• shawn1122@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 hours ago

      If America loses its purchasing power all it’ll have left is its military. Beyond being the world’s consumption epicenter and selling services, there’s not much else to stand on.

      I have a feeling the US won’t be the country that makes the next legitimate AI breakthrough, even with Trump trying to remove all guardrails and onshore hardware production.

  • Nyticus@kbin.melroy.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    52
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    Yeah because financially strapped families really buy 30 dolls for their children. Rich people buy 30.

    • tal
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      21 hours ago

      Not your point, but tropical fruits are one of the US’s major food imports, because we have high consumption of them and not as much tropical territory where they’ll grow. Thus, under tariffs, they’re going to be one of the things seeing more-substantial price rises.

      https://www.thetakeout.com/1842020/foods-likely-impacted-by-tariffs/

      14 Foods That Are Most Likely To Be Impacted By Tariffs

      There are a lot of fruits you can buy locally or even grow at home, but some of America’s favorite fruits — like tropical fruits — are largely imported. Take, for example, bananas. The Banana Association of North America is warning that the total cost of bananas nationwide could go up by $250 million per year due to even just a 10% tariff rate. The large majority of bananas in the United States are sourced from Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

      I remember a Milton Friedman lecture from the 1970s specifically using banana prices becoming exorbitant under high tariffs as an example of why protectionist trade policy is not a good idea.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0pl_FXt0eM

      Friedman: You know, you could have a great employment in the city of Logan, Utah, of people growing bananas in hothouses. If we had a high-enough tariff on the import of bananas, it could become profitable to build hothouses and grow bananas in those hothouses. That would give employment! Would that be a sensible thing to do?

      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        18 hours ago

        Since you mentioned him: I do want to point out that the Friedman Doctrine becoming the de rigueur policy of pretty much all corporate governance in the western world did a whole fucking lot to get us to this hellacious hypercapitalist profit-über-alles society with wildly rampant wealth disparity that we find ourselves in - and that western society developing in that direction played a core role in the authoritarian resurgence we’re seeing across the world today.

  • 21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    23 hours ago

    Conservative thought revolves around the idea that anybody struggling has simply been living in decadence because they get along just fine on their 6 figure salary and can’t get it through their skull that there’s people with less than that.

    • tal
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      24 hours ago

      https://www.amazon.com/Stevenson-Entertainment-Group-Apprentice-Collectible/dp/B0002UADAK

      BRING HOME THE LEGEND: Consistently overcoming the odds, Donald Trumps’ name has come to define the meaning of success. Now fans and collectors can bring home the legend as this officially licensed 12-inch collectible figure.

      17 AUTHENTIC QUOTES: The Donald Trump figure “speaks” 17 inspirational quotes, including his classic line, “You’re fired”.

      Also, looking through the reviews:

      My granddaughter’s Barbie would have had a new friend, but it did not talk. Returning this doll. Cute idea though.Returning the first one. AMAZON sent me a new one. IT DOES NOT TALK😡😡I am MAD!!😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

      I’m now imagining some little girl being given a Barbie and a talking Donald Trump doll for her to role-play domestic scenarios with during her formative years.

      • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        23 hours ago

        Their example of an inspirational quote is “you’re fired!”? There apparently are 16 other quotes to pick from, none more inspiring than that one?

        • tal
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          edit-2
          21 hours ago

          investigates

          It sounds like a fair bit of them are either firing employees or insulting them. I don’t really get the appeal, but I also was pretty oblivious to Donald Trump until his Presidential run, so I assume that there are people out there who enjoy it.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_dolls

          The doll includes 17 phrases,[6] which Trump recorded.[4][12] The phrases, activated by pressing a button,[14] consist of quotes used by Trump on The Apprentice and in his 2004 book, Trump: How to Get Rich.[3] Phrases include:

          • “This one’s easy for me—you’re fired.”
          • “I have no choice but to tell you you’re fired.”
          • “I should fire myself just for having you around.”
          • “You really screwed up!”
          • “You really think you’re a good leader? I don’t.”
          • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            19 hours ago

            Ah… yeah, so they are just 17 variants on “you’re fired!”, so they really couldn’t have picked a more inspiring example… maybe inspiring was a bad choice of word.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    1 day ago

    Yes because for poor people, it’s obviously possible to just cut on unnecessary spending, and everything is fine.
    Spoken like a true malignant narcissist!

  • Shawdow194@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    24 hours ago

    “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally."