Helps to know what specifically to tariff in order for America to get a better deal. Is lumber, metal, and champagne what's gonna MAGA? Feels like Trump is tariffing for leverage. As someone said it started with the border, fentanyl, and eggs. Well tariff eggs as an example then. Next it will be cars cause lets be honest we're losing in the car market. So you have to get Greenland, Panama Canal etc cause cars and electronics are better made in the east. So a lot of this I believe is tipping the balance towards us to ward off the encroachment of China. The line of BS though is by bringing jobs and industry back home well that will somehow make us more prosperous. Prosperous from the encroachment of China certainly, but with our higher standard of living well how does that stimulate increased consumption?
In other words, it feels to me like we'd have to be this nation of less consumption, and how that works with America First and economic might I'm not sure.
US car makers are losing, but they have been since the late- '60s. The US imposed tariffs, so the foreign automakers build plants in the US, so they could beat us on our own soil and not have to pay so much by bringing in completed cars, just parts and assemblies.
There's nothing wrong with electronics made here, it's just too GD expensive. The US makes a helluva lot of electronics, just not as much in the AV world unless it's much more expensive and cork sniffy. We still have aerospace, bio-medical and other specialty stuff but with schools teaching that Common Core bullshyte, those kids probably aren't going into a technical field. One of the major problems, to me, is the lack of interest in kids, for areas that are useful when they want to go to school to be 'fulfilled as humans'- when I talk to younger students, what I hear is not interest in their future and this isn't me being Abe Simpson yelling at a cloud.
While I was driving home from the grocery store, I saw two kids sitting on a sidewalk, completely blocking it- they weren't little kids, I would guess that they were at least 12 years old. Why do they need to sit on a sidewalk? Why can't they stand, or go across the street to the benches?
If I had a kid and they showed any interest in things that are mechanical and electrical/electronic, I would find out if they're interested in being a car mechanic- the job postings on Zip Recruiter and some others show starting pay of $50/hour PLUS a sign-on bonus. One place is offering $85K-140K. OTOH, the emission requirements are making it harder to service cars, even for the people who do it as a living. Boats are now using throttle/shift/steering by wire- how many of the average boat mechanics, do you think, can service THAT stuff? When I went to MasterCraft boat service training in '98, we had to use a Bosch-style relay to switch between a light and bilge blower and some of the older mechanics had absolutely no idea what to do, even though the diagram for wiring it was molded into the shell.
I'm tired of seeing "My administration created 250,000 jobs last quarter". Bullshyte! The administration created NOTHING! Anyone starting most new jobs are filling vacancies created by people being sent home when the government over-reacted after COVID hit and the replacements are often far from qualified.
I like the fact that schools are getting kids into STEM, but I would like to hear how they present it as a way toward the future.
