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Six months into tariffs, businesses have no idea how to price anything

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Re: Six months into tariffs, businesses have no idea how to price anything

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The system that allows very wealthy to exist is also the reason the US has the highest class mobility among western nations. Also, on a purely pragmatic note, capital is mobile. If you penalize the rich, they just move, and then the new system will stop class mobility.

the US has the highest class mobility among western nations Source? The rankings I see have the US behind most of Europe.

Beware of rankings that rate perception.

Also most easily available statistics are from 2020. The US economy has been a massive winner post-Covid and has diverged a lot from some countries.

This website should be a good example. The typical Sr Software dev in the US would be in the top 1% to 0.1% of earners in European countries and Canada. The US has more millionaires than many entire European countries have citizens.

A top 10% earner in the US would be in the top 1% in Canada. An AVERAGE earner in the US is about top 10-15% in Canada.

Class mobility (or social mobility) indicates ability to go from lower to middle class, working class to generational wealth, etc... All income statistics show the US as having a particularly large amount of high income earners, self made millionaires (and billionaires), etc...

Re: Six months into tariffs, businesses have no idea how to price anything

#263
post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average European is poorer than the average person from Mississippi, the US’ poorest state. It isn’t even comparable

> The average European is poorer than the average person from Mississippi, the US’ poorest state Mississippi has a GDP per capita of $53k. 11% of Mississippi's population has no health insurance. Mississippi is one of the highest inequality states in the US. Its median income is $30k. It's Gini Index is 49%. It has poor physical and social infrastructure by advanced country standards. Spain has a GDP per capita of $3…

I know several Spaniards who emigrated to the US, including my sister-in-law. The situation you describe is… one of statistics and not reality

Re: Six months into tariffs, businesses have no idea how to price anything

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the US has the highest class mobility among western nations Source? The rankings I see have the US behind most of Europe.

Beware of rankings that rate perception. Also most easily available statistics are from 2020. The US economy has been a massive winner post-Covid and has diverged a lot from some countries. This website should be a good example. The typical Sr Software dev in the US would be in the top 1% to 0.1% of earners in European countries and Canada. The US has more millionaires than many entire European countries have citizen…

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Re: Six months into tariffs, businesses have no idea how to price anything

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s fine if you accept that you can’t force the rich at gunpoint to stay, or seize their wealth upon exit. But if they do choose to leave, or at least stop expanding their businesses, you can’t deny the rational self interest

> But if they do choose to leave, or at least stop expanding their businesses, you can’t deny the rational self interest "If you tax the rich, they will leave" is a myth created by the rich so that you won't tax them. In the middle of the 1900s, the tax rate on the wealthiest Americans was 91%. Nobody is going to leave over Mamdani's extremely modest proposal.

> In the middle of the 1900s, the tax rate on the wealthiest Americans was 91%

You forgot to mention that only half of capital gains were subject to tax. So the highest marginal rate was 45.5%.

Re: Six months into tariffs, businesses have no idea how to price anything

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would note that the data the New York Times cited are seasonally adjusted [1]. The assumptions of those adjustment models may not currently apply. It’s going to be difficult to suss out a signal from employment data until October or November, by when we should have about half a year of post-tariff data [2] to compare with ‘24. (We may not know anything surely for a year.) [1] https://www.nyc.gov/assets/omb/downloads/…

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Whatever mayor they're 'under threat of' can't be much worse than the one who's currently in place who is under threat of indictment from the federal government over bribery, fraud, and illegal foreign finance contributions, who has has eight of his staff resign in the last year under federal investigations, and lost multiple other staff resigning on principle.

People are already acting like Mamdani is responsible for everything that happens in NYC; they should pay more attention to the guy who's been in charge the past 3 years.

Re: Six months into tariffs, businesses have no idea how to price anything

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what you want is extortion, not trade. It's a worldwide version of the mafia.

Maybe we should just lay down and let the world do whatever they want. I would hate to be accused of negotiating from a position of power.

Chest thumping false bravado will mislead you every time.

If I go to a restaurant, wait an hour for a table, get very hungry, and then see on the menu that the restaurant has tripled prices, is the restaurant "negotiating from a position of power" ? Sure, once.

What exactly do you think happens to our power after Trump squanders it to extract one-time concessions that mostly flow into his own pockets?

Re: Six months into tariffs, businesses have no idea how to price anything

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The system that allows very wealthy to exist is also the reason the US has the highest class mobility among western nations. Also, on a purely pragmatic note, capital is mobile. If you penalize the rich, they just move, and then the new system will stop class mobility.

> If you penalize the rich, they just move, and then the new system will stop class mobility. This is a myth created by the rich so that you won't tax them.

It's pretty observable and part of the reason many microstates are extremely wealthy.

Also keep in mind the US is a winner here. The UK loses the most millionaires and it's had an observable impact on their economy.

Re: Six months into tariffs, businesses have no idea how to price anything

#269

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Fantastic. And tax levy for the city goes down, and cuts are made while middle class people pick up the rest of the burden.

Notice your statement is a broad morale, and I'm presenting a consequence out here in the real world.

The math of booting wealthy people from the city doesn't play out well for the city.

Re: Six months into tariffs, businesses have no idea how to price anything

#270
post #85

I’d like to lay out an argument about why tariffs are good. The only businesses that are derailing with tariffs issues are those that import goods to sell. The argument against tariffs is that they make goods more expensive. Of course, this argument is true. But that’s not the end of the story. Because prices are higher for imported goods, demand for domestically produced goods increases. This increase in demand lead…

This is one of the most surface-level understandings of national economics that I have seen. Sure, all of that would be great, if not for two things a) these tariffs are not targeted and b) your country could produce everything that it is tariffing. What is the plan for cocoa beans? bananas? aluminum and steel?

These thinly veiled pro-trump people are much too common the internet and I'm getting tired of it.

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