this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2025
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[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 35 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Donald Trump is a Russian asset and our intelligence agencies have been telling us this since 2015

[–] HalfSalesman@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

Was one, but his cooperation with Russia has always been on the basis of Trump's narcissistic mental weakness and Russia's been hurting his feelings lately.

Tulsi Gabbard though...

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 120 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's worse than that, a 15% on completed product, you still make the same amount of money selling, and when buying the parts. Only the consumer feels it.

Build here and you pay the costs, you're putting the money up front and don't know if consumers will even bother buying at the higher prices you have to charge to make up for material tarrifa.

You'd have to be an absolute idiot to exapnd American manufacturing right now, especially knowing anything can change daily...

[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 90 points 3 days ago (2 children)

all the genius it takes to bankrupt a casino is at play here...

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 42 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Something I just found out about that, it went bankrupt after his dad bought 300,000,000 in chips with no intention of cashing them out.

Even if it was a mob front, especially if it was a mob front, that's just fucking insane. Being a front means a guaranteed profit for the business.

Like, honestly trump has to be the best money launderer to ever live, because he got his 'clients' money washed with over a 100% return.

And every indication, trump is dumb enough to think that's a good thing.

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca 17 points 3 days ago (2 children)

honestly trump has to be the best money launderer to ever live

It just occurred to me that it might be possible to launder money through loses and insurance instead of generating clean profit.

Like say he stiffs a contractors who's both insured and in on it. They pay their workers dirty money under the table while the clean money comes from the insurance policy.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Nah, because there's no way to really wash money doing that.

That's just insurance fraud lol.

What I meant was, even before the washer takes a cut, it costs money to wash it. Maybe 30% gets lost in the wash, then 10% for the washer, you get 60% back and that's good enough.

With trump, you pay him 100k dirty money, he gives you back 120k in clean money, and is happy because you said he was the best.

Like, sure, sounds to dumb to be true. But remember we're talking about how to bankrupt a corrupt casino. The answer is going to sound incredibly stupid, it's have to be

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

If you want to argue that I'm calling fraud laundering than fine youre correct. But I think you're confusing the cup and ball game I'm describing for a washing machine.

With trump, you pay him 100k dirty money, he gives you back 120k in clean money, and is happy because you said he was the best.

No you build him 100k of work which he doesn't pay you for. You pay your (illegal) workers dirty cash under the table. Insurance company pays you the 60% of the contract value.

It's a quid quo pro.

[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Interesting theory, but it seems that would increase insurance rates for the contractors wildly. This would need to be a "one and done" for each contractor.

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

Just keep spinning up new shell corps with a different henchman owner on paper. That's IF the rates get too high. The goal is to keep your goons paid so they can earn you money in other illegal ways.

Would explain how trump keeps finding companies willing to get stiffed by him.

Also who knows if he had an insurance broker in on it.

Just keep spinning up new shell corps with a different henchman owner on paper.

There's an interesting parallel to this in the school bus world, which is why if you pay attention to the buses you'll see an ever-changing roster of weirdly-named private bus contractor companies. These companies generally make money by operating old, poorly-maintained buses and hiring cheap drivers without checking very closely into the status of their CDLs and school bus endorsement cards or rigorously drug-testing and alcohol testing (or doing child molestation criminal checks like they're supposed to). They end up costing school districts that privatize more money than operating their own transportation departments did because of greatly elevated accident rates; once their records become truly heinous they fold up and re-open under some weird new corporate name (Total Transportation Corp, KRAPF, Tony Placebo's Bus Services etc.) and set about bribing more school districts into privatizing.

But we love our children here and would do anything to keep them safe!

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it went bankrupt after his dad bought 300,000,000 in chips with no intention of cashing them out

Sounds like an inheritance tax dodge.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 3 days ago

russians routinely buy his properties to launder money through.

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[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 42 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Trump is such a goddamm fucking idiot. He was given the world, and he gave back far, far, far less than nothing.

A silver spoon in trade for a dumpster fire of his own creation.

A kingdom in exchange for rot, disease, and chaos.

A curse upon this creature. May he writhe as he dies within his final resting place. May the reaper give no mercy on this plague that has been given to humanity.

May he damn those that helped this disease upon the earth. May they all die within the fires of their creation.

Rise up. Stand tall. We, the people, have demanded more from our leaders. Long Live the kind, gentle, and generous. We shall inherit the Earth.

Trump was born on third base and claims he scored a touchdown.

[–] justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io 86 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Dont forget you're also paying 50% for your aluminium in the US because youre tariffing Canada on it, and you get almost all of it from Canada.

So that 25% car parts is compounded by the +50% on that.

[–] perviouslyiner@lemmy.world 21 points 3 days ago (2 children)

...and on your electric ["hydro"] bill, if Canada doesn't just completely shut off your electricity!

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[–] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 55 points 3 days ago (2 children)

This isn't the science of the deal, it's the art of the deal. Is it making you feel something, even if that feeling is not positive? That's art. It doesn't have to make sense. That's art.

[–] avattar@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 3 days ago

It's performative art, even.

[–] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

C'est n'est pas une bilateral trade agreement.

[–] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

Non, c'est juste Chuck Testa.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 39 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Actually you won’t have to pay a 15% tariff. Americans will. And you can still sell into any other market with a trade agreement.

[–] peetabix@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago

Well if they make and sell within the EU it would be even easier.

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 39 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Its wild, Biden was like "I'm saving the world" and then slapped tariffs on cheap EVs rather than match subsidies, ensuring the survival of gas cars and destruction of the planet, for the benefit of American manufacturing.

Trump is like "I'm saving America" and just fucking over everyone.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 20 points 3 days ago

Trump might contribute more to saving the world by downsizing the US economy in the end.

Not that he would do so intentionally.

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[–] miss_demeanour@lemmy.dbzer0.com 50 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"It's not a tax! Countries will just eat the tariffs!"
-- maga business graduates not knowing "margins"

[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 16 points 3 days ago

It's not a dick, it's a mouth based video game

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 47 points 3 days ago (2 children)

He’s collecting bribes from foreign companies and countries. And some domestic companies.

That’s it. There’s no 5d chess here.

The other bit is that Peter Navarro hates Canada.

[–] breecher@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

An extra bonus for him is when foreign leaders brownnose him on camera, that tickles his pathological narcissism. But yeah, the grifting is his main purpose by far.

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Being President finally showed us that he was lying about being a "deal artist" all this time.

[–] sulgoth@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

No, I think anyone who was paying him any mind knew. It's just his biggest claim to fame before his presidency was a mediocre TV personality.

[–] Zron@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

He failed to sell steaks and casinos(yes multiple casinos) to Americans.

You know what Americans fucking love? Steak and the distant chance of becoming rich through no effort.

You know how badly you’d have to mismanage a casino to cause it to go bankrupt? It’s a building where people willing go to get blind drunk and give you money. If you owned a money printer, I don’t know if you could make as much money as a casino can per day.

He’s been a moron for decades. He just used Daddies money to buy his way into pop culture. He’s Paris Hilton but replace the tits and drug use with being a sad loser who couldn’t sell shit to a fly.

[–] visnae@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Maybe he just want American car manufacturers to make 50% smaller cars instead of the huge trucks? America could be a world leader of smart cars

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[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago

One for $2, Two for $5, very good deal

[–] notarobot@lemmy.zip 24 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The pitch is "go broke, because the rules are changing week by week and choosing either could mean losing massive amounts of money. You may be better off quitting while you are ahead."

[–] Mirshe@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"Go broke so my corporate raider friends can buy up GM and sell it for parts", because all the corporate raiders forgot that you actually have to have someone who WANTS the product you're selling. Toyota or whoever isn't going to want GM's manufacturing arm in America because of those tariffs.

Toyota will want the real estate and factories, at least. One thing we're still good at in the US is paving over former EPA superfund sites and protected wetlands and cheaply erecting huge, inadequately-ventilated industrial buildings.

[–] nuko147@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago

The tariff on Steel in USA is very very old (1800s). It was to protect their own production, which would plummet if the tariff was not existed. I think after WW2 remained very low (5%), only to reappear temporarily in 2000s and permanently with the 1st Trump presidency, which Biden kept and now Trump has doubled.

Ofc the reappear of tariffs on Steel made the Steel prices get higher (huge spikes after new tariffs and higher average price in the long term) and all the products made of it. So prepare for American cars price hike.

[–] Bonus@piefed.social 17 points 3 days ago
[–] Heikki2@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

The secret behind this jenus deal is that he isn't in prison for fraud

[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] Embargo@lemmy.zip 10 points 3 days ago

Workers of the world, unite!

[–] N0t_5ure@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago

Canada applied reciprocal tariffs on American made cars that boosted the cost of a Tesla Model Y by about $20K, so Musk turned to Tesla's German production and imported the cars from there instead, and dropped the price back down to what it was.

[–] vivalapivo@lemmy.today 7 points 3 days ago (8 children)

Steel is extremely cheap compared to the car.

A metric ton of hrc steel costs like $800 - that's $400 added value to the end product.

A car costs like $30k. 15% is like $4.5k of the added value. The argument doesn't stand

What's really the problem is that the supply chain might cross the border a few times. That's what was the intent for the tarifs.

Stop thinking about the orange clown's government as the dumb villains from done kind of comedy. They are our political opponents

[–] darkdemize@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 days ago

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

[–] Milk_Sheikh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 days ago

It’s still a losing proposition, even if you don’t already have a factory in [insert country]. Steel is cheap yes, the value add comes from labor and capex payback yes, but there’s more than just metal that makes a car go vroom .

25% tariff on car parts

Ca parts could be anything from plastic fan ducting or the infotainment screen, or major components like engines and drivetrains. The majority of which is plastics/polymers and aluminum. The engine has steel sure, but the aluminum block is the most expensive part, while steel con-rods, crankshafts, and gears aren’t exactly an easy thing to set up a new factory in order to duck tariffs - tariffs that have been proven to come and go over social media beef.

So while it’s impossible to truly know the full BoM cost without seeing each component category’s HTS codes and how each maker sources their parts, I’d still wager that the 15% is the better pathway. Especially if you already have a factory, a known and trained labor pool, established transit and vendor links, etc

What it’ll definitely have more impact upon is expensive or luxury brands, because the material cost doesn’t scale with the sticker price the consumer sees.

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