Trump II

[Alan Klein]

And you know that, how? Because compulsory liar Trump says so?

Cheers,
Bart

No.  Because I was in business myself and understand economics. I don't need Trump.   Anyone with a basic understanding of business or economics, would understand this point.  Trying to smear me, another liberal trick, won't work.  We're use to that game.  One of the reasons Trump and the Republicans have been winning.  Many Americans have finally figured out the game Democrats and liberals play.  We're all racists, misogynists, dummies.   We get all our news from Faux News.  We know the spiel.

Another area of unfairness in trade is when a country devalues their money to make their exports cheaper.  It does the same thing as excise taxes.    It makes it harder for other countries to compete at home and sell their products to the country that changed its money valuation.  This is another thing Trump will straighten out, hopefully. 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

No.  Because I was in business myself and understand economics. I don't need Trump.   Anyone with a basic understanding of business or economics, would understand this point.  Trying to smear me, another liberal trick, won't work.

I have no idea what you mean. I'm just trying to find out where the idea comes from that the current deal(s) are unfair. An example may be too hard to ask for, so a source for the idea might help to understand.

Cheers,
Bart

[Alan Klein]

I have no idea what you mean. I'm just trying to find out where the idea comes from that the current deal(s) are unfair. An example may be too hard to ask for, so a source for the idea might help to understand.

Cheers,
Bart

Bart, everyone knows that when you raise the price of something, the quantity of items sold goes down.  If taxes or tariffs raise the cost for a import, the same thing happens.  https://www.thoughtco.com/the-economic-effect-of-tariffs-1146368

[pegelli]

You haven't explained why selling more products when import duties go down is flawed.

Alan, you're changing the subject. We were talking about the effects of a trade deficit and that a trade deficit is not normally a bad thing (and a trade surplus is not a good thing). The articles Jeff has quoted explain it very clearly, I can't do it any better.

Everybody (incl. you) except Trump seems to understand that lowering import tarriffs is good for business and economic growth. But Trump seems to be gung ho on increasing import duties because he thinks the US got an unfair deal (without providing any proof of that). He even wanted to charge BMW while they produce their cars in the US and export them from there. He doesn't understand economics and how international trade works. If he would work to lower tarriffs internationally I would be all for it, but he isn't. He's created a (flawed) image of everybody against the US and unfair deals, but I have yet to see one.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Bart, everyone knows that when you raise the price of something, the quantity of items sold goes down.

AKA Price elasticity, in case of consumables. But when a competing product is available then that will set a boundary, assuming there are no other discriminating factors, like service, etc.

If taxes or tariffs raise the cost for a import, the same thing happens.  https://www.thoughtco.com/the-economic-effect-of-tariffs-1146368

Unless there are alternative products/services available, AKA competition, which is why trade agreements are often beneficial for both parties, more than America first types of isolationism. According to the article you quoted, the soft lumber tariffs were unfair to the Canadians. Will Trump make those fairer? Of course not, a deal is a deal, he'll say. Well done preceding government(s).

Nothing new, and no proof or source that 'the current trade deals' are unfair to the USA.

Just because e.g. BMW builds better cars, or uses better marketing than manufacturers of US cars for a certain target audience, doesn't mean that the Trade deal is unfair. Just build better cars.

Cheers,
Bart

[BernardLanguillier]

And Macron was clever enough to do it in English. And the invitation to USA citizens to come and work in France was a nice touch

In all objectivity, what we have here is akin to what happened in Germany when Hitler was elected democratically.

It is no secret that some of Germany's brightest minds left and settled in the US with a tremendous value for the US economy.

Cheers,
Bernard

[LesPalenik]

In all objectivity, what we have here is akin to what happened in Germany when Hitler was elected democratically.
It is no secret that some of Germany's brightest minds left and settled in the US with a tremendous value for the US economy.

Indeed, Bernard! Good lesson in history.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

U.S. environmental agency chief says humans contribute to global warming
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climatechange-pruitt-idUSKBN18T2P0

"The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, said on Friday he believes human activity plays a role in global warming, but measuring that contribution with precision is difficult.

Speaking to reporters at the White House a day after President Donald Trump said he would withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, Pruitt declined to directly answer questions about whether the president still believed global warming was a hoax, as he had said during the 2016 presidential campaign

Pruitt said he had indicated that global warming is occurring, and that "human activity contributes to it in some manner. Measuring with precision, from my perspective, the degree of human contribution is very challenging." "

Hmm, "human activity contributes to it in some manner". In some manner ...

On  March 9th, 2017 he was reported to have said:
EPA chief unconvinced on CO2 link to global warming
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-pruitt-idUSKBN16G1XX

"The new head of the Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday he is not convinced that carbon dioxide from human activity is the main driver of climate change and said he wants Congress to weigh in on whether CO2 is a harmful pollutant that should be regulated.

In an interview with CNBC, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the Trump administration will make an announcement on fuel efficiency standards for cars "very soon," stressing that he and President Donald Trump believe current standards were rushed through.

Pruitt, 48, is a climate change denier who sued the agency he now leads more than a dozen times as Oklahoma's attorney general. He said he was not convinced that carbon dioxide pollution from burning fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal is the main cause of climate change, a conclusion widely embraced by scientists."

So, if it isn't CO2 (which it clearly is), then what is it Scott, the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

Cheers,
Bart

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Indeed, Bernard! Good lesson in history.

Indeed, so maybe those promised walls are to keep Americans in?

Cheers,
Bart

[Alan Klein]

Alan, you're changing the subject. We were talking about the effects of a trade deficit and that a trade deficit is not normally a bad thing (and a trade surplus is not a good thing). The articles Jeff has quoted explain it very clearly, I can't do it any better.

Everybody (incl. you) except Trump seems to understand that lowering import tarriffs is good for business and economic growth. But Trump seems to be gung ho on increasing import duties because he thinks the US got an unfair deal (without providing any proof of that). He even wanted to charge BMW while they produce their cars in the US and export them from there. He doesn't understand economics and how international trade works. If he would work to lower tarriffs internationally I would be all for it, but he isn't. He's created a (flawed) image of everybody against the US and unfair deals, but I have yet to see one.

Europe is the one that has higher import taxes.  Of course you want to talk about it.  That's all you guys will do, talk, just like the NATO 2% issue.  Trump's not stupid.  The only way you'll change is it's forced upon you by us matching your import costs.  He's said that he's in favor of free trade, as long as its fair trade. 

[Alan Klein]

In all objectivity, what we have here is akin to what happened in Germany when Hitler was elected democratically.

It is no secret that some of Germany's brightest minds left and settled in the US with a tremendous value for the US economy.

Cheers,
Bernard

To compare Trump to Hitler is just plain hateful.  I suppose you laughed at the vile and nasty Kathy Griffin's  severed head of Trump.  Your position is just like hers.

Regarding German immigrants to the US, may I remind you that the best came to America after the war because they didn't want to wind up in the Soviet Union.  While they did contribute to America, it was America that gave them freedom as it did the European children, parents and grandparents of those who stayed and who now post here.  You could be sure if Russia started to move into Eastern Europe, Macron and Merkel would be the first to call Trump begging him to help them. 

[LesPalenik]

To compare Trump to Hitler is just plain hateful.  I suppose you laughed at the vile and nasty Kathy Griffin's  severed head of Trump.  Your position is just like hers.

Regarding German immigrants to the US, may I remind you that the best came to America after the war because they didn't want to wind up in the Soviet Union.  While they did contribute to America, it was America that gave them freedom as it did the European children, parents and grandparents of those who stayed and who now post here.  You could be sure if Russia started to move into Eastern Europe, Macron and Merkel would be the first to call Trump begging him to help them.

Alan, I agree that comparing Trump to Hitler would be hateful.
However, that's not what Bernard is saying. He is pointing out the state of the Nazi Germany after their people democatically elected Hitler. Some scientists, engineers, professors, and doctors saw the early signs of a dictatorial state with an evil agenda (after all "Deutschland Uber Alles" is not so different from "America First" slogan), and left Germany even before the start of the war. Also many artists and writers after witnessing anti-semitic propaganda, witch hunts and suppression of democracy had their worst premonitions and fled the country. Unfortunately, not everybody was able to escape. And while it is true that some of those brights minds arrived to USA only after the war, it was due also to the fact that emmigration for many of them was often not possible before and during the war.

When two of Trump's most prominent industry advisors (Elon Musk and Rober Igers) quit as his advisors, that's not so different as when some of the scientists in Nazi Germany left the country rather than working in such a state.
 
Goebbels proved to be an expert in his mastery of the dark art of propaganda and he implemented what Adolf Hitler wrote in ‘Mein Kampf’ with regards to the truth: if you are going to tell a lie, tell a big one and if you tell if often enough, people will begin to believe it. Allegedly, Trump kept a copy of that book by his bedside, and indeed he keeps telling small and big lies all the time.

[Alan Klein]

Alan, I agree that comparing Trump to Hitler would be hateful.
However, that's not what Bernard is saying. He is pointing out the state of the Nazi Germany after their people democatically elected Hitler. Some scientists, engineers, professors, and doctors saw the early signs of a dictatorial state with an evil agenda (after all "Deutschland Uber Alles" is not so different from "America First" slogan), and left Germany even before the start of the war. Also many artists and writers after witnessing anti-semitic propaganda, witch hunts and suppression of democracy had their worst premonitions and fled the country. Unfortunately, not everybody was able to escape. And while it is true that some of those brights minds arrived to USA only after the war, it was due also to the fact that emmigration for many of them was often not possible before and during the war.

When two of Trump's most prominent industry advisors (Elon Musk and Rober Igers) quit as his advisors, that's not so different as when some of the scientists in Nazi Germany left the country rather than working in such a state.
 
Goebbels proved to be an expert in his mastery of the dark art of propaganda and he implemented what Adolf Hitler wrote in ‘Mein Kampf’ with regards to the truth: if you are going to tell a lie, tell a big one and if you tell if often enough, people will begin to believe it. Allegedly, Trump kept a copy of that book by his bedside, and indeed he keeps telling small and big lies all the time.

So you're comparing Trump to Hitler like Bernard did.  Your hate of Trump is distorting your mind.  Because two of America's business executives disagree with his position on climate policy and left his advisory board, you're comparing a policy difference to scientists leaving their homeland Germany  because Hitler and his Brown Shirts were beating up German citizens and worse. Additionally, you're totally dismissing our Constitution and our Supreme Court and Congress that checks the President.  America isn't Nazi Germany.  Let me remind you that Obamacare is still the law of the land despite republicans having control of Congress and the presidency.  Trump was already checked on the travel ban.   You really need to get control of your anger and hate.  Four years will be a long time otherwise.   

[Farmer]

Regardless what you call it, it raises the price of a product.  If it was reduced or eliminated, people would buy more goods, including imports.  So Jeff's photo book sales would increase.

You don't understand VAT at all, do you.  It's a sale tax.  It's broad-based.  It applies to imports and locally produced items equally.  If they lower it, the government will need to increase other taxes to maintain revenue, so consumers will still only have the same available disposable income and so demand won't change, plus every product would reduce which means Jeff's books wouldn't gain a price advantage.  Price is just a component and you don't seem to get that.  It's not as simple as you (and Trump) would like people to believe.

Tariffs, on the other hand, do affect imported goods compared to locally produced goods (or goods imported from other places that attract different tariff rates).  On average, trade weighted, the EU and the US have about the same level of tariffs http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/TM.TAX.MRCH.WM.AR.ZS so what you want is for the Europe to be less than the US?  That might sound like a "good deal" but it's not fair and it's never going to happen.  The US is a larger economy, so at the same rate, it's basically putting up a larger trade barrier than the EU, but an honest comparison is on the percentage where they are about the same.

If you take it as a simple mean, then the US is higher, but, again, I took the most honest and fair comparison above.

[LesPalenik]

So you're comparing Trump to Hitler like Bernard did.  Your hate of Trump is distorting your mind.  Because two of America's business executives disagree with his position on climate policy and left his advisory board, you're comparing a policy difference to scientists leaving their homeland Germany  because Hitler and his Brown Shirts were beating up German citizens and worse. Additionally, you're totally dismissing our Constitution and our Supreme Court and Congress that checks the President.  America isn't Nazi Germany.  Let me remind you that Obamacare is still the law of the land despite republicans having control of Congress and the presidency.  Trump was already checked on the travel ban.   You really need to get control of your anger and hate.  Four years will be a long time otherwise.   

Alan, if somebody has bloodshot eyes, it's not me. I am quite calm, although often shocked, but I didn't even mention any of Trumps traits, body features or mannerisms. I am commenting only on the state of Republic. Poisoned in many ways by the current administration. In contrast to you, I grew up in a dictatorial regime, where the loyalty of an aparatchik is more important than his qualifications, judgment and expertise. Let me tell you, nothing good can grow in such an environment.
 
When it comes to Musk or Igers, they are fortunate that they can get out of Trump's sphere and devote their energy, intellect and expertise to something else where there qualities will be valued, appreciated and acted upon. I have such a feeling that there will be more exits like theirs. Ireland, France, UK, and Germany are rolling out the red carpets to attract smart minds who want to save the planet and work on innovative ideas. And if they happen to make profit along the way, that's money that could have stayed in USA.

[Alan Klein]

Alan, if somebody has bloodshot eyes, it's not me. I am quite calm, although often shocked, but I didn't even mention any of Trumps traits, body features or mannerisms. I am commenting only on the state of Republic. Poisoned in many ways by the current administration. In contrast to you, I grew up in a dictatorial regime, where the loyalty of an aparatchik is more important than his qualifications, judgment and expertise. Let me tell you, nothing good can grow in such an environment.
 
When it comes to Musk or Igers, they are fortunate that they can get out of Trump's sphere and devote their energy, intellect and expertise to something else where there qualities will be valued, appreciated and acted upon. I have such a feeling that there will be more exits like theirs. Ireland, France, UK, and Germany are rolling out the red carpets to attract smart minds who want to save the planet and work on innovative ideas. And if they happen to make profit along the way, that's money that could have stayed in USA.

The American Republic is fine and will remain fine.
 
Regarding Igers and Musk, they are not leaving America.  They're just leaving a Trump advisory board.  Musk of course is tied in heavily with renewable and clean energy due to his Tesla electric cars.  So he sees Trump as a threat and is pissed off at him.   I don't know about Igers who runs Disney.  Maybe Mickey Mouse whispered in his ear and told him to do it.  In any case, no one is stopping them or any other American from the entrepreneurial spirit here in America.  In or out of the climate accord, individual and corporation American companies will produce products where the free market induces them to produce it.  If it makes sense, it will be done. That includes energy, renewables, etc. 

May I remind you that it is American ingenuity that perfected fracking causing oil to drop by 50% and sending OPEC into a panic.  It also has let gas energy become equal to coal in electric production.  American ingenuity has also cleaned up coal pollutants at least if not the CO2.   American ingenuity and production will not be impeded in clean energy and other climate and pollution enterprises with or without Paris.  We don't need Paris to do the right thing as well as to do it so our country is better off economically as well.   But, thanks for the concern.  It's better that we keep the Paris money and spend it on Americans who might need some health or other social care.  Heck, we'll even have more for NATO.

[Robert Roaldi]

During one of the Republican leadership debates, Trump told an anecdote about a doctor who used a horse needle to give a baby a vaccine, and that the baby developed autism. He said he saw this himself.

So why hasn't Trump signed an executive order banning vaccines?

[Alan Klein]

During one of the Republican leadership debates, Trump told an anecdote about a doctor who used a horse needle to give a baby a vaccine, and that the baby developed autism. He said he saw this himself.

So why hasn't Trump signed an executive order banning vaccines?

Is this a trick question?

[LesPalenik]

No trick question. As a matter of fact, it used to be quite high on Trump's agenda.

Trump's most notable comments on vaccine safety came during a 2015 Republican primary debate, in which he connected vaccines to the autism “epidemic.”
“You take this little beautiful baby, and you pump — I mean, it looks like just it's meant for a horse and not for a child,” Trump said in September 2015. “We had so many instances, people that work for me, just the other day, 2 years old, a beautiful child, went to have the vaccine and came back and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick. Now is autistic.”
Before the campaign, Trump accused doctors of lying about vaccinations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/10/donald-trump-is-rekindling-one-of-his-favorite-conspiracy-theories-vaccine-safety/?utm_term=.ed24b9abf343

[Alan Klein]

A lot of people agree with him.  Why is it that the autism rate has exploded?  It's doubled since 2000.  1 in 68 births.  It's a serious situation.  https://spectrumnews.org/news/u-s-stats-show-autism-rate-reaching-possible-plateau/

Have they determine the reason?