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Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

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Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize that the only reason this is a topic of discussion is because of politics, right?

There rarely seem to be any substantive discussion in these types of threads, beyond vibes or repeating tautologies and talking points. Over the past few months I doubt there have even been 10 discussions total with some non-circular, credible, arguments along with some coherent logic backing them…

Both right wing economists like Friedman and Mises, and left wing, understand initiating tariff wars against friendly neighbors is economically illiterate. No persons of educated thinking have anything fundamental to add.

There is nothing to discuss. What we are witnessing is, to be crass, an exercise of pure idiocy.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#132
post #62

Sure miss the days where there wasn’t headline generating chaos from the White House resulting in market volatility. Make Government Boring Again.

This could be an interesting topic, but inevitably these posts devolve into politics and it’s always about the same thing. Yet this is the type of comment at the top. Why bother leaving a comment like this?

You appear to be asking people to keep politics out of politics. What am I missing?

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven’t paid attention to the politics here much, but isn’t driving up the price the point? If you charge Canada a 25% tariff then products sold in the U.S. and shipped from Canada should cost U.S. consumers about 25% more. That, in turn, makes U.S. products look more attractive. A U.S. business pays taxes at the federal and state levels. A U.S. business also hires U.S. employees, who pay taxes as well and spend in…

Way over simplifying. A study was done on washing machine prices during tariffs of the previous Trump administration. Rather than undercutting foreign goods on price, local manufacturing raised their prices to absorb extra profit. As a kicker, the price of dryers also went up even though they were not subject to tariffs. The US and Canadian economies have become deeply intermingled over generations. Many materials cr…

>Rather than undercutting foreign goods on price, local manufacturing raised their prices to absorb extra profit.

For another source on this point quoted above- (and for people that prefer video explainers) the wall street journal covered how domestically produced washers/dryers went up in price after those tariffs: https://youtu.be/_-eHOSq3oqI?t=102

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#134

Sure miss the days where there wasn’t headline generating chaos from the White House resulting in market volatility. Make Government Boring Again.

"It used to be simple: vote for the guy you liked the most. Then it became vote against the guy you disliked the most. Now it's vote for who you dislike the least." --A Whitney Brown I remember seeing that on SNL in the 80s; it has always stuck with me.

> Now it's vote for who you dislike the least.

For 1/3 of eligible voters, it's "I don't care about voting".

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the $100 billion investment in 2025 is new. the first investment in 2020 is also from trump first term. doge has only been at work for 45 days, give it time. it's starting to look into military and medicare already.

There is no way that conservatives are going to let DOGE touch Medicare that and social security are the third rail and he can’t cut either one without Congress. What is he going to do? Not send checks to senior citizens? The minute you cut military spending - again you can’t do it without Congress - Republicans are going to grow a spine. Do you remember the FoxConn investment that never happened? https://www.reuters…

> he can’t cut either one without Congress. What is he going to do? Not send checks to senior citizens?

cut it anyway then deal with the 'consequences' in court. obviously.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#136

But they're already talking about walking it back or lowering them tomorrow (Wed). All these stupid sky-is-falling headlines that become forgotten in a couple days when it's on to the next outrage moment. Like the whole Zelensky/Trump white house blow up is like sitting in on couples therapy. The deal is off! No, it's back on! It's tiresome. Edit: I'm not pro Trump or trying to defend the fuckery. I'm just sick of Tr…

You know what's so interesting? If I had known he was going to threaten tariffs, I might have considered shorting a lot of stocks. And well, if I knew he was going to then quickly walk them back the next day, I probably would have bought those same stocks. If only I had known he was going to do this! Now that I think about it, if he had told me about these things in advance, I could probably make a LOT of money. I me…

You can bet your right ass cheek there are all kinds of shenanigans going on right now. The president himself has broad immunity and is a known grifter, and for his lackeys of course there’s the pardon power.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#137
post #74

Honest question - can you not get these products from other stores or do all of them source products from Mexico and China? If so, it does seem like DOGE and other price saving initiatives will be closer to a net 0.

Or could be net negative if there are a bunch of wrongly termination suits and settlements, or it actually costs the govt more because they now have to outsource work to private companies be wise they fired too many people who were in fact doing useful work

You cannot go into a large org and understand what is and is not working in a few weeks. DOGE has been sloppy and largely more political theater this far

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#138
post #130

I'm no fan of tariffs, but oh please. Last time their prices went up because of COVID and because of supply chain disruptions. Now they are going up because of tariffs. All of their earnings calls are filled with analyses of their "pricing power" i.e. the degree to which they can pass on these costs to customers. But when the costs decline, they are happy to keep the prices inflated and pocket the profits.

Costly events occurred… so costs went up. Best Buy’s profit margin hovers around 3% and Target’s around 4%, they’re not raking in money.

low net profits margins are simply how retail works, it's not news that retail requires scale. and in fact both target and best buy did see record profits shortly after the pandemic started.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#139
post #3

Any bets on how this will be justified by Trump voters? I'm thinking at first it'll be 'playing hardball negotiating tactic' and when it looks like the tariffs are here to stay 'paying more is patriotic'.

I did start wondering what Trump (or any leader with loyal supporters) would have to do, or what outcomes supporters would have to see, to lose support.

The leader can do no wrong. All its decisions are justified and without nuance. The idea of questioning the logic doesn't even exist. It's a cult.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The general path of the country is fairly clear at this point - business that manufacture closer to consumers will have fewer issues with the government. Even Biden kept a bunch of Trump1 anti-China policies in place. If I was directing investment at a large business, onshoring manufacturing would be a no brainer in many businesses. Mexico might be the happy medium, but I’d really push for US manufacturing facilities…

Most of the post 2016 China exit investment was to other cheaper southeast Asia countries. My phone was made in Vietnam.

which is a win! less concentration in a single country, particularly a hostile one, is a positive outcome
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