I keep hoping the tariff trade war makes some kind of sense that’s just beyond my grasp.

@FreeSpirit1 Say what now???😷

@FreeSpirit1 Oh good. With the global stock markets in free fall, the US dollar beginning to weaken, unemployment rising, food and gas prices rising and all of our social safety nets in shreds, I thought we were in trouble. Glad it’ll all just work out somehow 🙃

@Zaphod42 All that happened in 2 days? The markets yes. Gas prices haven't had time to react and neither has the job market. We just had a better than expected month of rising employment. And since April 2, the social safety nets have unraveled? Huh... I guess I missed that. Maybe it was because while some people are panicking (look in the mirror), I'm buying the market.

@carpediem I didn’t say all that has happen in two days, but it is a trend of things happening in the last two months.

@Zaphod42 Another trend in the past couple months is massive investment in US manufacturing designed to avoid paying a tariff. Even Apple will be investing over 500 billion to build a new facility in Houston. And there are many more. I believe these types of investments will have a positive impact on long term economic growth and prosperity.

@carpediem I agree, and that’s fantastic! More of the things US companies make should be manufactured here if at all possible for multiple reasons, including economic stability and national security. But it’ll be years before those new factories are built, and in many cases the tariffs are still far less than the cost of building and operating factories here rather than leaving them over seas leaving us to just buy at higher prices. And Apple still has to import a chunk of what they use to make the products.

@Zaphod42 You have to start somewhere. Decades of bad trade deals can't be wiped out in 2 days. Once the buildings start being built, the economy reacts. It takes materials, labor and professional services to build buildings. Suppliers all over not only supply materials, but labor to build and distribute their products. So there will be positive impact reasonably soon.

The key is, as you've stated, economic stability and national security. We need to manufacture in the US to become the powerhouse we once were. Our manufacturing and economic strength won 2 world wars. We need manufacturing to return.

@carpediem I hope you’re right. It would feel less unstable if the person implementing the massive sweeping global changes wasn’t doing it with a shrug and a “We’ll see what happens” 🤷‍♂

@Zaphod42 I hope I'm right too. I'm used to Trump's style of negotiating. He rattles the world and comes to the table with a very strong negotiating position. I guess we'll see what happens 🤷🏻‍♂

@Zaphod42 I meaaan this has all been already happening since Joe Biden, but sure. Just blame Trump for everything even though the guy's only been in office for a little over 2 months, whatever floats your boat, dude.