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BRICS as a group has very few concrete accomplishments, at least in the brazillian end. It was more about posturing in the international scene to show off the importance of rising and regional powers than about getting new agreements out, so I don't see a real reason for the brazillian government to leave BRICS instead of just kicking the can down the road.
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On March 04 2018 07:29 Sermokala wrote:
Well he needs to continue his plan of paying off the national debt by lowering the nations trade imbalance with other countries. Its the only thing that makes sense.
That 'plan' was nonsensical. Lowering the trade deficit doesn't make it easier for the government to pay its bills.
Trade deficit is inverse to the capital account.. much of which gets put into US treasuries. Take away that funding source and you have to make up for it somehow (big spending cuts / tax hikes).
It's not like if you import something from Japan the US government pays off your credit card..
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Isn't obsession with the trade deficit a return to the economic policies of mercantilism?
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On March 05 2018 04:37 kollin wrote:
Isn't obsession with the trade deficit a return to the economic policies of mercantilism?
That is actually true, come to think of it.
And that also delivers the most amazing way to lower the trade deficit. Put a tax on money leaving the country! Fuck all those small time partial solutions. Tariff on this and that. Tackle the issue at the base. If your problem is the trade deficit, make it harder for money to leave the country. Also amazing competitive advantage for native countries!
It is the very best of plans.
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President Donald Trump’s threatened trade war has opened a rift within the Republican Party that some lawmakers and strategists believe could undermine their effort to keep their majorities in Congress.
Republicans plan to brag about the economy in midterm campaigns in hopes of countering Trump’s unpopularity, touting a strong stock market, low unemployment rate and — most importantly — their increasingly popular tax legislation. But Trump’s suggestion Saturday that he might slap penalties on European cars, in addition to the tariffs on aluminum and steel he already promised, could upend that strategy completely, Republicans say.
“Should the administration opt to move forward with tariffs on steel and aluminum, American manufacturers, businesses and consumers would be forced to bear the brunt, paying more for steel and steel products,” said Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), one of the primary authors of the tax overhaul that’s central to the GOP’s reelection effort. “Such action could very well undercut the benefits of the pro-growth tax reform we fought to get on the books.”
“It’s a real simple frame for the [midterm] election: Republicans want to run on issues,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum and a former Congressional Budget Office director. “This threatens that because it … goes against our economic message.”
The clash suggests that what might be good politics for Trump personally might not work for the entire party. While narrow action directed at China alone might be well received, two top Republican congressional campaign sources said any broader trade actions — such as what Trump is floating now — could be devastating.
And it’s also allowing Democrats to hug Trump just when Republicans have been trying to position the opposing party as detrimental to Trump's economy. Vulnerable Democratic incumbents from the Rust Belt have rushed to praise Trump for taking action that could help industries in their states.
“I like where the president is going on this,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), one of the most at-risk Democrats, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Free trade hasn't worked well for West Virginia.”
The back and forth comes just days after Trump said he would slap a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum as soon as this week. Trump tweeted Friday that “trade wars are good” and “easy to win.” And by Saturday, Trump doubled down by threatening to retaliate against countries seeking to punish the U.S. for its protectionism.
“If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S.,” Trump tweeted Saturday. “They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!”
Trump’s allies argue that the GOP’s free-traders misunderstand the politics of what Trump is doing. They say he is fighting cheap imports of aluminum and steel to boost domestic industries in the Midwest.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy director Peter Navarro noted that just about every single Republican presidential candidate rejected Trump’s trade agenda. "Guess what: He beat them,” Navarro boasted.
Republicans are “dead wrong on the economics," Navarro said. “There’s no down-stream effect here.”
Most of the party flat-out disagrees. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) called Trump’s proposed tariffs a "huge job-killing tax hike.” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said it will “kill American jobs.” And even Trump allies Larry Kudlow, Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore argued in a Saturday CNBC op-ed that “even if tariffs save every one of the 140,000 or so steel jobs in America, it puts at risk 5 million manufacturing and related jobs in industries that use steel.”
Republicans have seen “this movie before, and they know it ends poorly,” said Holtz-Eakin, who worked in the George W. Bush administration. “I was at the White House for steel tariffs, and in the end, there was a lot of retaliation against the U.S.”
In a recent interview with POLITICO, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said that “a majority-plus believe that if Democrats get elected, the economy is going to get worse.” But a trade war, Republicans say, would complicate their central pitch to voters that the GOP is good for business and Democrats will tank the economy.
Already, the EU has suggested it could retaliate against orange growers in the swing state of Florida, motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson in Wisconsin and other industries that could hurt toss-up areas that Republicans need to win if they're going to keep the House and Senate.
Source
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Be honest what is different from this video and terrorist release? These people are fucking crazy.
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United States24682 Posts
I'm not totally clear who "they" and "them" are in that video. Either it's specifically referring to democrats, specifically referring to liberals, or being intentionally vague. The video is obviously trying to be divisive and rile up their base. What action do they actually want their base to take, though? ...Other than join the NRA, as though the NRA is going to save people from allegedly unfair accusations of racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia. It seems to be calling on the police to do something as well... but I'm not clear what.
It's also cute how the video sets up ahead of time that whenever folks get outraged, they are wrong to get outraged, even before it happens and we know why it happened.
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It's just propaganda to remind their base to vote R in the upcoming midterms.
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"They use their school shootings and other instances of gun violence and the successful policies of other first world countries to tell you that gun control is the solution." Cartoon villain stuff here and a large percentage of the US supports the NRA / "more gun" solutions.
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Micronesia, it's intentionally vague so that the viewer can comfortably put whatever demographics or groups they're angry at or afraid of in with "them." The "us" and "law abiding" of course, refers to "real Americans," which is whatever the viewer considers their in group or tribe. By using "law abiding" as a separate group from "them," it unsubtly implies opposing Trump is an indicator of someone not being law abiding.
I'm with StealthBlue here that it's basically a call for "lone wolf" terrorism* and crowdsourced harassment.
*Terrorism here being a more general usage of the word, with a meaning of using fear, particularly fear incited by violence or threats of violence, to achieve political purposes.
I spent some time a couple of weeks ago poking around on the NRA's youtube channel. They have been putting out really disturbing propaganda since Trump won and gun sales started dropping. The American gun industry has been riding a bubble of conservative fear of impending gun restrictions, and since they use that angle any more, they're turning to other avenues of driving up fear.
Gun store owners called it the “Trump slump.” Sales of firearms slowed dramatically after the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016 allayed fears of a Democratic crackdown on gun owners.
That trend has continued in recent weeks even with talk of gun control in Congress and among business leaders following the Feb. 14 massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school.
In the past, gun massacres generally led to an uptick in sales as people worried about the government restricting access. But with Parkland, things are different.
“The day after the election, it’s just like somebody turned a faucet off,” said David Dobransky, 67, who owns Dobransky Firearms, a small gun shop in North Canton, Ohio. Since then, sales there have been cut in half, and nothing the president or Congress has done or said following the Florida shooting has improved business.
Gun owners apparently have faith that Trump won’t impose more restrictions, gun show owners say. That’s even with the confusing messages Trump has sent in the past week.
sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com
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On March 05 2018 09:30 micronesia wrote:
I'm not totally clear who "they" and "them" are in that video. Either it's specifically referring to democrats, specifically referring to liberals, or being intentionally vague. The video is obviously trying to be divisive and rile up their base. What action do they actually want their base to take, though? ...Other than join the NRA, as though the NRA is going to save people from allegedly unfair accusations of racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia. It seems to be calling on the police to do something as well... but I'm not clear what.
It's also cute how the video sets up ahead of time that whenever folks get outraged, they are wrong to get outraged, even before it happens and we know why it happened.
It's kinda the right wing propaganda version of certain left-wing attitudes you can see here:
On February 27 2018 06:29 Wulfey_LA wrote:
Every last righty is a crying weak victim through and through. Not a shred of integrity or maniless in the entire lot. Zero exceptions
It basically takes a shred of truth and turns it into reactionary outrage. It ranges from pretty close to the mark (CNN townhall moderation, the victims being paraded around shows accusing everybody but the sheriff of murder and complicity, comedy show narratives) to pretty exaggerated (the Berkeley insanity is more characteristic of the left wing fringe and particularly young, vocal liberals ... and it's California's impotence and cowardice--not the country's--that allowed the anti-free-speed crowd to shout down invited speakers until university administrators woke the hell up).
I get some of the reason behind it, but it's clearly overhyped.
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yeah except you don't really need to raise a clenched first of truth against crying weak victims do you?
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On March 05 2018 12:57 IgnE wrote:
yeah except you don't really need to raise a clenched first of truth against crying weak victims do you?
Tribalism on both sides is extraordinarily bad right now.
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Does anyone remember who DIVISIVE Obama was? I remember hearing that on a day by day basis from Serious, Concerned, Constitutional Conservatives. All of it was bullshit. No amount of tan suits or condemning police violence by President Obama is even remotely close to the day by day diviseness coming from the kulturkampf right (NRA / Trump / FOX / Breitbart).
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On March 05 2018 11:55 Danglars wrote:Show nested quote +On March 05 2018 09:30 micronesia wrote:
I'm not totally clear who "they" and "them" are in that video. Either it's specifically referring to democrats, specifically referring to liberals, or being intentionally vague. The video is obviously trying to be divisive and rile up their base. What action do they actually want their base to take, though? ...Other than join the NRA, as though the NRA is going to save people from allegedly unfair accusations of racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia. It seems to be calling on the police to do something as well... but I'm not clear what.
It's also cute how the video sets up ahead of time that whenever folks get outraged, they are wrong to get outraged, even before it happens and we know why it happened. It's kinda the right wing propaganda version of certain left-wing attitudes you can see here: Show nested quote +On February 27 2018 06:29 Wulfey_LA wrote:
Every last righty is a crying weak victim through and through. Not a shred of integrity or maniless in the entire lot. Zero exceptions It basically takes a shred of truth and turns it into reactionary outrage. It ranges from pretty close to the mark (CNN townhall moderation, the victims being paraded around shows accusing everybody but the sheriff of murder and complicity, comedy show narratives) to pretty exaggerated (the Berkeley insanity is more characteristic of the left wing fringe and particularly young, vocal liberals ... and it's California's impotence and cowardice--not the country's--that allowed the anti-free-speed crowd to shout down invited speakers until university administrators woke the hell up). I get some of the reason behind it, but it's clearly overhyped.
Find me a Righty + Trumpkin that is also not a crybaby victim being oppressed.
EDIT: you can't use #NeverTrump. They aren't a part of the tribe anymore.
Here is a favorite example of internet tough-guy anti-sjws getting butthurt and victimized by black media.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/27287/review-black-panther-very-good-movie-its-also-ben-shapiro
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United States24682 Posts
Wulfey_LA you play into their hands and galvanize their base by acting the way you are. I have more sympathy for your position than the position of those who say "Trump isn't great but if Hillary were elected it would be a disaster a trillion times worse" but I think you are more capable of reining in your behavior and not giving your political opposition so much low-hanging fruit to grab on to.
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Of all the types of obstruction, it’s not using the resources set aside to solve a problem that end up filling me with this cold rage.
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On March 05 2018 13:11 Wulfey_LA wrote:
Does anyone remember who DIVISIVE Obama was? I remember hearing that on a day by day basis from Serious, Concerned, Constitutional Conservatives. All of it was bullshit. No amount of tan suits or condemning police violence by President Obama is even remotely close to the day by day diviseness coming from the kulturkampf right (NRA / Trump / FOX / Breitbart).
Obama said “my son would have looked like Trayvon” and they flipped their shit. Oh how influential the president’s words alone are.
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On March 05 2018 13:11 Wulfey_LA wrote:
Does anyone remember who DIVISIVE Obama was? I remember hearing that on a day by day basis from Serious, Concerned, Constitutional Conservatives. All of it was bullshit. No amount of tan suits or condemning police violence by President Obama is even remotely close to the day by day diviseness coming from the kulturkampf right (NRA / Trump / FOX / Breitbart).
He definitely wove the divisive path in with erudition. Trump's just out and about on twitter and in speeches trumpeting it out.
The left is doing their best to deserve it, I must say. It's still uncalled for and all that 
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EPT
