https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/trump-tariffs-automaker-prices-warning-928bc7a9 thanks Pub lunatic leftists! When President Trump convened CEOs of some of the country’s top automakers for a call earlier this month, he issued a warning: They better not raise car prices because of tariffs. Trump told the executives that the White House would look unfavorably on such a move, leaving some of them rattled and worried they would face punishment if they increased prices, people with knowledge of the call said. Instead, Trump said, they should be grateful for his elimination of what he called former President Joe Biden’s electric-vehicle mandate, which involved subsidies and emissions requirements to encourage electric-car production. He made a lengthy pitch for how they would actually benefit from tariffs, two people on the call said, adding that he was bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. and was better for their industry than previous presidents.
Hate to say it, but this is classic fascism is it not? One could imagine Mr. Hitler convening under simiilar circumstances with Mr. Krupp, Mr. Porsche, etc. .
Everything about this is dumb. Seems like one of the basic ideas of tariffs is that they allow US producers to charge more by reducing competition…. The idea being cheaper forgoing labor doesn’t undercut US jobs and the country benefits by keeping manufacturing here stronger …. This also goes against the principle of supply of demand. Increased demand for US cars in the US should result in higher prices. Then you have the likelihood that tarriffs could harm the profitability of US cars by increase costs and demand for steel, aluminum, chips, and other parts. Car makers will either have to buy US materials and parts with higher demand and lower supply, or buy foreign with tarriffs. Either way likely increases their costs. Why even bother with tarriffs if you are not going to give American companies the benefit.
All good in the Golden Shower Age. Car makers take a haircut, investors dump their stock, pension funds get whacked, what else can go wrong?
Lots of capitalists finding out capitalism is perfectly compatible with authoritarianism (which isnt unique to any sort of ideology)
Not sure this is communism. This is economic protectionism. This policy has to lead to price controls, effectively moving the car companies to a public utility with margin and profit controls. Will severely impact exports from the US for the Big 3 reciprocal tariffs. Import cars will go up in price. Import used car repair costs will rise. Insurance costs will rise. US manufactures are protected from competition. To keep costs down, seems inevitable big 3 will move further towards automation. Labor will have more power up fr, but automation will cause more This is a vicious cycle.
Yes, fascists would attempt to place controls onto industry and bring it into the fold whereas communism would seek to flat out own industry. In practice, it's not much different other than they both strip freedom away.
Of course, but maybe I'll change my mind if there is a Business Plot conspiracy as there was against FDR. The thing about businesses are they arent democratic though, so what is their commitment to democracy as long as they continue to enrich themselves and their shareholders?
If foreign countries pay the tariffs, why would prices increase? (Yes I know and you know. It seems our president finally knows though.)
Freedom away from whom? And freedom to do what exactly? Historically business owners have aligned with fascism due to the threat of communism ... i.e. losing control of their businesses to workers. IG Farben's ownership went from anti-Nazi conservatives to pro-Nazi, and went on to make lots of money with the help of slave labor and government contracts.
People learning fast that conservativism without liberalism is just a collection of racist weirdos, fascists, monarchists, wannabe feudal lords, hustlers and opportunists. The conservatives are just rediscovering their heritage, as liberalism itself is sort of in crisis, if not failure, as its contradictions crack things up.
Our country had tariffs for more a much longer time than we had income taxes. And yes, we will still have REGULATIONS on trade with or without tariffs.
Our system needs balance to be effective. IMO, the founders knew this and created a system that is basically a sausage grinder designed to create effective policy from two extremes. When you lose that balance, you have problems. IMO, a lot of this falls on the Clintons and their (necessary given the gap in fundraising) pivot to Wall Street. This results in more common ground on economic issues (they're being paid by the same people) which leads to social issues being the primary battlefield. And we can see - crystal clear - where that has gotten us. Thus, this is how I vote. Where does the country want to go? Where does it need to go to achieve better balance and, thus, better policy?
If nobody is buying, then you have a monopoly on nothing. But, yes, there are certainly advantages, especially for certain industries. But, as a whole, they usually fail to deliver or, like China, are houses of cards waiting to come crashing down.
