On 3/11/2025 at 11:27 AM, Cameroni said:

No, you and most US presidents before Trump grossly underestimated the importance of the US economy and the strength and depth of the US economy and its role in the world.

 

Trump, the first billionaire president, fully understands the importance of the US economy. He knows that the US is more important to China, Germany, Japan, UK, etc than vice versa, because the US is the stronger domestic market, the more valuable market. This means that the US can in fact restructure market access to its own advantage.

 

America is now benefitting from tariffs that will result in people in the end having to buy US made products because they are much cheaper. This will protect more jobs and create more jobs in the US, not to mention the money the tariffs will send to US coffers.

 

If some large corporations lose money because of this market access restructuring - too bad, but it is a price worth paying in the long run because America will become richer even if some companies fail.

Hmm, so the USA became the richest country, depended on by these other countries by being abused? These other countries have taken advantage of the USA under policies since WW II that resulted in US corporations making profits from their global trade while being abused and taken advantage of by all others through international trade. Right ... got it ... wait, what?!

On 3/11/2025 at 12:22 PM, Patong2021 said:

Not anymore. Trump has singlehandedly destroyed the US brand.

Agree, although I think for most of the global, thinking population, credit is at least being considered to be given where it is due. The American voting citizens raised him to be their leader (voting American citizens who voted for him. more thoughtful global citizens will recognized that the other candidates shared the majority of the votes).

5 hours ago, RamblingOn said:

Which plan??

Concepts of a plan

14 hours ago, Sigmund said:

Yes, throwing out the illegals will leave a few businesses in trouble, mainly for the menial jobs.

 

But it won't last, because soon (and already) robotics with Ai will do these jobs and much more.

 

Thus, uniqualified labour demand will strongly dwindle and vanish on the short term.

Absolutely false, the reality is that there are millions of jobs in the US that Americans have no interest in doing, the vast majority of Americans have no interest in washing dishes, working in fast food restaurants, doing menial landscape jobs, picking fruit and so many other jobs like working in a meat packing facility.

 

You cannot find Americans for those jobs. America needs immigrants just as much as Thailand needs immigrants.

 

Silly slogans never have the slightest impact on truth, nor reality. They only work on gullible voters. 

18 hours ago, PaoloR said:

Take a sector that every American consumes regularly - Clothing and footwear.

 

There are no factories of any size manufacturing for the domestic market. Over 90% of apparel and footwear items are imported.

Building factories to make clothing/footwear in the USA would involve a substantial cost. Machinery would have to be imported; labor would have to be trained and paid at a labor cost way, way higher than current sources overseas.

All fabrics would have to be imported- there are virtually no textile factories producing volume goods in the USA

All trims such as buttons, threads, zips, labels would have to be imported.

To move manufacturing of these goods back to the USA is a complete non-starter.

Prices would be at minimum double their current level.

 

Take an order from Walmart for 5 million fleece hoodies with a 12 week turnaround from order to first delivery - how are they going to deliver that domestically? How are they going to persuade their customers to pay 60 USD for a basic Walmart hoodie? Where are the 6 factories with 2/3 thousand workers in each going to be found?

 

This is all wishful thinking from the uninformed Maga crowd. History shows that once you allow manufacturing to leave and move to a service-based economy there is no way back.

 

The above relates to just one industry. Extrapolate it over the many products that a consumer driven society like the USA requires every day and even someone with half a brain can see the absurdity of just assuming mass manufacturing can be re-instated on a wish and be operational within any reasonable time scale. Let alone consider who will invest the large sums necessary to build the required infrastructure.

 

Pie in the sky

Gee wizz, how did the US manage before they exported all the jobs to China? Were Americans dressed in rabbit skins or something?

 

History shows that once you allow manufacturing to leave and move to a service-based economy there is no way back.

Rubbish. If it's more profitable to make stuff in the US, it will be made in the US.

 

Where are the 6 factories with 2/3 thousand workers in each going to be found?

Another one that hasn't heard of AI! Factories don't need people any more. Chinese labour isn't even that cheap any more. It won't cost much more to build an AI robotics factory in the US than overseas, and all the profits will stay in the US.

39 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Gee wizz, how did the US manage before they exported all the jobs to China? Were Americans dressed in rabbit skins or something?

 

History shows that once you allow manufacturing to leave and move to a service-based economy there is no way back.

Rubbish. If it's more profitable to make stuff in the US, it will be made in the US.

 

Where are the 6 factories with 2/3 thousand workers in each going to be found?

Another one that hasn't heard of AI! Factories don't need people any more. Chinese labour isn't even that cheap any more. It won't cost much more to build an AI robotics factory in the US than overseas, and all the profits will stay in the US.

Your post comes across as being quite naive, in a sense that there are a very limited number of factories that use entirely AI and robots. Most factories still use manual labor, likely the vast majority of them. And the US companies simply cannot afford those factories and the labor, and that is why those companies manufacture overseas.

 

It's really just a very silly meme that Trump likes to use and the people with an education the people who have studied the issue knows that's all it is. A small percentage of overseas manufacturing can be brought back to the US, likely we'll under 10%. 

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

And the US companies simply cannot afford those factories and the labor, and that is why those companies manufacture overseas.

No, you see that's where you're wrong. US companies can afford those factories and labour, they just offshore because they're greedy. But they could produce in America. Are you seriously telling me a company worth trillions like Apple can't manufacture in the US? 

12 hours ago, Cameroni said:

No, you see that's where you're wrong. US companies can afford those factories and labour, they just offshore because they're greedy. But they could produce in America. Are you seriously telling me a company worth trillions like Apple can't manufacture in the US? 

Well said. IMO the US jobs were exported to China simply for GREED by GREEDY business men. Nothing to do with being good business.

Now that they don't have to employ people to make stuff, expect all those businessmen to bring manufacturing back to the US, given an incentive to do so, like tariffs.

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Well said. IMO the US jobs were exported to China simply for GREED by GREEDY business men. Nothing to do with being good business.

Now that they don't have to employ people to make stuff, expect all those businessmen to bring manufacturing back to the US, given an incentive to do so, like tariffs.

 

I have always felt very uneasy with Americans and Europeans exploiting Asians for a hunger wage. When I hear these calculating mothers in Thailand boast how they have a maid do all their dishes for 2000 Baht a month the injustice spider sense goes off like mad.

The dunce has the lowest approval ratings in modern times, at this stage of the presidency. Which means alot of people who voted for him disapprove of the extreme actions he has taken.

 

Attacking friends and allies and coddling dictators comes at a price, Don. 

 

 

Wonderful how many of the cool-aid drinkers that post on here have fallen for the "AI will fix everything" trope.

AI won't spin, weave/knit, dye and cut fabric.

AI won't sew millions of garments.

AI can't perform a manual task; it can only direct a program or a robotic machine. How much would it cost to build a factory full of cutting/ sewing/finishing robots? Probably comparable with the cost of setting up a car factory.

$200 basic T shirts would sell well wouldn't they!

 

Get real - it is the American consumer who requires cheap goods and has caused most basic products to be manufactured overseas. There is no way back except to move on to selling services and intellectual product, which the USA has already done.

 

Nike - for example, manufacture 95% of their products overseas. Product development, design, marketing etc. happen in the USA. Garments come into port at 3 USD landed and retail for 20 USD.

The manufacturer is lucky to make 15%  (45 cents) The rest goes to Nike and the retailer less transport, write downs etc.

 

So who is the winner here? Nike and the retailer, not the factory who makes the garment. The other real winner is the end customer who gets what they want at the best price.

 

Charge them the price it really costs to do all of this in the USA and hear the screams! Followed shortly by Nike going bust.

18 minutes ago, PaoloR said:

Wonderful how many of the cool-aid drinkers that post on here have fallen for the "AI will fix everything" trope.

AI won't spin, weave/knit, dye and cut fabric.

AI won't sew millions of garments.

AI can't perform a manual task; it can only direct a program or a robotic machine. How much would it cost to build a factory full of cutting/ sewing/finishing robots? Probably comparable with the cost of setting up a car factory.

$200 basic T shirts would sell well wouldn't they!

 

Get real - it is the American consumer who requires cheap goods and has caused most basic products to be manufactured overseas. There is no way back except to move on to selling services and intellectual product, which the USA has already done.

 

Nike - for example, manufacture 95% of their products overseas. Product development, design, marketing etc. happen in the USA. Garments come into port at 3 USD landed and retail for 20 USD.

The manufacturer is lucky to make 15%  (45 cents) The rest goes to Nike and the retailer less transport, write downs etc.

 

So who is the winner here? Nike and the retailer, not the factory who makes the garment. The other real winner is the end customer who gets what they want at the best price.

 

Charge them the price it really costs to do all of this in the USA and hear the screams! Followed shortly by Nike going bust.

Thanks for stating the obvious, unfortunately most maga devotees withe don't seem to have the reasoning power to figure that stuff out on their own, or their blind obedience compels them to simply go along with the statements of the felon. 

 

 

Trump’s tariffs are inflicting serious economic damage and reigniting inflation, OECD says

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/17/economy/tariffs-oecd-forecast-economy-inflation

3 hours ago, candide said:

 

 

Trump’s tariffs are inflicting serious economic damage and reigniting inflation, OECD says

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/17/economy/tariffs-oecd-forecast-economy-inflation

This is one of the problems with electing a billionaire and having him appoint the richest man in the world to cut jobs. They just don't care, they are pathological super freaks and they just don't care about the common man one iota.

 

They don't feel his pain, they don't understand why he's complaining, they don't understand why everybody's not falling in line with total and complete obedience.