The entire tariff regime is an invitation to corruption and cronyism. - ThreadSky

prchovanec.bsky.social • 1 day ago

The entire tariff regime is an invitation to corruption and cronyism.

*US PUBLISHES TARIFF EXCLUSIONS FOR SPECIFIED PRODUCTS *US TARIFF EXCLUSIONS APPLY TO COMPUTERS, SMARTPHONES *US TARIFF EXCLUSIONS ALSO APPLY TO CHIP-MAKING EQUIPMENT *TARIFF EXCLUSIONS APPLY TO SO-CALLED `RECIPROCAL' TARIFFS

Comments

egnowit.bsky.social•1 day ago

Earlier this week, Trump said he would consider excluding US companies from his tariffs, but added that such decisions would be made “instinctively”.

The question is just how much it costs to trigger his instinct.

cmurf.com•1 day ago

I think the carve outs were always the plan.

The tariffs are the boot on everyone's neck. Friend, foe, and bribes determines the amount of pressure. It's on-going and capricious.

davidmouritsen.bsky.social•1 day ago

But the Trump administration defines "capitalism" as corruption and cronyism. Adam Smith would disagree...

prchovanec.bsky.social•1 day ago

It's like the old "license raj" they had in India, where only insider corporations got permission to conduct trade - and the the Indian consumer got the dregs.

nwadoug.bsky.social•1 day ago

The evidence presents itself. If this wasn't a shakedown scheme the administration would have figured out what exemptions to make before announcing the tariffs.

Want an exemption? What's in it for me?

nestingpuffin.bsky.social•1 day ago

Eh. If they were thinking more than a week ahead that would have been part of the announcement. They thought they could explosively decouple and now they’ve gone from pissing their pants to shitting them.

nwadoug.bsky.social•1 day ago

I don't necessarily agree but I like your phrasing.

jmeek.bsky.social•1 day ago

Also, we'll see more surprises like the 90 day pause, with insiders tipped off in advance. There'll be one on a China deal. Stocks will explode upward. But only for a while. Xi will play him like a fish. Won't actually deliver. It's Xi who has the cards. U.S. can't make the stuff China sells.

grove.cx•1 day ago

I was honestly surprised that this was done by category and not by company.

indnial.bsky.social•1 day ago

Same. But then it might be too easy for us to boycott some.

dtipson.bsky.social•1 day ago

Have said before, will say again: the US, for almost an entire century, used to very proudly sanction entire nations for corruption that's a fraction of what we're now doing openly and flagrantly to extremes that make those sanctions look like a sad joke

alicedurcheinander.bsky.social•1 day ago

feature, not bug

flame89.bsky.social•1 day ago

https://bsky.app/profile/flame89.bsky.social/post/3lmmsurh3fs2i

weebitsarcastic.bsky.social•1 day ago

Wasn't it supposed to be about national security? 🤔

nestingpuffin.bsky.social•1 day ago

So we can make shoelaces and Amazon trinkets here, while China continues to make all the stuff that we SHOULD be decoupling if we’re to defend Taiwan when the time comes?

zachary.mba•1 day ago

some might say it’s the whole point.

mmparsons.bsky.social•1 day ago

goatchek.bsky.social•1 day ago

Why would Trump need to do this if a Tariff isn’t a Tax?

blasph3m1.bsky.social•1 day ago

No apple manufacturing coming back to the US.

nielse16.bsky.social•1 day ago

I take your point, but including the word tariff was unnecessary.

drlovemm.bsky.social•1 day ago

Has *any* business paid a cent of new tariffs?

cdm.expert•1 day ago

If you weren't thinking this was going to be Russian style oligarchy , you weren't paying attention.

OF COURSE the tariffs are a multi-opportunity grift. You don't think all those donations to Trump's Inauguration were charity?

We are now living in Ameristan, just unequally distributed by wealth.

xavkoenig.bsky.social•1 day ago

Well, Congress gave up its tariff power and doesn’t care to take it back so…

mhaberman00.bsky.social•1 day ago

So nobody actually bears any consequences unless the industry hasn’t kissed trump’s ass hard enough? So, it won’t usher in the flow of revenue or bring jobs back here.

beaverbrook.bsky.social•1 day ago

💯

leobebb.bsky.social•1 day ago

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