How Trump's Trade War Could Break Your PC Budget and Stifle Innovation

[dcorley]

The world is going to end.
Or, President Trump will win the tariff war. Them, $500 Billion exports. Us, $168 Billion exports.

 

[ssdpro]

Your pro-Trump anti-Obama argument is just absent facts. The unemployment rate the January Obama took office was 8.1. The January Obama left office it was 4.7. ...

There are many policies and decisions to criticize Obama for but economic performance is not once of them.

That 4.7 doesn't include those that have stopped looking for work, and those that are under-employed.

http://freebeacon.com/issues/obama-economy-9-9-million-employed-14-6-million-left-labor-force/

Think about it - Student loan debt is at an all time high, the Millennial generation are the oldest that are still living with their parents (because of debt, home ownership is out of reach), and most likely, many will never raise a family of their own.

You can have your own opinions of the matter, but your not entitled to your own "facts". Which brings me up to the dark art of stats, and the quote that best goes with them; "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

I'll stick with my sourced data provided by the Trump administration - if you think even the info provided by Trump's own admin is "fake news" when it contradicts your points I can't help further. And you do realize you just posted a link to the "Free Beacon"? The same site that reported Hillary Clinton and her campaign director ran a child prostitution ring in the basement of a pizza place - a pizza place that had no basement?

Just yesterday the unemployment rate went from 3.8 back up to 4.0. Tax cuts are starting to reverse progress.

Source (again, Trump's own admin): https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000

 

[dorsai]

The article fails to mention why the tariffs have been put in place...because China already has tariffs in place on American goods or outright prohibitive practices in effect amounting to a 507 billion dollar trade deficit with China. Trade with China needs to be mutually beneficial to both nations not just to China...no American should be ok with funding Chinas economic and military expansion at the cost of American jobs and manufacturing capability so they can save a few bucks on a monitor or other item. Just like in all other business, when a void opens up in a business segment someone else will step in and fill it...no one should have any long term concerns about a trade war with China...as soon as they start idling plants and people they will be back asking to settle.

 

[njwhite]

Like most of the media, you are focusing all your attention on the negative effects of Mr. Trump's actions. He is trying to undo decades of trade negotiations that crippled or completely ruined our manufacturing base and cost us millions of decent paying jobs. He's going at it vigorously and has the attention of the rest of the world. In the short term, there will be winners in the US and losers. In the longer term, the country will benefit overall.

You are just not paying attention if you do not believe that imported goods - and especially Chinese goods - are being unfairly subsidized and otherwise aided at the expense of US produced goods. Let's give this effort some time before we condemn it.

Do you believe that selling prices are determined by cost of production? Only partly so. Just look at the recent run up of Graphic card prices when the demand increased suddenly.

 

[phantom_e]

This isn't TRUMP'S TRADE WAR! There has been a supposed "Trade War" for decades, with China being at the forefront: from technology theft to huge tariffs on imported products while they subsidize products to artificially depress prices of products coming into the U.S. All of those cheap products are great, but come a a price in other ways. It's time the U.S. straightens out these huge trade deficits. We have the F.U. (Financial Unity) money to make that happen.

 

[phantom_e]

Good for him! I, for one, am glad that President Trump is willing to stand up for America and America's hardworking American workers who are, even as we speak, working hard to make Trump-brand suits and ties and Ivanka's dresses and bags!

Um...........

Exactly why things need to be corrected. Trump's a business man, and it's like he said: manufacturing has been leaving america because it cost too much in taxes and regulations,etc. just to start and run a plant. He's set it up now that the U.S. is again an attractive place to do business again; dropping taxes and regulations, allowing full write-offs for equipment the first year purchased, etc. It's about time the U.S. holds other countries accountable for their unfair trade practices.

 

[Jalapenoman]

don't forget that the theft of IP stifles innovation also.

 

[astro-john]

So you think it's OK for other nations to tax OUR goods yet we should let THEIR products into our markets untaxed? Only in liberal-land......

 

[pensive69]

Correcting the incorrect past trade situation isn't easy and isn't pretty.
if i was a larger mfg company i'd seriously consider what i want to do and where i want to do it....
having a lot of business in Communist China i'm struck by how much their mandated government is against what really is free trade, against citizen freedoms and against free commerce.
it's Communist China against the world.
they are the minority report.

 

[torigarner14]

Weve been in a trade war with China for 40 years, but only they have been throwing the punches. Germany has already folded. Calm tf down.

 

[jamesrocks_on]

If adding $5-$10 a build breaks your budget.........Maybe you should start looking for a new job....... we've been getting screwed by China for decades..... finally somebody's doing something about it

 

[lsatenstein]

Since Canada and Europe are not in retaliation mode with China, we foreigners will benefit from lower prices. China, to continue to sell to the USA will drop prices.

One advantage of a one party "Dictatorship society" is the abiilty to withstand any financial attack by the USA. In fact, since the USA products are going to cost more, they will be selling much fewer outside of the country. Intel and AMD and computer manufacturers such as HP, DELL, etc. are going to absorb the higher costs and not pass them on to the consumers.

Exporters of products sold outside the USA will have duty drawbacks. It may be cheaper to buy American goods outside of the USA than for Americans to buy their own products.

 

[schwatzz]

Good for him! I, for one, am glad that President Trump is willing to stand up for America and America's hardworking American workers who are, even as we speak, working hard to make Trump-brand suits and ties and Ivanka's dresses and bags!

I'm pretty sure most Trump brand clothing and Ivanka's line are Made in China

 

[schwatzz]

If adding $5-$10 a build breaks your budget.........Maybe you should start looking for a new job....... we've been getting screwed by China for decades..... finally somebody's doing something about it

Looks like farmers are going to get screwed over, at least in the short term, due to soybean and pork tariffs. Steel workers look like they are going to get screwed over, and maybe auto workers.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

The USA has been getting the short end of the trade stick for years. Thanks President Trump for standing up for America!

 

[Krazie_Ivan]

staggering number of downvotes & mis-information in the comments.

(hi Putin!)

 

[emeraldsmines1990]

Good for him! I, for one, am glad that President Trump is willing to stand up for America and America's hardworking American workers who are, even as we speak, working hard to make Trump-brand suits and ties and Ivanka's dresses and bags!

Um...........

Exactly why things need to be corrected. Trump's a business man, and it's like he said: manufacturing has been leaving america because it cost too much in taxes and regulations,etc. just to start and run a plant. He's set it up now that the U.S. is again an attractive place to do business again; dropping taxes and regulations, allowing full write-offs for equipment the first year purchased, etc. It's about time the U.S. holds other countries accountable for their unfair trade practices.

You are wrong. no one will buy US products If they are made in USA... they will buy Chinese proucts and the US industry will suffer and fail to export.

People started buying US products worldwide on a large scale only when US companies moved their business to China.

where a worker is paid $300 only ... you cant pay workers $300 only in USA , and this has nothing to do with lowering taxes.

Also the land and rent is much cheaper in China as well. and the infrastructure and maintaining it.

You will make Jobs Right but you will never sell much and the prices will go sky high .

 

[chrisbryant]

Open hardware would allow America to invent new business models. For example developing countries could build advanced telephone systems for cost price. This is far better than buying technology from a first-world profit-oriented business that must charge a 70% mark up to cover their overheads. This is the business model behind the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. A $100 laptop is possible if you remove the overheads, use community input and sponsership for R&D and build volume. A $100 IP-PBX is also possible. Another benefit is that the hardware can be built locally (remember the hardware design is free) overcoming import tariff problems and building local industry. Combining these elements means lots of people getting connected cheaply. And that is a very good thing for the world. [1]

[1] http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Open_Hardware

The OLPC project was an abomination, the laptops were utter garbage - not worth $10 let alone $100.

OLPC is a perfect example of how being a businessperson who puts emotion before reason can destroy any chance at granting opportunity.

https://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/journal/past-issues/issue-3/shah/

http://www.olpcnews.com/about_olpc_news/goodbye_one_laptop_per_child.html

I'm a programmer myself but you have to be some kind of nutjob to celebrate OLPC as a success.

Citing OLPC is more about pointing to an early adapter that showed it wasn't impossible. I volunteered for OLPC a while back, my daughter used the system, and I worked on some custom code for it before moving on. My experience from the end-user perspective was actually very nice; I'd hate to have been the first couple iterations of business people, though, who had to figure out the economics of it. However, I wouldn't consider OLPC a failure. I urge you to talk to folks there and read about how many kids have been positively affected in the last couple years alone. This project still lives in some sense, it still aims to achieve ethical and forward-thinking goals in terms of getting knowledge and education into the hands of under-served global communities. It's not the same organization it was, but there is still a community working on the future OLPC, and folks supporting early releases of the hardware; imagine that.

I don't disagree the early version had issues in both quality and cost, but the project has proven resilient and still stands as an open hardware model. I'd say lets help the future OLPC prove open hardware can and will work, and for both emotional and business reasons! I argue that open hardware is viable, projects like OLPC are the baseline and the future of open hardware can only get better.

Read this very well written overview of the project and what's been done, where it is now, and where it could potentially go.

OLPC’S $100 LAPTOP WAS GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD — THEN IT ALL WENT WRONG
https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17233946/olpcs-100-laptop-education-where-is-it-now

 

[emeraldsmines1990]

Dear Professor Chang: Have you ever reviewed the WTO actions regarding trade malpractices against the US? So solly, but WTO has an abysmal record of redressing China's aggressive and predatory actions...So you think decades of Intellectual Theft practices by China against the US, which has been very well documented will just kind of, go away? Not that you ever would, but anyone reading this, should have a little faith in Trump...he isn't a genius, he just isn't part of the absolutely corrupt deep state politicians that have been robbing this country blind for decades (and helped along by Professor Chang). All Trump knows is BUSINESS...he gets it....he knows we are being F^&*%^ed and he is the first elected President in a very long time that is actually trying to redress this BS.

"Professor Chang?" This mildly racist opening comment to your post serves no purpose.How about you consider avoiding racist remarks in future. In addition to this I am a Western European, and I am not of asian descent, like that matters.

China hasn't simply lifted ideas and processes from the US, it has done so for decades against every western nation. the US isn't the only party wronged and in fact they executed a hack against the ANU in Australia quite recently looking for secrets, plans, etc.

But here is my point, a trade war with China, isn't going to change this since it has already happened. China already has what it has. Rather than instigating a trade war (which isn't merely targeted at China, it involves also Canada and Mexico) that isn't actually specifically targeting market segments where IP is at play; a more appropriate strategy would be to pursue avenues related to the WTO and diplomatically through the US' allies in particular where redress from the WTO is insufficient. While seeking to reform the WTO where appropriate.

The real problem with the trade tariff approach is the fact that China is constructing an alternative platform for international trade that it controls. The more expensive the US makes trade with its partners, the more they are pushed towards that alternative.

I support smart, intelligent solutions to these kinds of problems, trade tariffs are neither since they can be countered and simply inflict costs on consumers while destroying jobs simultaneously.

There is a science documentary that talks about shipping minerals, resources and products to other continents is not cost effective nor is it pro environment think of the cost in oil and pollution from diesel engines that are in those ships let alone the steal in ships and containers to ship the products elsewhere we have similar resources on every continent. Zeitgeist: Moving forward is an interesting documentary.

But seriously all bs aside no one wants to face the fact that the world workforce is being replaced by robotics at a steady fast pace and there isn't a field or job that couldn't be done by robotics including lawyers judges police military and every labor industry including manufacturing.

Robotics will never replace Lawyers and Judges and police ... this is too much science fiction. And the robots at the industry are not smart ..

Actually it is USA that has no more than 300 years of culture ... and it is the USA that was built on stealing and killing the natives , then using the slaves , and After ww2 Stealing other people money by forcing the whole world to buy and sell the OIL using the US$ only.

Do you know that if China wants to buy Oil from lets say Saudi Arabia they are not allowed to buy it direct? they must first Buy US$ and Give it to Saudi Arabia for oil ? and THEN Saudi Arabia are forced to Accept US$ as a payment for their goods ?

Do you know that The Whole EU cant buy Oil with Euros ? and also are forced to use the US$ ?

That means USA is taking money Like a Mafia from EVERY OIL TRADE that happens on the planet.

Who is the huge thief here huh ?

Try taking a economics class, then come back and apologize for your lack of knowledge. You obviously have no idea how the world economy works.

so your reply is just by saying : take economy class , while you cant refute anything I said .. well done

I know exactly how US forces Countries to sell their oil only in US$ .

But is that Trumps doing, no I would say it has to do with a long line of the Bush Family. Which is one of the real reason we went to war in the middle east as they were trying to switch to EU for oil trades and he blew them up for trying, also the poppy field owned by big pharma and then there is the lithium mines which all of that is trillions in money control. Bush family goes back to Nazi ties to the fullest Their grandfather Prescott Bush helped Hitler rise to power which is easy to research their bloodline they also own a lot of oil refineries but what do I know.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

Japan has Robots you can mate with and are working to develop a way to make them surrogate mothers also easy to research, So robots can be lawyers, judges, police and military as they already have drones and are working on robotics for those specific applications and there has been talks about Robotics being Judges and lawyers much harder to corrupt they will follow code that will be law and order instead of being bribed or manipulated by emotion or conflict of interest which is suppose to be illegal but goes on just about every day.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41829534

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/ai-judge-robot-european-court-of-human-rights-law-verdicts-artificial-intelligence-a7377351.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40026940

but I guess that is to science fiction for you when it is factual news in other countries.

your guess is wrong. news like BBC and Independent and others are not Technology source . they dont know anything about technology. They are news channels and most of what they say in science has a wow factor nothing more.

you need true info about AI and Robotics , dont goto news channel , Read Technology Magazines , Science Magazines and educate yourself.

You will never have a Robot Judge for example forget it. AI is based on Huge Databank you feed them , and you write an algorythm to make them choose from that Huge data bank the Right thing to do in some Situation. That is if they dont have the right Data in that Databank they will never be able to act right. they cant innovate , or think Ideas ... they REPEAT older Fed Experiences.

This is totally different from Human Mind and how human mind works.

For example, If A Crime has new things that never happened before , The Ropbot Judge will never be able to Solve it .

The Robot Judge will never have Smart ideas as well , to expose a criminal , or to know if a false witness is lying or not using a trick for example. unless that thing was repeated before in another crime and that case is repeating itself.

The Robot can never Innovate , can never think new IDEAS.

and Science Failed to find how the brain finds an IDEA. even scientists when asked how you got that idea , they say we dont know it just comes to my mind.

how do you expect to program a Robot with something you dont know how it works to begin it ?

no one knows even 1% of how the brain works and thinks.

your Robot Judge and Robot Lawyer will be defeated by a first year Lawyer student. forget it . this is Science fiction. and the people who bluff about it in the news are LYING. it is just a WOW Factor nothing more.

The Robots will Allways do what they are fed. they will never have their own experience. and I mean here by Experience , something new as an IDEA , not experience like data collected over time.

That is the differenc ebetween a SMART Judge and A dummy Judge .. one will have IDEAS . and the other will ?Jujst go by the book.

your robot will never even beat the Dummy Judge who goes by the books.

and by the way , it is very easy for a smart Witness and a smart lawyer to defeat the so called Ropbotic Judge ... Just look into old cases that the witnesses convinced the Judge for example , and tell the witnesses to repeat the same Pattern , the stupid Robotic Judge will find this pattern in his Databank and believes the Lying acting Witness.

and so on ...