The international order provides for nations to challenge other nations dumping products- if the US can prove overseas manufacturers are dumping EVs, then put the case to the WTO. To do otherwise and begin a tariff war is going to end in real war. The Biden administration has engaged in an industry policy that sees extraordinary subsidies granted to companies- how is that different to what China is doing. My appeal to the US is to embrace fair and free trade. Long term it will provide greater wealth for all.
The embrace of protectionism by the world’s wealthiest nation is puzzling. Unfortunately the Biden administration is conceding to MAGA the moral high ground. What next, an embrace of nativism, isolationism? What’s extraordinary is how the announcement of a massive tax on Chinese EVs undermines all the environmental credentials the Dems were trying to sell.
One simple observation for today's thread: 5% of polled voters feel that democracy is an important consideration for November's election? Could this suggest that the "remaining" 95% feels either: 1) our democracy is so all powerful that no threat can really exist or 2) it doesn't matter if there is a looming danger- because we're not all that down with democracy, anyway? Which is it? I think mostly the first. Because we have taken too much for granted for much too long. However, it's got to be true that some menacingly large block is pushing their chips towards #2. Anyone agree?
I see the Biden tariffs as an attempt to keep a manufacturing base in the US as well as protecting US chip fabs. As far as electric cars, seems that the BYD's of China can set up manufacturing in the US, just as Japan and Korea did, to avoid 100% tariffs. Wonder what CCP will think about that.
Why is it that alleged Christians like Pence and Johnson, who incessantly surround themselves with a shekinah cloud of biblical grandiosity feel that they should be on the spiritual All Star team after going 1 for 100 at the plate?( i.e. voting for Ukraine aid after six months of death and destruction there). Oh, did I mention that they're staunchly pro life?
Thanks for discussing tariffs today! I know it's not everyone's jam, but I find the economic policies so much more interesting than speeches and polls and what people say they're going to do as opposed to what's actually being decided as law.
I have been a little ticked off at the Biden policy to keep Trump's tariffs in place. However, it looks like Biden has removed more tariffs than I realized. The EU is a good example of a trade organization who slaps tariffs on us, so it looks like some tariffs are for negotiations with them. We'll take ours off if you take yours off. It looks like tariffs to Canada and South Korea have been mostly rescinded. China is of course the sticky wicket.
I agree that how Trump treated China didn't work or influence them at all. Unfortunately I could say the same for Bush and Obama, and now Biden. I don't know, man, I suspect that as long as they have all our manufacturing, they have no reason to listen.
From I have seen, inflation will shoot up to unprecedented level under Trump 2.0. First, he will raise tariffs. Second, both legal and illegal immigration will go way down, thus driving down labor supply but forcing wages to go up. Third, he will appoint a yes man to head the Fed who will be cutting rates irresponsibly, heating up the economy with no clear goal. Finally, with weaponized federal agencies, many corporations will be punished because they are not greasing the palms or sucking up to him, causing a massive shift in how companies may “succeed”. Instead of innovation, bribery will be the way forward. It pains me incessantly that many rich business people fail to recognize how dangerous it will be.
I think I have identified the thinking of the business community: They'll all be dead soon and this will be a problem for Millennials, and they're kind of icky with their dyed hair and tattoos.
In regard to tariffs, Biden needs to re-phrase and explain that tariffs are manufactured inflation.
Another aspect of today’s inflation is price gouging which accounts for about 60% of today’s inflation, due to years of industry deregulation, which allows corporations to consolidate and control large segments of their industries. Today, in almost every industry, four to five companies control 70-80% of the market.
Remember when we had the baby formula shortage because of contamination at one of the largest manufacturing plants? Two companies controlled 90% of the market, creating shortages which led to high prices.
Additionally, Presidents have little control over supply and demand, which affects prices and inflation, but presidents do control tariffs. And ultimately, it is inflation that cause the federal reserve to raise interest rates (Fed Funds Rate).
Nah, he's just doing the usual MAGA dance of "Rules for thee and not for me." Family values is for YOU not HIM. He can do whatever he likes and you still have to pretend he's a Christian. But if I said something in support of Ms. Daniels, you can bet he wouldn't hesitate to bury me and my morals and values as inferior to his.
I have no energy to respond to Trump’s trials and tribulations, nor Gaza and Ukraine.; my brain is fried…:)
That said, in reading the cheap shots, I find it ironic that Johnson has no problem defending the Porn King of NY, when many of the Confederate States of America, including Louisiana, are banning online pornography altogether.
And Trump was stupid. Instead of being an egotistical sleeze, he could have taken her to dinner and maybe a show, and she probably would have been much more receptive to his advances and probably wouldn't have asked for hush money.
True, and I was just an observation about a guy who thinks the earth is 6k years old and dinosaurs roamed the earth with man. He’s so religious, he only believes in laws that are clearly stated in the Bible.
Yet, this is the man who is second in line for the presidency, and doesn’t believe any of Trump’s crimes are an affront to his religious doctrine. Yet abortion and the LGBTQ community are apparently sins against god. Go figure…:)
As you have stated regarding tariffs, "Voters are huge morons about them". While I disagree on Biden slapping tariffs on China, (there are other ways to combat China on these issues) they are a mere pittance compared to the across the board of 10 % tariffs Trump would implement on all trade. Trump tariffs are a tax on all Americans. Trump will claim the US used tariffs for decades.( As you stated; from 1820 to 1850's) However, he will leave out the 1820 to 1850's detail because in politics, if you are explaining, you're losing. As for all other issues, he'll keep it simplistic.And that comes naturally to him.
I am getting to the point that I can say with confidence--- voters are huge morons about everything.
From 1789 to 1917 tariffs were the only source of income upon which the Federal Government could rely. Special taxes would occasionally be levied for wars and specific purposes. The costs passed onto consumers via tariffs was essentially their tax. In the current environment tariffs would be essentially (as you say) just another tax on the people. So much for the Republican Party being the party of tax cuts--- especially on the working and middle class.
Press abortion to the wall. Then remind people that Trump thinks our military are "Suckers". Then bring up "Bleach". Don't leave out the coup and the fake electors. Remember when he said "we're not shipping Clerks" or "just a few people coming in from China. ( One million died here) . Then, hush money, tax evasion, classified documents, the real Mueller report, It will take at least a 30 second spot.
I'm sure I'm leaving things out. Abortion should be enough if it is presented right. Oh, I forgot! "Women should be punished"
"It is tragic and shameful that so many fail to see it." The reasons so many fail to see it is: 1. They don't give a damn - and that's primarily MAGA politicians who put themselves over their oaths to the country. 2. The F*g media cares more about clickbait and money and not about the real concrete threat that the Orange Snake and his followers are.
Cheap Shots: FINALLY a worthy Cheap Shot!
Dear Bulwark, see if you can get Liz to do some articles. She at least knows what's really at stake in November.
If these poll numbers are correct, (and why wouldn’t they be?) then a large percentage of American voters don’t care about what happens in Israel, to Ukraine, to even that under Trump’s “America First” economics inflation would rise with the tariffs and another tax cut for the rich. Also their wages would be cut, unions will be attacked, libraries will close, and women will be sent home to get pregnant and then have their lives monitored until they give birth — then they will be forgotten about. The laws against domestic violence will not be applied to gun owners.
BUT, none of that matters because in the Bible that Trump sold to his followers the only issues that Jesus talks about are abortion and homosexuality. The parts about love and caring are replaced by retribution and the unquestioned worship of Trump. (I wish I was being sarcastic).
A long time ago, the great David Frum wrote that "Velociraptors have now figured out how to open the doors". (the difference between a first and second Trump term) This is a very condensed version of Mona's piece today.
There is a profound difference between the state of our economy and the public's perception of it. That, plus people's ignorance of how a modern economy works is about to sleepwalk us into our undoing this November, when we are likely to find out what it's like to have the rural and working classes running things (Hint: Not good for us city folk). Also, as for Mike Johnson showing up at the trial yesterday: The next time he asks the Democrats to save his puny ass they should tell him to pound sand up it.
Don't think it'll be good for the rural and working class either. And the pols who count on that vote are perfectly happy to keep those populations in ignorance of what will really happen to them. Germans really thought that the French and Russians would welcome them with open arms, and their cities would never be bombed because that's what Goering (and Hitler) said. And they kept believing it until the bodies of their sons, fathers, husbands came home, if they were lucky, and their homes became piles of rubble. I just pray that it won't be that bad if the Snake and his ilk win.
It is precisely because the Democrats saved his puny ass that he must double down on performative acts of loyalty to Trump. He is also paying back for Trump's not encouraging MTG's efforts to oust him. One word from Trump and he would have been dead.
Oh how I envy the writers and readers of the future. When the dust of the current time has settled. The tragedy, comedy and drama of it all - the mousy little religious guy who makes public a deal with his son to eschew porn, accepts job-saving help from his sworn enemy, then turns up to love on the guy in the middle of a porn based trial. Another mousy guy, this one black, finds himself a pretty little fiancé just in the nick of time, is also there to deliver the love to the Andrew Johnson enthusiast ex-president on trial. I could go on, but won't.
The international order provides for nations to challenge other nations dumping products- if the US can prove overseas manufacturers are dumping EVs, then put the case to the WTO. To do otherwise and begin a tariff war is going to end in real war. The Biden administration has engaged in an industry policy that sees extraordinary subsidies granted to companies- how is that different to what China is doing. My appeal to the US is to embrace fair and free trade. Long term it will provide greater wealth for all.
The embrace of protectionism by the world’s wealthiest nation is puzzling. Unfortunately the Biden administration is conceding to MAGA the moral high ground. What next, an embrace of nativism, isolationism? What’s extraordinary is how the announcement of a massive tax on Chinese EVs undermines all the environmental credentials the Dems were trying to sell.
One simple observation for today's thread: 5% of polled voters feel that democracy is an important consideration for November's election? Could this suggest that the "remaining" 95% feels either: 1) our democracy is so all powerful that no threat can really exist or 2) it doesn't matter if there is a looming danger- because we're not all that down with democracy, anyway? Which is it? I think mostly the first. Because we have taken too much for granted for much too long. However, it's got to be true that some menacingly large block is pushing their chips towards #2. Anyone agree?
The MAGA crowd has learned to actively dislike democracy and the normies just assume that democracy is a given.
I see the Biden tariffs as an attempt to keep a manufacturing base in the US as well as protecting US chip fabs. As far as electric cars, seems that the BYD's of China can set up manufacturing in the US, just as Japan and Korea did, to avoid 100% tariffs. Wonder what CCP will think about that.
Why is it that alleged Christians like Pence and Johnson, who incessantly surround themselves with a shekinah cloud of biblical grandiosity feel that they should be on the spiritual All Star team after going 1 for 100 at the plate?( i.e. voting for Ukraine aid after six months of death and destruction there). Oh, did I mention that they're staunchly pro life?
"shekinah cloud of biblical grandiosity." What a lovely turn of phrase.
Thanks Terry. Please try my substack "A Spacious Place" at substack.scottcleveland.com
Thanks for discussing tariffs today! I know it's not everyone's jam, but I find the economic policies so much more interesting than speeches and polls and what people say they're going to do as opposed to what's actually being decided as law.
I have been a little ticked off at the Biden policy to keep Trump's tariffs in place. However, it looks like Biden has removed more tariffs than I realized. The EU is a good example of a trade organization who slaps tariffs on us, so it looks like some tariffs are for negotiations with them. We'll take ours off if you take yours off. It looks like tariffs to Canada and South Korea have been mostly rescinded. China is of course the sticky wicket.
https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/tariffs-trump-trade-war/
I agree that how Trump treated China didn't work or influence them at all. Unfortunately I could say the same for Bush and Obama, and now Biden. I don't know, man, I suspect that as long as they have all our manufacturing, they have no reason to listen.
From I have seen, inflation will shoot up to unprecedented level under Trump 2.0. First, he will raise tariffs. Second, both legal and illegal immigration will go way down, thus driving down labor supply but forcing wages to go up. Third, he will appoint a yes man to head the Fed who will be cutting rates irresponsibly, heating up the economy with no clear goal. Finally, with weaponized federal agencies, many corporations will be punished because they are not greasing the palms or sucking up to him, causing a massive shift in how companies may “succeed”. Instead of innovation, bribery will be the way forward. It pains me incessantly that many rich business people fail to recognize how dangerous it will be.
I think I have identified the thinking of the business community: They'll all be dead soon and this will be a problem for Millennials, and they're kind of icky with their dyed hair and tattoos.
These are certainly selfish SOB’s.
In regard to tariffs, Biden needs to re-phrase and explain that tariffs are manufactured inflation.
Another aspect of today’s inflation is price gouging which accounts for about 60% of today’s inflation, due to years of industry deregulation, which allows corporations to consolidate and control large segments of their industries. Today, in almost every industry, four to five companies control 70-80% of the market.
Remember when we had the baby formula shortage because of contamination at one of the largest manufacturing plants? Two companies controlled 90% of the market, creating shortages which led to high prices.
Additionally, Presidents have little control over supply and demand, which affects prices and inflation, but presidents do control tariffs. And ultimately, it is inflation that cause the federal reserve to raise interest rates (Fed Funds Rate).
I love Liz Cheney’s comment. Johnson has proven that he is “losing his religion” by his unabashed support of Trump. Sorry to see “Moses” fail!
Nah, he's just doing the usual MAGA dance of "Rules for thee and not for me." Family values is for YOU not HIM. He can do whatever he likes and you still have to pretend he's a Christian. But if I said something in support of Ms. Daniels, you can bet he wouldn't hesitate to bury me and my morals and values as inferior to his.
I have no energy to respond to Trump’s trials and tribulations, nor Gaza and Ukraine.; my brain is fried…:)
That said, in reading the cheap shots, I find it ironic that Johnson has no problem defending the Porn King of NY, when many of the Confederate States of America, including Louisiana, are banning online pornography altogether.
Just saying…:)
But you know, Trump wasn't making or consuming porn. He was just doing a porn star. Not the same. And besides, Trump did it, so it has to be ok.
And Trump was stupid. Instead of being an egotistical sleeze, he could have taken her to dinner and maybe a show, and she probably would have been much more receptive to his advances and probably wouldn't have asked for hush money.
True, and I was just an observation about a guy who thinks the earth is 6k years old and dinosaurs roamed the earth with man. He’s so religious, he only believes in laws that are clearly stated in the Bible.
Yet, this is the man who is second in line for the presidency, and doesn’t believe any of Trump’s crimes are an affront to his religious doctrine. Yet abortion and the LGBTQ community are apparently sins against god. Go figure…:)
Totally agree. Madness. So either Johnson's religious devotion isn't as he claims, or he's weak. Perhaps both.
I'm sorry but the image of Trump having sex just grosses me out and after this trial I can't not see what I have imagined.
Sorry, I imagine there are many of us with too-vivid imaginations out here!
How do you think poor Stormy felt?
As you have stated regarding tariffs, "Voters are huge morons about them". While I disagree on Biden slapping tariffs on China, (there are other ways to combat China on these issues) they are a mere pittance compared to the across the board of 10 % tariffs Trump would implement on all trade. Trump tariffs are a tax on all Americans. Trump will claim the US used tariffs for decades.( As you stated; from 1820 to 1850's) However, he will leave out the 1820 to 1850's detail because in politics, if you are explaining, you're losing. As for all other issues, he'll keep it simplistic.And that comes naturally to him.
I am getting to the point that I can say with confidence--- voters are huge morons about everything.
From 1789 to 1917 tariffs were the only source of income upon which the Federal Government could rely. Special taxes would occasionally be levied for wars and specific purposes. The costs passed onto consumers via tariffs was essentially their tax. In the current environment tariffs would be essentially (as you say) just another tax on the people. So much for the Republican Party being the party of tax cuts--- especially on the working and middle class.
Press abortion to the wall. Then remind people that Trump thinks our military are "Suckers". Then bring up "Bleach". Don't leave out the coup and the fake electors. Remember when he said "we're not shipping Clerks" or "just a few people coming in from China. ( One million died here) . Then, hush money, tax evasion, classified documents, the real Mueller report, It will take at least a 30 second spot.
I'm sure I'm leaving things out. Abortion should be enough if it is presented right. Oh, I forgot! "Women should be punished"
"It is tragic and shameful that so many fail to see it." The reasons so many fail to see it is: 1. They don't give a damn - and that's primarily MAGA politicians who put themselves over their oaths to the country. 2. The F*g media cares more about clickbait and money and not about the real concrete threat that the Orange Snake and his followers are.
Cheap Shots: FINALLY a worthy Cheap Shot!
Dear Bulwark, see if you can get Liz to do some articles. She at least knows what's really at stake in November.
If these poll numbers are correct, (and why wouldn’t they be?) then a large percentage of American voters don’t care about what happens in Israel, to Ukraine, to even that under Trump’s “America First” economics inflation would rise with the tariffs and another tax cut for the rich. Also their wages would be cut, unions will be attacked, libraries will close, and women will be sent home to get pregnant and then have their lives monitored until they give birth — then they will be forgotten about. The laws against domestic violence will not be applied to gun owners.
BUT, none of that matters because in the Bible that Trump sold to his followers the only issues that Jesus talks about are abortion and homosexuality. The parts about love and caring are replaced by retribution and the unquestioned worship of Trump. (I wish I was being sarcastic).
A long time ago, the great David Frum wrote that "Velociraptors have now figured out how to open the doors". (the difference between a first and second Trump term) This is a very condensed version of Mona's piece today.
Thanks for the chuckle. And a great analogy.
you're welcome!
All we have to do is keep them out of the control building. No sweat.
Easier said than done
There is a profound difference between the state of our economy and the public's perception of it. That, plus people's ignorance of how a modern economy works is about to sleepwalk us into our undoing this November, when we are likely to find out what it's like to have the rural and working classes running things (Hint: Not good for us city folk). Also, as for Mike Johnson showing up at the trial yesterday: The next time he asks the Democrats to save his puny ass they should tell him to pound sand up it.
Don't think it'll be good for the rural and working class either. And the pols who count on that vote are perfectly happy to keep those populations in ignorance of what will really happen to them. Germans really thought that the French and Russians would welcome them with open arms, and their cities would never be bombed because that's what Goering (and Hitler) said. And they kept believing it until the bodies of their sons, fathers, husbands came home, if they were lucky, and their homes became piles of rubble. I just pray that it won't be that bad if the Snake and his ilk win.
It is precisely because the Democrats saved his puny ass that he must double down on performative acts of loyalty to Trump. He is also paying back for Trump's not encouraging MTG's efforts to oust him. One word from Trump and he would have been dead.
Oh how I envy the writers and readers of the future. When the dust of the current time has settled. The tragedy, comedy and drama of it all - the mousy little religious guy who makes public a deal with his son to eschew porn, accepts job-saving help from his sworn enemy, then turns up to love on the guy in the middle of a porn based trial. Another mousy guy, this one black, finds himself a pretty little fiancé just in the nick of time, is also there to deliver the love to the Andrew Johnson enthusiast ex-president on trial. I could go on, but won't.
"Generation Z" or whatever will have an endless supply of future movie and novel topics, another golden age of cinema!