Comment Re:Minds Explode... (Score 1) 73
You think Democrats are going to run on an open "Send all your jobs to China!" platform?
You think Democrats are going to run on an open "Send all your jobs to China!" platform?
That really only works for cars at least maybe 10-15 years old. Newer cars are packed so full of electronics and other complex hardware that can't be repaired that they're simply not going to last very long; once the manufacturer stops selling those parts, the car will be scrap once one of them breaks.
Would you rather pay a tariff's cost or pay more for products produced domestically? We will see how every company deals with this.
Tariffs are often presented as a shield for domestic industries, but economically they are counterintuitive: by limiting foreign competition, they reduce the pressure on local companies to innovate, improve efficiency, or lower costs. Without that competitive drive, businesses can stagnate, producing inferior goods and services while charging higher prices. The irony is that the domestic consumers tariffs are meant to protect end up paying more for worse products, while the broader economy loses out on the dynamism and progress that open competition usually sparks.
Suddenly reshaping supply chains to respond to tariffs carries significant risks that ripple across the economy. Companies may be forced to abandon established, efficient networks in favor of hastily arranged alternatives, which often means higher costs, logistical bottlenecks, and reduced reliability. These abrupt shifts can disrupt production schedules, strain relationships with long-term suppliers, and erode quality control. Worse, the uncertainty discourages investment in long-term innovation, as firms divert resources to short-term survival.
When unemployment is already low, suddenly finding enough workers to reconfigure supply chains in response to tariffs becomes nearly impossible without driving up labor costs. Firms must compete for scarce talent, often retraining or relocating employees, which adds further expense and delays. At the same time, the abrupt shift discards sunk costs. Prior investments in established supplier relationships, infrastructure, and logistics are thrown out before they would have been depreciated. These wasted resources are replaced by new costs for recruitment, training, and building fresh networks, all of which inevitably flow into higher prices for consumers. In effect, tariffs don’t just disrupt trade; they force companies to burn past investments while layering on new inefficiencies that must show up in the prices of goods.
I would say under-regulation, or more to the point, mal-regulation. Unregulated markets inevitably settle into a worst case scenario given time.
In the case of residential property (which is what your link refers to), I agree that some of the regulations there are bad and need to be revised or eliminated. But they have nothing to do with the commercial space falling into squalor.
My observation has been that any streaming package that includes ESPN is automatically well more than 4 times as expensive as any package without it. Perhaps the cable companies should find a way to dump ESPN and pass along the savings to remain viable.
Yup, and now the Brits seem to be flirting with the same asshole, Farange, who inflicted this on them in the first place. And their NHS is short of staff they used to get from immigrants. I suppose the Brits need to go entirely down the Dumb Ass Well, like the U.S., before they get it out of their system.
If it does become endemic, then no one has any salary to piss off on companies' offerings.
"Trump seems to like crypto - he's opened up the crypto market in the US, and so people are inevitably coming to make some money out of it."
The reason el Bunko did that was so that he could cash in. He doesn't give a flying rat's ass about anyone else. It also has foreign policy implications. Pakistan wanted tariff relief and turned to funding crypto-lobbyists because the knew el Bunko would "appreciate" their support of his scam.
There was an article on the WSJ about a week or so ago that said roughly 60 % (or it might be 40 %, memory fades) of wage earners had money in the stock market in various guises. They have been buying on the dips. That, according to this article, is what has been propping up the market. There is also froth from AI-Mania. I suspect the big boys have been feeding it thinking they are savvy enough to bail in time when it all goes pear shaped.
The small investors have been doing this for quite awhile, and as long as they continue to do this, they continue to be rewarded; at least that is their thinking. They also tend to be a resilient lot because they've weathered downturns and buying into them in the past. I cannot judge what kind stomach they will have if a real gale blows or if the article was weighing their contribution as more than it deserves.
"If there are 1000 stocks in company A that were originally sold for $1 and someone buys one share for $2, the value of the stock is now $2000 even though only $1001 were ever put into the market. "
I hope you aren't an "investment" advisor.
I think they are holding out to sell the buildings at full price.
Never gonna happen. Full price was before 10 years of decay and rodent infestation + neighborhood gone to shit. Nevertheless, high supply, low demand is supposed to result in low prices.
What a nice idea! But then the commons are not only not commons, but they become properties and whatever herdsman gets the biggest herd will buy it all up and you get a monopoly.
One, how so if the agreement is ownership in common. And two, how is it worse than it all being owned by a (land)lord who rakes in the better part of the profit while considering herding animals to be beneath him?
Sounds like you drank the cool aid.
Some of my readers ask me what a "Serial Port" is. The answer is: I don't know. Is it some kind of wine you have with breakfast?