Fascists can afford bad economies if they have eliminated the alternative - at least for awhile. That is a different discussion though. I agree with you that if MAGA destroys the economy - they are in trouble, and I agree their economic policies are troubling, but until it happens - I am not counting on it from a political standpoint. I have personally protected assets etc. but that is me as an individual.
Polling likes what Doge is claiming to do. They just don't like Elon. It all boils down to the economy and inflation. Trump admin knows there will be temp pain going in, but no one knows what's at the other end of their policies...
Absolutely. And on the other side of the coin, foreign cars can be pretty American made. Kia & Hyundais are made right here in GA. And parts vary quite a bit across the spectrum, but you look at cars.com index: 1) Tesla Model Y 2) Honda Passport 3) VW ID.4 4) Tesla Model S 5) Honda Odyssey 6) Honda Ridgeline 7) Toyota Camry 8) Jeep Gladiator 9) Tesla Model X 10) Lexus TX Not a single car manufactured by Ford or GM in the top 10, and only one from Chrysler (which is part of a a foreign company anyway). Your Chevy Colorado ranked the highest on their list at #23 for Ford/Chevy. First Ford is at 31, the Ford Mustang Coupe. So if you want an American car, buy a Tesla or... Honda????
the dizzying height of willful stupidity / gaslighting by a trained economist it is on par with JD Vance, a lawyer, gaslighting that the Jan 6 insurrectionist are patriots it is as willfully stupid as this, https://www.newsweek.com/government-shutdown-good-federal-employees-keveintrump-adviser-1288854 President Trump 1.0's top economic adviser spinning that the 800,000 federal employees who have been furloughed without pay for three weeks are "better off" for it, because they did not have to use vacation days over the Christmas holiday.
There is a good reason why GM and Ford aren't on that list. In 1965, Canada and the US signed something called the Auto Pact which was basically a free trade agreement for cars. Unlike modern free trade agreements, that deal was limited to GM, Ford, and Chrysler (and later Volvo). The deal basically did two things. 1. It created free trade for automotive manufacturing for the three American companies between the US and Canada. 2. It guaranteed that all three would not reduce Canadian factory output and committed to minimum output in Canada. The deal effectively guaranteed a portion of the automotive industry would stay in Canada. This applies to both final assembly and parts manufacturing. The auto pact was superseded by the implementation of the US Canada Free Trade Agreement in the late 80s but that 20 year gap meant that GM/Ford/Chrysler ended up building a unique binational supply chain that crossed both countries while later entrants who came under the Canada US Free Trade Agreement (and later NAFTA), followed a different set of rules where they only had to guarantee that each car was a minimum of 62% from NAFTA countries. But because they weren't bound by the original guarantees to keep a minimum set of output in Canada, they ended up implementing more components in the US. Meanwhile, because the Big 3 had to build parts in Canada per the auto pact, they are locked into a supply chain that is heavily reliant on Canada.
"One of the great secrets of the day is to know how to take possession of popular prejudices and passions, in such a way as to introduce a confusion of principles which makes impossible all understanding between those who speak the same language and have the same interests." Niccolo Machiavelli
I will probably get destroyed for this question but, if Trump is doing these tariffs because we are getting fleeced in trade, why does he not try to go back and redo some of these trade agreements before he went with the nuclear option? Thats where I would have started.
He has tried doing that in the past on a limited scale - and that is possibly why he is pushing tariffs to force a more large and wide scale re-negotiation on trade agreements. However - my issue with that is that some of these are agreements that were reached and for a set period of time, you cannot or at least should not break the agreements. It is all in part a form of diversion to me - a distraction while they do what is more important to them without a clear focus on it, such as a continuation of the massive tax cuts in the the trillions of dollars for the ultra wealthy, and de-regulation, while the poor have received close to nothing.
You are applying logic. Now, remove logic and act like a toddler and just rant. Trump term 1 did renegotiate NAFTA, but apparently he did a bad job b/c now he is having to use Fentanyl as a cover to argue for tariffs on Canada.
It's difficult to figure out where the actual components come from, though. I know my F250 was "built" in Kentucky, the GMC in Wisconsin (iirc) and Toyota has a massive truck facility in San Antonio. But all they're doing is putting stuff together, they're not actually making most of the parts.
Horse has largely left the barn with China. I think he's being as loud and mean as possible to claim he "did something" or "tried fighting against the globalists" when the right way would've been to stay quiet and deepen bonds with our partners. The globalists here are American banks and American firms with massive stakes in China. The joke American car companies have pulled on American manufacturing isn't a funny one and it will take focused decades of hard work to unravel. It's a nice dream to retake our manufacturing and build a seperate supply chain, but kicking and screaming about it like a spoiled only child of a multimillionaire won't get it done. It'll take a solid decade with good talent and good trading partners who are willing to occasionally eat dirt from time to time for "some greater good" (a good that Trump has shat on) in order to get it done. These idiots played a culture war for a matter that needed the whole nation to get together and work with other allies who are far from perfect. Maybe isolationists will get their dream of being left alone, but that also means China wins the table. Our military and rigged dollar can't save us from that if we do it half assed. It's time for us to either **** or get off the pot.
Fascist don't are about the amount of money they have as long as everyone else has less. Everything is relative.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-south-korea-japan-agree-025824561.html China, South Korea and Japan agree to strengthen free trade China, South Korea and Japan agreed Sunday to strengthen free trade in the face of a raft of new tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. The agreement came at a meeting of top trade officials -- the first at that level in five years -- days ahead of the start of tariffs on a huge range of US imports, including cars, trucks, and auto parts. South Korea and Japan are major auto exporters, while China has also been hit hard by the US tariffs. I can see a possible scenario where EU, Asia and Americas comes to some kind of agreement on trades that exclude the US to combat the tariffs of the Trump administration.
Getting EU on board seems more likely as Ukraine goes by the shitter and Vance draws unwanted attention with his rot-mouth. They're pot committed with the dollar, so it's still more unlikely than possible. American trade policy would've worked the way he wanted it if he asked nicely, but he always has to pull this 0-sum "Winners and Losers" BS as if he's the only elected politician at the bargaining table.
Auto insurance is predicted to go up 8% this year after tariffs take place. I would imagine home insurance will go up too. Insurance companies won't eat the extra costs for materials needed for repair or replacement. They will just raise the cost of insurance.
They are not battling the bully. This is the natural outcome of an isolationist policy. It is reasonable to assume that prolonged U.S. isolationism and tariffs will lead nations to seek alternative trade partners. If we look ahead 2-3 decade and assume that the MAGA movement remains in power, which is not out of the question given the potential for an authoritarian long-lasting takeover, the U.S. may find itself in a situation similar to that of Russia today, largely isolated. While other countries continue to build robust and diverse trade networks, the U.S. risks economic decline as its traditional allies and partners gradually look elsewhere. They may turn to China, for example, which has a huge and growing consumer base.
