It's almost like voting for someone with zero experience in politics that ran on a platform of hate and ignorance wasn't a good idea...
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Trump's Planned Tariffs on Imported Steel and Aluminum Would Likely Apply to Apple Products
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Good thing I have a Mac mini and iPhone 6, won't be buying anything new Apple anytime soon.
And to think it's cheaper to build product in China and ship it to the US in fossil-fuel CO2 spewing cargo ships is cheaper than producing them here? Something's fishy....
And to think it's cheaper to build product in China and ship it to the US in fossil-fuel CO2 spewing cargo ships is cheaper than producing them here? Something's fishy....
I wonder, are you old enough to remember when the "cheap junk" label was applied to everything made in Japan? For decades Japan was said to make nothing (except cameras) that wasn't a poor knockoff of a better product made in the U.S. or elsewhere. It seems ridiculous now, but this was definitely the case until the 1970s at least. Take this a little further forward to Japan's "economic miracle" of the 1980s. Supposedly they had national economic planning all figured out and were going to utterly dominate world economics for decades to come. Instead, within ten years they'd slipped into an economic malaise from which they still have not emerged.
The point being, economic trends have a way of shifting, and fast, and most economic policy is about fighting the last war. Tariffs are, especially, because they are intended to protect industries that have become noncompetitive on world markets, and not for no reason. Politically it can be popular to talk about "saving" these industries, but in reality, they can only be put on a kind of life support. That's the most protectionism can offer, and it comes at a tall price.
Economics is going to be dislocating, that is how it works. The way to handle the human costs is by understanding how the next war will be fought, not the last one. This is where Trump has it exactly backwards, in every possible way. His impulse is to protect the least competitive industries and discourage those that hold the greatest economic promise. Right across the board he has it completely wrong.
Which means the selling price to the consumer will go up 2%.
It's called, "Listening to your Advisors." Pretty rudimentary stuff. However, when one's President is a Textbook Narcissistic Oligarch with a Grandiose Personality Disorder, and is a Pathological Liar with the attention span of a 2 year old it can be hard to defend ones allegiance.
I am not quite old enough to remember when Japanese-made stuff was junk but I remember them being a powerhouse in the 80’s. And that’s only after they stopped making junk. They made some good things in the 80’s and became synonymous with quality.
Meanwhile, I don’t know what factors were in play when they were making cheap junk, since I was a baby then and I don’t recall it being covered in depth when I was in school, but I don’t recall their cheap products dominating in our country the way the Chinese stuff does now.
We only really started losing jobs to Japan when they started making good stuff. It helped that they had already gotten some experience at making economy cars when our gas crisis hit in the 70’s. That’s when my neighbor ditched his big American car for a little bitty Datsun.
Anyway, I’m not saying tarrifs are the answer or any answer whatsoever. I’m just pointing out that some of the people who voted for Trump don’t deserve the derision and dismissals they’ve been getting. These are desperate people left behind by the loss of domestic manufacturing jobs.
And I’m saying that there are things that the Chinese sell to us not because they are better or even more efficient. They’re cheaper. That’s it. And it’s not good for the consumer or the environment. Especially if there are domestic factories or factories in other nations that can make these things with less pollution and less waste and make them a higher quality.
But right now the Chinese and their cheaper steel and cheaper labor and cheaper quality output is really entrenched in our economy in a way the Japanese never quite managed. That’s causing problems we don’t have an immediate remedy for. I can understand some people wanting to trust Trump with a shot at it. Even if I think their hope is misplaced.
Every party and politician has had a hand in not preparing their constituents properly for all of the necessary changes and adjustments. Some of that is due to corruption and incompetence and some of it is due to the fact that the economy is complicated and there are many pieces to it that are at cross purposes at any given moment.
I do NOT trust Trump to have any answers at this point. However, if he somehow manages to pull a few out of his hat, I don’t trust the media and the people with entrenched anger and resentment over his presidency to acknowledge that he even made an effort. Especially any successful ones.
Apple's costs go up .2 percent.
Apple: "yeah so prices are going up 15%"
Apple: "yeah so prices are going up 15%"
Japan's postwar economy was based on low cost production. I well remember how many found it galling in the '60s and '70s that they became so adept at producing electronics for a fraction of the cost of U.S. products. They weren't better, just a lot cheaper. Since then their manufacturers have chased lower costs of production elsewhere, just as ours have, which means offshoring. Japan's economy will never be as large as China's, but that's just a function of demographic and natural resources.
I well understand the economic distresses of dislocation and certainly don't discount it. What that calls for is more right answers, not more wrong answers.
For sure this is not a positive thing. Free market economies are open and unregulated. If Trump starts this, Europe, Asia and others will react accordingly in a different market area - so nothing is won as other US companies will suffer on behalf of the steel industry. I assumed, at least for economics, that Trump would have acted smarter, e.g. only banning certain countries like China who actually are doing price dumping at all. For sure Europe with it‘s extremely high wages and production costs wouldn’t be able to underprice US companies...so why start a tariff war with us?
MAGA didn’t fail up until now as till yesterday it didn’t oppose directly other economies as it was mostly centered on actions within the US only. This obviously will now change I assume as it will cause a reaction that will than also hit the US economically spoken. My thoughts and fears...
Which these aren't. They're against everyone, including allies in Europe. I'd rather we just cut our ridiculous military aid to them (we defend them more than they defend themselves). But yes, I'd get behind an anti-China tariff, even if only for environmental reasons.
For the issue of China also attacking all our businesses there while copying everything: This has to be handled more subtly, in ways that make Americans avoid Chinese products for non-economic reasons. China has managed to do this against American virtual tech. Trump's one of the ugliest businessmen I can think of, so I was kinda hoping he'd know how to take down a competitor, but maybe the only answer is to let them catch up and face the realities themselves as they continue brain-draining into the US and Japan.
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His advisors are idiots. I don't even dislike Trump that much, more worried about his team.It's called, "Listening to your Advisors." Pretty rudimentary stuff. However, when one's President is a Textbook Narcissistic Oligarch with a Grandiose Personality Disorder, and is a Pathological Liar with the attention span of a 2 year old it can be hard to defend ones allegiance.
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Unless this is just an Apple joke, in theory it'll go up at most the amount of the tariff, probably less.
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Last year everybody's favorite did the same thing:
EU Imposes Anti-Dumping Duties on Chinese Steel
https://www.usnews.com/news/busines...-imposes-anti-dumping-duties-on-chinese-steel
EU Imposes Anti-Dumping Duties on Chinese Steel
https://www.usnews.com/news/busines...-imposes-anti-dumping-duties-on-chinese-steel
Not sure where you have been but my stocks are doing much better since President Trump took office.Yeah, the economy sucks now compared to the last President...
Not the same thing. Against ONE country allegedly dumping.
The UK had opposed such action in the past even if one of their mills was endangered.
0.2% of $1000=$2
But the phone does not cost $1000 to make, and aluminium and steel is only a part of the phone, so yes, it probably is closer to a few cents than a few dollars.
China has one policy and thats would domination in time so get your head out of the sand and add as many tariffs as we can on China products. China has a 25% tariff on American built cars exported to China.
The world has to change against China and Russia.
Trump is the man to bring back a true western world.
The world has to change against China and Russia.
Trump is the man to bring back a true western world.
Can you imagine what the reaction would be if Obama used a painter for his self-portrait who depicts the decapitation of white women.
Oh wait he did do that.
The media is working hard every minute of the day to make Trump look bad. The fact is, he really has done nothing wrong. Sure he's a little vulgar, sure he's not politically correct, sure he may have cheated on his wife. He clearly has major character flaws. But the media's clear bias ensures Trump has my vote in 2020.
Oh wait he did do that.
The media is working hard every minute of the day to make Trump look bad. The fact is, he really has done nothing wrong. Sure he's a little vulgar, sure he's not politically correct, sure he may have cheated on his wife. He clearly has major character flaws. But the media's clear bias ensures Trump has my vote in 2020.
Germany in particular has a particularly egregious trade surplus backed by it's central government. During the crisis, Obama clashed repeatedly with Merkel over it, but ultimately wasn't willing to go 'thermonuclear' (to quote SJ) on it - I assume due to the delicacy of the global economy of the time. Thus Germany has pretty much been allowed to continue this outrageous piggybacking off of other countries (Particularly the US, UK and Canada) who have pursued policies to encourage their consumer spending while Germany has sat back and hoovered up much of the resulting windfall. If Trump is finally willing to act on this toxic issue, then more power to him.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/busines...heels-world-anger-mounts-toxic-trade-surplus/
Perhaps it’s because the previous generation drove up the cost of education. It costs 260% more to get a college degree now compared to 1980. That is pricing out America’s youth, and making it so that wealthy foreign nationals are the folks able to afford education here.
With that said, the sky isn’t falling. I can’t take a selfie to save my life, but I can build you a bridge, a factory, and I can help you govern your enterprise.
Tariffs are only a good idea when you have an infant industry that you want to protect until it can compete on its own. Steel and aluminum is part of the past and this is just moving backwards. America should focus on industries and products where it has comparative advantage.
This is doing a disservice to young people instead of training them for the trades and jobs of the future. When this experiment collapses, we will end up will unemployed, frustrated people who will only have experience with metal similar to how laid off coal workers don’t have other skills to adapt to other jobs.
In addition, any such tariffs would mean tariffs imposed on other goods that we produce and cause unnecessary market inefficiencies. Protectionism makes for great populist rhetoric but in practice is a terrible idea.
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I would not blame foreign nationals. This is just scapegoating. Many of these foreign nationals study here and end up going back to their country. They primarily want to learn English and the prestige of having studied at an American university.
University in Germany is free for all citizens. It’s the American system that is broken with all of the unnecessary costs that American Universities take on like college sports. In Germany there are no college football coaches getting paid million dollar salaries.
In fact it’s often much more affordable for Americans to go get their degrees abroad for a fraction of the cost. The education in Europe is equivalent and in many cases superior. The Europeans who come to study over here are mainly interested in the prestige of the Ivys.
This is doing a disservice to young people instead of training them for the trades and jobs of the future. When this experiment collapses, we will end up will unemployed, frustrated people who will only have experience with metal similar to how laid off coal workers don’t have other skills to adapt to other jobs.
In addition, any such tariffs would mean tariffs imposed on other goods that we produce and cause unnecessary market inefficiencies. Protectionism makes for great populist rhetoric but in practice is a terrible idea.
[doublepost=1520027830][/doublepost]
I would not blame foreign nationals. This is just scapegoating. Many of these foreign nationals study here and end up going back to their country. They primarily want to learn English and the prestige of having studied at an American university.
University in Germany is free for all citizens. It’s the American system that is broken with all of the unnecessary costs that American Universities take on like college sports. In Germany there are no college football coaches getting paid million dollar salaries.
In fact it’s often much more affordable for Americans to go get their degrees abroad for a fraction of the cost. The education in Europe is equivalent and in many cases superior. The Europeans who come to study over here are mainly interested in the prestige of the Ivys.