How dumb are Americans?

[caulfield12]

Response to Orrin Hatch:

 

Great job, guys!

 

You want to put tariffs on Chinese goods but forgot to research the fact US steel and aluminum originate from (allied) countries like Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, Mexico, South Korea and Brazil. The US is stlll a net exporter of steel, it’s aluminum that's the bigger issue.

 

Good job crashing the stock market and starting a trade war with no benefits.

 

You just made everything like cars, ships, buildings, soda cans, racquets/baseball bats, foil wrap and airplanes significantly more expensive.

 

Watch China effectively create a “double tax” on GM and Ford imports here, as you’ve already exacerbated cost-push inflation before our goods have even departed American shores.

 

Good luck American farmers in the Heartland whose agricultural exports will take the biggest initial hit.

Beijing has an array of high-profile targets for retaliation including suppliers of soybeans, the biggest American export to China. A curb on purchases could hurt farm state voters who supported Trump. "We've clearly heard from the Chinese" that soybeans "are definitely one of the largest things that could be targeted," said Jake Parker, vice president for China operations for the U.S.-China Business Council. Source: yahoo news

 

Oh, by the way, those steel and aluminum jobs aren't coming back.

 

While American steelworkers have lost 75% of their jobs from 1962 to 2005, a major study by the American Economic Assn. showed that much of this had been due to improved production technology as output per worker rose fivefold. “Thus, EVEN IF trade protectionism eventually leads to increased domestic production, increases in employment may be far less than many hoped,” a report from the highly-regarded Eonomist Magazine reported. “There are less workers needed and such threatening talk as this will not ameliorate the situation. Any new plant will have mostly robotics to do 85-90% of the jobs.”[/b]

 

But can the robots vote or buy Trump’s Chinese-produced (racist) “American Dreamer” hats for $50? Won’t that pretty much wipe out that poor WI woman’s $1.50 extra per week Paul Ryan promised?

 

Great cabinet, $5000 chairs are too cheap for Dr. Ben, flying coach/economy is beneath their collective dignity...

 

Speaking of VA Chief Shulkin’s $120,000+ UK boondoggle. “The travelers’ expenses in some cases were inadequately explained or poorly documented, investigators found.A member of the security team’s expense voucher included “an inexplicable $3,825 overpayment for airport parking and a $2,718 overpayment for lodging.” The report mentions another unusual expense: VA had official “Trip Book” itineraries printed for the entourage, 15 copies at a cost of $100 each.

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/opinion/...col-left-region

Taxpayers, You’ve Been Scammed

 

First of all, even if the process were to work as advertised, it would take a long time — probably decades. Even the most optimistic analyses suggest that there would be little effect on wages for the first few years, which means that for now what looks like a tax break for the wealthy is, in fact, a tax break for the wealthy.

 

Second, the story relies on a long chain of events with multiple weak links. For example, corporations with monopoly power won’t see lower taxes as a reason to invest more; they’ll just take the money. Meanwhile, there’s growing evidence that big employers are using their power to suppress wages; cutting their taxes won’t change that fact. So even in the long run we shouldn’t expect a lot of trickle-down.

 

But wait — weren’t there a lot of stories about companies using the tax cut to give their workers bonuses? Yes, there were — but only because the news media let themselves get played. Most of those bonuses would have happened anyway: In an economy with low unemployment, there are always some companies deciding to pay a bit more to attract workers. But companies had every incentive to pretend that the tax cut was responsible, if only to curry favor with the Trump administration.

 

And in any case the bonus hype was out of all proportion to the reality. So far, we’ve seen about $6 billion in bonuses versus more than $170 billion in stock buybacks, that is, handing money to wealthy stockholders. And money spent on buybacks is money that isn’t being invested in plants and equipment, the supposed point of the tax cut.

Edited March 2, 2018 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

For some reason, I’m getting all these weird messages about time zones, UTC, board settings, can’t even tell if a post actually there or not...delete other two.