#what do tarrifs do?

[there-goes-trouble]

Sorry for no I.D. on next link:

[thatsleepymermaid]

People keep wondering how Trump won, but honestly it's relatively easy to see. On top of the far right turn that usually takes place after disasters, there's a few other factors at play. Mainly, inflation.

The average American doesn't have a clue what's going on in their government (state or federal) or around the world. I tried talking to a local about Palestine, and she thought it was another word for Pakistan. Right now the biggest concern I've heard from my neighbors is actually groceries and gas prices.

Biden failed to address inflation, and Harris didn't have a solid plan. Neither did Trump, but Trump did say he was going to decrease prices, and the people in my rural area here remember everything being cheaper in 2017 but not much else. That includes just about every racial group present in my neighborhood. We don't have widespread Internet and most people get the news from satellite TV news, so they are uninformed about most things.

(logistics are tricky for people to keep in mind when their wallets are on the line)

On top of that, Trump promised high tax returns for many income brackets . That extra money looks awfully good if you're struggling to afford groceries right now. Regardless of if he's going to do it or not. (Prices will probably get higher because of the proposed tarrifs). People want to keep their own fed and safe, regardless of foreign affairs or civil rights. The second Trump's team announced their tax return plan I knew he was going to be elected. I'm just surprised I predicted it before Allan Lichtman.

I don't know where this post is going, but don't blame other left-leaning people for voting 3rd party or being pro-Palestine. If you really want to figure out the general consensus among average Americans, talk to your neighbors. Join a local Facebook page. Organize and build community as much as possible. We will need it in these difficult years.

[xclowniex]

To all my US followers, please vote for biden. Like I get that voting in the US is simply voting for the lesser evil and that can be demotivating, but what people don't understand is that US laws surrounding imports and exports can seriously fuck with the economys of other countries.

Like trumps tarrif policy that he is wanting to bring in, will have serious effects on the NZ economy as NZ exports to the US is a decent chunk of our exports.

Even if you think voting is a waste of time or that there won't be much difference in the US (which isn't true but ignoring that), at least vote so people in other countries do not suffer for your decision.

[lordadmiralfarsight]

Tarrifs, shmariffs, what do ?

Grrrrreeeting my dear Tumblr users, it is I, random economy oriented Tumblr User that was onces convinced his blog was gonna be about ships (and not those on water).

I come to you bringing explanations on tarriffs, what they do, what they bring and what their consequences are, since they are kind of a big topic right now, what with Trump and all. "But Mr. Rando, I already know!" you say, and I believe you, and I am proud of you, but much like in my irl class, not everyone has the same knowledge base, so even if it's a bit tedious for you, we have to cover the topic so everyone is on the same page. Alright ? Swell.

So, what is a tarriff ? A tarriff is a tax levied on importations. AKA, you buy something from out-of-country and get it into the country, you pay the tarriff. Many of you will have seen the memes and viral posts, and will triumphantly point at the part where I say the importer pay the tarriffs. And you are right to do that, it's kind of very important. It's the main point, even.

Why is it the main point ? Easy : if outside stuff cost more, inside stuff better choice. Or, in non-caveman speach : the increase in cost on foreign products and resources will either increase the competitivity of domestic products and resources, or level the playing field. At least that's the idea.

"So", I hear you ask, "are you going to be the Nth user here to tell us that tarriffs are going to fuck the average US citizen over? Because we already know that."

Well, yes, but also know. Also, I'm not sure you have the nuance on the topic, and I do love me some tasty, tasty nuance. And custard. But alas, custard is not the topic of today. Economic nuance is. Now, onto the topic :

The main question to ask here is "what is getting hit by the tarriffs ?" Because the impact will vary a lot depending on what gets hit. To give a simplified framework, there's 3 types of economic goods : raw resources, transformed goods and finished products.

Raw resources are ... raw. Iron ore, lumber, clay, wheat grain, lithium ore, water, dirt, raw oil, you get the idea. Those resources tend to have razor thin profitability margins, because so much is produced.

So, what would be the goal of tarriffs on raw resources ? Well, that would be protecting or developping in-country extraction/production facilities, whether those be mines, farms, fishing fleet or lumber mills.

And that's where a tiny little factor comes into play : economic viability, AKA whether a given activity in a specific region is economically interesting.

Like I said, raw resources tend to have razor thin profitability margins, this means that overwhelmingly, raw resources are extracted in regions that allow lower costs.

Some of those costs can be reduced in costlier economies, like environmental or safety costs, with some good ol' deregulation ... up to a point. Even the notoriously protest-averse USA would face some degree of protests if all safety regulations disappeared and industrial accidents jumped 5000%. Poorer countries tend to be more lax on those regulations, and/or not really enforce them, or both.

On the other hand, there are costs that can't be reduced all that much in a given economy, like the cost of manpower. Due to the cost of living, there's a limit to how low you can go with your offered wages. For instance, offering $12 a day in the USA will yield fuck all in terms of recruitment, but $6 a day in the poorer parts of Africa will cause a flash mob of eager-to-work candidates.

And these are the two big factors of the equation : can the reducible costs be lowered enough that the irreducible costs aren't that much of an issue anymore ? And when the answer is inevitably no, can the tarriffs bridge the gap ? Well, uh ... that's gonna depend a lot. But overall, I would lean more on "no". African iron will be cheaper than US iron every day for the foreseeable future, unless you impose a fucking ungodly amount of tarriffs.

Some resources that cost more will see better results from tarriffs, but far from all. Like, tarriffs on iron, copper, tin, etc ? Bad idea. Tarriffs on helium, lithium or other rarer and costlier resources ? Could protect or help the national production indutry.

In the cases where, even with tarriffs, outside product remain more competitive, there's just going to be an increase in cost down the line, and wealth is just going to exist the country more. In the cases where the inside product becomes more-or-as competitive, then perhaps wealth can remain in the country and help the economy. But, well, we'll get to it later.

Raw resources, done. Two more to go.

Transformed goods (henceforth TG for simplicity) ! They are everywhere and they make up the bulk of international trade. Phone parts ? TGs. Flour ? TG, mostly. Tires ? Eyup, TGs. Radars ? TG. Ink? Oh you bet it's a TG.

So, what would be the aim of tarriffs on TGs? Protecting national industry, giving it room to develop or maybe even forcing multinationals to relocate/create the industry inside the country.

So, TGs are where globalization starts clashing really, really bad with tarriffs. Because you see, with globalization, there's been a global dispatching of production facilities. So you'll have part A that's produced in Italy with resources from Greece, part B that's made in Australia with Indonesian resources, part C that's made in Brazil with stuff from Zambia, etc.

the funky stuff happens when you need to combine parts A and C in a US plant, but then have to send the result over to Mexico to weld part B on top. And then you have to get it back into the US. Double tarrifs, you say? Yepperino, my dear student, double tarrifs. On this incredibly simplified exemple. Imagine what that looks like when there's 3 or 4 more parts involved.

At that point the question is : is it cheaper to pay the tarriff conga line or to just send the US parts of the production line overseas ?

"That sounds like the opposite of the stated goal" you say, with the blazé impassivity of someone that saw it coming a hundred miles away. Yes, yes it does. That's why tarriffs have to be manipulated very, very carefully, especially on transformed goods and intermediate steps of the production process, because it can stack up real fast, real bad.

Sometimes though, paying the tarriff conga line IS the better option, especially for sensitive processes that require a well-trained workforce with in-depth theoretical knowledge of very specific fields and access to training for cutting-edge machines, which is only found in the United Staaaaa ... what do you mean, Europe ?

So yeah, very sensitive, tarriff with care. And in either case, expect cost increases, which WILL be recouped with increased sale prices, leading to a domino effect.

And now, the finished products. The end of the line. The consumer targeted stuff. What you buy online and in shops.

What's the aim of tarriffs here ? Same as before, protect native industry, give it room to develop and force multinationals to relocate the production plant into the country.

At this level, you'll see similar considerations as with the TGs, with one tiny added funky detail : the costs of the two previous steps pile up here. Indeed, the tarriffs on TGs and raw ressources are liable to eat up the profit margins of the finished products, and since profit margins are sacred and must be preserved at all costs, well the simple solution is to simply increase the price of the end product in proportion to the other cost increases. And that means shit costs more for people.

"Well, that's awful" you say, and you are right. But we're getting started. It's time for another trip through early 2000s deviantart, say it with me : INFLATION !!! Except instead of your favourite character being turned into a balloon, we're talking about the content of your wallet losing value. And it's going to hit every industry that has to suffer those tarriffs. At which point the entirety of society faces a dillemma : do we increase salaries accross the board (with the associated widespread price increases) or are we chill with a global reduction in the amount of shit people can buy ?

And that's where it starts getting funky (derogatory, fear inducing), because if enough industries are hit with tarriffs, either choice is bad.

Increase salaries ? You speed up inflation and reduce confidence in your money, making exports admitedly more interesting but imports far less so, and when you are a globalized economy where there are imports everywhere at various levels, it gets spiky really fast.

Going the "tough luck fucko" route ? Well first off, rude, second off : congratulations, you are reducing the overall economic activity in your country, creating unemployment and poverty, reducing confidence in your economy and, if things go really, really poorly, starting a recession (WHOOOOO!!! Who wants to sleep under a bridge ?).

Now, is this a doomer prophecy ? No. No it's not. We have to keep in mind that systems, including economic systems, can adjust their course after starting in a new direction. It's rather unlikely that everything will consistently go bad in the worst way possible. But.

A lot of that is dependant on precision political decision-making, and the person soon-to-be in charge of these decisions in the USA has made it clear that he does not intend to listen to outside opinions or do precision. And considering his last go at it, I believe him. So I'm not optimistic. I don't think the US economy will collapse, that would be absurd, but I don't see the US having a good time either.

It's going to be very, very complicated, and it will depend a LOT on what fields are actually affected, in what proportions, etc.

And keep in mind, I haven't even talked about retaliatory tarriffs (from the people whose products you put tarriffs on). Or political tensions inside the US, that's something I don't feel qualified to talk about. Or the non-economic effects on geopolitics. Or the effects on the global economy.

If I had to make a prediction, I would guess that quite a few production lines will be reorganized to either have long stretches inside the USA or to be entirely divorced from them for as long as possible. Some products may become economically non-viable when it comes to the USA. Some US companies may find themselves no longer economically viable due to reliance on tarriff-affected outside goods and resources. It's hard to guess how large the impact will be, but there WILL be an impact, and most of it will likely be felt by the USA. Because tarriffs aren't paid on expedition, they're paid on reception.

So, as a French, all I can say is : bonne chance.

[importantmentalityphilosopher]

What you Trumptards don't understand about Trump's tarrifs is that it hurt farmers and consumers in general. Now to the subject of high gas prices and grocery prices; Canada has high gas prices and grocery prices. Is this Biden't fault. Trump likes to think he had/has something to do with lowering prices of everything and that's just some more kool aide he's throwing at you. As to the wars in the world; Afghanistan was still going on when he was President. He let 5000 Taliban Prisoners out of prison includin their leader. He made a deal with them to form a strategy for a pull out. He bragged that once this started it couldn't be undone. It set us up for the 13 who were killed.

LMAO, I hope to God this is an AI Bot and not a real human since that would be absolutely pathetic. Entertaining but definitely pathetic.

[thecursivej]

Live Reactions Harris vs. Trump pt. 1 of ??

Oh this is very, VERY, debate-y.

DAMN HE SCARED! Cowering while Kamala is like "Hiiii"

Did David Muir just say it was Kamala and Trump were elected 4 years ago? Weird

Ope, looks like Donny is already struggling to stay awake.

Definitely doing better than Biden did. It seems she's been practicing impromptu speaking (slay).

Okay... but are we better than we were four years ago? (I personally say yes, but the american people need to see you answering this question).

LMAO not trump giving the lil' nod at "he's gonna do what he's done before"

Already very respectful, very straightforward, great connection to the camera (and in turn the audience through the camera).

Donald...Tarrifs end up hurting people because they raise the....SALES TAX. Ayiyiyi.

Damn, already blaming immigration.

Trump brought up African American jobs and fucking Kamala looks like she wanted to cackle.

LOOK AT HER FLOOOOW (if you're a debate kid/coach, you know)

He's so upset, because he knows she's spitting the truth.

Welp, jan 6th very passively mentioned; mark your bingo cards.

Damn, great rebuttals from Harris. Trump isn't event really rebutting.

BIDEN MENTIONED. MARK YOUR BINGO CARDS.

Have...have you looked at her plans? Donny boy?

THANK YOU DAVID MUIR FOR PRESSING; HELL FUCKING YEAH.

...bruther you do not understand the economy. What the fuckeroni and cheese are you saying?

My ass is mirroring Kamala's expression before the camera even shows her.

Yeah, call his ass out Kamala. Call his ass out. But also pls answer the question; why we keeping them tarrifs?

Okay so, if you've got "someone doesn't answer the question" go ahead and mark that shit if you haven't.

I love Harris just being like "Bro what the fuckeroni and cheese is this?"

MARK HARRIS LAUGHS, GOOD FOR HER.

LMAO That Marxist reaction is AMAZING.

OPE, ABORTION, HERE WE GO BESTIES.

WHO THE FUCK IS ABORTING A CHILD AT NINE MONTHS!? That is murder, not abortion.

LMAO Tim being out of it?

WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY SAYING THIS SHIT!? Yeah, no, making up bullshit right now.

....Does Trump know what Roe even is?

Each state that's voted for abortion to be in their state's constitution HAS VOTED YES AND ENSHRINED IT. WE DIDN'T NEED TO OVERTURN ROE YOU DUMBASS.

THANK YOU FOR THE CLARIFICATION THAT YOU CANNOT AND NOWHERE IN THE U.S. IS IT LEGAL TO KILL A CHILD ONCE IT'S BEEN BORN HELLO!?

Great job with the response, Kamala. Truly, a wonderful response. ESPECIALLY calling on religious differences and faiths.

Girl her use of rhetorical questions is just so... so... GOOD. As a public speaking professor, this shit slaps.

PROJECT 2025 MENTIONED, MARK YOUR BINGO CARDS

I'm about to molly-whop Donny boy (spiritually in my heart pls leave me tf alone FBI)

Bruther your actions speak louder than their words.

IMPOSSIBLE!? HELLO!? Nah dawg, never tell me the odds.

Ope, student loans mentioned, mark your bingo cards.

HELL YEAH PUSH FOR THAT YES/NO!!!!

Annnnd no yes/no. Not worth it.

MMMMHMMM YOU TELL THAT ORANGE CHEETO PUFF THAT NO ONE IS ASKING FOR THEIR NINE MONTH OLD CHILD TO BE MERKED.

Kamala did answer the question; she would support reinstating all the protections from Roe v. Wade.... but as we see that isn't enough. There needs to be a clear outline of what to do.

NOPE YOU DON'T GET TO RESPOND CUT THE FUCKING MIC ABC

Welp I've got a bingo already, 26 minutes in...holy fuckeroni and cheese.

WW3 mentioned

Once again, no answer from 45.

Welp, here he goes continuing to peddle the false info about Haitian immigrants (who did legally immigrate here) eating people's pets; which the Mayor and PD have DEBUNKED. Fucking wild

I love that Kamala looks so fucking concerned for his brain.

LMAO LOVE DAVID MUIR CLAPPING BACK AT TRUMP

PFFFTTTT "I heard it from people on TV" BITCH WHAT!?

I love Harris just giggling at the absurdity.

I feel like the only noise in Donny's head right now is the AOL startup noises.

God... I'm so fucking done with his bullshit and we're only 34 minutes in.

What's hysterical is the Biden admin KEPT Trump's immigration policies... bruther. The fuck?

Here he goes again about migrant-crime

SLAY TO DAVID MUIR CORRECTING SHIT AGAIN

Can we just cut his fucking mic already?

CONVICT MENTIONED MARK YOUR BINGO CARDS!

I am fucking cackling.

Mmmm good use of rhetoric, Kamala. Good job.

Kamala looks so done with this bullshit. If I was up there debating, I'd have written down "what the fuck is this fucker saying?"

Democracy mentioned

CUT OFF HIS MICCCCCC

Slay to Lindsey asking the hard questions.

Mmmm, good job focusing in on fracking since she's in Pennsylvania....BUT ALSO FUCK FRACKING....But also yeah we do need various forms of energy...BUT NOT AT THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE PLANET PLEASE.

"I was given a small loan of a million dollars" dawg... that's not small....

Oh fuck off Trump, you get to talk while she talks? But when she does? You're so angry? Fuck off.

CUT THE MIC FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST JESUS

Jesus christ he goes over time just fucking cut off the damn mic.

He definitely isn't gonna answer about Jan 6. He's just gonna deny deny deny. "I think IT'S gonna be big" BITCH!?

I'm so sick of this shit already.

MMM GOOD ON KAMALA CALLING OUT THE BLOODBATH COMMENTS. HOLD HIM TO IT GIRL.

Legit fuck off Donny. You're not fooling anyone.

....Named two fox news hosts....not very reliable motherfucker.

He knows he's losing when he says "let's leave this debate right now"

BRUTHER HE ISN'T PRESIDENT.

Mark "random personal attack" for biden.

CUT HIS MIC, DAVID, DAMN.

DAMN STRAIGHT YOU LOST FUCKO.

"Fired by 81 million people" GIRL ATE. AND READ. BECAUSE READING IS FUNDEMENTALLY.

Y'all I am maniacally cackling at the way he's getting roasted as hell.

VICTOR ORBEL?! WE GONNA FOCUS ON THAT FACIST HURTING HIS OWN COUNTRY!?

Jesus just cut the mics. Lord almighty.

Oh here we go; Israel and Hamas... this should be interesting (for anyone worried; I am Pro Palestine through and through; fuck Benjamin Netanyahu)

So Kamala's main phrase is "Let's look at how we got here"

We have to be freedom for Palestine; but if we don't cut off Bibi? Then they will destroy all of Palestine so we won't get a two state solution, Kamala. For fuck's sake, they (IDF) killed an American protesting in Israel.

Why...are we talking about Ukraine right now? Hello?

This would absolutely have happened under Trump and with his anti-semitism? It probably would've been worse.

Weird fucking compliment to ABC from Donny, that ain't gonna help tho.

Ayiyiyi.

WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT UKRAINE?!

Already, that's it for this part, go get a snack and water, I need to scream into the void. BRB

[tengritexas]

Alright here we go chat

Im playing an interesting game endorsing a candidate on tumblr but Im going to anyways. You can like it not like I dont care its cool.

This blog is aimed to remain apolitical but in the past few months its become increasingly hard to do so. Im now at the point where I must encourage you to vote.

I will be publicly endorsing Donald J Trump. And while Im certain that upsets most of my followers its important to clarify Id rather be your friend and win a heart than win a mind.

I do this for the sake of perserving a good conscious for myself

My reasons for endorsing Donald J Trump are as follows

-The shift of Taxes to Tarrifs:

Under the Trump administration you will not be taxed on tips or for working overtime. Instead that money will come from Tarrifs placed on China which will double as support for american factories and american jobs.

-The chronic health epidemic:

Robert Kennedy (under the trump administration) aims to stop the chronic health epidemic which I think is crucial not only for American youth but also for global health moving forward

-Defunding of CIA operations

Literally just yesterday multiple agencies raided a man over a rabid squirrel in what almost seems like a twisted comedy sketch.

Keep it plainly there are 2 sides of the CIA, one of which does not like you and wants to keep (what I believe) very important spiritual discoveries from the public eye. These discoveries need to become more publicly available

UNDER TRUMP, the CIA lost considerable funding which I believe has led to both assasination attempts. Trump hires private investment firms our of fear that this previously mention sector of the CIA acts autonously and unconstitutionally. This was briefly mentioned in the NASA UAP hearings of 2023

-Media machines/Smoke and Mirrors

I believe the media machine is a marvel of the elite class that currently rules America. I still have not been presented with a case of how Harris will solve the very real and very critical issues (thats not to say they arent there I merely havent seen them) her campaign has been essentially smoke and mirrors. If she wins it appears to me more so a victory for the media machine (which I have a personal vendetta against) than it being because of her capabilites

-Moral conscious and the Eagle Pass Crisis

I am a Tengrist and believe I should not disturb the natural order of things. Harris as the border czar has disturbed the natural order of Texas autonmy. She has done something which seems to me extremely irresponsible. Threatening to shoot Texas rangers and sending in national guard is something I will take serious. Those are my friends, my brothers, the people I see in class and you will not threaten my neighbors.

- The global stage and forever wars

While I think Trump makes overly ambitious claims that "the ukraine war will end in a month" and "israel will stop fighting in a month". I still think this is comperatively more optomistic than his counterpart. I personally do believe Trump having the only administration in which no war started is remarkable. The track record favors Trump here (though I do not believe he will wave a wand and create peace)

- What I do not see on the ballot

I have not seen any suggestions or signs of Trump wanting to take away any rights that the American people already possess. There seems to be this idea that we will move backwards. He supports LGBTQA+ platforms, He supports many diverse universities. Even recieved endorsements from Trans communities. I have seen people argue that your rights are on the ballot, I have not seen this to be true unless you are of the 1% that owns bump stocks (he did want to ban those but its related to guns)

Its your vote, and I suggest you vote your conscious as well. But I hope youll take these points into consideration.

For the sky, for the ground, for the soul.

[akiizayoi4869]

Maybe Harris wouldn't like to hear this considering her pledge to be the president for all american people, but honestly a good chunk of Americans don't deserve her. They don't deserve better. Trump's presidency and all the shit it'll inevitably entail is what they deserve.

Normally I wouldn't like to hear this either because I'm just not that kind of person, but I really cannot bring myself to care at this point. I wholeheartedly agree with you, anon. I'll give them 2016, because nobody was really taking him seriously and we didn't know how bad things would get. I mean really, the man was even worse than BUSH, something that I never thought that I would say. I'll even give them 2020, because a lot of the shit that happened after that election obviously hadn't happened yet. But now? After seeing and hearing everything that's come out about him? The documents? Being convicted of 34 freaking felonies? January 6th? Some people are ignorant enough to belive that all of this are lies, but there's also a large portion of people who voted for him that know all of these things are true, that know that his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him were false, who cannot stand him, who agree with the people who call him a fascist, a wannabe dictator, and America's Hitler. And yet they still voted for him. They know that his outlandish claims of transgender surgeries in prisons, his claims that Haitian immigrants were eating people's pets, and doctors doing after birth abortions were all false. They can't stand his rhetoric. And yet they still voted for him. Because they foolishly believe that he'll make the economy better, even though the economy is actually fine. Much better than what it was four years ago when Trump was still the president. But people don't feel that way because of the prices of groceries, gas, etc. Also because the misinformation from the right wing media has gotten so bad to the point where it's overtaken the truth. Because they foolishly believe that everything he said wouldn't happen to them. Clearly they believe it now since a lot of people have been searching "what are tarrifs?" and "can I change my vote?" since he won the election. At this point though, I really don't care about these people, because they choose to be willfully ignorant. What I do care about? Is that the rest of us have to suffer because of their stupidity.

My mother, for example, is on a bunch of medication because she had a brain aneurysm and a stroke back in 2006. Which then resulted in her having seizures, something that thankfully hasn't happened to her since 2010. You know how she's able to afford all of those medications? Because of health insurance. The affordable care act. And now Donald Trump and the Republicans are threatening to take that away, and they might just be able to succeed because they have control of the government now! And to make matters worse, the majority of the Republican party is now his cult following, so obviously they're not going to stop him and will go along with whatever he wants to do.

I'm also on seizure medication. I had one back in 2018, and unfortunately I had one again this year, back in April. I'm able to afford the medication that I need because we have health insurance. If that gets taken away? The cost of that medicine is going to go sky high, just like seeing a doctor or going to the hospital is going to cost an arm and a leg if health care AND social security gets taken away. All because these dumbfucks voted him back in for a second term. So yeah, I don't feel sorry for these people at all. Like you said, they are going to get exactly what they voted for and deserve the moment this man is sworn in once again.

[cirie-won-thirty-four]

Tarrifs are not exactly a bad idea but if you are incentivizing local manufacturing but have no solid infrastructure plan to support such an increase in local production then what you’re doing is basically just forcing business owners to raise the cost of goods because they would still have to import, just at a higher cost now lol

[anonymous-bastard]

Do you know if what is going on with the US is going to affect the European Union?

There is so much going on lately I don't know who to ask and where to find that information.

-🪡's mun

That's a difficult question, one that I am not exactly qualified to answer. But I'll try, with the asterisk of "this is all to the best of my knowledge"

First of all: don't panic. The EU IS prepared for this. They planned what they'd do if Trump wins.

But yes. It will effect us, because US-American politics always effect us. And the effect of a Trump administration are probably going to be bad. Trump and the EU, in general, don't like one another.

Just looking at his previous term, the EU and the US got extremely estranged. A lot of trust was lost on the EUs side.

It's not great for the economy; Trump really hates the trade deficit between the US and the EU and is likely going to end up trying to impose higher import tarrifs again. And the EU will respond with her own tarrifs. But this isn't new; we got through it before.

Something to keep an eye on in the news is the whole military topic: NATO, military aid to Ukraine, US troops in Europe etc. I have absolutely no clue what will happen on that front though.

Trump will roll back environmental protection. I probably don't need to explain why that's bad.

You can expect Trump to embolden our own right-wing parties. The right-wing shift in our countries is something we can and should do something against.

From what I can rememeber of the last Trump presidency, it'll basically be one scandal after another. There will constantly be stupid, scary shit happening. Some of us will affect us directly.

TLDR: Things are looking grimm. But none of this is new. We know Trump. We are prepared.

As to where to find information: search on trustsworthy news sites. Talk to people you trust about it, eg your parents, family, teachers, friends parents, etc. Try to get unbiased information, use multiple sources, consider more than one point of view. Question people's/ new's sites/ etc. intention, especially on the internet. Why are they giving you this information? Are they trying to provoke an emotion?

And you didn't ask about this, but it'll be important anyway:

You will most likely feel scared. Helpless. Angry. Resentful.

And those things put together? Will mean you're looking for someone to blame.

Don't blame the average US-American. It'll be easy, so so fucking easy to do.

To project all these vile feelings onto them. To look at the bullshit in the world, the bullshit happening to your European brothers and sister and feel nothing but hate. To take the fact that you feel helpless and project it onto the nearest American as an easy target to take the blame.

Don't.

[breaking-everything]

Going to take a break because I'm only venting until Trump Pussy Neck starts banning free speech. So much for "little government".

He's going to install laws similar to Russia that we can't even criticize his ass and his shitass idea of religion.

Every MAGA that has "Free Thinker" on their bios are clowning themselves. You're slaves to a demented geriatric serial rapist's beliefs that will raise your taxes because you make under 300k and took credit for Obama's economy you dumbasses swore was Trump's doing.

Republicans fuck it up, democrats pick it up and it takes awhile to fix it before you tank it again swearing it was democrats' fault.

Enjoy your listeria infected food, your higher prized goods with those stupid tarrifs that will affect all products coming in and no baby formula again for all those forced babies his lonely ugly virgin incels salivate about touching.

Hey, you are what you voted for.

[leam1983]

US Elections - A Few More Thoughts

There's something YouTube Atheists taught me, over the years. For one, they've taught me that even someone who's objectively correct can be a raging cornhole who you would very much like to Shut Up, and secondly that education can lead to a strangely contradictory reaction in the face of things like Trump's re-emergence.

That would be the Fallacy of Incredulity; or the underlying thesis that as I, as someone who is educated, worldly, self-aware, cognizant of the world stage and focused on both my personal betterment and that of others, have the utter and profound disbelief that others might vote vore or otherwise perform actions that are detrimental to themselves.

In simpler terms, that gives you the billion comments across thousands of platforms, that typically go something like "I can't believe fifty million or more people could've voted for this guy!" or "I can't believe we've done this!" or, even more naively still, "This isn't us!"

First, that shows you that even the most Humanist, dyed-in-the-wool Blue voter with a noted track record of Atheism still has faith in something - namely in the idea that the people around him remember what E Pluribus, Unum actually means. It also shows you that the same person has rose-tinted glasses firmly stapled on.

You have to consider the fact that as of the eighties, the Democratic Party has become the party of the intellectual elite, of coastal company leads with feet firmly entrenched in the Tech and Political spheres. It's the domain of those who at least understand the threat posed by Global Warming, and of those who see how the Western world's commitment to Democracy has been waning, as of the past two decades. It's the party of Centrist Sensibilities, that tries to steer the country towards a more rational future while still trying to pat down concepts like American Exceptionalism or even the Dominionist school of thought stating that hey, even if we're trying real, real, real hard to be secular, y'still gotta leave some space for my man Evangelical Jesus, y'know?

As to why it does that last part, it's easy to understand. Either you placate the Rust Belt and the Southern States led by would-be theocrats by assuring them that nonononono, the whole concept of Creflo Dollar Megachurches is totes fine, or you lose the manpower. Which is ironic in and of itself, as most of these States now rely either on unpaid labor from inmates stuck in revolving-door work-release programs for those in the prison system, or on dubiously-documented immigrants.

So let's tackle the root of the problem, then. Why Trump? Because Democrats have forgotten how to speak to people that live from paycheck to paycheck, if they only do so much. If you're stuck down South in a food desert and the cost of a dozen eggs becomes a serious concern for you, you're absolutely not in the right headspace to discuss things like the climate crisis or LGBTQA+ rights. No, these people aren't ignorant rubes - just ask Jonathan Maslow.

People voted for Trump because their needs are not being met. They've voted for a fallacious response, sure, as the Republicans are the party of partisan Big Tech and corporations playing buddy-buddy for tax incentives and most assuredly not the Party of the Average Joe.

So. In the coming days, try and stop demonizing those Trump voters in your vicinity who aren't MAGAts fully lost to the idiot's rhetoric. Most of them latched onto the idea of lessened tarrifs, of slashed taxes, and voted primarily to feel less of a pinch in the wallet at dinnertime. Most of them aren't bigots; they're just scared and fail to see their other options. It also means that Dems have an exam of conscience to go through, as they can't simply coast on being the Party for the Guys Who Fit the Bare Minimum of Being Mentally Stable. There's a dearth of education to fix that is crucial to reversing your fate, as most Republican voters do not, in fact, have so much as a Community College degree.

If the elections' results mean one thing, it's that half of America's citizens are scared, kept wilfully ignorant and afraid - and these aren't those who voted Democrat.

[anexperimentallife]

I love Kobo so much. Using the app because my reader finally gave up the ghost, and have to wait to get a new one until we do a mandatory trip to Malaysia in 2025 to reset our visas, because the Philippines has ridiculous tarrifs on electronics.

No, really--what we'd save on a new eReader, replacement phones, and maybe a cheap replacement laptop for @thesurestthing will MORE than pay for the trip.

(I mean, it'll have to go on credit cards, obviously, but Zoey's laptop is literally like, twelve years old, we only replace our phones when they start dying--which I'm sure they will be by then--flying out of the country every three years is MANDATORY for visa purposes, and a new eReader is the only actual luxury purchase I'm planning when we go.)

Yeah, I know Kindle and Note have more selections, but I like Kobo's business model.

[staticespace]

I'm going to focus less on blaming voters and more on blaming the absolute lackluster bullshit of the Democratic party.

They had "experts" and "qualified personnel," and they knew what people wanted. And they still gave the most milqtoast responses to shit, prompting Democratic voters to not show up and allowing Republican voters to sit in ignorance that we are the ones going to pay the tarrifs Trump has been ragging on about, not China or Mexico.

I want to be done blaming people with less power and influence than a goddamn politician.

I know I'm gonna slip into punching down or to my sides sometimes, but I want to really emphasize this.

People voted hard enough for what we were presented with.

Our current circumstances are the results of high-level political and social failings, not just who voted and why.

We need, more than before, to build a sense of community against the industrial and economic leaders literally sucking us dry. Doing so protects human rights, liberties, and keeps us from slipping further into fascism than this country already has.

We know Trickle Down Economics is a fucking sham, and it's about time we organized in ways that demands both major parties stop acting like it exists.

[the-dear-skull]

Best case scenario: He's too old to really do anything and just vibes as a mascot while states do what they want.

Worst case scenario: He dies and JD Vance becomes tradcat incel Caesar

What I think is going to happen: Given he can't run again, he's not going to give a shit about anyone or anything. He's going to impose the tarrifs, which will make things more expensive. The GOP are going to get angry at him because reducing inflation was their one thing post Roe. He might do an executive order getting rid of term limits, but he's already shitting himself in public; he's not living that long. The new partisan line isn't immigration or abortion, but whether or not you think women should be sex slaves.

[aizenat]

Also queerios and libs need to have a real and honest talk about how trans ideology being attached to liberals and the Democratic Party was a huge reason for people to vote for Trump. No one wants to say it (I’m surprised the radfems haven’t made that point yet, but wait, they’re too busy trying to come up with excuses for why they—white women—voted for Trump in the majority), but exit polls had ppl saying they thought Kamala was “too leftist/progressive.” DESPITE her running a very conservative campaign that was just two talking points away from being a straight up republican campaign.

The trans ad (Kamala cares about they/them, not you) was running almost nonstop in PA—as someone who lives in south Jersey, meaning our local tv programming is based out of Philly, every time I turned my tv on this ad was running. And it’s a good and effective ad. SO MUCH SO THAT I HAD A COWORKER BRING IT UP AS A “MAJOR” THING SHE DISAGREED WITH KAMALA ON THE MORNING OF THE ELECTION.

Libs and tras can pretend the trans stuff wasn’t on ppls minds but it was. Literally up until they stepped into the voting booth. When ppl voted for trump saying he was better for the economy, that’s not based on actual policy. You can tell that because AFTER he was announced the winner, google searches for tarrifs went up. If ppl cared about the economy and how tarrifs would work (Kamala literally referred to them as essentially a tax on all goods to simplify them and yall just said herp durp this won’t hurt me financially at all), they would have been goggling that BEFORE the election.

So why did they think Trump was better for the economy? Because he doesn’t want to send aid to Ukraine, and he doesn’t want to use taxes to fund for trans inmates gender reassignment surgeries. That means fiscal responsibility to them.

When chappel roan got on an interview and said that the biggest “concern” she had was trans rights, people heard that and associated that with the party (democrats) who protect laws allowing for children to medically transition. In my state, hormones and gender reassignment surgeries are covered by most employers’ insurance, but cancer treatments and medically necessary surgeries are not (at least not automatically). THAT signals to the average person that politicians are not prioritizing the right things. Because trans ppl are (per their own words) less than 1% of the population, but they get so much more consideration than the average person. Companies care more about pronouns in their employees’ email signatures than they do about employees feeling like the work environment is racially insensitive or hostile towards women (etc).

And I’m sorry, but you can affirm a child’s gender reasonably without medically transitioning them. And most people, most PARENTS, are not going to be okay with the idea of fearing their child being taking away because they don’t want to pay for or facilitate medical transition until they’re at least 18 and had time to really reflect on if that’s what they want. And they don’t want to be labeled abusive for that.

THAT’S what a lot of people going into the booth were thinking about. That Kamala and democrats would prioritize THAT over raising wages and bringing down inflation and costs. Most working class ppl don’t care about gender identity and stuff: so anyone prioritizing that in a time of financial (and political) strife doesn’t look like someone who is going to prioritize what they need to survive and get by.

Tras need to really sit down and think about 1) how they go about lobbying for their rights (calling people genocidal for messing up a pronoun ain’t it cuz) and 2) what rights are worth lobbying for. For example, it’d be hard to argue against third spaces for gnc ppl in public spaces (bathrooms, changing rooms, etc). Same with third/coed sports leagues IN ADDITION TO mens and women’s leagues. Maybe lobby for your own safe spaces instead of demanding to be on spaces not in alignment with your born sex. Because that push back is only going to get worst and it’s not a battle even most liberals agree with. Especially when you also lobby for self identification over any proof of socially and medically transitions. What’s to stop a man who has no intentions of transitioning to go into a woman’s bathroom or changing room or enter a women’s sport league and claim he has a right to be there because he’s trans and we can’t question it?

And yall REFUSE to answer that honestly and then wonder why people don’t fuck with it. It’d be one thing if there was a barrier of entry, but y’all did away with that. So what are people going to do? At least when black ppl were lobbying for desegregation, it was in coed spaces. And if it was gendered, only the black ppl of said gender would participate (ie, only Black women would be on bathrooms with White women; not Black men as well). But you guys are trying to do away with that. And do away with any determinative way to know who the “real” trans people are vs someone just saying so to get access to a spot. And then if someone pushes back, you call THEM a bigot?

Like, women in Korea just about can’t piss in public because of how widespread hidden cameras are in bathrooms. And all I can think is what will stop an epidemic like that happening here if males can walk in easily and women aren’t even ALLOWED to question him because he MAY be trans?

If yall actually knew anything about Black literature (lol as if yall would read black authors and writers and poets lol), you’d see how all throughout our existence in our country, we have had to defend ourselves from the common perception of us. This is why Black people (well, the educated amongst us lol) are so GOOD at arguing against racist ideas. This is why every time I call a white radfem (or really any white feminist) out in their racism, they go for ad hominem attacks and straw men to try to discredit what I’m saying. And they fail because I straight know what I’m talking about lol.

Y’all’s language and concepts change each year. An argument or talking point is literally thrown away and seen as problematic within 5 years. We used to say that trans ppl are treated how they’re “read,” which helps to explain how their perception of how well or poorly they are able to conform to that read gender affects how others treat them, but now that’s transphobic to say. I literally have no idea what ppl mean when they say transmisogyny these days because it’s SO different from how it was used in 2010-2013. I have no idea what yall are talking about anymore!

Yall have to sit down, LISTEN TO PEOPLE’S CONCERNS instead of writing any pushback as transphobic, and really solidify what trans identity is, the actual signs and symptoms, how to treat it without medical intervention, and be honest on the lack of information and studies on medical intervention. Especially long term; a study following up with ppl who transitioned 50 years ago means nothing because the very concept of what a trans identity is has changed dramatically since then. Especially in the last decade alone!

Yall can’t be super counterculture and then expect the mainstream to rock with you. That’s not how that works. You need to pick a lane and at least come up with a better strategy on how to present the less counterculture aspects to the mainstream so they can understand what trans identities are outside of the radical. Outside of the clickbait titles. But honestly that means YALL coming to at least SOME consensus on what it even means to be trans because all the vague language around it isn’t helping. And when yall refuse to define yourselves, it means anyone else can go out there and define you for the world. This is why yall are losing the war on this. Yall have work to do to fix this shit.