tariff madness!!

[duck]

Just my two cents. Stop repeating politically motivated dogma. Do your due diligence and research. When any media tells you something, question it. When any politician or politically motivated person tells you something, question it.

 

[Rob]

All true Steve the fish. But I have to disagree just a little bit. The only reason I said anything about Kamala Harris is because Biden sent her there to talk with Putin. She is weak. Putin saw that and that was his chance because he knew Biden wasn't going to do jack shit but take a nap

 

[stevethefish]

I give up …

Alright then, give up if laughing at my comment is the best you can do. China is guilty of outright intellectual property theft and this has been blatantly made aware to me for the past 30 years ever since I learned about bootleg Playstaiton games and such coming from China. President Clinton at the time made speeches about how China completely gives the finger to international trade laws. How is this novel to anyone here? Everyone here in Japan knows how China plagiarizes everything from music to anime, to absurd lengths. All they do is plagiarize, steal, and undercut competition, and American corporations such as Wal-Mart have made this possible. I used to admire the American left-wing on how they would denounce Wal-Mart and other such mega-corporations, but now they are the biggest defenders of them. You in the Netherlands have no reason really to complain, but my friend Blake certainly does because of his wife's business. But the point of this is that her business is dependent on flowers from South America, as he says. The end goal of these tariffs is that her business wouldn't depend on South America but could instead afford to buy flowers from domestic suppliers instead, thus producing internal wealth. I really wish for the prosperity of China, but not at the cost of its citizens and certainly not at the cost of the USA.

Someone previously mentioned "free trade" but that has taken us nowhere. NAFTA was "free trade" and all that did was decimate American factory production while ruining Mexican agriculture, driving so many unemployed Mexican farmers to cross the border illegally out of desperation. Canada charges American goods upwards of 200% in many cases, yet they whine and cry at the threat of reciprocal tariffs as if they've never done anything of the sort all along. Crybullies.

I can't believe how people who hate Trump and say that he's just a blowhard who isn't to be taken seriously will turn around and take him totally seriously. You goofballs have had about 8 years to gain some basic pattern recognition skills. In order to get the deal Trump wants, he goes to the total extreme and then walks back to get common ground. He talks big and yanks the rope as hard as he can, then gives and takes to get a solution. It's how he became the first US president to walk across the border into North Korea and shake hands with its dictator after threatening him and insulting him. "Oh my gosh, Trump's leading us into World War III with North Korea." Then later, Kim Jung Un is smiling and embracing him. I personally don't like this behavior, but he wrote a damned book called "The Art of the Deal" 40 years ago so his behavior really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone with three IQ digits. America needs an asshole to yank that rope as hard as he can because otherwise we've gotten China manufacturing technology for US military machinery and plagiarizing it to boot, not to mention the ability to sabotage it. Things have to change, and to do so tough times will be necessary.

You want peace in your Dutch life? Turn off the propaganda TV news and do yourself a favor and never travel to the USA. Problem solved. Then ask yourself why your country's leaders are not doing the same amount of work to look out for your nation's best interests.

All true Steve the fish. But I have to disagree just a little bit. The only reason I said anything about Kamala Harris is because Biden sent her there to talk with Putin. She is weak. Putin saw that and that was his chance because he knew Biden wasn't going to do jack shit but take a nap

Oh, so that's what you meant. Well, I agree mostly, but I have to disagree about one thing. If Biden did go to Ukraine, he'd certainly take a nap, but you forgot the part of him sniffing lilttle girls, telling them how they look at least 20, and then telling them "no serious dating until you're 30!"

 

[Rob]

Alright then, give up if laughing at my comment is the best you can do. China is guilty of outright intellectual property theft and this has been blatantly made aware to me for the past 30 years ever since I learned about bootleg Playstaiton games and such coming from China. President Clinton at the time made speeches about how China completely gives the finger to international trade laws. How is this novel to anyone here? Everyone here in Japan knows how China plagiarizes everything from music to anime, to absurd lengths. All they do is plagiarize, steal, and undercut competition, and American corporations such as Wal-Mart have made this possible. I used to admire the American left-wing on how they would denounce Wal-Mart and other such mega-corporations, but now they are the biggest defenders of them. You in the Netherlands have no reason really to complain, but my friend Blake certainly does because of his wife's business. But the point of this is that her business is dependent on flowers from South America, as he says. The end goal of these tariffs is that her business wouldn't depend on South America but could instead afford to buy flowers from domestic suppliers instead, thus producing internal wealth. I really wish for the prosperity of China, but not at the cost of its citizens and certainly not at the cost of the USA.

Someone previously mentioned "free trade" but that has taken us nowhere. NAFTA was "free trade" and all that did was decimate American factory production while ruining Mexican agriculture, driving so many unemployed Mexican farmers to cross the border illegally out of desperation. Canada charges American goods upwards of 200% in many cases, yet they whine and cry at the threat of reciprocal tariffs as if they've never done anything of the sort all along. Crybullies.

I can't believe how people who hate Trump and say that he's just a blowhard who isn't to be taken seriously will turn around and take him totally seriously. You goofballs have had about 8 years to gain some basic pattern recognition. In order to get the deal Trump wants, he goes to the total extreme and then walks back to get common ground. He talks big and yanks the rope as hard as he can, then gives and takes to get a solution. It's how he became the first US president to walk across the border into North Korea and shake hands with its dictator after threatening him and insulting him. "Oh my gosh, Trump's leading us into World War III with North Korea." Then later, Kim Jung Un is smiling and embracing him. I personally don't like this behavior, but he wrote a damned book called "The Art of the Deal" 40 years ago so his behavior really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone with three IQ digits. America needs an asshole to yank that rope as hard as he can because otherwise we've gotten China manufacturing technology for US military machinery and plagiarizing it to boot, not to mention the ability to sabotage it. Things have to change, and to do so tough times will be necessary.

You want peace in your Dutch life? Turn off the propaganda TV news and do yourself a favor and never travel to the USA. Problem solved. Then ask yourself why your country's leaders are not doing the same amount of work to look out for your nation's best interests.


Oh, so that's what you meant. Well, I agree mostly, but I have to disagree about one thing. If Biden did go to Ukraine, he'd certainly take a nap, but you forgot the part of him sniffing lilttle girls, telling them how they look at least 20, and then telling them "no serious dating until you're 30!"

You, sir, are a breath of fresh air. People don't like change especially when it's forced on them because they didn't think ahead like Trump does. Yep when you shake up the world like Trump is doing you got to realize it's not going to come cheap and it's not going to be easy. But it has to be done or this experiment of ours will end. But you forgot one thing. When Joe left Ukraine he was sad because he couldn't get any little girls to rub the hairs on his legs

 

[Rob]

And I have another comment for someone else. I guess his wife owns a flower shop and imports flowers from South America or somewhere? Wherever your wife is based maybe they should think about growing some flowers there and selling them local. Because you if you lived in the United States I would tell you to contact a farmer over in Buckeye Arizona and have him grow some flowers like a couple other farmers do around here. You see that's where you have to look way ahead. Instead of getting stuff from overseas find someone to make it in your own country or grow it in your own country. It's really a terrible thing when you drive around the United States and you see closed factories one after the other all tumbled down and unused because of NAFTA.

 

[stevethefish]

You, sir, are a breath of fresh air. People don't like change especially when it's forced on them because they didn't think ahead like Trump does. Yep when you shake up the world like Trump is doing you got to realize it's not going to come cheap and it's not going to be easy. But it has to be done or this experiment of ours will end. But you forgot one thing. When Joe left Ukraine he was sad because he couldn't get any little girls to rub the hairs on his legs

Thanks. And something else about pattern recognition, I noticed that when those two guys disagreed with whatever our side says, they respond with the "laughing" emoji. This has yet to happen in the opposite direction. This sort of condescending, "anyone who disagrees with me is an idiot" attitude is why leftists are losing the battle. When talking with libs, I already know what energy they tune into because they are the establishment, as much as they pretend not to be. They cling onto the corporate media with all their might, despite being lied to about nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, the fake Syrian gas attacks, "Russian collusion," Hunter's laptop being "Russian disinformation," Rittenhouse killing three black guys, "safe and effective," Trump's taxes, the current "Maryland family man being deported by mistake," and so on. The response is, "Well certainly the corporate media has lied to us repeatedly. But what makes you think they'll do it again?" But that's only if they're paying attention, because typically the media will harp on and on about something for weeks on end and when they are forced to admit they were wrong, they'll spend just a short bit of effort to point it out and move on, hoping that their audience didn't notice. Again, pattern recognition.I didn't end up the way I am now until I gained the intellectual honesty to at least consider perspectives I didn't agree with. It's been a journey.

In the past 13 years, I've only spent a week in America, about 9 years ago. I watch these "man on the street" type videos and I always see conservatives trying to engage with leftists, to give them a platform to voice their opinions and to maybe persuade them to think otherwise. The leftists do not take the opportunity to use their voice to state their position and persuade the conservative's viewership of how wrong the are. No, it's always them saying the most asinine things, repeating the corporate media's talking points, unable to answer basic questions like "what's the definition of fascism?" and instead they block the cameras and are told by their handlers to not engage. Many will end up just screaming their hatred and getting violent, attacking the interviewer and trying to steal the camera, etc. Infantile behavior.

I have tried to find videos of this going the other way but I just cannot find such content. Sure, Stephen "I've been to Epstein's island" Colbert and Jimmy "Yeah, I was there too" Kimmel can have their big budget people go out and find ignorant conservatives who'll say dumb shit, focusing on some hick boomers, but that's it. I surmise that it's because leftists just don't bother to engage (those who do are attacked) and also conservatives don't get violent. The best they can come up with is those terribly fake Patriot Front phonies or they'll get some wannabe Nazis who end up praising Ukraine and voicing their support for their fellow Azov Nazis there.

 

[Rob]

Hey man? You forgot to talk about the new model You're Building. I mean, at least one sentence. So we don't get kicked out of the Forum

 

[blakeh1]

China is guilty of outright intellectual property theft and this has been blatantly made aware to me for the past 30 years ever since I learned about bootleg Playstation games and such coming from China. President Clinton at the time made speeches about how China completely gives the finger to international trade laws. How is this novel to anyone here? Everyone here in Japan knows how China plagiarizes everything from music to anime, to absurd lengths. All they do is plagiarize, steal, and undercut competition, and American corporations such as Wal-Mart have made this possible.

Oh yeah, Chinese government has been happily stealing the technology of every nation they produce for, and in some case even purposely loading tech with what amounts to malware/spyware. It is one of the biggest reasons US Government servers and computers are not allowed to use certain parts from Chinese manufacturers

my friend Blake certainly does because of his wife's business. But the point of this is that her business is dependent on flowers from South America, as he says. The end goal of these tariffs is that her business wouldn't depend on South America but could instead afford to buy flowers from domestic suppliers instead, thus producing internal wealth. I really wish for the prosperity of China, but not at the cost of its citizens and certainly not at the cost of the USA.

And yes my tariff rant was not meant to single out China, but rather what I felt was way too heavy handed across the board tariffs on a number of other countries/products. At one point there were even tariffs applied to "an island of Penguins"
They did suspend some of them though once the potential impact was seen (like an impending farmer bailout)

I can't believe how people who hate Trump and say that he's just a blowhard who isn't to be taken seriously will turn around and take him totally seriously. You goofballs have had about 8 years to gain some basic pattern recognition skills. In order to get the deal Trump wants, he goes to the total extreme and then walks back to get common ground. He talks big and yanks the rope as hard as he can, then gives and takes to get a solution.

I will say though that is a great description of how he works, and why he can be effective in areas.

As we have discussed before, I have no love for the man and did not vote for him. And it had nothing to do with which party he was running for
I just think he is crooked businessman who bull-dozes his way though everything not caring who he screws along the way.
He knows how to game the bankruptcy system, and has left a wake of unpaid contractors along the way.

However, that being said, I do have do give him credit for actually trying to do something.
And he can never be underestimated
Right or wrong, he has at least actively pursued what he said he was going to do. It has been a long time since we have had any politicians who have attempted this hard to deliver on campaign promises.
I do not agree with all his policies, but I do admire how quickly he was able to get some things done
So yes, the bull in the china shop method of the art of the deal can work
In ways he is also that business version of the toddler in the store that throws a tantrum until it gets what it want

i.e. Like him or not, he is the guy you would want on your side when it comes to negotiations

as you mention, hopefully we come out better in the end, but I feel like a bit more of a middle ground would have eased things

 

[Rob]

We're tired of the politicians way of going the middle ground. We are draining the swamp. I think the Democrat Party is dead. What is rising out of the ashes? AOC and her Marxist attitude. So we're going to have to be like Barney Fife and nip it in the bud. Donny boy? We got to do some bud nipping around here. All I know is I feel great! I had to eat shit for 4 years and I can finally smile

 

[Blackbeard]

This is not a political forum. Just a heads up folks.

 

[AKRoast]

Well in this great country of ours United States of America used to be run by democrats. They completely messed it up. They completely let all the other countries out there take advantage of us. All the other countries out there and I'm saying just about every single one of them bent us over a barrel without any Vaseline. And I don't think Mr Trump is asking for much. All he wants is a fair playing field. And you want to know who started the war in Ukraine? Our Idiot Vice president Kamala Harris. Well, it's our turn now. And they don't like it one little bit. They're trying to stem what he's doing at every turn. And most of it is illegal. Torching Tesla vehicles? Riots? Letting in 15 million illegal aliens? Not paying attention to the laws already on the books? Well I can tell you right now two judges got in our way and they are going to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. And I applaud it. You naysayers out there that aren't used to change well get used to it cuz here it comes.

Keep sipping the kool aid buddy. And see if you, or most people, can still afford this hobby when shipping costs goes up 10x. And since 99% of the things we use and build are made elsewhere, see if any local hobby shop still surviving the Amazon era makes it thru this.

 

[blakeh1]

This is not a political forum. Just a heads up folks.

Sorry about my part in this. Should have just kept my head down