Certainly so. I don’t know what the data says, but I wonder if the restaurant industry has fully recovered.
Forget it….
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What a moron. China doesn't have inflation? The government ultimately controls the economy and prices in China. MAGA is grasping at straws. Tariffs don't raise prices? Rand Paul disagrees. Utterly ridiculous. Trust Donald Trump? The man who made up phony tariff rates to justify his insane policies. The man who golfs while the country burns. This is the beginning of the end of MAGA.
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CNBC’s Jim Cramer Throws Around C-Word As Trump Stock Crisis Deepens — Says Slide Is Headed For ‘Crash’
CNBC host Jim Cramer said if President Donald Trump continues on the same path, the stock market dive could turn into a genuine "crash."
www.mediaite.com
Trump, the gift that keeps on giving.
Great analysis, discusses how Trump created a situation where people will be begging for exemptions for their industry or company. The grift continues.
I'm curious as to what people think are the better alternatives. I'm of a mind that the status quo in unsustainable. I think a consumption-driven trade deficit somewhere in the range of $800B to $1T plus is unsustainable, and regressive. I think the strategic vulnerabilities that we got a brief exposure to during covid are way to serious to ignore. After a few generations now, attempts to bring China into the "family of nations" have not transformed them into a noble and upstanding partner and free society. I don't like tariffs either. We seem to have a lot of expertise on what not to do here. But realistically, what are the alternatives that will make for meaningful long-term changes?
Here is what you don’t do:
Make up phony tariff rates to justify your actions.
Slap tariffs on the entire globe in no rational way.
Trump's actions have been recognized by everyone outside of the administration as one of the biggest blunders in presidential history. Yet you think there are no other options. Either Trump's plan or no plan.
Many options were discussed within Trump's administration before Trump decided on this plan. There were many better options. Vance for one was pushing for a more limited program as a start.
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Trump's tariffs make no economic sense and are based on an error. 🤡
But what do we do instead to address the issues that have been mounting over the last 2-3 generations? That would be an interesting conversation. It tedious to me watching the anti Trump faction and the pro Trump faction trying to dunk on each other all day long 7 days a week. Maybe I'm following the wrong thread.
I don't think everyone outside the admin believes the tariffs are the biggest blunder in presidential history. Here is an opinion piece trying to analyze the situation. The underlying premise is that the US has fiddled for too long, and looking forward, our economic situation is sick and needs a major reset.
So there is the do nothing crowd, there is Trump and room in-between. Trump is not just negotiating with trading partners but also with the US public. There is going to be some pain, but instead of going slow so Federal judges can block the negotiations and Democrats can undercut them, he has jumped in with both feet.
As the attached article ends, "Will it work?" Only time will tell but we all should be rooting for America in this one.
Here's what Trump is really up to with high-stakes tariff gambit
Policy analyst Tanvi Ratna breaks down what President Trump is really up to with his tariffs, and it is more ambitious that you may think.
ps. Trump had a 4 year on the job training period and is no rookie in negotiations. The left wing media already is digging up economists and others to trash the US' position, but I kinda lean toward Trump being more savvy in the real geopolitical world. Again, time will tell.
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Prior to Trump getting elected, this board spent 4 years crapping on Biden. If there was a great deal of interesting conversation during that period, then I must have missed it. So I don't think you are going to find it now. If all the MAGA posters think the plan is great then what discussion can you have?
One thing we need to discuss. The trade deficit is measured ONLY in goods, while the US is a service-based economy and absolutely "exports" more services than it "imports." I'm sure that doesn't make up the entire trade deficit, but it would be helpful to consider before we declare a problem.
Second, are we sure that the trade deficit is a problem? Despite the claims of many, American incomes and wealth have grown considerably in the last 50 years. While the top end has gained more than the bottom over this time, in recent years wage gains at the lower end have outpaced those at the higher end (my amateur eye suggests that the real reason wages declined at the low end - a phenomenon that was real from about 1980 to 1995 but has reversed since - is that addition of millions of women to the workforce). The poorest 20% of Americans consume more in goods/services than the average person in many "rich" countries (crazy but actually true). It doesn't seem like transitioning to a service-based importer has hurt the country in a meaningful way. It may have hurt some zip codes, but America is a huge nation with varying and sometimes competing interests.
Third, I bring this up a lot, but when you look at the richest nations in the world, there are four types: (1) petro-states with small populations; (2) Switzerland; (3) the United States; and (4) trade-based city states like Luxembourg and Singapore. (1) isn't replicable and (2)/(3) are historically dynamic economies, and (4) are pure importers premised on a free trade regime. Exactly none of these countries is premised on manufacturing, and almost all are service-based regimes who embrace trade.
Fourth, not sure if this is the question being made, but there is a discussion about what products "need" to be made in the USA for defense, national security, and even scarcity purposes. I'm not sure of the answer, seems like shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, and some tech products should be items the US considers how to make more of. But there's other items that it may not, from an overall perspective, hurt to lose.
I don't think everyone outside the admin believes the tariffs are the biggest blunder in presidential history. Here is an opinion piece trying to analyze the situation. The underlying premise is that the US has fiddled for too long, and looking forward, our economic situation is sick and needs a major reset.
So there is the do nothing crowd, there is Trump and room in-between. Trump is not just negotiating with trading partners but also with the US public. There is going to be some pain, but instead of going slow so Federal judges can block the negotiations and Democrats can undercut them, he has jumped in with both feet.
As the attached article ends, "Will it work?" Only time will tell but we all should be rooting for America in this one.
Here's what Trump is really up to with high-stakes tariff gambit
Policy analyst Tanvi Ratna breaks down what President Trump is really up to with his tariffs, and it is more ambitious that you may think.www.foxnews.com
ps. Trump had a 4 year on the job training period and is no rookie in negotiations. The left wing media already is digging up economists and others to trash the US' position, but I kinda lean toward Trump being more savvy in the real geopolitical world. Again, time will tell.
Outside of the debt/deficit, there's nothing "sick" about our economic situation. It's actually an extraordinarily uninformed view. Please, I'm begging you, start looking at relative growth rates of the USA versus the other important members of the West (the rich economies) and Asia Pacific (Japan/Korea) in the past 20-25 years. We've blown most of them away.
Americans are lied to all the time, by the left and now by the right. There's a reason America exports so many ... tourists right now. We are rich as hell by any standard; the average person here can do things with their money that few in the world can. And both political teams have spent varying degrees of time telling the country how much things suck.
This used to be just a left problem, now it is a left and right problem.
So the Dem message is that we need to increase the minimum wage for American citizens. But also, we need to make it easy for America to use slave (and child) labor overseas so we can have affordable Nike’s.
What a party.
What a party.
Looks like a blue wave on a bad Senate map for the Rs. Will the swing state Ds cancel their retirements?
www.dailymail.co.uk
Americans deliver shock verdict on Trump's controversial new tariffs
Despite sending the global markets into a verified frenzy after enacting a sweeping new tariff regiment, President Donald Trump has shockingly gone up in popularity.
Trump-friendly pollster shows massive shift in approval rating
A Trump-friendly pollster shows bad news for Trump.
I will take the party of a higher minimum wage and free trade over the party of high tariffs and low US minimum wages everyday of the week.
Here is an idea instead of all of the MAGA excuse making for this disaster. If your intention is to negotiate, you sit down and actually negotiate, talk. You don't crash the world economy, more importantly you don't crash the US economy that was the world's premier economy when he took office. That only weakens the U.S.'s bargaining position. All Trump knows about negotiation is negotiating his way out of multiple bankruptcies. He hasn't been allowed to build since I believe the 1990's due to bankruptcies, he was limited to licensing agreement that allowed others to use his name. Now he has discovered the grift of elected office.I don't think everyone outside the admin believes the tariffs are the biggest blunder in presidential history. Here is an opinion piece trying to analyze the situation. The underlying premise is that the US has fiddled for too long, and looking forward, our economic situation is sick and needs a major reset.
So there is the do nothing crowd, there is Trump and room in-between. Trump is not just negotiating with trading partners but also with the US public. There is going to be some pain, but instead of going slow so Federal judges can block the negotiations and Democrats can undercut them, he has jumped in with both feet.
As the attached article ends, "Will it work?" Only time will tell but we all should be rooting for America in this one.
Here's what Trump is really up to with high-stakes tariff gambit
Policy analyst Tanvi Ratna breaks down what President Trump is really up to with his tariffs, and it is more ambitious that you may think.
ps. Trump had a 4 year on the job training period and is no rookie in negotiations. The left wing media already is digging up economists and others to trash the US' position, but I kinda lean toward Trump being more savvy in the real geopolitical world. Again, time will tell.
Yes, we know. You would support destroying small towns that can’t support a higher mimimim wage. And that you support buying goods from child/slave labor as long as that labor comes from overseas.
So you are thinking that this Trump tariff fiasco is aimed at helping slave/child labor in poor countries? LOL. Please explain.
I am actually for a minimum wage of around $13/hr. $20 is much too high. However, if the two are a package deal I would take the bad with the good.
FYI, the Republican party has never been the party of improved worker conditions either in the US or overseas. Do you think Trump cares one bit about working conditions overseas?
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Producing more here, we have laws that protect again low wages and child labor. Other countries don’t have the same protections.
I don’t think that’s the aim, but it could be one of the results.
Yes, I know Dems are against stopping people from exploiting cheap/illegal labor. We saw that when you guys supported flying in South American prison gangs under the idea they would work our farms. Thanks for confirming.
Oh boy, what a thinker. That is why we have exported manufacturing to those countries.
It's good to see you did a little bit of self-reflection.
Trump is here to save America from the 'leaders' you chose, Jeff.
I do feel great. Thank you for asking. Sleeping heart rate below 40.
Fully expecting the markets to recover over the next couple of weeks as investors figure out who the winners and losers are going to be.
It’s been fascinating listening to commentators on the left and the right who are bought and paid for by corporate America.
It’s been fascinating listening to commentators on the left and the right who are bought and paid for by corporate America.
Precisely why China will be forced to negotiate.
Love Sowell. Very smart man. Love VDH too. Sowell does recognize the negotiating tactic. I know you hate Trump and due to your emotion, your normally very solid brain tends to overheat. Negotiations aren't immediate, but your favorite leader of Argentina loves Trump. Look for Argentina to thrive. Bet on any country that seeks fair and free trade with the US.
The problem is you say you want free trade but asking countries nicely to remove their trade barriers doesn't work. If the Dems were trying to get them reduced, it didn't happen. Trump gave the world 70 days and already we are seeing results from Israel, Argentina, Vietnam, etc.
Time will tell.
Yes, because the people are easy to exploit. I thought Dems were against that, but I have to remember that they really have no values they will stick to.
Jeff - rather than start the day destroying you I decided you needed a humorous pick-me-up. I failed.
But, seriously, after the damage wrought by your vote in 2020, you really should sit this one out. You are a senior citizen; you should recognize that negotiations take a little bit of time. Trump just walked out of the dealership - let's see what happens.
We know. Ideas like this led to us flying in a Venezuelan prison gang. Just have to take in the bad guys to get the good ones. Small towns can’t support the minimum wages that Dems push for. They know that businesses in those small towns can’t afford a high minimum wage, and would be forced to hire non citizens to work at lower wages. They don’t care.
Probably not. But I thought Dems cared about worker conditions. Just not more than they care about their cheap Nike’s. Who cares about the kids making a couple bucks a day, right?
You have anything better than simplistic tropes on this front?
On the small town thing, if your town bets on a single factory or something like that and then the market for that factory goes away (or in many cases, the labor costs make it uncompetitive), the reality is that it's going to be bad, sometimes devastating, for the town. There's a thing called boomtowns for a reason. When the boom ended, people moved. We can "not move" and accept a far lower standard of living, or we can "move" and find something better. You moved in your life (more than once, in fact). Why shouldn't others?
As for "slave wages" in Vietnam or similar, they don't make much. That's because their countries are poor. Working in a shoe factory for $5K/year is not great, but it's better than working in a rice paddy for basically nothing and barely enough food. There will always be cheap labor, and the countries without it have far better existences than those with it. We don't want said labor. People come here for countries with those wages because they know we will pay better!
The recent economic policy decisions are terrible. Manufacturing may slowly reshore in the US for a variety of reasons, but our economy is never again going to be production-based. We are too rich for it, and hopefully we remain far too dynamic. Even if I'm wrong (quite unlikely) and it comes back, it's going to move somewhere other than the less competitive "Rust Belt" because the state laws there in many places are less business-friendly. So best case, the guy in Detroit won't get help, but the guy in South Carolina - who mostly has already won from the global economy - will get a bonus win.
Take away economic dynamism, take away creative destruction, we all get poorer.
Lefty experts have done a lot of discrediting of themselves, particularly during Covid.
OTOH, economists haven't generally suffered the same fate (and it was one of the most lockdown-skeptical group of experts). Economists are very wary of these tariffs.
More likely, American businesses and workers will be harmed by tariffs (yes, workers too). We might have a recession, and growth is likely to slow. Barring some quick reversal, consumer prices will increase, and consumer spending will decrease. Americans will end up quite upset about these policies, we will see how that impacts us politically. The world isn't likely to end, but bad policy tends to have bad impacts.
I agree people should move for better opportunities. I’ve done it a few times.
I don’t believe the federal govt should force higher wages on smaller towns forcing people to move.
I’ve said on here many times that people should move to better areas, but I’ve been told people shouldn’t have to do that. See the conversation on people living in uninsurable areas on the coasts.
Gotcha.
I agree with you on the wage thing. Let the market decide. I promise you that, if a small town factory is paying terrible wages but the place 50 miles is away is paying more, people will drive a longer distance for higher pay.
I think the Dems are directionally wrong on the minimum wage (now if we have one, I do think we need a better discussion on what it should be over time), but they are directionally right on trade. That said, what happened this week was one of the biggest changes in our politics in modern times - I think Dems are not going back on the idea of free trade and are likely a free trade party now. Unions have declined in importance for them for decades, this might be the end.
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