Red Mosquito

As we are now all experts in tariffery, what are your thoughts on them?

Pro? Anti?

I think they may be bad, but the unions seem to be fans, so who knows?

whenever i see the word 'tariffs' i think of the madonna song 'cherish' and i sing the melody of that song but i substitute the word 'tariffs' in place of the word 'cherish'

I find the word to be uncomfortably French sounding.

tragabigzanda wrote:Remember the old WWF wrestler IRS? Feels like he’s due for a reboot with the tariff as his finisher

The tariffs are going to bring in so much revenue it’ll put the IRS out of business, remember?

That’s not me claiming to be an expert, that’s what President Trump claims could happen. Despite all evidence to the contrary.

BurtReynolds wrote:As we are now all experts in tariffery, what are your thoughts on them?

Pro? Anti?

I think they may be bad, but the unions seem to be fans, so who knows?

You don't need to be an expert to have an opinion on the tariffs and their impact. Is this your new thing? Mocking people's responses by suggesting they aren't experts to begin with? Meanwhile you endorse things with obvious negative impacts despite it all being well above your pay grade?

Despite being one of the world's premiere Renaissance Men, my vast knowledge, sadly, contains little about economic matters. I believe it's because I am disgusted by material wealth. So I am withholding my endorsement for now.

BurtReynolds wrote:Despite being one of the world's premiere Renaissance Men, my vast knowledge, sadly, contains little about economic matters. I believe it's because I am disgusted by material wealth. So I am withholding my endorsement for now.

Someone disgusted by material wealth should vote for candidates with socialist policies. Instead you worship the world's richest man among others and endorse the party who wants to give tax breaks to the rich. Doesn't add up.

Dev wrote:

BurtReynolds wrote:Despite being one of the world's premiere Renaissance Men, my vast knowledge, sadly, contains little about economic matters. I believe it's because I am disgusted by material wealth. So I am withholding my endorsement for now.

Someone disgusted by material wealth should vote for candidates with socialist policies. Instead you worship the world's richest man among others and endorse the party who wants to give tax breaks to the rich. Doesn't add up.

He’s completely preoccupied with lib owning. Blind to everything else.

Tariffs are loved by unions, and unions are socialist. It seems that to endorse these tariffs would be leftwing coded. And to oppose them would be to be a Bush era conservative. Very right wing. It seems that the great realignment is nearly complete (without the partisans even noticing, of course).

Though Nietzche loathed socialists, he was also repulsed by vulgar capitalists, who loved mindless money hoarding over striving for creative beauty.

Several tariffed nations are supposedly dropping their retaliatory tariffs or in mysterious and wonderful negotiations with Trump, though no big names have come up. This will be spun into an example that the grand plan is working and the market will rebound, ignoring the reality that market confidence is built on trust, and Trump’s unpredictable nature can no longer be trusted. But at least he showed those mooching Europeans.

BurtReynolds wrote:Tariffs are loved by unions, and unions are socialist. It seems that to endorse these tariffs would be leftwing coded. And to oppose them would be to be a Bush era conservative. Very right wing. It seems that the great realignment is nearly complete (without the partisans even noticing, of course).

I read similar "aha gotcha libtards" arguments on twitter today.

These arguments make no sense.

Tariffs are certainly not inherently socialist and neither are unions quite frankly.

Wtf?

there it is

"We had the tech bros and the incels!"

Burt: Nah man I didn't even vote. I'm impartial. Honest.

Idk about anything "gotcha," but in recent decades the left has been more protectionist/supportive of tariffs than the right. The left claimed it liked tariffs to protect workers in low wage countries from being exploited/unsafe working conditions, and climate concerns. Of course, it's all about unions and protecting special interests.

The current moment of everybody being anti-tariff isn't ideological in nature. It's (a) bad because Trump is doing it. Remember when everybody was against Trump's tariffs the first time around and then Biden kept them in place, and in some cases added to them? And (b) these tariffs are so absurd, unclear in motive, and crashing the market and old folk's retirement which the vast majority of people will always care more about than having an ideologically consistent position on issues they don't understand.

I also think the taxes I pay are net good, when kept to reasonable levels and used to fund useful or humanitarian services. But for some reason, my leftist ass doesn’t wanna pay 60% income tax while watching the government throw it all in the furnace.

spike wrote:there it is

surprised they haven't blamed fauci yet for the trade deficit

My sense is that Trump's tariffs broadly (if very crudely) track with the general institutional desire to re-shore manufacturing (primarily so that the American military isn't dependent on foreigners to produce its weapons, especially drones.) They would probably rather do it gradually and rationally rather than by ripping the bandaid off, but they'll probably settle for this. They can heap all the blame on Trump while keeping most of his policies intact when he gets thrown out of office.

Burt Reynolds! Please just stop. Defer to the experts. The earth is not flat.