Tariffs

Crusty said:
LOL...dropped $42k from yesterday to today.

But I'm $100k up from a year ago, $300k up from two years ago, etc.

Seen drops just like this Aug 2022, Feb 2023, Aug 2023, Jul 2024, etc.

Ride it out.
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I have not even looked to see how big the hit is on my 401K. Just hoping the drop does not extend my retirement age out 10 more years.
 
In regards to cheap imported goods: does anyone feel we're better off than we were 30 years ago on this stuff? Is anyone happy they have to replace almost everything every other year because it's all shit? Is anyone ecstatic that we're heading back towards 1970s air pollution because Chinese coal smog is blowing across the Pacific? Who's happy we need years to just get back to doing something we were once the ONLY source of (microchips)?

The drug of cheap imported shit has re-defined our economy, and the end of this road isn't pretty.

Any trade deal with us should be reciprocal and fair. None of our supposed allies that we prop up financially and militarily should have a lopsided deal.
 
Has there been any discussion or work done regarding how we will get past the strict building and environmental laws for all this new construction and manufacturing? Trump can issue as many executive orders as he wants, but liberal groups will tie him up in court for years, if not decades.

Do we even have the necessary infrastructure in place to accomplish this? What about a workforce? As it sits now, you would have to eliminate a lot of other industries for people to take these jobs..
I’m starting to feel like we’ve put the cart before the horse.

Or is this simply a strategic game, and Trump never truly intended for all the manufacturing to return home?

One of my biggest concerns is that other countries will begin to figure out how to do business without us. If they succeed, we may lose our superiority in the world...
 
LegitDuner said:
One of my biggest concerns is that other countries will begin to figure out how to do business without us. If they succeed, we may lose our superiority in the world...
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I'm about 99.9999999% that is never going to happen. Too big a buyer and people are greedy, that's why Opec doesn't work.
 
Realbadlarry said:
I'm about 99.9999999% that is never going to happen. Too big a buyer and people are greedy, that's why Opec doesn't work.
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If we become more isolationist and self-sufficient, I don't see how that couldn't be a possibility.
That seems to be where we're headed?
 
LegitDuner said:
Has there been any discussion or work done regarding how we will get past the strict building and environmental laws for all this new construction and manufacturing? Trump can issue as many executive orders as he wants, but liberal groups will tie him up in court for years, if not decades.

Do we even have the necessary infrastructure in place to accomplish this? What about a workforce? As it sits now, you would have to eliminate a lot of other industries free shit programs for people to take these jobs..
I’m starting to feel like we’ve put the cart before the horse.

Or is this simply a strategic game, and Trump never truly intended for all the manufacturing to return home?

One of my biggest concerns is that other countries will begin to figure out how to do business without us. If they succeed, we may lose our superiority in the world...
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FIFY. We have the manpower, we're just competing with the free shit parade:

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Labor participation isn't exactly stellar. And a little more than 1 in 10 men in prime working age aren't participating now.
 
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Rockwood said:
FIFY. We have the manpower, we're just competing with the free shit parade:

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Labor participation isn't exactly stellar. And a little more than 1 in 10 men in prime working age are participating now.
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Good info!
It brings up another concern though. Do we want these basement dwelling, pronouned, snowflakes putting together our auto parts, prescriptions, electronics? 😬

This country needs to be ready for such a task, I hope we figure it out
 
LegitDuner said:
Good info!
It brings up another concern though. Do we want these basement dwelling, pronouned, snowflakes putting together our auto parts, prescriptions, electronics? 😬

This country needs to be ready for such a task, I hope we figure it out
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Alternative is Chinese Uyghur slaves. If they can do it, so can our snowflakes. Bonus is there would be a lot less bullshit rioting, etc.

Our parents' generation did it. The above is just participation and doesn't count towards unemployment. If you were unemployed in the 60s, there was something seriously wrong with you if you couldn't get a job. If you flat out didn't even try to get a job, you were a bum.
 
LegitDuner said:
If we become more isolationist and self-sufficient, I don't see how that couldn't be a possibility.
That seems to be where we're headed?
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Hegemons generally only last around 100 years or less, then some world event or other country figures out a different formula and takes the lead.

100 years ago, England claimed over 1/4 quarter of the globe. Today, they claim land equal to the size of Massachusetts.

This shift is inevitable. I personally feel that becoming self-reliant has value. Let the rest of the world figure it out. But...the US misses out on opportunities by accepting tariffs against our businesses/exports. We miss out by bending to global treaties that ALWAYS punish the US more than others. We need to break free of the UN, NATO, and any other world organization. As you always mention, we need to make smarter regulations that support businesses, economic interests and good global stewardship. Not just blindly sign on the crap like the Paris treaty because of global pressure.
 
acefuture said:
Here's an interesting take that I think most overlook.
Because manufacturing overseas got cheap, it opened up OPPORTUNITY for stateside men and women to create their own business that employ people. A good example is my business. I make/sell cocktail mixers, wearable goods, and vacation goods. I was able to build this business because I could get products manufactured at a lower barrier to entry, and subsequently grow the business and HIRE people. If I had to solely source from the US, I would have never started the business and never hired people. There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of business like mine that employee MILLIONS of people across the US that would not exist if they couldn't source from overseas.

Now I've been trying really hard to get goods produced in the US, but for our margins and pricepoints it's simply not possible. My ingredients come from Mexico, fabrics from China, Portugal, and Vietnam. But we do our best to assemble/print/finish/package everything here in California.

With these new import taxes it could effectively end businesses like mine. Will it bring manufacturing back to the US? Maybe in the long run, but at the cost of killing hundreds of thousands of business that employee american citizens in the meantime. What we lost in manufacturing in the US, we supplemented with marketing, design, tech, order fulfillment, customer service, etc etc. Will it offset longterm? Maybe. But I hope it wont kill us in the meantime.

Best case scenario is other countries lower their tariffs because of this show of hand, we drop our increases, our exports go up building our GDP, and both sides of the argument are happy.
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Simple answer for you is what many have done. Move your business out of California.

Cheap facility. Cheaper labor. Lower taxes.
 
Kraut_n_Rice said:
Simple answer for you is what many have done. Move your business out of California.

Cheap facility. Cheaper labor. Lower taxes.
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I've had conversations with factories and facilities from here to Florida, in every nook and cranny of the US. It's just not possible. Yes I can raise my prices, but guess who gets to feel that? The customer... So I either work with overseas manufacturing, or close my doors and lay my employees off.
 
acefuture said:
I've had conversations with factories and facilities from here to Florida, in every nook and cranny of the US. It's just not possible. Yes I can raise my prices, but guess who gets to feel that? The customer... So I either work with overseas manufacturing, or close my doors and lay my employees off.
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This part.
But we do our best to assemble/print/finish/package everything here in California.
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Kraut_n_Rice said:
This part.
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Like I said, I've chatted with facilities across the US. Pricing does not get better than what I've built here. Sure some tax benefits elsewhere but not enough to offset the entirety of my operational costs and uprooting. I'm not a big operation. Sure if I had a business that was 50+ employees it would potentially be beneficial to move to somewhere that has lower minimum wage, less corporate tax, etc. But currently it would not offset the costs enough to justify moving manufacturing as well.
 
Well, Good news, I got a hold of my Stock guy....he said not to worry, I can live really good in retirement at age 95 for about 7 and 1/2 hours....
 
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