[hrothgar]

thepossum, on 2025-April-09, 05:42, said:

Apparently the country that exported infected blood products to the UK and others for years is about to bully Australia again and target our blood production industry

Seriously. You want a disgusting free for all to push all your dirty pharma. What happened to MAHA. Push all your unwanted rubbish on the rest of the world

And yes that is a libertarian position sick of bullying fascist corporate state like USA putting profit and power ahead of professionalism

But we all know despite the wonderful quality of much US products and services how the fascist military complex and corporations has undermined quality in everything. From academe to everything. And feeding those myths to an insular MAGA for so long even those pushing them believe they are great. Great ay destroying trust built up over so many decades

We are supposed to take it silently are we
Most are too stupid gutless grovelling or owned to call it out for what it is

Some of us even had misguided hope in the disruption of MAHA. But no. You never can trust a corporate fascist state fo care for their own people let alone the world

Is that too libertarian for you Richard

And for me as you may or may not know the fascist disregard by corporate interests and state interests destroyed my life in very cruel ways. It seems almost everyone is owned by that complex

Possum, as I have said several times before, I think that you are mentally ill.

I don't expect any kind of consistent positions from you, rather, I expect you to lurch from one extremist type of idiocy or another based on either which way the winds are blowing or which your meds you are skipping...

[markmce]

Brilliantly done, sir!

[kenberg]

I have been hoping the voting public could have an effect on our policies.

Now that some tariffs have been temporarily suspended, DT explained that this was, in part, because people were getting yippy. Ah so.

Back in 1955 one of my favorite high school teachers, Mr. Tieghe, taught a course on civics. A very good course but Mr. T overlooked the importance of yippiness. There is still a lot that needs doing so I will work on my yippiness.

We must all do what we can.

[jillybean]

Did anyone buy in the dip?

[kenberg]

jillybean, on 2025-April-10, 08:33, said:

Did anyone buy in the dip?

Well, not me. I went for my first roller coaster ride when I was 12 and I just held on for dear life. I was in the frontmost seat and this was before they had seatbelts. At least with the roller coaster I could look ahead and see when the next rise and the next drop was coming. Better than now.

[kenberg]

Saying that I have a weak understanding of international economics is like saying that I have a weak understanding of avant garde art. No one will disagree.

But a simple question:

If two countries impose a 125% tariff on each pther's goods, will this not bring trade between the two countries to a screching halt? And I do not mean slow it down, halt means halt.

I am also thinking that expressing extreme contempt for the people and the governments of other countires won't go all that well either, but for now I am asking if there will be any trade at all between the US and China after all this falls into place.

[hrothgar]

I have friends working in the administration at MIT

They are expecting a massive decrease in the number of foreign students next year.

Personally, I am glad that I got the battery on my iPhone replaced a couple months back

Kinda wish I had bought a new gaming PC

[PassedOut]

kenberg, on 2025-April-11, 07:32, said:

Saying that I have a weak understanding of international economics is like saying that I have a weak understanding of avant garde art. No one will disagree.

But a simple question:

If two countries impose a 125% tariff on each pther's goods, will this not bring trade between the two countries to a screching halt? And I do not mean slow it down, halt means halt.

I am also thinking that expressing extreme contempt for the people and the governments of other countires won't go all that well either, but for now I am asking if there will be any trade at all between the US and China after all this falls into place.

I predict a deal and, no matter the actual terms, THE BEST DEAL EVER MADE!!!!

[kenberg]

PassedOut, on 2025-April-11, 09:45, said:

I predict a deal and, no matter the actual terms, THE BEST DEAL EVER MADE!!!!

NO DOUBT!!!


In 8th grade, our class was taken to see a production of The Emperor's New Clothes. Now what brough that to mind?

[jillybean]

Who will be bold enough to shout. “He doesn’t have anything on!”

[shyams]

In my opinion, there is a full-scale war underway between the USA and China; one fought mostly on the economic and political front. It's an extremely dangerous game of chicken where both sides may well suffer long-term damage.

There is a lot of "expert commentary" on various websites about this war. Interestingly, there is some consensus that the Chinese administration is well-prepared to fight it out. For example, they seem to be dumping 10-year & 30-year US Treasuries (at a loss). Their calculation seems to be that the cost of such an action will be significantly higher for the US Govt.

I may be wrong but surely your Legislature has powers to intervene in such situations. It is terrifying that both the House & the Senate are not taking up bills or calling for hearings aimed at controlling the tariff actions.

[johnu]

shyams, on 2025-April-11, 10:49, said:

I may be wrong but surely your Legislature has powers to intervene in such situations. It is terrifying that both the House & the Senate are not taking up bills or calling for hearings aimed at controlling the tariff actions.

The Constitution gives Congress the authority to levy tariffs. Congress abdicated their responsibilities in a series of bills, and Convicted Felon Trump has just gone ahead and expanded his tariff powers in the expectation that Congress would do nothing about it. If fact, the Senate passed a resolution to limit presidential powers on tariffs in a bipartisan vote. The House did something remarkable. Democrats in the House introduced a corresponding action that ordinarily would have to be voted on in 15 calendar days.

What did the QOP MAGAts do in the House? The passed a new rule on a party line vote,

"The rule provides that each day during the period from April 9, 2025, through September 30, 2025, shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622) with respect to a joint resolution terminating a national emergency declared by the President on April 2, 2025," the rule states.

What does that mean? The period from April 9 to September 30 only counts as one day for purposes of the 15 day voting rule, so no vote has to be scheduled. Although the QOP has a majority in the House, they didn't even want to vote on this resolution, even though they could voted it down as the majority. There may have been a couple of QOP who wanted to vote for the resolution, but doing so would enrage Convicted Felon Trump, so they didn't want to vote at all. A true profile in courage.