American Politics

[Tiny 12]

That's the best way I've heard this across the board lunacy described. Economic illiteracy! And this guy calls himself a "businessman" (rolling eyes).

Likewise, I liked this:

Come to find out that the tariffs aren't even based on the tariffs other countries charge us but on trade deficits!

What they did was divide a country's bilateral trade deficit by the USA's exports to that country. That's supposed to represent the extent to which that country is screwing the USA. Because Trump's magnanimous though, he's only charging them a tariff equal to half of that ratio.

Let's take an example, and I'm pulling numbers out of the air. Say Cambodia has a $10 billion trade surplus in goods with the USA. That is, it exports $10 billion more to the USA than it imports. And the USA exports $5 billion in goods to Cambodia. (Please note that Trump conveniently just looks at deficits in goods, not services. That's because the USA runs a very large trade surplus in services with the rest of the world.).

Then the degree to which Cambodia is screwing the USA is $10 billion / $5 billion - 1 = 100%! And so the tariff will be 1/2 of that, or 50%. That makes a lot of sense, huh?

Now say it was reversed, and the USA was running a $5 billion bilateral trade surplus in goods with Cambodia. Then the USA would "just" charge a 10% tariff on Cambodia, because that's the new minimum tariff on imported goods. Trump's just applying what he's gotten away with, err, sorry, what he's learned in the business world to government!

This system is doubly bizarre because companies are encouraged to play a game of musical chairs, shifting production from country to country to avoid high tariffs, as described in my reply to Elvis below. See the example with China, Vietnam, Costa Rica and Kenya.

[The Cane]

The tariffs will benefit a small group of crony capitalists and SOME workers in protected industries. Most Americans will come out losers. As to national security, yeah, there are steps we need to take to ensure we have secure sources of essential products, like rare earth elements. That's what the USA should be pursuing, not this current idiocy.

That's the best way I've heard this across the board lunacy described. Economic illiteracy! And this guy calls himself a "businessman" (rolling eyes).

[Tiny 12]

Yeah, Tiny, this is the MAGA movement. Look at this: https://www.investopedia.com/financi...an-iphone.aspx.

According to Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, the reason to build in China is not because of the lower labor costs. If this were the case, Apple could make its phones in even cheaper locations. The main reason, according to Cook, is the skill required in tooling engineering. He claims that the specific skill set is no longer available in the USA, but in China, the expertise is prevalent.

Meanwhile, there was this interesting video with a divorce attorney, and the attorney lets its slip, he charges $750 an hour, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnj_63ZHNq8.

Do you think we would have a problem with tooling engineers if they could make $750 an hour? Hell, I wish we had a software engineer come up with a computer program to separate assets and we could leave the lawyers out of the process.

Then look at medications:

The cost of Ozempic varies significantly around the world. In the USA, a 30-day supply of Ozempic has a list price of around $935 a month, though it can be purchased for as low as $906.54 with a GoodRx coupon. In contrast, the drug is priced much lower in other countries. For example, in Germany, the list price is $103 for a 30-day supply, and in Sweden, it is $96.

In France, the price is $83.

The blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic could be manufactured for less than $5 a month, even as Novo Nordisk charges almost $1,000 per month for the injection in the USA Before insurance, a new study suggests.

And by the way, Novo Nordisk is a Dutch company. Given how cheap and easy it is to make, there have been a ton of independent pharmacies making this peptide on their own.

Then look at what the FDA says: A compounded drug might be appropriate if a patient's medical need cannot be met by an FDA-approved drug, or the FDA-approved drug is not commercially available.  However, compounded drugs are not FDA approved. This means the agency does not review compounded drugs for safety, effectiveness or quality before they are marketed.

https://qz.com/novo-nordisk-fda-ozem...ovy-1851679536

Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk wants the FDA to crack down on knockoff weight loss drugs.

This is the modern American economy. A Dutch company makes a product, way overcharges us for it, then employs USA bureaucrats and lawyers, whom we the tax payers pay for, to enforce their astronomical prices.

MAGA means you make a product, charge what the market bears, and quit relying on bureaucrats and lawyers to make you your money. And if the market takes a plunge in the mean time, then so be it. I am sick of these businesses that succeed on financial engineering.

I agree with you 100% about the attorneys and pharmaceuticals Elvis. Back in the day, somebody said the reason why China had 8% GDP growth while the USA's was 2% was because China was run by engineers and the United States by lawyers.

Except that MAGA does not mean "you make a product, charge what the market bears, and quit relying on bureaucrats and lawyers to make you your money. " That's what Rand Paul and Phil Gramm believe. And it's what Reagan believed. But not Trump.

This is insane. Did you see that, except for China, the highest tariffs are on countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. They produce very little that's important to our national security. Americans don't want to do the mind-numbing, repetitive work they're doing to manufacture garments and the like. Presumably people will move production from places like Vietnam, where the tariff is 46%, to, say Costa Rica, where it's 10%. But then what happens when Costa Rica's bilateral trade surplus with the USA goes up? Well, because of Trump's stupid ass formula, the tariff will go sky high there. So you set up a factory in Kenya to replace the one in Costa Rica. Probably the reason the factory was built in Vietnam in the first place was to escape tariffs placed on China. It's a game of whack a mole that results in lots of stranded capital. Lots of waste.

To the extent that Trump's pursuing an import substitution policy, that is, if factories actually relocate to the USA, it won't end well. India tried that. And it's a large part of the reason why today it's destitute while China's thriving.

And given that Trump didn't get bipartisan support for his tariffs, or even push them through a Republican Congress, which he could have done with a simple majority, what's to keep the tariffs from being axed in 2029 by the next president? And given the tariffs may be axed by the time you build a new factory in the USA, who's going to build the factories?

How often do you see the stock market plummeting and then see the dollar going down at the same time? Well, it's because the world is losing confidence in the USA.

There's an accounting or economic identity.

Current Account Surplus = Savings - Investment, where current account approximately equals the trade balance.

Americans can't save. Our government runs perennial large fiscal deficits, and about half the country lives hand to mouth. So where's the investment going to come from to finance our profligate federal government and build the new factories, if we're not running a trade deficit?

We had a great deal going. The Asians made cheap stuff and practically gave it to us. We lived high on the hog while they scrimped and saved. And in return we gave them paper (that is, dollars). Admittedly, that's not all good. Well, if you want to unwind it in a way that makes sense, first you do what Trump did. Make us more competitive. He lowered the corporate tax rate and deregulated. And you cut the government's fiscal deficit, and encourage savings. You make us like Germany. You don't hide behind tariffs. The tariffs will benefit a small group of crony capitalists and SOME workers in protected industries. Most Americans will come out losers.

As to national security, yeah, there are steps we need to take to ensure we have secure sources of essential products, like rare earth elements. That's what the USA should be pursuing, not this current idiocy.

[EihTooms]

I wanted to reply "You're hopeless," but that would be obnoxious. So I asked ChatGPT how to finesse a better response. She told me to say, "Well, at least you're consistent!" And I'll add, "You see the world through blue colored glasses. ".

It turns out facts will now have an even better-known bias toward Blue than previously established.

[EihTooms]

Tariffs?
Come to find out that the tariffs aren't even based on the tariffs other countries charge us but on trade deficits! What an ignorant motherfucker! Gone from just ruining the American economy to spinning the whole world up for a recession using false numbers. You knew stupidity is behind (and in front) of it all!

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/04/03/...-figures-.html

Not since Trump's Pandemic Part 1 term:

Dow futures fall after tariffs push market to biggest losses since 2020.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/03/stoc...ndroidappshare

Oh, but looking again:

Trump open to tariff negotiations, contradicting White House aides.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/03/trum...ndroidappshare

Trump just pulls shit out of his ass on a whim and plops it into the hands of whoever is standing nearby.

Xi could not be more delighted by all of this.

No intelligent CEO of a successful business is going to rush into a commitment to build a new factory, hire and train significant numbers of employees based on something that numbskull said or did on Wednesday then flipped around on Thursday.

Going forward, no serious trading partner will subject itself to committing to any trade deal with the USA unless it 100% benefits that country leaving nothing for the USA on the now confirmed conclusion that at least 49.8% of the USA electorate is astonishingly stupid enough to place the absolute worst leaders and charlatans into positions of real power every 2 years in the Congress and every 4 years in the White House.

[RamDavidson84]

It is a good thing the Educational Department is being eliminated. It certainly didn't help this guy. . 000001 X 300,000,000.00 = 30. The formula that he provided indicates there are 30 racists left in the United States of America. First of all I wonder why he did not get his calculator out. Lastly where did he get his formula from? Did he make it up? Or did he just quote it but not give the original source credit.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-racist-is-america/

A Vice article LOL. Such a trust worthy reputation.

[The Cane]

Come to find out that the tariffs aren't even based on the tariffs other countries charge us but on trade deficits! What an ignorant motherfucker! Gone from just ruining the American economy to spinning the whole world up for a recession using false numbers. You knew stupidity is behind (and in front) of it all!

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/04/03/...-figures-.html

[Tiny 12]

Please note that Trump did NOT bring whatever Democratic Party philosophies and agenda you think he ever possessed to the Republican Party or to his presidential campaign or to his 1st Trump's Pandemic term or to his 2nd Trump's Pandemic term.

He chose to run as a Repub because he knew very well that any lazy fuck who knows nothing and does nothing but play golf and cheat on his scorecard can Crash the USA Economy, wipe out millions upon millions of jobs, skyrocket the deficit with nothing of value to show for it and still be glorified and praised by his Party, the Mainstream Media and every numbskull who would not vote all Dem straight up and down the ballot every time as "better at handling the economy" than Democrats.

Moreover, Trump is doing exactly the same things, spouting the exact same rhetoric and is aimed at achieving the exact same horrific economic results that EVERY Repub since Lincoln was shot (possible single exception being Teddy Roosevelt) would have spouted and been as openly honest about wanting to do to violate the Constitution, create chaos, produce economic disaster and all of Classic Repub Trump's other economic, national security and foreign policy Catastrophes.

The ONLY reason the pre Trump Repubs did not openly pull the same shit Trump has gotten away with is because a certain very specific set of events had not yet occurred to give them the same license to violate the Constitution, abandon the Rule of Law, produce any worldwide economy-destroying Pandemic they want, Crash the stock market, Crash the economy, wipe out millions upon millions of jobs, skyrocket the deficit and still not lose one vote from their Repub Voter Base after that Repub Voter Base was driven stark raving insane by that very specific set of events that happened just prior to the Repub rise of Repub Trump.

Namely;.

- The election of a black man to the presidency. A Democrat.

- The amazing accomplishment of that first black president to recover us from one of the worst Great Repub Recessions and Massive Repub Jobs Destruction of All Time, something many had thought impossible so why not shovel that impossible to clean up shit into the lap of the first black president.

- The first woman presidential candidate of a major political party, the Democratic Party. And she won the majority of votes, otherwise known as "winning the presidential election" in every other country that holds free and fair elections.

- The first woman VP candidate of a major political party. The Democratic Party. She was also of mixed minority ethnicity. And she won.

- That woman VP then served a presidential Administration that, again, recovered us from another Great Repub Economic, National Security and Foreign Policy Disaster of All Time and turned it into the Envy of the World Economy, zero engagement by the USA Military anywhere on the planet, reduced crime rate and having created more jobs than all three of the previous Repub presidents combined and a good portion of the fourth previous Repub president.

Those were some of the events that drove the Repub Party absolutely batshit crazy and willing to forgive and in fact love their lord and savior Trump for any and every America-hating, anti-American, economy-destroying, Constitution-violating crap he wants to pull, even if it does more damage to them than anyone else.

Coolidge, Hoover, Nixon, Reagan, the Bushes et al did not run for the Repub Party presidential nomination after any of those events had occurred. Only Trump did. If they had, they most certainly and without doubt would have known their Voter Base would give them the full license to say and do everything they love Trump for saying and doing.

They ALL would have been 100% MAGA.

I wanted to reply "You're hopeless," but that would be obnoxious. So I asked ChatGPT how to finesse a better response. She told me to say, "Well, at least you're consistent!" And I'll add, "You see the world through blue colored glasses. ".

[Elvis 2008]

Ok Tooms, you got me. I've said repeatedly that the President generally has little influence on the economy compared to other factors. Well Trump just proved me wrong. In the Rose Garden today he said the Great Depression never would have happened if we'd kept the tariffs. What a dumb ass!

Yeah, Tiny, this is the MAGA movement. Look at this: https://www.investopedia.com/financi...an-iphone.aspx.

According to Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, the reason to build in China is not because of the lower labor costs. If this were the case, Apple could make its phones in even cheaper locations. The main reason, according to Cook, is the skill required in tooling engineering. He claims that the specific skill set is no longer available in the USA, but in China, the expertise is prevalent.

Meanwhile, there was this interesting video with a divorce attorney, and the attorney lets its slip, he charges $750 an hour, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnj_63ZHNq8.

Do you think we would have a problem with tooling engineers if they could make $750 an hour? Hell, I wish we had a software engineer come up with a computer program to separate assets and we could leave the lawyers out of the process.

Then look at medications:

The cost of Ozempic varies significantly around the world. In the USA, a 30-day supply of Ozempic has a list price of around $935 a month, though it can be purchased for as low as $906.54 with a GoodRx coupon. In contrast, the drug is priced much lower in other countries. For example, in Germany, the list price is $103 for a 30-day supply, and in Sweden, it is $96.

In France, the price is $83.

The blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic could be manufactured for less than $5 a month, even as Novo Nordisk charges almost $1,000 per month for the injection in the USA Before insurance, a new study suggests.

And by the way, Novo Nordisk is a Dutch company. Given how cheap and easy it is to make, there have been a ton of independent pharmacies making this peptide on their own.

Then look at what the FDA says: A compounded drug might be appropriate if a patient's medical need cannot be met by an FDA-approved drug, or the FDA-approved drug is not commercially available.  However, compounded drugs are not FDA approved. This means the agency does not review compounded drugs for safety, effectiveness or quality before they are marketed.

https://qz.com/novo-nordisk-fda-ozem...ovy-1851679536

Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk wants the FDA to crack down on knockoff weight loss drugs.

This is the modern American economy. A Dutch company makes a product, way overcharges us for it, then employs USA bureaucrats and lawyers, whom we the tax payers pay for, to enforce their astronomical prices.

MAGA means you make a product, charge what the market bears, and quit relying on bureaucrats and lawyers to make you your money. And if the market takes a plunge in the mean time, then so be it. I am sick of these businesses that succeed on financial engineering.

[SubCmdr]

Hell yeah, fuck racists. All 12 of them left. Thank god 99.999999% of Americans don't give a fuck about skin color!

It is a good thing the Educational Department is being eliminated. It certainly didn't help this guy. . 000001 X 300,000,000.00 = 30. The formula that he provided indicates there are 30 racists left in the United States of America. First of all I wonder why he did not get his calculator out. Lastly where did he get his formula from? Did he make it up? Or did he just quote it but not give the original source credit.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-racist-is-america/

[EihTooms]

Ok Tooms, you got me. I've said repeatedly that the President generally has little influence on the economy compared to other factors. Well Trump just proved me wrong. In the Rose Garden today he said the Great Depression never would have happened if we'd kept the tariffs. What a dumb ass!

The Republicans should have kicked his dumb ass to the curb when he came over from the Democratic Party. If Peter Navarro is right, he's succeeded in increasing taxes by $700 billion a year, all by himself, without Congress. Rand Paul is right, this is unconstitutional.

Please note that Trump did NOT bring whatever Democratic Party philosophies and agenda you think he ever possessed to the Republican Party or to his presidential campaign or to his 1st Trump's Pandemic term or to his 2nd Trump's Pandemic term.

He chose to run as a Repub because he knew very well that any lazy fuck who knows nothing and does nothing but play golf and cheat on his scorecard can Crash the USA Economy, wipe out millions upon millions of jobs, skyrocket the deficit with nothing of value to show for it and still be glorified and praised by his Party, the Mainstream Media and every numbskull who would not vote all Dem straight up and down the ballot every time as "better at handling the economy" than Democrats.

Moreover, Trump is doing exactly the same things, spouting the exact same rhetoric and is aimed at achieving the exact same horrific economic results that EVERY Repub since Lincoln was shot (possible single exception being Teddy Roosevelt) would have spouted and been as openly honest about wanting to do to violate the Constitution, create chaos, produce economic disaster and all of Classic Repub Trump's other economic, national security and foreign policy Catastrophes.

The ONLY reason the pre Trump Repubs did not openly pull the same shit Trump has gotten away with is because a certain very specific set of events had not yet occurred to give them the same license to violate the Constitution, abandon the Rule of Law, produce any worldwide economy-destroying Pandemic they want, Crash the stock market, Crash the economy, wipe out millions upon millions of jobs, skyrocket the deficit and still not lose one vote from their Repub Voter Base after that Repub Voter Base was driven stark raving insane by that very specific set of events that happened just prior to the Repub rise of Repub Trump.

Namely;.

- The election of a black man to the presidency. A Democrat.

- The amazing accomplishment of that first black president to recover us from one of the worst Great Repub Recessions and Massive Repub Jobs Destruction of All Time, something many had thought impossible so why not shovel that impossible to clean up shit into the lap of the first black president.

- The first woman presidential candidate of a major political party, the Democratic Party. And she won the majority of votes, otherwise known as "winning the presidential election" in every other country that holds free and fair elections.

- The first woman VP candidate of a major political party. The Democratic Party. She was also of mixed minority ethnicity. And she won.

- That woman VP then served a presidential Administration that, again, recovered us from another Great Repub Economic, National Security and Foreign Policy Disaster of All Time and turned it into the Envy of the World Economy, zero engagement by the USA Military anywhere on the planet, reduced crime rate and having created more jobs than all three of the previous Repub presidents combined and a good portion of the fourth previous Repub president.

Those were some of the events that drove the Repub Party absolutely batshit crazy and willing to forgive and in fact love their lord and savior Trump for any and every America-hating, anti-American, economy-destroying, Constitution-violating crap he wants to pull, even if it does more damage to them than anyone else.

Coolidge, Hoover, Nixon, Reagan, the Bushes et al did not run for the Repub Party presidential nomination after any of those events had occurred. Only Trump did. If they had, they most certainly and without doubt would have known their Voter Base would give them the full license to say and do everything they love Trump for saying and doing.

They ALL would have been 100% MAGA.

[RamDavidson84]

Senator Cory Booker will go down in history as giving the longest speech in the history of the Senate.

A true American Hero!

It is especially ironic that he broke the record of the man who previously held the record trying to prevent individuals such as Senator Booker from being able to be elected to the Senate in the first place.

Two middle fingers up to all of my fellow Americans that are racists currently residing in the United States of America and traveling abroad!

Hell yeah, fuck racists. All 12 of them left. Thank god 99.999999% of Americans don't give a fuck about skin color!

[Tiny 12]

Ok Tooms, you got me. I've said repeatedly that the President generally has little influence on the economy compared to other factors. Well Trump just proved me wrong. In the Rose Garden today he said the Great Depression never would have happened if we'd kept the tariffs. What a dumb ass!

The Republicans should have kicked his dumb ass to the curb when he came over from the Democratic Party. If Peter Navarro is right, he's succeeded in increasing taxes by $700 billion a year, all by himself, without Congress. Rand Paul is right, this is unconstitutional.

[SubCmdr]

Senator Cory Booker will go down in history as giving the longest speech in the history of the Senate.

A true American Hero!

It is especially ironic that he broke the record of the man who previously held the record trying to prevent individuals such as Senator Booker from being able to be elected to the Senate in the first place.

Two middle fingers up to all of my fellow Americans that are racists currently residing in the United States of America and traveling abroad!

[EihTooms]

So there is no such thing is an illegal immigrant? LOL.

Oh, I see. So if you are a Republican, then you can break the law. That is why I call you a Democratic douche. You think there should be one set of laws for Democrats and another for Republicans. Just admit it, Tooms. You do not have one objective bone in your whole damned body.

When a border crosser's request for asylum has been duly investigated and found to be unjustified, bingo, ya' finally got your illegal immigrant. Unless they can qualify for a work visa, student visa, green card, whatever.

That is a process that used to take perhaps 6 weeks under Obama. Then Trump fucked up the Asylum investigation and visa system on his way out the door in 2020 and afterwards it took about 6 months. Hence, the build up of border crossers waiting for their USA Constitutional rights to be determined.

Look, we can all see you and other MAGALoon Wingers are deeply, deeply embarrassed over how you getting so thoroughly scammed, suckered and bamboozled by one of the most blatantly obvious grifters, charlatans and conmen of all time, Donald Trump, has plunged America into the biggest existential crisis, economic chaos and likely destruction of some of the truly greatest programs for American Greatness in history, probably including shoving your own dick and tits in a wringer.

LOL. So now you have to double and triple down on how disgracefully and unfairly "partisan" it is to dare to prefer Great Economic Expansions, Historic Jobs Creation, the creation of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance, Affordable Healthcare, etc, etc, etc over Great Depressions, Great Recessions, Massive Jobs Destruction, absolutely zero programs any sane American would give one tiny shit about at the cost of Trillions and Trillions and Trillions added to the deficit and so on.

I mean, how silly and unfair it is for anyone to much prefer the former over the latter, right?

But, seriously, we can all forgive you if only you will admit you made a huge mistake to ever so much as consider voting for Donald Trump over any Democrat, that you are obviously suffering crippling Buyers Remorse over it and that you will promise to either only vote for Dems all up and down your ballot from now on or will abstain from voting altogether until you examine your conscious and figure out just what the hell it is about Great Repub Drepressions, Great Repub Recessions, Massive Repub Jobs Destruction and getting exactly zero in return for the Trillions and Trillions and Trillions Repubs have added to the deficit that you love so much.