Will tariffs make America great?

steenkh said:
Isn’t it also the case that cars in Japan have to conform to a standard size which is smaller than American sizes? When I was in Japan I was told that you were not allowed to have a car in Tokyo without proving that you had somewhere to park it, and the parking spaces are somewhat smaller than what I know from Europe. Even the minivans were shrunk in size to fit the parking spaces.
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Hell, most US vehicles won't fit in a standard car parking spot here in Australia either...

Saw a Ram 1500- (lol sucker)- trying to park in a spot at Kmart when I was in the 'big smoke' last week (nearest Kmart/Coles/Woolies is literally over an hours drive away from my place)- and it was simply too big to fit into a single car park... it was that wide when they did get it in, they couldn't open the door wide enough to get out without hitting the car next to it, and it was hanging out into the lane of traffic by a good metre and a half (5-6ft)- they ended up having to park right at the far end of the carpark and walk lol- and it literally needed 4 parking spots to be able to park without danger to other vehicles around it...

Ridiculous....

This is a Hilux (most popular vehicle sold in Australia) with a same scale Ram 1500 next to it- and even Hiluxes are considered a large vehicle to park...
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To make matters worse for the US made Ram, its fuel economy sux (you can literally drive the Hilux to the same place as the Ram has driven to, turn around and come back- and STILL have fuel left over in the Hilux....) and to add insult to injury- because of the way our drivers licences are rated, the Ram literally can't tow any more than the Hilux can legally either!!!!

(well there IS a way around it, but you need to spend thousands getting a LR or MR truck licence, and also pay to a weight upgrade to the Rams rego- which here will also cost several thousand initially and increase your rego costs by about a grand a year- and means that anyone without the required LR/MR truck licence can no longer drive the Ram... get caught doing so on a car licence, and its counted as 'driving without a licence'- will cost you a automatic 3 month suspension on your car licence and over a grand in fines....)

The US style 'trucks' continue to be a woeful seller in Australia as you might expect (as in a thousand a year in total out of over 1.2 million new vehicles registered for the first time in Australia in 2024- thats for ALL the US made 'big trucks'/utes of all brands/models combined...)

To give you an idea of just how ridiculously oversized they are, I have a 1996 Corolla here (I'd call it a 'small to medium' sized hatchback... can seat 5 at a pinch- but I wouldn't want to drive to Brisbane with 5 adults in it, unless they are really 'close' friends lol- 4 is ok though...)
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Here's a comparison of the Ram 1500 versus my Corolla... (well thats a 2001 Corolla, but close enough lol)
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Oh, and the double axle car trailer behind the Corolla- I can tow that on the Corolla legally, with up to 600kg of rubbish/plywood sheets/whatever on it...
Perfectly legal, cops won't even look at it....
 
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steenkh said:
Isn’t it also the case that cars in Japan have to conform to a standard size which is smaller than American sizes? When I was in Japan I was told that you were not allowed to have a car in Tokyo without proving that you had somewhere to park it, and the parking spaces are somewhat smaller than what I know from Europe. Even the minivans were shrunk in size to fit the parking spaces.
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I believe it's an either/or. Some places like Tokyo do require you to show you have a parking space in order to buy a car, but the tiny "Kei Car" category is exempt from that requirement.

I suspect most places have smaller car parking spaces than North America. Smaller garage doors too.
 
Puppycow said:
... You can buy a Jeep in Japan with a steering wheel on the right side apparently:
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And in the UK. I drove one a few days ago. Jeep is a Stellantis brand now along with Fiat, Chrysler, Peugeot, Citroen etc. It's not really an American car any more except in cultural influence.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
And in the UK. I drove one a few days ago. Jeep is a Stellantis brand now along with Fiat, Chrysler, Peugeot, Citroen etc. It's not really an American car any more except in cultural influence.
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Jeep was another US brand that tried it on in Australia- and quickly got a very bad reputation as 'lemons'- with one owner publicly setting his on fire after repeated (unsuccessful) attempts to get it repaired under warrantee...
(and yes, they have the steering wheel on the right side here in Australia too- LHD cars 'can' be registered, but only if they are
'historic' rego plated ie over 25 years old and can't be driven as a daily driver.... over 1/3 of the countries on the planet are RHD...)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/sc-jeep-man/103024156

I remember this when it first came out here, bloody hilarious video and I saw it on the news!!! so it was shown on TV on prime time TV right around Australia at the time- a extremely P.O. Jeep owner here in Australia made after a totally different Jeep owner got fed up with his Jeep (like all so many others) spent more time on the back of towtrucks and in the dealers getting fixed.... (video is down the bottom of the link)

from https://www.autoevolution.com/news/...s-viral-in-australia-video-101935.html#agal_0

:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

They truly have a woeful reputation for reliability here- which considering the US offroaders think they are the ducks nuts when it comes to offroading- doesn't say much for what they consider to be 'good' cars lol- US offroaders think Jeeps are great vehicles, Aussies think that they are literally the worst offroader you can buy (even if it never goes offroad, they break down with monotonous regularity- who in their right mind would take it out bush???)

Even the Indian made Mahindra gets a better owner satisfaction rating AND a better reliability score than the Jeep Cherokee lol- that truly is a WTF moment....
Whats even more embarrassing is they are more reliable, get better fuel economy, basically the same size- and cost half the price....
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The rental Jeep I drove infuriated me as I couldn't figure out how to disengage the electronic parking brake to reverse it out of its parking spot. I took multiple attempts and tried all kinds of button pushing. Eventually I just reversed it with the brake on. As soon as I was driving forward it was suddenly fine.

I thought I was doing something wrong as compared with any of my cars "it's all computer". Now I suspect it was just faulty.
 
W.D.Clinger said:
As reported this morning by CNN:
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Fox, or Fox Business, came up with 33,000 LOST, CNN gain of 147,000? So is Maria B's head going to roll, or did someone put up the wrong thing on the teleprompter? Or, CNN is wrong.

In another thread Trump tweets about "hundreds of billions of tariffs in coffers." (paraphrase) I can't see how that can possibly be true. Haven't tariffs been on again, off again from the start? So that means taxpayers have shelled out that amount? Or companies. But it's tax revenue. Use some of it to restore poor people's health insurance. Jesus wept.
 
Minoosh said:
Fox, or Fox Business, came up with 33,000 LOST, CNN gain of 147,000? So is Maria B's head going to roll, or did someone put up the wrong thing on the teleprompter? Or, CNN is wrong.

In another thread Trump tweets about "hundreds of billions of tariffs in coffers." (paraphrase) I can't see how that can possibly be true. Haven't tariffs been on again, off again from the start? So that means taxpayers have shelled out that amount? Or companies. But it's tax revenue. Use some of it to restore poor people's health insurance. Jesus wept.
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You’re still under the illusion that Trump cares about people? Trump cares about counting dollars.
 
Steve said:
You’re still under the illusion that Trump cares about people? Trump cares about counting dollars.
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No, but he might care about the Republican Party's chances in the midterms. And he cares about adulation.

Any other Republican president might have done the same thing. And done worse, possibly.

In a way I think he is quite empathetic - capable of picking up on people's emotions - patriotism, resentment and fear. Now maybe I'm misusing the word - does he feel what they feel? Maybe he's just perceptive.

I think there's a chance he'll push to reinstate what was cut from Medicaid. He might not care about people, but he cares about getting good publicity. News outlet will be doing stories on people who are losing benefits and if they include a hot blonde mom or a vet who fell through the VA cracks that might get Donald's attention. I want these people back on insurance. The system can work so much better when everyone has insurance.
 
Minoosh said:
No, but he might care about the Republican Party's chances in the midterms. And he cares about adulation.

Any other Republican president might have done the same thing. And done worse, possibly.

In a way I think he is quite empathetic - capable of picking up on people's emotions - patriotism, resentment and fear. Now maybe I'm misusing the word - does he feel what they feel? Maybe he's just perceptive.

I think there's a chance he'll push to reinstate what was cut from Medicaid. He might not care about people, but he cares about getting good publicity. News outlet will be doing stories on people who are losing benefits and if they include a hot blonde mom or a vet who fell through the VA cracks that might get Donald's attention. I want these people back on insurance. The system can work so much better when everyone has insurance.
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Rule #1: Trump cares about only himself, all the time.
Rule #2: That's it. No more rules. You don't matter.

And no Republican is going to change the medical system so everyone has insurance. That's communism.
 
Minoosh said:
Fox, or Fox Business, came up with 33,000 LOST, CNN gain of 147,000? So is Maria B's head going to roll, or did someone put up the wrong thing on the teleprompter? Or, CNN is wrong.
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A private firm, ADP, estimated that US government figures would show a loss of 33,000 jobs in June. This prediction was widely reported. CNN was not wrong when it reported ADP's estimate, and was not wrong when, hours later, it reported the US government figures.

Maria Baltiromo of Fox News was reporting a more optimistic estimate of 95,000 jobs gained when someone showed ADP's estimate to her.

Both estimates were issued prior to the US government's release of its own preliminary figures. Baltiromo's mistake lay in relying upon expert guesstimates instead of waiting for the government to release its data.

Relying upon guesstimates instead of waiting for actual data is a mistake often made at ISF as well as Fox News.
 
REPORTER: Can we expect any more trade deals before next week?

TRUMP: My inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariff they're gonna be paying. It's just much easier ... 'you're gonna pay a 20%, or 25, or 30% tariff.' We're gonna be sending some letters out starting probably tomorrow.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1940882926020772344
 
Dabop said:
The US style 'trucks' continue to be a woeful seller in Australia as you might expect (as in a thousand a year in total out of over 1.2 million new vehicles registered for the first time in Australia in 2024- thats for ALL the US made 'big trucks'/utes of all brands/models combined...)
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I dunno - I seem to keep pulling up at the lights underneath them on a pretty regular basis.
 
Andy_Ross said:
REPORTER: Can we expect any more trade deals before next week?

TRUMP: My inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariff they're gonna be paying. It's just much easier ... 'you're gonna pay a 20%, or 25, or 30% tariff.' We're gonna be sending some letters out starting probably tomorrow.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1940882926020772344
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RETURN TO SENDER
ADDRESS UNKNOWN

<elvis> uh-huh, uh-huh... </elvis>

Didn't get no letter. So there are no tariffs in force now, right?
 
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Blue Mountain said:
Citation and numbers?
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Tarriffs are consumption taxes. 25% tarriffs will all be passed on to consumers, not stockholders. It will take its toll on everything you buy that comes from outside the US. And US manufacturers will increase prices on goods because they can. This will be a soul crushing levy that will affect everyone. Especially those trying to get ahead.
 
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