He’ll back down from this like everything but what a fucking complete moron
It’s simultaneously a grift and a way to impose a flat sales tax all in one package.
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Republicans have been creaming their pants for years at the thought of imposing a regressive flat tax on all sales while doing away with income based taxation. This would forever shift the majority of the tax burden to the poor and middle class. Which is why we see Trump cutting taxes on the wealthy with his Big Ugly Bill and imposing a tariff as a way to tax the unwashed masses while simultaneously claiming he isn’t. Hopefully the courts strike down his power grab and force Congress to vote on Tariffs. The weasels will probably give it to them but at least we get to see Republicans go on record as voting for a tax increase.
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Trump has announced or will announce tariff exemptions that benefit large companies that have donated to him. Sometime later if he feels he needs more money he will announce a higher random tariff on the exempted goods and shake these corps down for more money/favors. All the while he can claim he is doing our industry a favor.
Never forget Trump is a grifting piece of shit who will always stick it to the little guy.
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The other 95% of us:
Dude is a great decision machine. Someone should make him preside- oh. 😕
Nah, I think he’s much better suited to being a reality TV star. Oh wait, that’s what he is.
Better suited for a prison cell.
Conservatives are 100% onboard with a felon rapist pedo skyrocketing our cost of living while destroying our global reputation.
If anyone is still unsure if conservatives are traitors to our nation, now is the time to pinch yourself and wake up.
A bit of chip history: Taiwan Semiconductor (the current pseudo-monoply in cutting edge processor making) rose as Taiwan the country transitioned from a dictatorship to democracy.
They got state funding, and support for thier business as trade opened up. To simplify, it was like a mix of hyper free-trade capitalism and technocratic command economy/socialism no one on either end of political spectrum would like. And it worked! It’s still working.
The CHIPS act in the US was a baby step in that direction, which (even with Intel’s incredible corporate dysfunction) got me excited.
…And that is basically the opposite of what Trump is proposing.
Basically, take away Intel/Micron/IBM subsidies and tax the shit out of their existing overseas business. And deregulate them instead of directing them.
In other words, drain their capital, and give them free reign to think short term as their manufacturing circles the drain.
To be fair to Trump, most business people do not grasp how indescribably capital/research intense processor manufacturing is. Investment is in the many billions, planning takes decades and is extremely technical, and dependent on economic and research forecasts. They have to be forced to think long term, given truckloads of cash to do it, and not get derailed by quarterly earnings targets and cutting long-term projects on the vine for quick cash.
But still… this is like the worst thing he could have done, IMO.
CHIPS Act. Yet another major Biden win that gets overlooked in favor of shitting on him.
Biden did a lot of great stuff but the USA would rather live in a reality TV show from hell while marching towards authoritarianism apparently. Oh wait, they don’t understand any of that shit because half of them can’t fucking read.
Release the Epstein files.
Every time somebody says this it always makes me think of the scientist from the expanse.
We should definitely release those files it would be really helpful.
“There was a button. I pushed it.” Where’s Holden when you need him?
No he won’t
Do it, idiot.
What do you mean “likely pushing up cost of electronics”. That is the literal point of a tariff, to push the prices up and make competing goods more appealing to consumers. The only way it doesnt raise prices is if importers just eat the cost, which they will almost certainly not do and, frankly, shouldn’t do.
I’ll throw in the “well actually” here so no one gets wrapped around the axle — the true point of tariffs are to boost domestic business at the expense of weakening foreign sales. The scales tipped in favor of domestic businesses should be advantageous and arguably a good strategy in some circumstances …in a vacuum. That’s the “well actually” and it’s worth nothing in 2025 because all advantage is nullified if those domestic businesses lack the skill and resources to produce said goods. The industries currently targeted by tariffs are so huge and complex that domestic businesses stand zero chance (even with tariffs) in place to replicate the technology, supply chain, and workforce that would be able to stand competitively toe-to-toe with the global market.
So it’s entirely a tax on Americans by another name, and for zero gain.
In the US the point of tarrifs is to tax the poor to pay for tax breaks for the rich.
Bingo, this is just a way of raising taxes on the poor without “raising taxes”.
In this case there are no competing domestic products though, or few enough as makes little difference. This is just taxation with extra steps.
Yes, I did mean in the ideal sense, there is a functional purpose for raising the prices of foreign goods IF there is a domestic alternative you wish to boost or expand. But the mechanism for the benefit, IF(big if) there is one, is the increase in price. Tariff (ideally) equals targetted price increases. Saying tariffs might raise prices is like saying stabbing you might wound you. I might have a good reason for wounding you, I might not, but the wounding will happen as a direct consequences of my stabbing you, regardless.
CPUs are so expensive, I guess I’ll buy a good old US made abacus instead!
Damn, if only we had some bill that would increase manufacturing of chips domestically. It would be foolish to cancel such a bill while also creating a tariff. How will people favor domestic manufacturing without that manufacturing existing? Surely the president would never do that.
Now to figure out how to play Doom on it.
Every American needs to be forced to learn the components of a supply and demand diagram.
The important won’t eat the costs because there’s literally no reason for them to do that.
The tariffs don’t actually upset shipping companies, they literally do not care. They continue to sell the product at exactly the same prices it always cost, once it arrives in a US port, that’s the end of the transaction as far as they are concerned, since the tariffs apply after that, they are irrelevant.
Release the Epstein files
I agree, but I think we should amend this phrase.
Release the UNREDACTED Epstein files
I want it in audiobook format. Read by Will Wheaton.
Excuse me? LeVar Burton is still alive.
This will surely bring manufacturing back to the US /s
I watched part of this announcement and he said something I normally don’t pick up on
“If they have started to build or have plans to build they don’t have to pay the tariff.”
Sounds like.jobs.
But what I heard was it was a discount for the oligarchy. Why do you only get a discount if you are in the position to at least pretend to be building a factory?
And then since prices are now double, you get to import and sell at an easy profit.
Yeah, Apple’s stock went up 5% yesterday because of Tim Cook’s meeting with Trump (where he promised $600 billion investment in US manufacturing), and Apple’s saying they won’t be affected by the new 50% tariffs on India. There are also ghost factories that were built during Trump’s first term.
Which literally means they have to announce fake plans to build which be continually delayed until at least 2028
Even once it opens, it’s cheaper to pay taxes on an empty factory than it is to pay tariffs or American workers.
Plus of course the problem that chip manufacturing is not a US traditional industry, so there probably isn’t that much skilled labor.
Ironically they’re probably going to end up having to hire foreign nationals.
“…likely pushing up…”
“…likely…”
Of course it will! What kind of reporting is this? “…forcing the price up…” Is the phrase they were looking for.
Oh boy, another distraction
