World, Writing, Wealth discussion

So, Trump has enacted tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-ta...
You might bear some costs. Let us know whether you feel the effects and whether you think that's the right approach

I think it will work with Canada and Mexico, China not so much.

So far, highly effective.

It is a negotiating point. This will not last forever. He is playing chess with all three. Everyone keeps saying prices will go up and they will for a bit, but it will devastate their economies. We will have high prices and they will not have work. It is an opening point and they will move forward till they reach a agreement point. China will be a much harder nut to crack, but they are not in great shape either.

I hope you're right about China. That's the one that worries me.

China has bad demographics and not may allies. Their entire business model is all about export and they have been unable to build a middle class that consume. so they are dependent on buying products by foreign countries.

I hope you're right. Not much has been said by Trump about China and tariffs.

To the Honorable the Members of the Chamber of Deputies:

GENTLEMEN You are in the right way: you reject abstract theories; abundance, cheapness, concerns you little. You are entirely occupied with the interest of the producer, whom you are anxious to free from foreign competition. In a word, you wish to secure the national market to national labor.


We come now to offer you an admirable opportunity for the application of your—what shall we say? your theory? no, nothing is more deceiving than theory—your doctrine? your system? your principle? But you do not like doctrines; you hold systems in horror; and, as for principles, you declare that there are no such things in political economy.

We will say, then, your practice; your practice without theory, and without principle. We are subjected to the intolerable competition of a foreign rival, who enjoys, it would seem, such superior facilities for the production of light, that he is enabled to inundate our national market at so exceedingly reduced a price, that, the moment he makes his appearance, he draws off all custom for us; and thus an important branch of French industry, with all its innumerable ramifications, is suddenly reduced to a state of complete stagnation.

This rival, who is no other than the SUN ... Our petition is, that it would please your honorable body to pass a law whereby shall be directed the shutting up of windows, dormers, skylights, shutters, curtains, vasistas, oeil-deboeufs, in a word, all openings, holes, chinks, and fissures through which the light of the sun is used to penetrate into our dwellings, to the prejudice of the profitable manufactures which we flatter ourselves we have been enabled to bestow upon the country; which country cannot."

Petition of the Candlemakers by Frederick Bastiat,

To showcase why the trade balance is unbalanced:
https://www.reuters.com/technology/ap...

Americans have long known that Apple products have been made at the expense of human rights, but everyone wants to save money.

Apple is just an example. Nike produces 90% in Asia and many many more. You have super wealthy, prosperous corporations, a bankrupt state and average people living below average Western standard... It seems right to pressure corporations to invest locally in the States, but hardly to expect public to bear the brunt of appreciation of imported goods

That's a somewhat dated article and maybe (hopefully) things changed: https://www.theguardian.com/technolog...
If Trump is successful in deporting most illegals, will Americans agree to work in such or similar conditions, if yes, what pay will they expect and how pricier a phone "made in the USA" would become? Or maybe they can skip hiring in favor of robotization...

I say the same thing every time I am asked this question. Americans will work any job if that job pays well enough.

People don't seem to realize that the argument for the illegals is just shy of, if not outright, slavery. We say that it's illegal to pay someone 3-5 dollars an hour to do anything, yet to save us money for the produce, we pay the illegals that kind of money.

Yes, business model based on the underpay shouldn't exist, yet some businesses are addicted to it and won't survive otherwise... Probably, - be it.

Papaphilly wrote: "I say the same thing every time I am asked this question. Americans will work any job if that job pays well enough."

Apple supposedly intends to move production from China to India.
Don't know actual numbers - just a simulation. If they pay for assembling 2 bucks an hour to some Chinese dude and need to pay to attract American employees - 20, they might want to sell an iphone cell for 1.5k instead of 0.5k. If it's the only one on the market and others are tariffed out, it'll sell, otherwise apple might struggle to stay competitive.

After a lot of hoo-ha, a court ruled that by imposing tariffs Trump exceeded his powers. To be continued, I guess.

Ok, so appeal court lets tariffs run so far at least until the verdict...

What you are seeing is judges with seemingly agendas getting shut down by appeals courts. Lots of what is going on is what Americans call forum shopping. Finding a judge that is friendly to your cause. Make no mistake, right now it is going against Trump, but both sided do this depending on the given policy argument.

There are many lawsuits blocking Trump's moves, most of which will be decided by the Supreme Court. I hope they show good, common sense.