How does the World view America these days?

S&P 500 lost $5 trillion in the past 48 hours 

I’m still learning to do the memes

  On 4/5/2025 at 2:52 AM, Rubin Farr said:

S&P 500 lost $5 trillion in the past 48 hours 

Putting aside the personal impacts, threats of invasion and general disdain for all things yankee doodle, I'm actually interested to see if the grand tariff plot works out, because it very well might, given time. The mainstream (moronic) economic line is TARIFFS BAD but it's mysteriously forgotten that all the Asian Tigers' strong manufacturing sectors were strategically developed behind thick protectionist barriers

  On 4/5/2025 at 7:57 PM, Walter Ostanek said:

Putting aside the personal impacts, threats of invasion and general disdain for all things yankee doodle, I'm actually interested to see if the grand tariff plot works out, because it very well might, given time. The mainstream (moronic) economic line is TARIFFS BAD but it's mysteriously forgotten that all the Asian Tigers' strong manufacturing sectors were strategically developed behind thick protectionist barriers

I'm not an economist, but it seems like for them to work out in the long run, they'd need to be accompanied by strategic, intelligent, and deliberate investments in manufacturing stateside. I don't trust this administration to do anything beyond just implementing and adjusting the tariffs.

  On 4/5/2025 at 11:43 PM, EdamAnchorman said:

I'm not an economist, but it seems like for them to work out in the long run, they'd need to be accompanied by strategic, intelligent, and deliberate investments in manufacturing stateside. I don't trust this administration to do anything beyond just implementing and adjusting the tariffs.

and all of that would take time. building factories, hiring and training workers, reconfiguring supply chains etc... the way they implemented these tariffs has not exactly been.. er.. thoughtful. 

disruptive economic mess that favors big corporations and wealthy people with deep pockets that can survive these kinds of things simply by absorbing the financial costs.  then the small businesses and average investors who cannot absorb these costs get bought up or go under.. so this is essentially a way for them to consolidate the market. 

but there will be lot's of consequences to all this.. 

  On 4/5/2025 at 7:57 PM, Walter Ostanek said:

Putting aside the personal impacts, threats of invasion and general disdain for all things yankee doodle, I'm actually interested to see if the grand tariff plot works out, because it very well might, given time. The mainstream (moronic) economic line is TARIFFS BAD but it's mysteriously forgotten that all the Asian Tigers' strong manufacturing sectors were strategically developed behind thick protectionist barriers

The asian economies weren’t already rich when starting protectionist policies. Their currency was also favorably valued on exchange rates. The US does not resemble Korea or Japan. And what is the target export market or will all domestic production feed consumption?

President Trump is said to be planning a military parade through Washington on his birthday. Trump wants to showcase battle tanks, aircraft and missiles on June 14, according to The Washington City Paper. The date marks the 250th anniversary of the US army and happens to coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday.

Muriel Bowser, the mayor of DC, confirmed the White House had reached out to the city’s special events task force about the plans, but said “I don’t know if it’s being characterised as a military parade.”

When a Fox News reporter told her it would start at the Pentagon and make its way down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, Bowser replied: “Okay, well then it does sound like a military parade.”

https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/donald-trump-planning-military-parade-birthday-pg393xbf2

There is no way he is not starting a war next. 

  On 4/8/2025 at 4:53 PM, hma said:

There is no way he is not starting a war next. 

it begins tomorrow:

President Donald Trump is set to impose an astounding 104% in levies across all Chinese imports on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Tuesday. This comes on top of Chinese tariffs that were in place prior to Trump’s second term.

China was already set to see tariffs increase by 34% on Wednesday as part of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs package. But the president tacked on another 50% after Beijing didn’t back off its promise to impose 34% retaliatory tariffs on US goods by noon Tuesday, adding an additional 84% in duties. Earlier Tuesday, China’s Commerce Ministry said it “firmly opposes” the additional 50% tariffs on Chinese imports, calling it “a mistake upon a mistake.” The ministry vowed to escalate its retaliation on US exports.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/08/business/trump-china-tariff/index.html

This article in Foreign Affairs from then Secretary of State Antony Blinken really shows the US progressive vision, compared ot the sad state of affairs now...

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/guest-pass/redeem/DRTtDSI-VcE

  On 4/7/2025 at 10:04 PM, Nebraska said:

President Trump is said to be planning a military parade through Washington on his birthday. Trump wants to showcase battle tanks, aircraft and missiles on June 14, according to The Washington City Paper. The date marks the 250th anniversary of the US army and happens to coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday.

Muriel Bowser, the mayor of DC, confirmed the White House had reached out to the city’s special events task force about the plans, but said “I don’t know if it’s being characterised as a military parade.”

When a Fox News reporter told her it would start at the Pentagon and make its way down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, Bowser replied: “Okay, well then it does sound like a military parade.”

https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/donald-trump-planning-military-parade-birthday-pg393xbf2

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Well he's a big admirer of North Korea, China, and Russia, all of which have some pretty stunning military parades. Birds of a feather...

Over/under on whether or not he wears a military uniform?

  On 4/5/2025 at 7:57 PM, Walter Ostanek said:

Putting aside the personal impacts, threats of invasion and general disdain for all things yankee doodle, I'm actually interested to see if the grand tariff plot works out, because it very well might, given time. The mainstream (moronic) economic line is TARIFFS BAD but it's mysteriously forgotten that all the Asian Tigers' strong manufacturing sectors were strategically developed behind thick protectionist barriers

The Asian tigers did not have thick protectionist barriers, this is a common misconception. They had strategic tariffs, this is true, but these were not key to the development of the manufacturing sectors, as all three of the Tigers underwent tariff reform in their industrialization. More importantly they emphasized the role of government in selecting industries for development and subsidizing high performers. South Korea especially did this in the heavy industries sector, with a focus on export-led industrialization. South Korea underwent tariff reform beginning in the late 1960s, which continued all the way through to the mid 90s when Korea's average tariff rate was around 7%.

More importantly though is that such a comparison is quite facile because at the time Korea, Japan, Taiwan were developing economies, not one of the world's most developed economies that derives most of its GDP from the provision of services (services have made up more than 70% of US GDP for at least 30 years).

The actions from Trump are especially stupid (I mean beyond applying tariffs to my beloved Heard and McDonald Islands) because the EU for example, the average tariff rate on goods is around 1% (73% of all goods from the US are imported at a zero-tariff rate). If the EU decides to spin up cloud services to compete with AWS for example, that would be much more harmful to the US economy.

Trump has probably been lobbied by the automotive and agricultural sectors to lower tariffs (because no one wants shitty US cars and shitty US ag products), which I think the EU will stand firm on. Canada will certainly not upset our supply management in the dairy industry, and who the fuck wants American chickens and avian flu?

Its stupidity all around, and everybody is going to be poorer because of it.

  On 4/8/2025 at 4:53 PM, hma said:

There is no way he is not starting a war next. 

War on the penguins, they think they’re better than us with their woke tuxedos.

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer 

  On 4/8/2025 at 9:11 PM, Nebraska said:

it begins tomorrow:

President Donald Trump is set to impose an astounding 104% in levies across all Chinese imports on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Tuesday. This comes on top of Chinese tariffs that were in place prior to Trump’s second term.

China was already set to see tariffs increase by 34% on Wednesday as part of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs package. But the president tacked on another 50% after Beijing didn’t back off its promise to impose 34% retaliatory tariffs on US goods by noon Tuesday, adding an additional 84% in duties. Earlier Tuesday, China’s Commerce Ministry said it “firmly opposes” the additional 50% tariffs on Chinese imports, calling it “a mistake upon a mistake.” The ministry vowed to escalate its retaliation on US exports.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/08/business/trump-china-tariff/index.html

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china claps back:

BEIJING (AP) — China announced Friday that it will raise tariffs on U.S. goods from 84% to 125% — the latest salvo in an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has rattled markets and raised fears of a global slowdown.

https://apnews.com/article/china-us-trump-tariffs-2e05057e973e1e26d1b95c5be003b4cd

allegedly, some international investors are now exiting .us assets and looking @ the swiss franc

this shit is out of control