Hey you 'muricans ... get those Swiss watches pronto [tariffs and international trade]

The Father

Yet the entire world wants to be in America.

Deafboy

Agree, though not necessarily with the same reason as you. When you are poor it is very difficult to avoid a being in debt. Imagine a mother raising a child. She works every day to earn money but it's just enough to pay rent, food, etc. What happens if she misses a day of work because her child has a fever and must stay home? She falls into debt. It is basically survival mode. Her child might get a decent education, but chances are against it because the parent is busy just surviving.

texasmade

The old saying goes, "It's expensive being poor."

Terry Pratchett said:

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.

glownyc

Canadian car dealers are proposing Canada adopt safety standards from Europe, South Korea, and Japan to lessen the reliance on the US
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a64589408/canada-foreign-auto-safety-standard-tariff/

If this happens Canada should prepare themselves for bunch of US car nerds looking to immigrate. 😆

Waltesefalcon

"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. ... But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socio-economic unfairness."

Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms

ErichPryde

In the interest of getting this thread back on topic (lol), Trump has stated that tariffs on Chinese goods will come down substantially. My very serious questions are what deal or promises were secured from China that he made this statement; or, what jobs are we creating that backing off the tariffs now makes sense?

gatorcpa

If I wrote what I think MAGA stands for, this thread would be shut down.

I’ll just let you all guess.
gatorcpa

pdxleaf

So no interest in Danner boots? Come from the same town as Leatherman.

Edit: we also export a lot of trees/lumber. A day doesn't go buy where I don't see a lumber truck. We have pretty great wine, too, although not cheap. Great beer.

And planes, although they have parts from all around the world and aren't made in my state.

Still, your point is taken.

styggpyggeno1

I of course cannot speak for all Scandinavians/the Nordic countries but I am pretty sure we are happy to live where we are - and also to visit nice people everywhere else.

edit: source and how it is measured:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world