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[martinuzz]

2016 happened

[smjjames]

Sry, another one, seems I missed this one on inauguration day.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Beagle Boys were one of Scrooge McDucks enemies (more of a thorn in the side enemy than a major one) in the cartoons, so, it doesn't quite make sense, but I still get it and it was a bit funny.

Aren't the beagle boys and Scrooge Mcduck bitter enemies? Why do they look so in cahoots in that picture?

Yeah they were, though the Beagle Boys sort of faded away later in the series as more serious enemies cropped up (and Scrooge and his grandnephews travelled around the world).

[Reelya]

Ok, so Trump is proposing a 20% tax on all Mexican imports now to pay for the wall. I wonder if the Mexicans will also impose the same thing on American exports?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/27/trump-spokesman-says-20-percent-tax-on-mexican-goods-could-fund-wall.html

right now our country's policy is to tax exports and let imports flow freely in, which is ridiculous

That's sort of interesting. As I was saying before, money is only paper. It's goods that have real value. And America taxes the outflow of goods but not the inflow. Which of course would naturally encourage their being more "stuff" in America than other places.

The "free trade" flow where America taxes imports but not exports would basically be trying to turn America from a financial hub / top of the food chain into a primary-producer nation, where resources leave America and you get more bits of paper instead. But you won't be able to afford imports because of the tariffs, which would cause chronic inflation. That's because in such a situation where the amount of stuff in America is whittling away would mean the US dollar is over-valued.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

That would be inline with the idea of the "resource curse".

[Reelya]

A sarcastic reading of the Trump policies would read "We're the richest nation and most powerful nation on Earth by a huge margin. Clearly everything needs to change. We can't go on doing things like we did in the past".

Actually I was just wondering how Trump's policies actually compare to North Korea's dictator's way of looking at the world. There are a number of points in common.

[smjjames]

Ok, so Trump is proposing a 20% tax on all Mexican imports now to pay for the wall. I wonder if the Mexicans will also impose the same thing on American exports?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/27/trump-spokesman-says-20-percent-tax-on-mexican-goods-could-fund-wall.html

right now our country's policy is to tax exports and let imports flow freely in, which is ridiculous

That's sort of interesting. As I was saying before, money is only paper. It's goods that have real value. And America taxes the outflow of goods but not the inflow. Which of course would naturally encourage their being more "stuff" in America than other places.

The "free trade" flow where America taxes imports but not exports would basically be trying to turn America from a financial hub / top of the food chain into a primary-producer nation, where resources leave America and you get more bits of paper instead. But you won't be able to afford imports because of the tariffs, which would cause chronic inflation. That's because in such a situation where the amount of stuff in America is whittling away would mean the US dollar is over-valued.

Weren't we just talking about this a few pages ago? Trump did drop that and say 'it's just one of our options in the toolkit, nothing planned or signed yet.'

[Silverthrone]

Why, Scrooge McDuck would never associate with such an individual, surely! If nothing else, then because he ought to be able to smell a rotten deal when he finds it. That said, however, old Master McDuck is very spritely for a 150-year-old. I understand people are sceptical of Bernie Sanders in part of his advanced age, but such a puny little thing would not stop a McDuck.

_{Silverthrone, local duck enthusiast.}

[Reelya]

Sean Spicer was reported promoting the 20% tariff in the news about 15 hours ago.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/26/trump-calls-for-20-tax-on-mexican-imports-to-pay-for-border-wall
It was announced in retaliation to the Mexican president cancelling the talks. So no, it's not dropped, in fact it's now being touted as the solution.

[smjjames]

Also, I wonder if Spicer meant the VAT when he said that, because we don't have one, but lots of countries do. Reinterpreting what he said still doesn't make it okay to lie like that.

Sean Spicer was reported promoting the 20% tariff in the news a few hours ago.

It was announced in retaliation to the Mexican president cancelling the talks.

I know, that's what we were talking about yesterday with the whole confusion between VAT and tariffs.

[Sergarr]

That's sort of interesting. As I was saying before, money is only paper. It's goods that have real value. And America taxes the outflow of goods but not the inflow. Which of course would naturally encourage their being more "stuff" in America than other places.

Well, yeah. USA's economical domination is built on being the most stable and least ruined country post WW2, thus making its currency the most appealing one for international trade, making dollars highly demanded in the outside world, which means USA could supply them out in exchange for real-world stuff, rising its QoL and attracting high-quality personnel from other countries via "brain drain", thus securing the technological edge, as well.

It's a quite genius scheme to get yourself on the top of the world's economic food chain while ensuring that most countries will want to remain in good relationships with you.

I wonder if some day we get to try it out for ourselves because, technically speaking, Russia is going to be affected the least by the climate change, in fact it could be even positive for us.... ahhh, sweet dreams.

[Reelya]

I know, that's what we were talking about yesterday with the whole confusion between VAT and tariffs.

But this specific news of a specific tariff came after that. It was reported about 15 hours ago, that was well after the discussion in question, which I assumed was about the tariff idea in general, since that's been floating around since before the election.

[majikero]

Not even sure what they even want to achieve with that tax. All it will do is raise prices for US citizens buying said Mexican products and maybe hurt sales. But ultimately, all that money is from US citizens.

[smjjames]

I know, that's what we were talking about yesterday with the whole confusion between VAT and tariffs.

But this specific news of a specific tariff came after that. It was reported about 15 hours ago, that was well after the discussion in question, which I assumed was about the tariff idea in general, since that's been floating around since before the election.

I guess you got confused because it was something that had been floated for a while, but that's okay. Also, the link is broken because it's truncated.

Not even sure what they even want to achieve with that tax. All it will do is raise prices for US citizens buying said Mexican products and maybe hurt sales. But ultimately, all that money is from US citizens.

It was an attempt to extort (or maybe ransom) Mexico, pure and simple. At least that's the motivation behind it.

[Reelya]

Basically I wouldn't be at all surprised if exports to Mexico basically decreased in lockstep with the tariff rising, even if Mexico doesn't retaliate. That's because how d'ya think Mexico pays for buying stuff from America? They don't pay in pesos, let me tell you that.

Here's an interesting article, different tangent:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/us/more-mexican-immigrants-leaving-us-than-entering-report-finds.html

More immigrants from Mexico are leaving the United States than coming into the country, according to a report published Thursday by the Pew Research Center, a finding that indicates the end of the largest wave of immigration from a single country in American history.

Well I'd imagine if they're already leaving, then anything Trump does would probably just speed that up. But ironically, attempting to economically undermine Mexico might actually halt this exodus.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I wonder if some day we get to try it out for ourselves because, technically speaking, Russia is going to be affected the least by the climate change, in fact it could be even positive for us.... ahhh, sweet dreams.

Keep dreaming. Ecology disruption is never a benefit. A warmed Earth might make Russia into a Mediterranean paradise a couple centuries from now, in the meantime you're in the shit like all the rest. Hope you like dead trees.