Oh yeah, this is going to end well. 😮
Hold on to your seats, folks, we’re on the front row of history for, as the Chinese might say, “interesting times”.
Narcissist challenges culture ingrained with the concept of “saving face” to perform humiliating retreat
by slimboyfat 14 Replies latest social current
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BoogerMan
Can you imagine the closures of U.S. electrical goods retailers and the inevitable mass unemployment?
Then again, it may create countless small businesses devoted to repairing appliances, as people learn to stop living in a disposable culture.
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slimboyfat
I think Trump is picking on the wrong people here. If any country has the ability to stand their ground it’s China. They can just sell their goods elsewhere. America may be the largest economy, but it’s in relative decline, and there are plenty of other markets out there. It might be painful but China could survive. In fact they, and other countries might just see it as the wake up call they needed to move beyond US hegemony.
The worrying thing is that whereas the US is in decline economically, it still has the largest military by orders of magnitude with bases round the globe. They may simply pursue “politics by other means”, as war of domination is sometimes described.
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Diogenesister
I have to say I do wish we would stop buying from a country that brings cheap, often pointless products over the sea in tankers that do the majority of the worlds polluting.....
As another poster says we all should start repairing things more etc & manufacture more at home. Train up our own people to design & build, too, although I appreciate that takes time.
One thing I like is that in my country Brits have gotten a lesson in just what a poor state their country is in & how we don't have the ability to be acting like Charlie Big Potatoes anymore. The only reason we get a seat at the table is because we're seem as so stable - which worries me because it means the establishment will fight to the death to prevent any new political party/parties from being formed & gaining power... especially one that might upset the apple cart & put the British working classes first for once.
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TonusOH
I'm curious to see where it all goes. So far, there has been a pattern: Trump threatens tariffs, the target of the threat puffs up its chest and makes threats in return... and then steps back and asks to sit down and talk. China decided to raise the stakes, and Trump is holding his ground. It's basically a game of chicken, and it should tell us a lot about where each nation really believes that it stands economically.
The USA is insanely wealthy and --in spite of our constant attempts to set fire to our own future-- still buys a heck of a lot of things from around the world, which helps other nations to keep money flowing in. It's no accident that there has been such an unbalance in tariffs all this time-- the default setting, as it were, heavily favors the US. Trump is seeking to upset that balance, which will happen one way or another with effects that won't be seen right away (aside from predictable stock market fluctuations).
Thus, the question is... do the economists who are advising him know what they are doing, or are they in for a very painful lesson? They have a fairly short time to learn and --if necessary-- correct course, if they want to avoid a rebalancing of congressional control in 2026.
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Anony Mous
Somehow the US survived the Cold War without ever trading with the USSR. China has gone down the same path as the USSR, developing nuclear weapons and increasingly hostile to the world and the EU and US keep feeding the beast.
China needs the world more to keep its economy afloat. Under Trump 1 many factories moved their production out of China already due to threats of tariffs, Biden kept the tariffs in place. Their housing market crashed as a result, the rest of the world was fine.
Nobody should need China or Russia. If the EU needs them then they’ve screwed up royally and will bear the pain. Meanwhile my gas prices have dropped below $3/gallon again. Groceries are slowly dropping in price, they moved about -0.5% in the last 4 months, despite Bidenflation in the market still having its effect. Remember when they shot up by 2% per month after Biden got into office? Nobody was concerned back then? Nobody was concerned when China said they had the ability to shut down the export of critical medication? Nobody was concerned when Russia dictated to the EU the prices on oil and gas?
Despite all the news outlets squawking about what MAY and LIKELY and POTENTIALLY happen, none of this has realized yet. The markets are correcting for massive inflation and cash printing from the feds over the past 4 years, but it is not affecting the common person. While federal employment has gone down significantly, so is unemployment, meaning all those fired federal workers are creating jobs in the private sector, under Biden it was the reverse, more federal workers than ever and unemployment rose.
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Balaamsass2
The news has been a train wreck this year. I keep looking for historical parallels to get some insight, which is distressing. Ancient Rome and the first Ceasars? Nero? 1930s USA, isolationists, protectionisim and the rise of fascisim? It is perplexing.
A few minutes ago Trump announced South Korea was flying in to cut a deal and the Markets rebounded on just the chance of good news.
The one ray of hope is Trump's desire to be worshiped by his working class followers and be buddies with fellow billionaires and captains of industry. All these multi-millionaires understand business and markets and want to make MORE money...and will kiss butt if needed.
The Chinese? They have always had periods of revolt and revolution and eventually will need to bow to internal economic pressures. I simply hope they don't react to tariffs the way the Japanese did in the 1930s and start a war.
Fingers crossed, while tightening our belts.....
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Balaamsass2
""Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
So since we have no control of world macro-economics, what can we do individually to prosper?
During prohibition my 2 grandfathers took took different paths...with different results.
My paternal grandfather, left the farm for a secure government job, and became a Nashville cop.
He retired to a small rural house and rode out the 1930s storm.
My other Grandfather built a still, and made a small fortune during prohibition on weekends. He paid cash for his home, and bought a rental for cash as well.
He wasted no time reading the news....he couldn't read. When prohibition ended, he rolled all profits into a farm outside of Stanford U. "kids got to eat". He lived very well from selling food, and chucks of farmland for the rest of his life.
In the little time left on this planet (for me) I am interested on how to profit from all the current turmoil. :)
Any ideas?
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DesirousOfChange
If you have the cash, real estate may be going cheap if there is a recession (or worse).
"Buy land. They aren't making any more of it." ~ Mark Twain
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Rivergang
it still has the largest military by orders of magnitude with bases round the globe.
That, too, is now being challenged by China.
In terms of manpower, the Chinese armed forces are the largest in the world, with over 2,000,000 active service personnel, plus a reserve force of some 500,000. (In terms of numbers, the USA comes in at third place - behind both India and China).
China has the largest navy in the world, with a current strength of 370 ocean-going ships - plus a coastal defence fleet of almost as many vessels. Furthermore, its ship building capacity is estimated as being some 270 times as great as that of the US. Not surprisingly then, its navy is still rapidly growing in size, with most of its ships having been built since 2010 (versus just 10% of the US Navy's ships). This navy has also demonstrated its growing global capability. Over the last several months, we in Australia have been reminded enough about that; with Chinese warships carrying out exercises (including live firing drills) just outside of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone. Like the pre-WWI Imperial German Navy, that of China consists of a fleet of very modern warships. About the only edge the US Navy still has is its extensive, worldwide network of bases.
While the USA and Russia still have far more nuclear weapons than anybody else (each with over 5,000 devices at their disposal), the 600 odd nuclear weapons which China has are still enough to pose a serious threat. And just like its navy, China is rapidly building up its nuclear arsenal. The "missile gap" is closing at a rapid rate of knots!
America would now need to be cautious when assuming military superiority over China.
You know the old story about the word "assume"?
To ASSUME has a habit of making an ASS out of U and ME