I work in the corporate side of retail for a large company. I promise you not a single vendor is absorbing the tariffs, but a few are getting around it by just moving production for the US market to other factories they already own in Southeast Asia.

These companies were already afraid of the Chinese government absorbing them and moved “headquarters” to Singapore. This isn’t hurting them, it’s hurting us.

It’s wild how much everyone looks like a sucker and a mark once you’ve been out of the consumer mindset for a few years. You start to see between the lines a lot more and realize how much dumb shit is pushed on people. Buying a new phone every two years made a lot of sense when they doubled processing power and functionality. New flagships though? Forget that, why the hell would I want an AI powered advertisement and tracking machine in my pocket? The non AI powered tracking machine that’s 4 years old in my pocket is fucked up enough lol.

Firstly, please don’t whatabout me. But to answer your question; goods in every sector are still manufactured in this country. From shoes and jackets to missiles and airplanes, we still make it all. Definitely in far smaller quantities than before, because the cost of labor is significantly higher, meaning US made goods demand a large premium over imported goods. If everything was made domestically you’d be too poor to buy half the stuff you own now. Manufacturing jobs are trash and pay trash, unless they’re highly skilled jobs (like building airplanes). Nobody wants $3 an hour where I’m from.

We’re not protecting anything for free with Ukraine. We agreed that if this literal situation happened, we’d fight Russia since Ukraine was giving away their deterrent. Like, do you think Russia still would’ve invaded Ukraine if there were nukes that could wipe Moscow off the map in Ukraine?

Now everyone is going to start secret nuke programs because they can’t trust the USA to honor it’s end of the bargain. Our ability to negotiate was thrown into the garbage disposal for fucking what?

What a stupid take. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and inform you that when the USSR fell a substantial amount of their nuclear weapons were within Ukraine’s borders and Ukraine was the only new state in a position to actually maintain and potentially deploy their nuclear arsenal.

Ukraine gave up those nukes on the promise that Russia and the USA wouldn’t invade Ukraine. Now Russia has invaded and the USA is siding with fucking Russia. This sends a message to every other civilized nation that the USA won’t back them up if another nuclear power invades. Where does that logically lead them then? “Better build my own nuclear deterrent” and now we’re gonna go from 7 countries with potential to end all life on earth to god knows how many. The downstream impact of this could literally end humanity.

Instructions weren’t very clear, now my house is burning down. Is there a good way to vent the smoke next time?