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On April 08 2025 02:45 Mohdoo wrote:Show nested quote +On April 08 2025 02:31 KwarK wrote:On April 08 2025 02:08 Timebon3s wrote:
LOL he really wants to fuck up his own country. I can't believe I was stupid enough to actually think he could do some good.
You were right, I was wrong. I feel stupid as fuck. I'm happy for you that you've made it here. The tariffs are far and away the largest wake up call I have seen. Everything about this situation is incredibly clear and there's truly zero water muddying possible. This tariff bullshit is entirely Trump's doing. The stock market is giving extremely clear cause/effect relationships. The situation being so alarming is also making MAGA examine the situation as a whole. Lots of people pointing out we should have just targeted China or targeted specific goods. It is also helped by the "got mine, go fuck yourself" ideology common among conservatives. Everyone knows a recession or depression will mean massive layoffs and general economic suffering. People are worried about their own well-being.
The source of this policy is even funnier:
https://closertotheedge.substack.com/p/the-fraud-economist-and-the-fictional
A charlatan citing a made-up economist who happened to be himself. xD
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I second this motion but I would go even further. people should check this gem of a post out btw. I wondered what leaked out or got out or was stated by important people that there was a short rally at Wall Street.
this is what happened. and this is actually terrifying...
TobinTax NOW. and there won't be a deficit anywhere in the next 10-15 years.
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I know I’m preaching to the choir, but just in case anyone browsing here finds themselves still defending Trump’s tariff war:
Even if we assume tariffs are a legitimate form of hard ball diplomacy, that can’t be used against the entire world at the same time. No matter how exceptional someone may assume the USA to be, I imagine even the most diehard MAGA agrees the whole world fighting back at the same time is totally impossible for the US to manage. Tariffs would destroy our export income to such an extreme our whole society, not just economy, would collapse within a month. Likely much shorter than that.
Europe and Asia holding strong against the US creates a 100% guarantee the US will be concerned about the fabric of society imminently.
This situation is so transparent I keep feeling like there’s an even worse follow up planned. Maybe Trump and his team truly do plan to use military threats once the world doesn’t back down. I don’t know what else they could do.
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The "whole world" would not fight back because it's a basic prisoner dilemma.
On April 08 2025 02:45 Mohdoo wrote:Show nested quote +On April 08 2025 02:31 KwarK wrote:On April 08 2025 02:08 Timebon3s wrote:
LOL he really wants to fuck up his own country. I can't believe I was stupid enough to actually think he could do some good.
You were right, I was wrong. I feel stupid as fuck. I'm happy for you that you've made it here. The tariffs are far and away the largest wake up call I have seen. Everything about this situation is incredibly clear and there's truly zero water muddying possible. This tariff bullshit is entirely Trump's doing. The stock market is giving extremely clear cause/effect relationships. The situation being so alarming is also making MAGA examine the situation as a whole. Lots of people pointing out we should have just targeted China or targeted specific goods. It is also helped by the "got mine, go fuck yourself" ideology common among conservatives. Everyone knows a recession or depression will mean massive layoffs and general economic suffering. People are worried about their own well-being.
As long as China keeps retaliating, on balance they target China. If you look at the highest tariffs ones, they are Sinosphere-isolating. Not just China but Vietnam, Korea, Japan, etc.
Lutnick or Bessent, can't remember which, was very clear, as long as countries don't retaliate, the April 2nd numbers are a ceiling. China has no choice but to try what they're doing. The EU thinking moving closer to China, a political and economic blunder, would be a way to get back at Trump, is an extreme "hold my beer" situation.
You also cannot "just" target specific goods. You can, but not "just." The reason is the US has a 3:2 trade deficit. Imports 50% more than exports. The issue is not simply blocking imports and replacing with domestic. The issue is you reduce the trade deficit by exporting more to balance it out, which you need to do by having access to markets. You cannot have access to markets if you are blocked by trade and regulation and monetary policy. So how to fix it? You cannot block someone from blocking your goods. Obviously. But you can tariff their goods, whatever they are. So you come out the other end with more customers to export to, and more companies on board with new trade deals, or with more tariff revenue, or all of the above.
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gn1ZNgRXAAEQfU-.jpg)
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On April 08 2025 05:14 oBlade wrote:The "whole world" would not fight back because it's a basic prisoner dilemma. Show nested quote +On April 08 2025 02:45 Mohdoo wrote:On April 08 2025 02:31 KwarK wrote:On April 08 2025 02:08 Timebon3s wrote:
LOL he really wants to fuck up his own country. I can't believe I was stupid enough to actually think he could do some good.
You were right, I was wrong. I feel stupid as fuck. I'm happy for you that you've made it here. The tariffs are far and away the largest wake up call I have seen. Everything about this situation is incredibly clear and there's truly zero water muddying possible. This tariff bullshit is entirely Trump's doing. The stock market is giving extremely clear cause/effect relationships. The situation being so alarming is also making MAGA examine the situation as a whole. Lots of people pointing out we should have just targeted China or targeted specific goods. It is also helped by the "got mine, go fuck yourself" ideology common among conservatives. Everyone knows a recession or depression will mean massive layoffs and general economic suffering. People are worried about their own well-being. As long as China keeps retaliating, on balance they target China. If you look at the highest tariffs ones, they are Sinosphere-isolating. Not just China but Vietnam, Korea, Japan, etc. Lutnick or Bessent, can't remember which, was very clear, as long as countries don't retaliate, the April 2nd numbers are a ceiling. China has no choice but to try what they're doing. The EU thinking moving closer to China, a political and economic blunder, would be a way to get back at Trump, is an extreme "hold my beer" situation. You also cannot "just" target specific goods. You can, but not "just." The reason is the US has a 3:2 trade deficit. Imports 50% more than exports. The issue is not simply blocking imports and replacing with domestic. The issue is you reduce the trade deficit by exporting more to balance it out, which you need to do by having access to markets. You cannot have access to markets if you are blocked by trade and regulation and monetary policy. So how to fix it? You cannot block someone from blocking your goods. Obviously. But you can tariff their goods, whatever they are. So you come out the other end with more customers to export to, and more companies on board with new trade deals, or with more tariff revenue, or all of the above. + Show Spoiler +
I don’t see how it’s a prisoner dilemma. If Europe and Asia both hold strong and have significant tariffs against the US, are you saying the US can avoid economic collapse?
The only way the US wins is if either Europe or Asia fold. Both Europe and Asia collectively agreeing to embrace the pain would mean the US would experience such extreme pain it would need to simply revert, right? I understand all the other stuff and I get it. But I’m not understanding what you mean about Europe and Asia holding strong not being a death sentence to the US.
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The thing is that Europe would lower tariffs if the US did. They just won't do it first since the US started the entire thing. They need to make sure we aren't back here again in 1 month after normalization.
On the legislation side. That is one of the best things the EU is doing overall. Pushing acceptable conduct to other nations by enforcing it with a wide market. The US has historically been doing it as well, less so recently. It is far from perfect but enforcing safety standards on food, electronics... is not a negative as many in the US seem to think of it, it is a positive.
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You've gotta love how that specifically shows a deficit of goods, and they conveniently ignore services. The US does quite well exporting services. It's still an overall deficit of the combined goods and services, but it's something like 500 billion closer IIRC.....
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In addition to the regulatory barriers that you extol because they promote valuable electronics safety like forcing everything to use USB-C, EU has until recently had higher tariffs on US than the reverse. EU are not the third world, tariffs should be 0 and trade deficits should be flat among the West.
It's a game theory thing because Asia is not monolithic. EU is, but that's a different factor. Trump likes the whole Americas. He'll be wanting to expand trade with Mexico, Argentina, Canada eventually (yes even more Canadian trade). Japan and Korea. India. Taiwan's PM JUST came out and said they're up for anything basically.
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I dunno. what makes the Western Alliance inevitable on the world stage is that there is trust among allies. you are working very hard - on many levels - to undermine this trust.
you are risking quite a bit and most people are not number crunchers like a Bessent or whoever is behind the scenes pulling the strings. they see number goes down - bad.
and orange man who is the instigator. Trump even seems proud of it every time he is in front of a camera for some reason. very bad.
in a trade war tariffs are only one way to cause pain. it's war after all.
the EU could massively fuck over the US tech sector. enforcing the digital markets act and costing those companies billions and billions of dollars just in fines.
if things get really bad and trust further erodes... well EU and their economies run for the most part on US software and cloud services.
this could change. it would have to get really bad but I am actually noticing this thinking more and more seeping into the mainstream. there is appetite for change.
bullying Canada also did not turn out the way some might have thought, just a reminder.
additionally trying to argue by using a game theory example is not the win some think it is. some people know right from wrong and won't negotiate with (eco) terrorists.
think AGAIN about the scenario that was created... shining city upon a hill my ass.
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On April 08 2025 05:22 Mohdoo wrote:Show nested quote +On April 08 2025 05:14 oBlade wrote:The "whole world" would not fight back because it's a basic prisoner dilemma. On April 08 2025 02:45 Mohdoo wrote:On April 08 2025 02:31 KwarK wrote:On April 08 2025 02:08 Timebon3s wrote:
LOL he really wants to fuck up his own country. I can't believe I was stupid enough to actually think he could do some good.
You were right, I was wrong. I feel stupid as fuck. I'm happy for you that you've made it here. The tariffs are far and away the largest wake up call I have seen. Everything about this situation is incredibly clear and there's truly zero water muddying possible. This tariff bullshit is entirely Trump's doing. The stock market is giving extremely clear cause/effect relationships. The situation being so alarming is also making MAGA examine the situation as a whole. Lots of people pointing out we should have just targeted China or targeted specific goods. It is also helped by the "got mine, go fuck yourself" ideology common among conservatives. Everyone knows a recession or depression will mean massive layoffs and general economic suffering. People are worried about their own well-being. As long as China keeps retaliating, on balance they target China. If you look at the highest tariffs ones, they are Sinosphere-isolating. Not just China but Vietnam, Korea, Japan, etc. Lutnick or Bessent, can't remember which, was very clear, as long as countries don't retaliate, the April 2nd numbers are a ceiling. China has no choice but to try what they're doing. The EU thinking moving closer to China, a political and economic blunder, would be a way to get back at Trump, is an extreme "hold my beer" situation. You also cannot "just" target specific goods. You can, but not "just." The reason is the US has a 3:2 trade deficit. Imports 50% more than exports. The issue is not simply blocking imports and replacing with domestic. The issue is you reduce the trade deficit by exporting more to balance it out, which you need to do by having access to markets. You cannot have access to markets if you are blocked by trade and regulation and monetary policy. So how to fix it? You cannot block someone from blocking your goods. Obviously. But you can tariff their goods, whatever they are. So you come out the other end with more customers to export to, and more companies on board with new trade deals, or with more tariff revenue, or all of the above. I don’t see how it’s a prisoner dilemma. If Europe and Asia both hold strong and have significant tariffs against the US, are you saying the US can avoid economic collapse? The only way the US wins is if either Europe or Asia fold. Both Europe and Asia collectively agreeing to embrace the pain would mean the US would experience such extreme pain it would need to simply revert, right? I understand all the other stuff and I get it. But I’m not understanding what you mean about Europe and Asia holding strong not being a death sentence to the US.
It's not a prisoner dilemma because the rest of the world has nothing to gain from engaging in a trade war with the US. One could make an argument that 'teaching a lesson' for would-be demented dictators is something to gain but that's very low on the priority list for decision makers.
I very much doubt the EU will have significant counter-tariffs against the US, we don't need any additional leverage for this to fix itself, the self-inflicted damage and lack of a realistic end-goal is enough. The EU will most likely seek to give the US some insignificant token of dropping tariffs from 1% to 0% so that Trump can roll out the mission accomplished banner and stop. That's the short term of it.
It's all secondary though, the idea that we must decouple from the US and stop relying on them for critical infrastructure because they are no longer a serious nation or a trustworthy partner is already implanted. We can't play ping pong every 4 years, we need our own military industry, social media, payment processing, etc.
Then there's China's cultural and business influence that has accelerated at mach speed in the last 10 years. Europe's scrolling Tiktoks, ordering from Temu/Shein/Ali, playing their gacha games, and now starting to even drive their cars - all of this was unheard of not long ago. The US giving up soft power and their status as a serious country will speed that up even further, especially as the sentiment of rejecting American things grows in Europe and China needs to look elsewhere to dump all the surplus stock that they can no longer sell in the US.
The fall of Rome took 100 years, you guys are glitching through the walls to any% yours.
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On April 08 2025 05:51 oBlade wrote:
In addition to the regulatory barriers that you extol because they promote valuable electronics safety like forcing everything to use USB-C, EU has until recently had higher tariffs on US than the reverse. EU are not the third world, tariffs should be 0 and trade deficits should be flat among the West.
It's a game theory thing because Asia is not monolithic. EU is, but that's a different factor. Trump likes the whole Americas. He'll be wanting to expand trade with Mexico, Argentina, Canada eventually (yes even more Canadian trade). Japan and Korea. India. Taiwan's PM JUST came out and said they're up for anything basically.
There is a 0 for 0 tariff trade deal on the table for the US. Has been there even before the current tariffs.
However there are some problems.
Americans don't seem to understand the concept of a sales tax. That's the big one.
And they keep trying to push their bullshit on us. We like USB-C chargers as a standard because it means regardless of what device you get you always have a ton of chargers on hand. We like food that has certain standards. We like a lot of our, in Americas eyes, "dumb" regulations.
I think this one is probably a minor one but it keeps popping up.
It's the same with American companies operating in Europe. Keep trying to cancel shit like maternal leave or workers rights even if it's mandated by law and then get uber pissed when they get slapped down.
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On April 08 2025 06:24 CuddlyCuteKitten wrote:Show nested quote +On April 08 2025 05:51 oBlade wrote:
In addition to the regulatory barriers that you extol because they promote valuable electronics safety like forcing everything to use USB-C, EU has until recently had higher tariffs on US than the reverse. EU are not the third world, tariffs should be 0 and trade deficits should be flat among the West.
It's a game theory thing because Asia is not monolithic. EU is, but that's a different factor. Trump likes the whole Americas. He'll be wanting to expand trade with Mexico, Argentina, Canada eventually (yes even more Canadian trade). Japan and Korea. India. Taiwan's PM JUST came out and said they're up for anything basically. There is a 0 for 0 tariff trade deal on the table for the US. Has been there even before the current tariffs. However there are some problems. Americans don't seem to understand the concept of a sales tax. That's the big one. And they keep trying to push their bullshit on us. We like USB-C chargers as a standard because it means regardless of what device you get you always have a ton of chargers on hand. We like food that has certain standards. We like a lot of our, in Americas eyes, "dumb" regulations. I think this one is probably a minor one but it keeps popping up. It's the same with American companies operating in Europe. Keep trying to cancel shit like maternal leave or workers rights even if it's mandated by law and then get uber pissed when they get slapped down.
I think these are core points. A lot of people in the US simply don't seem to understand why the regulations in the EU are the way they are.
Sales tax being thrown in with tariffs for inexplicable reasons, and the utter confusion about why we don't allow their chlorinated chicken or whatever else insane thing with cancer-causing chemicals they are doing.
Yes, sometimes EU regulations may go overboard. But overall, and as a whole, they are fucking amazing.
We don't want the US (de)regulations and labor laws. If the US tries to push for that, prepare for a trade war, because that shit won't fly here. And sales tax will stay, and no, US products will not be exempt from that, no matter what Trump does.
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On April 08 2025 02:13 Zambrah wrote:Show nested quote +On April 08 2025 02:10 GreenHorizons wrote:On April 08 2025 01:54 Zambrah wrote:On April 08 2025 01:42 GreenHorizons wrote:On April 08 2025 01:27 Uldridge wrote:
Why does the General Strike not have enough traction, do you think?
Too much luxury? Lots of reasons, not sure what you mean by "too much luxury" though (I'm presuming you're not trolling and hoping that isn't me making a mistake). Part of the origin of LibHorizons was the quite reasonable suggestion from Acro that DPB should join the general strike effort. DPB can probably provide insight into why he refuses to support it here. More generally, it's that people are scared stiff so to speak. Like many situations, the fear is warranted, we just can't let it inhibit us from taking meaningful action or we will lose the fight for our future. I think its also a difficulty in organization, unions filled a really important hole in mass organization in that they were basically cells that could come together and decide that they were going to strike as one unified whole, making it much harder to ignore. Things like the internet that should be great for this sort of thing are sort of neutered by the geographical disparity between people, ten people in 500 cities isn't nearly as impactful as 5000 people in one. We're very much missing good local organizations that are also very in contact with networks of other local organizations, and nothing has really adequately filled the hole that the decrease in unions has left. I also agree with this contributing. I would argue that 10 people opposing Trump in 500 cities can be far more impactful than the millions that protested Trump in the biggest organized event in opposition to Trump since he took office (that got 0 attention here). Hell 1 person in 1 unremarkable city was more impactful and almost completely eliminated Trump's capacity to harm us. It's not the size, but how you use it, as they say. On April 08 2025 02:01 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:On April 08 2025 01:42 GreenHorizons wrote:On April 08 2025 01:27 Uldridge wrote:
Why does the General Strike not have enough traction, do you think?
Too much luxury? Lots of reasons, not sure what you mean by "too much luxury" though (I'm presuming you're not trolling and hoping that isn't me making a mistake). Part of the origin of LibHorizons was the quite reasonable suggestion from Acro that DPB should join the general strike effort. DPB can probably provide insight into why he refuses to support it here. More generally, it's that people are scared stiff so to speak. Like many situations, the fear is warranted, we just can't let it inhibit us from taking meaningful action or we will lose the fight for our future. I didn't say that, and I'm done responding to your insults and misrepresentations. + Show Spoiler +Anyways, back to the news: It looks like Trump is threatening even more tariffs, especially towards China: Undeterred by a stock market collapse that has continued for days, President Donald Trump threatened additional tariffs on China on Monday, raising fresh concerns that his drive to rebalance the global economy could intensify a financially destructive trade war.
Trump’s threat, which he delivered on social media, came after China said it would retaliate against U.S. tariffs he announced last week.
“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!”
If Trump implements his plans, U.S. tariffs on imports from China would reach a combined 104%. The new taxes would be on top of the 20% tariffs announced as punishment for fentanyl trafficking and his separate 34% tariffs announced last week. Not only could that increase prices for American consumers, it could give China an incentive to flood other countries with cheaper goods and seek deeper partnerships with other trading partners. https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-stock-market-52a00ea2bb92a067ee72343941b02cd4 Besides making Americans pay more money, Trump is potentially pushing our allies and China together. You literally are refusing to support it here lmao. Don't let me pointing that out interrupt your regularly scheduled hopelessly oblivious mocking and gawking though. To be fair, Id argue protesting in almost any number that isnt a large coordinated double digit percentage of the US (like 30% or something) is probably totally useless. Protests without violence or threat of violence (even only the implicit threat of having an enormous sum of pissed off people) are just easily ignored and waited out in the US
You're not really wrong. Though, I think most people have no idea what a small percentage of people identified as abolitionists/active opponents of slavery before the deadliest war in American history (for Americans) was fought (mostly) abolishing slavery. It wasn't anywhere near 30%, I can tell you that much for sure.
I think you're absolutely right that the 50501 style protests are basically wholly useless other than to manipulate and pacify libs/Dems/ilk.
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On April 08 2025 03:36 Uldridge wrote:Show nested quote +On April 08 2025 01:42 GreenHorizons wrote:On April 08 2025 01:27 Uldridge wrote:
Why does the General Strike not have enough traction, do you think?
Too much luxury? Lots of reasons, not sure what you mean by "too much luxury" though (I'm presuming you're not trolling and hoping that isn't me making a mistake). Part of the origin of LibHorizons was the quite reasonable suggestion from Acro that DPB should join the general strike effort. DPB can probably provide insight into why he refuses to support it here. More generally, it's that people are scared stiff so to speak. Like many situations, the fear is warranted, we just can't let it inhibit us from taking meaningful action or we will lose the fight for our future. My central thesis has been, for a long time, that people have a very hard time giving up they're acquired luxuries. Be it free time, capital, material possessions, skills to express oneself, education, ... You don't get people riled up when these things aren't touched. Tje second these acquired freedoms are infringes upon people will complain and the threshold to protest becomes way, way lower. But maybe it is class consciousness because I don't see people giving a damn about other people until it starts affecting them. It's the "at first they came for" in reverse, where people add to the pitchforked mass in stepwise process. Maybe you only get a threshold value of impact if 10% of the population raises their voice and protests, maybe it's earlier than that. What you're basically looking for is a catalyst that jolts people into action much earlier. Ironically enough, Trumps tariffs might do that lol
Yeah, I don't think people choosing to throw others on the tracks to preserve/get access to "luxuries" (I consider free time, the ability to express oneself, and education to be human rights) is an especially new or controversial observation. I've expressed it myself here for years and it has a deep history in the US. It's basically how the New Deal happened and saved capitalism in the US from the brink of destruction.
+ Show Spoiler +In order to pass major New Deal legislation, Roosevelt needed the support of southern Democrats. Time and time again, he backed away from equal rights to avoid antagonizing southern whites; although, his wife, Eleanor, did take a public stand in support of civil rights.
Most New Deal programs discriminated against blacks. The NRA, for example, not only offered whites the first crack at jobs, but authorized separate and lower pay scales for blacks. The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) refused to guarantee mortgages for blacks who tried to buy in white neighborhoods, and the CCC maintained segregated camps. Furthermore, the Social Security Act excluded those job categories blacks traditionally filled.
The story in agriculture was particularly grim. Since 40 percent of all black workers made their living as sharecroppers and tenant farmers, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) acreage reduction hit blacks hard. White landlords could make more money by leaving land untilled than by putting land back into production. As a result, the AAA's policies forced more than 100,000 blacks off the land in 1933 and 1934. Even more galling to black leaders, the president failed to support an anti-lynching bill and a bill to abolish the poll tax. Roosevelt feared that conservative southern Democrats, who had seniority in Congress and controlled many committee chairmanships, would block his bills if he tried to fight them on the race question.
This is at the core of MLK Jr's point about white moderates being a greater stumbling block to progress than right-wingers as well as the "first they came for" quote.
People that aren't aggressively supporting a general strike already, are doing the "and I did not speak out, because I was not..." part right now, thinking that the rising tide of fascism will get stopped before it gets to them (which would still be heinous, if it wasn't also catastrophically wrong). There's also obviously the fear and futility aspects Zambrah and I mentioned (among others).
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United States42655 Posts
On April 08 2025 05:26 Yurie wrote:
The thing is that Europe would lower tariffs if the US did. They just won't do it first since the US started the entire thing. They need to make sure we aren't back here again in 1 month after normalization.
On the legislation side. That is one of the best things the EU is doing overall. Pushing acceptable conduct to other nations by enforcing it with a wide market. The US has historically been doing it as well, less so recently. It is far from perfect but enforcing safety standards on food, electronics... is not a negative as many in the US seem to think of it, it is a positive.
Europe can’t lower tariffs because they’re not really charging tariffs in the first place. Total tariff taxes divided by total imports yields about 0.01 or 1% tariffs. The problem is that Trump is using a made up metric to justify an unprovoked and unilateral first strike is a trade war against the whole world at once. The rest of the world can’t give him what he wants because his demands have no basis in reality. The US has a trade surplus with the UK and so the UK got hit with a “retaliatory” 10% tariff to try to lower the deficit that didn’t exist. Except for the Falklands which is a part of the UK proper in every sense but has a high penguin population and so got a 40% tariff. Under what conditions could the UK avoid Trump’s preemptive retaliation?
The issue with the discussion around bargaining here is that it assumes a fundamental grievance that can be addressed. One doesn’t exist. If you want to know the tariffs charged by a country on your exports you go to a specialist in the field and they prepare you a paper and maybe some possible outcomes of different policies. What Trump did was had an official policy statement explaining that they don’t really understand tariffs and it’s too complicated for anyone in the White House to explain and so they were going to use the greater of net imports over imports or .1 which isn’t anything.
We need to treat this as if Trump has, without warning or negotiations, launched a military attack against the world demanding the immediate return of the island of Atlantis. Getting into a debate over whether he should have negotiated first or which country Atlantis should belong to is failing to understand the core issue. It’s buying into the madness that has overtaken the White House and assuming a level of reasonableness that could not be further from the reality.
When asked if they really just used net imports over total imports to come up with the number the White House asserts that it was far more complicated than that. They used imports less total exports (net imports) divided by total imports multiplied by 4 divided by 4. And they explained this with a straight face because they completely believed it was different.
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On April 08 2025 05:51 oBlade wrote:
In addition to the regulatory barriers that you extol because they promote valuable electronics safety like forcing everything to use USB-C, EU has until recently had higher tariffs on US than the reverse. EU are not the third world, tariffs should be 0 and trade deficits should be flat among the West.
It's a game theory thing because Asia is not monolithic. EU is, but that's a different factor. Trump likes the whole Americas. He'll be wanting to expand trade with Mexico, Argentina, Canada eventually (yes even more Canadian trade). Japan and Korea. India. Taiwan's PM JUST came out and said they're up for anything basically.
Can you explain to me how the ending the trade deficit with Canada helps the US? Only way this really happens is if we stop selling our oil to you at massive discounts. We're not a large enough economy to balance it any other realistic way (this is in progress as well because pipelines that were dead to the coasts are back on the table). I can not wrap my head around why buying our raw material at discounts so you can value add to them and sell them at a premium to other customers (including us) is bad for you?
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Lol.
Here's a graph with a red dot in the bottom left and here's one in the top left
Look, I'm more anarchocommunist than Pyotr Kropotkin, but also more authoritarian than Stalin. Oh, and I'm also more fascist than Mussolini, and more Randian than Ayn Rand!
So... yeah. You look like a duck and you quack like a duck. So I think this is you. Essentially the same place Donald Trump is. If I was feeling charitable, I'd put you with Ludwig von Mises instead, but your incessant bad faith stumping for Trump has killed any goodwill I had, so up in the fascist corner your go. But don't worry, you're further to the left than Joe Biden or Keir Starmer according to that random website you used to generate your random graphs, so that's something!
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Bruh that's just the o. If you wrote the rest of oBlade you'd be more on the right than the left.
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If it weren‘t for oBlade a lot of hilarity would have been lost.
Mostly when it was in reply to him.
Contrarian takes have value. If you don‘t like them you can still learn from the opposition.
Calling him a fascist is exaggerated imo.
Don‘t allow me to curb your enthusiasm though.
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Barring a climb-down from sudden recession, Trump has effectively started the end of pax Americana.
This was always inevitable in the long-term, it would just normally take several administrations to happen slowly.
I guess that means the multipolar order is already here.
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EPT
