Tag: Government

About Those Tariffs On China

Economics

When POTUS Trump announced high tariffs on Chinese goods, the Commies came back with retaliatory tariffs and all the New Economists (fresh from their discussions on vaccines) announced that oh noes we’re going to suffer because rare earth minerals  etc.

Um, maybe not (some excerpts):

China Just ‘Folded’ in the Trade War

Beijing has ordered its airlines not to take delivery of Boeing aircraft, and the plane maker has now flown back, from China to the U.S., three 737 Max aircraft that were about to be delivered. Due to the long order backlogs at both Boeing and Airbus, this punishment imposes, as a practical matter, almost no cost on Boeing. Yet if Trump were to order Boeing not to deliver parts or provide services to Chinese airlines, China would soon have to ground a large number of its airliners. 

However:

Companies in sectors including aviation and industrial chemicals said that some of their products had already been granted a reprieve, while local media reported that some semiconductors had been spared tariffs.

And the U.S. has the advantage because:

Unfortunately for Xi, he must make concessions. His economy is far smaller than America’s, and he is the one running large trade surpluses — China’s merchandise surplus last year against the U.S. was $295.4 billion, up 5.8% over 2023.

Worse, China’s economy is probably contracting, something evident from price indicators. The country is in a deflationary spiral: In March, the Consumer Price Index was down for the second-straight month and the Producer Price Index was down for the 30th consecutive month.

Meanwhile, China is in the middle of a slow-moving debt crisis, and Xi, having rejected consumption as the fundamental basis of the Chinese economy, must as a result export more to rescue the increasingly grim situation at home.

Trump has the right of it:  the U.S. is the big dog in international trade, and all the cheap shit that China exports to the U.S. pales into insignificance compared to the vital stuff we export to them — aircraft parts, technology and chemicals which they can’t reproduce by stealing the technology or reverse engineering, because their manufacturing equipment and systems are incapable of doing so.

I don’t comment on the tariff thing much because  a) the topic of macro-economics is, to put it mildly, not my strong suit and b) I suspect that Trump’s whole tariff initiative is part of a long game which I can’t figure out at the moment.

Especially when I read stuff like this:

President Donald Trump said Sunday that his tariff policy will substantially reduce, even completely eliminate, income taxes for some American workers.

Trump’s gang is full of big brains and even more experience, and given the 4D strategies constantly being used by the Trump Administration across so many spheres — economics, politics and even social — I’m left wondering whether the tariff thing should not be studied as a stand-alone initiative but as just part of a greater whole.

Revenue Streams

Taxes and Theft

As any fule kno, when a government is strapped for cash they will perforce come up with new ideas for “tax revenue streams” (a.k.a. “innovative methods to steal money from the public”).  Needless to say, they can’t just come out and say “we’re going to steal more of your money” because that might lead to public hangings…

…sorry, I went off to a warm and happy place there for a few moments.

Anyway, the theft has to be concealed beneath a maskirovka  of some sort, and the best one (apart from “national interest”) is “public health”, which shouldn’t fool anybody but it does, repeatedly and regrettably.

Examples of this abound, the latest being that of Head Thief, U.K. Division — sorry, I meant Chancellor of the Exchequer — Rachel Reeves, who wants to tax (wait for it) milkshakes.

The Chancellor has drawn up plans to impose a sugar tax on milk and yoghurt-based beverages for the first time, after concluding that they are damaging public health.

The levy will drive prices up by as much as 24p per litre, with officials expecting 93 percent of drinks on the market to be affected unless they change their recipes.

I think the British public should express their  rage  profound disappointment at this proposal by reverting to an age-old mechanism:

But they won’t, because as long as it’s for people’s health, you see, it’s acceptable.  (That sound you hear in the background is the bleating of sheep.)

Great Idea, Never Happen

Advice, Economics, Taxes and Theft

Turning Britishland into Singapore?  It’s an intriguing concept, as explained here.  An excerpt:

There is nothing new in the comparison between modern Britain and circumstances in Singapore when it gained independence in 1965. Like the UK following the Brexit referendum, Singapore was involved in a rancorous divorce from a much larger geopolitical entity that left it facing an uncertain path. For one island’s withdrawal from the European Union in 2016, read another’s split from the Federation of Malaysia 55 years ago.
As many a minister has pointed out in recent years, Singapore went on to conjure an economic miracle. In the space of a generation, it has transformed itself from a country where the average citizen was two and a half times poorer than the average Briton, to a hotbed of soaring prosperity where total economic output is now 70 per cent higher than in the UK.

Here’s what the Brits would have to do, though:

In a country where the average monthly salary is about S$70,000 (£40,000), [Singapore] residents pay income tax of just 7 per cent – less than half of the 20 per cent charged in the UK – while a salary equivalent to £46,000 would attract 11.5 per cent tax.
The individual tax ceiling is 24 per cent, payable only by those earning more than 1 million Singapore dollars; the equivalent rate in the UK is 45 per cent, a bracket that comes into play for anyone with a salary of more than £125,140 (about 217,000 Singapore dollars).
The country’s more favorable tax regime extends to corporation tax, which stands at 17 per cent in Singapore compared with 25 per cent in the UK. There is no capital gains or inheritance tax.

Cut and eliminate taxes?  In Britain?

Hence the title of this post.

Simple Solution

Gummint, Mocking Furriners, Morons & Idiots

Here’s an interesting development in Britishland.  Apparently, there’s a garbage workers’ strike in Birmingham, and as “Brum” is run by Labour and is a wretched hive of scum and villainy thereby, this is a case of ultra-Lefties arguing with “ordinary” Lefties — you pick which fits best for which — and has left the city streets (never that tidy to begin with) in a state of advanced rat infestation.

So then this came along:

Tories call for Cobra meeting over Birmingham bin strike
The Tories are urging the Deputy Prime Minister to send in private cleaning firms to break the unions’ grip over the rubbish-strewn second city.

The three-week pay dispute has seen detritus pile high in the streets, with residents saying neighbourhoods are plagued by giant rats “as big as cats”.

It centres on a row between the bankrupt Birmingham council, which is Labour run, and the Unite union.

I have no idea what a “Cobra” meeting is, but for one memorable moment, I thought it involved getting all the unionistas  and city councilors into one room, locking all the doors and windows and giving them ten minutes to come to an agreement.  If that failed, then throw a bunch of live cobras into the locked room.

I bet the hapless residents of Birmingham would be the first in line to watch the proceedings on PPV.

Too extreme?  Let’s ask the Brummies to vote on it.

Quote Of The Day

QOTD

…from Britishland:

The fundamental problem confronting PM Keir Starmer and Chancellor* Reeves is that Britain’s state is reliant on growth to fund itself, while also doing its apparent best to block it. The transition to net zero, the generosity of the welfare state that undermines work incentives, the planning system that effectively vetoes investment, and the tax system that pays for the same, have more effectively blocked Britain’s prosperity than any number of de-growth activists. The result of this stagnation, coupled with a fiscal state already stretched to its limits, is that each disappointing growth out-turn finds the Prime Minister and Chancellor attempting to find new ways to make it through one more Office for Budget Responsibility forecast period while the premium applied to British debt continues to go up.

Sucks to be them, dunnit?  Although under FJB’s presidency, we were headed alarmingly down the same path.

*Chancellor of the Exchequer is kinda like our Treasury Secretary, only the Chancellor actually sets and defines the national budget.

Technical Thuggery

Government Thugs, The Gun Thing

Well, when I saw this headline, I thought “Wow, this must be pretty bad, considering their history.”

One of the worst things ATF has ever done

And it was.

Not one of the guns or gun parts the ATF seized from former sailor Patrick Tate Adamiak was illegal. Not a single gun or gun part required any additional paperwork beyond a Form 4473, and most didn’t even require that. Adamiak was always extremely careful and did absolutely nothing wrong. 

Every single item that the ATF seized from Adamiak’s home is still sold to anyone who wants one. Most don’t even require an FFL for the transfer since they’re not even firearms but are instead legal gun parts. 

So, why is Adamiak serving 20 years in a federal prison?

Good question.  Here’s why:

(ATF Agent) Bodell’s incredible deceptions have become almost legendary. He actually turned toys into firearms and legal semi-autos into machineguns.

    • Bodell inserted a real STEN action and a real STEN barrel into Adamiak’s toy STEN submachinegun and got it to fire one round, even though the toy’s receiver wouldn’t accept a real STEN magazine. Bodell actually classified the toy, which are very popular, as a machine gun.
    • Bodell fired five of Adamiak’s very expensive and extremely collectible legal semi-autos, which fire from an open bolt. All the ATF technician could achieve was semi-auto fire, but that didn’t stop him. He classified all five highly sought after firearms as machine guns.
    • Bodell ruled that several receivers that had been cut in half were actually machine guns. The same receivers are still legally sold online and do not require an FFL or any paperwork.
    • Bodell actually rebuilt three inert RPGs, which had holes drilled into their receivers and were stripped of internal parts. ATF’s “expert” added parts from real RPGs until they would fire a single subcaliber 7.62x39mm round. As a result, he classified the RPGs as destructive devices.

So the ATF took Adamiak’s toys, turned them (partially) into (sorta) weapons, and had him sent to jail.  For 20 years.

Somebody explain to me why this cocksucker Bodell shouldn’t be swinging from a lamp post?  And ditto the fucking judge who allowed this bullshit to be taken as “evidence”?

Note to President Trump:   Pardon Adamiak yourself, and have Kash Patel take action against Bodell, just prior to closing down the entire ATF.  If you don’t, then why did we elect you?