The Real timschochet

I’m actually going to try and help you out here. It’s not my posts that annoy people; it’s your incessant, meaningless responses to them. if you think my posts are worth ignoring, then by all means ignore them. If you think they’re wrong then feel free to disagree, offer a rebuttal or counter argument. But this constant “nobody cares”, along with personal insults offers nothing of value. If you’re trying to make me feel bad, I assure you it doesn’t. It’s just annoying.

Trump: pharmaceutical tariffs coming next: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cedyylj1v32o.amp

Some of us have complained about tariffs for years. My own view on this issue was shaped in college when I read Milton Friedman. It was further defined by a 1993 televised debate on the Larry King show between H. Ross Perot and Al Gore. Gore took the side of free trade and capitalism, and I found him compelling. I have always held the position that we should have no tariffs in this country no matter what other nations do. That being said your question is based on a misunderstanding of Trump’s tariffs: you assume they are reciprocal. They aren’t. In many cases we have in the last week placed tariffs on countries who don’t have any on us. In other cases we have placed tariffs far exceeding those placed on us. So you’re simply wrong.

To answer your question, I think it will be far worse. Of course I hope I’m wrong.

The way most news outlets are presenting this, there are two guys competing for Trump’s ear right now: Scott Bessant represents Wall Street, Musk, the billionaire “globalist” group, and he’s trying to convince Trump to agree to new trade deals that would result in lower tariffs on all sides. This is the sort of result @Strikeand @Engorgeous George are anticipating, and it would be wonderful. It would very likely send the stock market back up, lead us to economic prosperity and be a political victory for Trump. It still wouldn’t resolve China but it might be enough to proclaim this a win. But the other guy is Peter Navarro. An anti-globalist conspiracy theorist with views somewhat similar to @Frozenbeernuts here (though without the anti-Semitism) he wants to reshape the world economy, and believes honestly that permanent high tariffs are the way to achieve this. He doesn’t want any deals that would end this confrontation; he wants the confrontation. He’s been saying this for 20 years. Wall Street is praying that ultimately Trump ignores Navarro and listens to Bessant. So am I. We’ll see.

This is is a good point. But you and @Strike and many others continue to assume that the ultimate result of these actions will be trade deals in which tariffs are lower than they are now. I hope you’re right about this. But it flies in this face of Trump’s repeated statements that he is doing this not to bring about better trade deals but instead to return manufacturing back to the USA. It also doesn’t solve China. If these tariffs hold up we are basically cutting off trade with China. Bad for them for sure but also very bad for us. There is no way our economy won’t be severely hurt by that no matter what other trade deals are achieved.

It wasn’t. Millions died. We had no choice but to shut things down. Thankfully we developed a vaccine quickly (Trump deserves some of the credit for that) and recovered. But then many people refused to take the vaccine and thousands more died. Thats what happened. Anything else is historical revisionism.

104% tax on all items imported from China. 84% tax on all items imported to China. We’re talking about 500 billion dollars of trade a year between our two countries. Short term interest rates are spiking as investors are dumping their treasury bonds. Now nearly every economist is predicting a recession, whereas nobody predicted one a month ago. Oil prices are going down, but that’s hardly a good sign: it means recession.

If so it’s not funny.

https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/

Better version on his live album.

It was unlikely the Lakers were going to win two games in a row against the Thunder on the road.

Ah, the old “not even debatable” line. Guess what? I refute you. I don’t think she’s a racist at all, and I’m willing to debate you.

But it also led to an explosion of slavery. It actually created the agricultural system of slavery that the South fought so hard to maintain.

How about no war with China?

I wouldn’t use that word. But the folks defending Trump’s tariffs do have something wrong with their thinking for sure.

Lol you’ll have to show me the connection between what I wrote and Hitler. Because yeah I guess I’m too dumb to see it. Or something like that. Certainly there is dumbness in this conversation somewhere…

It’s exactly the opposite of what you’re saying: all of those Social Security numbers issued to non-citizens that you listed represent money going INTO the system not coming out. If you stop to think about it just for a moment you will realize this.

This is a strange comment. The cotton gin is what created the mass number of black slaves picking cotton, which is what she is referring to. The cotton gin is a warning sign from history that not all technological advancement is benign; it caused tremendous human misery.

What did she say that was racist? She said we need immigrants to perform manual labor jobs because the people that previously performed those jobs, like black people, are advancing in our society. Years from now the people coming in now will be advancing as well, and we’ll need new people for manual labor. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. Only it makes some white people uncomfortable: a changing diverse society. A lot of folks fear this; it’s part of the reason Trump was elected. They would prefer to slow down or stop immigration, keep minorities in their place. They hate diversity. Jasmine gets it. And she speaks her mind and doesn’t take any sh!t. And there’s nothing racist about her.

lol I love her. She is awesome.

Haha no. I want them fined and allowed to stay. This is more performative crap.

Great to hear this news. Hang in there.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that China is “begging for a deal”. But China says they’re not interested. NBC is reporting that it is the White House that is trying to reach out to China imploring them for a way out of this- to no avail. I think Xi can’t agree to Trump’s demands: both he and China would lose so much face that he would be removed from power if he did. So China has to respond the way they are: with more trade war, not less. This is what happens when you treat other countries like vendors you’re trying to avoid paying. Trump has put us in a huge mess here.

This is wrong. I say it will be very bad because that’s what every economist I can find tells me. I don’t think we will collapse.