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Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

post.japanpost.jp

141–150 of 459 posts

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#141

This needs to be repeated. Tariffs are a tax on ordinary citizens. Unlike regular taxes, tariffs are not progressive and therefore benefit the wealthy. These are the sort of things the poor and middle class voted for. To make the rich, richer. And then turn around and complain that rich are getting richer and they are getting poorer.

I'm sure Japan, and other countries doing similar things, don't like the tariffs either. Hopefully actions like this will change voter behavior, either at the polls or to embolden voters to do whatever it is they can to tell their elected officials to revert these changes. Maybe this is a drop in the bucket, but on the other hand, maybe Japan doesn't want to/can't make a bigger a splash.

In any case, it is rare that Americans face consequences for bad behavior of American foreign policy. Hopefully Americans get more engaged and introspective this time around.

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#142
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Not all tax is the same. The left prefers progressive taxation (if you make more income you pay more tax), the right prefers regressive (if you buy or use goods or services you pay tax on them). Sales taxes and tariffs are in the latter category.

It’s disingenuous to consider one’s total income when weighing the fairness of a tax like sales tax. The thought that a sales tax is somehow benefiting one group over the other is ridiculous far left extreme thinking.

You pay for a service and that service has a rate. To think that the only good kind of taxation are those that are progressive is the dumbest thing I ever heard.

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My preferred way would also to be to eliminate expenditures, but failing that, redirecting taxes in a way that grows the US internal economy as much as possible, and incentives the re-industrialization simultaneously, is an interesting experiment.

Eliminating US government expenditures would obliterate the entire economy overnight.

I would not literally eliminate expenditures but as we cut the total taxation we similarly reduce spending 1 for 1

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#144

This needs to be repeated. Tariffs are a tax on ordinary citizens. Unlike regular taxes, tariffs are not progressive and therefore benefit the wealthy. These are the sort of things the poor and middle class voted for. To make the rich, richer. And then turn around and complain that rich are getting richer and they are getting poorer.

[flagged]

This fails to understand both the "far left" attitude towards taxes (many forms of taxation are accepted and even eagerly pursued; frankly, very few people actually have politics that treat "tax" as a single coherent idea) and the opposition to Trump (roughly, half the country, just as with every other president in a two-party system).

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#145
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill [disputed]

What's your alternative? I'm serious. (Mine is multi-member ranked voting (NOT IRV)).

Can’t get into details in a forum comment, but I’ll say that whatever we have in most of the Western world ain’t very democratic. It is a spectrum, that currently skews very hard towards plutarchy.

The positive thing about having a king is that there was only one head to cut when things got out of hand.

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44887634

I’m no monarchist, but it’s about time to have a serious discussion about political philosophy instead of hiding behind the “Western representative democracy is the best we can do” cliché.

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#146
post #113
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I couldn't find a way to fit all that in the title, so I got 99% there and clarified in the first post. The title still has more resolution toward the full detail than the original title.

Yeah, it's literally the same as the title on the page so I get it, but unfortunately it's a hot-button political issue and people are eager to misinterpret. I'd suggest something like: "Japan Post stops accepting US shipments over $100."

I did that with a slight change: "Japan Post to temporarily stop shipments to US over $100"

To emphasize that it's not in effect yet and that it's to, not from.

edit: Someone went and reverted it to something less clear than everything else

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#147

This needs to be repeated. Tariffs are a tax on ordinary citizens. Unlike regular taxes, tariffs are not progressive and therefore benefit the wealthy. These are the sort of things the poor and middle class voted for. To make the rich, richer. And then turn around and complain that rich are getting richer and they are getting poorer.

I don’t think anyone here has yet come to the realization that ending rampant consumerism is the whole damn point of the tariffs.

My brain just leaked out of my ear.

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#148

This needs to be repeated. Tariffs are a tax on ordinary citizens. Unlike regular taxes, tariffs are not progressive and therefore benefit the wealthy. These are the sort of things the poor and middle class voted for. To make the rich, richer. And then turn around and complain that rich are getting richer and they are getting poorer.

Tariffs like this is a market regulation that the people pays for. It doesn't "benefit the wealthy" because it's not progressive, it benefits the wealthy that have investments in the tariffed industry by distorting the market to their advantage instead of having to be competitive on a level playing field. The rest of the wealthy are equally annoyed by the tariffs as everyone else, possibly more so as they see their i…

There is no "level playing field" when you are competing with literal sweatshops though.

Frankly tariffs get a bad rep because of from who and how they are implemented but can absolutely serve a purpose.

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#149

This needs to be repeated. Tariffs are a tax on ordinary citizens. Unlike regular taxes, tariffs are not progressive and therefore benefit the wealthy. These are the sort of things the poor and middle class voted for. To make the rich, richer. And then turn around and complain that rich are getting richer and they are getting poorer.

Tariffs like this is a market regulation that the people pays for. It doesn't "benefit the wealthy" because it's not progressive, it benefits the wealthy that have investments in the tariffed industry by distorting the market to their advantage instead of having to be competitive on a level playing field. The rest of the wealthy are equally annoyed by the tariffs as everyone else, possibly more so as they see their i…

It benefits the wealthy by applying to a smaller percentage of their spending. You can easily avoid all tariffs on a 100 million dollar yacht built outside the US, and you don’t pay it for a personal chef etc.

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#150

This needs to be repeated. Tariffs are a tax on ordinary citizens. Unlike regular taxes, tariffs are not progressive and therefore benefit the wealthy. These are the sort of things the poor and middle class voted for. To make the rich, richer. And then turn around and complain that rich are getting richer and they are getting poorer.

Tariffs like this is a market regulation that the people pays for. It doesn't "benefit the wealthy" because it's not progressive, it benefits the wealthy that have investments in the tariffed industry by distorting the market to their advantage instead of having to be competitive on a level playing field. The rest of the wealthy are equally annoyed by the tariffs as everyone else, possibly more so as they see their i…

>it benefits the wealthy that have investments in the tariffed industry

If only they invested in venture-backed mass surveillance apps instead

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