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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

#321

Post by fblp »

mahirsaid wrote: post #198
pydry wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ironic thing is that tariffs are the right tool to reindustrialize America (over the period of ~a decade) but theyre being wielded with the skill and grace of a crack addled ferret by somebody who thinks it's a magic wand.

I never thought America was this fragile, or should i say the governmental mindset was, to just change things are essentially the backbone of what made America "America" in the first place. Changing policies that otherwise should not be changed is dangerous. When in doubt and there needs to be change then make the changes around the preexisting guidelines/settings, not change those first. Whether we like it or not en…

There was the pre-existing constitutional authority that congress had to regulate trade, and that was only supposed to be usurped by the president in limited circumstances...

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

#322

Post by jibal »

tbossanova wrote: post #306
platevoltage wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it weird that I get more worked up about the misuse of "literally" than your use of a slur?

What’s the misuse here?

It depends on which definition of the word is being used. For the informal one, "very foolish or stupid", it's literally true.

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

#323

Post by decimalenough »

bruce511 wrote: post #297
decimalenough wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The craziest thing about all this is that Chinese exports to the US aren't even that big a part of the Chinese economy (3% or so). Sure, it'll hurt and there's multiplier effects, but the entire rest of the world is more than happy to take up the slack. So the tariffs really are the US cutting its own nose off to spite its face.

You're assuming US citizens stop buying Chinese goods, just because they got more expensive. That's unlikely to be true. They might buy less, but the numbers won't fall to zero. It also overlooks the detail that the component parts of items "made in the usa" also come from other places. Clothing made in the US, doesn't necessarily use fabric made in the US. In the short to medium term, the increased cash-flow require…

We're on the same side of the argument here? Obviously that 3% is not going to go down to 0%, which means that the US has even less leverage against the Chinese than it looks.

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

#324

Post by seadan83 »

pydry wrote: post #128
platevoltage wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See this is what I don't understand. Everything you just said about China is a positive. Everything you said about China is achievable in the USA, and we at least HAD a head start on soft-power influence. Instead we should just have tariffs instead of actually making the lives of Americans better while FIGHTING affordable housing, high speed rail, and EVs. We've got an entire team of goons who would rather rack up pe…

The ironic thing is that tariffs are the right tool to reindustrialize America (over the period of ~a decade) but theyre being wielded with the skill and grace of a crack addled ferret by somebody who thinks it's a magic wand.

Tariffs are protectionist, does not boost competitiveness. Tends to be the wrong tool, there are better.

Tax breaks, grants, physical infrastructure, creation of entire markets - those are better tools.

The issue with tariffs is non-competetive companies aren't required to become more competitive.

I mean consider it, a tariff is a tax on those buying a specific competitors goods. Even if tariffs were done surgically, still it seams like a tax benefit is a better tool

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

#325

Post by [deleted] »

amrocha wrote: post #319
anon291 wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's a crab mentality. I'm ideologically opposed to communism, but I'm happy for the Chinese people. I don't understand why our response is to tear them down, instead of building ourselves up. Seems backwards. When you even mention building ourself, you are accused of being anti American simply because you point out a deficiency in our current development.

China is the most capitalist country in the world.

[deleted]

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

#327

Post by [deleted] »

bobsomers wrote: post #259
monero-xmr wrote: post #204

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.

[deleted]

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

#328

Post by [deleted] »

bobsomers wrote: post #259
monero-xmr wrote: post #204

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.

[deleted]

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

#329

Post by songqin »

Gigachad wrote: post #254
estearum wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of them yes, some of them no. There are now several thousand different "tax brackets" for imported items and the apparent rates on them fluctuate by the day.

Most global post offices are just suspending packages to the US because they don’t know what the price is or how to pay it.

this isn't true, tariffs are assessed within the US by the receiving firm, not on the sender's side. We run a business with a foreign supply chain and our suppliers have changed nothing, we just get an extra bill to pay to the government when our inventory arrives.

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

#330

Post by burnerthrow008 »

trebligdivad wrote: post #202
denismi wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This pre-election BBC summary - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy343z53l1o - pretty clearly spells out what has eventuated, describing it as a "central campaign pledge": > Trump has made tariffs a central campaign pledge in order to protect US industry. He has proposed new 10-20% tariffs on most imported foreign goods, and much higher ones on those from China.

I don't think there's that much surprise at the tariffs on China; it's the tariffs on the rest of the world, especially friendly countries like Canada that are the big surprises. Also, who believes politicians campaign pledges?

> Also, who believes politicians campaign pledges?

Only all the people who voted for them and all the people who voted against them?

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