Originally about tariffs and watches ... now just political rambling

Dan S · May 7, 2025

Evitzee
And the polls show Trump would still win today vs Harris/Walz. The Dems are bankrupt with no ideas, no platform and no leader except maybe the ex-bartender Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or CA Gov Newsom. The Dems are less popular than used car salesmen. That's why we got Trump.

texasmade
Lol Newsom. He's the Democrat equivalent of Abbott. Both are idiots that are full of themselves with neither having a shot of leading their party. Now that Kemp dropped out of the Georgia Senate race, that leaves Ossoff against possibly MTG. If he trounces her, that sets him up a leading candidate for D nomination in 2028.

Southern governors are always a possibility. Andy Beshear is another.

The Father · May 7, 2025

kfranzk
Would you tear up the Louisiana Purchase, a bad deal for France, as well?
"The Louisiana Purchase was the 1803 acquisition by the United States of approximately 828,000 square miles (2,144,520 km²) of territory from France, west of the Mississippi River, for $15 million-about three to four cents per acre. This land deal nearly doubled the size of the United States, adding territory that now makes up all or part of 15 current U.S. states and parts of two Canadian provinces"

Is that most of todays 'flyoverland' that voted for Trump

Because I am being facetious.

The Father · May 7, 2025

Vercingetorix
I had Fentanyl once. Having a foot procedure done with a huge needle and felt like I was going to flinch, so I let them know and they administered Fentanyl. The effect was 100% overwhelming and quite scary. No pain, no cares, everything was perfect within milliseconds. The shit is so scary because it is so overwhelmingly effective. Street doses are probably much higher.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...anning-5-states/ar-AA1El8ku?ocid=BingNewsSerp

The flow of fentanyl is connected to the Tariff policy as it relates to China and Mexico/Canada as President of the United States Donald Trump has stated.

The manufacture and shipping of fentanyl by the Chinese is an insidious act towards the United States.

Every week in Arizona some "poor ill treated no due process migrant" is stopped with shitload of drugs in the car or truck. Usually the headline says "enough drugs to kill 2 or 3 million people."

But that Son of Bitch Trump wants to close the border to the drug trade.

M'Bob · May 7, 2025

Evitzee
And the polls show Trump would still win today vs Harris/Walz. The Dems are bankrupt with no ideas, no platform and no leader except maybe the ex-bartender Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or CA Gov Newsom. The Dems are less popular than used car salesmen. That's why we got Trump.

You are, unfortunately, correct. A disorganized, petty, feckless group if I’ve ever seen one. At the least Republicans are aligned in their significant pathology. And that sulking little child, Bernie Sanders, all but sabotaged the Clinton campaign by refusing to swing the Bernie-or-busters in her favor. Hey Bernie, if you happen to be an Omega collector, great. But you’re still an asshole.

We are not in a good place here right now…

pdxleaf · May 7, 2025

The Father
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...anning-5-states/ar-AA1El8ku?ocid=BingNewsSerp

The flow of fentanyl is connected to the Tariff policy as it relates to China and Mexico/Canada as President of the United States Donald Trump has stated.

The manufacture and shipping of fentanyl by the Chinese is an insidious act towards the United States.

Every week in Arizona some "poor ill treated no due process migrant" is stopped with shitload of drugs in the car or truck. Usually the headline says "enough drugs to kill 2 or 3 million people."

But that Son of Bitch Trump wants to close the border to the drug trade.

Being in Oregon, I was very happy to hear of this when it was first reported. Also happy to hear when Trump targeted Fentanyl as a major crisis. It's felt long overdue.

I suspect Trump is also using Fentanyl as a way to justify his border policy under the Alien Enemies act. Also note that US citizens are also mules. I don't understand why Trump wants to fire law enforcement like FBI and others, as well as dismantle the IRS, who were part of this task force.

But a win is great.

CalgaryJim · May 7, 2025

The Father
The flow of fentanyl is connected to the Tariff policy as it relates to China and Mexico/Canada as President of the United States Donald Trump has stated.

Canada, something like 5% of the fentanyl into the US was coming from here. Any amount is too much but as an excuse for tariffs what nonsense. Why not have the US tariff itself because way more fentanyl comes here - from the U.S.

ErichPryde · May 7, 2025

So, regarding tariffs: my wife is doing some AICPA continuing education this morning and the presenter gave an example of how tariffs effect small US businesses. A Carolina small business that has a plant in thailand imported a part they built that contained steel and aluminum. the steel and aluminum tariffs (separate from the Tariff also applied to the part) were applied to the total cost of the part- and the bill was 50,000USD more than it would have been before tariffs.

This was probably an error in how the Tariff was applied but it's an interesting example of how complex the situation is. The small business has also located their accounting personnel in Thailand.

One of my takeaways is even small businesses have a large degree of globalization. How does this at all benefit Small American businesses?

It goes back to the underpinnings of this thread. How do we relocate this type of manufacturing to the US without absolutely destroying the US dollar and underpaying our Workforce? And secondarily, if US businesses are Utilizing cheaper production elsewhere in the world, who exactly is taking advantage of whom?

This topic about small businesses kind of got hit on earlier but I think it deserves a lot more attention than it has received.

CalgaryJim · May 7, 2025

pdxleaf
Being in Oregon, I was very happy to hear of this when it was first reported.

My few exceptions to boycotting US goods, for now, is Deschutes Mirror Pond Ale; unfortunately the liquor store I normally get it from hasn’t received any inventory. Is it Alberta’s liquor board, or Deschutes’s issue? Please find out and let’s get free trade going again.

Archer · May 7, 2025

CalgaryJim
Canada, something like 5% of the fentanyl into the US was coming from here. Any amount is too much but as an excuse for tariffs what nonsense. Why not have the US tariff itself because way more fentanyl comes here - from the U.S.

It was more like 1%

CalgaryJim · May 7, 2025

Archer
It was more like 1%

I was going to say 0.5% but then I thought, that can’t be right, I must have misplaced the decimal. Thanks for clarifying.

Dsloan · May 7, 2025

ErichPryde
One of my takeaways is even small businesses have a large degree of globalization. How does this at all benefit Small American businesses?

It goes back to the underpinnings of this thread. How do we relocate this type of manufacturing to the US without absolutely destroying the US dollar and underpaying our Workforce? And secondarily, if US businesses are Utilizing cheaper production elsewhere in the world, who exactly is taking advantage of whom?

Yep, it's almost like the decisions are being made by people who don't know much about the current realities of small businesses in America.

Many of my friends and colleagues impacted so far are entrepreneurs and small business people:

1) Someone who works in food imports and has shipments from oversees who is not pinched between the tariffs and lack of pricing power reselling to big box stores (about 30% import duty from India added $700K in costs to a $3mil shipment)

2) An artist with a side hustle selling enamel pins and other swag, which are all printed and made overseas.

3) My own workplace, which relies on camera and computer technology - we rushed a $300K order of camera gear last month because of fears of tariffs later this year - I don't think any American factory's gonna pop up to start making high-end cinema camera sensors anytime soon.

And, it's not tariff-related, but many of my friends and their partners work in higher ed, university-based research, NASA, and other things that have been truly hurt by this administration. The long-term impact on my city (Baltimore, where higher education is a huge industry) is going to be severe. All those laid-off researchers are not going to be spending much money at local small businesses.

ErichPryde · May 7, 2025

CalgaryJim
My few exceptions to boycotting US goods, for now, is Deschutes Mirror Pond Ale; unfortunately the liquor store I normally get it from hasn’t received any inventory. Is it Alberta’s liquor board, or Deschutes’s issue? Please find out and let’s get free trade going again.

I was actually in Deschutes County a couple of weekends ago! When the tariff situation gets all resolved and we're friends again, you should definitely visit Bend if you've never been there.

These are from a couple years ago at Sparks Lake.

But to answer your question, no I don't think there is a production issue at Deschutes. Pretty sure I saw some on shelves just the other day!

ErichPryde · May 7, 2025

Dsloan
Yep, it's almost like the decisions are being made by people who don't know much about the current realities of small businesses in America.

You don't say!

pdxleaf · May 7, 2025

CalgaryJim
My few exceptions to boycotting US goods, for now, is Deschutes Mirror Pond Ale; unfortunately the liquor store I normally get it from hasn’t received any inventory. Is it Alberta’s liquor board, or Deschutes’s issue? Please find out and let’s get free trade going again.

We actually have local beers. Our favorite pizza joint, Baby Doll Pizza, has its own brew. We're overflowing with beer and wine and fruit. It's a crisis of our own making.

ErichPryde · May 7, 2025

pdxleaf
We actually have local beers. Our favorite pizza joint, Baby Doll Pizza, has its own brew. We're overflowing with beer and wine and fruit. It's a crisis of our own making.

Have you been to Great Notion? They've got some pretty fun stuff.

I haven't tried baby doll, I'll add it to my list of places I need to check out

gatorcpa · May 7, 2025

Dsloan
Yep, it's almost like the decisions are being made by people who don't know much about the current realities of small businesses in America.

You are correct. In fact, they are being made by those who want to destroy small businesses because they run large businesses in competition.

The Father
But that Son of Bitch Trump wants to close the border to the drug trade.

If you really think that 145% tariffs are going to accomplish that, you must be taking some of that Fentanyl. Given the profits involved, the people who are smuggling into the US through small packages from China will just pay the tariff and call it a cost of doing business. It's peanuts to them.

All smoke and mirrors to cover up the fleecing of the lower and middle classes by Trump and his cronies.
gatorcpa

Emeister · May 7, 2025

Dsloan
Yep, it's almost like the decisions are being made by people who don't know much about the current realities of small businesses in America.

Sadly, it looks like you need to replace the word 'know' with 'care'.

ErichPryde · May 7, 2025

Emeister
Sadly, it looks like you need to replace the word 'know' with 'care'.

We could add a conjunction (like "or") and have both, but it might seriously confuse Linda McMahon so maybe we shouldn't do that

Emeister · May 7, 2025

ErichPryde
We could add a conjunction (like "or") and have both, but it might seriously confuse Linda McMahon so maybe we shouldn't do that

Had to google her. Name didn't click until I saw "former wrestling promoter".
Oh boy, speechless 🙊
Y'all have fun over there. Best of luck.

Archer · May 7, 2025

ErichPryde
We could add a conjunction (like "or") and have both, but it might seriously confuse Linda McMahon so maybe we shouldn't do that

Don't worry, she will use A1 to figure it out...