American Manufacturers Are Enjoying a Bonanza of Orders for US-Made Products

American manufacturers are seeing a surge in demand as President Donald Trump's tariffs force companies to reconsider doing business in China.
Trump's tariffs, including a 145% levy on Chinese goods, are causing American-made products to be more competitive in the market. As a result, many small and medium manufacturers are experiencing a surge in demand and are preparing to ramp up production and hire new workers.
Jergens Inc., a midwestern toolmaker with less than 500 employees, says it's "going like gangbusters" trying to keep up with demand, The Wall Street Journal reported. They are seeing an influx of orders from customers trying to avoid import tariffs, along with steady defense-related demand.
"We are running 24 hours a day, seven days a week" said Jergens president Jack Schron, according to the Journal. "We are swamped."
Grand River Rubber & Plastics, a plastics and rubber manufacturer in Ohio, says customers that once offshored to China are reversing course, the Journal noted. Two buyers who left years ago returned within days of each other and two new oil filter manufacturers have already placed orders. The company's new business could amount to $5 million annually, roughly 10% of Grand River's revenue.
The spike in new business reported by many American manufacturers coincides with a sharp decrease in Chinese manufacturing. When Trump announced the tariffs last month, he predicted American businesses and consumers would both benefit.
"Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country, and you see it happening already. We will supercharge our domestic industrial base," Trump has said. "We will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers. And ultimately, more production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers."
Even as the president insists prices will fall, economists and politicians warn his tariffs could sharply raise costs for American consumers, CNBC reported. However, executives at SafeSource Direct, a Louisiana-based medical products manufacturer, say prices are likely to decline as domestic production ramps up, according to the Journal.
SafeSource recently increased the number of production lines from two to eight, each making over 20,000 rubber gloves an hour. As new operations become more efficient, they expect costs to decrease significantly.
"We think we can get extremely close to Asian prices," said Steve Mott, a partner with the company, as reported by the Journal.

Scott Bessent will meet with the Communist Chinese Party's trade negotiator in Switzerland, after China repeatedly insisted it would never, ever bargain with Trump until he showed them "respect." And they made clear that "respect" consisted of dropping all tariffs and agreeing to continue permitting the Chinese to beggar the world forever.

USTR Press Release -- [...] "At President Trump's direction, I am negotiating with countries to rebalance our trade relations to achieve reciprocity, open new markets, and protect America's economic and national security," said Ambassador Greer. "I look forward to having productive meetings with some of my counterparts as well as visiting with my team in Geneva who all work diligently to advance U.S. interests on a range of multilateral issues."
While in Switzerland, Ambassador Greer will also meet with his counterpart from the People's Republic of China to discuss trade matters." (
Treasury Secretary Press Release -- "During Secretary Bessent's visit to Switzerland, he will meet with President Karin Keller-Sutter of Switzerland, during which the Secretary will follow up on their recent meeting on the sidelines of the recent World Bank Group (WBG) -- International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings.
While in Switzerland, Secretary Bessent will also meet with the lead representative on economic matters from the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Posted by: Ace at 03:47 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Yep

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at May 09, 2025 03:48 PM (mH4AI)

2
While in Switzerland, Secretary Bessent will also meet with the lead representative on economic matters from the People's Republic of China (PRC).

That'll be a short conversation "You need us more than we need you, bitch."

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 09, 2025 03:49 PM (y9nCu)

3 Why, it's almost as if President Trump knows what he is doing and has business acumen.

"Nah, that can't be it."
-- Leftists and MSM (birm)

Posted by: Tonypete at May 09, 2025 03:49 PM (cYBz/)

4 Hola

Posted by: Thanatopsis at May 09, 2025 03:49 PM (GYt5+)

5 MSM will never report jobs returning to America - until they are forced to admit it.

Even then, it will be "unexpectedly" and due to external circumstances.

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at May 09, 2025 03:50 PM (HlyYF)

6 This is not good for America, this is bad.

You can't understand why because you didn't go to Harvard.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 03:50 PM (sMW+k)

7 Lots of manufacturing being moved to USA as well. Lego just signed a deal to build a factory in Georgia I think.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 03:50 PM (2VST1)

8 Scott Bessent will meet with the Communist Chinese Party's trade negotiator in Switzerland, after China repeatedly insisted it would never, ever bargain with Trump until he showed them "respect." And they made clear that "respect" consisted of dropping all tariffs and agreeing to continue permitting the Chinese to beggar the world forever.

I got your respect right here
*grabs crotch*

Posted by: Scott Bessent, in a better world at May 09, 2025 03:50 PM (s8j++)

9
She was always a nutty hippie who vagina-trapped a billionaire. What'd she do now?
Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 03:42 PM (l3YAf)

Why? What did she do?
Posted by: FenelonSpoke

She said she think RFK is "being controlled" by "someone who is not President Trump" and is very upset at RFK's choice for Surgeon General.

Posted by: Soothsayer and five yamulkas walk into a bar at May 09, 2025 03:50 PM (2I34S)

10 Trump is on much stronger ground now that he’s focused on China not the entire world. I wish you had started there.

The average American is willing to pay a little more for their goods to stick it to China IMO.

Posted by: Maroon at May 09, 2025 03:50 PM (O+RGJ)

11 Scott Bessent will meet with the Communist Chinese Party's trade negotiator in Switzerland, after China repeatedly insisted it would never, ever bargain with Trump until he showed them "respect." And they made clear that "respect" consisted of dropping all tariffs and agreeing to continue permitting the Chinese to beggar the world forever.

========

Large import economies hold a lot of cards in negotiations with large export economies.

We can go a while without importing plastic toys and electronics (a good number of which have switch to manufacturing other nations).

They can go a lot less without...money to fund their entire manufacturing base.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 03:51 PM (GBKbO)

12 Lego just signed a deal to build a factory in Georgia I think.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Hold on. Let's ponder this for just a moment.

Building. A. Lego. Building. That's a pretty tight little circle there friends.

The memes just write themselves.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 09, 2025 03:51 PM (cYBz/)

13 Doing the thing that works again -- works.

Huh.

Posted by: DaveA at May 09, 2025 03:51 PM (FhXTo)

14 In solidarity with President Trump, I've switched from Chinese catamites to American catamites.

Posted by: Thom Tillis at May 09, 2025 03:52 PM (l3YAf)

15 Propaganda ministries: jobs taken from poor women , gays , trannies and children in developing world. Trump blamed

Posted by: Smell the Glove at May 09, 2025 03:52 PM (vmkyp)

16 They can go a lot less without...money to fund their entire manufacturing base.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 03:51 PM (GBKbO)

I wonder if Trump gamed that out or if he's just an idiot who doesn't think or prepare.

Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 03:52 PM (gt60b)

17 "And they made clear that "respect" consisted of dropping all tariffs and agreeing to continue permitting the Chinese to beggar the world forever."

the chinese seem to think they are still negotiating with john kerry. i recall the chinese also using the word 'sincerity'

Posted by: gnatslocal675 at May 09, 2025 03:52 PM (CWTWj)

18 "Tariffs are a tax on Americans!!"
/s/ the Left, suddenly meeting a tax increase they oppose

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 03:52 PM (sMW+k)

19 Wasn't Lego already here?

Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 03:53 PM (gt60b)

20 I like Scott Bessent. Could someone please tell him to be careful of shaking hands with anyone from the CCP.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at May 09, 2025 03:53 PM (Gt80b)

21
I'll mention it, again, since No One else in the "news" seems to have noticed:

The chinese serrers on ebay just dramaticarry jacked up their shipping costs (not item prices), this week.

For example, an item priced at $6.22 with free shipping now has $120.00 shipping fee!

Posted by: Soothsayer and five yamulkas walk into a bar at May 09, 2025 03:53 PM (2I34S)

22 The average American is willing to pay a little more for their goods to stick it to China IMO.

China really needs to work on the whole "making friends" thing. They seem to have alienated pretty much the entire world. Sure, countries like India will play along for awhile when it's to their benefit, but ultimately, they'd like nothing better than to eat China's lunch by taking their business. The only countries that are really willing to work with China are international pariahs like Russia, Iran, and NoKo.

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 03:53 PM (s8j++)

23 Hah Oil Filters !

Need to watch Tommy Boy again.

Posted by: polynikes at May 09, 2025 03:53 PM (VofaG)

24 IMPEACH Drumph!

Posted by: ShainS at May 09, 2025 03:54 PM (3MZwD)

25 They can go a lot less without...money to fund their entire manufacturing base.
---
Factories forced to idle with their workers rioting in the streets as they're not getting paid, seems to have been the "respect" China was looking for.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 03:54 PM (sMW+k)

26 The Chinese just need to drive more of their child slave labor to suicide so they can lower prices another 145%.

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov at May 09, 2025 03:54 PM (wBaIH)

27 Wasn't Lego already here?

Lego is, I think, a Danish company? But I do not know if they have an plants in the USA.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 03:55 PM (2VST1)

28 >> We can go a while without importing plastic toys and electronics (a good number of which have switch to manufacturing other nations).

Can we, though? And we import a lot more than just toys and electronics from China.

>> They can go a lot less without...money to fund their entire manufacturing base.

Our number 1 export is debt notes. I still don't know how strong of a position that really is.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 03:55 PM (l3YAf)

29 "Even as the president insists prices will fall, economists and politicians warn his tariffs could sharply raise costs for American consumers"

suck it, lying globalist fuckwads. how about factoring in all the externalized societal costs, like losing jobs causing manufacturing towns to decay into meth pits of welfare and despair. saving a buck on a pair of underwear doesn't help if you lost your job to achieve it.

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings at May 09, 2025 03:55 PM (dykUo)

30 10 Trump is on much stronger ground now that he’s focused on China not the entire world. I wish you had started there.

The average American is willing to pay a little more for their goods to stick it to China IMO.
Posted by: Maroon at May 09, 2025 03:50 PM (O+RGJ)

=======

The effect of tariffs on the consumer has been blown way out of proportion.

It's a fee on wholesale importer prices, which is a long way down the stream from consumer retail prices.

Throw in the fact that there's always the option to move distribution channels in a world that's been moving away from China being the manufacturing hub, the fact that the single largest import is energy related while prices are cratering there anyway while Trump opens up energy production in America through deregulation, and that most of our consumer goods are actually made in the US (roughly 81% in 2019), and you've got a recipe for: tariffs actually don't affect prices all that much.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 03:55 PM (GBKbO)

31 VOTE VANCE!

Posted by: Sid just wants to vote for Vance at May 09, 2025 03:55 PM (GNz3z)

32 re 22: i heard that in the feud between india and pakistan over some large piece of dirt on the border, the chinese have sided with the paks

Posted by: gnatslocal675 at May 09, 2025 03:55 PM (CWTWj)

33 The Chinese just need to drive more of their child slave labor to suicide so they can lower prices another 145%.

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov at May 09, 2025 03:54 PM (wBaIH)

Now you're thinking like a communist!

Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (gt60b)

34 I heard Jerome Powell argue tariffs "might be" inflationary 30 seconds after I heard a Democrat Congress idiot argue Trump tariffs are a "tax on Americans".

Taxes are either deflationary or neutral. Sucking money from the economy cannot, by definition, be inflationary.

So which is it anti-Trumpers? Choose one, "tax" or "inflationary"?

Posted by: Huck Follywood at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (uFcrg)

35 16 They can go a lot less without...money to fund their entire manufacturing base.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 03:51 PM (GBKbO)

I wonder if Trump gamed that out or if he's just an idiot who doesn't think or prepare.
Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 03:52 PM (gt60b)

=======

He's just lucky.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (GBKbO)

36 Looks like mid-caps and smalls are at least equally benefiting from Trump's work. That's double good.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (sB5dv)

37 Trump has this uncanny ability to elicit a horde of naysayers and then prove them wrong

Posted by: kallisto at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (dCxaZ)

38 suck it, lying globalist fuckwads. how about factoring in all the externalized societal costs, like losing jobs causing manufacturing towns to decay into meth pits of welfare and despair. saving a buck on a pair of underwear doesn't help if you lost your job to achieve it.

Yes, those are very real things, but do you really think the average consumer thinks about that when he makes a purchase? No, he looks at one thing only: price.

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (s8j++)

39 Everything is made in china, everything. Try to find a dog bowl not made in china, it's not easy or cheap. I don't trust them and who offshores their critical manufacturing to their enemies?

Posted by: CaliGirl at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (MFuOv)

40
It's really "talifs," but chinese can't say talifs, and say tariffs. So it's tariffs.

Posted by: Soothsayer's Innaccurate but Amusing Bigoted Facts at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (2I34S)

41 re 31: sid, it's not polite to talk with your mouth full of semen

Posted by: gnatslocal675 at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (CWTWj)

42 Maybe we could make appliances that work.

Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (v0R5T)

43 100 years of 500 experts signing a paper that says "you can't just do things" and Trump's just doing things. And they're working.

I saw the unrest in Chy-nuh is getting worse, which is probably why they're willing to negotiate. A few million military age men who've lost their job and have no dating prospects due to hangover from the one child policy can make things very sporty in a hurry for the CCP.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (2ocoG)

44 "And they made clear that "respect" consisted of dropping all tariffs and agreeing to continue permitting the Chinese to beggar the world forever."

I assume you mean "bugger" (as in "fuck")?

Posted by: Elric Blade at May 09, 2025 03:57 PM (iFTx/)

45 No more bullshit? That would put a lotta trolls out of business.

Posted by: ErikInTexas at May 09, 2025 03:57 PM (+YI9v)

46 Sure I put my dick in billionaire crazy. I'm a frickin' Kennedy!

Posted by: Field Marshal RFK Jr. at May 09, 2025 03:57 PM (wBaIH)

47 39 Everything is made in china, everything. Try to find a dog bowl not made in china, it's not easy or cheap. I don't trust them and who offshores their critical manufacturing to their enemies?
Posted by: CaliGirl at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (MFuOv)

=======

81% of the US consumer goods in 2019 were made in America.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 03:57 PM (GBKbO)

48 When China threw out that "respect" comment, I was like, "that's the type of strongly-worded diplo-speak that would have had prior R and D administrations kowtowing and scraping to be forgiven.

Instead, Trump gave 'em a New York salute and doubled the tariffs, "I got yer respect right here!" said the double finger salute.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 03:58 PM (sMW+k)

49 What does that weasel fuckwad scab Jerome Powell think of this?

Posted by: Elric Blade at May 09, 2025 03:58 PM (iFTx/)

50 31 And prices for everything are going up. All we can hope for is China to put enough pressure on Trump to force him to stop this bullshit.

Price of eggs is down. Gas prices started dropping the day Trump was elected. But you wouldn't know this because you don't buy things due to you being a bot and all.

Posted by: kallisto at May 09, 2025 03:58 PM (dCxaZ)

51 I remember growing up, my small town had tons of manufacturers, from clothing to precision tools. And the state had a bunch of globally known and respected brands.
And then one day they disappeared. And then we were forced to buy cheap , unreliable crap, which instead of lasting for 20 years, now last 3-4. But hey we can get it cheap. I hate this cheap crap!

Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 03:58 PM (g47mK)

52 32 re 22: i heard that in the feud between india and pakistan over some large piece of dirt on the border, the chinese have sided with the paks

They have a gift. Everyone that borders on the South China Sea hates their guts for being such d***s about their claims there.

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 03:58 PM (s8j++)

53 LoL!!

Retard troll, bleating sadly.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at May 09, 2025 03:58 PM (sAmhv)

54 42 Maybe we could make appliances that work.
Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (v0R5T)

I'd pay more for one not connected to the internet and one with knobs and no computer chips.

Posted by: CaliGirl at May 09, 2025 03:58 PM (MFuOv)

55 Its shocking that whenever a problem that has vexed our betters has a solution tried, the problem goes away instantly and is fixed. Even Clinton's "end of welfare" pretty much did its job at the time.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 03:58 PM (8avO+)

56 You can't spell 'stupid' without Sid.

Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 03:58 PM (v0R5T)

57 Maybe we could make appliances that work.
Posted by: wth

Speed Queen for washers/dryers.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 09, 2025 03:59 PM (cYBz/)

58 Wasn't Lego already here?

Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 03:53 PM (gt60b)

----------

The ChiComm knock-offs are called Regos, amirite?

/I denounce myself ...

Posted by: ShainS at May 09, 2025 03:59 PM (3MZwD)

59 GEE, who could ever have predicted this?!

Trump must be some kind of wizard! None of the experts said this would happen!

Posted by: Formerly Virginian at May 09, 2025 03:59 PM (aPBRN)

60 81% of the US consumer goods in 2019 were made in America.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 03:57 PM (GBKbO)

I heard only 8% is manufacture here. where did you get that statistic ?

Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:00 PM (g47mK)

61 For example, an item priced at $6.22 with free shipping now has $120.00 shipping fee!

Posted by: Soothsayer and five yamulka
---------------

The jokes, they write themselves.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:00 PM (sB5dv)

62 I like Scott Bessent. Could someone please tell him to be careful of shaking hands with anyone from the CCP.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at May 09, 2025 03:53 PM (Gt80b)

Or the media

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:00 PM (8avO+)

63 81% of the US consumer goods in 2019 were made in America.

Its good to be precise: that includes things made in China that are assembled in America. So your car was made here, but all the parts were made in China or Vietnam. Does that mean it was made in the USA?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:00 PM (2VST1)

64 Lets see if the furniture and textile business returns home.

Posted by: Pudinhead at May 09, 2025 04:00 PM (pZ64F)

65
lol, remember "Bare-Shelves Biden?"

"The tragedy of the treadmill that’s delayed," Psaki sighed during her daily press briefing, October 19, 2021.

So spare me the alligator tears for people not being able to afford chinese junk.

Posted by: Soothsayer's Innaccurate but Amusing Bigoted Facts at May 09, 2025 04:00 PM (2I34S)

66 >> Taxes are either deflationary or neutral. Sucking money from the economy cannot, by definition, be inflationary.

No. Taxes don't make money disappear, they're just a reshuffling of money. Taxes can be inflationary, and I'd argue most are.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:01 PM (l3YAf)

67 I'd pay more for one not connected to the internet and one with knobs and no computer chips.

Interestingly, there's now a move away from screens and menus in new cars, and back to dials and knobs. You'd think that it would have been obvious that people don't want menus while driving down the road, they want to be able to accomplish their goal with a quick flick of the wrist or button press.

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 04:01 PM (s8j++)

68 Our number 1 export is debt notes. I still don't know how strong of a position that really is.

Think of it this way: when you owe someone a few thousand, they own you. When you owe them pretty near their entire net worth, you own them. If Trump declared a default on debt to China, their entire economic system would collapse pretty much instantly.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:01 PM (2ocoG)

69 "Scott Bessent will meet with the Communist Chinese Party's trade negotiator in Switzerland, after China repeatedly insisted it would never, ever bargain with Trump until he showed them 'respect.'"

Whenever anyone resorts to the "respect" trope, I know I got them beat. This was weak sauce from China that nobody with half a brain believed. They of course were going to negotiate no matter what. They have no choice.

Posted by: Elric Blade at May 09, 2025 04:01 PM (iFTx/)

70 Trump is on much stronger ground now that he’s focused on China not the entire world. I wish you had started there.

The average American is willing to pay a little more for their goods to stick it to China IMO.
Posted by: Maroon at May 09, 2025 03:50 PM (O+RGJ)

The fact that we are doing deals with the whole world is a big problem for China. It was a lot easier for them when we left 5 continents free for them to trade with.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:02 PM (8avO+)

71
I'll mention it, again, since No One else in the "news" seems to have noticed:

The chinese serrers on ebay just dramaticarry jacked up their shipping costs (not item prices), this week.

For example, an item priced at $6.22 with free shipping now has $120.00 shipping fee!

Posted by: Soothsayer and five yamulkas walk into a bar at May 09, 2025 03:53 PM (2I34S)

Heh. I just noticed that this morning. I was looking for a few decently priced Raspberry Pi boards for a work project and normally you could expect to pay $9-10 for shipping something the size of a pack of Kools.

Now? $600....

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 09, 2025 04:02 PM (y9nCu)

72 . If Trump declared a default on debt to China, their entire economic system would collapse pretty much instantly.
Posted by: Ian S.

Go on. . .

*Tents fingers like Mr. Burns*

Posted by: Tonypete at May 09, 2025 04:02 PM (cYBz/)

73 And prices for everything are going up.

I am baffled by how the left keeps repeating this line. Its not true. SOME things are going up, but almost no consumer goods yet. Mostly its manufacturing goods like raw materials for building, parts like bolts etc.

That means that prices will go up, but its not happening on a broad scale right now and almost nothing consumers regularly buy are affected yet. Prices have dropped.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:02 PM (2VST1)

74 Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:00 PM (8avO+)

lol. Them as well. Btw, in reference to the former thread, the John Birch society is still around . They have a website.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at May 09, 2025 04:02 PM (Gt80b)

75
If "alligator clips" are called crocodile clips in Australia & New Zealand, then why do WE use the phrase crocodile tears?

Shouldn't we say alligator tears?

Posted by: Soothsayer's Innaccurate but Amusing Bigoted Facts at May 09, 2025 04:02 PM (2I34S)

76 I'd pay more for one not connected to the internet and one with knobs and no computer chips.

Posted by: CaliGirl at May 09, 2025 03:58 PM

The wife and I just had that very same conversation the other day. Problem is it is very difficult to find basic appliances like that anymore. And when you do find something it is usually not in stock and has to be ordered.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at May 09, 2025 04:03 PM (e5NfL)

77 Here's something to build in America, if Elon is up to the challenge: call it the Xphone. A smartphone with a physical keyboard, NO touch screen, physical controls for volume, Send, Stop, and hardware switches for mike, camera(s), and geolocation. Running a proprietary OS, no Gurgle or Apple shite allowed. Direct access to
Starlink satellites.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 09, 2025 04:03 PM (qFcV6)

78 I'm not taking sides between India and Pakistan. It's in our national interest that they have a nasty, protracted conflict that draws in the CCP and Russia to the greatest possible detriment to all involved.

Posted by: ErikInTexas at May 09, 2025 04:03 PM (+YI9v)

79 60 81% of the US consumer goods in 2019 were made in America.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 03:57 PM (GBKbO)

I heard only 8% is manufacture here. where did you get that statistic ?
Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:00 PM (g47mK)

======

https://is.gd/w7cvqb

No, we don't import 92% of our consumer goods.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:03 PM (GBKbO)

80 Lets see if the furniture and textile business returns home.
Posted by: Pudinhead
......

Here's hoping WM Dolls opens a factory here.

Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 04:03 PM (v0R5T)

81 "Scott Bessent will meet with the Communist Chinese Party's trade negotiator in Switzerland, after China repeatedly insisted it would never, ever bargain with Trump until he showed them 'respect.'"

Whenever anyone resorts to the "respect" trope, I know I got them beat. This was weak sauce from China that nobody with half a brain believed. They of course were going to negotiate no matter what. They have no choice.
Posted by: Elric Blade at May 09, 2025 04:01 PM (iFTx/)

Thing is he does show them respect. They are serious rivals and we are going to make them play more fair. Like in his first term he knows how to deal with them.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:03 PM (8avO+)

82 I just noticed that this morning. I was looking for a few decently priced Raspberry Pi boards for a work project and normally you could expect to pay $9-10 for shipping something the size of a pack of Kools.

Yeah, stuff like that is getting hit by the tariffs. And price gouging LOL

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:03 PM (2VST1)

83 You know how the Dems always talk up the "multiplier effect" of any sort of government spending?

Say, what's the multiplier effect of Americans buying goods made in America by Americans in American factories?

Related:
Note also the sect of Black Nationalist that bemoan the Community would be but fabulously wealthy if only they'd shop at black-owned stores?
What would happen if Americans started buying goods made in America by Americans in American factories?

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 04:04 PM (sMW+k)

84
CaliGirl,

We bought our house last August and the kitchen appliances are complete shit. Stove, fridge and dishwasher. The dishwasher is so complicated my husband has to start it, lol. The fridge was some high end POS and it died three weeks ago.

Today we had a new fridge delivered. No icemaker, no internet shit just a regular fridge. We were surprised you could still buy a REAL fridge.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:04 PM (3ek7K)

85 Two dolls instead of 30!

Posted by: m at May 09, 2025 04:04 PM (CQE5S)

86 I'm not taking sides between India and Pakistan. It's in our national interest that they have a nasty, protracted conflict that draws in the CCP and Russia to the greatest possible detriment to all involved.

I'll go with India, just because Pakistan is asshoe.

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 04:04 PM (s8j++)

87 Think of it this way: when you owe someone a few thousand, they own you. When you owe them pretty near their entire net worth, you own them. If Trump declared a default on debt to China, their entire economic system would collapse pretty much instantly.
Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:01 PM (2ocoG)

I think that's overly simplistic. If we default on the debt our economic system would collapse. I'm not convinced China would. We basically tried this with Russia and it failed.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:04 PM (l3YAf)

88 Posted by: Sid at May 09, 2025 03:55 PM (GNz3z)

Move to China retard.

Posted by: polynikes at May 09, 2025 04:04 PM (VofaG)

89 Here's something to build in America, if Elon is up to the challenge: call it the Xphone. A smartphone with a physical keyboard, NO touch screen, physical controls for volume, Send, Stop, and hardware switches for mike, camera(s), and geolocation. Running a proprietary OS, no Gurgle or Apple shite allowed. Direct access to
Starlink satellites.

===

Tesla Pi Phone, under 350 US Dollars is already here. I am thinking about it !

Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:05 PM (g47mK)

90 Comes with Starlink 5G Satellite connectivity.

Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:06 PM (g47mK)

91 If "alligator clips" are called crocodile clips in Australia & New Zealand, then why do WE use the phrase crocodile tears?

Shouldn't we say alligator tears?
Posted by: Soothsayer's Innaccurate but Amusing Bigoted Facts at May 09, 2025 04:02 PM (2I34S)

The legend comes from medieval/ancient tale tellers about how the devious crocs in Egypt weep as they eat their victims. I think the real explanation is that the tears are like saliva to lubricate swallowing.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:06 PM (8avO+)

92 Big news in Seattle yesterday was how new parents can’t afford the tariffs on essentials like car seats and strollers.

They chose to highlight a $600 stroller that will now cost $900.

Posted by: nurse ratched at May 09, 2025 04:06 PM (W2Pud)

93 Try to find a dog bowl not made in china

I miss Fenix Research parrot bowls.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at May 09, 2025 04:06 PM (fS2Jb)

94 I'd pay more for one not connected to the internet and one with knobs and no computer chips.

Posted by: CaliGirl

Would you like your clothes...
Almost Dry
Close
or:
Only Slightly Damp
*beep*

Posted by: your new dryer at May 09, 2025 04:07 PM (v0R5T)

95 No roaming fees, GLOBAL access, Starlink encryption system.

Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:07 PM (g47mK)

96 https://is.gd/w7cvqb

No, we don't import 92% of our consumer goods.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:03 PM (GBKbO)

Ah, this is the mistake I figured you were making. You're conflating spending with % of goods.

We import a lot of cheap goods. The goods that are made domestically are expensive, but they're a small percentage of overall consumption.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:07 PM (l3YAf)

97 One thing to be aware of: a generation of Americans have grown up without seeing factory work as something respectable people do. It will take awhile to change that perception, and until then, American quality will continue to suffer.

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 04:07 PM (s8j++)

98 Try to find a dog bowl not made in China

You can buy a ceramic bowl at the local farmer's market for $115.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:08 PM (2VST1)

99 I admit. I don't even understand the trolling of Sid on "Vote Vance" or is this a COB changing his/ her posts (?) because I surely will vote for Vance if I'm still around and he become the R nominee for President . Sid doesn't have to encourage me.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at May 09, 2025 04:08 PM (Gt80b)

100 I just noticed that this morning. I was looking for a few decently priced Raspberry Pi boards for a work project and normally you could expect to pay $9-10 for shipping something the size of a pack of Kools.

Yeah, stuff like that is getting hit by the tariffs. And price gouging LOL
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:03 PM (2VST1)

The government used to subsidize Chinese shipping too. That may be gone.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:08 PM (8avO+)

101 A smartphone with a physical keyboard, NO touch screen, physical controls for volume, Send, Stop, and hardware switches for mike, camera(s), and geolocation.

Blackberry sold pretty much exactly what you describe and expected it to murder the iPhone and Android. They went out of business. It turns out typing on a physical keyboard that fits in your pocket is actual torture under the Geneva conventions.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:08 PM (2ocoG)

102 Pakistan harbored Bin Laden, they provided Iran and NK with nuclear weapon tech and their Islamic radicals. I think the choice of sides is obvious.

Posted by: polynikes at May 09, 2025 04:09 PM (VofaG)

103 60 Many CCP manufactured products were "Proudly designed in the USA"

Posted by: Field Marshal Jeremy Powell at May 09, 2025 04:09 PM (wBaIH)

104 But what about the companies that make strollers???!!! reee!!!!

Posted by: MFM Scrunt at May 09, 2025 04:09 PM (pJWtt)

105 If spending is discretionary, why are tariffs inflationary?

Especially in a world of easily available alternatives.

I guess since I didn't go to Harvard, I can't understand that.

However, I am beginning to think that using a single supply/demand graph to represent the entire US economy may be a bit simplistic ....

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 04:09 PM (sMW+k)

106 Big news in Seattle yesterday was how new parents can’t afford the tariffs on essentials like car seats and strollers.

They chose to highlight a $600 stroller that will now cost $900.
Posted by: nurse ratched at May 09, 2025 04:06 PM (W2Pud)
_____

Fuck 'em

Posted by: Elric Blade at May 09, 2025 04:10 PM (iFTx/)

107 They're = their

Posted by: polynikes at May 09, 2025 04:10 PM (VofaG)

108 Its good to be precise: that includes things made in China that are assembled in America. So your car was made here, but all the parts were made in China or Vietnam. Does that mean it was made in the USA?

My favorites are the products with conspicuous US flag logos all over them with tiny print underneath that says "Designed in the USA."

Posted by: Oddbob at May 09, 2025 04:10 PM (/y8xj)

109 101 Blackberry sold pretty much exactly what you describe and expected it to murder the iPhone and Android. They went out of business. It turns out typing on a physical keyboard that fits in your pocket is actual torture under the Geneva conventions.
Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:08 PM (2ocoG)

=======

Their iPhone killer sucked.

That's what killed Blackberry.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:10 PM (GBKbO)

110 Try to find a dog bowl not made in China

My neighbor hand-makes a fairly dizzying array of ceramic products and sells 'em cheap. I'd be surprised if there isn't something similar near you.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:11 PM (2ocoG)

111 Big news in Seattle yesterday was how new parents can’t afford the tariffs on essentials like car seats and strollers.

They chose to highlight a $600 stroller that will now cost $900.
Posted by: nurse ratched at May 09, 2025 04:06 PM (W2Pud)

Growing up our strollers didn't cost that much and most of us lived through it. Or buy a cat stroller.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:11 PM (8avO+)

112 105 If spending is discretionary, why are tariffs inflationary?

Especially in a world of easily available alternatives.

I guess since I didn't go to Harvard, I can't understand that.

However, I am beginning to think that using a single supply/demand graph to represent the entire US economy may be a bit simplistic ....
Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 04:09 PM (sMW+k)

=======

Tariffs are deflationary, if anything.

They'll discourage consumer spending and lower the number of dollars flowing in the economy.

Inflation/deflation is about the amount of money chasing the amount of goods. It's not about prices. Prices are a secondary effect.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:11 PM (GBKbO)

113 From California!
Today Only!
A Onetime Event
Presenting ..... {trumpets}

SpaceX - Falcon 9 - Starlink 15-3
SLC-4E - Vandenberg SFB - Space Affairs Live
Launch Date: May 9, 2025
Launch Time: 5:03 p.m. PDT - May 10, 0003 UTC, 0203 CEST

https://www.youtube.com/live/7l4kQRXuufY

Posted by: Ciampino - just low Earth orbit? at May 09, 2025 04:11 PM (sPQoU)

114 29 "Even as the president insists prices will fall, economists and politicians warn his tariffs could sharply raise costs for American consumers"

suck it, lying globalist fuckwads. how about factoring in all the externalized societal costs, like losing jobs causing manufacturing towns to decay into meth pits of welfare and despair. saving a buck on a pair of underwear doesn't help if you lost your job to achieve it.
Posted by: Drink Like Vikings at May 09, 2025 03:55 PM (dykUo)

Hear, hear!

Posted by: m at May 09, 2025 04:11 PM (CQE5S)

115 All I see on msm news is that 98 percent of car seats, strollers, and so much more for babies, children is manufactured in China. Therefore, prices must immediately rise dramatically in the US & we need to prepare for shortages.

So is that why so many products for babies and kids have failed consumer safety standards over many years???

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at May 09, 2025 04:11 PM (NFX2v)

116 They chose to highlight a $600 stroller that will now cost $900.

Well damn, you can get one for 35 bucks in Wal*Mart. Its probably a cheap piece of crap but its not $600 bucks much less $900 LOL

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:11 PM (2VST1)

117 >> If spending is discretionary, why are tariffs inflationary?

Tariffs aren't necessarily always inflationary, but I don't think a lot of the imports from China are actually that discretionary.

And price increases in discretionary purchases are definitely inflationary, because people still buy that stuff.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:12 PM (l3YAf)

118 Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:08 PM (2ocoG)

There are still a lot of people who would kill to get their blackberry back.

Posted by: polynikes at May 09, 2025 04:12 PM (VofaG)

119 98 That farmers market dog bowl may be more expensive, but at least Fido won't die of lead poisoning.

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov at May 09, 2025 04:12 PM (wBaIH)

120 Well, cheer for whomever. India is neither a friend or an ally.

Posted by: ErikInTexas at May 09, 2025 04:13 PM (+YI9v)

121 OT what is the name of the woman who is a lawyer with an Asian Indian name in the Trump admin. I'm having a senior moment

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at May 09, 2025 04:13 PM (Gt80b)

122 22 China really needs to work on the whole "making friends" thing. They seem to have alienated pretty much the entire world. Sure, countries like India will play along for awhile when it's to their benefit, but ultimately, they'd like nothing better than to eat China's lunch by taking their business. The only countries that are really willing to work with China are international pariahs like Russia, Iran, and NoKo.

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 03:53 PM (s8j++)

-- --

Xi decided to act like a mobster for years.
From the Belt and Road loansharking operation, to "Wolf Warrior Diplomacy", to COVID19, to dumping their manufacturing overcapacity on the rest of the world; China's pissed a lot of people off in a lot of countries.

There are some nations dependent on China for money or as a natural resources export market, though, so they have to be dealt with on some basis.

Take Australia & Brazil who export a lot of raw materials and agriculture to China. It's a business relationship, because they really have nothing in common with the Chinese other than that, like most of the rest of the world outside Asia.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 09, 2025 04:13 PM (6ydKt)

123
A Tupperware bowl works well as a dog bowl if they aren't chewers.

OH WAIT!! Tupperware closed their manufacturing factory in South Carolina and moved to Mexico!!

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:13 PM (3ek7K)

124 I saw a stroller out on the street with a cardboard FREE sign on it.

Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 04:14 PM (v0R5T)

125 https://is.gd/w7cvqb

No, we don't import 92% of our consumer goods.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:03 PM (GBKbO)

i don't have a statista account..let me see if I can find another source

Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:14 PM (g47mK)

126 Strollers! Luxury. Our parents dragged us thru the streets by our heels. Oh, how we would have loved to ride in a stroller!

Posted by: fd at May 09, 2025 04:14 PM (vFG9F)

127 Remember when, under Biden, the left told us we should just budget for inflation and use GasBuddy to save a few pennies on gasoline?

Anyway, I've a million dollar idea to avoid paying tariffs:
Stay off Amazon.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 04:14 PM (sMW+k)

128 All I see on msm news is that 98 percent of car seats, strollers, and so much more for babies, children is manufactured in China. Therefore, prices must immediately rise dramatically in the US & we need to prepare for shortages.

So is that why so many products for babies and kids have failed consumer safety standards over many years???

I'm at the stage where I'm getting grandkids thick and fast, and I can tell you, the newer generations of baby stuff (cribs, car seats, strollers) are built like Fort Knox. That isn't just because that's what overly protective new parents want, in some cases, especially for car seats, they're so heavily regulated you need a STEM PhD just to install and use the damn things.

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 04:14 PM (s8j++)

129 If spending is discretionary, why are tariffs inflationary?

Tariffs aren't necessarily always inflationary, but I don't think a lot of the imports from China are actually that discretionary.

And price increases in discretionary purchases are definitely inflationary, because people still buy that stuff.
Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:12 PM (l3YAf)

They aren't inflationary at all if the word means anything. Shooting 100 million chickens to raise the price of eggs wasn't inflationary. There was just a shortage. Economic ignorance is bad enough by redefining inflation as BAD STUFF.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:14 PM (8avO+)

130 They've got a buttload of strollers at the Goodwill store.

Posted by: fd at May 09, 2025 04:15 PM (vFG9F)

131 >>>I'd pay more for one not connected to the internet and one with knobs and no computer chips.
Posted by: CaliGirl
---

The Hotpoint 4 cu ft and the GE 4.6 cu ft are knobby and have no ethereal connections.

https://tinyurl.com/yzhrzf8k

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:15 PM (sB5dv)

132 I see we're having a reverse Friday news dump. Rather than hiding the bad news until late Friday, MSM is using Friday to bury the successes of the Trump administration.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at May 09, 2025 04:15 PM (tT6L1)

133 There are still a lot of people who would kill to get their blackberry back.

There demonstrably aren't, or Blackberry would still exist.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:15 PM (2ocoG)

134 Harmeet Dillion?

Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 04:15 PM (v0R5T)

135 They chose to highlight a $600 stroller that will now cost $900.

Well damn, you can get one for 35 bucks in Wal*Mart. Its probably a cheap piece of crap but its not $600 bucks much less $900 LOL
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:11 PM (2VST1)
_________

A family friend has one of those $1000 strollers. I was shocked at how cheaply made it is. I never would have guessed it was 10x the price of a "normal" stroller. I'm convinced this is a Veblen good bought only to show off to the world that you have a $1000 stroller.

Posted by: Elric Blade at May 09, 2025 04:15 PM (iFTx/)

136
Archimedes,

We have four grandchildren and we can't figure out car seats. Our son and daughter-in-law have to install them in our vehicle when we are transporting the grandkids.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:15 PM (3ek7K)

137 Tariffs are deflationary, if anything.

They'll discourage consumer spending and lower the number of dollars flowing in the economy.

Inflation/deflation is about the amount of money chasing the amount of goods. It's not about prices. Prices are a secondary effect.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:11 PM (GBKbO)

Prices are how we measure inflation. Which makes measuring the effect of things like tariffs very difficult.

However, the tariffs aren't removing money from the economy. You still have lots of dollars chasing lots of goods. And we're getting stuck in a wage-price spiral, so increased prices just mean increased demand for wages.

Inflation is a mess to fix, which is why people like me have been screaming for a couple of decades to stop recklessly expanding the money supply, because once inflation happens it's hard to stop.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:16 PM (l3YAf)

138 Trump has this uncanny ability to elicit a horde of naysayers and then prove them wrong
Posted by: kallisto at May 09, 2025 03:56 PM (dCxaZ)

Funny, Biden proved all the same people wrong when they insisted he was going to make things better.

Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 04:16 PM (gt60b)

139
"Scott Bessent will meet with the Communist Chinese Party's trade negotiator in Switzerland, after China repeatedly insisted it would never, ever bargain with Trump until he showed them 'respect.'"

Respect, from the Wu dialect. Means "No lube. Bend over and squeal like a pig, gweilo".

Posted by: IllTemperedCur, Chinese Translator at May 09, 2025 04:16 PM (y9nCu)

140 But most importantly: what does Thom Tillis think about this?

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at May 09, 2025 04:17 PM (CA3k/)

141 125 https://is.gd/w7cvqb

No, we don't import 92% of our consumer goods.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:03 PM (GBKbO)

i don't have a statista account..let me see if I can find another source
Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:14 PM (g47mK)

======

Here's from the Commerce department, a pdf.

Page 5

https://is.gd/lQzmWt

The numbers disagree with Statista, but completely US made was over 50-55%. Foreign sourced, but US made was another 10-15%. Foreign imported was about 35%.

More than my initial number, but far, far less than 92% imported.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:17 PM (GBKbO)

142 Well damn, you can get one for 35 bucks in Wal*Mart. Its probably a cheap piece of crap but its not $600 bucks much less $900 LOL
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Dangerously close to math CRT.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 09, 2025 04:17 PM (cYBz/)

143 121 OT what is the name of the woman who is a lawyer with an Asian Indian name in the Trump admin. I'm having a senior moment

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at May 09, 2025 04:13 PM (Gt80b)

Harmeet Dhillon

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 09, 2025 04:17 PM (6ydKt)

144 BuT TarIffs IMPede tHe fReE MarKeT aNd caN ONLY caUse INfLatION!

Pah, Austriand and Monetarists need to find more than one word for inflation. Or at least discuss what the implications are for that not happening besides "well it is not happening yet, but just you wait!"

Posted by: Kindltot at May 09, 2025 04:17 PM (D7oie)

145 Doeas anyones knew if Presdent Obam is going to Switerland to help Trump with Chinia talks ??

Chinea respects Presdent oana and he cans dew the job....

Posted by: Mary Clogginstein from Brattleboro, Vt at May 09, 2025 04:17 PM (Oal3t)

146 Strollers! Luxury. Our parents dragged us thru the streets by our heels. Oh, how we would have loved to ride in a stroller!
Posted by: fd at May 09, 2025 04:14 PM (vFG9F)

I pushed the stroller around from my mom's tales. One day I pushed it and kept going, never crossing a street. But the design of our subdivision meant I could go a loooong way without having to stop. They had to drive out to find me. The handles of the stroller were above my head, I remember that much.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:17 PM (8avO+)

147 Depends on the industry, imported : apparel is 89%, electronics about 70%, food and beverage : mostly domestic - 90% or so.

Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:18 PM (g47mK)

148 Big news in Seattle yesterday was how new parents can’t afford the tariffs on essentials like car seats and strollers.
---
This would be the self-same nanny-state assholes that made it largely illegal* to sell used child car seats and strollers, right?

* I can't remember if it's just bedding or if it's just "not something one does,"

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 04:18 PM (sMW+k)

149 Runner - do you have a link for the Tesla Pi phone?

All I can find is the Tesla (not Tesla Inc.) garbage from Europe.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 09, 2025 04:18 PM (cYBz/)

150 There are still a lot of people who would kill to get their blackberry back.
Posted by: polynikes
____________

Had a Windows phone till a couple of years ago. My current employer wouldn't let install work email on it so it finally had to go. Liked the interface way better than android or iPhone. Only downside was lack of apps, but I never use them so made no difference.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at May 09, 2025 04:18 PM (UBKzV)

151 I'm convinced this is a Veblen good bought only to show off to the world that you have a $1000 stroller.

100%. Above maybe $200 or $300 there's nothing you can do building a stroller that makes it any more useful or durable, just more expensive.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:19 PM (2ocoG)

152 Tesla Pi Phone, under 350 US Dollars is already here. I am thinking about it !
Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:05 PM (g47mK)

Difficult to find any reliable info on it. No keyboard, and it appears to use Android 13 OS. Two disqualifiers, right there.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 09, 2025 04:20 PM (qFcV6)

153 Well, cheer for whomever. India is neither a friend or an ally.
Posted by: ErikInTexas

One of my daughter in laws is a naturalized citizen born in India. Even she is cautioning discernment when picking a side on this one.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 09, 2025 04:20 PM (cYBz/)

154 Tactile buttons are nice.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at May 09, 2025 04:20 PM (CA3k/)

155 "We are running 24 hours a day, seven days a week" said Jergens president Jack Schron, according to the Journal. "We are swamped."
.......

I hesitate to comment until Masturbatin' Pete weighs in.

Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 04:20 PM (v0R5T)

156 126 Strollers! Luxury. Our parents dragged us thru the streets by our heels. Oh, how we would have loved to ride in a stroller!
Posted by: fd
---

Learn to walk, kid.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:21 PM (sB5dv)

157 A family friend has one of those $1000 strollers. I was shocked at how cheaply made it is. I never would have guessed it was 10x the price of a "normal" stroller. I'm convinced this is a Veblen good bought only to show off to the world that you have a $1000 stroller.
Posted by: Elric Blade at May 09, 2025 04:15 PM (iFTx/)

Trying to outdo your neighbors will cost you money but is not inflationary unless you own a Federal Back.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:21 PM (8avO+)

158 We have four grandchildren and we can't figure out car seats. Our son and daughter-in-law have to install them in our vehicle when we are transporting the grandkids.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:15 PM (3ek7K)

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

I don't know if it's just me, and I can install windshield wiper blades with their locking mechanisms just fine -- but for the life of me, I cannot remove existing windshield wiper blades without eventually failing & flailing -- getting so frustrated that I just physically resort to breaking them off ...

Posted by: ShainS at May 09, 2025 04:21 PM (3MZwD)

159 100%. Above maybe $200 or $300 there's nothing you can do building a stroller that makes it any more useful or durable, just more expensive.
Posted by: Ian S
_______

Twin 50 cal mount?

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at May 09, 2025 04:21 PM (UBKzV)

160 "We are running 24 hours a day, seven days a week" said Jergens president Jack Schron, according to the Journal. "We are swamped."
.......

I hesitate to comment until Masturbatin' Pete weighs in.
Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 04:20 PM (v0R5T)

Hah!

Very well played.

*golfclap*

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at May 09, 2025 04:21 PM (CA3k/)

161 How do you compete with the "cheap/slave" labor incorporated by China and bring back fundamental material based industry to the US (textile, steel, etc)?

I'm guessing it has something to do with employee owned companies becoming the norm. In a way, that negates the importance of wages and focuses on performance, quality, and strategic planning. As well as having an absolute beast of a marketing department.

Posted by: Orson at May 09, 2025 04:21 PM (dIske)

162 I wonder if the Euroweenies are crapping their pants? They've got an obscene regulatory burden placed on manufacturing. Couple that with high energy prices it's no wonder the EU relies and China and tries to keep American products out of their market.

Meanwhile, PDT is moving mightily to remove regulations and cut the cost of energy.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at May 09, 2025 04:21 PM (tT6L1)

163
I remember the day we went home from the hospital with our first child, 45 years ago. Husband brought the car to the front of the hospital, I got in the front seat and the nurse handed me our son. No carseats. Things have changed, some for the better, but back then there were no carseats.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:22 PM (3ek7K)

164 Twin 50 cal mount?

Ooh. I stand very much corrected.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:22 PM (2ocoG)

165 >>I hesitate to comment until Masturbatin' Pete weighs in.

I can't believe it took this long.

Posted by: JackStraw at May 09, 2025 04:22 PM (viF8m)

166 Always hear that the US economy is so massive and has so much inertia that it can take years for new economic policy to show effects.

BS

I have seen Trump turn it positive in months if not weeks a couple times now.

And I have Obama bin Biden turn it turn it to shit in mere weeks too.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 09, 2025 04:22 PM (/lPRQ)

167 And prices for everything are going up.
******

I am baffled by how the left keeps repeating this line. Its not true. SOME things are going up, but almost no consumer goods yet. Mostly its manufacturing goods like raw materials for building, parts like bolts etc.

That means that prices will go up, but its not happening on a broad scale right now and almost nothing consumers regularly buy are affected yet. Prices have dropped.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:02 PM (2VST1)

The Donks, like the treasonous Commie scum they are, are attempting to frighten American consumers with the mantra, "Tariffs cause inflation (tm)!" While prices might increase on goods that are being tariffed, that's not inflation. The consumer can make an informed decision and not make a purchase.

Inflation is caused by bad fiscal policy: like injecting billions of dollars into the economy during the Biden "administration." That devalued the currency and resulted in too much money chasing too few goods. There is no way for the consumer to escape that bad deal.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 09, 2025 04:22 PM (pJWtt)

168 Trump often gets his enemies to play themselves.

Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 04:23 PM (E0p3T)

169 Blackberry sold pretty much exactly what you describe and expected it to murder the iPhone and Android. They went out of business. It turns out typing on a physical keyboard that fits in your pocket is actual torture under the Geneva conventions.
Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:08 PM (2ocoG)

I used a Blackberry for a while, and liked it just fine. I am currently using a Titan Pocket, which also has a physical keyboard, and it works OK. Keyboard layout is a little weird, though. And I killed the Gurgle apk in it.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 09, 2025 04:23 PM (qFcV6)

170 Yeah, there's no reason to pay $1000 for a stroller other than being ostentatious.

I wouldn't pay that much if the thing had a battery and was self-propelled.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 09, 2025 04:23 PM (6ydKt)

171 We are watching a slow-motion train wreck with China and the tariffs. If the media (especially the financial media like Bloomberg, CNBC and Reuters) were honest, they would be reporting that. They are on the other side, however, wanting Trump to lose more than the US to win.

The WSJ, however, came out with an amazing article on Wed discussing how China has stopped giving economists macro numbers - some going back 4 or 5 years. They are in big trouble. All it will take is a little push for them to come to the table.

Posted by: Darrell Harris at May 09, 2025 04:23 PM (x/+r1)

172 "Scott Bessent will meet with the Communist Chinese Party's trade negotiator in Switzerland, after China repeatedly insisted it would never, ever bargain with Trump until he showed them 'respect.'"
----------

Bessent is a very well mannered gentleman. And very, very dangerous to his adversaries. He enjoys/enjoins confrontation in a very pleasant way.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:23 PM (sB5dv)

173 Had a Windows phone till a couple of years ago. My current employer wouldn't let install work email on it so it finally had to go. Liked the interface way better than android or iPhone. Only downside was lack of apps, but I never use them so made no difference.

Microsoft did a classic General Motors move with that - they fixed all the problems and then killed it.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:23 PM (2ocoG)

174 91
The legend comes from medieval/ancient tale tellers about how the devious crocs in Egypt weep as they eat their victims. I think the real explanation is that the tears are like saliva to lubricate swallowing.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:06 PM (8avO+)
----
Crocs usually drown their prey and then leave it underwater, under a log, a rock, etc., until it is 'ripe' and then eat it, usually in the water but sometimes on land, absent other scavengers.

Posted by: Ciampino - rock 'n roll at May 09, 2025 04:23 PM (sPQoU)

175 I remember the day we went home from the hospital with our first child, 45 years ago. Husband brought the car to the front of the hospital, I got in the front seat and the nurse handed me our son. No carseats. Things have changed, some for the better, but back then there were no carseats.
Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:22 PM (3ek7K)

No seatbelts either in the back

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:24 PM (8avO+)

176 I saw Federal Back open for Gov't Mule at The Sting in '94.

Posted by: ShainS at May 09, 2025 04:24 PM (3MZwD)

177 We have four grandchildren and we can't figure out car seats.
Posted by: four seasons

I had to install the one to bring our preemie grandson home for the kids - it took over an hour. Jeebus!

The attachment point device was half as big as the baby.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 09, 2025 04:24 PM (cYBz/)

178
Shain,

We are in the same spot with wipers. We have three vehicles and two of them have no wiper on one side. We can't figure it out. Luckily we live in an area where it doesn't rain much so we drive the third vehicle on days it rains or snows, lol.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:24 PM (3ek7K)

179 All I can find is the Tesla (not Tesla Inc.) garbage from Europe.
Posted by: Tonypete at May 09, 2025 04:18 PM (cYBz/)

sorry, nothing reliable, just rumors and clickbait

Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:25 PM (g47mK)

180 Think of it this way: when you owe someone a few thousand, they own you. When you owe them pretty near their entire net worth, you own them. If Trump declared a default on debt to China, their entire economic system would collapse pretty much instantly.
Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:01 PM

If Trump did that the entire world's economic system would collapse overnight and it would get ugly very quickly.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at May 09, 2025 04:25 PM (e5NfL)

181 I am baffled by how the left keeps repeating this line. Its not true.

That's a true statement about nearly everything the left says.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:25 PM (2ocoG)

182 No seatbelts either in the back
Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:24 PM (8avO+)

Ahhh. The days of riding in the open bed of Pappaws truck.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at May 09, 2025 04:25 PM (CA3k/)

183 100%. Above maybe $200 or $300 there's nothing you can do building a stroller that makes it any more useful or durable, just more expensive.
Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:19 PM (2ocoG)

How much would it actually cost to churn out some injection molded plastic pieces with a few metal tubes to hold it together? It can't be more than $25, can it?

It's like anything. You buy hand lotion? It's mostly water, but it costs like $12 for a big bottle now.

Everything in this country is massively more expensive than it ought to be, but there's so much bullshit and inefficiency built into the system.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:25 PM (l3YAf)

184 171 The WSJ, however, came out with an amazing article on Wed discussing how China has stopped giving economists macro numbers - some going back 4 or 5 years. They are in big trouble. All it will take is a little push for them to come to the table.
Posted by: Darrell Harris at May 09, 2025 04:23 PM (x/+r1)

========

Solid chances their population is 200 million smaller than reported and their replacement rate, nationwide, is below 1.

China is going to be a quarter of its size in a couple of generations.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:26 PM (GBKbO)

185
TonyPete,

yeah, and when you're old and your hands don't work well it is awful trying to get the thing hooked up.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:26 PM (3ek7K)

186 My parents never had a stroller. I was carried everywhere until I could walk.

Posted by: polynikes at May 09, 2025 04:26 PM (VofaG)

187 Things have changed, some for the better, but back then there were no carseats.
Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:22 PM (3ek7K)

No seatbelts either in the back
Posted by: Oldcat
-------------

Bench seats. Pay extra for wretched buckets.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:27 PM (sB5dv)

188 Microsoft did a classic General Motors move with that - they fixed all the problems and then killed it.
Posted by: Ian S
_________

I've also still got a Zune HD and use it regularly.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at May 09, 2025 04:27 PM (UBKzV)

189 Dangerously close to math CRT.

I repent in dust and ashes. Here is my offering to appease the Horde:

https://i.post___.cc/QdSM9qPy/sammich.png

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:27 PM (2VST1)

190 I wonder if the Euroweenies are crapping their pants? They've got an obscene regulatory burden placed on manufacturing. Couple that with high energy prices it's no wonder the EU relies and China and tries to keep American products out of their market.

Meanwhile, PDT is moving mightily to remove regulations and cut the cost of energy.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at May 09, 2025 04:21 PM (tT6L1)

The calculation PDT uses for 'tariff' includes their VAT tax. Any impediment to open trade, including their bullshit laws.

Yeah, they are scared. Hence their disenfranchising all the opposition and backing war to tie us to them again.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:28 PM (8avO+)

191 oh yeah forgot about that I M G thing.

I've also still got a Zune HD and use it regularly.

Zune was a great product, they should not have abandoned it so readily

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:28 PM (2VST1)

192 I saw a stroller out on the street with a cardboard FREE sign on it.
Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 04:14 PM (v0R5T)

I would have just taken the baby. I already have a stroller.

Posted by: hobbitopoly at May 09, 2025 04:28 PM (k9OZB)

193 If Trump did that the entire world's economic system would collapse overnight and it would get ugly very quickly.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at May 09, 2025 04:25 PM (e5NfL)

China's been dumping their Treasuries, too. They're down quite a bit. It would hurt us more than them.

And when I said debt notes was our main export, I was referring to USD. We create debt out of thin air and digitally transfer it to China, they send container ships full of crap to us. It's a messed up situation, but the idea that China is ripping "us" off is, I think, incorrect.

Rather, the trans-national laptop class elites are ripping everyone off, from the Midwesterner who can't get a decent-paying job to the American consumer who's paying 500% markup on everything to the Chinese peasant assembling iPhones all day long.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:28 PM (l3YAf)

194 The democrats screaming about inflation are the same ones who lied about inflation under Joe.

Meanwhile, there's an obvious solution: If prices are truly going up, as Democrats claim, then they should be on board with cutting taxes.

Naturally, they'll scream about only the wealthy getting tax cuts while hand waving away any evidence which says it's the middle class who will get the tax cuts.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at May 09, 2025 04:28 PM (tT6L1)

195 151 I'm convinced this is a Veblen good bought only to show off to the world that you have a $1000 stroller.

100%. Above maybe $200 or $300 there's nothing you can do building a stroller that makes it any more useful or durable, just more expensive.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:19 PM

Is it really possible to put a price on an antique baby trebuchet?

https://tinyurl.com/37a6v469

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at May 09, 2025 04:28 PM (HlyYF)

196 On my F Book page, I NEVER see Economic reports... until yesterday.

5 different reports from Giggle saying the economy now sucks. Someone is paying to spread this crap.

Best one was a chart showing that last month, worker productivity went DOWN... well... they define Worder productivity as 'Real GDP' inflation adjusted, vs number of hours worked.

Well... GDP dropped due to less Gov spending, so when you divide that by number of hours worked actually MAKING SHIT... it fakes like workers are less productive.

When it is actually, just the opposite.

Posted by: Romeo13 at May 09, 2025 04:29 PM (QAkQ3)

197 My parents never had a stroller. I was carried everywhere until I could walk.
Posted by: polynikes at May 09, 2025 04:26 PM (VofaG)

That's an incentive to get em toddling. Like when the kittens get their teeth in and start chewing on mom's teats.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:29 PM (8avO+)

198 Umbrella strollers and wooden, foldable port-a-cribs which were shared around the family for traveling, visiting.

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at May 09, 2025 04:30 PM (NFX2v)

199 163
I remember the day we went home from the hospital with our first child, 45 years ago. Husband brought the car to the front of the hospital, I got in the front seat and the nurse handed me our son. No carseats. Things have changed, some for the better, but back then there were no carseats.
Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:22 PM (3ek7K)

Very sweet memory.

Posted by: m at May 09, 2025 04:30 PM (CQE5S)

200 While prices might increase on goods that are being tariffed, that's not inflation. The consumer can make an informed decision and not make a purchase.

Yeah but to your average lofo regular guy on the street, that's a distinction without a difference. All that matters is that prices went up, no matter how an economist would define it. And fair enough that is a valid complaint.

But what I think people will figure out is that while the prices on some stuff will go up, its only going up on some of it, and you can work around it if you are clever, and the increases won't be long-term.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:30 PM (2VST1)

201 life was much better when the USA was not a dumping ground for cheap CHinese crrrrrrrrap!

Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:30 PM (g47mK)

202 Everything in this country is massively more expensive than it ought to be, but there's so much bullshit and inefficiency built into the system.

Most of the bullshit and inefficiency was mandated by FedGov. Same reason you can't get a new car that's purely mechanical: CAFE is literally impossible to meet without computers. The Democrats' intent was that it was impossible to meet period and then they'd give themselves exemptions, and maybe a few useful Republicans. Everyone else can ride the murder bus or the murder subway or the murder light rail.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:31 PM (2ocoG)

203 Naturally, they'll scream about only the wealthy getting tax cuts while hand waving away any evidence which says it's the middle class who will get the tax cuts.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at May 09, 2025 04:28 PM (tT6L1)

Tell them this time the rich get no tax cuts. No dodges, no deductions. Double tax for media shills. I'm sure they will be grateful.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:31 PM (8avO+)

204 Is it really possible to put a price on an antique baby trebuchet?

"The baby will be at daycare in about 90 seconds" *FWANG*

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:31 PM (2VST1)

205 War between India and China is a good observation of Russian hardware vs Chinese.

except the electronics in the Russian planes are French/Italian/and?. And the French Rafeles but all mostly Russian.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:31 PM (sB5dv)

206

Pack and Plays are a bitch to put up. The wooden portacribs were easy.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:31 PM (3ek7K)

207 life was much better when the USA was not a dumping ground for cheap CHinese crrrrrrrrap!
Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:30 PM (g47mK)

You must be too young to remember the odium of "Made in Japan"

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:32 PM (8avO+)

208 lways hear that the US economy is so massive and has so much inertia that it can take years for new economic policy to show effects.

BS

I have seen Trump turn it positive in months if not weeks a couple times now.

And I have Obama bin Biden turn it turn it to shit in mere weeks too.
---
Also to consider, in evaluating how quickly things are turning better:
Just how fucking much has the left been choking, throttling and outright sabotaging the economy?

Answer: way, way more than we can even guess.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 04:32 PM (sMW+k)

209 Zune was a great product, they should not have abandoned it so readily
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor
________

The Zune music service was better than anything out there. Way more info on the bands and related artists. 15 bucks a month which included 5 mp3s each month that you kept even if the service was terminated.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at May 09, 2025 04:32 PM (UBKzV)

210 SafeSource recently increased the number of production lines from two to eight, each making over 20,000 rubber gloves an hour. As new operations become more efficient, they expect costs to decrease significantly.

"We think we can get extremely close to Asian prices," said Steve Mott, a partner with the company, as reported by the Journal.

The fact that you don't have to transport them halfway across the world should go a long way to reducing prices.

Posted by: rickb223 at May 09, 2025 04:32 PM (y6oPX)

211 Trump often gets his enemies to play themselves.
Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 04:23 PM (E0p3T)

But he is risking his second term on strawberry prices. So I've heard media say.

Posted by: 85 Bears at May 09, 2025 04:32 PM (r2ymA)

212 Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:28 PM (l3YAf)

Dude just move out of the country already.

Posted by: polynikes at May 09, 2025 04:32 PM (VofaG)

213 ========

Solid chances their population is 200 million smaller than reported and their replacement rate, nationwide, is below 1.

China is going to be a quarter of its size in a couple of generations.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:26 PM (GBKbO)

One of the interesting tales in the WSJ article is how economists are trying to figure out the birth rate, as China doesn't publish numbers. A Chinese economist then tried to find out using tuberculosis vaccine production data, as every child gets a shot. China ended up shutting that down as well.

Posted by: Darrell Harris at May 09, 2025 04:32 PM (x/+r1)

214 "On my F Book page, I NEVER see..."

I think I've found your problem.

Posted by: Logout forever at May 09, 2025 04:33 PM (dg+HA)

215 No car seats, no seatbelts. No HeadStart. How have I survived 76 tears?

Posted by: Eromero at May 09, 2025 04:33 PM (LHPAg)

216 189 Dangerously close to math CRT.

I repent in dust and ashes. Here is my offering to appease the Horde:

https://i.post___.cc/QdSM9qPy/sammich.png
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:27 PM (2VST1)

https://i.postIMG.cc/QdSM9qPy/sammich.png

Posted by: m at May 09, 2025 04:33 PM (CQE5S)

217 I remember the day we went home from the hospital with our first child, 45 years ago. Husband brought the car to the front of the hospital, I got in the front seat and the nurse handed me our son. No carseats. Things have changed, some for the better, but back then there were no carseats.
Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:22 PM (3ek7K)

No seatbelts either in the back
Posted by: Oldcat

1980?
Seat belts were a thing. Even mandatory.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 09, 2025 04:33 PM (/lPRQ)

218 You must be too young to remember the odium of "Made in Japan"

Japanese stuff was (and is) actually well-made though. Now even the Japanese offshored a ton of manufacturing to Chy-nuh.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:33 PM (2ocoG)

219
polynikes,

I told FDA a few nights to find another country to live in. Apparently he is still here.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:33 PM (3ek7K)

220 213 One of the interesting tales in the WSJ article is how economists are trying to figure out the birth rate, as China doesn't publish numbers. A Chinese economist then tried to find out using tuberculosis vaccine production data, as every child gets a shot. China ended up shutting that down as well.
Posted by: Darrell Harris at May 09, 2025 04:32 PM (x/+r1)

=======

Shanghai is apparenetly .7.

Cities will always see lower birth rates than rural areas, but throw in the one-child policy, the knock-on effect of an oversized male population, and you've got a recipe, and it's not for one of global domination.

Hell, it's not one for invading Taiwan.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:34 PM (GBKbO)

221 I have boycotted certain Chinese/Asian products and/or services for years.

Posted by: Hunter B. at May 09, 2025 04:34 PM (t6ibK)

222 218 You must be too young to remember the odium of "Made in Japan"

Japanese stuff was (and is) actually well-made though. Now even the Japanese offshored a ton of manufacturing to Chy-nuh.
Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:33 PM (2ocoG)

======

Back to the Future had a joke about this!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:34 PM (GBKbO)

223 No tax if you make under 200K. So, if you make 300K will you be taxed on all 300 or just the amount over 200K?

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:34 PM (sB5dv)

224 Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 04:15 PM (v0R5T)

Thanks very much.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at May 09, 2025 04:34 PM (42Vb+)

225 No car seats, no seatbelts. No HeadStart. How have I survived 76 tears?
Posted by: Eromero
.......

It was great. But soon I'll need a walker.

Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 04:34 PM (v0R5T)

226 Most of the bullshit and inefficiency was mandated by FedGov. Same reason you can't get a new car that's purely mechanical: CAFE is literally impossible to meet without computers. The Democrats' intent was that it was impossible to meet period and then they'd give themselves exemptions, and maybe a few useful Republicans. Everyone else can ride the murder bus or the murder subway or the murder light rail.
Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:31 PM (2ocoG)

Exactly. It's a mess.

Look at mid-century America: we had the highest standard of living in the world, a man with a manufacturing job could support a family and own a car and a home, few gun laws, streets were safe, people were decent and moral.

Now look at America. A fat consumerist nation full of drug addicts and lunatics. (And some decent people, too, of course. But they're in the minority.)

The problem isn't that we had too much freedom of "capitalism", the problem is communists took over and destroyed what we had. Plain and simple.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (l3YAf)

227 Think of it this way: when you owe someone a few thousand, they own you. When you owe them pretty near their entire net worth, you own them. If Trump declared a default on debt to China, their entire economic system would collapse pretty much instantly.
Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:01 PM

From people who watch this stuff, Europe and the UK hold more US debt than China does. China has been divesting, but Yellen was selling Eurolandia all the short term bonds she could at the lowest interest she could manage.
This acted like a QE for Joe, and it helped the EU fund their own debt since they could get the bonds and then use them as collateral for their own debt.
The rate hike by the Fed has got the EU and member states in a pickle since they have to refinance under higher rates, just like the housing market here in 2007

I am told Spain has just put capital controls on bank accounts, fining depositors for not reporting withdrawing more than 3,000 Euros a day. A banking system does not put capital controls like this unless they expect a run, or are in serious ick.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (D7oie)

228 223 No tax if you make under 200K. So, if you make 300K will you be taxed on all 300 or just the amount over 200K?
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:34 PM (sB5dv)

=======

Usually, taxation works by taking over the untaxed amount, and not under it. Usually.

I presume that's how this proposal would also work, but it's a presumption.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (GBKbO)

229 178
Shain,

We are in the same spot with wipers. We have three vehicles and two of them have no wiper on one side. We can't figure it out. Luckily we live in an area where it doesn't rain much so we drive the third vehicle on days it rains or snows, lol.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:24 PM (3ek7K)
----
Buy the wipers at Walmart or Autozone and they'll install them - no charge.

Posted by: Ciampino - easier installation in the past at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (sPQoU)

230 222 218 You must be too young to remember the odium of "Made in Japan"
-------

Obviously, he's too young.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (sB5dv)

231 I have boycotted certain Chinese/Asian products and/or services for years.
Posted by: Hunter B. at May 09, 2025 04:34 PM (t6ibK)

*slow clap*

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (2ocoG)

232 Think of it this way: when you owe someone a few thousand, they own you. When you owe them pretty near their entire net worth, you own them. If Trump declared a default on debt to China, their entire economic system would collapse pretty much instantly.
Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:01 PM

If Trump did that the entire world's economic system would collapse overnight and it would get ugly very quickly.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS)

And that is why he has to get all critical industries back on-shore.
THEN - BAM!!!!

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (/lPRQ)

233 I don't eat any food that comes out of China if I know about it.

Posted by: polynikes at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (VofaG)

234
wth,

By the time we need a walker we won't survive the assembly process. Our families can return them for a refund.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (3ek7K)

235 While prices might increase on goods that are being tariffed, that's not inflation. The consumer can make an informed decision and not make a purchase.

Yeah but to your average lofo regular guy on the street, that's a distinction without a difference. All that matters is that prices went up, no matter how an economist would define it. And fair enough that is a valid complaint.

But what I think people will figure out is that while the prices on some stuff will go up, its only going up on some of it, and you can work around it if you are clever, and the increases won't be long-term.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:30 PM (2VST1)

That is the opposite of what is going on here. Explaining why stuff is expensive now is easy. You want that expensive body cream from France, well, they ban all food exports and car exports and we are just getting even. Find a replacement.

Conflating it with inflation is just a lie. Inflation is because we print money to pay for those trade imbalances.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (8avO+)

236 The fact that you don't have to transport them halfway across the world should go a long way to reducing prices.

Yeah that's what gets me. Sure, you are packing a LOT of stuff on the ship but still its a long trip on an expensive ship using expensive fuel and expensive logistics and workers.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:36 PM (2VST1)

237 236 Yeah that's what gets me. Sure, you are packing a LOT of stuff on the ship but still its a long trip on an expensive ship using expensive fuel and expensive logistics and workers.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:36 PM (2VST1)

======

But those ships hold a lot so the rental space on each ship for each little widget ends up fairly small.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, smashy-smashy with Godzilla at May 09, 2025 04:37 PM (GBKbO)

238
Ciampino,

Thanks. We didn't know that. YAY!

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:37 PM (3ek7K)

239 By the time we need a walker we won't survive the assembly process. Our families can return them for a refund.
Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (3ek7K)

I have about 4 walkers. Hiking staffs, one with a nice point on the bottom made of hickory for going up real steep trails.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:37 PM (8avO+)

240 Our oldest son was born 1976. No car seat. Our youngest son was born 1980. Car seat was required to take him home here in Texas.

Posted by: DanMa'am at May 09, 2025 04:37 PM (8uzBS)

241 231 I have boycotted certain Chinese/Asian products and/or services for years.
Posted by: Hunter B. at May 09, 2025 04:34 PM (t6ibK)

*slow clap*
Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (2ocoG)

I had missed the joke! Thanks, Ian S.

Posted by: m at May 09, 2025 04:37 PM (CQE5S)

242 I'm going to get my grandkids to totally pimp my walker.

Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 04:38 PM (v0R5T)

243 The WSJ, however, came out with an amazing article on Wed discussing how China has stopped giving economists macro numbers - some going back 4 or 5 years. They are in big trouble. All it will take is a little push for them to come to the table.

It isn't just the obvious stuff they've stopped reporting. They know that nobody trusts their numbers, and use other indirect measures of economic activity. The simplest example was electricity usage, so they stopped reporting such things. Their mania with controlling the flow of information manifests in some really odd ways, e.g. the size of elementary school toilets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL8YssuPvYE
You can start at 2:10 to hear about the toilets.

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 04:38 PM (s8j++)

244 Think of it this way: when you owe someone a few thousand, they own you. When you owe them pretty near their entire net worth, you own them./i]

This was how Julius Caesar gained so much power so fast in Rome. Yes his military campaigns were important but he GOT those jobs because he built power up by taking huge loans from nearly everyone. He owed them so much money that they had to help him succeed to have a chance at paying them back. It was brilliant even if that wasn't his goal from the start.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:38 PM (2VST1)

245 Conflating it with inflation is just a lie. Inflation is because we print money to pay for those trade imbalances.

Yeah definitionally and technically you're right. But for the regular guy on the street, it doesn't matter what you call it. Its just higher prices.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:38 PM (2VST1)

246
wth,

That would be cool. I want flashing lights on mine.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:38 PM (3ek7K)

247 222 218 You must be too young to remember the odium of "Made in Japan"
-------

Obviously, he's too young.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (sB5dv)

I remember when Honda Civics weren't much better than Yugos. Then they became one of the most reliable cars out there.

Posted by: polynikes at May 09, 2025 04:38 PM (VofaG)

248 Yeah that's what gets me. Sure, you are packing a LOT of stuff on the ship but still its a long trip on an expensive ship using expensive fuel and expensive logistics and workers.

And occasionally you lose an entire shipment because of shitty Chinese powered scooters with lithium batteries made to no standards in the next container over.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:39 PM (2ocoG)

249 The fact that you don't have to transport them halfway across the world should go a long way to reducing prices.

Yeah that's what gets me. Sure, you are packing a LOT of stuff on the ship but still its a long trip on an expensive ship using expensive fuel and expensive logistics and workers.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:36 PM (2VST1)

Used to be a lot of canals in the East and Midwest because it made shipping so much cheaper.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:39 PM (8avO+)

250 Autozone installed my battery. I've had good service from AZone batteries. Always lasted longer than the warranty. Shortest was 3 months over. One was two years.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:39 PM (sB5dv)

251 This reminds me of the reason I don't trust Kevin O'leary, even though now he appears to be on Team Trump:

There was a guy on Shark Tank who designed a wiper blade with little teeth to cut bugs/ice/etc.

And I remember he said he wanted to make it in America.

And Kevin started berating him, spouting that he could take it to China and have it made for significantly less.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 04:39 PM (sMW+k)

252 Good, I prefer American products if I can find them

Posted by: Skip at May 09, 2025 04:39 PM (ypFCm)

253 No car seats, no seatbelts. No HeadStart. How have I survived 76 tears?
Posted by: Eromero at May 09, 2025 04:33 PM (LHPAg)

Ero, looks like you came of age in the seventies.

The last decade American children grew up with freedom in the classical sense.

Posted by: 85 Bears at May 09, 2025 04:39 PM (r2ymA)

254 1980?
Seat belts were a thing. Even mandatory.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 09, 2025 04:33 PM (/lPRQ)

-- --

Not here in SC, at least.
Car seats for kids wasn't mandatory until the 80s.
The seat belt law was phased in over a decade starting in the 90s.
At first it was just a warning if the cop pulled you over for another infraction. It progressed to a fine and the cops can pull you over for not wearing a seat belt.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 09, 2025 04:40 PM (6ydKt)

255 I remember when Honda Civics weren't much better than Yugos. Then they became one of the most reliable cars out there.
Posted by: polynikes at May 09, 2025 04:38 PM (VofaG)

My mom got a Datsun as her first non American car (and the first she bought herself). Very basic and the fittings were hard, but it worked its tiny engine like a samurai and got you there and back.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:41 PM (8avO+)

256 You must be too young to remember the odium of "Made in Japan"

Japanese stuff was (and is) actually well-made though. Now even the Japanese offshored a ton of manufacturing to Chy-nuh.
Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:33 PM (2ocoG)

======

Back to the Future had a joke about this!

I thought that was Sleeper.

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 04:41 PM (s8j++)

257 The last decade American children grew up with freedom in the classical sense.
Posted by: 85 Bears at May 09, 2025 04:39 PM (r2ymA)

The early 80's were pretty free.

But the early 80s were basically the 70s.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 09, 2025 04:41 PM (yvnLa)

258 Got a sad email today. A sister small group to mine is going on furlough. NSF has paused their funding. I don't know if NSF is squeezed super tightly or if they picked a very useful group to cut to generate maximum whining. Our sister group organized data transfer methods to make it easy for universities to access national weather date from satellites and radars quickly.

Hopefully the agitprop 'agencies' and NGOs die and most of the useful groups that run off of gub'mint money survive or come back stronger. Change is scary, but we needed DOGE, and Trump pushing back on all the climate BS, it felt like the country was close to imploding the firehose of spending and so much spending aimed at crippling our own country.

Posted by: PaleRider at May 09, 2025 04:41 PM (bP/i4)

259 I'm still waiting for the left to explain why 20% more for groceries under Biden was super good under the best economy since Caesar, but 5% more for American vs. Chinese is the worst thing ever and will send us in the greatest depression since... well, Caesar.

Posted by: Croaker at May 09, 2025 04:41 PM (+BcZI)

260 Pharmacy Business: Pharma imports to US surged in March as drugmakers look to avoid tariffs, May 8, 2025

Wait until the cry for personal protective equipment for hospitals, emergency response, many jobs begins.

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at May 09, 2025 04:42 PM (NFX2v)

261 You must be too young to remember the odium of "Made in Japan"

Japanese stuff was (and is) actually well-made though. Now even the Japanese offshored a ton of manufacturing to Chy-nuh.
Posted by: Ian S.

In the early 70's, Made in Japan = crap.
By the early 80's, Japanese stuff, especially erectronics, were top notch.

Posted by: rickb223 at May 09, 2025 04:42 PM (y6oPX)

262 That'll be a short conversation "You need us more than we need you, bitch."
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 09, 2025 03:49 PM (y9nCu)

Now get your shine box!

Posted by: Crotalus Atrox at May 09, 2025 04:42 PM (Pq6a+)

263 eah definitionally and technically you're right. But for the regular guy on the street, it doesn't matter what you call it. Its just higher prices.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:38 PM (2VST1)

It would if we actually told them why things happen and who did it instead of one side lying and the rest nodding along.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:43 PM (8avO+)

264 This reminds me of the reason I don't trust Kevin O'leary, even though now he appears to be on Team Trump:

There was a guy on Shark Tank who designed a wiper blade with little teeth to cut bugs/ice/etc.

And I remember he said he wanted to make it in America.

And Kevin started berating him, spouting that he could take it to China and have it made for significantly less.

He's talking like a realistic businessman. He says that as soon as anything hits 5M units sold, China steals it and makes it cheaper because they don't GAS about IP. He's right. He's arguing that we need to start enforcing IP laws under the WTO. Again, he's right.

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 04:43 PM (s8j++)

265 Yeah people were annoyed that Japan was taking all the manufacturing jobs, but they were actually pretty well done.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:43 PM (2VST1)

266 No car seats, no seatbelts. No HeadStart. How have I survived 76 tears?
Posted by: Eromero at May 09, 2025 04:33 PM

No plastic weapons, either. Now look at you.

BTW, "The Guns of John Moses Browning" is available on Kindle for $0.99 on Amazon today.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at May 09, 2025 04:43 PM (0sNs1)

267 The last decade American children grew up with freedom in the classical sense.
Posted by: 85 Bears at May 09, 2025 04:39 PM (r2ymA)

The early 80's were pretty free.

But the early 80s were basically the 70s.
Posted by: Warai-otoko

Early 70's we was Kangs! We could buy REAL M-80's. Not that fake faggoty shit.

Posted by: rickb223 at May 09, 2025 04:43 PM (y6oPX)

268 And Kevin started berating him, spouting that he could take it to China and have it made for significantly less.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at May 09, 2025 04:39 PM (sMW+k)

-- --

He's certainly changed his tune since.
He's mainly angry at the lack of legal options in China for foreigners who've been screwed over by their mandatory Chinese 49% partners.

He gives the example of a business getting a product made at a Chinese factory. If the product reaches five million units in sales the Chinese will make a identical product and sell it on Amazon with a 30% price cut.

If that happened here you'd go to court, and win.
In China, you can't even get in the court.

I think he's been burned in China too many times and has reached his limit with their cheating.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 09, 2025 04:44 PM (6ydKt)

269 Ero, looks like you came of age in the seventies.

The last decade American children grew up with freedom in the classical sense.
Posted by: 85 Bears at May 09, 2025 04:39 PM (r2ymA)
67 HS grad. Had lots of freedom, most today don’t believe it.

Posted by: Eromero at May 09, 2025 04:44 PM (LHPAg)

270 Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 04:43 PM (s8j++)

Horde Mind.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 09, 2025 04:45 PM (6ydKt)

271 I'm still waiting for the left to explain why 20% more for groceries under Biden was super good under the best economy since Caesar, but 5% more for American vs. Chinese is the worst thing ever and will send us in the greatest depression since... well, Caesar.

Posted by: Croaker at May 09, 2025 04:41 PM (+BcZI)

The inflation was transitory.

Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 04:45 PM (E0p3T)

272 Japan made a lot of crap, but perpetual improvement is baked in to the culture, and so quality incrementally improves until you have Lexus and Acura.

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov at May 09, 2025 04:45 PM (wBaIH)

273 I'm still waiting for the left to explain why 20% more for groceries under Biden was super good under the best economy since Caesar, but 5% more for American vs. Chinese is the worst thing ever and will send us in the greatest depression since... well, Caesar.
Posted by: Croaker at May 09, 2025 04:41 PM

Julius Caesar may have crossed the Rubicon, but he never tried to con the rubes.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at May 09, 2025 04:45 PM (0sNs1)

274 And the tariffs are permanent.

Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 04:45 PM (E0p3T)

275 One of the interesting tales in the WSJ article is how economists are trying to figure out the birth rate, as China doesn't publish numbers.
---
An article at Zerohedge the other day said China had been shutting off basic economic data for over a year. All kinds of indicators used to make assessments of economic performance have been systematically shut down. China's numbers have always been suspect, but the author's take was that no one actually knows anything about the Chinese economy today.

Posted by: Meade Lux Lewis, Domestic Terrorist at May 09, 2025 04:46 PM (paSBy)

276 Conflating it with inflation is just a lie. Inflation is because we print money to pay for those trade imbalances.
Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:35 PM (8avO+)

The trade imbalances exist are because we started printing money. Look at when the persistent US trade deficit took hold: it was the mid-70s. After the collapse of Bretton Woods.

We need to reshore industry, but the simple fact is if prices go up, people have to pay more or buy less, and the latter just isn't an option.

But we have inflation either way. So I'm particularly worried about tariffs. They're a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of trillions of USD floating around the world.

Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:46 PM (l3YAf)

277 Eromero, I'm right there with ya. That freedom lead to learning a lot of personal responsibility.

Posted by: Ben Had at May 09, 2025 04:46 PM (NVNRw)

278 >>Thanks. We didn't know that. YAY!

Places like Jiffy Lube will do it as well if you need an oil change. Needed a new battery last oil change and they did that as well. Way cheaper than going to the dealer.

Posted by: JackStraw at May 09, 2025 04:46 PM (viF8m)

279
Eromero,

When we tell younger family members about the freedom we had in the past they don't believe us either.

Hey, everyone climb in the bed of the truck and we'll drive four hours to the beach.

People almost have heart attacks when we tell them how it was back in the dark ages.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:46 PM (3ek7K)

280 I'm not taking sides between India and Pakistan.

Considering that issue flared because Indians are tired of being periodically slaughtered by Muslim terrorists likely funded, at least in part, by the Pakistani government, I shall support India. And my support shall equal that of the most fervent leftist Ukrainian supporter in that I shall place an Indian flag on all of my social media accounts - which number zero.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at May 09, 2025 04:46 PM (ExV1e)

281 VOTE VANCE!

Posted by: Aliassmithsmith just wants to vote for Vance at May 09, 2025 04:47 PM (bxiPJ)

282 Yeah people were annoyed that Japan was taking all the manufacturing jobs, but they were actually pretty well done.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:43 PM (2VST1)

The MIJ was probably established in culture earlier on, when Japan was digging out of the rubble of WWII and trying to make anything to support the people with work.

In the 60s they were trying to move up the industrial food chain and 70s were making quality, if basic stuff. 80s and after they could out luxury anyone and had a niche because they were not boats like a lot uf US cars.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:47 PM (8avO+)

283 From the comments on the Thread, I'm beginning to suspect some of you are actually over 29 years old.

Posted by: Wesley Crusher at May 09, 2025 04:47 PM (0sNs1)

284 Japan made a lot of crap, but perpetual improvement is baked in to the culture, and so quality incrementally improves until you have Lexus and Acura.
Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov at May 09, 2025 04:45 PM (wBaIH)
---
Japan has a serious obsession with quality. They take foreign stuff and make it better. The Arisaka uses a Mauser bolt, but the Japanese refined it to the strongest of any used during WW II.

Same for Japanese liquor, beer, you name it.

China, on the other hand, builds cheap knock-offs laced with poison because Communists just don't care.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 09, 2025 04:48 PM (ZOv7s)

285 215 No car seats, no seatbelts. No HeadStart. How have I survived 76 tears?
Posted by: Eromero

And probably got smacked for misbehaving which helped you make 76 years. 😉

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (NFX2v)

286 My mom got a Datsun as her first non American car (and the first she bought herself). Very basic and the fittings were hard, but it worked its tiny engine like a samurai and got you there and back.
Posted by: Oldcat
--------

Good car but s l o w.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (sB5dv)

287 Wifey tried to do business with a Chinese company. The second thing they wanted was to "approve" all her IP. And that was the end of that.

Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (E0p3T)

288 What are you talking about, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (6ydKt)

289
L,

Yeah, Mom was so quick at smacking you never saw it coming, lol.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (3ek7K)

290 I'm not taking sides between India and Pakistan.

My default is that whoever's against the Muslims are the good guys, and I think that's largely true here as well. Modi and Trump get along pretty well too.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (2ocoG)

291 Ero, looks like you came of age in the seventies.

The last decade American children grew up with freedom in the classical sense.
Posted by: 85 Bears at May 09, 2025 04:39 PM (r2ymA)
67 HS grad. Had lots of freedom, most today don’t believe it.
Posted by: Eromero

I heard you guys could drink beer and smoke a J in the halls between classes. And still pass a real math class.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (/lPRQ)

292 Eromero,

When we tell younger family members about the freedom we had in the past they don't believe us either.

Hey, everyone climb in the bed of the truck and we'll drive four hours to the beach.

People almost have heart attacks when we tell them how it was back in the dark ages.
Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:46 PM (3ek7K)

I can top that - on Paper Drives for cub/boy scouts the kids rode in the back *on top of the piles of loose newspapers* to reduce the blowing away . And that could become quite a hillock.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:50 PM (8avO+)

293 In the 60s they were trying to move up the industrial food chain and 70s were making quality, if basic stuff. 80s and after they could out luxury anyone and had a niche because they were not boats like a lot uf US cars.
Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:47 PM (8avO+)
---
No, it started 60 years earlier. The post-war stuff was rough because they were putting things back together, but the workmanship on Japanese military arms is outstanding.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 09, 2025 04:50 PM (ZOv7s)

294
Oldcat,

Yep, no one gave it a thought.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:51 PM (3ek7K)

295 Lexus is the only high end SUV built on a truck chassis.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:51 PM (sB5dv)

296 Posted by: Aliassmithsmith

What's the problem, honey? Let me guess, no one listens to you under your other handle?

Posted by: ... at May 09, 2025 04:51 PM (E0p3T)

297 No car seats, no seatbelts. No HeadStart. How have I survived 76 tears?

Huh, for a moment there, I thought you were revealing yourself as Question Mark and the Mysterians.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7uC5m-IRns

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 04:51 PM (s8j++)

298 279
Eromero,

When we tell younger family members about the freedom we had in the past they don't believe us either.

Hey, everyone climb in the bed of the truck and we'll drive four hours to the beach.

People almost have heart attacks when we tell them how it was back in the dark ages.
Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:46 PM (3ek7K)
We used to drive over 100 miles to Pawleys Island when we were 15.

Posted by: Eromero at May 09, 2025 04:51 PM (LHPAg)

299 My mom got a Datsun as her first non American car (and the first she bought herself). Very basic and the fittings were hard, but it worked its tiny engine like a samurai and got you there and back.
Posted by: Oldcat
--------

Good car but s l o w.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (sB5dv)

Ours wasn't , it was very small and nimble. If you had 4 adults in it both the engine and the kneecaps struggled.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:52 PM (8avO+)

300 I heard you guys could drink beer and smoke a J in the halls between classes. And still pass a real math class.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (/lPRQ)
---
The age to buy cigarettes in Michigan was 16 when I was in school, so they had a spot behind the school with butt cans.

Some folks had joints as well.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 09, 2025 04:52 PM (ZOv7s)

301 You must be too young to remember the odium of "Made in Japan"
Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:32 PM (8avO+)

I read how they were making crap and then they became superior with cars and electronics.

Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:52 PM (g47mK)

302 No. Taxes don't make money disappear, they're just a reshuffling of money. Taxes can be inflationary, and I'd argue most are.
Posted by: Disinterested FDA Director at May 09, 2025 04:01 PM (l3YAf)
======================

It's always provocative when someone who knows little presumes to start a comment with "No."

From my macro econ text book from many moons ago:

Taxes are generally considered deflationary because they reduce disposable income and spending, which in turn decreases aggregate demand. This reduction in demand can put downward pressure on prices across a broad range of sectors, as shown by research indicating that higher average personal income tax rates lower prices.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at May 09, 2025 04:53 PM (435XZ)

303 I heard you guys could drink beer and smoke a J in the halls between classes. And still pass a real math class.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher

During my 50th HS reunion weekend we toured our old HS building. It's now a middle school but anyway, the Principal that lead us around was absolutely stunned when we pointed out the smoking area to her. Simply couldn't believe it. Truly flabbergasted.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 09, 2025 04:53 PM (cYBz/)

304
Eromero,

It was great! We got our licenses and went anywhere we wanted. No cellphones with parents calling and texting every 30 minutes to check on you.

We have a bunch of wussies these days.

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:53 PM (3ek7K)

305
I heard you guys could drink beer and smoke a J in the halls between classes. And still pass a real math class.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (/lPRQ)

-- --

I must've been born too late for that.
The last time I got paddled in school was in ninth grade for smoking behind the gym.

Back when the Assistant Principal was a Coach and his paddle had air-holes in it.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 09, 2025 04:53 PM (6ydKt)

306 Japan has a serious obsession with quality. They take foreign stuff and make it better. The Arisaka uses a Mauser bolt, but the Japanese refined it to the strongest of any used during WW II.

Same for Japanese liquor, beer, you name it.

China, on the other hand, builds cheap knock-offs laced with poison because Communists just don't care.

==

Ah So!

Posted by: runner at May 09, 2025 04:53 PM (g47mK)

307 I'm old enough to remember cars with bumpers.

Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 04:53 PM (v0R5T)

308 285 215 No car seats, no seatbelts. No HeadStart. How have I survived 76 tears?
Posted by: Eromero

And probably got smacked for misbehaving which helped you make 76 years. 😉
Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (NFX2v)
Mrs. E still smacks me now and then.

Posted by: Eromero at May 09, 2025 04:53 PM (LHPAg)

309 Today's stupid MSM headline, or one of them anyway:

"Pope Leo speaks English. That's bad news for J.D. Vance."

I was not aware that J.D Vance was a poor English speaker with English as a second language.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at May 09, 2025 04:54 PM (42Vb+)

310 China, on the other hand, builds cheap knock-offs laced with poison because Communists just don't care.

China has a moral code that everyone ignores because it makes no difference to their life whatsoever. Buddhism tells people to be good because their rebirth will be better, and Taoism teaches people to be good because their purpose is to serve those better than them stoically but none of that pays off in this life.

There's no higher good. There's no holiness or judge. There's no savior to appeal to and love. Its just hard and painful and get what you can while you can.

So quality doesn't matter, who gets hurt doesn't matter, it just matters how you enjoy yourself because f the future and human life means nothing. So cut corners, subsitute crappy parts, lie, cheat, who cares?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:54 PM (2VST1)

311 Cheap Japanese flying packs.

https://is.gd/YDc63U
Go to 3:03

Posted by: Archimedes at May 09, 2025 04:55 PM (s8j++)

312 No, it started 60 years earlier. The post-war stuff was rough because they were putting things back together, but the workmanship on Japanese military arms is outstanding.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 09, 2025 04:50 PM (ZOv7s)

Bah, the Zero would burst into flame if you looked at it cross ways. It could turn fast because it was made of paper mache. Once people stopped dogfighting it losses leveled off. Then the allies made fighters that could match its performance and have armor for the pilot and self sealing gas tanks.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:55 PM (8avO+)

313 289
L,

Yeah, Mom was so quick at smacking you never saw it coming, lol.
Posted by: four season

That I can appreciate. Our mother effectively rendered swift discipline regardless of where we were when she decided it was needed. 😬 😊

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at May 09, 2025 04:56 PM (NFX2v)

314 Lexus is the only high end SUV built on a truck chassis.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 04:51 PM (sB5dv)

Wut?

Posted by: Suburban, Escalade, etc. at May 09, 2025 04:56 PM (qFcV6)

315 Pope Leo?
What is this, a Seinfeld episode?

Posted by: wth at May 09, 2025 04:56 PM (v0R5T)

316 Yikes Kathy Griffin got the Trump curse BAD.

Posted by: fd at May 09, 2025 04:57 PM (vFG9F)

317 308. Mrs. E still smacks me now and then.
Posted by: Eromero

Behave. 😉

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at May 09, 2025 04:58 PM (NFX2v)

318 Ras Baraka, mayor of Newark, has been arrested for interfering with an ICE operation.

https://tinyurl.com/2nemakbe

Posted by: Meade Lux Lewis, Domestic Terrorist at May 09, 2025 04:58 PM (paSBy)

319
fd,

can you believe how she looks now???

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:58 PM (3ek7K)

320 283 From the comments on the Thread, I'm beginning to suspect some of you are actually over 29 years old.

Posted by: Wesley Crusher at May 09, 2025 04:47 PM

"Shut up, Wesley!"

(I think you even have to be over 29 y.o. to get THAT joke.)

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at May 09, 2025 04:58 PM (HlyYF)

321
Wasn't she the one that had a show holding up a facsimile of Trump's head dripping blood?

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:59 PM (3ek7K)

322 Eromero,

It was great! We got our licenses and went anywhere we wanted. No cellphones with parents calling and texting every 30 minutes to check on you.

We have a bunch of wussies these days.
Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 04:53 PM (3ek7K)

My mom had a bell for dinner calls because most of us were out and about and hopefully in hearing range. She might delegate the bell to one of the kids if they were around. If you missed it well make a sammich.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 04:59 PM (8avO+)

323 "fd,

can you believe how she looks now???"

She's hot!

Posted by: The Cryptkeeper at May 09, 2025 04:59 PM (vFG9F)

324 I heard you guys could drink beer and smoke a J in the halls between classes. And still pass a real math class.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM (/lPRQ)
---
The age to buy cigarettes in Michigan was 16 when I was in school, so they had a spot behind the school with butt cans.

Some folks had joints as well.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

Drinking age in Texas was 18 in 1980.
I was popular.

Posted by: rickb223 at May 09, 2025 04:59 PM (y6oPX)

325 So quality doesn't matter, who gets hurt doesn't matter, it just matters how you enjoy yourself because f the future and human life means nothing. So cut corners, subsitute crappy parts, lie, cheat, who cares?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 04:54 PM (2VST1)

-- --

They also had the problem, like the Russians, in that they were told for decades that capitalists were the most untrustworthy, ruthless, greedy, evil, devils on the planet.
Then all of a sudden capitalism was the order of the day.

So they acted like the capitalists they were told to be.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at May 09, 2025 04:59 PM (6ydKt)

326 It gets better. "Multiple Dem members of Congress" were arrested with the mayor.

https://tinyurl.com/2ayppdnd

Posted by: Meade Lux Lewis, Domestic Terrorist at May 09, 2025 05:00 PM (paSBy)

327

nOOd

Posted by: Soothsayer's Innaccurate but Amusing Bigoted Facts at May 09, 2025 05:00 PM (xCUMI)

328
We had a covered smoking area at the high school. Also lots of trucks with guns in the back windows. Oh the horror, lmao

Posted by: four seasons at May 09, 2025 05:00 PM (3ek7K)

329 Yikes Kathy Griffin got the Trump curse BAD.
Posted by: fd at May 09, 2025 04:57 PM (vFG9F)

The first curse was us being mad.
The second curse was us not caring

Posted by: Oldcat at May 09, 2025 05:00 PM (8avO+)

330 Yeah, Mom was so quick at smacking you never saw it coming, lol.
Posted by: four season

That I can appreciate. Our mother effectively rendered swift discipline regardless of where we were when she decided it was needed. 😬 😊
Posted by: L

Hot Wheel track sounds suspiciously like a light saber.

Posted by: rickb223 at May 09, 2025 05:00 PM (y6oPX)

331 So they acted like the capitalists they were told to be.

Yeah I think that played a pretty big part, too. And the push to get ahead and better yourself is so strong culturally (not to change your class or niche in society, but be better off than your parents were) that anything goes is the rule. Cheating is unbelievable in schools.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 09, 2025 05:01 PM (2VST1)

332 290 I'm not taking sides between India and Pakistan.

My default is that whoever's against the Muslims are the good guys, and I think that's largely true here as well. Modi and Trump get along pretty well too.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 09, 2025 04:49 PM

Have you ever seen the video of the first time Trump met Modi?

Modi has a huge grin on his face and can't wait to shake Trump's hand.

It literally looks like me arriving at a MoMe to greet old friends!

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at May 09, 2025 05:01 PM (HlyYF)

333 Lol, schools i've worked in have "smoking areas", in the boiler room or a basement, with an exhaust fan they can kick on. Totally not allowed. But not exactly clamped down on either.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at May 09, 2025 05:02 PM (yvnLa)

334 Wut?
Posted by: Suburban, Escalade,
----

Thought they gave it up. Surprise me.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 05:03 PM (sB5dv)

335 >>>My default is that whoever's against the Muslims are the good guys, and I think that's largely true here as well. Modi and Trump get along pretty well too.
---

I'm told that Modi's father and Trump's father worked together on some projects.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at May 09, 2025 05:04 PM (sB5dv)

336 Hot Wheel track sounds suspiciously like a light saber.

Posted by: rickb223

My ptsd got triggered. I read this, and woke up under the bed hiding from Mom.

Posted by: BifBewalski at May 09, 2025 05:17 PM (MsrgL)

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