Is there any greater indicator of bad faith and intellectual incuriosity than use of the expression "orange man bad"? There are 40 pages explaining why blanket tariffs are a terrible idea. Hundreds explaining why attempting to overturn an election is not good. More explaining why shutting off agencies on the whims of a unelected billionaire with mountains of conflicts of interest is not ideal. You and millions of others get told over and over and over again, in great detail, with overwhelming evidence, but all you get from this is "They think Trump is a poopy head." And then accuse others of being emotional. America, we hardly knew ye.
What if he uses a nuclear weapon to stir controversy and exploit the situation? The tariffs are real, and their impact is both real and tangible.
Canadians already canceling summer reservations in Maine over tariff dispute Vacation based business make like 90% of their money in their high season, summer in Maine. This summer season is likely lost. This begs the question. Did Trump think about the permanent damage his tariff policy will do before starting the Trump trade War? We know that Trump is not a serious man. We know that Trump does not have a well thought strategy ... ever. Those Maine vacation business without serious savings in the bank may go out of business, thanks to Trump's inability to actually plan anything.
I go to Ogunquit every summer. I will say there is usually as much French being spoken as English. If those Canucks don't come its gonna hurt the travel dependant business. For selfish purposes it will be easier to get a table at the Front Porch Piano bar and there will be more space to walk on the Marginal way.
Honestly, I think the government exploitation and corporate cronyism for the past 25 years has been a function of politicians giving up and waiting for a reset. That cyclical pattern you claimed Europe has is probably endemic to Western societies and how their economic incentives are wired. Just look at the mounting insurance costs due to inflation and overpriced hard assets. Rebuilding the Pallisades with insurance money would be nice for those victims given that 78% of the lost value came from the land itself. Pretty sweet to replace a multimillion dollar home built in the 50s-70s with modern standards on someone else's dime. Makes sense for mobsters to load up on insurance for high risk restaurants. In the current context, having a solid manufacturing base would be a nice luxury given how we dismantled a lot of our capacity or let it rust away into obsolescence since Japan kicked our asses. I suspect one reason Trump redid the Canada and Mexico deals was from how fast China pivoted to making Chinese car factories in Mexico as one to bypass our tariffs. He's not the brightest, most honorable or skilled deal maker, but I guess he learns? In terms of warfighting capability, it's a necessity. A big reason why Obama bailed out the big 3 wasn't just for the upfront car factories and jobs, but also the supply chain ecosystem that comes with it. There are thousands of individual companies and niche shops that supply parts. Once those vanish, the know-how becomes hard to replace or gets sent to China. So we're kinda screwed in a long term conflict because those random parts end up being a death by thousand cuts, much like what happened during the covid supply chain shocks. I did a chatbot analysis on how big an impact tariffs could flatten the trade disparities, but it can't be the only answer. If it was, it would be like "bringing a knife to a drone fight." The manufacturing gap between us and China is that wide. If it weren't for parasitic tax software companies lobbying against it, a simple file for households earning less than 150k would probably get at least 20% reductions in IRS headcount or shift them to more complicated issues. This has been known since Obama. More people would get returns and the irs would get more money from filers. You can still file more complex returns. The saved money would probably be the amount the tax prep industry gouges from people, but the ridiculous amount of hours saved would be in the hundreds of millions. I imagine the healthcare system to be also riddled with several examples of parasitic corporate rot in plain sight.
I go to Markham almost every year and will continue to do so. I doubt the tariff war will stop Americans from visiting Canada as they usually do. A quick Google search says U.S. residents made around 22M trips to Canada in 2024, generating roughly $16 billion in spending. On the flip side, Canadians made approximately 20M trips to the U.S. in 2024, contributing about $21 billion to the U.S. economy.
IRS Free Direct File is a start at tackling that. It began in 2024 as a pilot program, funded by the 2022 IRA. It’s very popular and is expected to grow. DOGE might be axing it.
Free Direct File is a halfassed measure to maintain the existing **** system. From that PDF Under Goolsbee’s Simple Return plan, the government would take advantage of the extraordinary gains made in information technology in the past two decades to lighten the burden of tax compliance on American families. The benefit would accrue mainly to those with low and middle levels of income because they are the people who file relatively simple tax returns. Indeed, the Simple Return plan would not be available to those with the most complex tax situations, who also tend to have the highest incomes. With the Simple Return, the IRS would use the information about income that it already receives from employers and banks to send prefilled tax returns to taxpayers who have sufficiently simple finances. The program would be voluntary. Taxpayers who prefer to fill out their own tax forms or to pay a tax preparer to do it could use the Simple Return as the basis for their own calculations, or simply set it aside and file their taxes the conventional way. For the millions of taxpayers who would be able to use the Simple Return—up to 40 percent of all U.S. taxpayers—filing a tax return would entail nothing more than checking the numbers, signing the return, and returning it with a check or, more typically, with a refund request. At the end of the day, IRS does what Congress and their lobbyist masters tell them to do.
It is for simple returns. It has limited availability right now (being a pilot program and all), but it has been very popular. Free and easy is always popular. This is far from a half-assed measure (not sure why you think so). We’re talking about ~50-60% of all taxpayers potentially being eligible to use it. https://www.irs.gov/filing/irs-direct-file-for-free You can use IRS Direct File if you have these types of income, credits and deductions: Income W-2 wage income SSA-1099 Social Security income 1099-G unemployment compensation 1099-INT interest income 1099- R retirement income 1099-MISC for Alaska residents reporting the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend You can't use Direct File if you had other types of income, such as gig economy, rental or business income. Credits Earned Income Tax Credit Child Tax Credit Credit for Other Dependents Child and Dependent Care Credit Premium Tax Credit Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled Retirement Savings Contributions Credit If you live in Washington state, Direct File will guide you to your state site where you can apply for the Working Families Tax Credit. Deductions Standard deduction Student loan interest Educator expenses Health Savings Account contributions You can't use Direct File if you itemize deductions.
If you're half committed to using a chatbot, then why not look into what the Simple Return plan promised, Fully prefilled paper forms mailed to taxpayers, where all they have to do is verify and sign?
I didn't use a chatbox. But I see what you mean now. Fully prefilled and only needing a signature is definitely a possibility and a step above. That said, this is a big step in the right direction.
My bad, that formatting looked too structured but I see now it came from the irs website. Tax prep software companies are the Devil. There is no other reason why at least 50M tax payers couldn't be eligible for this.
I misread your original question, apologies. Here you go, little skippy, "not Trump tariffs, but tariffs in general" https://www.epi.org/publication/tariffs-everything-you-need-to-know-but-were-afraid-to-ask/
The convicted felon has begun using the F word, Trump says ‘there’ll be flexibility’ on reciprocal tariffs An avowed fan of tariffs, Trump also insisted that he did not change his mind when he gave top automakers a one-month exemption on a prior round of import duties in early March. “I don’t change. But the word flexibility is an important word,” he said. “Sometimes it’s flexibility. So there’ll be flexibility, but basically it’s reciprocal.” Trump has hyped the April 2 start date for his reciprocal tariffs as America’s “liberation day.”
Just wanted to share my experience at Costco this morning. On literally every food item there is now a big, highly visible sign stating "product of ------". I must have overheard at least ten different conversations along the lines of "oh that's from the USA - let's get something else". Most people really are making a concerted effort to buy non-US wherever possible. As for me, I did end up having to buy the six pack of USA romaine lettuce because we gotta have our Caesar salads. However, I did purposely choose the bag of Mexican limes over the USA lemons.
You morons know that the government releases a inflation report every month right? Food away from home saw the biggest jump in prices in over 6 months last mouth. You morons can't claim the data is fake cuz your cult leader is president now https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
