By the time this post goes up, the markets will have been open for a while, and you’ll probably have your fair share of people telling you that the chaotic tariffs announced yesterday are, shocker, causing chaos (If I’m wrong and the markets open higher, I’ll just delete this paragraph and no one will ever know). The opening shots of any war, even a trade war, are hard to contextualize in real time, which is why they call it the “fog of war.”
I’d like to do better than that. While confusion may reign when the first shots are being fired, the same advice applies at the beginning of a war as it does to the end of one: duck!
The Morning Dump today will be mostly about tariffs and their impacts, and my best chance to help you today is to give you something practical that you can do. Earlier this week, it was the idea that you should go buy a car ASAP if you want one. That advice still stands, especially as we enter an early period of price disruption when certain car prices might drop.
More importantly, though, is what to do about the car you already own. If you’ve got a car that’s not under some sort of warranty, you should get the parts you need for it now. Today. It’s time to hedge, and hedge hard.
What Was Actually Announced Yesterday
The video above is the full announcement of tariffs as part of “Liberation Day” and “Make America Wealthy Again.” Here’s a shorter version of why we’re doing this from The White House:
I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that underlying conditions, including a lack of reciprocity in our bilateral trade relationships, disparate tariff rates and non-tariff barriers, and U.S. trading partners’ economic policies that suppress domestic wages and consumption, as indicated by large and persistent annual U.S. goods trade deficits, constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the United States. That threat has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States in the domestic economic policies of key trading partners and structural imbalances in the global trading system. I hereby declare a national emergency with respect to this threat.
The whole proclamation is interesting because there’s a lot in there that you’d expect from a Democratic president with regard to the importance of domestic manufacturing. President Biden made a lot of similar arguments, and his response to the lack of American manufacturing was to offer the carrot of extra investment and extra tax breaks for companies that would expand in North America.
That takes patience and time, because whole industries cannot shift overnight, and the disruption of trying to do it suddenly has been deemed unpalpable to pretty much every president since Herbert Hoover. This current President sees an emergency and, like FDR, he doesn’t want to waste the moment.
At this event, President Trump held up a chart showing what kind of burdens various countries put on trade and explained how we’d respond in kind with “reciprocal tariffs.” This chart is interesting:
There’s a 72% tariff charge from Thailand, which somehow hasn’t come up yet on season three of The White Lotus. Then there’s a 97% tariff from Cambodia. Wow! Crazy. I’m starting to suspect maybe this chart is a little suspicious.
Oh, wait, there’s a formula:
To conceptualize reciprocal tariffs, the tariff rates that would drive bilateral trade deficits to zero were computed. While models of international trade generally assume that trade will balance itself over time, the United States has run persistent current account deficits for five decades, indicating that the core premise of most trade models is incorrect.
Ah, got it. So they basically took the trade differential between the two countries and then assumed that it was due to a trade imbalance caused by some sort of local tariffs/currency fluctuation/whatever. That’s bananas. Literally, because now the cost of getting bananas from Indonesia is gonna be 32% higher than it was, so you better learn how to grow some. Oh, and Cambodia, one of their three biggest imports to the United States last year was: “Articles of leather, animal gut, harness, travel goods.”
I’ve talked about the Theory of Comparative Advantage before, so go read that, but conceptually this is like me buying a car from Honda and then being mad that Honda did not give me the equivalent of $35,000 worth of something in trade. I have a huge trade imbalance with Honda right now, guys.
The full list is hilarious because it includes unoccupied islands in Antarctica. The penguins are pretty reasonable as, by these calculations, they’re only charging us a 10% tariff.
Is there an emergency? Is this creating an emergency? Let me start with the Bloomberg headline of the moment, which is “Trump Tariffs Set to Wipe Out Nearly $2 Trillion From US Stocks.” That doesn’t sound great.
Roughly $1.7 trillion is set to be erased from the S&P 500 Index when trading opens Thursday amid worries that President Donald Trump’s sweeping new round of tariffs could plunge the economy into a recession.
The damage was heaviest in companies whose supply chains are most dependent on overseas manufacturing. Apple Inc., which makes the majority of its US-sold devices in China, is on track to open down 7.7%. Lululemon Athletica Inc. and Nike Inc., among companies with manufacturing ties to Vietnam, are down at least 9%. Walmart Inc. and Dollar Tree Inc., retailers whose stores are filled with products sourced outside of the US, are trading at least 4% lower.
Few stocks in the US were unscathed with the biggest ETF tracking the S&P 500 on pace for its biggest decline since 2022. More than 90% of companies in the S&P 500 were trading lower at 8 a.m. in New York, with over half of its 500 stocks down at least 2% in premarket trading.
Trump take egg, now Trump take 401k, I guess.
Car Prices Might Not Immediately Go Up
If there’s some good news in this, it’s that the same people who are trying to put reciprocal tariffs on Southern Elephant Seals are giving automakers a time to adjust and, for the moment, are exempting USMCA-compliant goods. Automakers will still have to come up with a way to determine what kind of non-USMCA-compliant parts are in their cars, but it seems like the Maverick is saved.
Even with the massive uncertainty built into these tariffs, it’s not like car prices have to immediately go up by equivalent amounts, as Automotive News is pointing out this morning:
While President Donald Trump has imposed a 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles, in all likelihood, consumers will not see a 25 percent price hike. That’s because of complex factors including the amount of non-U.S. content in each vehicle, automaker calculus, dealer decision-making and loan agreements.
Cox Automotive, for example, predicts a 2.8 percent year-over-year increase in wholesale vehicle prices in 2025. Black Book projects a 5 percent increase in the average transaction price this year. Morgan Stanley predicts the tariffs will boost the average price of a vehicle by 11 or 12 percent.
The projections recognize that the tariff is not applied to the manufacturer’s suggested retail price and that the industry relies on sometimes labyrinthine systems to calculate the vehicle’s cost. The price of the vehicle is determined using a cocktail of market research, bills of materials, financial agreements, intuition and other elements. Even more variability enters the picture in the dealership lot, where prices vary widely by region, timing, personal relationships and the way buyers settle up with the retailer, a separate business from the automaker.
Because it’s an average, certain cars are going to suffer a lot while others might skate by with minimal disruptions. Carmakers can then decide if they want to cancel certain cars (almost certainly affordable ones, since those have the lowest margins), let higher-end models get more expensive, or average the costs across all their vehicles.
German automakers seem to be weighing all these options, according to Bloomberg:
Europe’s automakers are raising prices and preparing to shift car production to the US to try to protect themselves from President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Volkswagen AG plans to add import fees to the sticker prices of its vehicles shipped into the US, indicating Trump’s 25% auto duties will have an immediate effect on Europe’s biggest carmaker. Volvo Car AB and Mercedes-Benz Group AG are looking at expanding local output to sidestep the levies.
All the automakers above have plants in the United States, so they can increase production here, which is part of the reason these tariffs exist. But they can’t build everything here, and it sounds like Volkswagen plans to use its window sticker as a form of protest to show how expensive everything is. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more of that.
I’m going to save talk of retaliation from other countries until we see who blinks first. Also, blowing up the entire global trading order is a lot to talk about in one TMD, so we’ve got time.
Conversely, automakers who are better positioned with regard to tariffs can take advantage of the situation, as Ford is doing by extending employee pricing to everyone and advertising big discounts.
The automaker is launching “From America, For America” on Thursday, the day President Donald Trump’s tariffs will be enacted on the auto industry. The campaign will run in traditional print media advertisements, television spots and social media, said Rob Kaffl, Ford’s director of U.S. sales.
As part of the campaign, Ford will offer its employee-pricing plan, known as the A Plan, to consumers on most of Ford 2024 and 2025 model year vehicles through June 2. Ford is also extending to June 30 the program that offers a free home charger and complimentary installation to those people who purchase or lease an all-electric vehicle.
Again, go buy a car while the buying is good. None of the cars that have already been imported to the country are subject to these tariffs. They’re not retroactive.
Prices On A Bunch Of Stuff Will Go Up, Mostly Because Companies Can Raise Prices
The big concern I have in all of this, besides the Schrödingeresque nature of these tariffs, is that automakers and other companies are always looking for a reason to raise prices. Always. I refer you to my Trimflation article, which gets into the work of Economist Isabella Weber, and the idea that once companies realize they can raise prices if they all raise prices together, they’ll now probably do it.
Tracy Alloway was thinking about the same thing, and pointed out as much in her Odd Lots newsletter yesterday:
[T]ariffs provide yet another convenient reason for companies to raise their prices. Many customers are aware that tariffs are coming, and some of them also believe that tariffs will be good for the country; they’re willing to accept the definite short-term pain in exchange for the possibility of long-term gain. (Of course, I should note here, that many of the people who support the tariffs also tend to be those who have the least purchasing power).
So no matter what happens today, there’s an argument that the inflationary impulse is here to stay. Uncertainty over policy breeds capacity issues, and tariffs breed change, and all of that is a potent peg for companies to push price and preserve (or even improve) margins.
Carmakers may not attempt as they’ve got a lot of capacity they have to use and, if they assume this isn’t a long-term policy, might use the opportunity to pick up market share. Parts companies, though? Parts companies may not have the same philosophy.
This Is Why You Should Get Your Car Fixed Right Now And Stock Up On Parts
I’m not going to say the sky is falling. Maybe it’s not. Maybe the stove isn’t hot. I refuse to look at my investment accounts right now, because I’m young enough that I view this as potentially a great buying opportunity.
However, concerned that this was coming, I did a lot of work on my old BMW and bought a new car while the deals were good. Why?
It’s rare in life that you find yourself in a position where you absolutely have to buy a new car. If you’re reading this website, you probably already own a car, and you can keep that vehicle running indefinitely. If new car prices go up, your old car is going to become more valuable, as happened during the pandemic.
Unfortunately, the price of keeping that car on the road is almost certainly going to go up. If you need a car and your car breaks down, you have to fix your car. You don’t really have much of a choice. Do you know where the parts for your car come from? Those engine mounts for my BMW come from Germany. Because they’re already in a warehouse in Connecticut, they aren’t going to be more expensive, but when those run out and they have to be reordered…
To make matters worse, the disruption of global trade risks potentially blowing up the value of the dollar. If that happens, not only will imported parts be more expensive because of tariffs, anyone buying in $$$ will probably have to pay more.
There’s a scenario where maybe this doesn’t happen. Where mechanics around the world decide to eat the cost of those parts to make you happy, or where all of the parts for your car are made in the United States. Crosley owners, rejoice!
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
The premise of Pulp’s “Mis-Shapes” is: What if all the loner weirdos got together and got revenge on all the cool people? Unfortunately, loners don’t group together that easily. It’s a beautiful dream, though.
The Big Question
What do you need to do to your car and where do the parts come from?
Top Photo: Depositphotos.com
The question is, how long is it going to take Congress to grow a pair? How much hurt do their donors need to take, and thus how far their chances of losing re-election need to fall? Because at the end of the day, that is all that matters.
It’s starting – Collins, Paul, Murkowski, and McConnell broke ranks to join with the Dems on a (sadly toothless) resolution in the Senate about the Canadian tariffs.
For the Republicans to start fighting back against these en masse, things are going to need to get so much worse that they may as well not even bother fighting back.
Only needs a handful in each house.
But it’s GOING to get worse. The rest of the world really doesn’t actually need the US as much as Trump thinks they do.
It actually needs a veto-proof majority in both houses to pass.
And even to come up in the House it needs a majority of Republicans because of the stupid self-serving “Hastert Rule”.
It would take complete and utter economic devastation for them to break with fearless leader on this, sadly. It’s never going to happen.
It’s already happening. See the Senate resolution on Canadian tariffs. With such closely divided houses, it won’t take THAT much.
That was just for show.
Toothless for sure. But it has to start *somewhere*. And the closer the elections get, the more nervous a whole bunch of them are going to get.
The elections are a year and a half away. Plenty of time to find or make a distraction.
There is no distraction from what prices are going to do if this nonsense continues. None. The Republican base doesn’t matter. They are going to vote for the idiots anyway (but some of them are finally smartening up). But in most of the country, the swing voters are who matter, and do you SERIOUSLY think they are not going to be pissed and take it out on Republicans?
When the margin of victory is HALVED in a couple of the reddest of red districts here in FL – that is a clear sign of which way the winds are blowing. Again, it will be 2018 all over again, but most likely rather worse.
You don’t think DeSantis is going to do everything he can to get his side reelected so his wife can become governor?
Not holding my breath on that one, just being the last guy’s wife is not going to get her very far. He’s blown his wad in Florida and cost the state too much money, even the legislature isn’t paying him much attention anymore. He’s the lamest of lame ducks at this point, even if he keeps right on quacking his nonsense.
Yet he keeps pulling any local politician that stand up to him. From School bord member to County commissioner, he’s replaced many just because he can. And Florida law says its legal. No way the Republican’s give that power up. They packed the state during covid, they’ll do it again.
Sure, they are going to stay in power. But not with DeSantis. Him, or her. They are done.
I hope so.
Mike Johnson is the main roadblock. As Speaker of the House he’s constitutionally able to control what’s brought up for a vote, and he’s a full-on MAGA bootlicker.
Did they change the rules so that he can’t be as easily removed as his predecessor? I assume so, but I don’t know that.
Ultimately, the chances of the Republicans retaining control next year round to rather less than zero. It’s going to make 2018 look like a cakewalk for them. And I don’t buy for a second that there is any way for Trump to cause there not to be an election next year. There is simply no mechanism in US law for that, and the Supremes will NEVER go along with him if he tried, nor would the military.
There will be an election, but the Republicans are going to start really pushing through even more nonsense that makes it nearly impossible for people they don’t like to vote. And if they do lose, they’re going to just fabricate the results so they end up winning in the end. We’re truly cooked, I fear.
I have far more faith in the system than you.
The system has already failed. The SC has stated that a sitting president cannot commit a crime, Trump is just shitting out executive orders left and right and everyone is capitulating to them like they’re missives from God. Nobody with any power is questioning this man or blocking what he does for the sake of protecting the system. They’re changing the system to suit his whims.
100% this. It has already failed. Once they blatantly go against legal requirement (aka, what the judges order them to do), we are fully cooked. They have done this already, but the repercussions have not yet been seen.
I actually commented to a friend the other day I was afraid some comment I make to the wrong person would get me scooped up, then a tattoo slapped on me and I’d be sent off to that El Salvadoran prison.
Hyperbole? I thought so. Then came the news about the “oopsie” with that green card holder that they’re saying they can’t ask to be returned, and now I’m not so sure.
I have had the exact same thoughts regarding what I post here (this is my only public facing place I post anything). Once one declares something an emergency, they can do anything. All they need to do is declare anyone who may have disagreed with them as an “enemy to the state”.
That “oopsie” is super fucking scary. They literally can’t get them back, at all.
That is not at all what the SC said. A President cannot be prosecuted for actions taken within the constitutional bounds of the office. He cannot just shoot someone and get away with it. And that had been policy in this country for many decades – they merely codified the reality of it.
And it’s a GOOD thing overall. Think about what a vengeful Trump (and is he ever not?) would be doing to Biden and Obama right now if he could. And Pam Bondi would absolutely go along with it.
If you think he isn’t being blocked, you need to pay more attention. And read up a bit on the powers that courts actually have to enforce their rulings. Hint – they don’t need the DOJ.
Well, then it’s odd he’s not being prosecuted, because deporting people who are here legally solely because they wrote an op-ed you don’t like is very, very, very clearly in violation of the 1st Amendment.
Give it time. The wheels of justice grind slowly, but they do grind inexorably. That will work it’s way through the system, and that judge is NOT a happy camper. Unhappy judges are not to be trifled with. And the Supremes are not going to save Trump.
Tell that to Jack Smith.
No, but he can order Seal Team Six to do it with impunity.
Or scoop them up and send them to an El Salvadoran prison – again, with impunity.
Judge Boesburg doesn’t seem to agree with you. Nor will the Supreme Court when it gets there.
Tell that to the non-gang members stuck in that prison.
The courts are working on it. Trump is going to lose at the Supreme Court on this, but it takes time. By judicial standards, this is actually going at light speed.
Look up “unlawful orders”.
Based on what I’ve read, the DOJ is just getting ready to go after Biden and friends/family. Step 1 was getting as many people with morals out of the way as they can, and now they’re working on the (tRUMPed up) charges.
You’re right that it hasn’t happened so far (pulling security details and revoking security clearances not withstanding), but that particular day ain’t over yet.
This is 2012-era thinking.
Every piece of evidence in the Trump era points to low-propensity voters turning hard right. See every Republican result in midterms, special elections, etc.
Voter ID and similar are a strong boost to Democratic prospects, as their voters are disproportionally educated and motivated. Conventional wisdom has not quite caught up to this yet though.
Agreed – they are going to hurt their own just as much as the opposition, IF that even makes it by the courts. The swing voters rule, and they are going to get SCREWED by Trump’s economic bullshit. Let’s face it, the middle bought Trump’s “lower prices” bullshit hook, line, and sinker, and that is what got him re-elected. And he has done nothing what so ever but screw them ever since, starting by rescinding the very popular price caps on widely used medications.
Cost Plus Drugs exists to defeat the pricing gap. I use it. It’s fantastically cheap in relation to going to a CVS, for example. Oh, it’s owned by Mark Cuban
The whole price cap thing was just a virtue signal in the first place, as cheaper prices already exist.
There certainly are work-arounds IF you qualify for them. But there really is no excuse for drugs in the US costing multiples of what they do elsewhere.
I agree, but there is no qualification for this. Look it up. It’s helped many of my old ass neighbors as well, as you are familiar, lol…
I spread the word every time I can!
https://www.costplusdrugs.com/
War and martial law are hell of things.
Not going to happen.
Martial law is what he will use to retain his power. Once they see the polls working against them, they will be immediately enacted. Once they are, he is then dictator for life.
Not going to happen. It’s not a thing in the US to any meaningful extent. Don’t forget, the STATES control elections, not the Feds.
The only real sway that Trump holds over the party is his ability to get people primaried, ala Liz Cheney. He is losing his grip over the base with every uptick of inflation, price increase, and threat to Social Security. And with both houses so closely divided to start with, it’s not going to take much.
Tell that to Colorado. I don’t think you understand how broken the system is right now.
Congress doesn’t need to seat anyone they don’t want to.
You can’t possibly believe that to be true, can you?
I don’t think there is any doubt. At no point has any part of MAGA ever suggested they won’t use anything at their disposal to retain power. No reason to think it would change.
I wasn’t replying to you, but ok. So you think…in a country of 380 million…that if 100 or so people put out a statement saying “Tough shit, We are staying.”…that it would actually fly?
You think that, eh? Like, you really think that? If you answer yes, I hope whoever is in charge of tying your shoes for you is aware of this.
I’m not absolute that it would actually work, but I bet 100% that they will try. I very much hope you are right, and look forward to being wrong.
It isn’t the 100 or so people that put out the statement – it’s how much of the voting block that put him in power wants him to remain there.
I disagree. The people that voted Republican voted that way because they didn’t like what waas going on. The same logic will hold true if it turns out in a year or two that Trump fucked this up.
It’s not even been 24 hrs, lol
They voted Republican because they worship Donald Trump. It’s a veritable cult. Go watch Fox News for like 5 minutes and tell me it isn’t. The only thing that could possibly cause them to possibly turn against him is if he erases Social Security, Medicare, and the VA.
As I have stated before here, I moonlight as a bartender in pretty rock solid Trump Country. Fox News in no way represents the voice of the standard citizen. Not even close.
It’s fear porn for liberals to slather over, alongside all the other channels that only generate hate, fear, and division from every angle.
From “The Joys” to, I dunno the Jewish kid who gave Trump a Tesla, why anyone would even give those shows an iota of attention is beyond me.
I watch the local news for the weather, and about 20 minutes of Bloomberg Finance to make sure we aren’t at war. Anything else is too much, in my opinion, for anyone.
It’s not healthy to be worried all the time about things you can’t control.
And I live in the middle of Trump country and can tell you that Fox News absolutely represents the voice of the average voter here. When Fox was all wigged out over Critical Race Theory, guess what you overheard people talking about here constantly? When Fox was freaked out over Trans people, guess who also started freaking out about Trans people? They absolutely control the Conservative narrative. Trump himself watches it, and this is a known fact that he himself repeats.
I have personally had multiple family members, including my own father, be turned from generally right-leaning moderates into full-blown MAGA conspiracy people because they watch Fox religiously, every night, as if it was entertainment.
I agree that Fox does not represent the average citizen, but they do represent the average conservative, and have effectively transitioned into a state media outlet.
You and I both seem to agree that cable news across the spectrum is an absolute societal cancer in general, though.
I completely agree with this. I have a guy at work who flatly stated he only watches the news he agrees with. Everyone else is wrong.
There’s a ton of people in the UK that voted for Brexit because they didn’t like what was going on. Now they’re regretting that separation, and there isn’t really an option to undo it.
It isn’t as simple as “vote ’em out in two years”. This stuff has long lasting consequences.
Umm, the UK is a bad correlation. They have a whole other mess to fix. Same goes for Ireland.
Either way, that’s not really crucial to what we are dealing with here.
I disagree.
The population got whipped up into a frenzy about some specific issues (immigration being one), bought into a story that the other side loudly said was full of lies, and voted against their own interests to pass the measure. Now they’re regretting the way things turned out.
Seems like a pretty good correlation to me.
But, immigration is the issue. Legal, illegal, or under the radar. It’s the issue. It costs a lot of money to host a party, it costs more if your guests don’t leave and your own kid is still sleeping on the couch.
The UK is more than capable of sorting out their own shit. They’ll get it at some point. Unwinding from any divorce doesn’t happen in a year, right?
“It costs a lot of money to host a party, it costs more if your guests don’t leave and your own kid is still sleeping on the couch.”
Yes, there are cheats, criminals, and other horrible people the emigrate, but on aggregate the economic analyses I’ve read say immigration is a net positive for the US. Many of them work, pay taxes and contribute to the benefit of society, and a lot more would work if it were easier to get citizenship or at least a green card.
Bad apples are everywhere (home grown serial killer Ted Bundy even worked on a Presidential campaign!) but that doesn’t make every fruit from the tree poison. You don’t cut down an orchard over a handful of wormy apples – you fix the issue with the worms. Instead, we’re whipping out the chain saws (in Elon’s case, literally).
Economics (slavery) is one thing. Societal integration is a whole other apple tree.
Wow, you just said the quiet part out loud. What are we, a Borg collective?
I live not far from a number of German speaking hutterite colonies that go back generations, and a few states over there similar Amish communities (though don’t tell them that, as they might take offense). Lots of cities have a China town or little Italy (some both). Quebec still speaks French.
These groups haven’t fully assimilated. Are they next on the target list?
As for equating economics to slavery – just no. Not even. If you want to equate late stage capitalism to slavery, hey knock yourself out, but leave the economists out of it. This isn’t the forum for that kind of discussion anyway.
You are the one that brought up “worms”.
Also, are you Canadian? You mentioned Quebec..
We have our reputation to fix in the United States and it will not be repaired in our lifetime. I will take four generations of repair for it to happen.
I’d rather we get it right, then for people to hug us while being wrong.
Pretty sure, the US already has had a reputation for being a bunch of indignant pricks for almost 300 years. I’m good with that.
It’s not like other countries have much choice. Or do they? We shall soon find out…
Yes. We will find out. Soon.
I genuinely hope it happens soon, as well. It’s exhausting hearing all the bitching.
Yawn.
Exactly.
Maybe take a look at how these things have progressed in the past. It isn’t like they have a dictatorship announcement party. It is the frog in a pot scenario. Putin is a dictator, and that is the model being followed.
So you are saying that the citizens of the United States…the United States…are going to allow a dictatorship to happen? That they everyday folk of THIS country are cool with Putin?
This is what you believe? In real life? wow.
They have already done it. The ones who didn’t understand it don’t currently have a reason to see the reality. Put down the blunt for a few days, it might start to dawn on you.
Dude, Not like it’s any of your business, but I have been sober for a long time.
Sorry to burst your bubble on that rationale, why your arguments don’t hold up when scrutinized.
You fail to understand that people aren’t gonna put up with some bullshit. Most people deal with change, others just whine.
At the end of the day, if it truly is messing with one’s lifestyle, enough people will say enough.
The adults will handle this.
Is that supposed to be a coherent thought? It sure wasn’t a meaningful sentence. What scrutiny? Your entire argument boils down to “Nah, ah.”
The people that voted for Trump wanted a racist, misogynist, bigoted, incompetent rapist to be in charge because they see themselves reflected in those qualities. Trump has claimed that he is beholden to no law or the Constitution and has promised to use the military on citizens. They are getting what they voted for; there is no reason for them to be upset.
Who is going to stop him and how? No delusional statements about “people will get mad” as though that means anything.
The adults will handle this. It’ll be just fine.
Boobs.
The only other thing I can advise for you is to worry less about what you imagine others think, and concentrate more on how you can be kind in your daily life.
Boobs.
These actions matter so much more than your written feelings on here. Be nice to your neighbor, it makes a difference 🙂
Boobs.
So, per usual, you got nothing.
Yes, I 100% do. None of his “emergencies” are emergencies. We won’t need martial law either, but it will happen once they realize their power is waning.
If the Federal government declared Martial Law in an area where there is no active threat, you will hear a lot of guns simultaneously loading with ammo that will sound a lot like millions of people saying “Eat a Dick.” lol.
It’s not going to happen.
The people who talk most about using their 2nd amendment will be cheering it along as they are currently.
We will find out soon enough.
The SC already has. The president can’t commit a crime. He is officially a dictator.
That simply isn’t true. The President cannot be prosecuted for acts within the bounds of his office. Which is overall a good thing. Just think what Trump would be doing to *Biden* absent that ruling, which merely codified what had been policy for many decades. Trump cannot, as he famously once said “shoot someone on 5th avenue and get away with it” just because he’s the President, and had he not conned the lower half of the class into electing him again, he would certainly have been convicted of his roll in the Jan 6th insurrection.
And while he can’t be prosecuted by the Justice Dept. (which he controls anyway, so moot point) as a sitting President, he can certainly be impeached and removed. 3rd time is likely to be the charm there. Question is, before or after the mid-terms? I don’t see him making it through this term one way or another. Vance is an slimy idiot, but at least he isn’t actually senile, so I would prefer my chances with him.
Trump is the party. No Republican would survive providing any opposition. The truth is he absolutely could murder anyone he wanted as long as he called it an “official act.” Who is going to challenge him? Nobody has to date. If your single thread of hope is the ethics of House and Senate Republicans, you might as well admit you agree with me.
The problem here is, who defines the “acts within the bounds of his office”? Because Trump will do whatever he wants to and then claim that it was an “official act”. Does the Supreme Court define what counts as an “official act”? The same Supreme Court that decided a president can’t be prosecuted for said acts? I don’t have much faith that if he were to do something truly terrible (and personally, I’m defining almost everything he’s doing as “truly terrible”) that the Supreme Court would step in and stop him. It’s not like they have a re-election to worry about.
The courts, that is literally their job!
Three of the Supremes love the guy, one likes him some of the time, there is no love lost with the other five, and less every day. Assuming he doesn’t get to appoint any more, his goose is cooked at the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court can only act on things that reach them, and that takes time. He is NOT doing much winning in the courts. And anyone who thinks the Executive Branch can just ignore the Judicial Branch is dreaming. As I said in another post, they don’t need the DoJ to enforce their rulings.
I know that he’s not doing much winning in the courts, but he is in fact ignoring the judicial branch. Federal judges have told him and his cronies multiple times that they can’t do something or another (like summarily deporting people to El Salvador without due process) and they just do it anyway. If they don’t need the DOJ to enforce their rulings, then why aren’t they appointing someone to enforce them? Right now, the admin is going rogue, and no one is stopping them. What will it take?
Give it time. Nothing in the judicial system happens quickly.
And when the members of the court are “replaced”. Then what?
How? Impeachment of them is never going to happen, much as two members deserve it. That’s the ONLY mechanism to remove a Federal Judge, same as removing a President. I fully expect the 3rd time to be the charm if the cheeseburgers don’t get the asshole first. Or someone with better aim. People get a tad upset when their life savings disappear and they can’t feed their families.
And again, Federal Courts do NOT need the DOJ to enforce their orders, or the Federal Marshals. I can assure you there are plenty of Democrat-led states that will be happy to allow their State Police or National Guards to be Federally deputized if it comes to that. Just because the norm is for people to obey judges, doesn’t mean that there are ways for the courts to enforce their orders.
You have the answer in your response.
Still at least he made the history books today. The Dow dropped almost three times the amount it did for the 2008 recession. (Single day loss.)
His fans should be so proud.
The MAGA answer to any court restriction is “Or what?” There is no mechanism to stop them. Congress won’t, and to whatever minor degree the courts would like to, they have no authority over an administration that is clearly happy to ignore all laws, rules, and standards. Any belief otherwise at this point is willfully ignorant, dangerously so.
You are entitled to your opinion. Having a (rusty) law degree, I know better. The Trump Admin can FAFO if they want. At a bare minimum, they will run out of lawyers willing to be *disbarred*.
Reality is Trump probably could have gotten away with a LOT of his bullshit – until he crashed the economy and started putting a hurt on the everyman’s wallet. At which point enough Congresscritters are going to get nervous such that the 3rd time will be the charm. It’s only a matter of time.
Again, at no point over the last 9 years has any existing Republican shown even an iota of ethics or backbone. There are zero reasons to think they will suddenly change now that the test has gotten exponentially more difficult. If you know of a mechanism other than the looney tunes idea that Republicans will stop him. I’m all ears.
I tried to find your Cost Plus response, but it disappeared on my end.
Respond again and I will reply, or don’t. All good either way.
Er, I didn’t reply after you said it’s open to everyone. Which is great, but it’s hardly a solution, and can’t possibly cover every drug that people need, even if it covers common ones. I have used a plan like that myself, my insurance used to not cover my CGMs, so I had to pay retail. Those plans typically get you to about what insurance plans actually pay for the drug.
And don’t forget that it’s not going to help people with insurance, and insurance companies get boned on drug prices too, raising costs for everyone, even if they have more power than individuals do to negotiate. They don’t have nearly as much power as a proper single-payer national healthcare system would. Which is WHY drugs are so much cheaper pretty much everywhere else.
Gotcha. I do believe they take insurance now as well, which is nice.
As far as the overall healthcare issue? That’s a whole other chapter, lol
Don’t get me started on the entire health insurance industry. I got my professional start there. It’s offensive to the core of it’s being. What’s one dead health insurance CEO? A GOOD START. When the revolution comes, first against the wall, even before the politicians (some of them at least try to care about the common man). Leaches on the butt of humanity.
You are a Luigi guy? umm…ah, umm. Hmm.
That’s not great. In fact, it’s terrible that you condone murder.
Some people just need killing. It’s a war at this point. The new aristocracy is the .0001%, and they are telling all the rest of us to eat cake, and they own the government.
I’m not there yet but I’m getting there.
Likewise, I’m convinced Elon didn’t steal the election in November, now that he couldn’t last night with far more access to government info than he had five months ago.
It was a combination of the cult-leader-like attraction Trump has with ultra-low-propensity voters who couldn’t be bothered to fill out the rest of the ballot in the presidential let alone show up for Rs in anything else, on top of median swing voters who misattributed their misty watercolor memories of pre-covid times to him being in office, when he was coasting on the economy Obama built from scrap.
Musk’s money certainly helped – the margin was razor thin.
But ultimately, it was the Dem’s election to lose, and they are REALLY good at losing. Sigh. I really like Kamala Harris, and think she is well-qualified for the top job. But she is still a *woman* of *color*, and that was an insurmountable hurdle in a racist and misogynist country when combined with how TERRIBLE the Democrats are at telling people about all the great things that Biden did for the country. Trump is the King of self-promotion…
I really have to wonder if it had been Walz at the top of the ticket, would that have tipped it? Sigh.
I remember hearing a discussion of women in power someone made the point that “you can talk about who’s dominant in politics and boardrooms all you want, but when you’re 4 years old who has all the power in the world? Mommy.”
Trump’s unique talent was tapping into that almost-primal, toddler’s IDONWANNA! that’s been primed into the GOP base since Rush Limbaugh hit the airwaves in the ’80s like no coded-language-using career politician ever could.
I’m afraid it’s no coincidence the one time the Dems beat him was the one time they ran a man against him, and it’s also no coincidence that “Trumpism without Trump” offered by career pols on the right has been a resounding flop.
I agree with you 1000% on all points.
When Trump is done, MAGA is done. Thankfully, there is no heir apparent. The last death throes of CIS white male supremacy. Unfortunately going to do a lot of damage on the way out.
Exactly
It’s not going to matter for a while. Even if we somehow got the Tariffs removed every nation that was subject to them.is still going to be rightfully pissed. They will continue theirs in some form as punishment.
Possibly, but other countries are smarter than cutting off their nose to spite their face, unlike the US.
They don’t need us.
But they certainly want our money. <shrug> They are smart enough to know that trade is not a zero-sum game, unlike the Idiot in Chief.
They only want our money until they can get it from somewhere else.
Then they are getting MORE. Seriously, they aren’t stupid, unlike the average American.
Problem is, the critical mass of their donors are the wealthy/ultra wealthy. I don’t see significant change happening with the funding of the republican’ts. I expect the attempts at buying elections and packing the courts to continue. I know it didn’t work in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, but I believe that was more a referendum on musk for numerous reasons.
It worked fantastically. Voter ID passed. Which every single citizen should be happy about.
Voter ID would be fine if it was free and easy to get. It’s not. There has never been anywhere near enough fraud in our elections to matter (other than the fraud that is “Citizens United” allowing unchecked money to be poured into them).
Or, ACTBLUE or what ever that is.
An ID is super easy to get! It’s not like an SAT test. You walk in, show a bill or two to prove your address, and take a picture. I don’t know why people think that getting an ID is hard.
Every fare beater I had ever caught on the train always had an ID. (Usually a medical MJ ID card as well), alongside their Medicaid ID.
If someone can’t get an ID at some point in a month, they have a serious time management issue and probably shouldn’t be voting anyway. lol
It might be easy for YOU to get as someone who has enough privilege in your life to be fucking around on the Internet in the middle of what is for the majority of people a work day. That is far from everyone.
Now imagine you are dirt poor. You work two jobs to make ends meet. You sometimes have to choose between rent and food. You don’t have two nickels to rub together as a rule. You don’t have a car or a driver’s license because you live in the inner city somewhere. Now to get a “Real ID”, and let’s be clear, that is the standard that they want, you need a copy of your birth certificate (better hope you aren’t so poor you never got one because you were born at home on the dining room table like my grandfather) that costs money And time. You need to GET to a place where you can GET an ID. In many places, that’s a struggle these days – might be a couple hours on buses to get there. The Republican state legislatures have done a dandy job of making that difficult in a lot of places. In location and the hours that they are open (next appointment in three months). So you have to take a bunch of time off work to go there. That costs money too. And then you have to pay whatever fees are involved to actually GET the ID once you have all the paperwork.
Now personally, I think this BS cuts deeply for both parties. There are plenty of poor in places like deep-red Appalachia and the rural south who will have just as much difficulty as deep-blue urban poor do. But it’s still unnecessary bullshit for no reason at all. There have been myriad studies of the integrity of US elections, the amount of fraud is infinitesimal. And hilariously, it’s usually the party that complains about all the fraud that perpetrates most of it that there is.
Ha! Not like it matters, but today is my one-day off for the week, and I am doing laundry for the rest of my 60hr week. So, yeah, I got time and the Tigers aren’t playing today. Also, and I believe we’ve covered this, you are pretty rich yourself. Maybe not “never work again” rich, but you ain’t hurting.
I’ve been dirt poor twice in my life, in two different decades, for two different reasons. I’ve lived in the hood in Detroit, and spent many a day in the hoods of NYC. All of those folks have ID. In fact, it’s taught more than English on how to get one.
Sure, in Cape Coral or Port Charlotte it may be a pain in the ass to get to the tax collector, but in the hoods of the country? They are usually a quick walk or two stop ride to get to. Like, less than 20 minutes.
Also, to get new plates for your boat? Sure, that might mean an appointment. But, to get an ID? You just walk in that place. It’s not some palace that you have to catapult a moat to get to. They have a door, you open it, you sit down, and in 10 minutes you get called. I don’t know the cost for every state, but $20 and 20 minutes later, you have an ID.
If you are homeless, almost any shelter anywhere will sponsor you with an address, and in many cases, go with you to get said ID.
It’s not oppressive to get ID’d. The poorest people need it the most anyway, as they need it to get free money and health care, so they already have one.
I don’t know what you envision, but the truth ain’t it on this topic.
Except in blue states it often isn’t. Texas famously closed the majority of locations in Houston and Dallas. That sort of nonsense is rampant in the blue states. Even in Florida, while Charlotte County has easy access to that sort of thing – look back to the posts about how utterly horrible it is to deal with the DMV in MIAMI.You know, where there are lots and lots of Democats, unlike true-blue Charlotte County. Why do you suppose that is?
The poor may have ID (often a Social Security Card), but in many cases they don’t have ID that proves they are a citizen. Many states don’t actually require you to get a RealID license or state ID. Florida doesn’t give you a choice, but many states still do.
IMHO, if this is a real concern, just make passports *free*. That at least solves half the problem and levels the playing field since it doesn’r make any difference where you live. But then the right carries on about “show me your papers” as if the rest of this nonsense is any different.
Holy shit, dude, lol. I really want to like you, but you are making it tough on this one. I’ll go slow:
Let’s think about Dallas, Houston, and particularly Miami. Who is in charge there? Not just the Mayor, but who holds the books? It’s Democrats. They are seemingly putting their own constituents through hoops, just to prove some “point”. Which is why every one else dislikes those politicians. They are the ones making it difficult. So, now ask yourself why they would do that? Why would they make their people suffer indignities? Those in “charge” don’t want it. It fucks up their game. Ahh, then it becomes not so simple, eh?
Hot tip: all you need is a SS# and an address to get a Real ID license. I bet it’s less to just get a standard ID, which is what all the “poor” have anyway, in order to get their checks in person/mailed.
As far as the passport thing, yeah, everyone should have had one since they were 13 (when you are first able).
I’d like you to remember that a passport is a revenue stream that keeps people employed, and other countries rely on that kind of supplemental revenue to even afford to make a license.
also:
“Many states don’t actually require you to get a RealID license or state ID…”
They all do now, as of March or May whatever.
I’m the least likely person to want the gov to know my shit, but if it had got to be done, It’s not hard to do that simple shit.
Again, most, if not all, poor people have already done this, due to multiple emails from the government on their phones (a whole other topic). Most, if not all, rich people also have ID.
Who is the problem here? Is it the 3.5% of people spray-painting Teslas, or is it the off-gridders minding their own business, or maybe the Amish?
It could be all of them, and that is fine. But, to pretend that the government doesn’t want to know the digits of each and every person that makes one dime here is silly.
Silly.
The government wants to know who you are, and I, sure as shit, want to make sure you are a citizen as well.
No free passes when you are deciding my future. I get anyone’s decision, but it better fucking be valid.
The local government doesn’t control *state* services. IDs are a state service, even if sometimes they are provided at the county or local level – that is by no means universal. For example, in Maine, it is entirely done at state-run BMV offices.
No, you don’t just need an SS card and an address to get a RealID. That is why it’s been delayed for more than a decade now. It’s everything you need for a passport, plus you have to prove where you live. If you are homeless – how do you do that even if you happen to have a birth certificate? My neighbor from NY went through hell renewing her license and getting a RealID because her 71yo birth certificate had tape on it.
You need to get your head out of the sand.
I’m from the hood in Detroit too. $20 is a weeks’ worth of food. Food beats an ID any day of the week.
Which party store are you getting a week’s worth of food for $20 from?
As I am sure you are aware, the Michigan Government just passed a raise for people on UIA. They have more than $20 per week.
How dare you (for lack of a better term) besmirch the struggles of Detroiters with such a smitten comment. You know better, especially if you are actually from the “hood”.
There is no way you are from either side, Downriver or 6 Mile/Farmington at best
South Novi or Mobile Home St. Clair Shores doesn’t count, playa.
Ha!
6 Mile and Wooward. You wanna get technical? McNichols and Woodward. You wanna get more technical? John R. and Ferris/Stevens/Church/Chandler. Pick one.
First robbery was in fourth grade just outside Ford Middle School while walking home from Midland Elementary.
Uptown book was where I read the comics and car magazines before it went full adult. Palmer park was the place to find “the woods” and I loved the ruins of the stone castle fountain by the pond.
You’re right. I’m NOT Detroit. I’m Highland Park.
My family was denied UIA way before it was called that. A lie from a doctor the hospital said did not exist when asked years later.
That $20 was earned from working for a local church. So was the five gallons of water I hauled every day for drinking and to flush the toilet.
How’s that, playa?
East Jeff and Jos Campau. When white people weren’t allowed there. I was the token and got escorted out with shotguns for my safety.
It’s not a contest, though. That would be dumb. I get you, playa.
Fair enough.
Voter ID is already the law in WI, it’s just enshrined in the state constitution now so it will be harder to ever repeal. Effectively nothing changes though.
This is a good thing. Like I said.
It doesn’t really matter if the swing voters are pissed off that they can’t afford food and cars (or all sorts of things if this nonsense continues). Lying about the economy and that he was going to “fix” it is why Trump won. The wealthy can pour all the money in the world into the race, and it won’t matter.
Had I kept my previous car I would have been timed pretty well for this, it would likely have needed tires and brakes ahead of annual inspection due in May, and A/C was on the fritz. I wouldn’t have had to move my timeline up significantly, if at all. Instead, anything outside of routine maintenance is warrantied for a while instead.
I’ve talked with my dad about getting the transmission fluid changed on my mother’s car. I think repairs to his car have taken precedent but just need to keep nudging him about it so it doesn’t get forgotten even if the cost does go up, because it should have some good life in it for a while. Or I’ll just call around for some quotes myself to push it along.
I just replaced the front springs on the F-150. Not sure where Rock Auto got them from, but hopefully I won’t have to worry about that for another hundred thousand miles.
While I’d like a new truck (it’s a 2012), this one’s only got about 135,000 miles on it, so I can’t justify the $$$ on a new one. I’ll be doing whatever I need to to keep it alive for the foreseeable future, likely including some quality time at the local pick & pull.
I also just ordered some 20 volt hand tools that are probably about to get a whole lot more expensive.
Remember when Tutti Cicero yelled at Henry Hill for wasting “eight fucking aprons on this guy”?
You just wasted a whole column on this guy.
Just don’t look!
I have two German cars and a Japanese car, the latter of which needs the most work right now. Porschelump really just needs tires that are on the way already. The 411 needs a helicoil fixed on one of its spark plugs. But the Lancer? Oof. It’s got a range of fun problems I’m waiting on my tax return and hospital bill to fix, from a mystery short somewhere in the wiring harness to dead axles and other rubbery bits that are toast after 15 years and 216K miles.
Anyway, I told you that the guy who kept barking “tariff, tariff, tariff” was ignorant as hell about the economy. I told you this would go poorly. At best, I expected him not to fix the economy because he’s dumber than a puddle of rotting smegma, at worst, well…this.
If you voted for Trump, you owe me money. I didn’t want this. I didn’t vote for this. You, Trump voters, did. Take responsibility for your irresponsibility and give me money.
Don’t worry. The upcoming Depression will lower prices. No one will have jobs or money to buy them but…
The cars don’t need much but the Harley needs some gaskets, I guess there’s always form-a-gasket 😀
Guess what you forgot? The cost of crash repair parts will go up as well. Even if you don’t have a crash, your insurance rates are gonna go up because of that.
Hmm, the Miata needs nothing for now. The new Forte GT is going to get CocoMats in black and red to break up that sea of black in the interior. They’re made in the USA but the materials are imported, so I can see at least a small price bump coming. Going to mosey over to their site now…
As long as there are still closeout sales at Rock Auto I guess I’ll be ok 🙂
I have a fridge covered in about 60+ RockAuto magnents. Despite all those orders, I’ve only had like one item I’ve needed be a closeout.
I started by putting the magnets on my tool boxes. When those filled up, I moved to the fridge. I think my wife has started throwing them away, ha!
I’ve gotten quite a few closeouts keeping 6 cars on the road. Usually they’re only for 1 item left. Just received 2 different brand brake drum closeouts for the old F-250. They don’t exactly match but they fit.
Mine are on the fridge. My wife moves them to the side of the fridge, down by the trashcan. And all out of order.
I move them to the front of the fridge, in numerical order, nice and neat/straight. All duplicate magnets go on the tool box in the garage, also in numerical order. Triple duplicates are placed on a different side/end of the tool box.
This is the way.
I read kind of out of order sometimes and read this as “Volkswagen AG will be putting a 25% auto duties sticker on its vehicles shipped to the US” which I think is a very, very good idea. Here’s what it would have cost; here’s what it does cost.
Long story short, my partner and I have three cars. Two were built in Japan (Mazda, Subaru) and one in Sweden (Saab). Im screwed regardless. That being said, at this point I’m also hanging onto all of them for as long as possible.
Better tell Cheeto boy how much golf equipment is made in Vietnam.
Won’t matter to him, both his irons and understanding of global economics haven’t been updated since 1987.
Why would he update his clubs? He wins every tournament!
He set a record on every Trump golf course!
Because he always plays the first round…
A good friend of mine had a nephew who had a plea bargain deal to avoid prison on a crypto scheme that included a fine of up to nine figures. He just paid Trump for a full pardon. I don’t think Trump will care about the price of clubs.
Wait…. WHAT?????
Oh yeah. Trump is selling pardons for millions, and it isn’t like that money is going to the treasury. Why would that be surprising?
You know someone who did this??
The nephew of a long-time friend. Paid in crypto, of course.
OMG, that is horrible. Horrible indeed.
There is no return for the U.S. Not even a slight chance.
Question is: where do you go??
Well, I am fortunate to have multiple citizenships. I recommend any place but here.
I didn’t know Rosie O’Donnell was a gear head, lol
I’m sure “I didn’t know..” could be your catchphrase. For you, it would apply to just about everything.
Aww, did you just try a zinger? lol
When you open an iPhone box, there is a note inside proudly proclaiming that “This phone was designed in Cupertino, CA”.
But the phone is made in China.
Apple is the largest company in the world by market cap. There is no reason they couldn’t make iPhones in the U.S., other than corporate greed.
This is from 6 years ago.
Yet here we are
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/28/technology/iphones-apple-china-made.html
Corporate greed is definitely part, but because we have protections and requirements for workers, an iPhone here would cost $2500. Not to mention we don’t have hordes of unemployed to fulfill all manufacturing needs,
Yet.
Of course they could, and as the reply to you demonstrated, the cost of making them here would make the price skyrocket for consumers. So once again, the consumer is shafted. Corporations are not going to willingly take less in profit for the sake of some moral commitment to the United States, good lord.
At least it was designed here.
I hope everyone is happy with their new manufacturing labor jobs. Because the last time I checked, there’s nothing to stop companies from outsourcing their engineering to other countries…
This is what I’m saying!! All of the Cons are just touting how many jobs we’d gain if we brought back manufacturing but who TF is going to work them?? Factories already can’t find enough people to work as it is and you’re now hoping to add dozens more manufacturing jobs?? Who is supposed to work them? Nobody with a white collar job now is going to work manufacturing unless it’s an act of desperation!! I feel like I’m going insane!
This is a huge issue at my company. The past year production techs on the floor had a 25% retention rate after 100 days. People don’t want to work manufacturing jobs. Also we don’t pay great out there
There is probably a strong causal correlation between those two sentences.
Don’t i know it. $22 an hour or $25 for night shift to start out is tough in a hcol area where minimum wage is almost $17
And its pretty specialized work too
And the current regime is dismantling OSHA along with any environmental regs. Factories are going to become much worse places to work unless the company that operates them has a moral compass. Which it won’t.
woooo. And we just passed a million man hours without a recordable too.
Cant have recordables if nobody is recording
And the fact that almost nobody in the U.S. wants the jobs making iPhones. The irony in the xeonophobic tarrif crap is the people who want them the most are largely the lower income people who will get hurt the most. If you can’t afford products made by somebody making $2/hr in Vieatnam you certainly won’t be able to afford it when the person making it is getting $25/hr. Even if your income goes up 20%.
Wait a sec. You wrote that the tariffs are xenophobic, and in the same sentence proceeded to stereotype an entire product segment as poor?
Life must be sunny in that glass house, lol
What is a “poor product segment?” Again, maybe it’s time to hold back a bit on the “inspiration.”
You JUST wrote that people that buy iPhones are poor, or at least aspire to own iPhones. With no evidence…no proof…no nothing. Just you, saying that poor people like iPhones.
That’s pretty silly.
You really need to lay off the hard stuff. I said that lower-income people will be most negatively impacted by the tariffs. That being pissed about iPhones being too expensive and then voting for people who will make them more expensive is ironic.
Because of this, petty whiny republicans voted for a hate filled fascist moron, who is going to crash the US economy, blow up our national defense alliances, and destroy the US safety nets – leaving the disabled, elderly, and poor to die.
Good work there Trump supporters! Are you feeling proud?
I guess this is a good time to have 8 cars, even though 2 aren’t roadworthy. 3 of them are even the same make and model, but they all have different engines, so there’s a bit of interchangeability lost there.
As long as my Prius continues Priusing on as it has been for the last 50,000 miles I’ve owned it, I should be ok, even with higher parts prices. It hasn’t needed much!
What year is the Prius? As long as you are not eligible for the dreaded head gasket disintegration you should be in good shape
It’s a 2007, so pre-head gasket. It does have 305,000 miles on it though, so I’m sure something will go eventually. Right now though the worst I’ve got is an intermittent CEL for small evap leak, which seems to be something other than the gas cap, but I’m not too concerned about figuring that out.
305k is more than I’ve put on any of our Prii, but they seem pretty robust, especially those Gen2s. Enjoy, drive it till it returns to its base elements!
I needed to get the NISMO 2 Way Helical Limited Slip Differential for my 25 Leaf and get it installed.
Funnily enough the diff was made for NISMO by Quaife. Install was no problem according to the mechanic, done in a week.
Honestly the only other mod I’m considering is a trailer hitch, but the one I’d want to use has pretty crap paint from the factory and I don’t need a trailer hitch at the moment, and when I do I’ll need to send it to my paint guy for sandblasting and repaint before I even consider installing it.
You earned this…
https://youtu.be/z5TqLajtnx4
We received notices several weeks ago of the impending tariff price increases for parts across a broad swath of product lines. These were weighted averages, in other words some particular parts in the line will go up more than others. I did some quick math and averaged the weighted averages, and it’s about a 15% increase across the board for the half dozen or so product lines in question. Now, this was several weeks ago, so I don’t know if that was taking in account what they thought might happen as opposed to what did just happen.
A good percentage of our parts are sourced from overseas, or built with raw materials from overseas. If you think you’re going to dodge the tariffs because you have a “domestically produced” car, you’re wrong.
Per your article here, mechanics need margin. I need margin. If anyone’s costs go up, they’re not going to absorb it just to make things easier on those they’re selling to. There’s no more profit to give; if there were, businesses would have already used that as a competitive price advantage.
The auto industry is intertwined with everything. Everything in your house came to you via a truck at some point. If those trucks are now 15% more expensive to buy or maintain, that’s going to be passed onto you, regardless of what’s inside of them.
Somehow it’s expected the exporting nations will pay these tariffs, but that’s not where the money’s going to ultimately come from. I don’t know how making everything more expensive for everyone makes us prosperous, but I guess that’s why I sell auto parts.
Have fun everyone.
I don’t give two fucks about inflation. I’d just raise my fees to match inflation. My mortgage is fixed rate so JP Morgan subsidizes my loan whenever inflation exceeds my rate.
Many Trump voters are old and on fixed income. Let them eat cake. They asked for it.
I am going $100k more in debt repairing my house. This is not a fixed apr. I need to get myself a fixed apr STAT before they rise.
But but but…
supposedly we are going to have more money somehow???
You signed an adjustable HELOC in these times? yeesh. Was it an i/o loan as well? What were you thinking?
We took it out 5 or so years ago, and are just now using it. Yeah, I kinda plan on refinancing at some point to lock something in.
I am vehemently against HELOC’s, but I am married, and have been putting all this off for too long. I can’t justify letting in gallons of water onto my floors every time it rains.
Gotcha. I understand that. You gotta fix your joint.
Do what you want, but I don’t think rates are going to go down any time soon. If it were me, I’d look into it really hard and get something tied down fiscally (not unlike your repairs) so I at least know what I got.
Playing with fire is not a great idea for anyone, and I don’t think anyone’s fire, anywhere across the globe, is going out anytime soon.
That’s my 2 dimes on it, anyway.
The problem is if no one has any expendable income, no one’s going to buy anything from me.
And yes, there’s a bit of solace in knowing that they all just punched themselves squarely in the dick. It will make hoping to survive just a bit easier.
Ordered a replacement belt tensioner for my Mazda (skyactiv 2.5), which should be the last maintenance other than oil changes I’ll need for a while.
Extra important to keep up on maintenance when you might be living in it eventually.
I bought new camper tires since they’re all made in Southeast Asia somewhere. I’m also going to stock up on consumables like cabin air filters and oil filters.
I’m mad that anything worthwhile is going up in price for no good reason. It’s almost enough to make me start job searching in Canada. There is a need for people with my skills and experience.
That reminds me I needed to get trailer tires, wonder if I can get some before the price bump.
Owning 2 GM cars in Canada, it’s going to be interesting. If GM Canada sources spares directly from non-US countries, no new tariffs apply. However, if I need a part from a US warehouse that came from the same country, GM will get hit with the tariffs before it heads to Canada (no current tariffs on car parts from the US).
Luckily, one of the two is still under warranty.
I have to do brakes all around for my Chevy Volt, they are rusting thanks to regen braking not using them at all and Michigan winters. My preferred shop just closed and I am debating if I should do it myself or what, I never done brakes before. I better hurry up. If someone has a shop/mechanic around SE Michigan that is good, please let me know!
There’s a good solution for that problem: don’t use one-pedal driving! I know a lot of people like it (I’m not one of them) but the long term effect is just what you describe: rusty brake rotors from lack of use.
Doesn’t apply to the Volt.
I never use “low gear” on mine (the nearest to one pedal driving you can get on a volt). When you use the brake pedal, it will regen brake until you need more braking and then it boosts braking with the hydraulic brakes.
I’m in the same boat as MrBrown89 with my 2017 this year.
With my Bolt, you should put it in neutral and go down a long hill. Luckily for me, my house is at the top of a 1 mile long hill between me and the highway. I do this once a week or so. I can definitely tell when it’s in neutral and the real brakes are working.
What’s rusting? The rotors? The calipers should have an anti rust coating so they should be OK. At least I think so, I don’t live in a place where rust is an issue. I did however have a 1960 Triumph that came from Michigan which did have rust issues and (very early) uncoated disc brakes.
Disc brake jobs are quite easy without rusty fasteners. With rust I imagine its a bit harder but still doable. If you DIY I highly recommend locktite, waterproof or
(in a pinch) dielectric grease on the fasteners when you reinstall to keep the rust at bay for later servicing.
If the rust is limited to the rotors just stomp on the brakes a few times to clean them up. I think some pitting on the rotors isn’t going to kill them or you, after all the reason they got that way in the first place is they are so rarely used and even rotors with holes drilled all the way through work just fine 😉
The problem is more than the rotors, in salty areas, we get rustjacking in the pads where rust forms between the backing plate and the friction material, this cracks the friction material and it can fall off. Usually, brakes get worn out faster than rustjacking taking hold, but EV’s have changed the equation.
Does that interfere with their replacement though? If not it shouldn’t matter as far as the labor is concerned. The rest of the hardware 0- springs etc, should be replaced as well but that can come included in the kit.
No. It just sucks replacing pads that are barely worn.
Understandable but as car repairs go that’s a cheap and easy fix. Ill gladly take that over pounding out dents or repairing rodent chewed wiring.
This is what happened to the rear brakes on my 2012 Volt. The pads actually came free from their backing on both sides in the rear due to non-use. A new set of rotors and pads was only $70 from RockAuto though, and thankfully it was fairly straightforward change-out.
Day trip to Windsor?
I have the same year Volt as yours, the issue is mostly on the back actually. Is Windsor cheaper than Detroit for car parts and labor?
No idea, I’m in Montreal. Can’t say for parts (no tariffs). But often, labour is much cheaper in Canada. Independents here in Montreal are running $100/hr dealerships are $120-150.
I’m guestimating $400-500 CDN for Wagner pads and generic coated rotors from my local parts counter for all 4 corners. My parts counter charges garage prices at the actual counter (walk in is not their main business).
Fuck
Well said.
Comment of the next 1388 days.
Well I’ve got incredible news for any Lada owners out there, Russia was NOT on the tariff list! Despite the US having a $2.5B trade deficit with the country in 2024, Russia is getting no new tariffs, meaning you Lada Niva parts won’t change much in price at all!
You may be wondering, so surely some other countries were forgotten from the list then, given Russia is hardly a US ally right? Well you’d be mistaken, even uninhabited islands are covered by this round of tariffs, so surely there can be no excuse for “forgetting” to add Russia to that list. Do with that info what you will.
The official White House reason for omitting Russia is that the sanctions imposed against them for invading Ukraine have effectively stopped all US-Russian trade.
My thought is that Trump wants to keep the US as a potential free trade zone for Russia to keep his buddy Putin happy.
Huh, I’ve had a lot of bosses in my time, but I didn’t ever really consider them “buddies.”
The difference is you don’t aspire to be like them. Trump wishes he could get away with what Putin can. Well that’s probably true now at least.
I wonder if Lada parts will fit on Fiats….. Or Chevys since the newer Niva was developed with Chevrolet:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada_Niva_Travel
My Camaro needs an oil change and brake fluid flush, already bought the fluids the other day and the oil (Pennzoil Ultra Platinum) is being delivered today and the brake fluid (Motul RBF 600) will be here Tuesday, still need to get a filter which I tend to go with whatever is made in USA
Thankfully, the only thing in my fleet that has something wrong is the mustang, which has some failed board that prevents the AC clutch from cycling. As it’s no longer in production (OEM or aftermarket) tariffs probably won’t impact it’s cost.
That said, the age of my fleet means I’m likely to be impacted by this at some point 🙁
1389 days to go.
At long last, I am finally tired of the winning.
That’s for the current term, the 2nd Great Depression won’t immediately end just because the next President eliminates the tariffs on January 21, 2029, the effects will probably take 10-20 years to repair
Very possible, but today seems like a day for clinging to strands of optimism.
Worked for those on the Titanic, right?
LOL.
Does that mean Kid Rock is the orchestra playing us off?
Once the power goes off he will be handing out free Bud Light as they load the life boats.
Not bud light. He’s a keystone man.
Had a whole video of him shooting cases of bud light after they dared to acknowledge trans people
Forgot to add sarcasm emoji.
My bad.
But there’s a hilarious twist to that: After his 15 minutes of fame ended, he was seen in a club drinking Bud Light…which still makes me laugh. It’s all performative.
Hey, 32% of people on the Titanic lived! Those odds might be looking pretty optimistic for us in a few years!
It’s funny how you think there will be another election.
Predicting that this shit show will result in in a new “National Emergency”
being declared, suspension of elections, and a “beautiful” third term for the imbecile and his delusional fans.
They’re already trying to float the narrative that he needs a third term because he’s wasted so much time fighting those dreadful judges.
Don’t forget the “witch hunt” impeachments, the “Chinese Flu,” “Build the Wall!” and my personal favorite.
RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA