US US Politics General 2 - Discussion of President Trump and other politicians

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Should be a wild four years.

Helpful links for those who need them:

Current members of the House of Representatives
https://www.house.gov/representatives

Current members of the Senate
https://www.senate.gov/senators/

Current members of the US Supreme Court
https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx

Members of the Trump Administration
https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/
 
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Tariffs are a tax on the consumer. Nothing more, nothing less. Like alcohol or cigarette taxes, you are in essence monetarily punished for your behavior. Regular Americans haven't had to deal with the faggots from customs when importing goods, so they have no clue what's coming for them. "Placing a Tariff on China" sounds like you're punishing China, which seems to be enough for most.

It'll be a rough ride for the poor people that are dependent on cheap goods to get by. The baseline will get more expensive as outsourcing only moved the slave labor off-shore, and the local workforce isn't going to work under those conditions. And when the next administration goes back to business as usual, the price will stay.
If this were the 80s, I would be more optimistic. Americans could still "afford each other". Nowadays I'm not quite so sure. As long as factory work isn't close-ish to middle class, I don't think this will work. Tariffs also only make sense if you have a local industry you're trying to protect. Think Harley vs Japan in the 80s.

I can't say I like the sledgehammer approach Trump has taken. It doesn't look very well thought out. Maybe he's just trying to spook every other country at the same time into lowering their tariffs on US goods. It's a bold strategy...

Lets see how this plays out. I can't do jack shit about it either way.
 
It'll be a rough ride for the poor people that are dependent on cheap goods to get by. The baseline will get more expensive as outsourcing only moved the slave labor off-shore, and the local workforce isn't going to work under those conditions. And when the next administration goes back to business as usual, the price will stay.
If this were the 80s, I would be more optimistic. Americans could still "afford each other". Nowadays I'm not quite so sure. As long as factory work isn't close-ish to middle class, I don't think this will work. Tariffs also only make sense if you have a local industry you're trying to protect. Think Harley vs Japan in the 80s.
Exactly, I hate the cope that if you are skeptical of Trump's tariffs you are a cosmopolitan rich boomer.

When in reality the rich are insulated from tariffs and the working class are hurt most.

Even if manufacturing does come back to America, this isn't the 1800s when you could just make wagon wheels in a barn modern manufacturing takes years and billions of dollars to get off the ground and the working class will be suffering until then.
 
Depends. On its own replacing an income tax with tariffs is essentially a consumption tax meaning lower incomes are disproportionately impacted.
I disagree. They'll at least have a choice on what to buy rather than a constant drain on their paycheck. One could also argue that having to constantly buy cheap disposable goods is a form of tax.
 
Leftists being outraged at the stock market being down is hilarious. For years they screamed how capitalism has failed, corporations are evil for focusing on shareholder profits, and that economics and investing are tools of the bourgeoisie.

Now they're like "Nooo, my heckin stockerinos!"

A couple if my lefty antitrump coworkers were freaking out about our companies stock going down and how trump is ruining the economy and our bonuses.
I pointed out the stock is higher than it was this point last year and the fiscal year ended on the 31st. The guy said something about "that's not how companies work" and I left it at that.
Checking further and the stock went up the days following Trumps Inauguration than it's gone down so far.
 
Even manufacturing does come back to America, this isn't the 1800s when you could just make wagon wheels in a barn modern manufacturing takes years and billions of dollars to get off the ground and the working class will be suffering until then.
How hard do you think it is to buy an injection molding machine or a CNC mill? Most Chinese-made goods are simple things that a small shop can make.
 
I disagree. They'll at least have a choice on what to buy rather than a constant drain on their paycheck. One could also argue that having to constantly buy cheap disposable goods is a form of tax.
Because the average America clearly knows what's best for them and can be trusted to spend it on something good for themselves and their fellow Americans. They totally won't just use the income tax money to buy tariff free goods like soda and onlyfans subscriptions.
 
I disagree. They'll at least have a choice on what to buy rather than a constant drain on their paycheck. One could also argue that having to constantly buy cheap disposable goods is a form of tax.
One could argue that but one would be mistaken. Especially given that the tariffs are not targeted on manufactured goods but for example also include raw materials.

If the claims of a revival of US manufacturing are true, this process will take time. In the mean time people will have to pay more for less.
 
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