Random Thought Thread

It is pretty remarkable how great you can have it and still figure out a way to be miserable with it.

The human condition is such a strange thing

If you ever get feeling down, just remember there are people who live in neighborhoods with homeowners associations.

And if you are one of these people who live in a neighborhood with an HOA, at least you have something to be miserable about. Maybe it can help distract you from the things that make the rest of us miserable like having 50 excellent restaurants within convenient driving distance but having no where you want to go to lunch.
 
We chose where we are to a large degree because there is no HOA. But, that doesn't come without a price tag. Still, I do prefer making our own choices, and hopefully being able to get with neighbors to do what needs being done for the betterment of the community as needs arise.
 
how do you guys feel about tarrifs? Is it one of those things where people don't mind paying the 35% or whatever it is if you know it's going back into your gov't? Like a patriotic thing?

The reason I ask is that unless I apply for an exemption under CUSMA, I'll have to add 35% to the price for my work in order to pay the import tax into the US. I'm pretty sure my work is exempt, but if it's not, would you have a problem with paying an additional $175 on a $500 knife if you knew that the US gov't was gonna use that money to pay down the national debt or whatever it was gonna be used for?

There are a number of countries suspending mail service to the US because of the cancellation of the de minimis exemption altogether- fortunately Canada is not one of them. It's just not clear to me yet whether or not I have to charge my US peeps for the import tax, (which I have to pay when I ship my stuff).
 
Without going down the political rabbit hole, and stating up front that I'm not an economist...I'm not a big fan of tariffs and prefer, at least conceptually, free trade and fair treatment for both sides of a transaction.

But I don't know what I don't know.

(Personally, I think there are better ways to address the national debt than the steps that have been taken thus far...but...that's a whole other discussion.)
 
I hate my job in finance, but I realized that there isn't a realistic and profitable job I would "enjoy". So, I decided I really only care about how much money I make.

I care about the money only because of what it allows me to give to my wife and daughter. We have everything we need and some of what we want; that is a plentiful blessing in my eyes.

Perspective matters so much and we have more control over it than we take responsibility for.

I try not to focus on the fact that I don't like the people I work with because they're lazy and/or stupid, I don't focus on the tedium or monotony of my career. I try to be thankful and grateful that my wife doesn't have to work and gets to be with our daughter everyday, my daughter has good medical care, a vet bill won't empty my bank account, my dogs are given good food, and my home is safe and comfortable.

It's a much better life than I had growing up; there's a lot to be grateful for.
 
Lorien said:
how do you guys feel about tarrifs? Is it one of those things where people don't mind paying the 35% or whatever it is if you know it's going back into your gov't? Like a patriotic thing?

The reason I ask is that unless I apply for an exemption under CUSMA, I'll have to add 35% to the price for my work in order to pay the import tax into the US. I'm pretty sure my work is exempt, but if it's not, would you have a problem with paying an additional $175 on a $500 knife if you knew that the US gov't was gonna use that money to pay down the national debt or whatever it was gonna be used for?

There are a number of countries suspending mail service to the US because of the cancellation of the de minimis exemption altogether- fortunately Canada is not one of them. It's just not clear to me yet whether or not I have to charge my US peeps for the import tax, (which I have to pay when I ship my stuff).
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There is currently no mechanism for the European countries to pay the tariff before shipping. Since they cannot pay, they have to suspend shipments. If the di minimus tarfiff exclusion was due to be removed, the mechanism for payment should have already been in place.
 
I will not pay it if I have any choice in the matter, therefore not going to pay the additional sales tax on a want type of merchandise. On the need basis though, I will have no choice but to pay that regressive sales tax because I need to east and consume certain things but then I will try to compensate my investment portfolio to be defensive enough to blunt the pain.

I am not an economist either but I know this much:

When politicians cry-me-a-river by BS'ing and shedding croc tears about your "tax $, my tax $" being spent and wasted, they are just BS'ing through their teeth! All G7 governments and then some, specially the U.S. government print money first because they have their own central banks which through analyzing millions of data points decide how much money to print to calibrate the supply side to keep the economy humming while watching both unemployment and inflation. The money is already accounted for and allocated in advance, then the government tries to pay itself back primarily through collecting due taxes and selling IOUs (bonds). there is no such thing as a current account with the tax payers monies that the government dips into paying bills with! It's all a crock of shyte! For the same reason, if there is any revenue from the tariffs, they will be absorbed again from the bottom upwards. Ritchie riches getting richer till one day we will eat some liver with fava beans...

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Nathan the Machinist said:
It is pretty remarkable how great you can have it and still figure out a way to be miserable with it.

The human condition is such a strange thing

If you ever get feeling down, just remember there are people who live in neighborhoods with homeowners associations.

And if you are one of these people who live in a neighborhood with an HOA, at least you have something to be miserable about. Maybe it can help distract you from the things that make the rest of us miserable like having 50 excellent restaurants within convenient driving distance but having no where you want to go to lunch.
Click to expand...
We call that “first world problems” syndrome. When people don’t have serious problems to deal with, they find other problems.

Akin to the “50 great restaurants, and nowhere you feel like going” vs the people going, “food? I vaguely remember that. I think I had some last week”.
 
Lorien said:
how do you guys feel about tarrifs? Is it one of those things where people don't mind paying the 35% or whatever it is if you know it's going back into your gov't? Like a patriotic thing?

The reason I ask is that unless I apply for an exemption under CUSMA, I'll have to add 35% to the price for my work in order to pay the import tax into the US. I'm pretty sure my work is exempt, but if it's not, would you have a problem with paying an additional $175 on a $500 knife if you knew that the US gov't was gonna use that money to pay down the national debt or whatever it was gonna be used for?

There are a number of countries suspending mail service to the US because of the cancellation of the de minimis exemption altogether- fortunately Canada is not one of them. It's just not clear to me yet whether or not I have to charge my US peeps for the import tax, (which I have to pay when I ship my stuff).
Click to expand...
I'd say that tariffs are poorly understood in general, but for our purposes most people will simply look at the cost to get your knife to their door. They're not going to split it up as $500 for the knife and $175 for WINNING. Things can change abruptly and significantly, but until they do, you're selling $675 knives...
 
Oh one more thing from this none economist:

When our esteemed friend upstairs opined that he is for free trade, I am 100% behind this because free trade has brought us cheap money to borrow to run the kind of deficits which we run. Budget deficit onto itself is not the monster per se for an economy the size of the U.S but what is disastrous is when you have to borrow the money to pay the climbing and rising interest on the debt which you are accumulating. Universal tariffs are very bad, specific tariffs as protectionist measures, is a necessary tool.
 
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