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If nuts grow in your area and you are still importing them cheaper
than you can produce them that is a sure sign of an endemic problem.
Applying a tariff on nuts won't solve that endemixc problem.
I agree with this part.
Maybe I wasn't really disagreeing with *your* point per se, but more broadly with the newer populist consensus (I say consensus because you're starting to see it on both the left and the right) that has begun to emerge since 2016 or so.
Trump put these tariffs into place, Biden kept them, now both parties promise magic solutions but are short on specifics. With Harris, it's price-fixing ("crack down on price gouging", whatever that means.) Trump has his own magic promises ("I'll deflate inflation")
Much of this, in my opinion, boils down to Americans being spoiled and entitled. We want a higher standard of living than the rest of the world, which translates into "we want higher salaries, in real terms, for the same work." It's hard to justify.
I work in a field (software development) that draws from a global talent pool. Increasingly, we work remote anyway, so what separates us from the remote guy in India or the Dominican Republic (other than time zone, but the DR has the same time zone as us) who gets paid $8 an hour and has THE SAME SKILLSET, or even better, than the typical American idiot? There's little rational explanation for the American sense of entitlement.
But both parties promise to somehow bring back American manufacturing jobs that haven't existed in 75 years. Our clothing is all made with very-low-wage, sweatshop labor in Bangladesh, and textile mills in the New England areas I grew up in have been shuttered for decades because the world has moved on. Those low-paying jobs are jobs that Americans *don't want.* So both parties are full of shit.
LoL. my EE newsletter . People are freaking out about Trump most likely stopping the free money flow. ( CHIPS act in this case ) "Bla bla will be using tariffs instead of subsidies to support increased domestic bla bla bla "
Oh no.. the gravy train may be derailed.. panic!
( hint: he will also reduce regulations to help domestic industry by reducing costs )
Much of this, in my opinion, boils down to Americans being spoiled and
entitled. We want a higher standard of living than the rest of the
world, which translates into "we want higher salaries, in real terms,
for the same work." It's hard to justify.
To some extent, yes. The other side of that is the cost of living. Workers in other places are paid peanuts, but they can also live on peanuts. Maybe not enough peanuts to own a big house and a fast car or whatever, but if we travel to those places we find that the same amount of money goes much further there.
So it's broken, but it's not ... uniformly broken. How do you fix that?
As long as you have 'elite think' in existence, you dont.
So it's broken, but it's not ... uniformly broken. How do you fix that?
So i was at harbor freight last night, and it made me think a bit. some random thoughts about the coming tariffs since we know they are now coming since Trump won. And no, this isn't meant to go down the rabbit hole of right/wrong or anything. Just thinking about some of the practical implications for me, an average guy on the street trying to 'make it'. So no 'suck it up and buy American or you are a scumbag communist' debate is intended here..
Like HF, there are many American based companies where there entire business model has been built on selling cheap imports. Are most of them now going to vanish? If a 15 dollar wrench is now 45 dollars, might as well buy the better brand next door at Lowes. And, forget buying a spare, that 10mm socket that is missing, now you will go find it..
What about that 17 dollar disposable T-shirt you get from Walmart, now its 50.. so its not disposable now, and you keep it until it really wears out, and sales volume go down. Not that they go out of business since they do sell more than just imports from china, but do they implode?
What about companies who do primarily make stuff here, but using some parts or raw materials from overseas. ( like car companies, for example ) Same thing, their stuff now skyrockets even more and sales are reduced more as people keep what they have longer or just pass on it totally if its a 'luxury item'. Do they go out of business, do they implode to a fraction of what they used to be, or do we do like we did in the early 2000s and bail them out with free money in the form of tax dollars "since they are too big to fail"?
Similar, what about the farm industry, who does use some imported equipment ( or parts ).. Their operating costs go up, so does the cost of food...Even more than it is now, which is ludicrous. And as we destroy more farm land, or sell to over seas entities.. that only increases food costs for everyone.. and no not my typical rant, just reality of pricing.
How about 'American' companies who see this taking place, and see an opportunity, so they undercut the imported goods to help along the bankruptcies, then skyrocket their prices afterward to make up for the losses of the cost of getting rid of their competition. Not a new tactic, and ya, i know Predatory pricing maneuvers is illegal, but i suspect "American" companies will get a free pass for a while so we will see this happen more. ( and of course, even if you get caught, your competition is gone, so you still win in the long run )
And a the talk about ' getting rid of income taxes and replacing with tariffs '. While it sounds good in a speech, the actual net result from above is we have companies going out of business and average Americans losing their jobs, and we all pay several times more for essentials than we did in insane inflation ( and skipping luxury items ). Again, not a right/wrong discussion, just the reality of the effects on us not in the 'club'. ( the ones IN the club, they always benefit, or at the least don't feel it, but mostly they find ways to benefit.. )
Ok, random thoughts over. Back to your regular scheduled program. Im off to the river with the dogs, while its still there. And i get to show my sister where to disperse my ( and my dogs ) ashes when i die, and where the pitch-in lunch is to be.