Tariffs, Tarrifs, Tarrifs!

[Rum]

Have you read about their reeducation camps for Muslims?

You've got to love the wackos on the left's support for China when you read shit like that. I think they're still butthurt Russia didn't end us; fingers crossed China will.

They are, when all is said and done, totalitarian in their outlook. The State and the Party can do no wrong and anything you do in their name is pretty much OK.

I would add, having spent much of my early life living with Chinese people, that that (if we are allowed any sort of racial generalisations any more..though this might be more a cultural observation) they are by default kind people and very keen to get along with each other. Perhaps that is partly why they appear to be so malleable.

[Sean Hayden]

I tend to think people are generally the same everywhere. I'm a bit of a humanist in that regard. It doesn't surprise me one bit then to hear that the Chinese are generally speaking keen to get along with each other.

[laklak]

http://www.cracked.com/article_25475_4- ... ci-fi.html

Check out #2, about the iPhone factory in China.

Two of them are about Japan. Fuck, Japan is a strange place. It's an object lesson in what happens when you take one of the most warlike societies on the planet and tell them they can't hack up peasants with their katanas anymore. Doesn't even mention butt-sniffing parlors.

[Rum]

I tend to think people are generally the same everywhere. I'm a bit of a humanist in that regard. It doesn't surprise me one bit then to hear that the Chinese are generally speaking keen to get along with each other.

When I lived in Hong Kong they had begun to build 'resettlement' blocks for the literally millions of Chinese trying to get into HK from China, These were huge buildings (see picture) housing thousands of people each.

The crime rates in these areas, and the rest of that very crowded place, was minuscule. Murder was almost unheard of and I, as a kid never once felt nervous or vulnerable - and I explored all sorts of areas including the old walled city.

I can't imagine any European race - and certainly not a cross section of Americans from what I can see, who would have managed to live together quite as peacefully and cooperatively. I'm sure you are right about people generally speaking being much the same everywhere, but although it isn't fashionable to point out differences these days, the Chinse - perhaps Asians more widely, do seem to have a tendency to social coherence and cooperation - certainly compared to much of the rest of us.

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[JimC]

Have you read about their reeducation camps for Muslims?

You've got to love the wackos on the left's support for China when you read shit like that. I think they're still butthurt Russia didn't end us; fingers crossed China will.

I haven't seen or read any examples of the progressive left supporting China, even the completely wacko ones (which as you know I regularly criticise). Got any examples yourself?

[Sean Hayden]

It's my opinion based on reading people who either constantly criticise US behavior and are now praising China for its reasonableness, or who seem to walk around with a hard on for the prospect of China dominating big bad US.

[Tero]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... il/564605/

“Trade wars are good and easy to win,” Trump has said. Let’s consider those adjectives, one at a time. First, trade wars aren’t “good” in any meaningful sense of the word. The damage from Trump’s tariffs has been widely reported. Harley-Davidson announced that it will move some production overseas to offset European Union tariffs. Banks have postponed investments in new American factories for fear that they’ll be caught in the crossfire. Whiskey distilleries are worried that new tariffs will dry up exports to Asia and Europe. Maybe none of these fears will materialize and, in six months, the effects of these tariffs will be barely perceptible. Or maybe Trump will look up to see the ball in the back of his own net: Of the 30 congressional districts hit hardest by China's retaliatory tariffs, 25 voted for Trump.

Second, a trade war is indeed “easy to win”—if you’re taxing imports from, say, a tiny island led by a weak government going into an uncertain election with no means of bailing out its weakened industries. China has none of those distinctions. It is a massive socialist market economy, led by an undemocratic leadership facing no electoral pressure, which spends oodles of money subsidizing its domestic businesses, all the time. As film buffs know, “Never get involved in a land war in Asia” refers to one of history’s classic blunders; only slightly less well-known is “Never go in against a socialist market economy when midterms are on the line.”

[Sean Hayden]

Tell me what you think we should do, not what's going to get you votes.

So, what's your solution? And please, don't tell me again that everything was fine before because it wasn't.

[laklak]

Ya know, I been waiting for a fucking politician to tell me exactly that for the last 40 years and not a one of them has done it. It's all just stupid rah rah bullshit. Well I think this is a big problem and we're gonna DO something about it! Yeah, I get it, WHAT are you going to fucking do? Give me some specifics. How you going to fund it? What are you cutting to do it? Details, man, you know, where the Devil lives.

[Sean Hayden]

It's like these people think money grows on trees. You want a more comprehensive safety net for displaced workers --great solution btw, I guess-- but you're fighting for the guys scared of tariffs? These are the guys that make money so scarce for everyone else, aren't they?

Why don't they want problems with China? It can't be because they think it'll impact their ability to give more to the average American.

[pErvinalia]

As I said previously, the tariff boat has long ago sailed. You cant unwind the WTO. The US will suffer in a trade war. It's got nothing to do with supporting the 1%. It's just reality.

[Sean Hayden]

Then they are merely concerned with the suffering of Americans. That's nice.

[Sean Hayden]

It's the lesser of two evils then, clearly. --again

[Tero]

We can't go back. Raising tariffs will not bring back shoe and clothing industry to US. We are winners mainly because we have land to feed the world.

[Sean Hayden]

So when you look at the America of today, and read about what it's going to take to be successful in the future, you're hopeful?

What could possibly go wrong, right? Whatever it is, it absolutely won't be as bad as tariffs!