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Trump's trade war is economic suicide


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55 minutes ago, bostonangler said:

 

That is good news. But of course these are lower paying service jobs. And let's remember they do not count everyone not working. They count those who are actively looking. Just like when unemployment starting going down under Obama, many here were quick to remind us people who have been out of work too long and off unemployment checks are not counted. So as with everything from the government, the numbers are skewed... But I know more people are working, and that is a good thing. All a part of the recovery that started 10 years ago.

 

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That's what Obama did.

And if you want a good paying job just move to Wichita Kansas. There are thousands more jobs here just in the Aerospace industry alone than there are workers. And a major transportation company just moved into Witchta with 900+ jobs with a minimum salary of $54,000 a year. 

Furthermore, I suspect other members on DV could tell you of similar situations in their home towns. 

The biased and liberal media can spin their lies till their blue in the face, but it's not working anymore because we all are living in Trump's economy and aren't listening to the lies anymore. 

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Mnuchin Says Trade Deal With China Reached in Principle

 
BloombergOctober 14, 2019

Oct.14 -- The U.S. and China made a “fundamental agreement” on several trade issues last week though there are still many details to be worked out and documented, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

https://finance.yahoo.com/video/mnuchin-says-trade-deal-china-180038115.html

 

 

Like buying a building? Really... So the big partial deal is really only a deal in principle... Did Trump lie or does he really not understand things and how they work?

Before you slam me read his words below...

TRUMP: "The deal I just made with China is, by far, the greatest and biggest deal ever made for our Great Patriot Farmers in the history of our Country." — tweet Saturday.

TRUMP: "Start thinking about getting bigger tractors!" — tweet Saturday.

THE FACTS: Not so fast. No final trade agreement has been reached.

It's true that U.S. and China declared a temporary truce in their 15-month trade war. As part of a cease-fire deal announced Friday, China agreed to buy up to $50 billion in U.S. farm products, while the Trump administration said it would suspend a tariff increase on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports that was set to take effect Tuesday.

However, negotiators reached their tentative agreement only in principle. No documents have been signed. A final deal could still fall through, though Trump told reporters Friday he didn't think that would happen.

 

 

 

So in reality, I know some of you don't like the word reality, but in reality he has no deal... 

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Fed-Up Farmer’s Message To Trump: I Wouldn’t Vote For You If You Walked On Water

The former county chair for the Republican Party in Shelby County, Ohio says he’s done with President Donald Trump due to the trade war with China.

I’m not going to vote for the president, and I’m on record as saying that,” Christopher Gibbs, who’s also a soybean farmer that backed Trump in 2016, told CNBC on Monday. 

Gibbs said he doesn’t believe Trump’s claims he made a deal for China to buy up to $50 billion in U.S. agriculture given that the president made similar claims before that have never materialized, including claims of deals with Mexico and the European Union.

Indeed, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin admitted that the deal with China announced by Trump wasn’t actually a deal quite yet. 

There are still some issues that need to be worked out in wording,” Mnuchin said, per The Hill. “But I would say we have every expectation that phase one will close.”  

Gibbs said Trump’s previous broken promises make him “dubious” of any new claims of a deal. And in any case, Gibbs ― who has 560 acres of farmland in Shelby County ― said he was done with Trump even if there was a deal: 

“It doesn’t matter what he comes up with now. He could come up with this $50 billion, he could walk across my pond and not get wet, and I’m still not going to vote for him because, you know, at the end of the day my name is Chris Gibbs, it’s not Judas, and I’m not going to sell my political moorings for 30 pieces of silver. So no ― I’m out.” 

Gibbs made a video for The New York Times last year pleading with Trump to end the trade war. 

“I can draw a direct line from when the president started this tariff rhetoric in the price of my soybeans,” Gibbs said at the time, adding that those prices plunged 20 percent. 

“I have to tell you, Mr. President,” he said. “This hurts.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-soybean-farmer-turns-on-trump-052526651.html

 

 

Don't worry sir, he doesn't walk on water or even come close.

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1 minute ago, Shabibilicious said:

My wife was born in Shelby County...it's pretty darn rural, that's for sure.  Watch out for amish buggies.

 

GO RV, then BV 

 

I think this news article is very telling... Last week I posted my dad who is a staunch Trump supporter is done with him. He said he will vote for any republican running against him.

 

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LEWISBURG, W.Va. (AP) — A family business of West Virginia's billionaire governor has maxed out a taxpayer-funded subsidy program meant to help farmers through the U.S. trade war with China.

Records reviewed by The Associated Press show Justice Farms of North Carolina, which is owned by the family of Gov. Jim Justice, hit the program cap of $125,000 earlier this year and was the biggest recipient of soybean subsidies in West Virginia.

Justice, the richest person in the state, owns a complex business empire of coal and agricultural entities that are perennially mired in litigation, often over unpaid bills. The farming company is no different. It is named in a long-running lawsuit that alleges the Justice businesses transferred assets between them in an effort to avoid paying a debt.

The company took in $121,398 in subsidies for soybeans and $3,602 for corn for farms on property it owns in West Virginia, according to records provided to AP under the Freedom of Information Act. Both figures far exceed the program's median payments: $6,438 for soybeans and $152 for corn.

President Donald Trump's administration set up the Market Facilitation Program to help offset losses caused by tariffs, basing the payouts on bushels produced. The program does not require farms to demonstrate their operations have been damaged by the trade war.

Loopholes have allowed many large, moneyed farming operations to blow past the $125,000 cap, according to an AP analysis of the payments. Critics, including U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, have called for tighter oversight on where the taxpayer funds are funneled.

"We really think you should be subsidizing people who need the help. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for taxpayers to be providing billions of dollars to wealthy farmers who do not need the subsidies," said Anne Weir Schechinger, a senior economic analyst at the Environmental Working Group, which tracks federal farm subsidy programs.

More subsidies for the Justice family company could be on the way. The administration has rolled out another $16 billion in aid for farmers hurt by the president's trade policies but made some changes after criticism that large farming organizations were finding ways around the caps. Officials have increased the cap to $250,000 for the second round and payment calculations are based on acres planted and location instead of production.

Information on how the trade war has affected the Justice farms wasn't available. Officials in Greenbrier County, home to the subsidized farms, declined to release the company's agriculture data to the AP, as did the United States Department of Agriculture's regional National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Justice's government spokesman referred questions and an interview request to a representative for Justice's companies, who issued a statement saying tens of thousands of farms and ranches with products "directly impacted" by Chinese tariffs received money under the subsidies.

"Justice Farms of North Carolina was one of more than 3,000 farms in that state alone, and nearly 40,000 farms and businesses nationwide, that received support from this program. It's absurd for anyone to use this important program as the basis for cynical political attacks," said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the Justice companies.

Walsh did not detail losses suffered by Justice Farms of North Carolina in the U.S. trade war.

West Virginia property records show the company owns three farming properties and one residential building not far from a lavish resort the governor owns called The Greenbrier. The properties have a combined value of $1.87 million and span nearly 700 acres, with one including a full-size tennis court, according to state records.

The sprawling farms are nestled into a relatively flat stretch of land between sections of the Appalachian Mountains. On a recent visit, the farms were covered with rows upon rows of tall, dry stalks of corn.

County deed records in North Carolina, where the business is registered, show a dizzying series of property transfers between a Justice-owned entity, the James C. Justice Companies, and Justice Farms of North Carolina without any meaningful payment. The transactions, some involving just $10, are the subject of a federal lawsuit brought by a set of businesses that accuse the Justice companies of violating the RICO Act and masking their worth so they can skirt a debt. The suit seeks to force the companies to pay almost $17 million.

The business structure of Justice's many companies has perplexed litigants as well as federal prosecutors. In June, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of West Virginia asked a judge to hold the Justice family accountable for a more than $1 million court-ordered sanction against one of their companies after deeming it a shell corporation. One of Justice's other businesses quickly moved to pay the bill.

With a net worth estimated at $1.5 billion, Justice lists more than 100 business interests on his most recent financial disclosure form. When Justice became governor, he said he wanted to put his businesses in a blind trust but has not done so, causing criticism when his private and public roles intersect.

A prominent Republican state senator called for Justice to resign this summer after the U.S. government sued nearly two dozen of his coal businesses for failing to pay safety fines. Federal prosecutors in a public corruption unit have sent three subpoenas to his administration requesting information about his businesses and resort.

Justice has tried to put some distance between himself and his companies, saying his children control them. He has said the process of putting his businesses in a blind trust "has been slowed down by the multitude of financial institutions that work with my family's companies."

In the case of Justice Farms of North Carolina, the governor was listed as a manager in North Carolina business registry filings up until 2018, when his daughter's name replaced his. The company has not been included in his financial disclosures filed with the ethics commission in West Virginia.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/apnewsbreak-billionaire-governors-family-farms-141358337.html

 

 

Nice.

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6 minutes ago, ladyGrace'sDaddy said:

You get the ruby for putting words in my mouth. 

I never gave an opinion. I simply stated fact.

 

Do you think when the bailouts were announced they were meant for farmers who couldn't buy groceries or pay their electric bill? Do you think the bailouts should go to billionaires who in reality can afford to take a loss? That sounds more like socialism than anything I've seen lately.

 

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Edited by bostonangler
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2 minutes ago, bostonangler said:

 

Do you think when the bailouts were announced they were meant for farmers who couldn't buy groceries or pay their electric bill? Do you think the bailouts should go to billionaires who in reality can afford to take a loss? That sounds more like socialism than anything I've seen lately.

 

B/A

I think that the farmers I live with are irritated at having to take that kind of assistance but all love Trump and are grateful for the help. Mostly because they understand what Trump is trying to do. Making sausage ain't pretty. 

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Some U.S. electronics factories start layoffs as trade tariffs hit

(Reuters) - U.S. electronics factories are investing less and slowing hiring or laying off workers in some cases due to the rising costs of trade tariffs, according to an industry survey set for release on Wednesday.

The IPC, a global electronic industries trade association, found that nearly a third of all the dollar value of what its members with U.S. operations import has been hit by increased costs from the protracted U.S.-China trade war.

The electronics industry has increasingly sourced raw materials, components and manufacturing equipment from Chinese factories. They are then assembled into final products, ranging from control panels for tractors to medical imaging machines, in factories closer to customers, including in the United States.

The survey from the IPC, based in Bannockburn, Illinois, found that one in five companies with U.S. operations said they were investing less in the United States due to the new tariffs. About 13% said they were cutting hiring or reducing headcount.

“It seems clear that loss of profitability is impacting the ability of these companies to invest in the U.S.,” said Shawn DuBravac, IPC’s chief economist.

DuBravac said many association firms had indicated they were leaving China, but “it doesn’t appear from our results that a lot of that is flowing back to the U.S.” Rather, the focus is on moving to other low-cost countries, including Vietnam and Malaysia, he said.

Brad Heath, chief executive of VirTex, an Austin, Texas-based manufacturer, said he paid over $200,000 in tariffs for Chinese electronics parts last month on behalf of his clients.

VirTex is a contract manufacturer, which means it assembles parts into sub-assemblies for bigger companies. It can usually pass costs through to final customers, Heath said.

“But our customers don’t have that ability,” he added. “So someone is suffering margin erosion.”

The IPC survey found many companies were struggling to pass along tariff costs, with more than a third saying they could not increase their prices to compensate for them.

Nearly 70% said tariffs had eroded their profit margins, according to the survey, which also said just over half of companies were now sourcing from countries outside China to avoid tariffs.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/u-electronics-factories-start-layoffs-111819695.html

 

Well that didn't take long.

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U.S. medical device companies feel pain of Trump's tariffs

Peter Larson, the president and CEO of a small medical device company in Newark, Ohio, has paid over $250,000 in new tariffs as a result of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China. And his appeals for relief largely haven’t worked.

He asked the U.S. Trade Representative for an exemption from the duties and waited a year before receiving a letter in September saying his request had been granted.

“I whooped for joy when I saw that,” Larson said.

But his elation was short-lived. After checking the actual tariff code for the exemption that USTR published in the Federal Register, it became clear that it only covered “about 3 percent of what we've been paying taxes on,” Larson said. “And so instead of getting $250,000 back, I was going to get — the hell — $8,000 back. It’s nuts.”

Not long after Trump hit an initial $34 billion worth of Chinese goods with 25 percent tariffs, USTR opened the process for companies to apply for an exclusion from tariffs on any products not readily available in the United States. But critics like Larson complain USTR’s process is difficult to navigate and leads to many rejections.

The medical device industry has been left eating the costs — or passing them along to customers. Altogether, Trump has imposed duties on about $2 billion worth of medical devices and parts made in China, hitting big ticket items like MRIs, electrocardiographs and x-ray equipment as well as diagnostic monitors, laboratory ware, contact lenses, gloves and cotton surgical towels.

For its part, China has slapped retaliatory duties on almost $5 billion worth of U.S. medtech exports, compounding the problems that U.S. companies already face in trying to make sales in the world’s second largest economy.

Earlier this month, Trump announced the United States and China were close to completing a “phase one” trade agreement covering agriculture, currency, financial services and intellectual property. However, until a final more comprehensive deal is reached, tariffs that Trump has already imposed on over $350 billion worth of Chinese goods will remain in place.

Once those duties were imposed, the only avenue for companies to get off the list was to file an exclusion application. That has provided some relief, but not enough to satisfy Larson, a Vietnam war veteran, who started Klarity Medical Products in 1989 in his garage. It has grown into a company with 21 employees and about $5 million in annual revenue. They sell sophisticated head and neck masks and other devices used to hold patients in place for procedures like radiation therapy.

About 20 years ago, Larson hooked up with a Chinese partner and moved his production there. They also divvied up the world market, with Klarity selling to the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and South America and his Chinese partner to Asia.

Since there are no domestic manufacturers that can make the thermoplastic masks and devices, Klarity has been forced to absorb the cost of Trump’s tariffs and to put off plans to hire additional workers, Larson said.

The company’s Chinese partner is also facing higher costs because of retaliatory duties China has imposed on plastic material it imports from South Carolina, he added.

The U.S. imported about $5 billion worth of medical equipment from China before the trade war began. Trump’s tariffs now cover about 20 percent of those imports, but that is less than were initially targeted because the Advance Medical Technology Association, also known as AdvaMed, successfully lobbied to get many items removed before tariffs were imposed.

The preliminary deal announced earlier this month is “good news both for patients and American jobs, and we hope it will lead to a more substantial agreement in the future,” AdvaMed President and CEO Scott Whitaker said in a statement.

Not every medical device company that received an exclusion shares Larson’s frustration.

Last month, USTR also granted requests from Varex Imaging Corp. based in Salt Lake City, Utah, for several Chinese-made parts used in the company’s X-ray tube, digital detector and heat exchanger products to be excluded from the 25 percent tariff.

“We are appreciative of the USTR and U.S. government in granting this tariff exclusion,” Sunny Sanyal, president and CEO of Varex said through a spokesperson. “We believe the amount of relief is acceptable relative to the amount of incremental tariffs paid.”

But another company based in Redwood City, Ca. that makes “wearable” patient monitoring equipment found itself caught with a $100,000 tariff bill after it failed to apply for an exclusion before USTR’s process closed.

“I honestly thought there was going to be a carve-out for small businesses, or a carve-out for someone who had a product that was really American” even if it includes parts made in China, said Waqaas Al-Siddiq, founder and CEO of Biotricity, in an interview.

USTR published its plans to conduct an exclusion process in the Federal Register. But it did nothing to directly inform business owners who aren’t in the habit of checking that publication, Al-Siddiq said. USTR's exclusion request website was so confusing and difficult that Biotricity never finished its application, he added.

Once Trump threatened to raise the tariff on medical device part from 25 percent to 30 percent, Al-Siddiq began looking into the exclusion process again. After struggling again with USTR’s website, he finally stumbled upon a phone number where he could call with questions, only to find out that the application period had closed.

The phase one deal announced this month means the tariff Biotricity now pays won't rise to 30 percent, assuming it is successfully concluded in coming weeks.

But the tariff will stay at 25 percent until a final deal is reached. The extra cost won’t bankrupt the company, but "it certainly doesn’t help in our mission, which is to reduce health care costs,” Al-Siddiq said

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-medical-device-companies-feel-130135199.html

 

 

Somebody call me a doctor.

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IRobot Stock Is Plunging as the Trade War Hits Roomba Vacuum Cleaners

Shares of the Roomba vacuum cleaner company iRobot are trading sharply lower after the company scaled back its financial guidance, saying it rolled back recent price increases in response to tariffs on robotic vacuum cleaners.

Piper Jaffray analyst Troy Jensen, who has a Neutral rating on the stock, cut his target price to $51, from $64, saying the revised outlook is “fairly dismal.” He concluded that until the U.S. and China settle their fight over trade, iRobot (ticker: IRBT) will struggle with pricing in the U.S. market,...

https://www.barrons.com/articles/irobot-stock-is-tariffs-prices-hit-roomba-vacuum-cleaners-51571845346?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo

 

Now that really sucks...

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Hasbro shares plunge as toymaker battles tariff costs

(Reuters) - Hasbro Inc fell well below Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday, as the toy maker wrestled with higher shipping and warehousing costs due to U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, sending its shares down about 18%.

The protracted trade war between the world's two largest economies has been weighing on many U.S. companies that have exposure to China and they have responded by taking various steps ranging from price hikes to shifting production to other countries.

Hasbro, which sources more than two-thirds of its U.S. products from China, is also looking at other countries for suppliers, while raising prices to combat increased costs from tariffs.

"Obviously, the tariff and tariff environment has created some short-term disruption to our growth trajectory," Hasbro Chief Executive Officer Brian Goldner said on a post earnings call.

The uncertainty over tariffs on toys and other items in the latest quarter forced retailers to cancel or delay orders and the company expects to face disruptions in the fourth quarter as the deadline to impose new levies has been pushed to Dec. 15.

Hasbro also warned of price hikes if the Dec. 15 tariffs go into effect. It has already raised prices on some of its products to cushion the blow from tariffs that went into effect in September.

Despite tough market conditions, the company is investing in launch of new games, buying smaller firms and striking deals with production houses to boost sales of its toys.

As part of the strategy, Hasbro said in August it would buy Entertainment One for about $4 billion, adding popular brands such as Peppa Pig and PJ Masks.

Hasbro posted smaller-than-expected revenue of $1.58 billion and earned $1.84 per share excluding items in the third quarter, well below expectation of $2.21, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Shares of the company hit an intraday low of $98.85 and were set for their worst day since 2000.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/hasbro-misses-profit-estimates-costs-104347777.html

 

Where's GI Joe when you need him? Instead we get Hungry Hungry Hippo.

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