Summary
Trump warned automakers not to raise prices after announcing a 25% tariff on imported vehicles starting April 3, claiming the tariffs would be “great” and benefit U.S. manufacturing.
Industry leaders, including GM, Ford, and Stellantis CEOs, expressed concerns about inevitable price increases, with experts warning tariffs could add thousands to car costs.
Auto suppliers stated that absorbing tariffs is impossible, and dealers fear affordability challenges for consumers.
While the United Auto Workers union support the move as a job creator, trade groups predict higher prices and fewer manufacturing jobs.
I’m starting to think that this guy might not understand how economies work.
But he had the best bankruptcies, beautiful bankruptcies, everbody said say, many woman said “no more bankruptcies, they are too great”, believe me!
The guy owned casinos that went bankrupt. It takes a special kind of person to do that
Who was the ex member of his team that said he was in the room when people tried to explain tariffs to Trump and he clearly didn’t understand them, he just likes them based on his misunderstanding of them…
I’m sure he believes that other countries are paying the tariffs and it’s money going to the US federal coffers…
He seems to consider them in a vacuum.
“Prices rise, but that’s only a temporary problem for plebs refusing to buy American. Once US manufacturing catches up, they will buy American and all is well.”
That is of course incomplete and ignores the very real problem of manufacturing PARTS and raw resources also being affected. If not by Trumps tariffs, then by retaliatory ones from other countries. It also squashes your own export market. All of that together will leave prospective American factory bosses with a choice: Will they build a factory in the US and deal with higher prices and less customers, or will they build a factory in India, where they can export to every country on this planet (except the US but who cares) and have quick and cheap access to Chinese and Russian raw resources and a cheap labor pool?
Or will they simply wait four years because they figure that it won’t keep going on…
There are too many steps in that chain of reasoning (more than one) to resemble anything that goes through Trump’s so-called mind. He doesn’t understand comparative advantage, he doesn’t understand global trade, he doesn’t understand what happens when tariffs are imposed. Although he probably doesn’t know the word, he probably thinks autarky works.
His handlers want him to impose tariffs because they damage world trade and put stress on economic alliances like the EU. And whose bloodthirsty imperialist plans would benefit from a weaker EU?
I learned a new word today because of you, thanks!
He doesn’t have to. The goal of Trump is simple: exert power. He doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process so long as his base sees him as their God (intentionally using the capital G here).
And if his decrees don’t have the expected results, it’s someone else’s fault.
Yeah and the worst part? People will probably still will vote overwhelmingly republican. If you’re gonna be dumb you gotta be tough i guess…
So basically government price fixing. Isn’t USA supposed to be the pillar of libertarian capitalism?
Libertarian police
I was shooting heroin and reading “The Fountainhead” in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief.
“Bad news, detective. We got a situation.”
“What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?”
“Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars’ worth of bitcoins.”
The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. “What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?”
“Not yet. But mark my words: we’re going to figure out who did this and we’re going to take them down … provided someone pays us a fair market rate to do so.”
“Easy, chief,” I said. “Any rate the market offers is, by definition, fair.”
He laughed. “That’s why you’re the best I got, Lisowski. Now you get out there and find those bitcoins.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m on it.”
I put a quarter in the siren. Ten minutes later, I was on the scene. It was a normal office building, strangled on all sides by public sidewalks. I hopped over them and went inside.
“Home Depot™ Presents the Police!®” I said, flashing my badge and my gun and a small picture of Ron Paul. “Nobody move unless you want to!” They didn’t.
“Now, which one of you punks is going to pay me to investigate this crime?” No one spoke up.
“Come on,” I said. “Don’t you all understand that the protection of private property is the foundation of all personal liberty?”
It didn’t seem like they did.
“Seriously, guys. Without a strong economic motivator, I’m just going to stand here and not solve this case. Cash is fine, but I prefer being paid in gold bullion or autographed Penn Jillette posters.”
Nothing. These people were stonewalling me. It almost seemed like they didn’t care that a fortune in computer money invented to buy drugs was missing.
I figured I could wait them out. I lit several cigarettes indoors. A pregnant lady coughed, and I told her that secondhand smoke is a myth. Just then, a man in glasses made a break for it.
“Subway™ Eat Fresh and Freeze, Scumbag!®” I yelled.
Too late. He was already out the front door. I went after him.
“Stop right there!” I yelled as I ran. He was faster than me because I always try to avoid stepping on public sidewalks. Our country needs a private-sidewalk voucher system, but, thanks to the incestuous interplay between our corrupt federal government and the public-sidewalk lobby, it will never happen.
I was losing him. “Listen, I’ll pay you to stop!” I yelled. “What would you consider an appropriate price point for stopping? I’ll offer you a thirteenth of an ounce of gold and a gently worn ‘Bob Barr ‘08’ extra-large long-sleeved men’s T-shirt!”
He turned. In his hand was a revolver that the Constitution said he had every right to own. He fired at me and missed. I pulled my own gun, put a quarter in it, and fired back. The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.
“All right, all right!” the man yelled, throwing down his weapon. “I give up, cop! I confess: I took the bitcoins.”
“Why’d you do it?” I asked, as I slapped a pair of Oikos™ Greek Yogurt Presents Handcuffs® on the guy.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Afraid?”
“Afraid of an economic future free from the pernicious meddling of central bankers,” he said. “I’m a central banker.”
I wanted to coldcock the guy. Years ago, a central banker killed my partner. Instead, I shook my head.
“Let this be a message to all your central-banker friends out on the street,” I said. “No matter how many bitcoins you steal, you’ll never take away the dream of an open society based on the principles of personal and economic freedom.”
He nodded, because he knew I was right. Then he swiped his credit card to pay me.
Still one of the absolutely best things I’ve ever read; always reread in full.
So basically government price fixing.
Not even. He’s not doing anything to prevent prices from going up. He’s just whining at businesses for refusing to cut their margins to fund his government.
Isn’t USA supposed to be the pillar of libertarian capitalism?
It’s funny. There’s a couple of think thanks - the Fraiser Institute, the Hoover Institute, in collaboration with the CATO Institute - that are constantly putting out papers saying how America hasn’t gone Libertarian Capitalist enough. Historically, the two places in the world they consider “Most Libertarian” have been Hong Kong and Singapore.
However, over the last decade, they’ve been forced to delist both of these locations as Chinese business investment flooded in and American financial interests were shoved out. So now their new favorite spots are Switzerland, New Zealand, Luxembourger, and Ireland. Incidentally, these institutes are filling up with White Nationalists and other ultra-orthodox Christian Conservatives who refuse to acknowledge any country with brown people in it might have civil or economic liberties. The current issue of their annual newsletter blames a great deal of this shift on pandemic response and subsequent economic relief during the downturn. But there’s plenty of ink spilled denouncing any country that’s breaking away from the MAGA mindset, particularly Canada, China, and Mexico.
As our relationships with the BRICS and the various Latin American, African, and Southeast Asian states have deteriorated, our ability to recognize them as free and liberal have decayed alongside them. And the criticisms internally ebb and flow with the state of domestic politics - Obama ushering in a low-watermark for American liberty, for instance.
Funny story.
A while back someone posed a question online. They wanted to know why all Socialist countries fail? I answered that they don’t; look at Canada. They told me that I was a fool, because the Heritage Foundation had showed that Canada was freer than the USA. I asked why we shouldn’t have Canadian style health care? They never got back to me.
Reminded because of the folks you cited.
removed by mod
Cool little story and all, but Canada is the furthest thing away from socialist.
Socialism is not when the government does stuff. And the more stuff it does, it doesn’t get more socialist. Even if it does A LOT of stuff, it still won’t be communism.
Socialism/communism is the method and path through which the working class will liberate itself. It’s the death of classes and class struggle through the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Where did you get the impression that the Marxist definition of socialism was even relevant here? Bringing philosophical jargon into colloquial conversations is basically trolling at this point since philosophical/social studies jargon often use words that have zero semantic overlap with their colloquial counterpart.
Proselytize all you want but if you “um akshully” socialism in a colloquial conversation you will look like an unwashed cave troll at best.
You know, I really don’t care how you define the system as long as it works.
I have been people argue about ‘socialism’ vs. ‘social democracy’ vs ‘communism’ since I was in grade school and none of it has done a drop of good for anyone whatsoever.
While people on the Left are wasting time arguing, the people on the Right are voting. They are the ones who keep winning because they keep their eyes on the prize.
Donald Trump is literally throwing people in jail for speaking out, and expanding the Gaza genocide right now, and you’re focusing on how I define 'socialism.
I have been people argue about ‘socialism’ vs. ‘social democracy’ vs ‘communism’ since I was in grade school and none of it has done a drop of good for anyone whatsoever.
If you’re unable to clearly define your terms, you’re unable to think correctly. Knowing what you’re talking about is a good in and of itself.
the people on the Right are voting
That voting is a downstream consequence of a long program of mass manipulation and propaganda, backed with voter-suppression measures. Unless you address that root cause, lecturing people about not voting is a pointless distraction.
and you’re focusing on how I define 'socialism
Making a couple posts didn’t take long, and education is part of the process. There can be no revolution without revolutionary consciousness. If you become capable of thinking more clearly, maybe you’ll someday be in a position to affect events in a more constructive way.
You know, I really don’t care how you define the system as long as it works.
You never answered the main point.
More precisely, to use Marx’s definition: socialism is when workers own and fully control the means of production.
Government services: not socialism, no worker ownership or control.
State capitalism (like China and the former USSR): not socialism, no worker ownership or control.
Historically, the closest things we’ve seen to socialism so far are worker-owned co-operatives and city- or provincial-level anarcho-syndicalist systems such as the Spanish Anarchists before the fascists murdered them. Some grassroots movements like Podemos and Occupy have also attempted to implement such systems, with brief and limited success.
Again going back to Marx, he expected socialism to be an emergent phenomenon as late capitalism in the most advanced economies becomes unsustainable (he didn’t anticipate the transition from feudalism to state capitalism in Russia and China, or its leaders fraudulently calling it socialism). You’ll see more attempts to implement worker ownership and control, and you’ll see those who get fat off the existing system do everything they can to smack those attempts down. That’s where we are now. Then there will be a sort of phase transition that might take the form of a revolution or might be a less brutal change.
Now, whether Marx and his successors are correct in his prediction, only time will tell.
Trading through coercion.
Aka the mafia … backed by muscle and violence
Do as we say … or you’re going to have some trouble with your knees … you don’t want trouble with your knees do you? … wouldn’t want to have an accident with your knees
Awful nice automotive industry you got here. Be a damn shame if a training accident dropped some bombs on your factory. A real shame, it’d be.
backed by muscle and violence
Also every existing state.
Extortion.
It never has been. US capitalism has always been the kind that actually exists in the wild: corrupt, subsidy-consuming, protected by regulatory capture, and inextricably entangled with the workings of the government.
Libertarians’ ideas of what capitlalism is fail to reflect any historical situation anywhere, since their simplistic models fail to consider second-order effects, non-linearities and human nature. But coupling with other systems is inevitable, and there is no economics that exists independently of politics. Karl Marx got a lot of things wrong, but he knew that key fact.
Is that… is that a portrait of Reagan on the wall behind him? The man has no concept of irony…
It feels so gross upvoting a picture and quote from Reagan.
you’re upvoting an even worse than Reagan meme
Truth is truth, no matter the source.
Agreed. But this is a stopped clock situation, and the sentiment is not wrong.
When you look at the context of the quote, he was cynically using those words to defend a great injustice.
I felt pretty gross posting it, so, ya know, fair enough.
It’s not just irony he has no knowledge of history. He know that Reagan said that. All he knows is that Reagan has an R beside his name and maybe possibly the words trickle down economics.
He know that Reagan said that.
Since we’re talking about Trump I am 100% confident you are wrong on that.
He doesn’t care about R, just ego.
Reagan also never used the words trickle down economics. Nor would pretty.much anyone Trump talks to. He wouldn’t associate Reagan with that either.
I’m going to guess from context that they meant to write ‘doesn’t know’, but…
May Reagan burn in hell.
Especially because that quote was to counter pressure to say that trade relations were invalid if one party wasn’t protecting the environment and human rights (for example, by imposing slave-labor conditions on factory workers).
Oh 100% agreed, Reagan was a piece of shit, I just find it hilarious that Trump reveres a man who spoke openly against exactly what he’s doing.
Trump: worship me
Auto makers: you literally fucked us all over.
Trump: and I expect you to thank me for it.
At least they’re wearing suits, am I right?
There’s no way for carmakers to absorb tariffs AND increase jobs with the reduced revenue.
They can, they’ll just go out of business. Puts them at a huge competitive disadvantage relative to asian and European car makers.
The best they can do is probably close their Canadian/Mexican plants if the losses are too great, which would increase unemployment in those areas for not only the automotive factories, but also the ones for the automotive suppliers. Even if a Chinese company swoops in to buy the factories, it’d take time to set things up.
Can you say “economic collapse”.
The trump regime was designed to TANK the US economy so that stocks, businesses, and industries can be bought by billionaires at rock bottom prices.
All is going according to plan.
100% agree, this is a coordinated attack on the US by bad faith actors willing to sell a society into bondage for personal gain. They want to make themselves techno-pharoes, in my opinion.
This is something people forget a lot because everyone gets consumed by latest bullshit drama pop political news.
yup he is helping russia make US go bankrupt. Trump has talent in bankrupting his companies.
He’s such an abysmally bad politician. Bungler. He’s ruining the country.
He’s supposed to be a businessman. How can he not understand that business doesn’t work like that?
He is a businessman, but there was always debate about whether he was a good businessman. Judging by his casinos going bankrupt, I would consider him bad. Also see trump steaks, or trump university.
He’s more of a conman, who fails at business.
He’s still conning the suckers…
Is he really tho:
“Details About the 6 Trump Corporate Bankruptcies”
He was never a good businessman, though.
If he hadn’t started with inherited wealth, he would never have been able to get to where he is.
Probably achieved a lot of stuff by bullying, or what is basically bullying.
He only got a small loan of a million dollars.
That doesn’t sound small to me.
Unless you missed a /s…
It’s a Trump quote that people started using sarcastically.
I find the small insight we are getting about him as a businessman equally interesting.
He was put in to sabotage the US both internally and globally. That doesn’t require him to be a good politician, just a relentless, brutal wrecker.
Donald Trump represents a symptom of a deeper, systemic issue within the United States: The nation is grappling with severe internal fractures.
The most important division is the extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of very few. The rich are virtually untaxed. Many of these wealthy individuals and corporations have offshored their operations, amassing revenues that surpass those of entire nations.
This economic imbalance has enabled the powerful to dominate both traditional media and social media platforms. They are effectively manipulating public opinion. By exploiting the vulnerabilities of an under-educated populace, this influence has undermined democratic processes.
I fully agree. The next step that hopefully doesn’t come to pass is causing so much frustration and hate that it leads to riots or other forms of attack. When that happens, he is going to call marshall law and take control as a dictator. Scary time to live in America.
Marshall law
Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties may be suspended for as long as martial law continues.
At this point, I am surprised he hasn’t ordered the treasury department to just mint more cash.
That will come. He’ll also stop payments on Treasury Bonds. Not paying agreed upon obligations is his MO in business.
I think that’s what happened to Nazi Germany, so just wait a little while.
Meanwhile, prepare to barter.
I cannot wait for that fat bastard to die. Plenty of much better, useful, kinder, loved, younger people die every day. Why can’t we have some fucking justice?
Im worried that at this point, for all the destruction and permanent damage hes done, that we may just need him to stick around and break more things.
If he kicks off tomorrow, we could have this happen again. It all gets washed under the rug and hes replaced with more subtle powers. It only took 4 years for the majority of the usa to forget the first round of damage he caused, after all.
But then again, if he lasts too long, we risk never recovering.
There is a sick, nihilistic balance to all this now imo. I want a guarantee that we dont slip down this road again. And unfortunately more pain may be the only way to guarantee it for the next few generations.
I feel dirty even saying it. But in my gut, i believe it.
I think that’s a form of accelerationism, but I am less sceptical of that position than I used to be. Trump has shown what the system is capable of once the mask is stripped off. Many of the horrors of Trump’s misrule are matters of degree, not of kind. Under the veneer of gentility, noeliberal capitalism was just as rapacious as it is now, inequality was growing rapidly, and US imperialist interference with other countries, including giving support to genocide, was carried out even without Trump’s foul presence.
Is ot worse now? Yes, in every way. But will restoring status quo ante be sufficient to stop the rot? No, which is one explanation for the popular revulsion not only at MAGA, but alos at the mainstream Democratic Party’s gormless money-grubbing lip service.
That’s the sam brownback concept, but even though he was so terrible Kansas switched to a democratic governor they still voted Republican federally. So it’s not like the real maga people will ever be contrite, they’ll just blame people who hindered trump no matter what.
Yeah i think we will soon be far along enough that my personal feelings about this, in comparison to a random unpopular kansas govenor, are irrelevant and not a fair comparison. Its hardly a fair comparison right now.
I had to look up brownback tbh.
The “sam brownback concept” isnt a thing. But there are real examples of the yoyo slinging back hard enough to hit someone in the face and make them reconsider letting out the string again.
It was a case where they really let him put all the conservative tax policies in place and do everything he wanted and it went terribly. Rachel Maddow covered it pretty thoroughly.
I understand what you are saying. But i believe that it is not really representative of what is happening or needs to happen to the usa as a whole.
Brownback just wasnt strong enough of a virus to build immunity to this sickness.
He may have been an slight inoculation for some people, but the immune system as a whole went on and then forgot about the weak virus.
what is happening now is a bigger bug. Lets just hope the fever doesnt kill us.
No.
My fear during the first Trump was that he would be followed by someone who learned his lessons but wasn’t an infinite man-child.
That partly happened, his handlers are far more efficient now.
This train ain’t got no stops mow.
Only problem is if he does before the next US election JD Vance will take over and that could be just as bad
It would be worse but JD doesn’t have the cult of personality behind him. More repubs would speak out against JD pulling this. It wouldn’t be as effective.
Ugh, I hate this timeline, where a whole lot of people, countries, and organizations are trying to avoid incurring the wrath of a complete dipshit and total baby named donvict.
So America is great again right? Right?
It’s so great right now, and it’s only becoming even more great. It’s incredible how great it is.
Why’s he so utterly obsessed with tariffs? Like he thinks they just fix everything. It’s so stupid.
Trump is not nearly as smart as people seem to think he is.
I 100% guarantee you that someone in his inner circle has convinced him that tariffs fix everything and it’s now the entirety of his economic playbook.
It also hurts America and alienates us from our allies, which is what his puppet master wants, so two birds/one stone.
I mean he’s essentially just following project 2025. They clearly didn’t want him to think too much this time around.
I don’t know, I feel like if he was dumber than most people thought he would be vegetative.
He had to learn that even a president doesn’t have absolute power to rule. And he’s intellectually incapable of drafting and passing proper laws. Therefore, he uses decrees and tariffs, tools that even a teenager could use. His actions reveal that he does not really understand the complexity of society or the economy.
Trump’s thing are 1:1 negotiations, like with Putin. He’s all about making a deal personally and people gushing over how great of a deal he made. Unfortunately he’s not nearly as good as he thinks he is.
Tariffs are meant as his opening power move, like the used car salesman’s firm handshake. Same (I hope…) as the fuckery on Canada or Greenland. They are the “I am strong and I want something, let’s sit and negotiate”.
Problem is that the used car salesman only has two outcomes: customer buys the clunker or customer walks away. But it rarely happens that “customer is strong-armed into buying the clunker but customer is fire-fighter and next time will let the car dealership burn down”.
Unfortunately he’s not nearly as good as he thinks he is.
Let’s be clear about it: he’s absolutely worthless at it.
And to those who adhere to the lazy “Trump is always transactional” pseudo-explanation: Trump is never transactional when it comes to Putin. The words you’re looking for in that case are “consistently, predictably servile.” And I wouldn’t call his multiple divide-and-rule extortion schemes “negotiations” either. He’s just seeing how much he can get away by strong-arming weaker nations or organisations.
The list of allies is not that long at the moment.
The list of allies is not that long at the moment.
And continues to shrink every time he opens his mouth.
Usually, it takes Congress to agree on something to raise taxes on the working class. With tariffs, he can do it by himself like a real dictator would.
Keep in mind that Congress delegated that power to the President, and (if they were ever to become vertebrates) they could rescind that power too.
The government takes the increase at import from the importer. He’s the government. He’s telling them he’s keeping the money that he inserted himself into the supply chain.
Like it’s probably going to his personal bank account.
Like he thinks they just fix everything.
Like those who pull his strings know that tariffs are an effective means of economic sabotage.
Isn’t the narrative that he’s jacking up Tariffs to remove the income tax? Like how it used to be 100 years ago or some shit.
He’s using the money to pay for the impending wars he’s trying to start.
He’s using the money to pay for the impending wars he’s trying to start.
Or the wars that he’s going to accidentally start.
In addition to what others have said, he also enjoys the direct power it gives him over corporate leaders. He wants to coerce them into subservience so they have to kiss his ass and be nice to him. Tariffs give him something to hold over their heads.
Keep this up and we might even get to see America starting a state-run car company. This’ll be great to watch. 🍿
Yeah, but instead of getting Volkswagen or Lada, we’ll get
Tesla, or more likely Trump Cars (shudders)
A cyber truck with a bad blonde toupee?
Capitalism at work, shithead. Get fucked
So, now when the automotive manufacturers inevitably raise their prices, he can point and whine “but I told them not to, see it’s their fault”. And the foaming masses will blindly follow the pied piper off the cliff, further into fascism. I hate how fucking predictable this is becoming. It’s like a terrible abc sitcom. Only it’s scary real life.
