Grand Potentate
Supporter of Possible Sexual Deviants
- Messages
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The music thread awaits you
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The music thread awaits you
this guy creeps me out. prison paul the paper eater is less rapey.
fair enoughYou've got to get behind the weirdo sixth form student who plays Dungeons & Dragons and has a leather jacket that reeks if patchouli oil. If you can't get past that, then you'll miss out on some interesting commentary. He's banned in Merkel's Germany, so automatically I am inclined to take an interest in what he has to say. He's especially astute on the legacy media and has been for sometime.
You've got to get behind the weirdo sixth form student who plays Dungeons & Dragons and has a leather jacket that reeks if patchouli oil. If you can't get past that, then you'll miss out on some interesting commentary. He's banned in Merkel's Germany, so automatically I am inclined to take an interest in what he has to say. He's especially astute on the legacy media and has been for sometime.
Tarriffs and protectionism should encourage reinvestment of the corporate tax cuts instead of executive bonuses and shareholder payouts.
I’m not a macroeconomist, so I don’t know the ins and outs of all the possible effects, good and bad. I do think the corporate tax cut combined with protectionism has potential to produce a synergistic effect.
Plus they tend to work more in the interest of their share holders than their employees.
Protecting the US from cheap Chinese steel import might be a good thing, especially for the states that still produce steel.
It used to take 10 men to make a ton of steel now is one.
Cheering from steel workers because they think their jobs are protected will turn to snivelling when the price of their trucks, canned beer and aluminum bass boats go up.
This argument is often used to justify why those industries can't be repatriated because they're no longer labour intensive so the net result in more employment is not worth the negative side of trade wars and tariffs.
But economies of scale come into this, with increased production and better quality. The Germans had this down to an art and I was shocked when I started to travel on business trips to Germany the scale of the industries that we in the UK were being told was not possible in advanced post-industrial societies anymore.
I agree a lot of these industries are hard and harsh, but the reality is a lot of the population are not academic and manual skilled labour and heavy engineering offers the best in terms of being able to earn and provide for your family or self.
The EU has various mechanisms for adding tariffs through import duties and also through legistlation. The latest one being the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which can result in fines of 4% of global business turnover should your company be unlucky enough to be hacked and personal data stolen. Other ones such as the machinery and pressure equipment directives were attempts to keep manufacturing in Europe, albeit it is possible to manufacture to these standards outside of the EU. And the CE marking was copied by China to the extent you cannot tell the difference between the two logos with a casual eye.
The Germans had this down to an art and I was shocked when I started to travel on business trips to Germany the scale of the industries that we in the UK were being told was not possible in advanced post-industrial societies anymore.
Most steel is now made in Spain, AFAIK only high quality steel is made in Germany, most of it is bought by China. A few years ago there was a shortage of train wheels because there was no decent steel left. A lot of the jobs in mining and steel making have disappeared. Same with the garment industry, both were situated in and around the "Ruhrpott".
Within Europe, Germany is the only country that exports more than it imports (in value, at least). So a trade war with the US will hurt it most. Very much like the stupid EU sanctions against Russia.
A weak US$ might help exports, but I'm not sure what they actually do export, other than weapons and maybe airplanes.
Most steel is now made in Spain, AFAIK only high quality steel is made in Germany, most of it is bought by China. A few years ago there was a shortage of train wheels because there was no decent steel left. A lot of the jobs in mining and steel making have disappeared. Same with the garment industry, both were situated in and around the "Ruhrpott".
Within Europe, Germany is the only country that exports more than it imports (in value, at least). So a trade war with the US will hurt it most. Very much like the stupid EU sanctions against Russia.
A weak US$ might help exports, but I'm not sure what they actually do export, other than weapons and maybe airplanes.
The US is the 5th largest steel producer. But it imports 4x what it exports.
Canada imports 50% of US steel exports.
Canada is the largest steel exporter to the US and China is way down the list. India and Russia are the fastest growing.
China has been targeted many times for dumping cheap steel on the US. They also use 3rd parties as proxies hence the blanket tariffs.
But if China actually is the target then Trump is pissing off more allies who ship more steel to the US than China does.
Again, does the US have the capacity to domestically produce 400% more steel and by when. They will still have to import.
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In terms of aluminium, the US produces 840,000 tonnes and imports 5.7 million tonnes.
Canada supplies 2.48 million tonnes or 43% of America's aluminum.
They only have 5 total smelters (the US aluminum industry says 2) and only 1 that produces high quality aluminum required for military jets. UAE and China produce this metal.
That plant in KY said it will hire 300 workers when the tariffs are in place. Drop in the bucket when you consider that the bulk of US aluminum industry jobs (about 150,000 or 97%) are in product manufacturing not aluminum production.
The US is a world leader in aerospace exports and planes use craploads of aluminum.
The big issue with China is them dumping aluminum foil on the US market.
So again, the tariffs are short sighted and very Trumpesque in their surface knowledge intent with seemingly no consideration of other industries that use steel and aluminum
Are there any decent steel bloggers or shills I can follow? I would like to learn about top top bespock smelting.
Tillerson fired.
How do you guys read?
Tillerson fired.
The timing would certainly suggest that.Rumor is that it was because he jumped on that Russian spy poisoning story
Rumor is that it was because he jumped on that Russian spy poisoning story
Perhaps the new Secretary of State will fill the vacant positions. For a former CEO I wasn't sure why Tillerson let the vacancies run for so long. You can't do everything by yourself.
Presided over huge budget cuts, and none of the existing experts / swamp inhabitants / career diplomats wanted anything to do with the WH.
Economic nationalism and paleoconservatism is the way to go. If Trump delivers that -and its a big if - then he will have done well.Could all just be a test. Apparently he has targeted German car manufacturers again.
Or he simply hates your "peoplekind" leading "feminist" PM. Which is something I can understand.
Nobody likes Theresa May.
You just need to listen to Trump himself, he didn't connect with the administration's mission and vision for America:
The nerve agent incident needs to be handled delicately and within agreed protocols. May's been badly advised, the ultimatum and threats have been played too early. The ''dramatic'' statement promised this afternoon in the Commons may prove a damp squib or the beginning of tit for tat retailations. There's no nuance or pitch development in all this. I would have gone neutral: we are conducting the investigation and will then make our findings known. And maintain radio silence until the evidence is tabled.
As likely as this is Russia, jumping the gun immediatelty using ultimatums and threats will play into Putin's hands. The lies and fake news of the MSM means we cannot trust the Russian trope until due process has been followed. Putin's smirking on camera for he knows May is weak, being manipulated and when the threat of thermo-nuclear war is put on the table she will have to back down pulling one of her quivering faces.
Somebody does, or else she wouldn't still be PM.