1

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: December 03, 2024, 08:36:40 PM »

if you say so.

"Yeah lol we should just keep letting our miners and manufacturers go bankrupt competing with subsidized Chinese firms lmao, who even needs steel or aluminum amirite?"

"Their purpose is to keep a foreign adversary from killing vital industries in your nation."

Yes. I did say those things. If you want to claim what I've said so far is counter to them, you're going to need to elaborate quite a bit more.

yes. flattening the distribution of nations we import steel from (i.e., diversifying the supply chain) doesn't keep domestic steel/mining/whatever from dying.

Diversifying the supply chain keeps us from relying on an adversary. The tariffs target China specifically. If we were worried about only growing US companies, we'd target everyone equally. As you've probably noticed, we're not doing that.

>"you don't know anything. read this paper and learn something, idiot."
>"this paper agrees with me."
>"oh so you just get your opinions from nerds and their nerd papers? trying listening to the GOVERNMENT sometime, idiot."

The parts of your argument the paper agrees with aren't parts I ever argued against, hence why I linked it to you. It seems all it did was cause you to double down on points only tangential to the political outcomes of tariffs. This is clearly a "can't see the forest for the trees" situation. Maybe, and I should emphasize this, you should actually read the report. I can only assume you skimmed it, since you seem to have come away from it without actually learning anything about why the tariffs are being put in place.

Hint: the paper doesn't recommend that the US lift its tariffs. Why is that?

2

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: December 03, 2024, 06:50:02 PM »

i'm simply describing a cause-and-effect relationship measured by economists, but okay.

You described a series of things you googled given your limited knowledge of economic policy.

As an analogy, imagine China fired an artillery shell into the US. The US fires one back. You begin arguing this was a bad decision, because firing expensive artillery shells into adversarial nations is not economically advantageous. You link some studies pointing out that artillery shells are expensive and firing them is also expensive. You present this as an argument that others should take seriously, for some reason.

i said spur growth and protect jobs, and i obviously mean with respect to the protected industries. and the 2018 tariffs absolutely were mapped to specific domestic production/employment growth goals.

Okay.

in other words -- tariffs reduce domestic production and manufacturing (among many other things).

I never argued otherwise.

they conclude that the benefit of tariffs for access to steel is by diversifying the supply chain globally

lol they're not saying anywhere that tariffs are "keep a foreign adversary from killing vital industries in your nation" or anything of the sort.

Biden and Trump's administration, as well as the EU, don't really differ much in terms of economic decision making with respect to China.

yes, that's what i said.

Yes, so it's you, some various economic papers you googled in your spare time, versus the economic policy decisions of world governments. Surely you can think for a moment and identify that you're missing something and barking up the wrong trees with respect to tariff criticism.

3

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: December 03, 2024, 02:53:49 PM »

then why aren't steel tariffs working? we've had steel tariffs on china since 2018. biden did not remove them. the initial capability utilization rate target was 80%. it still has not been reached. "In the week ending on November 23, 2024, domestic raw steel production was 1,655,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 74.5 percent."

tariffs are a fucking stupid way to spur growth and protect jobs. they do not work.

This is an uncharacteristically pro-capitalist take from you, gary. The purpose of tariffs is not to "spur growth". Their purpose is to keep a foreign adversary from killing vital industries in your nation. This is the same reason that the EU has implemented import taxes on a variety of basic goods and just recently extended their import tax on specifically Chinese steel.  To put it bluntly, you seem to entirely misunderstand modern economic policy. Perhaps reading something that explains modern goals (and how we're achieving them) is a more prudent use of your time instead of wallowing around in economic ignorance:

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3055-1.html

Biden and Trump's administration, as well as the EU, don't really differ much in terms of economic decision making with respect to China.

4

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: President Joe Biden

« on: December 03, 2024, 02:34:05 PM »

it's his son and not a crony

Now this is funny.

5

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: President Joe Biden

« on: November 26, 2024, 04:14:18 PM »

why the fuck would russia nuke ukraine, that doesn't make an ounce of sense

Luckily, nuclear bombs are not real, so we don't have to worry about it.

6

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: November 26, 2024, 04:09:26 PM »

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-promises-25-tariff-products-mexico-canada-2024-11-25/

the best way to make things cheaper is to make everything more expensive. lol imagine being such an idiot that you actually cast a ballot for this.

Yeah lol we should just keep letting our miners and manufacturers go bankrupt competing with subsidized Chinese firms lmao, who even needs steel or aluminum amirite?

7

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Political pundits be damned - why they were all wrong.

« on: November 26, 2024, 04:05:30 PM »

It's almost like introducing a two trillion dollar stimulus package in the middle of a pandemic was actually a bad idea! Biden thought he could copy and paste Obama's economic policies, seemingly unaware that an entire decade has passed.

Well, yes. You weren't hoping that I'd identify the "good guys" in US politics, were you?

I appreciate the agreement but you'll need to elaborate on the question.

They thought that by catering to illegals that illegals would eventually add to the bottom line Democratic voting population.

Democrats cater to illegal immigrants and criminals because it is a party of people with an active hatred of America. The DNC is ruled by communists that would prefer the US government not exist at all. As far as they are concerned, the legal system is only meant to be used as a bludgeon on your political opponents. And when that doesn't work, they'll just try to shoot you dead.

8

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: President Joe Biden

« on: November 26, 2024, 03:54:36 PM »

If they're willing to kill them with nukes, what's stopping them from using it on us too?

The fact that we supposedly have them as well.

Better kill them first before they try to kill us.

It's all about escellation.

Why would the US escalate to nuclear war over Ukraine? You still haven't answered the question beyond "because they just would, okay?". Come on, use your big words. Tell me why America would decide to kill itself if Russia landed a one megaton warhead in a Ukrainian city.

9

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Political pundits be damned - why they were all wrong.

« on: November 24, 2024, 02:30:12 PM »

It's difficult to "get", because the core MAGA electorate refuses to respond to reason. Not the people here, mind you - it's more the sorts who vote for an increase in the prices of everyday goods because everyday goods are too expensive. (I'm sorry you'll have to deal with the fallout, especially so in a poor state.)

To assume that people like this are a vanishingly small minority that won't amount to anything is a necessary self-preservation instinct. I'm sure the libs don't consciously erase that group - they just fool themselves into thinking that the world they were birthed into isn't quite this flawed. Similarly, to preserve their sanity, they look for excuses. No, it was the women who didn't turn out to vote. Nay, it was the blacks! Someone, anyone, please - there has to be someone that can distract from the fact that the majority of Americans have fallen so far from grace.

Ah well, it's another 4-year mega-recession, then 4-8 years of incomplete recovery, and then we can have a maniac in power again. A cycle as old as the US of A itself.

It's almost like introducing a two trillion dollar stimulus package in the middle of a pandemic was actually a bad idea! Biden thought he could copy and paste Obama's economic policies, seemingly unaware that an entire decade has passed.

What will happen is that Trump will begin correcting the economy, but this won't come into effect until after 2026 midterms. By then, people will have voted in Democrats which will then proceed to undo all of Trump's progress. By 2028, they'll blame Trump for economic woes caused by that Democratic Congress, similar to 2008 and 2020. 

10

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: President Joe Biden

« on: November 24, 2024, 02:23:09 PM »

Ah but then you have the whole "If I use nukes , I'll have every one including China suddenly attacking me.  Probably with nukes."  Russia wants to win.  It doesn't want to die in the process.  Especially since it can't guarentee it's nuclear warheads will work.

This is functionally the equivalent of saying the following:

"If Russia nukes Kiev, China will kill itself." Why? Make it make sense, Dave.

11

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: November 23, 2024, 01:47:03 PM »

It's interesting that Trump is simultaneously an incompetent buffoon but has also masterminded his way around the entire US government. I wonder if Democrats are tired of saying their enemy is both very weak and very strong at the same time.

12

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: President Joe Biden

« on: November 23, 2024, 01:45:06 PM »

No, actually if you think they don't exist, you need to bring Santa Clause to the other thread and prove it there. This thread is for normal people to discuss Biden and Ukraine policy.

BTW: If nuclear weapons don't exist, Ukraine will kick Russia's ass so badly and so deeply that the Kremlin will wish they were back in Afghanistan getting their ass kicked by the Mujahideen.

If nuclear weapons existed, Ukraine wouldn't be able to fight Russia at all. It would be a nuclear power versus a non-nuclear power. Russia would nuke Kiev and that would be it. Game over. No country on Earth would be willing to go nuclear with Russia over some eastern European marshes. Imagine an entire country saying "I'm going to kill myself because Russia invaded a country most of my citizens can't point out on a map". Very humorous.

Nuclear believers have to simultaneously believe these two statements:

1. Russia is composed of people who want to limit civilian casualties in Ukraine, so therefore refuse to drop their supposedly massive arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons.
2. Russia routinely fires volleys of hundreds of missiles into civilian centers and causes hundreds to thousands of civilian casualties every single day.

Cognitive dissonance is a helluva thing, amirite?

13

Science & Alternative Science / Re: Nuclear Bombs Do Not Exist

« on: November 23, 2024, 01:37:54 PM »

Fun fact: on 2 Nov 2023, Russia revoked its CTBT ratification.

The threat is real - and has been for over a year.

Yes, Russia's nuclear bombs are very scary and very real. That's why every time Putin says "if you do x we will nuke you" and then we do x, we have gotten nuked. We just keep getting nuked over and over again. It's horrible. Sometimes I wake up and my front yard has been nuked several times in a row. I hope we all surrender to Putin soon so he stops nuking us.

14

Technology & Information / Re: Ask Rushy about Bitcoins.

« on: November 21, 2024, 03:00:00 PM »

From their high of over $1,100 they are now worth about half of that. I hope you haven't put too much of your savings into them.

lol

Bitcoin hits fresh record, races toward $100,000 as rally continues

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/21/crypto-market.html

15

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: President Joe Biden

« on: November 20, 2024, 02:42:23 PM »

Nuclear weapons don't exist so I don't think whether Ukraine claims to have any matters. In fact, I suspect Ukraine was bullied out of keeping the supposed nukes because they would have discovered they're not real and told everyone as much. Would have been a bit embarrassing for the US and Russia if that were to happen.

Nice opinion.
A lot of this, hmm, "analysis" seems to use your imagination as a source.

Thinking nuclear weapons exist is quite comical. It's like explaining the politics of the North Pole by bringing Santa into the conversation.

If you think they exist (and you apparently, erroneously, do). I suggest bringing the evidence of that to the appropriate thread: https://forum.tfes.org/index.php?topic=19668.180

16

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: President Joe Biden

« on: November 19, 2024, 03:05:42 PM »

No, just that Trump makes decisions based on his whims and gut impulses rather than any sincerely-held political opinions (because he has none) and has repeatedly shown himself to be susceptible to flattery and manipulation, especially from people whom he admires like Putin.

Nice opinion.

No, Trump was not wisely warning Europe of the looming Russian threat and entreating them to protect themselves. He was swinging his dick around and demanding that allies pay more into NATO so that America would have to pay less. Trump clearly didn't know what NATO was or how it worked (he almost certainly still doesn't) and assumed that it was a dues-based transactional alliance where paid money is tangentially rewarded and those who don't contribute the required amount are kicked out. Trump has been laughed at many times in diplomatic events, and in no case was it because Trump alone recognized that Russia was a threat while nobody else took it seriously. They laughed at Trump because in every speech he made, he made it clear that he was a dumb, arrogant layman who had no idea what he was talking about trying to tell a room full of serious professionals their business.

A lot of this, hmm, "analysis" seems to use your imagination as a source.

Furthermore, I'm sure the German defense minister is just a dumb layman for agreeing with Trump. Sad! I guess it's a good thing that no one took his advice seriously and decided to maintain defense spending at all-time-lows. That really stuck it to Trump and his pro-Russian propaganda!

17

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: President Joe Biden

« on: November 18, 2024, 10:01:31 PM »

Ukraine had an advanced nuclear arsenal (like Israel) and gave up its nukes based on security assurances from the U.S and West. Trump betrayed those promises.

But it's all good now, the Ukrainian nuclear engineers have already started work.

Nuclear weapons don't exist so I don't think whether Ukraine claims to have any matters. In fact, I suspect Ukraine was bullied out of keeping the supposed nukes because they would have discovered they're not real and told everyone as much. Would have been a bit embarrassing for the US and Russia if that were to happen.

18

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: President Joe Biden

« on: November 18, 2024, 08:15:15 PM »

This is why Russia spent millions of dollars on the U.S. election. It's not just Trump supporting the invasion of Ukraine, but he's giving the green light to take Estonia and Latvia as well.

Trump is stacking his staff and cabinet with pro-Russia freaks and centralizing political power in the Executive branch to become the next member of the new Soviet Union. This is exactly what happened in Venezuela, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Georgia.

Yes, of course, Trump is evil and wants to give away Europe to Russia. That's why he does things like... tell them to increase their defense spending...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/12/donald-trump-nato-summit-chaos-germany-attack-defence-spending
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/15/germany-tilts-at-trump-over-nato-decency-dependency-munich-security-conference

But, here's the thing, that upsets them! When Trump told the EU and NATO for years on end to start increasing their military spending, they made fun of him! Hell, the German representatives literally, physically laughed at him for demanding Germany increase its defense spending. They claimed, being smug Germans, that war was something that would not occur. What a silly orange man he is, telling them to build more weapons!

To make matters worse, Germany's defense minister actually agreed with Trump and caught flak for it.

The fact of the matter is that the only reason the Ukraine war is happening is European incompetence. They are weak and apathetic. Putin is capitalizing on that. Bringing Trump into it, especially when he spent years warning about this very thing, is just hilarious.

19

Science & Alternative Science / Re: Nuclear Bombs Do Not Exist

« on: November 18, 2024, 08:04:30 PM »

They must feel like right idiots, suffering all the effects of the bombs which don't exist.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4ng2873jro

If you read the article you'd notice a whole lot of no evidence for any of these people's claims. One goes as far as to say he flew through nuclear weapon clouds, yet no medical evidence proves that is the case. Mysteriously, the records proving their claims all vanished into thin air! How odd!

It's almost like the government didn't want physical records with a paper trail that would prove their propaganda to be blatantly false.

20

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: November 18, 2024, 04:13:41 PM »

>_>

So the most expensive EV is the most economical without the credit?  That sounds.... Delusional.

If Tesla's competition is underwater then they will likely choose to exit the market entirely rather than keep digging a hole for themselves. The only company currently capable of competing with Tesla on the EV front is Toyota and Toyota has repeatedly stated they are uninterested in EVs. Their current CEO is too obsessed with hydrogen cars. Other manufacturers don't have the access to enough battery production to make a lot of headway in the market. Tesla owning their own battery production is what is allowing them to make profitable vehicles.

Musk makes a lot of insane and dumb decisions. Unfortunately, his competitors make even more insane and dumber decisions. He's probably right that killing the subsidies will help Tesla more than it'll hurt.