Berating the Businesses

Plus: Tim Dillon takes on the establishment, Chicago's racist hiring strategies, train fetishes, and more...

You simply must berate businesses for acting rationally in response to tariffs: Walmart told investors it will probably have to raise prices soon in response to 10 percent across-the-board tariffs and 30 percent tariffs on Chinese imports.

"Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain," wrote President Donald Trump on Truth Social. "Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, 'EAT THE TARIFFS,' and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I'll be watching, and so will your customers!!!"

Or else what? Trump is acting like he can strong-arm Walmart's executives into behaving in a certain manner (and maybe he can!), but it's not crazy for a CEO to warn shareholders and other relevant stakeholders that prices will have to reflect altered trade conditions.

Earlier in the month, the toy maker Mattel said something similar: It predicted a less-successful earnings outlook, that it would reduce the number of goods that are produced in Chinese factories, and that it was likely to raise prices. And Amazon made headlines in April when rumors started that the company would display the new, adjusted-for-tariffs prices alongside the old prices, which led to Trump calling Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and the company quickly getting its PR folks to recant (after the White House press secretary started alleging Amazon was sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party).

These companies are all perfectly within their rights to make evident to customers what additional costs they're bearing due to the new tariff regime. But Trump—ostensibly a pro-business Republican—is also wrong to say that a company's profits are so large that they can simply "eat" the tariffs; it's a common leftist line to act like you know what kind of financial pain a big corporation can bear. Is he saying Walmart's shareholders should just accept worse performance for the good of the country? Why, exactly, should they do that? What incentive do they have? Is being a Walmart shareholder an altruistic pursuit?

Walmart does a lot to keep prices low, it's part of its whole proposition to customers; it has an incentive to do that because it has built its brand around an Everyday Low Prices (EDLP) promise, where customers don't have to wait for sale events. It negotiates favorable deals with its manufacturers and does a lot of bulk purchasing, leveraging its size; it cuts out middlemen; it has really efficient inventory management and distribution networks; it tries to keep labor costs low (and has historically been very anti-union). But the flip side of all of these tactics is that, all across the country, it provides poor and middle-income Americans with the ability to get cheap groceries, clothing, cookware, lightbulbs, paper towels, laundry detergent—the stuff that keeps households running. All the handsomely paid executives are the ones who have an incentive to problem solve and strategize about how to keep these goods supplied and these prices low so that Americans in Middletown, Ohio, can manage to keep their homes afloat.

But to Trump, that doesn't seem to matter: He just wants to convince people that, actually, it's foreign nations who will bear the costs of the tariffs, not American consumers or businesses. Honestly, threatening businesses like this—and implying that they'll be punished if they set prices at a different level than the government wants—feels a little communist to me. What a fascinating pivot for the GOP.

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Scenes from New York: "A Mexican naval ship in the East River accelerated suddenly in the wrong direction before slamming its masts into the Brooklyn Bridge in a crash that killed two crew members, federal transportation officials said on Monday," reports The New York Times. "The ship, the Cuauhtémoc, was moving at a speed of about 2.3 knots after shoving off from a Lower Manhattan pier Saturday night with a tugboat's help, Brian Young of the National Transportation Safety Board said at a news conference. The 300-foot-long ship, which had 277 people on board, maintained that pace for 'a bit of time' before 'the speed began to increase,' said Mr. Young, the investigator leading the safety board's inquiry into the crash. The Cuauhtémoc's speed had risen to six knots when it hit the bridge less than five minutes after leaving shore, he said." It's not clear why it accelerated like that, and the full investigation could take a very long time—up to two years—to complete.

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QUICK HITS

• Incredible exchange between a CNN reporter and comedian Tim Dillon, in which Dillon properly describes the power of establishment institutions and chafes at the concept that he and Theo Von and Joe Rogan have anywhere near that amount of power:

CNN asks Tim Dillon if comedians with podcasts are "part of a new establishment" and gets immediately destroyed ???? pic.twitter.com/oh3W1nI5Oc

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) May 19, 2025

• "The US Department of Justice said it will investigate whether Chicago is discriminating against municipal job candidates by race after Mayor Brandon Johnson highlighted the number of Black officials in his administration while addressing a church on the city's south side," reports Bloomberg. "The investigation is 'based on information suggesting that you have made hiring decisions solely on the basis of race,' [Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division Harmeet] Dhillon, who was nominated by President Donald Trump, said in the letter."
• Will Pope Leo XIV have to deal with the IRS?
• Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was breached by "criminals bribing employees and contractors in India to obtain client data," per Bloomberg. The Justice Department has opened a probe into the matter. Interestingly, "the perpetrators deployed what's called social engineering attacks—where criminals use people to gain unauthorized access to data, rather than exploiting flaws in computer code."
• Intelligentsia train fetishism continues, alas:

Banger headline. pic.twitter.com/6ybwa5ql17

— JR Urbane Network (@JRUrbaneNetwork) May 18, 2025

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Walmart told investors it will probably have to raise prices soon in response to 10 percent across-the-board tariffs and 30 percent tariffs on Chinese imports.

Walmart sells Chinese goods???

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Anyone else remember the headline effort Walmart made to sell stuff made in the USA? That must have been at least 20 years ago.

[Idaho-Bob]

"Buy American, and Americans Work!"

Yeah, I remember. This was when Sam Walton was still alive IIRC.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

The moment that man died the Walmart concept went to shit.

Off-topic, but when Walmart opened in the small town I was living in, it came with a photo studio, a McDonald’s, an eyeglass centre, a large pet section with tropical fish, and a deli counter. Within a year, it had driven out the local photo studio, two pet stores, a nearby grocery store known for its deli, and the existing eyeglass centre. Walmart wasn’t necessarily better—but it was cheaper and that's important.

Eventually, Walmart Canada decided to divest itself of all those services across the country. Now that town—where I no longer live—has no photo studio, no eyeglass centre, no McDonald’s, no pet stores, and no deli. And no one wants to open a new one, because what if Walmart changes its mind again?

[D-Pizzle]

So Walmart Canada had a near monopoly in those goods and services on a local level, and still decided to divest itself of those lines? Maybe, just perhaps, those businesses were in decline due to cameras on every phone and the emergence of social media, emerging players in vision services with a strong online presence like Warby Parker, Chewy.com, and Jersey Mike's et al. An alternate question: What would Walmart have to gain by intentionally driving out relatively non-competitive businesses only to "divest itself of all those services across the country?"

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

20 years ago, shit, I don't think I've seen that line since the early 90s.

[Minadin]

It was at least middle-to-late '90's, because I remember seeing the 'Made in the USA' type branding on their semi-trailers as I drove around the country.

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

They put peeper in your Sam’s Cola

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

We must protect Walmart’s bottom line!

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

We've got to protect our phoney-baloney jobs, gentleman! We must do something about this immediately! Immediately, immediately! Harrumph, harrumph!

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

"I didn't get a harrumph out of that guy."

[Overt]

I don't get this response.

The purpose of a Tariff is to make foreign goods so expensive that domestic producers (whose goods are more expensive) can compete with them. If prices don't go up, then how are you going to shift production to domestic producers?

[Quicktown Brix]

You cannot reason a person out of a position he did not reason himself into in the first place.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

We've noticed that about you.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Uh oh, your copy paste key broke.

[Social Justice is neither]

You don't see a difference between Walmart and the actual consumer? They're telling Walmart to go broke buying Chinese or raise prices by buying elsewhere since they're different products, just substitutes. It's dumb but they don't want blowback from the tariffs themselves or being blamed for companies raising prices in excess of the tariffs and blaming them.

[Overt]

I disagree. Walmart runs a 3% net profit margin. You can't increase prices on their biggest sellers by 10 - 45% and have them eat that. It is a fiction.

The Trump administration doesn't expect Walmart to eat this, because they know it is a fantasy. This is an optics maneuver to take what MUST happen and shift the blame to Walmart, using marxist "Greedy capitalist" rhetoric in the process.

So my point to DLAM stands- this isn't about "protecting Walmart's bottom line". That is going to happen no matter what. If you support these tariffs, then you WANT prices to go up, and the only one who can pay them are American consumers.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Trump has been nothing but inconsistent on tariffs since he was a wee laddie, probably. Tariffs will rise so high that they will replace the income tax (it takes 71%) and allow domestic production to match import prices, but it won't reduce imports and will collect the full 71%. And tariffs won't raise prices because the foreigners will pay the tax. And it will raise prices so high that moms will have to buy only two dolls instead of thirty, which I guess means the price will be 15 times as high. And tariffs won't hurt, but we'll have to endure the pain for a while to get results.

He's an economic idiot. I guess I've said that before.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

“I guess I’ve said that before.”

Have you? I hadn’t noticed.

[Gov-guns]! [??]

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

That is not the sole purpose of these tariffs as Bessent and others have made quite clear.

One reason is retaliation due to tariffs on American goods elsewhere.

Another reason is the rampant theft for China.

Another is currency manipulation.

Another is China violating import fees through loopholes.

There are numerous reasons.

And if your assertion were true, that it was done to allow competition against cheaper foreign goods, the China wouldn't have tariffs on American goods. You can't make an argument like that that falls apart on even simple analysis.

On top of that there is supply chain risk, growing welfare dependency, and other factors related to the offshoring of industry that bessent has pointed out.

It is no different than government funded NGOs subsidizing foreign workers coming to the US to undercut wages while raising inflation, housing costs, etc.

You're keeping it far too simple for a complex topic because that is what groups like FWD.us want you to do.

[Overt]

Jesse-

The mechanism of Tariffs is to make goods expensive so that Domestic competition can out compete. Every one of your "Supplemental" reasons doesn't work if that mechanism is not followed.

There is no threat to China or punishment for their malfeasance if their goods are not more expensive- which by definition makes the goods Walmart and its customers buy more expensive- causing people to shift to different products. If Walmart just "ate" the cost of goods and kept buying Chinese, they could still carry on with the same behavior.

"And if your assertion were true, that it was done to allow competition against cheaper foreign goods, the China wouldn't have tariffs on American goods. You can't make an argument like that that falls apart on even simple analysis."

I don't understand the point you are trying to make here. Of course China is doing exactly what Trump is doing: Charging tariffs on American goods in order to protect their favored industries- largely agriculture. And again, this might be retaliation (or to force negotiation) for other trade disputes, but the mechanism remains the same: if it didn't make chinese buy less american agriculture, it would not work.

"On top of that there is supply chain risk, growing welfare dependency, and other factors related to the offshoring of industry that bessent has pointed out."

Again, my point remains the same. The only reason Tariffs would "improve" our supply chain by causing us to move domestic is by making the foreign competition more expensive. Without Tariffs increasing prices to the consumer, your risk never gets mitigated.

"You're keeping it far too simple for a complex topic because that is what groups like FWD.us want you to do."

In fact, it is simple. Tariffs have two potential jobs: raising revenue, and causing pain to foreign producers by making them more expensive to domestic consumers. And Bessant has made clear that the primary purpose is the latter- regardless of the specific complaints justifying the pain. You are trying to throw a bunch of other complexities at it to needlessly muddy the waters.

[Overt]

Look, this is so tiresome.

The purpose of Tariffs is to increase prices, resulting in changed behavior. I get that you have lots of reasons why you want that behavior changed. Some are good reasons, some not. The argument is whether or not the changes in behavior are worth the cost (increased prices).

But Trump should be criticized because he is unwilling to defend those costs as "Worth it" in this case. He is saying that he can get domestic manufacturing back to the US, and if it increases prices (which it surely must) it is only because Walmart is greedy.

Again, I get that you think tariffs are worth it. But you don't have to be like Trump and pretend that there is no cost.

[Dillinger]

>>The argument is whether or not the changes in behavior are worth the cost (increased prices).

no this time the argument is bigger than Liz' cheap Chinese made WalMart bought widgets or whatever I don't shop at WalMart

[MoreFreedom]

Overt you understand JesseAZ believes Trump's tariffs are worth "it", but I don't believe you understand, why and are misled by the typical political use of tariffs: protectionism of USA producers. Missing from the article is Trump's stated goal: the elimination of tariffs.

Also missing is a statement of how Trump imposing tariffs will lead to their elimination (I can see how this confuses people). Imposing tariffs leads exporters to reduce their production because econ 101 tells us increased prices (in this case from tariffs) lead to decreased production. Thus, less income and profits accrue to the exporting country, meaning less money for people in that country. Which leads to those people in that country calling for typically government subsidies, but that means higher taxes for everyone, so what Trump plans is for those countries to come to the negotiating table to eliminate tariffs on both sides.

They aren't going to change without feeling the pain they're happy to inflict on us with their tariffs where producers and consumers in both countries lose out (except for the owners of protected companies and their benefactors in government who get campaign donations for the favor).

Tariffs (and government subsidies) are a means by which the political class steals from the rest of us (fitting into the category of government control over commerce rather than government defending free markets), and Trump is trying to put an end to it. And if he doesn't succeed, I'd rather fund the government via tariffs than income taxes, as we did from 1776-1910. We were relatively richer then, rather than the politicians.

[sarcasmic]

Missing from the article is Trump's stated goal: the elimination of tariffs.

Seriously?

When talking to free traders then yeah he'll say that's his goal.

When talking about tariffs in general he says that a non-zero baseline tariff is essential.

When talking about taxes he says tariff revenue from tariffs can eliminate other taxes (which is a lie of course).

When talking about domestic industry he says high tariffs are required to provide protection from foreign competition.

All of those things are contradictory and mutually exclusive.

So, which is it?

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

The Canada and Mexico new tarrifs after Trump negioated the USMCA says otherwise. He declared it, "The USMCA is the largest, fairest, most balanced, and modern trade agreement ever achieved. There’s never been anything like it."

Seems like he is just protectionist to me, otherwise why would he need to raise tarrifs if he already achieved the greatest, most fair trade deal ever?

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Essentially this.

End goal IS a free market. It IS the end of tariffs. But it can't be done by being completely ignorant to anti market actions of others.

As I've told Overt before, I'm not an idealist. Idealism leads to worse outcomes because idealistic choose to ignore reality. To break things down into simple first order models. Models that are always wrong.

Would I like a global kumbaya session, sure. Is it going to happen. No.

It comes across as naivete.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

It is tiresome because you keep choosing to ignore the public reasons being made, the associated costs regarding global markets, and reliance on over simplified bumper stickers.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

I don't get this response.

Was supposed to be humor.

[tracerv]

There's the problem. Overt doesn't do humor. Him and Zeb must be a hoot at parties.

[Zeb]

Fortunately at parties you typically aren't communicating in text.

[Zeb]

OK, Jon Stewart. I suspect you were also making some kind of a point.

[mad.casual]

I don't get this response.

That's because, apparently, you either missed day 1, lesson 1 of Econ 101, or, between then and now, you've become so brain damaged as to have forgotten the distinctions between "cost", "value", "price", and "demand".

[Randy Sax]

Intelligentsia train fetishism continues, alas:

I'm sure some women like having a train run on them.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

You know who else likes trains?

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Purdue alumni?

[Medulla Oblongata]

My eyes saw "trans fetishism" the first time.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Pretty much the same fan base.

[Eeyore]

I'm sure there is a segment of the population who can't get off without both. Choo choo, here comes the Troon Train into town.

[Anomalous]

But who can make them run on time?

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Intelligentsia train fetishism continues, alas:

Bring back technology from the 1800’s!

[Zeb]

That's a funny joke and all. But trains have continued to advance and improve consistently. The US has a fantastically efficient freight rail system. Passenger rail in certain densely populated areas can work. But it's also hugely expensive and doesn't get you to where you are going unless you live in a city center.

[Overt]

"But it's also hugely expensive and doesn't get you to where you are going unless you live in a city center."

"Challenge Accepted!"
-Urban Planners

[Idaho-Bob]

If passenger trains worked, they wouldn't require subsidies,

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And bans on personal transportation.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

And guess who is losing their population? City centers.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Some of it is due to COVID, some of it is due to white Millennials aging out and wanting "good schools and safe neighborhoods," i.e., they have diversity fatigue and don't want to live near the POCs anymore.

[damikesc]

You know who does not like living amongst POC?

POC.

Many of them cannot leave those areas fast enough.

[Eeyore]

The cities that were not bad before
- turned into third world hell holes.

[Medulla Oblongata]

LIKE trains. I've taken vacations where 5 days of train travel were a proper part of the vacation (Alaska Railroad). I'd love to travel by train.

I live about 30 minutes from an Amtrak station, that has daily travel to Atlanta, where I used to live and work and still travel to on a regular basis. But I cannot take Amtrak, even though it's cheap--cheaper than driving, really.

Why?

First, the once-daily trip leaves the small town at 06:00, arrives in ATL ~08:45. That's fine. The return trip however...departs ATL 23:30, arrives 01:40 the next day. That's, the one and only way to make the trip by train.

Let's assume I'm ok with that return trip. Where does Amtrak stop in Atlanta? No where near the Atlanta subway system. The Amtrak station is more than a mile away from the nearest MARTA station, in a not-so-nice part of town (not the worst part, but sketchy to be walking around at 11 o'clock at night).

Next, since MARTA does not go anywhere near my company's office, nearest station is about 10 miles away, I STILL will need a car. I suppose I could cab it or get uber from Amtrak to the office, but then what? I can stay at hotel within walking distance of the office, or I can uber 15 miles each way to relatives where I can stay for free (or beg them to pick me up and drive me in each day). Or, I could walk from Amtrak to MARTA station, take MARTA to the airport, then take airport train to rental car hub, rent a car, then drive 40 miles back the way I just came, then reverse the process when I'm ready to go back.

Or, I could drive my own car for about 2.5 hours to get to Atlanta and avoid all of the above.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Why do you hate the European lifestyle?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

A big part of the issue is that we've been subsidizing a mode of transportation that has virtually no demand anymore outside of the Acela Corridor, and a few left-liberal bougie cities. Yeah, driving in rush-hour traffic sucks donkey balls. I hate that parks like Yellowstone have gotten so choked with cars that you need entrance passes to some places these days.

But outside of those generally miserable periods, I have a versatile transportation device that can take me across the country any time, at my own pace, to stop and see various points of interest, on roads that in some cases were previously only accessible by foot or horse. I've taken light rail and buses all around the Denver metro, and most of the time I could have saved myself time and the aggravation of being in close proximity to Denver's population of critical mass drug addicts by driving. The only reason I didn't was because it was a tradeoffs at the time of gas money and having some extra time to rest or catch up on homework for college outweighed the negatives. Once I graduated, the only reason to take light rail is as a novelty and because it will drop me off exactly where I need to go.

I'd never travel by train, though. I want the option of getting out of my car at a roadside marker or landmark and taking a break for a few minutes, or to stop at some diner and get a cheeseburger. I can't get that by taking a train.

[Eeyore]

Last time I had to take a train operated by Amtrack it was way more expensive than driving. Especially for a group. It cost at least 10x for a party of 4 to use the train vs driving.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Found riding a train rather pleasant all in all, the one time* I used one. Was helping my brother move from Philly to Denver. Hopped a train to Philly, drove his wifes car to Denver and flew back to Baltimore. I'm just glad that America has multiple sources of transportation networks instead of one choice as the NYT seems to favor.

Not worth subsidizing them though in the least.

*not including subways

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Passenger rail works nowhere. Read the book "Romance of the Rails", a history of passenger rail.

The real eye opener was NYC subways. The original privately built ones made a profit on nickel fares. Then the city took them over and refused to raise prices or keep the lean efficient work force. They could have equivalent inflation-adjusted fares today and be more reliable and make a profit, but government doesn't care about that.

[Zeb]

You seem to be contradicting yourself and saying that they have worked in at least one place. All depends on what you mean by "works". I certainly agree that if it needs subsidy from government to operate it doesn't work, but I'm a libertarian weirdo. A lot of people seem to disagree with me, though.

[Eeyore]

There has been a push to make the privately owned rail lines in Europe publicly owned. The ones that don't already suck will start to suck soon.

[Minadin]

That's the thing. Coastal 'elites' think trains are great and all because they work in their areas (somewhat) and they work in Europe, which they idolize.

But are they going to spend 4-5 days taking a train from New York to LA? When it's more expensive than a plane ticket?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, 'EAT THE TARIFFS,' and not charge valued customers ANYTHING.

The government during the pandemic helped them out leaving them open while closing down (and in many cases put out of business) their smaller competitors. THEY OWE THE GOVERNMENT ONE.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is there anyone who does not suck in this equation?

[Overt]

Just you, FoE. Just you.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Aw. I do, I just hide it well.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

The customer?

[Fist of Etiquette]

WALMART CUSTOMERS???

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

I find it so funny that people are outraged about a bad way to say they need to understand demand cost sensitivity. Customers do have a say in what they will pay for a good. Cheap goods are not insensitive to cost.

Most of what people buy from Walmart is sourced domestically, such as food. Yes you can buy cheap shit there too. But if costs go up, these aren't actually necessities and people will alter choices when they buy. As they do no matter the source of inflation, such as the 21% under Biden.

Likewise corporations aren't dumb. Walmart and others have already discussed negotiations with suppliers. But the idiots like Boehm don't understand how businesses work.

I find it fucking hilarious the outrage over the "costs" from these tariffs which so far are not measurable, see economic data and CPI and PPI data, and even if fully passed on half of the inflation under Joe ther Boehm and media defended as transitory.

Meanwhile the costs from offshoring increase every year, leading to more welfare spending. And now reason demands we increase income taxes by double while raging at tariffs. This outrage is fundamentally dishonest. Regulations and income taxes would dwarf any tariffs even of 100% of the tax is pushed to cost. It makes the outrage dishonest.

Even with 2 months of actual data, the outrage remains unabated. Showing a dishonest and unserious complaint.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

..and the full investigation could take a very long time—up to two years—to complete.

What difference, at that point, will it make?

[Mike Parsons]

"The US Department of Justice said it will investigate whether Chicago is discriminating against municipal job candidates by race"

Most of them have openly bragged about it, case closed. Prosecute for CRA violation. If you have the CRA, abide by it.

Lot of people thought it was cute to brag about this stuff in the post-floyd insanity of 2020-2024. Time to prosecute them all

[Sun Wukong]

CRA provides for personal liability. Start holding these people personally liable and this crap will stop

[Mike Parsons]

Had plenty of stuff like this from libsofTikTok:

Sweetbaby inc (shitty video game story contractor), again during the height of the anti-racist crap, openly went and made a video about how:

'My team is composed of people who look like me (black, woman), because white people make people feel unsafe and create an unsafe environment'

This company, every single company like them who bragged about this shit (and there are dozens), esp if involved in govt, prosecute them all.

[Sun Wukong]

The President of Inprint, a company that makes specialized SWAG, went on Twitter and talked about how he only hires immigrants since they are the only ones who fit into the company culture. That motherfucker should be sued into poverty by the time the EEOC and the plaintiffs' lawyers are done with him.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

You mean those white people who have one-fifth the murder rate of black people (and one-tenth the black victim murder rate)?

Warning: these are media "statistics", but you get the idea.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Skin color is the most important thing.

[Super Scary]

"“There are some detractors that will push back on me and say, ‘The only thing the mayor talks about is the hiring of Black people,'” Johnson said Sunday. “No. What I’m saying is when you hire our people, we always look out for everybody else. We are the most generous people on the planet. I don’t know too many cultures that have play cousins.”"

The levels of delusion are off the charts with this one.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

That's basically him admitting that blacks are going to exercise a massive level of in-group preference that would be prosecuted as discrimination based on race if white people did it.

Which is the whole idea--only white people aren't allowed to exercise this in-group preference. For everyone else, it's okay because MUH DIVERSITY and MUH SYSTEMIC RACISM. And it's all driven by the pretense of vermin like Noel Ignatiev that white people need to cease to exist as a race.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I don’t know too many cultures that have play cousins

I guess this is code for, "Black people don't know how to practice birth control, so we have 20 different half-siblings and cousins in the same neighborhood."

Dipshit, EVERY culture has "play cousins."

[mad.casual]

Christianity: Father takes his son and a friend out sailing. He winds up having to make an anguishing choice between saving his son from drowning at the cost of his son's friend or save his son's friend at the cost of his own son.

Black Chicago Political Machine: Son and "play cousins" are all safe because dad(s) left years ago and never came back. No one goes boating.

Obviously, the Chicago Political Machine is clearly the superior cultural choice. It's obvious because they have a racist, bumper sticker term for treating neighbors like family, duh.

[Cyrano]

https://babylonbee.com/news/chicago-mayor-insists-he-has-never-discriminated-against-white-boy-honky-crackers

[Fist of Etiquette]

Earlier in the month, the toy maker Mattel said something similar: It predicted a less-successful earnings outlook...

You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 different whatever the hell Mattel makes (well, imports) these days when children are hungry in the rust belt!

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But what about 23 genders of Barbie/Ken/Xer dolls?

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Not enough, not near enough. And only two names? Deadnaming or something.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

I watched a lot of these calls. What happened was companies who already had decreasing sales (less consumer spending due to increased energy, housing, and other expenses) chose to push their financial issues onto 2 week old tariffs. It was quite apparent what they were doing if you knew any part of their prior year growth and sales estimates.

But those who only racially monitor these things immediately latchef onto the excuse. Look at Matels sales the prior 2 years.

Basically a corporate PR spin to push blame for what was already happening.

[Social Justice is neither]

Of course the NYT and their Palestinian supporting readers love trains, just look at how they were used in the late 1930's to early 40's.

There is no regret over the highway system outside downtown Manhattan but if they hate it so much maybe we should tear it down for 50 miles around their enclave, let them survive off rooftop farms and imports from the sea.

[Mike Parsons]

"There is no regret over the highway system outside downtown Manhattan "

Its fully this. They want a solution that is tailor made for their urban utopia, despite the fact that said solution is not ideal elsewhere. If only everything could be like the EU...

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I have fucking had it with people who want the US to be more like Europe (except abortion laws). There already is a fucking Europe, and if that's the way you want to live, fucking move there.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed can damn well go home.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

The problem for them is that they have their own idealized skewed view of Europe that doesn’t jibe with reality. The vast majority of Europeans own cars and drive. They even drive to work and on vacations (the traffic patterns in August in France give this away). They would be shocked at the car usage there.

[D-Pizzle]

How dare you use "jibe" correctly! Don't you know you're supposed to say "jive" these days.

[Mike Parsons]

This. There are plenty of socialist give-away utopias in Eu/Scandinavia. There is no other US.

We should not be attempting to emulate mediocrity. The EU is stale, stagnant, and they produce barely anything. They remain big players on the world stage only so much as they are hanging around us in the context of NATO.

I really really wish the pussies they swear they will move to CA or the EU would fucking go already and improve our country

[Fats of Fury]

Germany had the autobahn since the 30's It was where Eisenhower got the idea for the interstate highways. What they didn't have was oil. US passenger train service was already losing money after the war. The train companies dumped their passenger lines and Nixon started Amtrak. It's another boondoggle that needs to be DOGEd.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

The autobahns just showed Ike that freeways work. The ideas for the interstate system well pre-date Ike and the work started in the 1930s under BPR chief Thomas MacDonald. The 1956 act was for the funding mechanism to build them.

https://highways.dot.gov/highway-history/interstate-system/50th-anniversary/interstate-highway-system-myths

The Interstate System was first described in a Bureau of Public Roads report to Congress, Toll Roads and Free Roads, in 1939. It was authorized for designation by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, with the initial designations in 1947 and completed in 1955 under the 40,000-mile limitation imposed by the 1944 Act. President Eisenhower didn’t conceive the Interstate System, but his support led to enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which established the program for funding and building it.

This page has scans of the original ideas from the 30s and the influential 1955 “Yellow Book”: http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/yellowbook/

Note that a number of the 30s and 40s proposals bear a remarkable resemblance to the modern system.

[Randy Sax]

I want to get from bumfuck WV to bumfuck IA with a bicycle and a week's worth of provisions. I'm gonna take my car. Building that train line is not feasible. Highways are great.

[Zeb]

I think a lot of people don't quite understand how much energy trains use. Or they don't care and just like the central-planning-ness of it or want to be cool like Europe. You just can't sustainably run a passenger train that stops in small places. Unless they are pretty full and don't have a ton of stops, driving is probably more energy efficient as well as being more convenient.

[Overt]

Passenger trains also fuck up municipal transit for the same reasons- you can't build a light-rail track to every population center in the city, unless your city is constrained to one or two directions.

So instead of buses taking you North-South on one major boulevard, it takes you east to feed you into a train, which takes you North where you need to get another bus to take you west back to the boulevard.

Further, in cities, dynamic changes make light rail systems quickly obsolete. Open a commercial office park down in a suburb, and suddenly companies are moving from downtown to that suburb and your tracks are taking people to empty buildings. It's just dumb.

In almost all cases (save some specific geography constraints, e.g. manhattan) buses are superior to trains because they share infrastructure with cars, and are more flexible.

[Randy Sax]

A decent amount of my clients have private rail tracks that transport in raw materials and out finished products. But these plants and their tracks have been around for ~100 years sometimes. Freight rail does make sense.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

So, if we treated people as freight?

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Look at this guy, never flew delta.

[Randy Sax]

Basically.

We will load you when we want. You will go only the place we want you to go. The layovers will be long and overnight and you will not be able to leave the train while it's stopped. No food, beverages, or facilities will be provided.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

And this is why streetcars went away starting in the 1920s. Municipalities found it easier and cheaper to operate buses which offered far more flexibility and weren’t tied to tracks. There was no conspiracy to get rid of term.

[Incunabulum]

That is simple - urban planners will not allow you to open the office park.

You will live in the concrete high rise and take mass transit to the cubicle farm.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Cubicle farm? Before long the peasants will spend all day on the soy bean farm.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

One of the things that got lost in the rush to put in light rail in Denver was the fact that public transportation would have improved dramatically if RTD had just increased the number of buses and expanded routes throughout the metro area. Light rail has been a very expensive boondoggle that isn't used nearly as much as the propagandists said it would be. The best thing that can be said about it is that the trains do get pretty full during rush hour so that means fewer cars on the road during those specific periods. But outside of that, most people will just deal with Denver's shitty transportation corridors.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

That’s because trains are sexy to these nitwits, and buses are not. I personally don’t understand the hard-on these idiots have for placing light rail in places it is t needed.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Bart: Maybe you know why a high-roller like Hedley Lamarr is interested in Rock Ridge.
Mongo: Don't know. Got to do with where choo-choo go.
Bart: Mongo, why would Hedley Lamarr care about where the choo-choo goes?
Mongo: Don't know. Mongo only pawn in game of life.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Then you have Atlanta, where the subway system INTENTIONALLY skipped stops near places people would want to go. For example, MARTA never went near the old Fulton County Stadium...the County owned the parking franchises...

[Medulla Oblongata]

I always thought that the focus on trains in Atlas Shrugged was some sort of anachronism--even accepting the whole nobody can really afford cars anymore part. It now seems more and more prescient given the absolute hard-on leftists have for trains (and the control over trains and the limits they can place on moving people).

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I can't repeat this too often: read the book, "Romance of the Rails" https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1944424946/reasonmagazinea-20/.

$10 Kindle, $15 hard cover, and if you are at all interested in the history and even economics of passenger rail, it's a great read. The amount of corruption, opposition, subsidies, and takeover involved is amazing.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

For a micro perspective, there's a 3-part volume on Denver's urban rail history called "Denver's Street Railways." They're out of print, but you can find used copies via Amazon. Covers everything from the early development years, to the interurban rails that were invoked during the late 20-early 21st century light rail development.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Walmart does a lot to keep prices low...

Next up: Trump forces them to unionize.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Wouldn't surprise me, considering who he nominated for Labor secretary.

[Randy Sax]

Honestly, threatening businesses like this—and implying that they'll be punished if they set prices at a different level than the government wants—feels a little communist to me. What a fascinating pivot for the GOP.

I don't know if "fascinating" is the word I'd use.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

It's called the bully pulpit. I seem to remember the Democrat using it when she threatened price controls.

[Zeb]

Yeah, and that was also bad. Part of the reason to support Trump was supposed to be changing how things are done.

[Overt]

Except Trump has never, ever, pretended to be anything but a populist who will use the bully pulpit to enact populist reforms. If any of this is surprising, you were not paying attention.

[Quicktown Brix]

It's the breath and magnitude of his populist reforms that's surprising.

[TJJ2000]

It's amazing how so many Trump theories can run-wild by a single Social Media post.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

TDS does that.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

TDS is bipartisan.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

It's amazing how many Trumpies defended Trump's bully pulpit, as if by knee jerk reflex, rather than just ignore it or wave it off as "just Trump". No, they actually defended it. Some trumped yesterday actually tried to justify it as Walmart making too much money.

[Quicktown Brix]

It's amazing how so many Trump theories can run-wild by a single Social Media post.

I don't get your point. Are you saying Trump hasn't made big, unprecedented moves? It's just a "summer of the shark" phenomenon?

[TJJ2000]

Only if you find De-Regulation, Tax-Cuts, Spending-Cuts and destruction of the illegal [Na]tional So[zi]alist Empire "unprecedented moves".

I think the DNC platform says exactly what you're saying, "He's hollowing out [our] public institutions!"

[Quicktown Brix]

Well this is hopeless.

[Zeb]

No, it's not surprising in the least that Trump is using the bully pulpit. That's definitely his style.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

What's unusual is all the Trumpies defending what he said, not that he said it. Usually they're full of "watch what he does, not what he says" but yesterday, and probably today, they're actually defending what he said.

[sarcasmic]

That's not unusual at all. When he says stupid shit they say ignore it and look at what he does. When he does stupid shit they say ignore it and look at what he says. They've always wanted it both ways. You must be new here.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

I'm not defending him. Simply pointing out that he has no enforcement mechanism so it's all just hyperbole. I'm fine with Liz criticizing him but wasting hundreds of words on something of so little consequence is just a waste of time.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Can you or zeb show us when Trump actually used state power against a corporation instead of just the pulpit?

[Zeb]

I don't like the pulpit. Of course he can do it. I just don't like it. The president runs the government, not the country.

[DesigNate]

Now you tell us! - every politician ever

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Every talking head has a pulpit. Every author here has a pulpit. Who cares that someone has a louder microphone than you?

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the full investigation could take a very long time—up to two years—to complete.

The answer must be inconvenient.

[Randy Sax]

The mexicans fucked it up? It's not actually Trump's fault? How can we spin this?

Gimme two years, by then everyone will have forgotten about it.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

It’s probably the fault of the tugboat company that is in New York and employs New Yorkers. Keep in mind who they vote for.

[Sun Wukong]

The ship wasn't under its own power. It didn't have any sails unfurled. It is almost certainly the fault of the tugboat company.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

You know the Cuauhtémoc has a engine, right?

[Sun Wukong]

Yes. IT was being pushed by a tug from what I have read.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

No. Look at the video and its pictures. The tug was no longer pushing.

[Zeb]

Wind and currents were also moving it towards the bridge. I don't know enough about port operations to say anything more, but I've seen a few comments from people who do who seem pretty sure that it was not the fault of the Mexican crew. If it was, I think the pilots and tug operators would be quick to point it out as it would be a major violation of how things are supposed to work in ports.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

And there was supposed to be a docking pilot on board the ship who is an employee of the tugboat company.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

No, watch the videos. The engine was on and the propeller was in reverse. It was underway astern. The engine should have been switched from reverse (getting out of the dock) to forward (to head south into the current) and it was not. Mechanical failure, crew failure, who knows.

Watch this from @What's Going on With Shipping?, it's 24 minutes, but you can skip parts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIlRiauatEo

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Apparently the type of engine in the boat has a reputation for losing oil pressure and getting stuck in gear. Talk about it happening at the worst possible time.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

The sails were furled so the sailors could man the yards for leaving port. You can see them lined up.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

More like 2 days. We're surrounded by shiny objects demanding attention.

[sarcasmic]

Can someone tell the Ignoramus in Chief that the means by which protective tariffs protect domestic businesses is by forcing fucking stores to fucking raise the fucking prices they charge for fucking imports!

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

How much spittle landed on sarc’s keyboard that time?

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

If you read his comments in abe simpson's Barney the drunk's voice, they're kinda funny.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

You're right!

[Zeb]

He makes a decent point here. How are tariffs supposed to help American industry if not by making imports more expensive?

[TJJ2000]

Except is it an act of 'protecting' domestic when domestics standard tax-rate is as high as 85% and imports where 0%? If there's any 'protecting' going on I'd say it was the importers getting 'protected' and the correct wording for these Tariffs is equal tax-obligation between domestic and imports.

[Zeb]

Which tax rate is this?

I do think that a much better way to encourage domestic industry would be to focus on fixing the domestic and regulatory and tax situations. A good rule of thumb for government, if you ask me, is to always favor stopping impositions on Americans first before trying more coercive measures or adding additional burdens.

[TJJ2000]

Corporate + State Manf + Payroll + The hundreds of others (excise, sales, property, etc, etc, etc) that ends up pigeon-holing domestic manufacturing specifically.

"stopping impositions on Americans first before trying more coercive measures or adding additional burdens"

Thus Trumps Domestic Tax-Cuts, De-Regulation and Spending-Cuts.

[Zeb]

Right, so let's get those tax rates down and remove more regulation and see if that gets American industry to where we want it before we start imposing more on people engaged in foreign trade.

[TJJ2000]

...and about that $36,000,000,000,000 debt?

[Zeb]

Cut spending, obv.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

If you add up all corporate taxes, regulatory taxes, taxes attached to employment like ACA, the costs of government induced additives is around 30-40% of domestic costs.

Freaking out about a much smaller import tax is pretty funny once you realize that.

One of the reasons I focus on the regulatory state is due to this additive cost. 5T in additive costs pushed under Biden.

The false free market globalists want you to ignore this.

[TJJ2000]

In 69 corporate tax was 52.8% + MS State Manf Tax 18% = 70.8%

Granite Trump has lowered domestic corporate to 20% but I'd say your 30%-40% figure is awfully (missing a lot) conservative. Individual Income tax alone runs 31%.

[Medulla Oblongata]

There's a difference between statutory rate and effective rate.

[TJJ2000]

And you can't say you're using 'effective rate' by simply adding effects of 'statutory rate'. You have to include every nickel and dime that a domestic manufacturer pays to the government throughout all process of manufacturing that item.

[Zeb]

Well, good thing I'm not freaking out then. There's a lot of space between full bore support and freaking out. I'm saying it would be a lot better to be more focused on the domestic taxes and regulations than what other countries are doing. Yes, he's done some good there. But not nearly enough and all the tariff stuff is a distraction.

[TJJ2000]

^THIS [phone].

Article Ignored. Extend those Tax-Cuts,MORE De-Regulation, MORE spending-cuts.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

What are you rambling on about? What 85% tax rate on domestics? How do imports skip any domestic taxes when sold domestically?

[TJJ2000]

Their entire existence/creation skips ALL US taxes.
Because the US doesn't tax foreign manufacturing (as if they could).
The only way to balance that is by taxing it at the end of creation by those who buy it.

[sarcasmic]

Look at his above response to Zeb.

The guy is so dumb he makes Jesse's take on economics look smart by comparison.

[TJJ2000]

Why don't you post your total domestic manufacturing taxes for Fed/State. Adding in all property (manufacturing site), regulation costs, excise, sales and every dime that goes to government in the domestic process of making something ledger since you're so smart on the subject.

A non-response will be taken as your own ignorant stupidity on the subject. FFS as I already showed you just Fed Corporate in 69 + MS Manf Taxes is 70+%.

[sarcasmic]

I'll just show one example of how incredibly stupid your math is. Payroll taxes are a percentage of what a company pays on labor. They're not a blanket tax that can just be added to other taxes. Your entire equation is fucking retarded and shows that economics isn't the only thing you are willfully ignorant of.

[TJJ2000]

Your STUPID sits in your ability to wave the 'play ignorant' flag on any $ you don't want to include. Do you think foreign factories are paying US payroll taxes on their labor force?

I don't see you ledger... Smart*ss.

[Neutral not Neutered]

Payroll taxes roll into the company overhead and then are included in the price charged for a manufactured product. Sales taxes applied to the manufactured product are also applied to the payroll taxes already rolled into the product price. You seem to be missing the picture altogether.

[sarcasmic]

What dipshit is doing is saying that the 7% match by the company on paychecks means they pay 7% on all manufactured goods. He then adds that 7% to the income tax and other taxes to get a total of 85%, and uses that to claim that manufacturers pay total of 85% in taxes.

And you're defending him? Dude.

[TJJ2000]

And you're pretending what domestic manufacturing has to pay in taxes isn't what domestic manufacturing has to pay in taxes.

...because excuse, excuse, excuse, excuse (theology) which is actually not surprising for someone who wants to champion their 'books' (been LEARNT) over reality.

[See.More]

How do imports skip any domestic taxes when sold domestically?

Uhm... foreign manufacturers don't pay US business/income taxes. And they are not beholden to US regulations except for the product specs and some banking rules. They're not bound by OSHA regs, EEOC, Workman's Comp, FLSA, ACA, etcetera.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Let me give an example from just this year zeb. Currently importers are paying for Canadian goods at largely the same rates as they were 2 years ago. The Canadian dollar had dropped by around 15 compared to the American dollar. Negotiation with Canadian suppliers can decrease their purchase costs by the change in currency valuations. This is currently a larger drop tha. Any tariffs. So through simple renegotiation with suppliers, American seller won't have yo raise a penny.

In trumps first term this is literally what happened. The Atl fed estimated consumers only ended up seeing around 2% of the costs of the tariffs. This was done through renegotiatioj with suppliers.

The biggest lie and narrative being sold to the public is that tariffs are this magic pass through cost when they are not. It is simply another cost on business that the company evaluates and tries to mitigate like every other cost going into the price of a good.

Likewise the deregulated actions will have a bigger decrease in costs than you see from tariffs. This is why reason is largely ignoring that side.

When you hear bessent talk he talks about the entirety of the economic plan. Reason prefers to not do so.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Sarc doesn't know that businesses negotiate with suppliers on costs. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Medulla Oblongata]

Following Joe Biden's announcement of cancer...

Author and “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams announced on Monday that he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and is not expected to live past this summer.

“I have the same cancer that Joe Biden has. I also have prostate cancer that has also spread to my bones,” Adams said. “But I've had it longer than he's had it. Well, longer than he's admitted having it. My life expectancy is maybe the summer. I expect to be checking out from this domain sometime this summer.”

[Sun Wukong]

That is a shame. He is a fairly young guy. I don't always agree with Adams but he is a very smart guy with lots of interesting and important things to say. We will lose Adams young while David Brooks and Paul Krugman will no doubt bray on into their 90s. The world is a very unjust place.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Yeah. Noam Chomsky is 96.

[Sun Wukong]

That fucker will never die.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

Are we sure Hell even wants him?

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

I always said that about Jimmy Carter, (Reason's GREAT DEREGULATOR), but hell finally took him.

[Ajsloss]

At least he got to vote for Kamala.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

And probably will again.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Deal with the devil? Wait until you see how long Gavin Newsome gets.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

How do you know that Newsom is not the Devil?

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

Because JB Pritzker and Hillary Clinton exist?

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Because all that hair oil hasn't caught fire?

[mad.casual]

"Not yet. You still have more work to do."

[Sun Wukong]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKWaP4CPaD8

The white guilt narrative is coming to an end. If liberals' plan all along had been to rekindle white identity in this country, they wouldn't have acted any differently than they have.

[Mike Parsons]

I had been saying similar shit to friends also fed up with this stuff. Going full retard on identity politics, especially in the context of "POC good, Whyte bad" was going to end this way.

Identity politics isnt popular with even all minority populations. And the majority population is white. So you are shitting on and pissing off the biggest demo, and a good bit of the smaller ones as well.

This is the backlash they asked for.

[Sun Wukong]

If blacks and idiot whites are going to give a straight up murderer a million dollars in reward, which is what they did in the Carmelo Antony case, it should surprise no one that whites are saying fuck it and sending this woman money.

The most 2020s part of the whole story is that the Somalian who recorded the whole thing is a fucking pedo who was there scoping out the playground for victims. You can't make this shit up.

[I, Woodchipper]

no one has ever said "you know what this neighborhood needs? to become about 40% Somalians"

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

As long as humanities professors are holding socialist club meetings in the faculty lounge, identity politics will never die. Also Chicago.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

As Martin Luther once said "human reason is like a drunken man on horseback: set it up on one side, and it tumbles over on the other."

Its going to take a while, but fifty or sixty years from now the overreaction to the current overreaction by the phony virtuous won't be pretty either.

[Sun Wukong]

In the 80s and 90s, we had what can only be described as a miracle in race relations when you compare them to what they were within living memory. Of course, a bunch of "well meaning" leftists had to show up and explain how it was really a bad thing and fuck the entire thing up. By 2030, we will be right back where we were in the 60s. Great job assholes.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Don't you accept the moral superiority of post-modern critical theory?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Put it this way--the ONLY ethno-political demographic that has been empirically shown to hate their own race are white liberals. EVERYONE else exercises and supports some degree of in-group preference.

Stop taking white liberals seriously, and a lot of this bullshit would shut down relatively fast.

[Fats of Fury]

I think not. Thanks to illegal immigration the great replacement seems to be aimed mostly at the black population for now. Hispanics are now super majorities in places like Compton and Watts. Chicago is next.
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/chicago-gangs-venezuelan-tren-de-aragua-blacks-against-migrants

[DesigNate]

It’s almost like Democrats never stopped being the racist pieces of shit they always were and actively worked to undermine the great strides we had made in achieving MLK Jr’s dream.

[Nobartium]

I keep telling y'all that integration was a mistake.

[Medulla Oblongata]

"Green" almost always as scam of some sort...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/18/revealed-european-green-investments-hold-billions-in-fossil-fuel-majors

European “green” funds holding more than $33bn of investments in major oil and gas companies have been revealed by an investigation, despite fossil fuels being the root cause of the climate crisis. Some of these investment funds used branding such as Sustainable Global Stars and Europe Climate Pathway.

“For a fund claiming to be ‘green’, holding investments in major fossil fuel companies should be a red line,” said Giorgia Ranzato, sustainable finance manager at Transport & Environment (T&E). “Since oil majors are not contributing meaningfully to the energy transition, any investment in such companies by a green fund is essentially greenwashing. To effectively combat this, T&E and other organisations advocate for a meaningful review of the SFDR.

“It is diabolical for banks and asset managers to invest billions in major fossil fuel companies under the rubric of ‘green investing’ when we need to accelerate investments in non- and low-carbon energy, in carbon efficiency, and in carbon removal technologies,” said Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

It is diabolical for banks and asset managers to invest billions in major fossil fuel companies..

Getting a positive return on investments is “diabolical “ now.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Also keeping the lights on.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"...despite fossil fuels being the root cause of the climate crisis..."

1) There is no "climate crisis".
2) Fossil fuels (and nukes) represent the only reliable energy sources we have.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But cheap, reliable energy promotes capitalism and human liberty!

[Neutral not Neutered]

The worst part is they invested into "fossil fuel" companies they touted to be removing because they knew their policies would increase their value and had to get on the gravy train. Justified of course by the means to an end. Otherwise how could they gain power and have the capital to gaslit the world into their new global industrial scam? All the players are in this movie. They created this projecting their plans and we have seen them unfold. Not because of climate have they occurred but through the leftist policies forced down our throats. And the perps call their opposition fascist? Earth 2100. The climate scammers projecting their plans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDqRpM72Odg

[sarcasmic]

Honestly, threatening businesses like this—and implying that they'll be punished if they set prices at a different level than the government wants—feels a little communist to me. What a fascinating pivot for the GOP.

Oh yeah? Well you didn't complain when Biden threatened to punish media if they didn't censor right-wingers you hypocrite. That makes it ok for Trump to threaten to punish businesses if they raise prices in response to him raising their costs.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

didn't complain actively defended

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Poor, pour sarc.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

Yawn, Sarc. Try a new trolling angle.

[Idaho-Bob]

Every day, he has forgotten that he said the exact same shit the day before. For us, it's like Groundhog Day. For him, it's all brand new and clever.

[sarcasmic]

I'm just mocking you and the other Trump-defending fallacy-fellators who honestly believe that accusing someone of hypocrisy makes everything they say wrong.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Why do you refuse to state it accurately?

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Alcohol is the one solvent that can dissolve your brain.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

As a steaming pile of lefty shit, honesty is anathema to him.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

You're actually just being a hypocritical retard.

[TJJ2000]

When Biden threatened to punish media if they didn't censor right-wingers it was all TRUMPS FAULT because Trump (might of but didn't/hasn't) punished businesses if they raise prices.

Literally imagining that Trump did something that Trump didn't/hasn't done so you can Blame-Shift huh?

Then again; that's where this whole article sits isn't it. An IMAGINED 'what Trump will do' and blaming him for what he really hasn't done.

[Medulla Oblongata]

AI fail highlighted by glibertarians links...

https://www.comparably.com/salaries/salaries-for-pope

Pope Salary
Updated on: Dec 14, 2023

How much does a Pope make?
The average Pope in the US makes $45,931. Popes make the most in San Jose, CA at $90,685 averaging total compensation 97% greater than US average.

[Sun Wukong]

AI is not intelligence. It is just large data analysis repackaged under a new name to further separate fools from their money.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Large language models one might say...

I would argue that they're intelligent but not sentient intelligent though. Imitation thinking like imitation vanilla flavoring. You can hardly tell the difference.

[Sun Wukong]

But you can tell the difference. The rise of LLMs have confirmed my belief in Platonism. The problem with them is that you can't program ideals and essences of things. So, it doesn't know what right looks like. It just guesses based on a complex statistical algorithm and the data in front of it.

[Zeb]

You are sort of assuming that intelligence necessarily includes some capacity for morality. I don't think that's the only definition of intelligence. I definitely agree that the so-called AIs are nothing like human intelligence. They are just good at imitating human use of language.

[Sun Wukong]

When I say "right" I mean in a larger sense than morality. Pictures are the best example of this. An LLM will put out a picture of a person with 10 fingers on one hand or some other deformity and have no idea that it is wrong. It only "knows" what the programing puts out. It can't look at the picture and see it is wrong and fix it the way a human can.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Ask it to draw a clock or a wine glass filled to the brim.

LLMs and current AI are nothing but making statistical guesses at what someone wants using known training data. It doesn't actually construct any level of fundamental knowledge in its responses.

[Zeb]

I see what you mean. I guess it at least in part comes down to the big question of what really constitutes intelligence. I've heard arguments ranging from saying that something as simple as a thermostat can be considered intelligent to arguments like you are making. I'm fine with calling the LLMs and stuff AI. But I understand your position and I think we are mostly disagreeing on terminology.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Key word "hardly". Just like with imitation vanilla.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Just like smarter high school kids and average college students. They can regurgitate info in reasonable sentences but have no clue what the content means.

[sarcasmic]

What the...

[Quicktown Brix]

The average Pope in the US makes $45,931.

Yeah, but consider the job stability, a great boss (you might say perfect) and big perks in the afterlife. Plus they can make extra money with endorsements, indulgences etc. All the popes I know do this.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

There are many opportunities for both full time and part time popes!

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Even my Aunt can make $12,000 a week just by working at home on the laptop.

[Quicktown Brix]

For now.... But these pope jobs keep moving overseas. Just look at the gutting of the sin belt. I know this one pope from Chicago that just got transferred to Rome!

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Because he couldn’t get a job there due to his skin color.

[Quicktown Brix]

Nice. You tied themes together like a Seinfeld episode here.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Started a pope apprenticeship but switched to plumbing. Pays a lot better.

[Quicktown Brix]

You went from pope to poop?

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Pope to pipe?

[Quicktown Brix]

Let's compromise. Pope to poop pipe.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Excellent

[NealAppeal]

Don't summon the squirrel please.

[Randy Sax]

Tried being a pope apprentice as a kid, was a real pain in my asshole.

[Quicktown Brix]

OOOF.

A+, but still OOOF!

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

That’s what he said at the time.

[Zeb]

Maybe it's talking about Discorian Popes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism#Popes

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I was wondering if it picked last names, but how many salaries by name are known to AIs?

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

My guess it was just people with the last name pope.

[Zeb]

That seems more likely.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Sounds like if you're gonna be a pope, you should be one in San Jose, CA.

[Medulla Oblongata]

"But to Trump, that doesn't seem to matter: He just wants to convince people that, actually, it's foreign nations who will bear the costs of the tariffs, not American consumers or businesses."

Now do corporate taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, payroll taxes, excise taxes, minimum wage requirements, regulatory costs...

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Add to those the many layers or rules and regulations.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

And this is why reason has seemingly been bought off by the globalist system. They seem to have a complete indifference to the majority of costs an American faces while they scream about tariffs.

They largely ignore the regulatory state. They are even now advocating for higher income taxes. Yet cry over much smaller additive costs because it would hurt the globalist offshoring.

[Nobartium]

I continue to be amazed (/sarc) that, after 8 years and a major unrelated shock to the overseas model, nobody in corporate America thought to themselves: "why don't we have more local suppliers?"

But then again, money is truly the object of desire.

[Sun Wukong]

I happened upon a reality show on Netflix about the owners of the horses in the Tripple Crown the other day. The show could fairly be called "crazy, rich, stupid people". It occurred to me watching it that most people who get rich are not that bright. Mostly, they are lucky and happen to be at the right place at the right time with the right product.

That is all well and good. There is an element of luck in every success story. The problem is that these people don't understand that they got lucky and really think they are smarter than everyone else. It never occurs to them that a hundred other people could have invented "The Johnson Rod" or "Vitamin Water" and it is just that they happened to do it at the right time and place. This causes them to think they are smart in everything and become living examples of the Dunning Kruger effect.

This is how people like Bernie Maddoff and Elizabeth Holmes are able to scam enormous amounts of money from enormously rich and successful people with absurdly stupid and obvious scams. With this in mind, no, very few in Corporate America who were in control of anything though "why don't have more local suppliers?".

[Overt]

Almost all successful people are confident, organized and are very good at deferring gratification. But like anyone else, they are susceptible to blind spots and confirmation bias. What is hilarious to me is that people on the internet think this is novel, or that they are somehow better. Millions and millions more people lost money on Gamestop than lost money to Maddoff. The idea that the latter was any more of an "obvious" scam than the pumping and dumping of stocks is silly.

[Sun Wukong]

Gamestop is an example of the problem of bubbles. Once the price of something starts rising, if you don't jump at the opportunity, you are effectively giving up profit. Since it is a bubble, however, it is eventually going to bust. You don't know when it will bust. Ideally, you get it on it and sell just before it busts, but that is easier said than done. The housing market in the 00s is another example. A lot of people went broke when the whole thing finally went tits up in 08. Before that, a whole lot of people were making a lot of money and saying "but this is going to end at some point" really didn't cut it as an excuse to stay out of it.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

But it was damn funny to watch the shorts get fried when it happened back in 2020.

[Sun Wukong]

Yes, it was. It was awesome.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Now you're going to tell me fartcoin isn't worth 1B evaluation.

[rbike]

Still waiting for our own SBF to rain money on us with his knowledge.

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

This is a terrible takeaway.

Says more about the kind of people who agree to be part of Reality TV

[Sun Wukong]

It is not at all. Being successful in business is as much about luck as anything else. Lots of stupid people get rich and lots of very smart and competent people go broke.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Americans don’t work in factories. We all have advanced degrees and work in the corner office in a high rise building. Our assistant brings coffee in the morning.

[Sun Wukong]

Unless you are under 30, then you are either a professional activist or a freelance graphic designer who plays kazoo in a Rob Zombie cover band on the weekends.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

About the only place you'll encounter a kazoo artist these days. They'll soon go the way of the four string banjo.

[Sun Wukong]

There is a special affinity between the kazoo and the music of Rob Zombie. Sort of like the special affinity between the music of Korn and the recorder and Marilyn Manson and the four string banjo.

[Randy Sax]

Now I'm imagining the baseline from Evolution done a recorder.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Or the scene from Deliverance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlJ82Qlw4hw

[Gaear Grimsrud]

True. But all are derivative of Frank Zappa's masterful integration of the xylophone on Weasels Ripped My Flesh.

[Mike Parsons]

damn, I miss my 20s

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But I don't miss how stupid I was.

[sarcasmic]

Youth is wasted on the young.

[Randy Sax]

Zombie Kazooie? Love that band.

[sarcasmic]

I continue to not be amazed in the slightest at the deliberate and willful ignorance on the part of Trump defenders who embrace economic ideas that were soundly discredited nearly two and a half centuries ago.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

What is old is new again.

[TJJ2000]

Before FDR and the Nazi-Empire was built?

How about that. It's like "Trump defenders" know when you spend BIG $ you have to pay BIG $. But make no mistake. They also comprehend this endless spending has been mostly put there by Democrats so if you'd like to propose Democrats pay most of it off; I'm all in favor of ZERO-Taxes and Tariffs for Republicans.

It all goes back to leftards inability to be accountable/responsible for anything.

[sarcasmic]

I'm having a hard time translating that into English. Are you equating trade deficits with budget deficits again, despite being repeatedly told that they have nothing to do with each other?

[TJJ2000]

Sorry. I don't get LEARNT by STUPID.
Nor do I play stupid/incoherent games every-time I can't think of a rebuttal.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

What are you talking about? That was the dominant business model for the US all the way up through the end of World War II, even after the income tax became federal law.

The main reason we live under the system we do now is primarily due to the shit the US has done in the interest of maintaining its post-war economic and military empire.

The last time the US could be considered a relatively weak and vulnerable nation was the Jackson era, before American expansionism went in to overdrive.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Sarc also doesn't realize the current trade and income system is really MMT and Keyenesian with built in inflationary goals and use of reserve currency to try and export said inflation.

But sarc doesn't understand much of anything. He read a bumper sticker once.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

As he continues to ignore all data. Lol.

I'll add discredited to the list of words you dont know.

[Overt]

" major unrelated shock to the overseas model,"

For the 100th time, our overseas suppliers saved America's ass during covid. The United States shut down most of its production during 2020. Even goods that were already produced were unavailable because they were stuck in warehouses that had no workers in them. If China had not been supplying goods to the United States, we would have faced far, far more shortages.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

No thanks to idiot governors of those states choosing to shut everything down that was “non-essential”.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

If nobody was in warehouses, who was unloading the crap from China?

[TJJ2000]

Endless Imports charged on CC are the most important/essential thing. /s

[sarcasmic]

Because the trade deficit is government debt. /stoopid

[TJJ2000]

In a [Na]tional So[zi]alist USA correct.

Tell me again how much of that Government Debt $ got spent on imports. Do you have some BS idea that $ spent by Government somehow never buys a single imported item?

Course your stupid on this subject plays into the same stupid all leftards have about Debt in general... It just doesn't exist! Spend, spend, spend, spend ... It'll never create a bill ever.

[sarcasmic]

Wow. I mean, wow. And they let people like you vote. Wow.

[Medulla Oblongata]

I wanted to ask this, too.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Or contrariwise, if China had not been able to supply all those goods, the shutdowns would have been over within days.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

This is an incorrect analysis on many levels. China also shut down, just months later. Likewise many red states were still open. I took exactly zero days off work due to covid. So you're incorrect about things. Then we saw many manufacturers change their lines to produce goods not here.

Meanwhile China literally ordered already purchased goods in route to return to mainland china.

You're just wrong.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

I also took zero days off during the Covid scam. I was officially designated by the government as essential. I've never felt so proud. I've asked my heirs to include an inscription on my tombstone, "Here Lies Gaear Grimsrud. He Was Essential".

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

I was essential once and proud. Then they called me a pariah not worthy of the essential work I had been doing.

So it goes.

Also one of the ugliest things during the pandemic; declaring people essential. Just plain evil.

[mad.casual]

Meanwhile China literally ordered already purchased goods in route to return to mainland china.

You're just wrong.

And really veering hard into the "Nobody before July 2024 could've possibly foreseen that Joe Biden was in cognitive decline." narrative propaganda/idiocy.

[mad.casual]

For the 100th time, our overseas suppliers saved America's ass during covid.

That explains why Louis Rossmann and others were pointing out that if you needed a washing machine or hand sanitizer or medical equipment you were waiting on a backlog or the conversion of a Ford plant or a local vodka distillery somewhere but if, in a never-before-seen pandemic crisis, Amazon could have essentials like a dildo and dog chew toys on your doorstep within 24 hours.

[DesigNate]

Wasn’t it more that certain states (New York and California specifically) kept fucking around with their ports and trucking?

[Sun Wukong]

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was breached by "criminals bribing employees and contractors in India to obtain client data," per Bloomberg. The Justice Department has opened a probe into the matter. Interestingly, "the perpetrators deployed what's called social engineering attacks—where criminals use people to gain unauthorized access to data, rather than exploiting flaws in computer code."

There are few bigger myths than the genius hacker sitting in his mom's basement breaking into systems. Nearly all hacks and every big, damaging hack was either an inside job or done by just breaking into the physical plant and stealing the passwords.

[mad.casual]

[tilts hand]

Option 3: A group of 5-10 or more people hammering away on both physical and electronic security until one or both cracked.

But, yeah.

[Medulla Oblongata]

"Will Pope Leo XIV have to deal with the IRS?"

Yes. Ex-pat Americans still have to file, although in the pope's case having taken a vow of poverty, he might not have income to declare.

[Fist of Etiquette]

CNN asks Tim Dillon if comedians with podcasts are "part of a new establishment" and gets immediately destroyed ...

All we know for sure us that CNN is no longer powerful.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

But they continue to be delusional.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But does CNN still play in airports?

[Mike Parsons]

unfortunately, no one saw the brutal takedown because it aired on CNN

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

I guarantee Sarcasmic did.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The US Department of Justice said it will investigate whether Chicago is discriminating against municipal job candidates by race...

Good thing for Chicago there will be few if any consequences.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

It’s unknown at the time if the department will use only black investigators.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Will Pope Leo XIV have to deal with the IRS?

He should work on tips.

[Zeb]

Church offerings count as tips, don't they? Seems like they should.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

No, that's the rabbis. Is there a chief rabbi somewhere?

Reminds me of a joke.

A priest, an imam, and a rabbit donate some blood, and have to tell their blood types. The priest says Type A, the imam says Type B, and the rabbit says Type O.

[Medulla Oblongata]

That took a second...

[sarcasmic]

World's most powerful banker issues terrifying new warning about Trump's new scaled-back tariffs

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-14729547/JPMorgan-banker-jamie-dimon-warning-Trump-scaled-tariffs.html

Look at the leftist banker who doesn't know anything about anything.

[Sun Wukong]

The trade gods are angry and are going to punish us for our sinful ways!! You tell em.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Global banking elites are heroes now.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Sarc. Dare to research who Jamie Dimon is and who he has endorsed lol.

The irony of the story you apparently didn't read is he predicted a recession 2 months ago at 60% odds.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/jpmorgan-lifts-global-recession-odds-60-us-tariffs-stoke-fears-2025-04-04/

Then last week removed that prediction based on the data. Now he is saying it may still happen.

So when they saw the data, they backtracked.

You're such a fucking moron sarc.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Jamie Dimon is an idiot. Always has been.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Just curious. Does anyone, including staff at Reason, see any negative consequences of unrestricted trade with China (or any other country)? Or is this the flip side of the unrestricted immigration coin?

[Sun Wukong]

For a long time they didn't. They would just go with the old "if goods don't cross borders Armies do" misquote and dodge. Now, I don't think even they can claim trade will make China a democracy or less of a plague on humanity with a straight face. So, they just ignore the bad consequences or resort to the "meh principles" and "how dare you tell me where I can buy my products" dodge.

[Overt]

Trade HAS made China "less of a plague on humanity". If you say otherwise you are deluded. Billions of Chinese have been lifted from starvation, and billions of people around the world have enjoyed more prosperity.

Yes, there have been tradeoffs. But it is very debatable whether or not those tradeoffs have been worth it- which is not the same as denying those tradeoffs exist.

[Sun Wukong]

Trade did nothing but fund China's police state and allow it to bully and terrorize its neighbors. If we had never traded with China, we wouldn't be facing the prospect of a potential world war in the Western Pacific right now. China wasn't starving before we started trading with it.

Trade made China a plague on world security and stability. If you don't understand that, you are deluded.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

I blame Nixon.

[Sun Wukong]

You are not wrong. There already was a Sino Soviet split. What did Nixon going to China accomplish other than set the stage for China to become what it is today?

[Stupid Government Tricks]

50 million starved-to-death Chinese would beg to differ if they were still alive.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Which is immaterial because they're still officially considered to be an adversary, even as government officials and corporate suits get rich through bribes and payoffs from them.

The whole point of the Great Power Competition initiative is to recognize that both Russia AND China do not have good intentions regarding the US.

[Sun Wukong]

They were starved by Mao in the 60s. That was all over by then. You really are pig ignorant about everything

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

One British imperialist area of China around Hong kong did those things. That stopped more than a decade back. Since then?

[sarcasmic]

The US has unrestricted trade within it's borders. What are the negative consequences for states as a result of this? Would the people of Alaska be better off if the state protected their wine industry by putting tariffs on wine from California? Would the people of Hawaii be better off if the state protected their cheese industry by putting tariffs on cheese from Wisconsin? If you can see how stupid that would be, then why do you think the people in this country are made better by placing tariffs on better, cheaper goods made abroad?

[Sun Wukong]

When California starts building a giant navy with plans to invade Hawaii, we can talk about the consequences of interstate trade.

The real sarcasmic is dead or in prison or something. This is just the Shrike franchise without the child porn.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

Non sequitur. Countries typically have unrestricted trade within their own borders. If you want an example of one that lacks it, look to the Great White North and note what a cluster fuck it is.

[TJJ2000]

What unrestricted trade are you talking about?
They're all Domestic Taxed and Regulated out of existence.
Do you think a Tariff is an embargo?

One of the very reasons the US Constitution gave the Union of States the Tariff authority was so US governing could be sustained. How would a USA ensure Liberty and Justice for all economically if China became 100% a Gov-Plantation slave-owning nation? Are you going to be happy working all day long for a grain of rice to have "comparative advantage" with a Plantation/Slave nation?

[sarcasmic]

Wow dude. Whenever I think you've reached peak stupid, you prove me wrong.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

Odd, coming from you, Sarc.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Well if anyone knows peak stupid...

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

You are so close to understanding, if you were not such a leftist moron.

Is it unrestricted trade between the states. Or is it unrestricted unilateral trade solely in certain direction? Remember. You defend the latter, not the former.

[Zeb]

Everything has negative consequences including unrestricted trade with China and restricted trade with China.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Problem is, liberty is always the least-considered factor. It's the last thing politicians want to increase or encourage. They know better than everybody else what's good for everybody else.

[damikesc]

In the case of China, our trade has made their people there less free and has ALSO had the effect of limiting our options in entertainment and the like to boot.

[Zeb]

Right. Which is why I argue that we should consider liberty first and foremost and put the energy into freeing American industry from onerous taxes and regulations that US governments actually can control.

[I, Woodchipper]

Or is this the flip side of the unrestricted immigration coin?

This is likely the driving factor.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

I do but I don't with 99% of other tariffed nations. And I have more of an issue with the president levying tarrifs by EO, then anything (less war) that the CCCP can do to America.

Even if I took the most generous view of Trump's plan - making a freer market by negotiating, not protectionism at all. The next president might be a Bernie Sanders commie prog with that same power at their disposal.

Do you think it wise to give that power to a Warren, Sanders, AOC type?

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

They only want unrestricted trade in one direction. They support china's tariffs on US goods. As well as their theft. And other market manipulations.

[mad.casual]

Or is this the flip side of the unrestricted immigration coin?

You're assuming the unrestricted coin only has two sides. Bigot.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'It's not clear why it accelerated like that, and the full investigation could take a very long time—up to two years—to complete.'

Mañana.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

feels a little communist to me.

America is under attack by Commie Nazi's.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'Intelligentsia train fetishism continues'

You know who else put people on trains?

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Harriet Tubman?

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

Pete Buttigieg?

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Passenger pushers?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pusher

[Medulla Oblongata]

I for one would welcome Amazon quoting tariffs. It would sure help find the Made in USA products easier. Amazon seems to deliberately obscure this information, and good luck trying to get accurate search results for Made in USA products, but especially no luck finding "not made in China" products.

[sarcasmic]

Amazon is not doing that because of threats from the president.

[TJJ2000]

Social Media posts are threats?
This just gets better and better.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Words are violence.

[Ajsloss]

Silence is also violence.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Were Biden et al's social media threats not threats? (D)i(d) the pa(r)ty in powe(r) change?

[Medulla Oblongata]

Well, they were followed up with official letterhead threats from FBI, State, WH...not to mention the official Disinformation Governance Board.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Yes. Noehm and Gabbard stated that in relation to Commey.

[DesigNate]

Amazon said they were never doing that in the first place…

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I suppose I should not have been surprised by how many Trumpies took Trump's side in this.

But Trump—ostensibly a pro-business Republican—is also wrong to say that a company's profits are so large that they can simply "eat" the tariffs; it's a common leftist line to act like you know what kind of financial pain a big corporation can bear.

But it did surprise me. This kind of bullshit about immoral profits was the last thing I expected from ostensibly right wing / conservative / libertarian commenters here.

The Trumpies have lost their last shred of integrity backing Trump on this. My only hope now is that the Dems take the Senate, impeach and convict Trump, and give JD Vance, Santis, Rubio, and others two years to straighten themselves out for 2028. Fuck Trump, washing all the good he's done down the drain like this. Good riddance when he finally leaves office, but unfortunately, the Trumpies will make life miserable for whoever follows.

[Sun Wukong]

Companies cannot necessarily pass on the cost of a tax to the consumers. They can pass on a portion of it. How large that portion is depends upon the elasticity of the demand for the product.

That is not a left or right. That is how markets and supply and demand work. Don't let facts and logic get in the way of being stupid. Stupid seems to be a good role for you.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

S/he needs to drop the last two words of his/her handle.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

How clever. Beats copy paste at least. What happened, did you wear out that key?

Of course, rebuttal works better, but Jesse's sworn off it, so you have too of course.

[Quicktown Brix]

That is how markets and supply and demand work.

Price determination by supply and demand is historically right leaning. Doing something else for the good of whatever is historically left wing. Which one is MAGA promoting?

[Sun Wukong]

Look you dumb fuck, there is no such thing as the "market". What there is are a set of laws that describe mass human behavior. Those laws will tell you what the effects of given economic policy. What they will not do is tell you if those effects are good or bad or desirable. That is a value question. Every policy benefit someone and harms someone else. That is how the world works. Stop fucking pretending that your preferred policy is any different.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Look you dumb fuck, markets always exist. The only difference governments make is how markets try to work around them. Go check out Prohibition, 1920-34, and tell me there was no market in booze.

[Sun Wukong]

No. People always exist and they act in accordance with certain laws in the aggregate. Those laws are called the "market" by people who are too stupid to understand them and what they mean.

[Quicktown Brix]

Whoa, take a pill.

You start of with calling me a dumb fuck and then go full non sequitur with wild irrelevant accusations? Nothing you said addresses my comment at all.

[Sun Wukong]

There is no non sequitur here. Your entire comment assumes that any policy that in any way interferes with this fantasy idea you have of the "market" is automatically invalid. It is not. You are so fucking stupid that you can't understand the assumptions behind your own point. That is because you are not making points. You are just spewing talking points and emoting.

[Quicktown Brix]

your entire comment assumes that any policy that in any way interferes with this fantasy idea you have of the "market" is automatically invalid.

No. It assumes it is anti-libertarian.

You are so fucking stupid that you can't understand the assumptions behind your own point.

You seem to be the king of assumptions here. Maybe you should examine some of your assumptions. Start with who is stupid and who isn't.

You are just spewing talking points and emoting.

This is such a tired and weak argument for someone that apparently has no good ones.

[Medulla Oblongata]

The CBO wrote a report on the incidence of the corporate income tax. Not exactly the same as tariffs, but the notion of who bears the taxes and elasticity do come into play...it's not necessarily that a 10% tariff, for example, would be passed on directly as a 10% price increase to consumers and business continues otherwise exactly as before.

----------------

According to the CBO:

A corporation may write its check to the Internal Revenue Service for payment of the corporate income tax, but that money must come from somewhere: from reduced returns to investors in the company, lower wages to its workers, or higher prices that consumers pay for the products the company produces. Understanding the mechanisms through which those tax burdens are transferred is crucial in determining the economic effects of the corporate income tax.

Although economists are far from a consensus about exactly
who bears how much of the burden of the corporate income tax, the existing studies highlight the significant types of economic mechanisms as well as the empirical estimates necessary for further quantifying the burdens. CBO's review of the studies yields the following conclusions:

o The short-term burden of the corporate tax probably falls on
stockholders or investors in general, but may fall on some more than on others, because not all investments are taxed at the same rate.

o The long-term burden of corporate or dividend taxation is unlikely to rest fully on corporate equity, because it will remain there only if marginal investment is not affected by those taxes. Most economists believe that the corporate tax system has some effect on investment decisions.

o Most evidence from closed-economy, general-equilibrium models
suggests that given reasonable parameters, the long-term incidence of the corporate tax falls on capital in general.

o In the context of international capital mobility, the burden of the
corporate tax may be shifted onto immobile factors (such as labor or land), but only to the degree that the capital and outputs of different countries can be substituted.

o In the very long term, the burden is likely to be shifted in part to
labor, if the corporate tax dampens capital accumulation.

o Most attempts to distribute the burden of corporate taxation have neglected the possible importance of effects on the relative prices of products.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

The point of my post is how many of you Trumpies defended his point, that Walmart should eat the price rises. You have just done it again.

[Medulla Oblongata]

I'm not saying they *should*, I'm saying that overall it might be in their bottom-line best interest to eat some or all of it. It's a complex situation that will surely involve some trial and error on their part.

[TJJ2000]

I don't know why don't you ask, "how many of you Trumpies defended his point, that Walmart should eat the price rises"?

I don't defend his point especially in a lawful order that doesn't exist.

I think every business has a right to run itself without heeding to 3rd party opinions but also believe 3rd party opinions aren't illegal or some black-box of despair (like so many are trying to make it).

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

He has been broken after having every one of his predictions fail. To most they may consider this and think maybe their understanding is not as deep as they think. But instead we see stg and sarc doubling down on their prior and 1st order beliefs of complex systems.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Yeap. In all these arguments being made they've ignore the very basics of economics and sensitivity of demand to cost. All while they scream about their simplified models. Has been amusing.

[sarcasmic]

The Trumpies have lost their last shred of integrity

They did that a long time ago.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

Are you really this damn stupid, Sarc? Your previous comments have not been as generous to SGT.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

He keeps waffling between his man-crush on me and his man-crush on Jesse.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Sarc likes to flirt.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Points to Jessie for being “tall and well groomed”.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

sarcasmic 8 months ago
Flag Comment
Mute User
How many data analysts name Jesse age around 57 working for a government contractor, brag about playing sports in college, likely tall and a bully, well groomed, look like a cop, are are on sites that people use to look up people, and haven't a clue?
Lucky for you I’m lazy.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

The use of "well groomed" as an insult (I guess?) says something.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Sarc's not big on hygiene.

[sarcasmic]

Jesse incorporated me into his moniker, and you're saying I'm the one with the crush? Dude. If anyone's got a man-crush it's him. In addition he's retarded, dishonest and mental. As far as you goes, you're just him plus knowledge of economics.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Remember when he tweaked his moniker, and it tricked you into responding to him?

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Your were patient zero for JDS buddy =D

[Stupid Government Tricks]

No, buddy, Trump has done a lot of good, and they are right to defend that. Unfortunately, credibility requires pointing out the bad, and that's what they refuse to admit even happens, let alone point it out. They are the mirror image of you. TDS works both ways.

[sarcasmic]

I've always given Trump credit for doing good things you lying sack of shit. Problem is that they're few and far between if you look at it from a libertarian angle. No new wars is good. Reducing the rate of growth of regulations is good. That's about all I can think of.

Policies based upon hatred and xenophobia are not good. Incoherent economic policy based upon raging ignorance is not good. Ruling by diktat is not good. Ignoring the role of Congress is not good. Ignoring the courts is not good. Deliberately misinterpreting the law and the Constitution is not good. Increasing the budget deficit is not good. Causing inflation is not good.

There's so much not good that it greatly outweighs the good to the point where it's not just not good, it's double-plus not good.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

It is amazing how easily you lie. It truly is pathalogical.

You do not credit him for anything. And even in this post you start again with moralistic attacks. After calling him Hitler, laughing about the assassination attempts wanting him locked up.

Why do you feel like your lies work? Who have you tricked?

And now inflation despite the data being against you. After years if joining shrike defending the monetary inflation under Biden lol.

[TJJ2000]

We're too busy correcting sarcs stupid TDS and imaginary accusations (Social Posts = Gov ordered price-fixing) to have any time to say, "No, Trump. Walmart gets to decide if they raise prices or not."

[Zeb]

Maybe you should spend less time on the former. I think everyone has made their point on who they think it stupid and dishonest and it doesn't look like anyone is likely to change their minds.

[TJJ2000]

If the people can't change their minds there is no hope to save the USA.

[Zeb]

Sure, and I hold out some hope. In the specific case of the constant bitch fights with sarcasmic, I think you are all just jerking off.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

US rig count flounders as 'Drill Baby Drill' becomes just another of Donnie's campaign lies.

https://oilprice.com/rig-count

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Sure is a shame those teleprompter shards couldn't have been a few inches to the right, eh shrike?

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

turd, the ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

Remember the time you managed to get your original account permanently banned here due to posting dark web hardcore child porn links?

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Rig count!

[Medulla Oblongata]

Rig count is not the same as production.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS2&f=M

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Are you still pretending the number of exploration rigs are the same as wells being put into production, retard?

We've been over this before. There were a lot of capped wells during the Biden junta era that are being brought into production now.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"Trump’s massive import taxes haven’t done much economic damage — yet"
[...]
"WASHINGTON (AP) — For months, American consumers and businesses have been hearing that President Trump’s massive import taxes – tariffs – would drive up prices and hurt the U.S. economy. But the latest economic reports don’t match the doom and gloom: Inflation actually eased last month, and hiring was solid in April..."
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-inflation-economy-prices-eaf0b00bbdfa50c694590c70467a6cd4

And AP is REALLY not happy!

[Sun Wukong]

Foreign trade is around 4% of the economy. The globalists always remember that when they are saying "tariffs won't industrialize America" but forget it when they are saying "tariffs are doing to destroy the economy". They are not big on consistency or logic. They prefer slogans and lying.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Don't forget that Biden's numbers keep getting revised in the wrong directions...especially job counts being revised down over and over as the numbers are REALLY crunched.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

You probably don't know it takes time for an economy to react.

Wait until Trump's price rises really sink in this summer, and take so long to settle down that voters remember a year later. It happened to Biden, it can happen to Trump too. The difference is that Biden's price rises were monetary inflation, while Trump could dump his tariffs and bring prices back down within several months.

But I doubt he will.

[Medulla Oblongata]

"But I doubt he will."

He's already rescinded a boatload of tariffs he had previously imposed.

[Ajsloss]

I, for one, have no regret that I can get in my truck anytime I want and travel to exact places.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcs Kampf mit der Realität)]

And that is why passenger trains started going away. With the advent of the Model T Ford, they couldn’t compete in the same marketplace as it was easier, faster, and cheaper to use the car directly from point to point than rely on an unreliable (yes, even in the 1910s) train.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Nobody needs 23 kinds of destinations.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Almost every day, someone on FB posts a "Here's 70 people and their cars, and here's 70 people in a bus.", trying to shame people into using public transportation.

I often comment "Sure, if you've got 70 people who live within a few minutes walk of the bus stop, who all want to go to the same place (or within a few minutes walk of the same place) at the same time, and the time when the bus route picks them up and drops them off is in sync with their needs, this works."

I mean, if a bus ran past my house every 10 minutes, starting around 5AM, traveled directly toward my office (and not some 20 miles out of my way route), had a stop near my office AND the reverse trip at say 10PM was dependable...yeah, I might take the bus, too.

When I lived in metro-ATL, I lived almost exactly 5 miles from my office, 8-12 minute drive each way at almost any time of day.

To take a bus, I would have to walk 1.25 miles in opposite direction. Then, sit on bus that is going further away from my office for about 30 minutes as it makes stops along the route on the way to the transfer station. That bus only comes every 2 hours. Wait for the bus on the 2nd part of the route. Transfer. Maybe wait a long time if the transfer doesn't happen on time. Finally start moving towards the office, a 45 minute ride, but one that would eventually drop me off about 50 yards from the office.

All for the low cost of about $2.50 (less if one buys bulk) each way. My car gets about 40MPG, so about 4 round trips per gallon...about 1/4 the cost of the bus fare.

Tell me why I should ride the bus?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

To please Greta.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Greta tragically burst into flames two years ago. But yes. In her memory I try to ride the bus every day. Despite having nowhere to go.

[Medulla Oblongata]

I thought Gretta transitioned into David Hogg.

[See.More]

All for the low cost of about $2.50 (less if one buys bulk) each way. My car gets about 40MPG, so about 4 round trips per gallon...about 1/4 the cost of the bus fare.

But... but... MARTA is Smarta!!

The only reasons I ever ride MARTA is Kiss & Ride to the airport or Park & Ride to some downtown event or destination since I actually abhor driving in downtown Atlanta more than I abhor MARTA.

[sarcasmic]

“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are ain't no good unless you can get away from it."

[Zeb]

The movie that is sampled from and the book it is based on (Wise Blood) are pretty interesting if you are into rural southerners struggling with modernity. And that's an awesome song, especially the extended version.

[I, Woodchipper]

They don't love trains. They would never take the train.

They just hate that everyone else has a car too.

[Dillinger]

gasp! those "people" don't even have drivers.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

What carpooling means to champagne socialist.

[Zeb]

I'm sure they'd take first class on a TGV in France in a pinch.

[Dillinger]

>>You simply must berate businesses for acting rationally in response to tariffs:

if you guys were serious in any way this place would have been on fire a year ago when they literally told you everyone takes a haircut ... me gusta los Nuevo Nuevo Orden!

[Dillinger]

>>What a fascinating pivot for the GOP.

which GOP? the ruling class minority who can eat a bag of dicks or the people who vote? ask some actual fucking people maybe lol WalMart

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Lol, exactly.

[mad.casual]

ask some actual fucking people maybe lol WalMart

"Ew!"

[Medulla Oblongata]

BREAKING: For the first time since July 2021, a majority of Americans rate the economy as “strong,” according to a new Harvard/Harris Poll

https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1924533831899468057

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

How about just the people at Harvard, and what's-her-name Harris?

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/poll-trump-s-latest-approval-rating-revealed/ss-AA1F7Jps

President Donald Trump 's approval rating rebounded as his tariff sparked terror has subsided and he concludes a successful trip to the Middle East. DailyMail.com's Trump tracking poll, conducted with J.L. Partners, shows his approval rating now at 50 percent.

It is up five points from 45 percent result at the end of his first 100 days over two weeks ago, his lowest point in his second term to date. Trump's approval numbers improved in most political demographics, but the president still struggles to win over some more pessimistic Independents. Among voters 18-29, his approval rating has jumped six points from the previous poll, which demonstrated support from young people falling precipitously by double digits.

His support among men has jumped to 58 percent, up seven points and his support ticked up among women by two points to 42 percent. The poll was conducted May 13–14 among a sample of 1,003 registered voters with a 3.1 percent margin of error. Among Republicans, Trump's rating jumped nine points to a stunning 94 percent.

Even more Democrats are more supportive of the president as his rating jumped nine points to 21 percent. The president continues to slide among Independents, however, down seven points from the previous poll. His approval rating jumped among Hispanics by 15 points and 16 points among black Americans.

[Medulla Oblongata]

That'll show him!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-mass-layoff-threat-drives-u-s-government-workers-to-resign/ar-AA1F7wcg

Trump's mass layoff threat drives U.S. government workers to resign

[Speaking for normal people]

You just keep destroying REASON readership with these silly articles.
Yeah, Walmart is hurting

The Walton family, who founded Walmart, have a combined net worth of $432.4 billion. They are the richest family in the world, according to Bloomberg reports.

Trump is right like rarely happens on earth !!!! Only this country would allow a family to rake in $432 BILLLION and those are fellow Americans, those customers. The guy down the street with the 3 young daughters working his asss off does not have any surplus and millions like him were great customers of Walmart.

If you keep playing the violin for folks with almost 1/2 TRILLION DOLLARS you will have no subscribers at all

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

UNFAIR WEALTH INEQUALITY!!!

So, take everything from the Waltons, and give it to The People. Even spread around just in the US, that gives each person $1200. That will fix things forever.

[rbike]

No, that comes out to about $2 million per person. Don't you do math. I learned this from a NY Times reporter.

[Don't look at me! (I’ll post my list if you post yours)]

Envy will get you nowhere.

[JFree]

A Mexican naval ship in the East River accelerated suddenly in the wrong direction before slamming its masts into the Brooklyn Bridge

Wonder what would have been the outcome for:
a) a soccer mom texting on the phone
b)an old Asian
c)a Boston driver
d)an autonomous ship
e) Mr Magoo
f)a Saudi driver with a case of enshallah