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

pdxleaf
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140dave 140dave
Mmmm Swiss watches 🤤
IMG_0926.webp

James Bond walks into a bar, sits down besides a beautiful woman, and orders a drink. He pays no attention to her and instead fiddles with his watch.

Watching him, the woman asks him if his friend is running late?

Bond replies, "No, I'm not meeting any one. I'm testing the new technology on this watch. It examines my surroundings and updates me telepathically."

She doesn't believe him but is intrigued enough to ask, "What is your watch telling you now?"

Bond says, "It's telling me that you are not wearing any underwear."

The woman laughs, then says his watch doesn't work because she is in fact wearing underwear.

Bond stares at his watch with a concerned look, taps it and then exclaims, "Oh, it's set an hour ahead!"
 
watchyouwant
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Mtek Mtek
Good point. The cackling loser, who spend 1.5 billion on twerking rappers and celebrity endorsements, but still lost, would never have put us in this position. She wanted to tax unrealized gains, that would have fixed our problems for sure.

Excellent ! You are a highly educated Prophet. You know, what would have happened rgd. the loser, that did not happen. You are highly qualified and recommended for a Cabinet Appointment in the current Government, which is highly successful in unraveling the Bond Market , which finances your Debt and all other Orange Endeavours. If the Big Bond holders ( insert China here ...) decide, that the USA is no longer good for his Promises , you are finished. A complete Back down will follow and old friends will no longer trust the USA. Which has already happend, as the Prophet will know by now.
 
Mtek
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watchyouwant watchyouwant
Excellent ! You are a highly educated Prophet. You know, what would have happened rgd. the loser, that did not happen. You are highly qualified and recommended for a Cabinet Appointment in the current Government, which is highly successful in unraveling the Bond Market , which finances your Debt and all other Orange Endeavours. If the Big Bond holders ( insert China here ...) decide, that the USA is no longer good for his Promises , you are finished. A complete Back down will follow and old friends will no longer trust the USA. Which has already happend, as the Prophet will know by now.
Fascinating. I think you just changed my mind. Ty
 
ErichPryde
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Regarding one of the actual topics of conversation revolving around tariffs and whether or not China has a stable enough economy, I think it's interesting that the EU and China started talks this morning around dropping tariffs from Chinese made electrical vehicles and setting fair minimum prices.

China makes the most electrical vehicles in the World by a fairly wide margin, and Europe seems to like buying electrical vehicles. This is just another way in which America is potentially very much cutting itself out of the world's pie, and if the American tariff move drives the EU & China to start negotiating in a fair manner it's just another potential "valueless" soft power loss for the US.
Edited:
 
arturo7
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hen hen
. Why bring back production to the US when there is almost full employment? (I have seen figures of 2.5 and 4,3 % unemployment).
Exactly
Edited:
 
Dsloan
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Dan S Dan S
Agreed, the restructuring of the tax rates/brackets has been truly radical over the past 50 years.

Screenshot 2025-04-10 at 3.41.03 PM.webp

I know that there are many factors to consider in American economic success in the post WWII period, but I find it quite interesting that the biggest leaps economic mobility coincide with the highest marginal tax rates in the 1950s and 1960s.

And, in more tariff impact news, some of my other hobbies (tabletop gaming and dorky sci-fi collectibles) are being impacted. I just got emails from several vendors that I like warning of big price increases since all their current manufacturing is in China or Vietnam.
 
ErichPryde
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@watchunter
Dsloan Dsloan
I know that there are many factors to consider in American economic success in the post WWII period, but I find it quite interesting that the biggest leaps economic mobility coincide with the highest marginal tax rates in the 1950s and 1960s.

And, in more tariff impact news, some of my other hobbies (tabletop gaming and dorky sci-fi collectibles) are being impacted. I just got emails from several vendors that I like warning of big price increases since all their current manufacturing is in China or Vietnam.

I might have seen some protesters in Seattle with signs that said "leave our 401k alone and our WH40K alone too" or something to that effect.
 
texasmade
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ErichPryde ErichPryde
Regarding one of the actual topics of conversation revolving around tariffs and whether or not China has a stable enough economy, I think it's interesting that the EU and China started talks this morning revolving around dropping tariffs from Chinese made electrical vehicles and setting fair minimum prices.

China makes the most electrical vehicles in the World by a fairly wide margin, and Europe seems to like buying electrical vehicles. This is just another way in which America is potentially very much cutting itself out of the world's pie, and if the American tariff move drives the EU & China to start negotiating in a fair manner it's just another potential "valueless" soft power loss for the US.
One thing China is doing without raising more tariffs that can be just as impactful...
https://cleantechnica.com/2025/04/0...s-of-minerals-critical-for-defense-cleantech/
 
Dsloan
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ErichPryde ErichPryde
@watchunter

I might have seen some protesters in Seattle with signs that said "leave our 401k alone and our WH40K alone too" or something to that effect.

I'm terrified to see what tariffs do to WH40K. My budget only allows for used Omegas and Battletech, not new platinum Day-Dates and Imperial Knights. After the tariffs, I'll be whittling my miniatures out of driftwood.
 
ErichPryde
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Dsloan Dsloan
I'm terrified to see what tariffs do to WH40K. My budget inly allows for used Omegas and Battletech, not new platinum Day-Dates and Imperial Knights.


Ouch. I had never equated 40k to Rolex, but boy does it make sense. FWIW, Battletech is the much greater game, quiaff?
 
texasmade
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ErichPryde ErichPryde
I saw that.

So- the counterargument we're seeing in this thread is that China can't "do it" (replace US soft power and take some of US's prior trade power) because their economy will collapse. But, they are doing it. So I guess we'll see.
Chinese culture isn't really going to allow them to lose face and be pushed around on the world stage by the US. Beijing is recognizing this is their chance to really step up on the world stage as the US retreats back. Chinese citizens will handle the pain much better than Americans will.
 
ErichPryde
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arturo7 arturo7
"World Inequality Database?"

I know nothing about this organization but their name implies they may have an agenda.

Yeah, they track inequality around the world. The agenda is in their organization's name.

I do understand why you might not want to accept that source of information, if you look at the Wikipedia article sourcing info (those little numbers in brackets at the ends of sentences) you'll likely find other sources that provide similar conclusions.

It's really not a controversial conclusion at this point that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer in the US.

If it helps any I just Googled "wealth inequality in the United States" and one of the first results that is not Wikipedia is Pew research, and the results seem to line up.

Screenshot_20250410_174510_Brave.webp


Take a look:
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/
Edited:
 
Dsloan
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ErichPryde ErichPryde
Ouch. I had never equated 40k to Rolex, but boy does it make sense. FWIW, Battletech is the much greater game, quiaff?

Aff, Seyla. It's so rare to find someone who speaks the language.

I'm off to paint more Delta Galaxy Goliath Scorpions so I can challenge my kid to a batchall before the rite of reaving via tariffs destroys my hobbies.
 
fiberguy
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texasmade texasmade
Chinese citizens will handle the pain much better than Americans will.
I think Chinese citizens are given little choice in the matter, but your statement is true nonetheless.
 
ErichPryde
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Dsloan Dsloan
Aff, Seyla. It's so rare to find someone who speaks the language.

I'm off to paint more Delta Galaxy Goliath Scorpions so I can challenge my kid to a batchall before the rite of reaving via tariffs destroys my hobbies.

Occasionally (rarely) I go on to r/battletech and just speak straight clanner.

I've had this screenname since the late '90s and it is a shame not to occasionally drop all contractions and show some stravag surats what's what.
 
Archer
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texasmade texasmade
One thing China is doing without raising more tariffs that can be just as impactful...
https://cleantechnica.com/2025/04/0...s-of-minerals-critical-for-defense-cleantech/
It just keeps getting better. So much winning! ::facepalm1::

Tungsten is interesting. Back in the time frame just after 9-11 when wars were gearing up and ongoing, there was a shortage of tungsten for the archery world…used in high grade target points for arrows…

5edea859-e71b-46b0-823f-6d7e3933538c.webp abaf670a-a857-4040-ba18-e5fdc2b9aaf7.webp


The high density offers very specific advantages for a calculation called %FOC. Anyway they were very tough to get for a few years as it was going to ammunition. Note that this is not tungsten carbide, but just tungsten.

Tungsten is also used heavily in the watch industry, for automatic winding rotors. The heavy segment that is on the outer edge of the rotor is often made of tungsten so it will be interesting to see if there is any effect there…
 
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