegal immigrant is $10,000.

The private contractors will make out like bandits. Ironically a less corrupt and right wing government could probably structure those contacts to provide an economic stimulus.

They are idiots then. Do they think Trump is going to be tougher on Israel than Biden? Netanyahu basically ignored Biden because he was hoping for a Trump win so that he can finish what he started without protestation from the US Government.

You do know!