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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 14th, 2023

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  • In that context I think tariffs are absolutely valid. In particular, as you mention, because China is subsidising their EV market and thus discounting the export price. A tariff should raise the price of the imported good such that the local good can compete - and we’ve seen this with extreme tariffs on Chinese EVs. Trump actually led the way on this in his first presidency, proving he is the proverbial broken clock. Now Europe also has tariffs on Chinese EVs.

    Ideally, this should also involve ring fencing the tariff revenue and exclusively re-investing it into incentives for local businesses to pick up the slack of the imported businesses. This rarely happens, but it should.

    This doesn’t work when tariffing the US, though. The US is often already more expensive for the things people import from there. People buy US goods and services because they want the US version; there is no better alternative. The tariff just makes US products even more expensive, costing buyers more. The only thing it does is raise revenue for the government.

    In other areas even tariffs against China have been meaningless. If China sells a trinket for 1/10 the price of local industry, then even a 100% tariff would mean the Chinese product costs 2/10 of the local price. People will still buy the Chinese product over the local one, but now they just pay more. Maybe they buy less, so Chinese businesses make less money, but they’ll probably pay more overall. The government get this extra money. This is what Trump is doing in the US with his general tariffs on China, there’s no plan behind them and they’re all but meaningless - the only thing they do is raise tax revenue for the government.

    If the only thing a retaliatory tariff does is raise revenue for the government, then it’s no better than what Trump is doing.

    A good tariff should minimise the effect at home and maximise the effect against the foreign country the tariff is meant to penalise. I don’t think that’s viable with import tariffs against the US, the effect at home just isn’t worth the minimal damage it would do to US businesses.


  • It’s 2025, and 90% of all software devs in Hamburg have worked for Otto at some point, and they still can’t get their shit together.

    I’d put money on that being a dumpster fire of a workplace - the kind where turnover is very high, everyone is constantly busy putting out fires with slapped together solutions, and if anyone tries to do anything that might prevent future fires they get shouted at for not putting out fires.


  • The comment above said they were 3A charging and that that wasn’t “fast”. I haven’t seen the charging spec for these cables, but they do have a 60W cable. 60W is fast charging, and is likely achieved with 3A at 20V. It’s not as fast as 100W or 240W, sure, but it’s as fast as most phones will go.

    These cables probably aren’t rated for 100W or above. Most cables aren’t. However, you can get multiple longer cables rated for that much power for less than one of these.


  • How am I trying to appease Trump? You call me a moron, and yet nothing you say makes sense.

    At least we can agree that Trump is a cunt lol.

    All I’m saying is that IF a country wants to apply a retaliatory tariff, they should do so in the interests of their own country. They should ring fence the revenue from the tariff and re-invest that in local businesses to replace the foreign imports.

    However I don’t think that’s necessary. America isn’t a cheap manufacturing source, it’s expensive high tech. Tariffs are meant to balance prices - like tariffs on cheap Chinese EVs, such that other EVs can be competitive on price. American stuff is already more expensive, so a tariff doesn’t change the equation.

    People don’t need tariffs to incentivise themselves not to buy American. They need alternative options to American goods and services. Tariffs won’t do that, at least not without proper planning and re-investment.


  • Export tariffs would cause even fewer European goods in USA. Nah, let’s not do that.

    Not necessarily. Canada has had some success with tariffing exports of electricity. The key part here is that the US can’t stop buying electricity, so sales from Canadian electrical businesses don’t go down, the US just pays more to Canada.

    The point being, a tariff has to be clever. It has to minimise the damage at home and maximise the damage overseas. Trump’s tariffs don’t do this, because he’s trying to damage America just as much as he’s trying to damage everywhere else.

    Other countries should not do what Trump’s doing, as it will damage their own country.

    We’re going to hit them where it hurts.

    That’s the thing, a retaliatory tariff probably won’t hurt them. For one, it would only (mildly) affect certain US businesses. For another, people generally don’t have an alternative source, so they end up just paying the tariff. Both US businesses and local people get hurt, the only benefit is that the government gets more money - but that’s not really a benefit if the government isn’t re-investing it. The US government doesn’t really care about US businesses, so they’re not going to capitulate. In the end no one wins except the two governments have more money to piss up the wall.

    We’re already looking at buying less from the US wherever possible. People want alternatives, and the US isn’t a cheap source (like China is) so it’s already easy for local businesses to undercut them on price - you don’t need to add a tariff to tip the balance. Tariffs won’t incentivise people, they’re already incentivised, they need options.

    If a tariff isn’t paying for such an option then it isn’t worthwile.



  • You are being ridiculous and calling me names. Grow up, slow down, read what I’ve said and actually think about it. Instead of just acting irrationally and emotional.

    I didn’t say not to respond, I said not to do the exact same thing he’s doing.

    Import tariffs are a tax on local people. Raising taxes must be justified. In particular, there must be a plan to spend the money raised through tariffs.

    Trump has not given any plan, because he is almost certainly going to steal the money.

    If any other country wants to implement a tariff, they must do so with a plan to better their country with the tariff revenue, otherwise they’re no better than Trump. You are, in fact, trying to encourage them to do this with no plan. You are enabling other politicians to be like Trump.

    Don’t do that.


  • No, a good tariff includes a plan on what to do with tariff revenue. Ideally, such a plan should re-invest into incentives for local businesses to replace the foreign ones.

    An import tariff is a tax on citizens. Taxes must be justified.

    The effect of tariffs nationally should be considered before the international effects. Especially with import tariffs.

    If you want a good tariff to target America, you should look at export tariffs. This is generally seen as less favourable, as this often means reduced sales for local businesses, but the actual payment is borne by the other nation. Canada has been doing this with their export tariffs on electricity to the US, and that seems to be a truly effective bargaining chip because the US can’t stop buying it, so Canadian businesses don’t actually see lost sales. It’s literally Canada charging the US more for the same.


    Import tariffs mean less business for the other country, but more expense for your people.

    Export tariffs mean less business for your country, but more expense for their people.

    Both result in raising tax revenue for your country. This is why governments are entertaining the idea of tariffs, not because they’re good for their country necessarily, but because it might be a very good political opportunity for them to raise more money.

    What makes the tariff good for the country is what the money is spent on. Trump will not spend it on America, he will steal it. If other countries want to create tariffs they should at least have a plan to make good use of the money, otherwise they’re no better than Trump.


  • You seem like you’re being willfully ignorant and clinging to that.

    I’ve explained the reason: BECAUSE CITIZENS OF THE COUNTRY THAT SETS THE TARIFF PAYS THE TARIFF.

    Americans won’t pay the retaliatory tariff. A retaliatory tariff will only have a small effect on American businesses. It will have a big effect on citizens of the country that set the tariff.

    Not setting a tariff isn’t appeasing Trump. It’s taking the wellbeing of your country first, and not getting drawn into a pointless trade war.

    Literally the main and most immediate purpose of a tariff is to raise money for the government. America is taxing Americans with a tariff, but they have no plan to spend that money (because Trump is going to steal it). If other governments are also going to raise money through their own tariff tax, then they should do so with a plan to spend the money on their country - they shouldn’t just copy Trump and do what he does, BECAUSE THAT WILL HURT THEIR OWN CITIZENS, JUST LIKE TRUMP IS HURTING AMERICANS.



  • We do actually need more of this, non-Chinese cable manufacture. USB cables these days contain microcontrollers (to negotiate charging power, it’s not just between the device and charger anymore but a 3-way decision including the cable) and these microcontrollers can have all sorts of dodgy functionality on top - but are still indistinguishable through most inspection methods. Such functionality can include wifi hotpots allowing remote configuration and script injectors to hack devices plugged in.

    This problem is so significant that Microsoft changed how Windows handles USB devices and made many existing USB to RS232 serial leads non-functional in Windows 11.

    However €25 for a single 1m USB A to C cable is insane. That would be like €3 on Amazon or eBay.


  • The EU is not subject to American tariffs. American consumers are subject to American tariffs. EU consumers would be subject to EU tariffs.

    EU businesses are affected by American tariffs because it means reduced sales. However, this primarily means a reduction in growth, ie less profits, not more expense. The people paying more expense are consumers - they are the ones primarily affected by the tariffs.

    Everyone ignores this, especially in the media, and it is immensely frustrating. Yes, it isn’t great that businesses will lose sales due to tariffs, however it’s worse and more significant that consumers have to pay tariffs. Retaliatory tariffs will only cause more pain for local consumers - on top of the reduced growth from the instigating tariff - and would be like punching yourself in the face because your opponent is punching themselves in the face.




  • /e/ is good and all, but doesn’t quite meet my requirements.

    I was really gutted when DivestOS shuttered last December. That really hit the spot for me (and its forks like AXP.OS), as they had features like randomised wifi MAC addresses and auto switch off of wifi and bluetooth (preventing tracking via other devices). Right now, I’m stuck with LineageOS4MicroG, at least until I can get MicroG working on another ROM, but it seems like more and more ROMs are coming designed for or even bundled with gapps. I would be using crDroid right now, but I can’t get MicroG up and running on that, and their stock camera app keeps crashing after it calls for Google Play Services (which it does whenever I try to search settings, strangely).