whyrat

@whyrat@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How can you oppose tariffs, while supporting a hardline against China on Taiwan?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  My facts were provided and cited? I’d argue your positions are the ones not related to the facts:

  aerospace and military manufacturers are saying there are certain components they simply can’t manufacture here without importing from China

  This is a media statement, not a fact, and not reflected in industry data nor historical examples. There’s a cost they don’t want to pay, not a hard block. Manufacturing has historically been more than able to adjust, but at a cost. In the event of a war we’d likely pay that cost, in the face of tariffs it’s up to those individual manufacturers to decide. So we might see them choose to keep importing instead of replacing certain components… But that does not then mean they couldn’t do so.

  I don’t understand how you have maintained this perspective of interruptions and shipping affecting the US more than China

  I didn’t claim this at all? And I won’t argue it as relevant since interrupting shipping globally is not a relevant equivalent to bilateral trade halting.

  I don’t feel like you’re making arguments in good faith, or you are disregarding my claims and raising straw man arguments… Apologies in advance as I’ll likely not continue this thread.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How can you oppose tariffs, while supporting a hardline against China on Taiwan?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  US manufacturing output is far larger than the amount we import form China.

  US manufacturing made about $2.5 Trillion in 2021: www.macrotrends.net/…/manufacturing-output

  US imported from China about $0.5 Trillion (all goods, not just manufacturing): www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html

  China could defeat most western countries without firing a single shot, just by cutting off their access to Chinese exports.

  I disagree with this assumption!

  We don’t rely on China, we benefit from trading with them. Some of our goods go there, we get some of their goods. If a war breaks out and that trade stops; we have plenty of manufacturing capacity. And the point of having allies is that we would expect assistance in the event of a war, so we don’t expect US manufacturing to even completely fill the gap (similarly our allies would expect the US to help if China were to target one of them… except that the current administration is alienating everyone but Russia…).

  If you look another level down into what each country manufactures; the US makes a lot of military equipment, and imports a lot of consumer goods form China. Our military would not lose much capacity by a loss in trade with China, but US consumers would lose some of their consumption options. Guess which one matters when it comes to war?

  I don’t support tariffs as a tool to increase American manufacturing jobs because they don’t accomplish that goal. This is not a political belief; it’s derived from evidence. Many sources available, here’s one: …taxfoundation.org/…/Tax-Foundation-FF595-1.pdf

  Using tariffs as a diplomatic tool is only effective in extreme cases. Diplomacy is difficult and so many things are interrelated. If a tariff threat makes China capitulate to our position on Taiwan, why not just use a tariff threat to bring China completely into line on every other position? Tariffs are blunt, and cause harm (economic and diplomatic) to broad areas of both countries unrelated to the specific issue. Topical example: sanctions on Russia did not change their position on Ukraine, even though those were far more severe than just a blanket X% tariff and were supported by many other countries (multi-lateral as opposed to uni-lateral). If we want to influence China’s position on Taiwan, diplomacy is more effective than tariffs.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Your all-time favorite game? Let's discuss the best options!⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Best single game is probably Portal. The pacing, storytelling, innovation, sound, all are top notch even 20+ tears later. Graphics aren’t phenomenal, but don’t need to be. The challenges and easter eggs made it a blast to 100%.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I feel my life is empty. Is there any way to stop this?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. -Mark Twain

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Speaking honestly, what has to happen for you personally to take to the street in protest of the current administration.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve been to protests; and I’ve volunteered for political campaigns. The second actually flipped a (US House) seat from red to blue (obviously the work of many people; I’m not thinking I was the deciding factor but it was a close election). The first left me with a pink hat and no noticeable change in how elected leaders acted.

  I need to be convinced the protest will achieve measurable changes; otherwise I’ll spend my time looking for the upcoming elections where there are close enough margins to feel my actions make a difference.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Employers added 254,000 jobs in September, blowing away forecasts⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This is not job openings, these are net new hires (all new hires minus all job quits / layoffs / retirements / whatever).

  But, it’s not spread evenly by sector or geography. There are still areas with net losses.