American Politics

[SubCmdr]

When You love cars,

Most people to do not love things. They love other people.

France cannot protect itself. That is why it is part of NATO. Audi is not produced buy the French. I do not know of a single French car manufacturer that would be consider quality. It that why you purchased an automobile designed and manufactured by a German Automotive Company?

Because the USA and China are becoming so powerful you only have to learn to speak Chinese in order to survive and thrive in France.

[Axel Heyst]

"Sunday's episode of the disgraced 60 Minutes from far-left CBS News worked overtime to mislead its gullible viewers about the recent layoffs at USAID, a left-wing slush fund paid for with about $40 billion taxpayer dollars each year.

Despite the USA Senate's previous good-faith attempts to discover where all that money went, the USAID bureaucrats stalled and stalled. No one could find out how those billions were being spent, which was the whole point. What we had was an unaccountable federal agency spending billions with no oversight or accountability.

Enter Elon Musk and his DOGE boys. More importantly, enter their technical expertise allowing them to work around the dissembling bureaucrats and run a computer program that told them exactly where the money was going and where the money went should infuriate anyone with a conscience. Waste, fraud, and abuse don't begin to explain it.

So President Trump closed the corrupt agency, laid off thousands of unnecessary bureaucrats, and moved whatever was worth saving (including 600 or so employees) into the State Department. This move ensures 1) the small percentage of USAID money that makes sense keeps flowing, 2) someone is watching spending in the future, and 3) the spending aligns with the priorities of the elected United States PresidentRepublican or Democrat.

To sane and honest people this all makes sense. To the corrupt pigs with their noses in the taxpayer trough, people who probably cannot survive in the free market and count on federal corruption to keep them fat and warm, this is the apocalypse.

And naturally, any attempt to reduce any amount of federal spending is met with shrieks of horror from the regime media. To the surprise of no one, the shrieks of horror from Sunday night's 60 Minutes were acts of blatant misinformation.

The entire angle of the 60 Minutes clip below is a laughable attempt to turn public opinion against Trump and DOGE because those poor bureaucrats at USAID lost their oh-so-vital jobs. ".

https://x.com/60Minutes/status/1891278117915767216

"Poor Kristina Drye and poor Adam Dubard are not USAID employees.

Granted, 60 Minutes doesn't identify them as USAID employees, but there is no question the interview is rigged to make it sound as if they were. And nowhere in that clip or in the CBS News write-up are we told who they really are.

Drye was a USAID contractor who wrote speeches for Samantha Power, who was appointed to run USAID by the Biden administration.

Oh, and here is video from last week of Drye admitting that when DOGE entered the agency, she removed books that she "felt would be incriminating. ".

https://x.com/BonillaJL/status/1886632977607598104

"Same with Adam Dubard. He was a contractor, not a USAID employee. They both worked for a company that did partisan work funded by USAID, which was funded by taxpayers.

Maybe they can now add "crisis actors" to their resumes.

In other words, Drye and Dubard are not vital career bureaucrats who professionally oversaw how our money was spent to further American interests abroad. These are rabid left-wing partisans, and one is so filled with entitlement that she was comfortable admitting on video that she hid "incriminating" material during a legal financial audit.

For just a moment, let's pretend Drye and Dubard are who it is implied they are. So what? I've been laid off and fired more times than I can count. In the real world, what happened to USAID happens all the time. Never once have I received severance. That's how it goes. One day you have a job. Next day you don't. Why should so-called civil servants be immune from the real world? Boo hoo. Cry more. Think you're special? You're not. Like most Normal people I'm working today while government employees living off my tax dollars get the day off for Presidents' Day. And that's bullshit.

Between this and Face the Nation shrew Margaret Brennan blaming the Holocaust on all that free speech Germans enjoyed under Hitler, CBS had one helluva Sunday. ". -J. And.

And let's not forget it was CBS 60 minutes that edited / altered their Kamel Face interview because their preferred presidential candidate answered a simple question on American Israeli relegations with a gobbledegook word salad.

This is why nobody watches CBS News and one of the reasons Trump won. The folks are fed up with WOKE BS! Keep it up Kool-Aid drinkers. We love you. Hahaha.

[EihTooms]

Of course, we already know what could and did go wrong:

Trump begins firings of FAA air traffic control staff just weeks after fatal DC plane crash.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/17/trum...ndroidappshare

The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal mid-air collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Probationary workers were targeted in late night emails Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement.

The impacted workers include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller told the Associated Press. The air traffic controller was not authorized to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
..........
The employees were fired without cause nor based on performance or conduct, Spero said, and the emails were from an exec order Microsoft email address - not a government email address.

The firings hit the FAA when it faces a shortfall in controllers. Federal officials have been raising concerns about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at U.S. airports. Among the reasons they have cited for staffing shortages are uncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements.

In the Jan. 29 fatal crash between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines passenger jet, which is still under investigation, one controller was handing both commercial airline and helicopter traffic at the busy airport.

Just days before the collision, President Donald Trump had already fired all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, a panel mandated by Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The committee is charged with examining safety issues at airlines and airports.
(See link for more)

Musk-o-Trump ought to just save time and nuke every State Capitol in the USA for Xi, Putin and Kim. Or ask one of their Winger Loons who by now probably have all the necessary info to make and detonate a home-made nuclear bomb, thanks to their now historic blithering "saving Americans billions" blunders, to do it for them.

So many mentally deranged unfounded MAGA sucker social issues grievances, so little time.

[EihTooms]

Almost two weeks ago, the Office of Personnel Management assigned CDC leadership to look through a list of employees who were in probationary or term-limited positions — including new directors, fellows and highly skilled noncitizen scientists — and designate each as "must be retained," "mission critical" or "not mission critical. " According to the two CDC officials, the lists did not appear to have been used in the ultimate firing decisions.

Representatives for the White House, the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

[Sirioja]

When You love cars, You don t buy EV and never a chinese one. No mechanics in EV, just small busses to move, so boring, 0 interest and not 0 pollution. USA and China will still be biggest to pollute.

[Spidy]

I cannot believe you guys are still arguing about that.

Me neither! But it's hard to have a reasonable debate and come to any kind of resolution, when the other side provides nothing but "opinions."

IYeah, well given that most popular make of electric cars in China now have their own ICE, I am not sure how much that matters. PHEVs are actually more likely to break down than EVs or ICEs.

https://autovista24.autovistagroup.c...china-in-june/

You should give your article another read. I think you may have misread your article, since BYD stopped producing pure ICE vehicles, since March, 2022.

In the article, the line "...the first of four offerings from the carmaker in the overall top 10 which includes internal-combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.", is somewhat misleading to readers, since no "overall" chart of the top 10 vehicles, was provided. Just charts of the top 10-20 EVs.

BTW, what evidence or facts, do you have to backup your claims about PHEV less reliable than ICE, or should I just write it off as the same old gish gallop, MAGA disinformation?

Yeah, you are refusing to look at reality there. https://elements.visualcapitalist.co...l-consumption/.

Despite efforts to decarbonize the economy, global coal consumption surpassed 164 exajoules for the first time in 2023.

The FACTS are the FACTS. The study examines (not 30, as I had previous wrote, but) 300 million vehicles, spanning 17 years, https://www.motor1.com/news/748745/e...vity-uk-study/ and concludes EVs are on par with ICE, if not better in some cases, w/r to LONGEVITY. Now that's impressive!

But while the headlines in your article are scary, you MAGA naysayers and doomsayers, should take solace and think for a moment, at just how much worse it would be if solar, wind, EVs, BESS weren't around to chip in and do some of the heavy lifting.

I say this half-jokingly, but notice your article does seem to reflect my sentiments and states, " The fossil fuel still accounts for 26% of the worlds total energy consumption.". Meaning, that renewables and other clean energy sources are picking up the slack when it comes to the increase in demand. And that's a very good thing!

Yes, China leads the way and is the biggest consumer of coal at 56%, but some reports have China at peak coal in 2024. https://table.media/en/china/sinolyt...sumption-peak/ Not sure I believe the experts, but we'll see.

However, one reason why they may be correct, is the fact that, when you look at China's energy mix, it seems from the 86% cut in coal permits, to the 11.8 terawatts (TW) of solar, wind and BESS, they may indeed be steaming the tide on coal, https://www.reuters.com/business/ene...ys-2024-08-21/ and entering a turning-point.

The hypocrisy of Democratic douches knows no bounds on carbon. Forest fires have destroyed the carbon savings in California, and Biden's idiotic attack on Nordstream was not exactly carbon friendly either. What has worked is changing from coal to natural gas.

(...kkkk!) Next, you and your American Fuhrer, will be telling us, the recent floods and power outages in Kentucky, is the fault of President Joe Biden and the Dems.

Sure, much of the U.S. transition from coal to gas generation of electricity, has been good thing. And naturally, it only behooves the U.S. to use what they have in abundance, as China does with coal.

However, the U.S. under the American Fuhrer, are doing the country a disfavor, by not transitioning, the electricity grid to the next level.

Instead of battle cries of "drill baby drill", the U.S. should be ramping up, not abandoning things like solar, wind, BESS, nuclear (w/caveat) and HVDC lines to upgrade the gird, along side gas and coal, as demand requires. Giving the U.S., a steady growth path to a cleaner grid and meeting increasing demands, while slowly weaning off on coal and gas, and decreasing the dependency on fossil fuels.

BTW, this is exactly what China (and Biden's IRA/Chips and AI) is doing, with a good deal of success! But if the U.S. keeps under estimating China, in true "DeepSeek" fashion, with backwards thinking, it'll be curtains.

And getting overall electrical use down is a pipe dream.

Where or who was it exactly, that said we need to bring down demand for electricity? Could you have taken this out of context?

But you MAGA yahoos need to stop putting all the gird woes and blame on EVs. Especially when you have Google, Microsoft https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-in...some-countries and bitcoin mining farms https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...ectricity.html, consuming more power than some small countries.

Gullible MAGA, needs to pay more attention to what your robber barons are doing and less on the avg. working Joe.

[Sirioja]

So shameful USA new government: when USA never protected Ukraine, they now try to robb poor Ukrainians who are in misery. I really wish Ukraine and EU will refuse such robbery. Trump really has to BJ Putin to swallowing. Shame, shame, shame.

[Xpartan]

These next 4 year are going to be so much more horrific than anyone could have ever imagined:

Trump administration wants to un-fire some nuclear safety workers but cant figure out how to reach them.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/15/trum...ndroidappshare

But at least they cut $20 Million, about 2 1/2 days of tax-payer subsidies for President Musk's failing EV company, by dumping the Sesame Street programming in Iraq so al-Qaeda and ISIS can replace it with their version of Sesame Street in Iraq.

So smart.

Now, I want you to remember all the screaming at Biden and his Communications Director from the White House Press Corp over every silly, insignificant detail of why his historic recovery from Trump's first term Colossal Across-the-Board Disaster was not perfect in every way for everyone all the time down to the exact dime.

And contrast that to whatever oh-so-polite and soft-spoken questioning, IF ANY, by that same Press Corp about this spectacular, potentially existential life on Earth-threatening unforced error screwup. LOL.

Come on, man, don't be naïve. This is a feature, not a bug. When this intentionally created chaos comes down on MAGA crowd and bury them under the dust, Trumpomusk will issue a new narrative that will explain who exactly is guilty in that disaster.

As long as it's going to be the same people MAGA loves to hate, everything will be nice and dandy.

[SubCmdr]

Curious...under what circumstances are you advocating for nuclear?

Two articles below. I think it is a good start. I don't live in the United States of America. So I don't think I am in the position to debate the issues. But hard choices are going to have to be made in the future. The best to ways to provide a base input to the grid with the current technology available are Nuclear and Gas. Hydrogen sounds good until you look at the energy necessary to produce Green Hydrogen. Not trying to go energy nerd on you, but Nuclear and Solar has been my interests ever since I learned that we could put a nuclear plant on a ship and could get sent to the bottom of the ocean. Still trying to figure out why we don't worry about the environmental impacts of that. My interests in solar occurred as a kid when I learned that how they power space vehicle electrical systems.

The United States of America is losing it's influence in the world. There is a lot of land mass available. As a society we need to be thinking about how to become self sufficient energy wise, now and into the future.

https://www.reuters.com/business/ene...ot-2024-10-22/

https://www.technologyreview.com/202...and-microsoft/

[SubCmdr]

Curious...under what circumstances are you advocating for nuclear?

Below is a post I wrote to provide information on power generation in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic gets over 300 days of sun a year and has abundant access to wind and wave power. But all electrical grids need a 40% base input into the electrical grid for it to keep running. The problem with most renewables is that they produce power intermittently. One of the biggest problems with living in the Dominican Republic for me is lace of infrastructure. They cannot keep the lights on. In my opinion, keeping the lights on is so important that NO country should be reliant on others in order to generate power. See what happened to Europe when Russia went to war. I remember what happened during the Arab Oil Embargo. I would have gone nuclear a government policy right after that. But I'll never sit in the big chair. Currently in the United States of America the problem is not generation of electricity it is that the grid is unreliable. My business in the Dominican Republic is run on solar power with a battery back up and a generator fail safe.

Once again individuals are challenging my bonafides when it comes to to my knowledge of the Dominican Republic. The knowledge I have about the Dominican Republic far exceeds the knowledge of my critics who are challenging me.

Judge: Is the defense ready? Subcmdr: The defense is ready your honor!

Does the electricity flow in the Dominican Republic now 024/007/365 now?

During my time in the Colombia I have NEVER experienced a power outage. During my time in Thailand I have only experienced one power outage that was unscheduled during a major storm in my area.

The only reason I do not experience power outages in the Dominican Republic now is that I live completely off grid and I am completely self sufficient when it comes generating electrical power. Last time I stayed in Sosua I experienced several power outages.

Individuals who live there or have visited more recently than I have are welcome to inform me if there has been positive and welcome upgrades to the grid in Northern Coast of the Dominican Republic. Expat friends who live there inform me that electrical generation is still inconsistent and they spend at least 2,000 USD for inverters and batteries (Trojan Red) for standby power.

Nuclear Reactors

Costs for SMRs vary, but estimates suggest that depending on the size, smaller reactors can cost between $50M for microreactors to $3B for larger units. Microreactor outputs can range between 1-20MW and SMRs can range between 60-300MW.

1 Trillion USD will buy 333 SMRs. This would far exceed the 40% base load needed for the grid in the Dominican Republic. Place electricity consumption in the Dominican Republic at 20 Billion watts a year. Forty percent of that: 4 Billion watts. So, you would need 15 of the larger SMRs at 3 billion USD each or 45 billion USD. Trillions of dollars needed for my plan. Somebody needs to do the math. I learned how to do the calculations listed above in elementary school. The could put my plan into place for a few billion USD. In order to keep the lights on and increase productive across and entire nation. Yeah, I think that would be priceless.

Wave Power

Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter

Wind Power

Here is a wind map published by the World Bitches (World Bank) showing the potential for wind power in the Caribbean.

https://documents1.worldbank.org/cur...slands-Map.pdf

They would not have to be placed on the beaches. They need to be placed where the wind blows. What a concept?

The generation of power using renewable sources is a hobby of mine. Ever since I was young kid and saw how Sats are launched into space and power by solar panels. Actually, the Dominican Republic allowed me live out a dream of living off grid and being self sufficient in that regard.

The Dominican Republic is vigorously advancing its renewable energy sector with an ambitious target to meet 25% of its energy needs with renewables by 2025. This commitment is underscored by substantial investments and initiatives across various forms of renewable energy, including solar, wind, and hydropower.

https://www.gcc.re/news/the-dominica...-energy-future

The Defense Rests!

Norway is a different country. Nature has been generous with us. Our ability to exploit natural resources has put us in a unique position with a very high standard of living, a technology industry which ranks as a global leader, and a sovereign wealth fund of more than NOK 10 000 billion. That benefits the whole of Norwegian society

Could the Dominican Republic do this when it comes to energy? We already know that Tourism is a Renewable Resource when it comes to generating revenue. But does the general population benefit from the gringo largess focused only in the tourist areas?

[Spidy]

If a fact can be debated then it is not a fact

A bit of a nit-pick with my turn of phrase, "debate the facts", as I'm sure you know what the phrase is meant to convey. But just to be clear, for those who don't, let me provide some context, if still in doubt.

Sure, the facts/data themselves, when rigorously verified, are not debatable. That said, there will always be debates surrounding the interpretation, context, implications, or the quality of evidence of said facts/data. Since the facts/data, can often be meaningless on their own, they require proper context and/or analysis, to inject meaning.

Ergo...a debate, surrounding said facts/data, to provide the context.

To be clear, my cheeky "tongue-n-cheek" phase "just the FACTS ma'am", was directed at the Sirioja's of the world, who constantly inundate us, with no facts/data and nothing but their "opinions", thinking they are having a debate.

So while a debate shouldn't be all about "just the FACTS ma'am", perhaps it shouldn't be all "opinions" either. If we are indeed, going to have an actual debate.

I stand by my original statement.
I will stipulate to this statement.

This is not a fact this is an opinion. A EV being charged on a an electric grid with coal fired plant is very different from a EV being charged on a let's say a Solar Power grid. In the Dominican Republic I will look at the opportunity to build a charging station at my business location using solar panels. Direct charging during the day and via batteries at night.

As do I stand by my statements.

It is a fact, not just an opinion that EVs and their batteries, will help stabilize or at the very least take some of the load off of the grid. In fact, it's already happening, with vehicles like the Ford F150 Lightning EV truck, that has V2H and V2L compatibilities (and soon to be V2G), homeowners can use their EVs to supply their electricity to their homes/business.

Pretty sure, I saw some YouTuber, buy an old used 2014 (??) Nissan Leaf EV (with about a 40 KW battery), on the cheap for under $7K vs. buying like 3 or 4 Tesla Powerwalls, for $30-$40K, to use as their battery storage system. Nissan Leafs were some of the only EVs with V2G, back then.

Point being, if you take a look at Australia for example, with the largest rooftop solar (4 million) powering their homes and EVs, there is a push to make V2G grid connectivity more seamless and inexpensive. Especially if it turns millions of EVs (with V2G capabilities) into versatile plug-n-play mobile "Powerwalls", whenever homeowners want to use the power from their EVs.

I can't confirm this, but (I'm pretty sure) Tesla vehicles already have V2G capabilities, and wouldn't need any additional modifications, to use it. Meaning, this was something that Tesla engineers, were already planning as something EV owners, would want as a future capability.

Has nothing to do with pollution now does it?
Has nothing to do with pollution now does it?
Has nothing to do with pollution now does it?

The error in your logic is the the facts will determine market decisions. Only the individuals who are making the market decisions will determine what happens in the market.

This makes no sense brother. Facts are not up for debate.

What evidence you have, that EVs/BESS's DO NOT reduce pollution?

Both BESS and EVs sure do help reduce pollution and it's not just my opinion!

The reasoning, benefits, studies and facts/data reports are as follows:

Once again, as I've previously stated, the addition of BESS installations helping wind and solar, become more dependable, flexible and responsive power w/r to smoothing out grid fluctuations, in periods of dunkelflaute, they provide a cleaner, faster and cost more efficient solution, over coal/gas pico power plants/stations.

Thereby, reducing pollution by replacing fossil fuel burning pico power plants. BESS also supports peak shaving and load shifting, helping to minimize the need for the much larger fossil coal/gas fuel plants, avoid ramp up and down, during high-low demand periods.

A study in Brazil showed a 250 kW/560 kWh BESS reduced CO2 emissions by 78% compared to diesel generators, with similar benefits applicable to coal/gas plants. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16136. Again, this was just a small BESS installation, but none the less, huge impact on reducing emissions/pollution.

W/R to EVs reducing pollution, just look at the huge reduction air pollution in large Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, partly due to the large adoption and popularization of EVs, as one of the weapons, China is using in it's war on air pollution and reduction of emissions. Which BTW is down 42% over the past ten years, even with China burning higher amounts of coal (YoY).

And why do you think BESS are the fastest growing segment in the energy market? The trend is, that by 2030, global BESS capacity is projected to grow sixfold, displacing 1,200 GW of fossil fuel generation and accelerating decarbonization. https://www.saurenergy.com/solar-ene...siness-in-2025

It is not a negative bias to say I prefer fucking the pussy of a girl over fucking the ass of a man. It is personal preference. Can we at least agree on that? A gay man will disagree with me. I am not going to try to argue that pussy is better than ass (of a man) when he is obviously making his fucking decisions based on personal preference.

Again, as I've said before, I don't care if you prefer to buy, drive or fuck (to somewhat piggyback on your analogy), an EV or an ICE vehicle. If I see dis/misinformation being spread, like the E85 zero emissions nonsense or battery falsehoods, I will try to provide proper facts, to counter any unfounded arguments.

I remain convinced that EVs help the environment But so could a lot of other things also. Like Nuclear Power. ...

Curious...under what circumstances are you advocating for nuclear?

[EihTooms]

These next 4 year are going to be so much more horrific than anyone could have ever imagined:

Trump administration wants to un-fire some nuclear safety workers but cant figure out how to reach them.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/15/trum...ndroidappshare

WASHINGTON National Nuclear Security Administration officials on Friday attempted to notify some employees who had been let go the day before that they are now due to be reinstated but they struggled to find them because they didnt have their new contact information.

In an email sent to employees at NNSA and obtained by NBC News, officials wrote, The termination letters for some NNSA probationary employees are being rescinded, but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel.

But at least they cut $20 Million, about 2 1/2 days of tax-payer subsidies for President Musk's failing EV company, by dumping the Sesame Street programming in Iraq so al-Qaeda and ISIS can replace it with their version of Sesame Street in Iraq.

So smart.

Now, I want you to remember all the screaming at Biden and his Communications Director from the White House Press Corp over every silly, insignificant detail of why his historic recovery from Trump's first term Colossal Across-the-Board Disaster was not perfect in every way for everyone all the time down to the exact dime.

And contrast that to whatever oh-so-polite and soft-spoken questioning, IF ANY, by that same Press Corp about this spectacular, potentially existential life on Earth-threatening unforced error screwup. LOL.

[EihTooms]

That's just not right Tooms. OK, instead of using my Bloomberg, I'll Google the indices, so you can see the data:

https://www.drewry.co.uk/supply-chai...ssed-by-drewry

The World Container Index is at $3095 for 40 ft containers, down from $3440 on November 14.

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/baltic

The Baltic Dry Index is at 792, down from 1770 on November 15.

I have no problem conceptually with the idea that freight rates will increase somewhat as a result of inventory stocking because of expected tariffs. But how much difference will that make? The shipping cost, by sea, might represent 1% or 2% of the retail price of a product. And imported goods may be 10% or 15% of GDP. So the effect of higher shipping costs on CPI inflation would be negligible. And temporary, since once the tariffs are imposed there's no excess demand for shipping any longer.

But the reality is that higher shipping costs aren't behind the 3% CPI number, because they weren't really up. Yeah, there was a blip upwards in container rates in, say, the Shanghai to Los Angeles route in late December / early January. But the average rate post election has been less than the average rate during 2024, pre-election.

Yes, once the tariffs are imposed, there will be a step up in prices for the goods affected. Will it be a one time thing? Or will it feed through to wages, etc. and result in a significant increase in month-on-month or quarter-on-quarter inflation going forward? My guess as to the latter is no. But it's above my paygrade.

Now do I think the tariffs imposed by Trump so far in his second term are a good thing? Hell no. Take the tariffs on steel and aluminum. There are a lot of American manufacturers and exporters that won't be competitive now that they have to pay more for those. This will destroy American jobs, raise prices paid by consumers, and it won't raise much revenue. The only winners will be the American crony capitalists who make steel and aluminum here. This was a really bad idea. It hurts us more than it helps us.

And the new China tariff may just backfire bigtime. Now more production of clothes and toys will move from China to places like Vietnam. And in retaliation for the tariff, China is restricting export of rare earth metals and minerals that are essential for our tech companies and defense contractors. If Trump, or Biden, knew his head from a hole in the ground, he would have lined up alternate sources of rare earth products before declaring a trade war on China.

Increased freight rates is only part of the issue. Yes, freight rates fluctuate throughout the year. Freight rates have been higher earlier in the year than they are now. Importers time their freight requirements and costs throughout the year accordingly.

But not while Trump's pie-hole is within hilarious "menacing" monotone voice distance of a microphone.

The bigger problem is that Trump's blather has caused importers and retailers to front-load shipments in order to build inventory before the actual cost increases occur and supplies are spotty during times when freight costs are higher, thereby adding unplanned costs to their ongoing inventory.

That is how Target screwed up last year. They wrongly predicted the longshoreman's strike would go unsettled for months. So they front-loaded shipments during a time of the year when shipping costs were higher, thinking they would get a jump on their competitors on inventory during the Christmas season.

Instead, brilliant negotiator for the good of the American Consumer, Joe Biden, settled that strike within days.

So there was Target, sitting on front-loaded inventory their competitors could ship in their own sweet, lower freight costs time, after having paid MORE for all of it to be shipped than their competitors, effecting profits and triggering a significant sell-off of their stock.

Targets recent trade imports data tells the real story behind massive earnings miss.
Nov. 21, 2024

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/21/targ...ndroidappshare

Target executives cited the recent U.S. ports strike and need to bring goods ahead of it as a factor in its big earnings miss on Wednesday, due to elevated freight costs and overly stocked stores.

Trade data reviewed by CNBC shows Target imported a level of goods this year across key months in advance of the strike that was similar to 2023′s peak shipping season, essentially flat to down in the overall number of cargo containers.

Trump's constant blather about 25%-200% Tariffs coming soon since the November election, in and out, in again, out again, blithering incoherently on when and by how much importers will have to pay before passing those costs along to the American Consumer has forced them to repeat Target management's mistake in front-loading shipments of inventory during periods of higher freight costs rather than timing them more intelligently for the benefit of keeping their retail costs lower for the American Consumer.

Trump is a proven Enemy of the American Consumer. Just look what he did to them in his previous term by laying the groundwork for and ushering in Trump's Pandemic with all the Global Economic Disaster, Hyper-Inflation and Skyrocketing Prices for everything that naturally followed.

[EihTooms]

That's just not right Tooms. OK, instead of using my Bloomberg, I'll Google the indices, so you can see the data:

https://www.drewry.co.uk/supply-chai...ssed-by-drewry

The World Container Index is at $3095 for 40 ft containers, down from $3440 on November 14.

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/baltic

The Baltic Dry Index is at 792, down from 1770 on November 15.

I have no problem conceptually with the idea that freight rates will increase somewhat as a result of inventory stocking because of expected tariffs. But how much difference will that make? The shipping cost, by sea, might represent 1% or 2% of the retail price of a product. And imported goods may be 10% or 15% of GDP. So the effect of higher shipping costs on CPI inflation would be negligible. And temporary, since once the tariffs are imposed there's no excess demand for shipping any longer.

But the reality is that higher shipping costs aren't behind the 3% CPI number, because they weren't really up. Yeah, there was a blip upwards in container rates in, say, the Shanghai to Los Angeles route in late December / early January. But the average rate post election has been less than the average rate during 2024, pre-election.

Yes, once the tariffs are imposed, there will be a step up in prices for the goods affected. Will it be a one time thing? Or will it feed through to wages, etc. and result in a significant increase in month-on-month or quarter-on-quarter inflation going forward? My guess as to the latter is no. But it's above my paygrade.

Now do I think the tariffs imposed by Trump so far in his second term are a good thing? Hell no. Take the tariffs on steel and aluminum. There are a lot of American manufacturers and exporters that won't be competitive now that they have to pay more for those. This will destroy American jobs, raise prices paid by consumers, and it won't raise much revenue. The only winners will be the American crony capitalists who make steel and aluminum here. This was a really bad idea. It hurts us more than it helps us.

And the new China tariff may just backfire bigtime. Now more production of clothes and toys will move from China to places like Vietnam. And in retaliation for the tariff, China is restricting export of rare earth metals and minerals that are essential for our tech companies and defense contractors. If Trump, or Biden, knew his head from a hole in the ground, he would have lined up alternate sources of rare earth products before declaring a trade war on China.

Your charts show a distinct increase in shipping costs to New York and LOS Angeles vs "the World rate" and vs other destinations during the time frame in discussion.

Do you think there is no price gouging passed along from importers to retailers and to the American Consumer as long as some headline news gives them the least excuse to do it? If shipping costs rise 2% due to higher demand, do you honestly believe the American Consumer will only be charged an additional amount at the register commensurate with only the amount shipping costs added to the price?

Trump's blathering about his across-the-board "beauitiful" 25%, 100%, 200% Tariffs coming soon, sooner, any minute now has given everyone in the supply and delivery chain permission to jack up prices to be paid by the American Consumer.

Do you think Trump's Fed Chairman-appontee is lying about CPI increasing 3% over last year, higher than it was in December and higher than it was in November, a trend the reverse of what we had been seeing for months prior to that?

Then what do you account for that? Was it Biden's stuttering or Harris conceding that in keeping with her Oath to uphold the law she will have to allow the same transgender medical treatment in prisons that Trump's DOJ confirmed?

[Tiny 12]

I assume you at least scanned the link I provided. And perhaps heard about this thingy called Google where you can do a search on the topic and find dozens of other such reports.

Shipping prices have been increasing since at least late November. The SHIPPERS are explaining that the reason shipping costs have been increasing is because Trump has been blathering about his 25%, 100% or 200% Tariffs coming any minute now starting on Day One of his so-called presidency and SINCE the November election. Shipments of goods are done PRIOR to when they show up on store shelves. Often several weeks, even months prior.

The competition and demand for even earlier shipments in order to "get ahead of the game", Trump's Tariffs, is called front-loading and it generates greater demand for everything related to the shipping of goods. Greater demand for shipping containers and shipments of goods triggers higher shipping costs.

Those costs have been passed along to the American Consumer in the form of higher prices for the products.

None of this "waits" for Trump to officially impose the Tariffs. Oh, then for him to cave and change his mind about it. Oh, then for him to change his mind about changing his mind. Oh, then for him to impose a tariff but not as big of one as he stated yesterday. Oh, then for him to decide a bigger tariff would be better. Oh, then for him to go play golf and think about it some more.

That's just not right Tooms. OK, instead of using my Bloomberg, I'll Google the indices, so you can see the data:

https://www.drewry.co.uk/supply-chai...ssed-by-drewry

The World Container Index is at $3095 for 40 ft containers, down from $3440 on November 14.

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/baltic

The Baltic Dry Index is at 792, down from 1770 on November 15.

I have no problem conceptually with the idea that freight rates will increase somewhat as a result of inventory stocking because of expected tariffs. But how much difference will that make? The shipping cost, by sea, might represent 1% or 2% of the retail price of a product. And imported goods may be 10% or 15% of GDP. So the effect of higher shipping costs on CPI inflation would be negligible. And temporary, since once the tariffs are imposed there's no excess demand for shipping any longer.

But the reality is that higher shipping costs aren't behind the 3% CPI number, because they weren't really up. Yeah, there was a blip upwards in container rates in, say, the Shanghai to Los Angeles route in late December / early January. But the average rate post election has been less than the average rate during 2024, pre-election.

Yes, once the tariffs are imposed, there will be a step up in prices for the goods affected. Will it be a one time thing? Or will it feed through to wages, etc. and result in a significant increase in month-on-month or quarter-on-quarter inflation going forward? My guess as to the latter is no. But it's above my paygrade.

Now do I think the tariffs imposed by Trump so far in his second term are a good thing? Hell no. Take the tariffs on steel and aluminum. There are a lot of American manufacturers and exporters that won't be competitive now that they have to pay more for those. This will destroy American jobs, raise prices paid by consumers, and it won't raise much revenue. The only winners will be the American crony capitalists who make steel and aluminum here. This was a really bad idea. It hurts us more than it helps us.

And the new China tariff may just backfire bigtime. Now more production of clothes and toys will move from China to places like Vietnam. And in retaliation for the tariff, China is restricting export of rare earth metals and minerals that are essential for our tech companies and defense contractors. If Trump, or Biden, knew his head from a hole in the ground, he would have lined up alternate sources of rare earth products before declaring a trade war on China.