• BadlyTimedLuck@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    All this insecurity about tariffs has me hoping he have a Boston Tea Party situation. If I recall the story correctly, they threw the expensive British Tea overboard to protest the tax.

    Similarly, I also recall a sugar tax, and either an ink or paper one: basically, I hope I can see something similar to see there’s still a small piece of American values from our ancestors (not the twisted Conservative heaven MAGA wants, but on the American dream of freedom, liberty, and justice for ALL.)

    No Taxation Without Representation!

    • hydrospanner@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I feel like most people I have heard talking about them while supporting Trump seem to know that tariffs are taxes, but have no concept of how they play out in a real economic situation. Most fall into one or both of two camps:

      A) Tariffs are taxes, but they’re taxes for companies not individuals, and they’re only applied to importing, so they won’t affect me.

      B) Tariffs are taxes for foreign companies, to level the playing field and keep American business competitive. Since the companies that have to pay it are foreign, it won’t affect me.

      Spoiler alert, guys: no matter where the tax is levied in the system, the consumer is the only person who ever pays for it, since they’re the only ones that can’t pass that cost on to anyone else.

      Also, while this can make domestic competitors more competitive, it’s important to remember two things: first, if it works, it’s only working by making things more expensive for consumers, and second, this assumes that the domestic competitors want more business, have the ability and posture to increase their production to meet the new greater demand, and will operate in good faith. Much more likely is that they simply also increase their prices in reaction to the tariffs, so they’re not producing or selling any more volume and aren’t creating any jobs… they’re just padding their profit margins at the corporate/shareholder level while doing nothing for their employees, all while having the average consumer foot the bill.

      That’s exactly what happened with the steel tariffs in the first Trump term and that’s exactly what will happen now…the only difference is that this time it seems like there will be significantly fewer economic buffers between the tariff and the consumer, so more people will more directly feel the sting here…and presumably the mental gymnastics from the MAGAts will be even sadder in their attempts to somehow make it not a criticism of their orange leader’s incompetence.

      • ericbomb@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        “Surely the company that sells a product for $100 will keep selling the product for that price once tariffs mean that it costs a $125 to produce and import!” - crazy people.

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
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        1 day ago

        Tariffs are taxes, but they’re taxes for companies not individuals, and they’re only applied to importing, so they won’t affect me.

        Typical Magoo (literally my dad in 2016): “you can’t tax business owners, they’re going to just make everything more expensive for us! They pass on the burden to us!”

        Also Magoo: “Yay tarrifs! They are a tax on business but that won’t get passed on to me!”

        The Magoo motto: Whatever words I need to use to suit my purpose I will use, to hell with reality.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    2 days ago

    I just remembered that Coca-Cola requires denatured coca leaves from South America.

    So enjoy that $8 Coke can, America

  • Xanthobilly@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Who are we kidding? Trump’s going to enforce it selectively to nefarious ends and enrich himself off exemptions that he’s hand picked to be subservient. Free market my ass.

  • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 days ago

    I’d bet they exempt it. The corporate grinder doesn’t really work without stimulants for the workers to purchase so they can work (and consume) more and sleep less.

  • zeppo@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    It sure would help if Americans weren’t generally ignorant about uh… tons of stuff and especially anything that involves other countries. All sorts of fruits and vegetables are imported - green beans, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, lettuce, berries, bananas, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant. And then at the same time, the Trump bros want to crack down on groups of people who make up a large portion of the domestic agricultural workforce? It’s difficult to see some conservative policies as intended to do anything other than just fuck people over and cause chaos.

    • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      There is also seasonal trade to US even when it grows in US.

      New FDA head will just change the food pyramid to Coca Cola is a vegetable.

        • patacon_pisao@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          They would blame Biden, Harris, Obama and Hillary Clinton for these things and more.

          Jokes aside, people will only start being outraged when Starbucks and Dunkin’ start selling their favorite drinks for $15+. I only hope that when things get to that point people start taking the streets in protest.

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        and I’ll probably just pay the tariffs and move on because half the time stuff made in the US falls apart or is laced with pesticides banned elsewhere

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I think thats what the crypto people are banking on. Rapid inflation. You’re better off just buying imported goods now though, you can always sell them the crypto people at a markup later. Real goods have far more intrinsic value.

          • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            That’s the thing I find most depressing about a trump presidency, there will be a time when the rational Left looks back on it as “when things weren’t so bad.”

            Like, when I was a kid I, and many others, never imagined there could be a president dumber than Bush…

      • EzTerry@lemmy.zip
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        3 days ago

        Coffee grows on Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and recently in a little bit in CA (to add to water problems)

        But Labor + limited amounts means it won’t be cheaper

      • ziggurat@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        You can grow a banana at home. Dwarf banana plants can grow inside. The normal size banana plant is not living room sized, no wonder people think they grow on trees

        But how many people drink coffee? And how many bananas can you grow for your self?

  • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, pepper, tea, bananas, and a fuckload of other things that are completely integrated into our regular diets are almost exclusively imported.

    • Tartas1995@discuss.tchncs.de
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      3 days ago

      Sugar too. That ain’t healthy and is kinda fancy but… Can you see them losing their shit over sugar prices? I do.

      Tomatoes imports were 2.5B in 2023.

      Apparently the us imports 15% of it’s food supply.

      • MrVilliam@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        That can’t be right. Corn can’t be only 85% of our food.

        But seriously, there’s so much goddamn corn. Our meat is fed corn. Our processed foods and drinks are pumped full of corn. Even our fucking cars eat corn. We’re up to our fucking ears in ears of corn.

        • Tartas1995@discuss.tchncs.de
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          2 days ago

          I understand your perspective but I want to ask a question, not to you, but for you to think about it. What motivation causes the imports?

          If corn syrup is a replacement for whatever they are doing, why are they importing raw sugar? If raw sugar is cheaper than you would expect them to already use sugar for everything and not corn syrup, and switching to corn syrup would be an increase in cost . If raw sugar costs the same, import is additional paperwork, why import? Raw sugar is more expensive, why would they pay more?

          Raw sugar can’t be replaced easily in their use case? Now that makes sense.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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            2 days ago

            Sugar tastes better than HFCS. Ask anyone who drinks Mexican Coke. “Tastes better” doesn’t matter when there’s no other option.

          • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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            2 days ago

            Fact is, HFCS is cheaper. I haven’t checked the entirety of it’s supply chain to figure out why, but it is cheaper.

            If sugar was the same cost, they wouldn’t have switched to HFCS in the first place (why mess with your successful product for no gain?). Fact of the matter is that HFCS is saving them money. It might be pennies per bottle, but when you’re moving 10M bottles of soda, those pennies turn into dividends, literally.

      • RidderSport@feddit.org
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        3 days ago

        Sugar is fancy now? Man my grandpa would be thrilled were he alive. There’s a colloquial term for the farm-houses of sugar beat farmers in Northern Germany, “beat castles”, as they quickly made a lot of money growing the beats in the late 19th century. When sugar became more accessible due to the processing of the beats to refined sugar. The wealth is long gone now, similarly to how salt used to be a luxury good.

        • theneverfox@pawb.social
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          2 days ago

          Yeah, we do high fructose corn syrup over here. It’s even more addictive, even less healthy, and it tastes bad. So obviously, we put it in everything, even premade salads

          • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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            2 days ago

            Technically, we don’t need raw sugar for our diet at all. So technically correct?

            We also don’t need any sugar substitutes, like HFCS, but you can find that or sugar, in the ingredients list of pretty much all processed foods.

            Yay capitalism!

    • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      A lot of fruit/veg is grown in places they can get away with slave wages and then shipped here because that’s how little labor costs. Less than our already super low paid fruit/veg pickers that are primarily the people who escaped the countries and situations that put them in those even lower slave wage places.

      • pomfegranate@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Lived in Hawaii most of my life: the big name coffees from here are terrible and only have that insane price because it’s from Hawaii. Though there are some small local roasters here

        • schnokobaer@feddit.org
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          3 days ago

          It’ll rise with the rest, or does anyone believe a premium brand would just omit a general price increase among virtually all competitors and become a brand anyone can afford? Especially since Hawaiian coffee is majorly limited in supply.

        • acosmichippo@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          until the demand for it skyrockets. then it’s either gone or just as expensive as all the tariffed coffee.

      • frank@sopuli.xyz
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        3 days ago

        Kauai Coffee is a relatively large operation that exports to the continental US and is more like $9 retail (and perpetually on sale for $7.50 or so) for a 10oz bag in the grocery store.

        It’s not cheap coffee, but it’s certainly not top of the line priced coffee.

        They do make some coffees that are more than $25/lb, but not the "regular* stuff people would buy in a store.

        Of course I agree that their price will go up with the market with tariffs introduced, and that in general the tariffs are a terrible, terrible idea.

    • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      Unfortunately the Jones Act means shipping from Hawaii to the continental US requires the use of a shipping vessel constructed in the US, flying the US flag, and entirely crewed by US citizens which makes the shipping costs expensive as fuck.

    • Eiri@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      I wanted some foreign goods to get more expensive. To end slavery, not to escalate a trade war!

      I should have checked my vicinity for any stray monkey’s paws when I made that wish.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        “Fair Trade” is what you’re looking for. I don’t know how legit all instances are or whether they make a real difference, but its an attempt

        • Ultraviolet@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          This may sound pedantic, but you’re looking for Fairtrade (one word) for the organization with the strictest vetting standards. Fair Trade (two words) isn’t regulated and just means they follow some sort of ethical code. It’s not necessarily bad, but it warrants more product specific research.

    • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      everything you’re wearing right now

      Much of that is cotton. I believe that in the “good” ol’ days the US grew that themselves. Start that industry up again, and you don’t need mass deportations across the border.

      • Skyrmir@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        The US still makes massive amounts of cotton. That all gets exported to other countries before getting turned into garments and things.

      • superkret@feddit.org
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        3 days ago

        You could even run the farms the same way as in the olden days, if you criminalize and incarcarate enough black people.

        • MrVilliam@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          Well boy howdy, it turns out we already been done doin that there part about criminalizing and incarcerating them black people just out of sheer racism. You’re telling me that there could’ve been a profit motive to it this whole time too?

          jk, private contracted prisons were already profiting deeply off of that.

      • ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
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        3 days ago

        Ah, yes…

        All we need to keep that industry running like the good ol’ days is a massive industry of government subsidized illegal immigration of easily identified persons

      • Kalysta@lemm.ee
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        2 days ago

        Cotton takes a LOT of water to grow. And takes up farmland that could grow food.

        Most of your clothes are artificial fabrics these days. Or blended