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Fox News got around that by claiming they’re entertainment, not news.

Ignorance is not an excuse. Fire all MAGAs for taxifs.

I get what you’re saying but you’re reinforcing the belief that other countries are paying the tariffs. They’re not paying anything. A tariff is a direct tax on anyone importing products into the country.

Yeah, whenever people say “the other country pays” (well, before this election cycle) what they meant was that the higher price would encourage shoppers to buy domestic this the other country “pays” because they get less revenue. Prices would go up either way though because of the domestic goods were cheaper they would’ve already been the first pick. The thing about taxes is that it doesn’t really matter if it’s placed on the supply or demand side, the end effect is the same. Sure, it will feel different and there might be different short term effects, but it’s the same regardless. The price is higher and government gets a cut.

So I don’t really understand why people believe that even if the foreign country/company was paying the tariff why people would think prices stay the same. As if other countries are just going to get a 25% fee and not increase prices by ~25% to cover that.

Did you read the post? It sounds like they explained it thoroughly to them prior to the tariffs going into effect and it went in one ear and out the other.

can anyone tell me what the alternative plan was to bring manufacturing back to the states?

what’s the alternative?

A better plan would have involved local subsidies and tax rebates for various industries that have the ability to be cheaper than existing outsourced infrastructure if they were to be developed with a large enough economy of scale, to incentivize them to engage in local production.

And for industries in which we wouldn’t experience lower prices even with larger local economies of scale, such as those involved in mining mineral deposits we simply don’t have enough of here in the states, we just… wouldn’t do anything to tariff anybody or provide incentives if it wouldn’t be something we were capable of benefiting from via local production?

And wasn’t that always going to make things more expensive?

These other methods would make things more expensive too, (albeit much less so) but they would directly incentivize local production, and crucially, only cost money when production was actually made locally. Nobody would get a tax rebate or subsidy if nobody was actually starting local production. With tariffs, however, everyone begins paying a higher cost, regardless of if local manufacturing is even happening, let alone if it’s cost effective or possible in the first place.

Tariffs are just an inefficient way of incentivizing local production compared to other options, because they primarily exist to punish other countries and their economies, rather than uplift our own. They can be used to incentivize local production, but if not properly linked with subsidies, rebates, and job programs, they aren’t terribly effective at doing that, and they will almost always lead to higher prices on an ongoing basis.

Where did you get the idea that tariffs are supposed to increase domestic production in any way?

Bring on the downvotes but the correct answer is don’t. Free trade causes jobs in each country to align with recardiant advantage in those countries. We have the jobs we want now. Unless we are in the middle of a depression we don’t want government to “provide more jobs”. We don’t need more jobs. We want better jobs. The whole reason why manufacturing has slowed down in the US is that the global market for manufacturing doesn’t pay as well per man hour as other opportunities we already have.

Tariffs disrupt existing jobs to bring back old jobs. Old jobs we shouldn’t want as much as the jobs we have now.

If you want to work a job that someone else is doing right now you should probably expect to make close to what they are making while doing it. Actually less because you are increasing supply. Do we want Americans to make Chinese wages? Now some manufacturing in the US doesn’t pay Chinese wages because its work only we can do, hence why it is here, and pays American wages. But if you want to “take back manufacturing” then you are talking specifically about manufacturing they have already demonstrated they can do. So any of that manufacturing will pay at most a Chinese wage. Why the hell would you want those jobs?

It’s a dead industry to an economy that doesn’t need it anymore. The same way you don’t kill your chicken, produce your own oil, make your own shoes, shoelaces, clothes…etc. That’s how the imbalance of economies work.

What you don’t understand is that Trump knows this, and he cultivated both hope AND fear in enough people to get him into office. His end goal is to force you into buying dumb shit that is made better elsewhere because him and his cronies can’t sell it elsewhere for profit, and they own all of it. He’s literally trying to force you into paying money to people who own dead resources.

Trump is the guy walking up to you on the street asking you to buy the watches he just “found in a dumpster”. I’m sorry you had to find out this way.

I can tell you! It’s just not a quick, easy, single bill that we can pass. It takes a fundamental change in the way Americans think, it’s gonna take at least 2 generations to make this move.

Here’s the plan: we’re gonna promote cooperation. We’re gonna get people to notice the systematic problems in the way they are treated by their authorities. We need to aggressively be better than our enemies, both in practice and knowledge.

Here’s the method: (Essay ahead).

We need to disrupt almost every single system that currently exists. They’re basically all fucked. Start with the ones that get the most people motivated - their basic needs first, entertainment second, their wellbeing third. That feels wrong and it is, we need 2 generations to fix this because we’ve been beat down by this system so bad the priorities aren’t even correct anymore. I’ve been using this tagline recently “People in homes, food in bellies, minds entertained and health maintained.”

You as an individual can and, if you want to have an impact of saving literally the world and not just America, probably should start doing your part for this plan. Give away what you can, but never what you need. And be careful, because you might need that later. Never let that get in the way, though, of giving what you can. Bring your neighbors grocery money when you have a bit of extra cash, and offer to start a food co-op to make sure they never go hungry. It sucks, because I know damn well I wanna go spend that extra 20 bucks to treat myself and you probably do too. But if you go give it away instead, it’ll come back to you. Not immediately, and not always symmetrically. But it will come back to benefit you in some way. We need to shift the focus towards the community instead of the individual. I have plans for the other steps, if you’d like I can go into them. But the food co-ops are the best first step IMO

People will tell you subsidies and positive reinforcement but honestly that is just more government spending to make a few rich. The answer is, there isn’t an alternative. All options aren’t great.

Manufacturing working conditions are horrible. As a country develops workers rights, unions, safety regulations, etc, it becomes almost impossible to compete on a global scale for manufacturing. Naturally the manufacturers in countries where those things don’t exist do very well.

In certain countries, the labor is just a few steps off of slave labor, which we all know is highly profitable and highly unethical. In other countries their dollar is so weak that net exports are the obvious choice for profitable businesses. Manufacturing thrives in these conditions and attracts a great deal of foreign investment - because hey, if the shipping costs are outweighed by the operational savings - it’s a sound business plan!!

Tariffs upset that equilibrium and guess who pays American tariffs? AMERICAN COMPANIES. The government gets a benefit, US becomes less likely of an export destination for countries to trade with, the dollar gets messed with in funky ways, and there is some amount of global loss of productivity due to this forced shift.

Basically, I view tariffs as a tax on the benefits of cheap overseas labor.

Man, I wonder how basic reading comprehension played a role in the last election.

Orrr… ya missed the “another one of our guys” part

Read again - it was two different people he was talking about. It’s implied that they have different job positions so their hours were impacted differently.

From what I’ve heard most pro brexit voters thought that leaving ment no non white immigrants allowed, they failed to understand the EU only let European labor in, the people from not white lands gained access from England’s colonial past.

The problem lies where they “find” their “research” when they see the answer they want to see on social media rather than an actual study or any factual references.

Those cost more, and with the tariffs I doubt he can afford it

I don’t understand why this even needs to be researched. I’m no economist and I don’t know much about tariffs, but: costs more to get product to me for any reason = product costs me more. When has that ever not been the case? What am I missing?

What kills me is that we shouldn’t be researching a thing that was taught in school.

Actual footage of us GenX kids learning about The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act.

What do you tell the people who are in fact thinking themselves and concluding that:

adding tariffs is a good thing for the US workers. for one, it ensures that resources (like aluminum) are being sourced from within the US, adding extra mining jobs. For two, it means that complex goods tend to be manufactured/assembled within the US, again adding labor/assembly jobs. For three, why should the product become more expensive to the end user if it’s the same production process being employed?