javajaws said:
KingofHazor said:
javajaws said:
Since this thread is about anecdotal affects - I'll add that one of my hobbies is board games - and I'm not talking about the crap kind you get from Hasbro, etc. This is an entire industry that works on a model of design in America (and other countries) and manufacture in China. And there are no real alternatives to China. None of these game publishers has the size or capital to startup such wide-scale manufacturing capabilities.
To make it worse typically what happens in this industry is that manufacturing is paid for up front and months later everything is shipped at once to the US. Well, with tariffs the majority of these publishers are now facing a predicament of not being able to pay for the tariffs even though they paid the manufacturing costs months ago. Many are playing a wait and see game right now and paying additional storage costs in China to see if they can wait it out. Some have already announced layoffs and closings.
To make it even worse, there is the Kickstarter/Gamefound business model as well where publishers pre-sell a game direct to consumers and retailers before it is even finished (and most importantly before it is manufactured). So people like myself have already pre-paid for games months ago but now all of those games are being held up from being shipped to the US for the same reasons. Many of these publishers will go under if this doesn't get resolved within the next 30-60 days resulting in thousands more in job losses as well as the shutdown of practically an entire industry in the US.
Trump really should have excluded products that were already bought and paid for but not shipped from this boondoggle. But like always he chose the blunt force trauma approach and damn the consequences.
I couldn't disagree more. First, if the Trump team had waited until it figured out all of the details of their actions, it would have taken them 20 years to get started. In other words, it would never have happened. They had to move forward quickly and immediately and correct mistakes as they moved forward.
Second, when major national policy decisions are made, some individuals and companies will inevitably get hurt. When we closed so many bases in the early 90s, many small local businesses around those bases were wiped out. It was bad for those businesses, but we couldn't keep all of the bases open just to protect Tony's Pizza or Joe's dry cleaning.
Finally, most of us have been demanding change, knowing that the status quo was unsustainable. But now that change is occurring, and most of us are feeling pain, it's more than ironic that some are crying that they didn't know that change might hurt them.
I couldn't disagree more. And trying to equate a mass change in tariff policy with a base closing? For real? Man some of you'll are really walking around with blinders on.
This is no way to run a country. I agree in getting fair trade agreements worked out and getting critical manufacturing done in the US. But Trump is not being very smart with how he gets it done.
Honestly, you couldn't be missing the point more, and it shows by you ignoring virtually all of what he wrote other than the base closure thing. Contrary to your assertion, it IS a valid comparison or analogy. You don't even refute it, you just ridicule it, hoping THAT will suffice. It doesn't.
Then you go about trying to insult everyone that doesn't agree with you.
The fact is, that while free trade is always the best policy, so are good business practices in general IF the parties are going to be honorable. Some people aren't and try and abuse the relationship. This whole China thing is like the landlord who allows a tenant to stay in the property based on promises to pay eventually. Often, that won't happen and the landlord would be far better off spending the money to go through the eviction process and even losing out on rent income in the short term to get a quality tenant in the property when possible.
In macro economic policy making, the small firm's short term survival can't be factored in IF the overall policy change will potentially be successful. If you're going to argue it won't (which you didn't), THEN that might be one thing. Small, undercapitalized firms go out of business every day for all sorts of reasons. Fixing the tariff policies in this country is well worth the short term issues, especially with firms that had absolutely no forethought to finding additional supply chain outlets. Considering the government put a lot of firms out of business with covid related policies, this frankly isn't an issue.
