The US Hamster Wheel

[Seenenough]

Something is the matter Caco, when a German Auto brought into the US is itaxed at 5% but a US Auto exported to Germany is taxed at 25%.

[Cacophonix]

Something is the matter Caco, when a German Auto brought into the US is itaxed at 5% but a US Auto exported to Germany is taxed at 25%.

I am not claiming that there are not inequalities in this scenario and that the US is not sinned against as well.

Caco

[llondel]

llondel ,

There's really no attempt that I've seen to cut health care anywhere in the Trump administration. In fact, significant effort has been made to mitigate astronomical premium increases for those forced into Obamacare, but who earn a living, many self-employed, and don't have the benefit of subsidized premium reductions - i.e. the Middle Class. There are a lot of people who now have insurance, but have an unaffordable deductible before they access it. They are much worse off than before Obamacare set its claws into them. And there are tens of millions of middle-class, taxpayers, in this boat.

As for the impeachment prospects, I suspect Republican strategists are licking their chops in hopes the Democrats controlling the House pursue it. While they would be playing to their base, they will disgust most Americans. There are no plausible charges calling for President Trump's impeachment. I'm fairly confident, but not sure, the people will see through and ultimately ridicule and reject the Democrats pushing impeachment, and they will pay for it just like the Republicans did trying to impeach President Clinton.

I will disagree with you on the healthcare. The proposed changes around "pre-existing conditions" would have screwed a lot of people. I also think that many of the cost increases were down to Republican attempts to make it seem unappealing by imposing restrictions when the Bill was being debated. I still think that if there was political will, the US could have universal healthcare for less than we're all currently paying but the health industry has too many congresscritters in its pocket. Adopt the British model, with the option to pay more to go private and jump the queue (which I don't believe is an option in Canada). Yes, there will be queues because it's a finite pot, but for most people the prospect of being treated in the next few months is still better than never being treated at all because of the prohibitive cost.

I tend to agree on impeachment, given the current information. I think they'll probably adopt a strategy of just blocking him, a bit like the Republicans did to Obama, so he can't get anything done. However, I suspect that if he dumps the Mueller investigation, or that investigation convincingly implicates him in something bad, then that might change. I think there may be enough Republican senators who'd vote against him if either of those things happened, especially as the party would be able to sit back and let the Dems impeach him, then they just have to have a debate and he's out at the vote at the end with very little he can do to them at that point because he's no longer in power. For some of them, it might be what gets them re-elected, for others, voting against him might get them kicked out.

[llondel]

Something is the matter Caco, when a German Auto brought into the US is itaxed at 5% but a US Auto exported to Germany is taxed at 25%.

In such a case I see no reason why the US couldn't just impose a reciprocal tax, although it may be that there's something else taxed the other way where the US benefits.

[Undried Plum]

Something is the matter Caco, when a German Auto brought into the US is taxed at 5% but a US Auto exported to Germany is taxed at 25%.

Hang on a cotton pickin minute!

In Germany ALL cars have VAT levied upon them. Makes no difference whether the car is made in the US or in Germany or an EU country.

In the US you don't have VAT, so it's a bloody silly bleat to complain that you don't have to pay VAT like us Yoorpeens.

That's the sort of sh1t that Chump would come out with.

[Seenenough]

Something is the matter Caco, when a German Auto brought into the US is taxed at 5% but a US Auto exported to Germany is taxed at 25%.

Hang on a cotton pickin minute!

In Germany ALL cars have VAT levied upon them. Makes no difference whether the car is made in the US or in Germany or an EU country.

In the US you don't have VAT, so it's a bloody silly bleat to complain that you don't have to pay VAT like us Yoorpeens.

That's the sort of sh1t that Chump would come out with.

Not true Plum-there are only 5 States in the US that do not charge any form of Sales Tax

[Seenenough]

Import Duty is the same as a Tax

[BenThere]

If I'm not mistaken, VAT taxes are applied after tariffs have been assessed. Correct me if I'm wrong but if I'm right that would negate Undried Plum's protesting argument. But for all I know Mr/Ms Plum may have been watching BBC.

And if one has followed President Trump's actual policy statements, he wants access to foreign markets taxed and tariffed equal to their access to ours, and has pronounced a preference that there be no taxes and tariffs applied to international trade at all. What nations do with their tax regimes after the trade is conducted is their business, but should be applied equally to foreign and domestic products. Pardon me, but I think that's a fair approach.

[Jetex Jim]

Jetex Jim,

I'm neutral on the renewables vs. coal debate. The article you posted is clearly on the side of renewables and makes a few good points. On the other hand, solar and wind have drawbacks that the article didn't address, such as the killing of rare species, the esthetic degradation of the landscape, and the cost without subsidies. The advantages of coal are that the US has centuries of supply, the coal plants and infrastructure are in place, having operated for a long time, clean air technology continues to advance with regard to burning coal, and most importantly, coal-fired energy is available on demand and not subject to the vagaries of sun and wind power.

As of now, coal, if unfettered by adversaries of the industry, remains the most efficient fuel for the production of electric power from a cost per BTU standpoint.

There's not much point in solar and wind being quantified in BTUs. The goal is to produce KW/hours.

And the use of it is not going away. China and India alone guarantee that. I would point to the enormous cost Germany has experienced converting from coal and nuclear to solar and wind. Maybe it's worth it to do that, but so far I think it put a real dent into Germany's economy and the energy costs of everyday Germans, with very little payoff.

I don't hear anyone complaining that imported German cars are costing too much, rather the opposite.

Convince me otherwise and I'll go along. I do like the idea of the clean perpetual motion machine solar and wind advocates promise us. But so far, they haven't delivered and remain dependent on extensive government subsidies to survive in the marketplace. And they're killing billions of birds while scarring the landscape. We can talk later about the reported physiological detriments many have reported who live near the twirling blades of wind towers.

Do you have an authoritative source regarding those billions of birds killed? BTW, are we including solar in the avian slaughter?

[BenThere]

While what you say is true, with today's technology, producing KWH's is ultimately reduced to the BTU quotient of the energy source. It might be equivalents, but BTUs remain the measure of energy as far as I know, fallible as I am.

I bought a new Mercedes last year. It cost way too much, but that's what the little woman wanted. I was happy with the old Chevy.

My old family farm in Northern Michigan, Huron County, had the benefit of a steady and strong West wind and many of the local farmers leased portions of their land to wind generating companies. My neighbor across the road has six turbines spinning on his property. Every day he scoops up the birds killed by the blades, including a few bald eagles, our national bird and the iconic symbol of America. I interpolated that into what I think must be billions of birds across the US, given his account over the small patch of his land, and Huron County isn't a significant chunk of the massive wind turbine installations across the country. I confess I didn't do the math, nor did I consult Google or Wickipedia, just a hunch.

[Jetex Jim]

While what you say is true, with today's technology, producing KWH's is ultimately reduced to the BTU quotient of the energy source. It might be equivalents, but BTUs remain the measure of energy as far as I know, fallible as I am.

I bought a new Mercedes last year. It cost way too much, but that's what the little woman wanted. I was happy with the old Chevy.

I'd say that measuring efficiency in terms of fuel consumption still puts wind turbines and solar ahead of coal.

As far as wind turbines and bird deaths are concerned.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environme ... ower#Birds
There's pages on this so here is just a small chunk.

In the United Kingdom, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) concluded that "The available evidence suggests that appropriately positioned wind farms do not pose a significant hazard for birds."[17] It notes that climate change poses a much more significant threat to wildlife, and therefore supports wind farms and other forms of renewable energy as a way to mitigate future damage.

Sovacool estimated that in the United States wind turbines kill between 20,000 and 573,000 birds per year, and although he regards either figure as minimal compared to bird deaths from other causes. He uses the lower 20,000 figure in his study and table (see Causes of avian mortality table) to arrive at a direct mortality rate per unit of energy generated figure of 0.269 per GWh for wind power. Fossil-fueled power plants, which wind turbines generally require to make up for their weather dependent intermittency, kill almost 20 times as many birds per gigawatt hour (GWh) of electricity according to Sovacool. Bird deaths due to other human activities and cats total between 797 million and 5.29 billion per year in the U.S. Additionally, while many studies concentrate on the analysis of bird deaths, few have been conducted on the reductions of bird births, which are the additional consequences of the various pollution sources that wind power partially mitigates.[62]

[Seenenough]

Something is the matter Caco, when a German Auto brought into the US is itaxed at 5% but a US Auto exported to Germany is taxed at 25%.

I am not claiming that there are not inequalities in this scenario and that the US is not sinned against as well.

Caco

Caco,I might be wrong but did I hear your real name come up in a Jody Scheckter podcast sponsored by a German Automaker ?

[Cacophonix]

Something is the matter Caco, when a German Auto brought into the US is itaxed at 5% but a US Auto exported to Germany is taxed at 25%.

I am not claiming that there are not inequalities in this scenario and that the US is not sinned against as well.

Caco

Caco,I might be wrong but did I hear your real name come up in a Jody Scheckter podcast sponsored by a German Automaker ?

Yes twas me. Are you a Motorsport fan Seenenough

Don't get me going about Kyalami in the good old days.

Caco

[Woody]

Biggest economy, but can’t organise an election

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46157966

[Seenenough]

I am not claiming that there are not inequalities in this scenario and that the US is not sinned against as well.

Caco

Caco,I might be wrong but did I hear your real name come up in a Jody Scheckter podcast sponsored by a German Automaker ?

Yes twas me. Are you a Motorsport fan Seenenough

Don't get me going about Kyalami in the good old days.

Caco

I was lucky enough to even race a few times on the old track Caco in a 250 International Kart but we would have to talk about it on another thread.

[OFSO]

VAT. Would that be voluntary added tax ? as in, have a word with the vendor first ? Oh sorry, not every country works to Spanish rules.

[Seenenough]

And that is how France thanks America for saving them, twice.France would be a German region now if it were not for the US.

I suspect that the next time Macron shows up in the US he will find that he is not quite as welcome as before.

[Slasher]

I think Macron should be more worried about Russia than China or the US. Eastern Europe is ripe for the taking - but Putin knows he's no match for the US armed forces when they eventually arrive.

AFAIC complacency of European nations, that no doubt lies with the cushy (false) decades-old knowledge the Yanks will get up and immediately come over and defend the Continent, are living in a fool's paradise. And yes I fully agree with Trump berating Europe to financially cough up what they're supposed to for their defense. It's unfair that America has to foot most of the defense bill so that Western Europeen societies can maintain their socialist lifestyles and idealogies. It's about time they paid their own way for a change.

[Seenenough]

Quite often I watch the AHC (military history) Channel.

The other night I watched a documentry of the dry dock raid at St Nazaire in France where over 60% of the strike force would loose their lives to disable the dock.

It was the only dry dock that was able to deal with the massive battle ships that the Germans had.After the dock was disabled the Germans spent their time hiding the Terpitz which was eventually sunk when the Allies found it hiding in a Norwegian fjord.

I dont think millenials have tha vaguest idea of the sacrifices that have been made so that they can be free today.

[Slasher]

Indeed Mr enough thank the fates it was the Greatest generation that fought and not millennial snowflakes (not that they would even with the Nazi jackboot stomping their heads).