The Trump Presidency 2.0

Most tarrifs work best when implemented for specific industries. We tarrif Chinese EVs so that American automakers can compete. We see similar things across other countries for similar industries.

The reason these tarrifs are causing concern is because the numbers aren't based on these countries actually having tariffs, but trade deficits. This tweet breaks it down pretty well:

The concern is that by tarrifing allies and non-antagnostic countries for essentially no reason, we're going to weaken our position as the world's #1 importer, I.E. why the dollar is the reserve currency.

China, South Korea, and Japan already working on trade agreements in anticipation of these tarrifs isn't a good thing for us.

Honestly, trade deficit based tariffs are great. I don't know why people think that isn't a high level process. One of our biggest issues with say China is de minimis. Time for all your wives and girlfriends to start shopping at the Nordstrom Rack instead living on Shein. This doesn't affect most US Companies who have major manufacturing in China, but the Chinese companies doing drop ship to your house with their cheap crap? Yeah, no mas. You're gonna have to be like Nike and ship containers full of stuff and pay duties on them. The Chinese Oligarchs have been getting wealthy off our market for the last 8 years since e-commerce exploded. Time to tone that down. Will it change much? Unsure. But at least we'll end up with less trash in our country.

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Closes De Minimis Exemptions to Combat China’s Role in America’s Synthetic Opioid Crisis

Tariffs based on trade deficits is swinging a way bigger stick than one based as a retaliatory action. For certain things it will create re-investment into the American heartland. Make no mistake, NAFTA destroyed this countries middle class. They keep throwing charts at us telling us we're richer by saying if you make 100k you're not middle class. Have you seen what things cost?

ETA: Free Trade has destroyed a lot of craftsmanship which is one of the reasons why we ship these massive shows and movies off to other countries. Like the tailoring and the costuming you can do in Romania because their economy didn't go hi-tech etc. It's cheaper to ship everything to Romania for GoT etc.
 
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Personal opinion? This is cope and the best possible framing of the recent stock market moves. But, it fleshes out the conversation with another talking point.

The facts are true- only 34.6% of Americans (ages 15-46) have a 401k, and the top 8-10% of earners in America own 95%+ of stock portfolios. The market dip isn't a MAGA problem- it's a MAG7 problem. Lower interest rates, lower food prices, lower energy prices and better trade deals with adversaries and "allies" alike benefit lower and middle class Americans and American workers.

The fun little wrinkle here is watching the left- supposedly the party of the working class and righteous fighters against the oligarchy- rail against tariffs that specifically harm oligarchs and not regular Americans writ large.

 
Not only did we destroy American manufacturing with NAFTA and other trade agreements. We destroyed American farming and agriculture like dairies. Almost all dairies have left California either through bullshit tech billionaire lobbying or migration that doesn't make sense. Real Cheese Comes from Happy Cows, and Happy Cows come from California...but if you're in LA and you drink milk, I'm unsure where it comes from. It used to come from Chino when I was a kid, but those dairies were plowed under for cheap tract homes (not exactly cheap anymore).
 
The funny thing to me is that Trump signaled this back when he was running and NOW people are shocked?

Nah, it's just an opportunity to feign outrage/shock. If they blow their load every time he does something they don't like, it'll seem very underwhelming. Gotta save it up...ya know?
 
He's got 2 years before the country turns on him.

I don't think it's enough time or continuity for tariffs to work like we should all want. If there isn't significant investment and refurbishing of USA manufacturing, next congressional elections happen in Nov 26 the Rs will get their ass kicked. Then it'll be back to square one if the Dems control house and senate. We'll be back to holding our tongues for fear of losing our job, and beating women in sports.
 
The funny thing to me is that Trump signaled this back when he was running and NOW people are shocked?
He. Fucking. Ran. On. It.

Everything people (read: the left)are railing against are exactly the things he said explicitly he would do and the plurality of Americans voted for.

It's almost like these people are completely disconnected from actual Americans... nah. It's us who is wrong.
 
He's got 2 years before the country turns on him.

I don't think it's enough time or continuity for tariffs to work like we should all want. If there isn't significant investment and refurbishing of USA manufacturing, next congressional elections happen in Nov 26 the Rs will get their ass kicked. Then it'll be back to square one if the Dems control house and senate. We'll be back to holding our tongues for fear of losing our job, and beating women in sports.
My brother in Mace Windu.

Have you seen what the Dems are talking about? We're still all in on trannies and Hamas.
 
I don't think it's enough time or continuity for tariffs to work like we should all want. If there isn't significant investment and refurbishing of USA manufacturing

And there's the rub of this whole thing. Spinning up manufacturing takes a decent chunk of time.
Does it make sense to uproot your overseas production if it will wind up costing more in the long term?

The fun little wrinkle here is watching the left- supposedly the party of the working class and righteous fighters against the oligarchy- rail against tariffs that specifically harm oligarchs and not regular Americans writ large.

I think it's a bit ironic talking about oligarchs when the world's richest man is working with our first billionaire President. Elon's the literal definition of an oligarch.
They aren't making decisions that hurt their pocketbooks. This shit doesn't hurt the oligarchs, it hurts the "rich" on the lower end of the spectrum and the middle/lower classes (at best in the short term) through higher consumption prices.

Dave said it perfectly years ago:

 
The market 'crashing' is going to be the brightest and largest headline in the news until it starts to normalize. The talking point of the billionaires trying to enrich themselves is getting old. It's a played out response. I'm convinced there is nothing on the planet that will cripple a billionaire other than prison time.

Manufacturing coming back to the states 'could' take time, but I would bet the incentives to speed through the transition will be worth it in the end. I'm sure a lot of that regulatory red tape that truly makes zero sense will also be removed. Again, that's probably part of the incentive.
 
The S&P is +2,612.76 (104.99%) the past 5 years. You'll be fine.

ETA: This response is equivalent to you saying you hate your mom because she grounded you for breaking curfew.

Exactly. This isn't a real crash. (Not yet anyway.)

The last few days vs. the last 3 years.

brk-b.jpg

I won't truly panic until I hear that @compforce had to sell even one of his BRK.A shares. 8-)
 
Exactly. This isn't a real crash. (Not yet anyway.)

The last few days vs. the last 3 years.

View attachment 47448

I won't truly panic until I hear that @compforce had to sell even one of his BRK.A shares. 8-)
Heh... I'm too busy getting my hedge fund set up to worry about the market. BTW, you do know you can make money on a market decline too, right? ;-)

Honestly, I'm just holding position until the volatility settles down. Retail traders are getting crushed trying to trade this market.
 
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The market 'crashing' is going to be the brightest and largest headline in the news until it starts to normalize. The talking point of the billionaires trying to enrich themselves is getting old. It's a played out response. I'm convinced there is nothing on the planet that will cripple a billionaire other than prison time.

And they have teams working for them to keep them in the B club. It doesn't matter if we have tariffs or not, billionaires will still turn a profit.
 
Heh... I'm too busy getting my hedge fund set up to worry about the market. BTW, you do know you can make money on a market decline too, right? ;-)

Honestly, I'm just holding position until the volatility settles down. Retail traders are getting crushed trying to trade this market.
I just made money holding off a week buying into some funds for my kids education savings.

I'm hoping there's a dip on Monday and I'll make a few more purchases.
 
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