Is the West in decline

[4Samson]

Hahaha breaking news.

Even Trump finally realized he was wrong and backed down and at the same time tried to turn it to make China look bad. No way that was the plan but a way better outcome than Trump sticking to his plan.

 

[akaTrex]

OK. So then you agree that tariffs were nothing more than a bullying threat made in hopes of negotiating trade terms, right? In other words, tariffs clearly aren't going to bring the US a prosperous economy and rebuild a bunch of old industries as Trump stated. If they were, there would be no negotiations to be had and we'd simply add all the tariffs that we could. So it was just an ill-informed tactic, leading to the depletion of billions of dollars from the markets, done to grandstand and chest beat. I'm surprised that you agree with that, but sounds as though you must if you're good with these negotiations.

I recently purchased an SUV with cash. As expected, the Dealer was playing hardball in the negotiations.
I informed the dealer that I have an offer from a dealership hundreds of miles away and a crap load of frequent flier miles.
Left the Dealership, an hour later, they called me and agreed to my offer. Much like Trump's book "The Art of the Deal"!

 

[Johnny D]

I recently purchased an SUV with cash. As expected, the Dealer was playing hardball in the negotiations.
I informed the dealer that I have an offer from a dealership hundreds of miles away and a crap load of frequent flier miles.
Left the Dealership, an hour later, they called me and agreed to my offer. Much like Trump's book "The Art of the Deal"!

Cool.

You still evade the question. Are you agreeing that tariffs will not bring prosperity to the US as promised? It was just a great big bluff?

 

[Pegasus]

Cusp your complaints againt universal health care are unfounded . If you want quicker service you can go private .

I have several times given you examples where universal care worked extreamly well for me that would have sent me broke in the US . I have also given examples where I did not wanted to wait ,wanted to pick doc or wanted to to set the date of surgury , in those cases I went private and paid for it .
By the way you can get insurance if you like to go private .

 

[akaTrex]

Cool.

You still evade the question. Are you agreeing that tariffs will not bring prosperity to the US as promised? It was just a great big bluff?

I believe Tariffs will level the playing field. While there may be a short-term cost, it will lead to prosperity in the years to come.

Furthermore, agencies like DOGE will help restore prosperity by identifying, stopping fraud, and Government Waste!
Today DOGE announced they have found the following.
"24.5k people over 115 years old claimed $59M in benefits,"
"28k people between 1 and 5 years old claimed $254M in benefits
"9.7k people with birth dates over 15 years in the future claimed $69M in benefits."
In one case, someone with a birthday of 2154 claimed $41k,"!

 

[akaTrex]

Cusp your complaints againt universal health care are unfounded . If you want quicker service you can go private .

I have several times given you examples where universal care worked extreamly well for me that would have sent me broke in the US . I have also given examples where I did not wanted to wait ,wanted to pick doc or wanted to to set the date of surgury , in those cases I went private and paid for it .
By the way you can get insurance if you like to go private .

Universal Health Care in Canada: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/primary-care-canada-10-000-canadians-report-1.7125990

A Toronto-based research team met with and surveyed some 10,000 Canadians about the state of the health-care system — and what they found is deep dissatisfaction and frustration with primary care as the country grapples with a severe shortage of family doctors.

While Canadians are generally proud of a health system that delivers care based on need rather than the ability to pay, the OurCare researchers found many people believe the system has failed on its promise to deliver universal and high-quality health care in a timely manner.

 

[akaTrex]

Hahaha breaking news.

Even Trump finally realized he was wrong and backed down and at the same time tried to turn it to make China look bad. No way that was the plan but a way better outcome than Trump sticking to his plan.

It's referred to as the First Salvo. Over 70 countries have reached out to the Trump administration for negotiations.

Illegal Immigration is now a trickle; Unemployment is down, as well as inflation.
Interesting how that didn't happen under the Biden/Harris Administration.

 

[not2big]

Actually, core Personal Consumption Expenditures price index rose 0.1% in March after jumping 0.4% in February and unemployment increased slightly to 4.2% in March as compared to 4.1% in February. But that’s all before Trump’s tariff polices became effective.

 

[akaTrex]

Actually, core Personal Consumption Expenditures price index rose 0.1% in March after jumping 0.4% in February and unemployment increased slightly to 4.2% in March as compared to 4.1% in February. But that’s all before Trump’s tariff polices became effective.

Imagine if Flipper were President! As she stated on "The VIEW",
Kamala Says There Isn't A Thing She Would Do Different Than Biden!

 

[Johnny D]

I believe Tariffs will level the playing field. While there may be a short-term cost, it will lead to prosperity in the years to come.

It's referred to as the First Salvo. Over 70 countries have reached out to the Trump administration for negotiations.

What you're not recognizing here is the complete contradiction in those two statements. If tariffs will lead to prosperity, bring jobs to the US, etc - which was Trump's claim - we should just keep imposing them. Why on earth would we care to negotiate with anyone? That would be antithetical to the premise of using them as an economic tool. Explain to me why it is that Trump is willing to negotiate lower tariffs if he believes that imposing higher tariffs is better for the US.

 

[CUSP82]

No one has yet explained to me that if tariffs are such a bad thing why do so many countries have them, particularly aimed at us?
What Trump is trying to do is to make things fair. The anti Trump people think he's in it for god know what reason but they know it's bad. It's not. We can do quite well, bring companies back and increase revenue if the world operated fairly in trade. If you pay your workers crap then to equalize what you pay them as compared to our workers we will put on a tariff to MAKE IT EQUAL.
How can the US compete globally when we pay our workers 20 bucks an hour, healhcare benefits and maybe a retirement plan while other countries pay 2 bucks an hour with no benefits?

 

[akaTrex]

What you're not recognizing here is the complete contradiction in those two statements. If tariffs will lead to prosperity, bring jobs to the US, etc - which was Trump's claim - we should just keep imposing them. Why on earth would we care to negotiate with anyone? That would be antithetical to the premise of using them as an economic tool. Explain to me why it is that Trump is willing to negotiate lower tariffs if he believes that imposing higher tariffs is better for the US.

US Sen. Chuck Schumer agrees with Trump on China tariffs​

 

[CUSP82]

Cusp your complaints againt universal health care are unfounded . If you want quicker service you can go private .

I have several times given you examples where universal care worked extreamly well for me that would have sent me broke in the US . I have also given examples where I did not wanted to wait ,wanted to i doc or wanted to to set the date of surgury , in those cases I went private and paid for it .
By the way you can get insurance if you like to go private .

If the system is so good why would there be a need for private healthcare?

 

[Johnny D]

US Sen. Chuck Schumer agrees with Trump on China tariffs​

Why would I care what Schumer thinks?! And you didn't even bother to address my comment or answer my question. As alway

 

[Johnny D]

No one has yet explained to me that if tariffs are such a bad thing why do so many countries have them, particularly aimed at us?

“The benefits of free trade do not depend on the behavior of others. If foreign governments want to subsidize exports or impose tariffs, that's bad for them, not for us.” Milton Friedman (Someone whom Conservatives historically side with. My guess is that Trump has never read his work and he probably couldn't even vaguely describe Friedman concepts in the slightest bit).

I've tried to explain but I guess you don't like what I've had to say. I've also asked pointed questions in response but you haven't answered them.

What Trump is trying to do is to make things fair.

Once again, it's a complete misunderstanding of trade to associate trade deficits and policies as fair or unfair.

The anti Trump people think he's in it for god know what reason but they know it's bad. It's not.

And let's be clear, here. I'm not an anti-Trump person. I've said this before. He's just flat out wrong about how tariffs work and what's best for the US economy in this regard.

We can do quite well, bring companies back and increase revenue if the world operated fairly in trade.

No. Comparative advantages aside (which has been the best thing to happen for the global economy, by the way), those companies won't be "brought back". Do you really envision a future for the US where people are making t-shirts and sneakers? Do you know how much a mobile phone built in the US would cost? It absolutely will not happen like that.

If you pay your workers crap then to equalize what you pay them as compared to our workers we will put on a tariff to MAKE IT EQUAL.

How can the US compete globally when we pay our workers 20 bucks an hour, healhcare benefits and maybe a retirement plan while other countries pay 2 bucks an hour with no benefits?

Doesn't work that way. Too many things are different across borders. And we shouldn't care one bit how much someone in another country makes. It's not an equal comparison.

The US does compete globally. The US does amazingly well, in fact. But we shouldn't be competing on t-shirts and sneakers. Our resources should be allocated to other things. Again...comparative advantage.

There has been plenty written on the drawbacks to tariffs and why other countries shouldn't be using them, even though they do. Read Milton Friedman. Read Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek (they're also economists whom conservatives once appreciated). Check out thedailyeconomy.org, a publication that is admittedly more Libertarian, but most would consider right leaning in a purely binary comparison.

 

[CUSP82]

Why shouldn't we compete not just for sneakers but any job? That industry seems to make money. Is that type of work some how beneath us?
How much for a mobile phone?So you're content on kissing that industry goodbye. You don't think with the technology we have we can figure out a way to make them cheaper? Sure we can but we have to give US companies the incentives to start a company. You can't just keep farming out industry no matter what you think of them. We can't compete with China on phones yet but we could if our companies were given the chance. Tariff the phones and use that money to invest in US companies.
We can't be the premier superpower for the good of this world if we become too dependent on the world for needed an important necessities. We need to make our own steel, ships, cars, tires, drugs and a host of other needed items. With the right investment we should be able to make phones at the same cost as the Chinese and then the consumer gets to choose foreign or domestic. Hell one side may even lower the price to get more market share and the consumer will benefit.
As for your economists I have read some of their work as well as others. They for the most part operate in an ideal environment but that's not the world we live in is it? Cheaters like to cheat because it makes money

 

[not2big]

The United States is best at producing in industries like energy, technology and manufacturing. Key export categories include petroleum products, aircraft, pharmaceutical, and agricultural goods. Comparative advantage suggests the U.S. should concentrate its workforce on producing these products while letting other countries concentrate on what they do more efficiently, such as T-shirts, sneakers, and cell phones. There are a limited supply of workers. Accordingly, why should a worker who is good at producing a life saving drug be diverted to produce a t-shirt? A bit of exaggeration, but it explains the principle behind competitive advantage.

 

[akaTrex]

Why would I care what Schumer thinks?! And you didn't even bother to address my comment or answer my question. As alway

Indictive of Democrats. Second, it must not have been very important!

 

[Pegasus]

The question should have been do Caanuks think their medical system is better than the US .
I believe that would have got some different results'.

Cusp I have repeatedly explained how the public / private mix health system works it is geting tiresome

Austalia had a free trade agreement with US till Trump put a tarrif on .

The effect of the tarrifs will lower the standard of living for most US citizens in the short , medium and long term as far out as I can see..

 

[CUSP82]

The United States is best at producing in industries like energy, technology and manufacturing. Key export categories include petroleum products, aircraft, pharmaceutical, and agricultural goods. Comparative advantage suggests the U.S. should concentrate its workforce on producing these products while letting other countries concentrate on what they do more efficiently, such as T-shirts, sneakers, and cell phones. There are a limited supply of workers. Accordingly, why should a worker who is good at producing a life saving drug be diverted to produce a t-shirt? A bit of exaggeration, but it explains the principle behind competitive advantage.

Why should a steel worker be told to go learn IT because China makes cheap steel?
As for drugs well do make much of them do we? Only about 4% of what we need.
Better to make a t-shirt than sit on welfare.