Archive for tariffs

and it only gets worse [the return]

Posted in Kids, pictures, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 1, 2025 by xi'an

“The EU has been very tough over the years and was formed to really do damage to the United States in trade through a little bit of a monopoly situation to create a unified force against the United States.” DJ Trump

“We need to get better at treating [deportation] like a business, like (Amazon) Prime, but with human beings.” ICE Director Todd Lyons

“The EU make [sic] it so difficult, the standards and the tests as they drop a bowling ball on the top of your car from 20 feet up in the air and if there’s a little dent, they say no, I’m sorry, your car doesn’t qualify.”DJ Trump

“We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture” JD Vance

“I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up kissing my ass.” DJ Trump

“The implications of the [Trump] government’s position [are] that not only noncitizens but also United States citizens could be taken off the streets, forced onto planes and confined to foreign prisons with no opportunity for redress if judicial review is denied unlawfully before removal. History is no stranger to such lawless regimes, but this nation’s system of laws is designed to prevent, not enable, their rise.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor

“I think [the Russian missile bombing of Sumy] was terrible and I was told [the Russian attackers] made a mistake, but I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing. This war would never have started if I were president. That war is a shame.” DJ Trump

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krach dealer

Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on April 30, 2025 by xi'an

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reductio ad absurdum

Posted in Books, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 19, 2025 by xi'an

While the decision to impose massive tariffs to handle trade deficits is either idiotic (as not addressing the reasons for said deficit) or Trump’s customary approach to negocoations, the figure of the increase is even absurder, as it it is exactly (some evaluation of) the country-specific trade deficit by the value of its exports to the US. Bon sang, mais c’est bien sûr!!! As put by Paul Krugman, “there’s so much wrong with this approach that it’s hard to know where to star.” Divided by two to add nonsense to the absurdity. And the White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai posted a math formula a wee bit too late after the reasoning had been spotted. Where elasticity conveniently cancels with “passthrough” (a concept I had never met before)!

Another degree of non-sense is reached when considering the tariffs differ between territories of the same country, like these Australian territories near Antarctica where no people live (unless they export penguin guano?!). In the case of France, oversea departments get differential treatments. For instance, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane and French Polynesia face only a 10% rise, while La Réunion get a 37% additional tariff(for exporting vanilla?!) and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, east of Newfoundland are imposed with a 50% new tariff! Since all these territories are part of France, separating their imports and exports from the mainland is making no sense whatsoever.

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