Politics

[Gilgalad]

I understand they may not be the real McCoy but the Chinese are already copying iPhones.

That’s there under the table work, imagine what they would do if the gloves came off?

They’ve already had fake apple stores in China for years, if shit hits the fan they would open shops outside of China in a heartbeat and probably already have contingency plans for it.
This video is 6 years old

I will not be surprised if they have the formular already, They are probably just waiting for apple to leave before they unveil what they have.

 

[mdwest]

Things usually not covered in these trade deals would be wine, cheese, spirits, textiles, dairy, meats, grains, etc.

All of those things are definitely excluded in the current offer (no agriculture related products included at all.. just industrial)..

The French and Italians for example desperately want access to the US wine market.. both countries are getting very nervous, very quickly (multiple articles across numerous news sources).. because sales have plummeted in just the last week.. We normally import almost $2.5B in wine from France every year and about $2.1B in wine from Italy... The French are anticipating a reduction in exports of at least 20% if tariffs remain in place.. The Italians fear their entire industry could collapse on itself and that many wineries could go out of business very quickly.. They only export a little more than $6B globally.. they're looking at losing a huge chunk of what has historically represented 1/3 of their entire global market..

When considering even a 20% reduction on a $2.5B sales volume ($500M).. consider that the US brings in about $290M a year from Australia.. What the French stand to lose is almost double what the Aussies bring in in a single year..

 

[HookMeUpII]

As a free market guy (caveat: with equitable trade) I hope Trump demands more than is being offered.

The thing I hate about Canadian and EU trade is all the BS trade barriers for the little guys. I also hate getting tariffed on specialty imports. I hope we can wait for a true zero tariff agreement across the board. Things usually not covered in these trade deals would be wine, cheese, spirits, textiles, dairy, meats, grains, etc.

Crush niche protectionist/socialist schemes in the process of a tariff war. We get ALL their goods without tariff, they get all our goods in turn.

Just my take on it because it’s personally irritating as a consumer or small business owner.

Depends how much of it starts to end up on your doorstep. My business is directly correlated to the market and economy. This hurts me for sure, but realistically, markets always come back. We may lose a client or two for things beyond our control, income goes down for a bit, but we work hard for our clients and make it back. I'd rather not see it go this way, but what can you do?

A buddy of mine is hardcore right wing (I am a moderate, but GOP entirely). We were talking about the incoming tariffs early last week before they broke. His response was "We need to fix this trade imbalance. Screw them."

Fast forward to last night, he was panicking and completely did a 180 when he realized his weekly shipment was getting hit with $9,600 more than usual in tariffs. He's now thinking this needs to be better handled. He buys fish from all over the world for re-sale to restaurants, markets, etc.

Funny how that goes. For guys like him, I hope they figure this out very quickly. Because, that's not good.

There was no good way of fixing this. This way is definitely not the way. On the other hand, this has been in the works for years with no progress.

In Trump's defense, this is like the friend who's owed you money for drinks at the bar for years. Keeps saying they are getting around to paying you back and never does.

 

[steve white]

Holy cow, I'm 20 odd pages behind on "Politics" and don't have the time to read all that. Anyone want to recap what was important in the last week?

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

As a free market guy (caveat: with equitable trade) I hope Trump demands more than is being offered.

The thing I hate about Canadian and EU trade is all the BS trade barriers for the little guys. I also hate getting tariffed on specialty imports. I hope we can wait for a true zero tariff agreement across the board. Things usually not covered in these trade deals would be wine, cheese, spirits, textiles, dairy, meats, grains, etc.

Crush niche protectionist/socialist schemes in the process of a tariff war. We get ALL their goods without tariff, they get all our goods in turn.

Just my take on it because it’s personally irritating as a consumer or small business owner.

How do you justify that in the face of state sponsored industry? Dairy for example as much as 73% of American dairy returns are directly from subsidies. The entire reason the U.S. dairy producers want access to the Canadian market is to offshore a product they would otherwise be forced to dump because they routinely out supply domestic demand.

unless Americans are going to stop all dairy subsidies than your not actually asking for fair trade at all your just demanding another market for your products which seems to be trumps Favourite past time.

 

[Pondoro]

All this talk about that the US has the right and obligation to go on with these tarriffs..

Globally..at least in Europe..people are boycotting american products..and tourism to the US is plummeting.. All in all I dont think you will benefit from Trumps policies..but it is what it is folks..

Canada seems to be furious about this policy..

 

[Brent in Az]

All this talk about that the US has the right and obligation to go on with these tarriffs..

Globally..at least in Europe..people are boycotting american products..and tourism to the US is plummeting.. All in all I dont think you will benefit from Trumps policies..but it is what it is folks..

Canada seems to be furious about this policy..

Maybe Europe should man up and deal with it, instead of reacting like petulant children that didn't get their way

 

[Pondoro]

Bla bla Brent..

I hope that Trump go for additional 50% toll on China...lets see what that will do to US economy..

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Bla bla Brent..

I hope that Trump go for additional 50% toll on China...lets see what that will do to US economy..

Play stupid gains win stupid prizes

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

Making sense of Trump’s economic plans is hard to do. I know I cannot put it all into a coherent 60 second elevator brief. Probably most of us are feeling a little economic pain in investments and so on.
I would have gone about things differently but no one elected me President!

I am not a Trump lover. He is an asshole but I hired him to be just that, an asshole. For that, he is meeting the goal!

The following is from Mark Smith of Four Boxes Diner. Mark Smith provides the best analysis of USA 2nd Amendment legal proceedings. Here is his assessment of what Trump is trying to accomplish.
This is a 30-minute video that is worth watching.

Trump's Tariff Plan Makes Sense, Actually...​

 

[Pondoro]

Glad all my money is in property now..

 

[Pondoro]

Is America now an oligarchy run by billionares..?

 

[SaintPanzer]

Holy cow, I'm 20 odd pages behind on "Politics" and don't have the time to read all that. Anyone want to recap what was important in the last week?

Summary of things that were important in the last week?

Start of Summary:





End of Summary.

That's the summary of the important things. Pretty much everything else was just static.

Hope this helps.

 

[mdwest]

Is America now an oligarchy run by billionares..?

America is, and has been for a very long time a Poligarchy... run by brain dead, lying politicians..

Much like most of Europe...

 

[LivingTheDream]

Is America now an oligarchy run by billionares..?

Brother, every country is like that.

 

[Tanks]

Holy cow, I'm 20 odd pages behind on "Politics" and don't have the time to read all that. Anyone want to recap what was important in the last week?

We learned that high tariffs reduce inflation.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

All this talk about that the US has the right and obligation to go on with these tarriffs..

Globally..at least in Europe..people are boycotting american products..and tourism to the US is plummeting.. All in all I dont think you will benefit from Trumps policies..but it is what it is folks..

Canada seems to be furious about this policy..

I caretake a couple of pieces of property for a family friend from New Jersey so far I’ve been able to keep vandalism to a minimum (one window smashed) with the use of trail cams and my dogs alerting when vehicles turn off the main road. Other properties have not been so lucky. There are a lot of summer properties owned by Americans in the area and vandalism is on the rise several have burned down.

 

[mdwest]

All this talk about that the US has the right and obligation to go on with these tarriffs..

Globally..at least in Europe..people are boycotting american products..and tourism to the US is plummeting.. All in all I dont think you will benefit from Trumps policies..but it is what it is folks..

Canada seems to be furious about this policy..

Your media tells you that...

Do you completely trust your media?

Your politicians tell you that..

Do you really trust your politicians?

I don't doubt for a moment that Europeans are upset..

But our news sources are telling us that European markets are shitting themselves and desperate to find resolution (the DAX in Germany being down 4.1% today, and dumping 11.5% over the past 5 days tells me this is likely correct... The CAC 40 in France is down 11.62% over the past 5 days... the IT40 in Italy down 14.4%.. FTSE100 in the UK down 10.26%.. etc..etc..)..

Where the DOW is down 9%.. and barely dropped anything at all today.. and the NASDAQ actually had a tiny little gain today..

European markets tell me that people can boycott all they want.. and they can quit coming to the US to wear mickey mouse ears... and the European economy will still be harmed much more significantly than the US economy..


So.. the question remains.. what exactly is Europe going to do? Continue to cry, bitch, moan, and refuse to buy American products that they already largely weren't buying (US consumer goods across most sectors arent exactly high demand items in Europe... its industrial goods that Europe buys in large quantities.. and the EU already came back today offering 0:0 tariffs on industrial goods)..

Boo hoo.. the impact on the US will be minimal (again, Europeans already don't buy a lot of California wines, Ford trucks, Winchester rifles, or American cheese...)...

The US is the large consumer... we tend to buy tons of French and Italian wines, German cars, styer rifles, and God only knows how much European cheese..

when those sales go away, Europe suffers unless it can find another consumer to replace the US (which it clearly cannot do)..

when Germans quit coming to Disney.. Disney suffers...

But I have news for you.. Disney is one of the most hated companies in the US... a full 50% of the country will celebrate Disneys demise.. (FWIW one of my daughters has worked for Disney corporate for 3 years and interned with them in college.. while I don't buy disney stuff, I wont be among those celebrating)..


Canadians are indeed furious.. in many cases rightfully so..

But the argument remains the same for Canada as well...

Bitching isn't fixing anything...

So.. come up with a solution...

Come to the table and make a deal... or figure out a new deal with someone else..

But the facts don't lie.. a new deal isn't really in the cards for the overwhelming majority of Canadian and European products... certainly not in the short term (defined by at least a decade).. So.. that might not be a very good option..

I'll close with the same thing Ive said many times..

Trump is easy to hate.. he is an asshole.. no one, to include members of the far right are going to deny that..

But, do you really believe Europe (and Canada, and Mexico, and others) didn't play a role in things getting to where they are? Did Trudeau, Merkel, Macron, and a hundred other world leaders that sat in office in Europe, North America, and elsewhere not participate? Do you really believe they just sat on their ass, completely unaware of any possible problem with the status quo or any understanding that there could be a problem in the future if they didn't actively seek a solution at an earlier time?

Or were they happy with the status quo and just thought fuck it.. we'll ride this as long as we can and hope pretty please and pray to God that Trump or some other populist wouldn't find their way back into the Whitehouse at some point?

2016 should have been a pretty good indicator of the future to come... perhaps ignoring it was a bad idea..

I have no problem with Germans hating Trump, Brits hating Trump, French hating Trump, Canadians hating Trump, etc..

I do find them all pretty silly, childish, and ridiculous however if at the same time they cant acknowledge a similar hatred for Scholz, Starmer, Macron, Trudeau, etc..

Your politicians set you up for your countries current problems...

And our politicians are now exploiting those problems...

Everyone has shit on their shoes...

Taking the easy road and just pointing at the shit on Trumps shoes is a pretty short sighted and disingenuous position to take..

 

[spike.t]

Your media tells you that...

Do you completely trust your media?

Your politicians tell you that..

Do you really trust your politicians?

I don't doubt for a moment that Europeans are upset..

But our news sources are telling us that European markets are shitting themselves and desperate to find resolution (the DAX in Germany being down 4.1% today, and dumping 11.5% over the past 5 days tells me this is likely correct... The CAC 40 in France is down 11.62% over the past 5 days... the IT40 in Italy down 14.4%.. FTSE100 in the UK down 10.26%.. etc..etc..)..

Where the DOW is down 9%.. and barely dropped anything at all today.. and the NASDAQ actually had a tiny little gain today..

European markets tell me that people can boycott all they want.. and they can quit coming to the US to wear mickey mouse ears... and the European economy will still be harmed much more significantly than the US economy..


So.. the question remains.. what exactly is Europe going to do? Continue to cry, bitch, moan, and refuse to buy American products that they already largely weren't buying (US consumer goods across most sectors arent exactly high demand items in Europe... its industrial goods that Europe buys in large quantities.. and the EU already came back today offering 0:0 tariffs on industrial goods)..

Boo hoo.. the impact on the US will be minimal (again, Europeans already don't buy a lot of California wines, Ford trucks, Winchester rifles, or American cheese...)...

The US is the large consumer... we tend to buy tons of French and Italian wines, German cars, styer rifles, and God only knows how much European cheese..

when those sales go away, Europe suffers unless it can find another consumer to replace the US (which it clearly cannot do)..

when Germans quit coming to Disney.. Disney suffers...

But I have news for you.. Disney is one of the most hated companies in the US... a full 50% of the country will celebrate Disneys demise.. (FWIW one of my daughters has worked for Disney corporate for 3 years and interned with them in college.. while I don't buy disney stuff, I wont be among those celebrating)..


Canadians are indeed furious.. in many cases rightfully so..

But the argument remains the same for Canada as well...

Bitching isn't fixing anything...

So.. come up with a solution...

Come to the table and make a deal... or figure out a new deal with someone else..

But the facts don't lie.. a new deal isn't really in the cards for the overwhelming majority of Canadian and European products... certainly not in the short term (defined by at least a decade).. So.. that might not be a very good option..

I'll close with the same thing Ive said many times..

Trump is easy to hate.. he is an asshole.. no one, to include members of the far right are going to deny that..

But, do you really believe Europe (and Canada, and Mexico, and others) didn't play a role in things getting to where they are? Did Trudeau, Merkel, Macron, and a hundred other world leaders that sat in office in Europe, North America, and elsewhere not participate? Do you really believe they just sat on their ass, completely unaware of any possible problem with the status quo or any understanding that there could be a problem in the future if they didn't actively seek a solution at an earlier time?

Or were they happy with the status quo and just thought fuck it.. we'll ride this as long as we can and hope pretty please and pray to God that Trump or some other populist wouldn't find their way back into the Whitehouse at some point?

2016 should have been a pretty good indicator of the future to come... perhaps ignoring it was a bad idea..

I have no problem with Germans hating Trump, Brits hating Trump, French hating Trump, Canadians hating Trump, etc..

I do find them all pretty silly, childish, and ridiculous however if at the same time they cant acknowledge a similar hatred for Scholz, Starmer, Macron, Trudeau, etc..

Your politicians set you up for your countries current problems...

And our politicians are now exploiting those problems...

Everyone has shit on their shoes...

Taking the easy road and just pointing at the shit on Trumps shoes is a pretty short sighted and disingenuous position to take..

Plenty of them hate starmer with a vengeance.....should read some of the comments after articles and youtube videos on him and labour....amazing the number who love Trump....and want him or vance to stand for prime minister.....

 

[Brent in Az]

Illegals on the voter rolls. The exact reason why democrats let them in.