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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 23rd, 2023

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  • I was just watching a panel discussion about Trump and the tariffs and had a thought. He’s started adding exemptions. He just added one for the automotive industry following discussions with the big three auto makers. What if the tariffs were a grift all along? What if he put the tariffs on to generate tax dollars that he can use to give billions of dollars to the wealthy but what if he’s double dipping and selling exemptions? Like, what if when he talked to the big three auto makers he said, “I’ll make an exemption to the tariffs for the auto industry if you give me $100 million”?














  • It depends on the time of day.

    I’m the morning I toast a Costco triangle ciabatta bun, butter it, and add two fried eggs, bacon or ham, and Swiss cheese.

    In the afternoon I slice two slices of leftover meatloaf, put them in a pan, cover them with spaghetti sauce, and poach them. I toast two slices of bread then place the poached meatloaf on one slice and add lettuce, onion, green pepper, salt and pepper, Swiss cheese, and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, add some extra sauce, and top off with the other slice of toast.



  • I’m not sure what you’re asking. If you’re referring to softwood lumber the profits of Canadian lumber companies were at record levels because the US needs Canadian softwood lumber with or without tarrifs. The tarrifs didn’t affect sales at all so with the increased demand despite the tarrifs Canadian companies didn’t suffer at all. US consumers spent more and the money went to the US government which presumably gave some of the money to uncompetitive US softwood lumber companies to subsides their unprofitable operations. It’s a tax on US consumers.

    Canadian softwood lumber companies pay a stumpage fee to sustainably harvest softwood on public land. US softwood lumber companies pay much higher prices to harvest lumber mostly on private land. It’s all about extracting the highest profit for the most wealthy people. Canada has a better system and the US is salty about it. The US has lost at the WTO every time but refuses to accept the result so it ignores its treaty obligations and just forges ahead with the illegal tarrifs which hurt US consumers.


  • Everyone needs a lesson in how tarrifs work. Tarrifs are a tax on thing that US companies buy. They are intended to make foreign products more expensive to protect domestic producers. So, the American company pays the tariff. They then pass that tariff on to their customer, either another company or an American consumer. Then, the country that the tariff had been applied to applies offsetting tarrifs on American goods.

    When the product that the tariff is applied to can’t be produced in the US, think advanced microchips or Canadian softwood lumber, Americans pay more but still have to buy the foreign product. With the softwood lumber tarrifs the cost of building a home with Canadian softwood lumber went up by tens of thousands of dollars and Canadian companies laughed all the way to the bank. American consumers paid more and Canadian companies made record profits because the US can’t produce enough softwood lumber to meet its needs.

    So, the price to American companies and consumers goes up and the cost of American goods overseas goes up. Americans pay the tarrifs and American companies sell less goods overseas.

    America loses.