Economics Thread

57Brave said:
Yes, I think they should pay the same rate as you.
(Which I trust is a good bit higher than mine)
You obviously don't.

You of course understand $1M means one thing to them and to you on a salary and still counting your stock s worth for possible sale a whole other. ???

Remember when I advised you to study The Great Gatsby and the lesson for you inside.
That no matter how high you see your self and your overall worth you can never amount to a bucket of spit in their world / eyes
But hey, a guy can wish
.......

You might want to
a) stop worrying about being right at every turn
it really hinders your growth as a human.
b) read Ray Madofff
Click to expand...
It doesnt matter what "Its worth to them"

Its theirs. And youre jealous so you want to steal it from them

They earned it. You use their products every day.

But you keep bringing up Elon Musk to talk about your original post of "tax the 1%"

We already do. Do you not understand?
 
mqt said:
They could even write textbooks to warn of such effects.
Click to expand...
https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/working_papers/2026/wp_26-08

This paper analyzes the effect of the 2025 U.S. import tariffs on import prices and local labor-markets. To that end, we use highly disaggregated customs data to construct realized tariff rates from actual duty collections, rather than announced statutory schedules. An important contribution is that we document a large and persistent gap between the two measures, driven by within-country product reallocation, cross-country sourcing shifts, and implementation frictions. This implies that statutory rates are a poor proxy for the trade shock that firms actually faced. Using realized tariffs, we find that pass-through of realized tariffs into import prices was close to one hundred percent, with negligible adjustment by foreign exporters and a significant reduction in import quantities.
 
Adam Smith is the font of many great quotes. I'm using this one tonight in a talk about the history of tariffs to a local historical society. First slide no less!

In every country it always is and must be the interest of the great body of the people to buy whatever they want of those who sell it cheapest. The proposition is so very manifest that it seems ridiculous to take any pains to prove it; nor could it ever have been called in question had not the interested sophistry of merchants and manufacturers confounded the common sense of mankind. Their interest is, in this respect, directly opposite to that of the great body of the people.
 
https://reason.com/2026/04/21/the-t...ices-its-top-trade-official-lobbied-for-them/

With fertilizer prices spiking due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a majority of American farmers now say they will have a hard time securing their needed supply this year, and President Donald Trump says he is "watching fertilizer prices" closely to prevent price gouging.

But if the president is worried about high fertilizer prices, he might want to have a conversation with his top trade official.

Before joining the Trump administration last year, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer lobbied for policies that limited fertilizer imports and drove up prices for American farmers. Greer represented the J.R. Simplot Company as it successfully persuaded the first Trump administration to impose higher tariffs on fertilizer—despite the opposition from farmers and agricultural interests, who warned that those tariffs would create higher prices and potential shortages.

—————

Dumb policy gets dumber everyday
 
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/spirit-...administration-12a6b84a?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Who could have imagined that the U.S. government would deem a budget airline too big to fail? Yet here we are, as President Trump is flying to the rescue of the beleaguered Spirit Airlines. This is a story of how one misconceived government intervention leads to another.

Spirit last summer declared bankruptcy for the second time in less than two years. A hefty debt load and challenging business model has made a turnaround difficult. The Biden antitrust cops closed one escape hatch by blocking its merger with JetBlue in 2024. Now Spirit is getting slammed by soaring prices for jet fuel because of the war in Iran.

All of this means that the no-frills carrier could have to liquidate and lay off some 14,000 workers. Enter Mr. Trump, who floated a bailout of Spirit in a CNBC interview this week. Press reports say his Administration is negotiating a rescue that would lend the carrier some $500 million in return for warrants to buy as much as 90% of equity in the company. Is this the revival of the Trump Shuttle, circa 1989?

…

Washington could wind up subsidizing Spirit’s money-losing business indefinitely. The Trump Shuttle didn’t succeed, and the U.S. doesn’t need an Amtrak of the airways.

—————

Dumb
 
acesfull86 said:
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/spirit-...administration-12a6b84a?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Who could have imagined that the U.S. government would deem a budget airline too big to fail? Yet here we are, as President Trump is flying to the rescue of the beleaguered Spirit Airlines. This is a story of how one misconceived government intervention leads to another.

Spirit last summer declared bankruptcy for the second time in less than two years. A hefty debt load and challenging business model has made a turnaround difficult. The Biden antitrust cops closed one escape hatch by blocking its merger with JetBlue in 2024. Now Spirit is getting slammed by soaring prices for jet fuel because of the war in Iran.

All of this means that the no-frills carrier could have to liquidate and lay off some 14,000 workers. Enter Mr. Trump, who floated a bailout of Spirit in a CNBC interview this week. Press reports say his Administration is negotiating a rescue that would lend the carrier some $500 million in return for warrants to buy as much as 90% of equity in the company. Is this the revival of the Trump Shuttle, circa 1989?

…

Washington could wind up subsidizing Spirit’s money-losing business indefinitely. The Trump Shuttle didn’t succeed, and the U.S. doesn’t need an Amtrak of the airways.

—————

Dumb
Click to expand...
Anyone calling for reduction in government is committing genocide, though
 
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trump-trashes-his-own-trade-pact-ed1b2ba9

Mr. Trump negotiated the USMCA in his first term and signed it into law in 2020 to replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. It promises U.S. market access to products from Mexico and Canada providing they meet regional-content requirements. But now he’s having regrets. Since he can’t take it back, he’s decided to cheat. This is doing reputational damage to the U.S. abroad. Worse, it’s undermining the American economy.

…

Mr. Trump’s claim that Mexican- and Canadian-made refrigerators, washing machines, baby strollers, snowmobiles and golf carts are a threat to U.S. national security has generated a lot of good jokes. But the 232 tariffs are no laughing matter for North American businesses, and they’re a clear abuse of the law. Gutless Republicans are too afraid of the president to object. The Democrats, long opponents of trade and sops for Big Labor, are happy to see him working for their traditional supporters.

The goal is to make final products from Mexico and Canada less affordable for U.S. consumers. But in an “affordability” crisis, that sounds like a bad political strategy.
 
sturg33 said:
Anyone calling for reduction in government is committing genocide, though
Click to expand...
I’d like to know how we’re better off by the government’s blocking of the JetBlue-Spirit merger a couple years ago? This “state capitalism” is “necessary” only because government caused the problem in the first place.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1765190540427935859

Those thirsty for antitrust action for its own sake (and/or socialists) are the winners … consumers, taxpayers, shareholders are all the losers.
 
Last edited:
acesfull86 said:
I’d like to know how we’re better off by the government’s blocking of the JetBlue-Spirit merger a couple years ago? This “state capitalism” is “necessary” only because government caused the problem in the first place.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1765190540427935859

Those thirsty for antitrust action for its own sake (and/or socialists) are the winners … consumers, taxpayers, shareholders are all the losers.
Click to expand...
In airline mergers it is often the routes or slots not the hardware that are the most valuable assets being acquired. And having those routes forecloses the possibility of a new entrant coming in. Our competition policy (or lack thereof) has cost consumers a huge amount of money. To the tune of about $16,000 per year per family. About 10 times the last year's tariffs!

30 years ago we had: American, United, Delta, Northwest, Continental, US Airways, TWA, Southwest, and America West.

Now 4 airlines control 80% of the domestic market.

Airlines make a lot more money now than they did 30 years ago. Each year there is a massive transfer from consumers due to the increase in concentration.

Rinse and repeat over multiple industries and the cost is $16,000 a year for the average family.

I'd much rather our regulators err on the side of saying nyet to these mergers and other forms of anti-competitive behavior than err on the side of waving them through, as we have been for over 30 years now.

Capitalism only works to the extent society is able to set and enforce rules against anti-competitive behavior. Every incumbent has very powerful incentives and often the means to insulate itself against competition. Laissez faire leads to a very inefficient outcome.
 
Last edited:
acesfull86 said:
I’d like to know how we’re better off by the government’s blocking of the JetBlue-Spirit merger a couple years ago? This “state capitalism” is “necessary” only because government caused the problem in the first place.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1765190540427935859

Those thirsty for antitrust action for its own sake (and/or socialists) are the winners … consumers, taxpayers, shareholders are all the losers.
Click to expand...
Mqt made it clear that dems are necessary to protect the individual in this corporate environment!
 
One solution to the JetBlue-Spirit situation is to require JetBlue to do something that would increase competition if it wants the green light to acquire Spirit. For example, require it to divest itself of a certain number of routes in markets that are highly concentrated and make them available to new entrants.

We also have to ask ourselves how other mergers (for example United and Continental) were waived through when the negative implications for competition were very clear.

We have seen similar mergers in healthcare and other industries. We saw T-Mobile swallow up Sprint. Not long after Sprint triggered prices wars that massively benefited consumers.

We can learn from those mistakes. Maybe even undo them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top