New US camera import tariffs - 25-50%

[John Matthews]

38 minutes ago, newfoundmass said:

I really do think it's about time people stop giving the Republican party the benefit of the doubt. 

Yes, I understand. Tariffs are one thing; then, insane tariffs like 104% on China are something completely different. The only reason I mention Republicans is that he might listen to them as they could actually do something about his executive powers if he doesn't. Will they? I'm also not that sure, but I can tell you that the one thing US Citizens care most about is money- it's probably equal to God (arguably the even same thing for some).

If we entertain the idea of 104% tariffs on cameras made in China (and significant tariffs elsewhere), the used market is going to skyrocket like nothing ever seen before. MPB, KEH, and individuals are going to make an absolute killing.

China will probably have a field day. Europe will be somewhat unified and a new mecca for investment as perceived risk will be slightly mitigated. Once investors no longer view the USA as a safe place, their prestige will go down the tubes. The investment inertia could be catastrophic. POTUS and his buddies are in a very dangerous place right now as they think they cannot lose. Democrats simply have to wait for them to self destruct because they will at this rate. The big question is: will this current leadership pull the nation down with them? Possibly.

[eatstoomuchjam]

Agreed that the Republican party is unlikely, absent other factors, to do anything about the tariffs - but I just got linked to the smallbusiness subreddit today and if it's any indicator, small businesses (who tend overwhelmingly to be supporters of Republicans) are starting to melt down.  One person was complaining that they'd ordered something like $3,500 in parts from China pre-tariff and they arrived yesterday.  DHL gave them a bill for $2,500 in tariffs that would be due within 5 days or they'd send the parts back.

Another thread asked if there would be any positive outcome from the tariffs for small businesses and the responses ranged from polite to scorching, none of them even remotely positive.

Reddit isn't real life, of course, and I'm sure that a lot of business owners haven't been directly impacted yet, but give it a month or two and let's see.

I guess the big question at this point is whether those same people are willing to accept martial law if it gets declared sometime in the next month, as people have pointed out that our glorious leader has been teeing up since the inauguration.

[BTM_Pix]

There is a path through this for Blackmagic and other camera manufacturers if this actually carries on which is to separate the hardware and the software elements of the camera.

Instead of paying 104% on the value of the whole camera they can bring it in as a dumb unit and pay the tariff on the absolute minimum component cost.

They can then establish a bare bones local US operation to put the firmware on after it leaves the docks and before it goes to dealers.

They could then import the dumb camera at a value of $1000 (or less) and then control the price increase to a more palatable level of $1040 as the firmware will be a separate US derived product so tariff free instead of the end user having to swallow the $5000 on the whole product.

There is precedent here of course with the way Panasonic and Sony etc offer software keys to make a product more powerful and this just takes it to it’s logical conclusion as you can’t get more powerful than actually doing anything at all !

On the upside for Trump this chicanery will create a job for someone local.

Just the one of course but, still, a lot of winning there.

[Thpriest]

26 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

I guess the big question at this point is whether those same people are willing to accept martial law if it gets declared sometime in the next month, as people have pointed out that our glorious leader has been teeing up since the inauguration.

I do see bloodshed as a very possible outcome in the US, there is just so much craziness, so much anger, so many people are going to lose so much and people have guns...I'd imagine that at some point pretty soon the MAGA people will realise they have been swindled by the swindler in chief. The question is what will they do? What will Trump do if they turn on him? Doesn't look good from the outside.

[eatstoomuchjam]

9 minutes ago, Thpriest said:

I do see bloodshed as a very possible outcome in the US, there is just so much craziness, so much anger, so many people are going to lose so much and people have guns...I'd imagine that at some point pretty soon the MAGA people will realise they have been swindled by the swindler in chief. The question is what will they do? What will Trump do if they turn on him? Doesn't look good from the outside.

Looks even worse from the inside, believe me.

But I wasn't talking generalized bloodshed - I was talking about martial law after massive protests against the use of the insurrection act to deploy the US military within our own borders.  Once the big protests start, it just takes a little bit of violence or property damage for a president (who has already defined Tesla dealership vandalism as domestic terrorism) to declare that there's a need to expand the use of the military to contain the unrest.

Newsweek has a non-hyperbolic take - I personally just believe it will go further than they think:
https://www.newsweek.com/insurrection-act-martial-law-comparison-donald-trump-deadline-2057016

[BTM_Pix]

6 minutes ago, Thpriest said:

The question is what will they do?

When it was dawning on the hard of thinking here that Brexit was a load of old bollocks they just doubled down on the delusion using their weapon of choice, the piss poor home made sign.

 

The weapons of choice for Trump’s disciples when the penny drops might be a bit more problematic for him.

[MrSMW]

15 minutes ago, Thpriest said:

I'd imagine that at some point pretty soon the MAGA people will realise they have been swindled by the swindler in chief

I am sure this is the direction it will head in and pretty much everyone except his most hardcore acolytes, will realise they have been royally presidentially, shafted.

7 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

I was talking about martial law after massive protests against the use of the insurrection act to deploy the US military within our own borders

I've seen that movie and I would not bet against that becoming a reality, possibly even before this year is out.

As Luke Skywalker once said, "I have a bad feeling about this..."

[Thpriest]

56 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Looks even worse from the inside, believe me.

But I wasn't talking generalized bloodshed - I was talking about martial law after massive protests against the use of the insurrection act to deploy the US military within our own borders.  Once the big protests start, it just takes a little bit of violence or property damage for a president (who has already defined Tesla dealership vandalism as domestic terrorism) to declare that there's a need to expand the use of the military to contain the unrest.

Yeah, it'll probably start with a police crack down but as BTM-Pix's photo shows there are many armed and dangerous, angry people. Hopefully it doesn't come to that and Republicans in congress etc start reigning in the power they have given Trump before it's too late. Trump literally couldn't give a shit about anything. He is living the narcissist's wet dream. I hope someone is helping him change his underwear every morning.

[BTM_Pix]

What an absolute bell end this man is.

[eatstoomuchjam]

Well, the 90-day pause is good - should reduce a lot of suffering for a lot of people, but there really doesn't seem to be an endgame in the tariffs on China.  We need their goods a lot more than they need ours - and they know it.

[MrSMW]

The level of condescension in regards to other countries, their leaders and their people, is off the charts.

His behaviour and speech is surreal.

[Al Dolega]

To me the idea that an armed uprising/protest would cause any real impediment to Trump's plans is just wishful thinking. Even if you could somehow get a substantial number of gun owners to act violently against their beloved leader's government (which you couldn't), their effectiveness against our military, or hell even most of our police departments, would be laughable. Would there be property destruction, deaths on both sides, suffering? Of course. But there would be no real threat to Trump's agenda.

Reminds me of this Neal Brennan bit:

 

[KnightsFan]

Stock market had a massive surge after most of the tariffs were paused. Imagine how much money you could make if you knew that would happen 30 minutes before it did.

It's generally fascinating how much wealth is created or destroyed with no change in goods or services produced.

[fuzzynormal]

6 hours ago, Thpriest said:

soon the MAGA people will realise they have been swindled

Nope.  Are you an American?  I feel anyone with a grasp of the culture here wouldn't be quite so obtuse.  Then again, weird times.

[fuzzynormal]

6 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Newsweek has a non-hyperbolic take

That hasn't been my experience.

[fuzzynormal]

7 hours ago, John Matthews said:

Democrats simply have to wait for them to self destruct

Are you a senator from New York?

[Emanuel]

10 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Well, the 90-day pause is good - should reduce a lot of suffering for a lot of people, but there really doesn't seem to be an endgame in the tariffs on China.  We need their goods a lot more than they need ours - and they know it.

No shrinks to see in the States? : ) I don't realize how people don't get all this is insanity at best or worst ; ) Before, people were smarter when their king was crazy, they were used to put the guy off, now the majority elects the wildest... So, this is not only a problem of one sole guy : P I consider myself half liberal half conservative no less, but as even Pope Francis said, Kamala with her pro choice policy had been much safer no matter what we think about the woke agenda -- what such a stratagedy! Even with no particular end result in mind... Definitely much mooooore healthy than a basis who has no clue what actually is going on in this same planet ready for extinction nowadays. 

Let's not forget the climate change, ok? March was the warmest month ever in Europe as far as records hint.

 

Guess it's never late or enough to recall this one once again when art is far to be distant from reality...

The society is sick as whole. The same. The situation now seems a way worse than in that January 6... Never thought to have to arrive here. Humankind is hard to learn... North Americans from Washington DC rule, the new Romans as someone called them, as our species flagship, follow. 

What expects us all yet?

[tigerbengal]

On 4/2/2025 at 11:16 PM, newfoundmass said:

The frustrating thing, as an American, is that lower income folks are among his most ardent supporters yet are the ones who will end up hurt the most by his heartless, cruel policies. 

I've said it on here before, I live in a mobile home. I made a choice to live as cheaply as I could, regardless of whether I could afford a nicer home or not, because I want to live a simple, affordable life. I own my mobile home outright, so I have no mortgage. I just pay a modest lot fee every month in the community I live in. My taxes property taxes are extremely low, and I live comfortably. A lot of folks here are lower income, though, and live here because it's what they could afford. They're decent, working class folks who struggle to make ends meet. A lot of them are on public assistance, like fuel assistance and food stamps. You want to know who most of them voted for, though? Based on the yard signs and flags, most folks here voted for Donald Trump. They voted for the man whose policies will hurt them the most. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad. 

It's a testament to the Democrats and their incompetence that twice they lost to a swindler and con man because they were unable to convince a majority of the electorate that the racist billionaire doesn't give a fuck about them. 

it is not only Democrats incompetence, a big part   goes to Fox News, these people watch this tv network 24/7 365 days, they are brainwashed, fox news is a propaganda network, they do not live by standards, is like the russians have a US channel and spit their lies and propaganda everyday....they know how to manipulate them by hate and fear....hate the immigrants, hate color people, hate the rich peopel living in democrat states like California, NY, you are poor because of them, you are a loser because of them, we are screwed here in the US with this idi0t as president...

[John Matthews]

7 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Are you a senator from New York?

Not quite sure of the reference as I’m not from NY at all. Chuck S. should have added more friction, but that would slow Potus down. My point was more about when you see your adversary is making mistake after mistake, you let them continue doing so. Potus is making so many hard moves, the risk will contue to be high.

[Thpriest]

7 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Nope.  Are you an American?  I feel anyone with a grasp of the culture here wouldn't be quite so obtuse.  Then again, weird times.

Fair enough. Who knows what will happen? But I always thought MAGA covered a whole range of people from hardcore nutjobs to others caught up in the moment who upon seeing the results of a MAGA world in reality, might not be so keen on it. Then what do I know? What does anyone know?