This whole tariff circus boils down to regulatory capture by manufacturers at the 10+-figure market cap scale. Olimex (and other small and medium businesses) can't reasonably be expected to calculate the exact material composition of their products (much less their suppliers' products); the only people who can are on the scale of Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and Google whose volumes can amortize the cost of doing so on a per-product basis (and who have probably already done that analysis as part of their process control).
We’re living through a political revolution centralizing state and economic power. It’s almost like the pendulum swung away from the Soviet system and now we’re swinging back.
A recent guest (historian) made that point on the Triggernomitry podcast.
Stalin, Mao, Castro, Hitler- they were all 'idealists.'
They were in it to improve the human (or some subset thereof) condition. And they weren't going to let anyone get in their way of making things better!
And there's the Nolan Chart: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Chart which is even more confusing. The word "liberal" is not used in New Zealand much, although perhaps the US meaning is taking hold. Also centrist here is unclear so the Nolan Chart makes no sense to me.
there is not one intelligent credible person on planet earth who endorses horseshoe theory. It’s utter nonsense designed to try and discredit anyone outside of a narrow neoliberal window.
Had exactly the effect that I’d expect. Hollowed out every aspect of society and helped lead to exactly the sort of extreme government you don’t want.
I think the obvious conclusion from my post is that I don’t find any of those people credible. At all.
I’d go so far as to say I think anyone peddling horseshoe theory is a politically illiterate fool regardless of their supposed qualifications.
It’s funny that you want me to read the imitation though.
“ Several political scientists, psychologists, and sociologists have criticized the horseshoe theory.[3][4][5] Proponents point to a number of perceived similarities between extremes and allege that both tend to support authoritarianism or totalitarianism; political scientists do not appear to support this notion, and instances of peer-reviewed research on the subject are scarce. Existing studies and comprehensive reviews often find only limited support and only under certain conditions; they generally contradict the theory's central premises.”
I don’t understand what you’re even trying to say here.
AfD is objectively far more popular in the former east Germany. Look at a map of votes, it’s clear as day. The borders are exact. They are not a left wing party, not at all. They are a far right party.
It makes sense that the the economically struggling former communist areas would be both more drawn to extreme parties and have a distaste for the left.
> It makes sense that the the economically struggling former communist areas would be both more drawn to extreme parties and have a distaste for the left.
That: "have a distaste for the left" is extremely wrong, because before the AfD, the far-left parties which traced their history back to the SED (the socialist party of the GDR (East Germany)) were very popular there, much more so than in West Germany.
> They are not a left wing party, not at all. They are a far right party.
They are a populist semi big tent party as well. They are not particularly coherent but there is some overlap between some of their policies and what some in the far-left might support (Euroscepticism, the Euro and such)
You are the one arguing for 'erases' here. Given the horseshoe theory is valid, it seems completely on point for these assholes to have some far left ideas. Doesn't make them not nazis.
But horseshoe theory isn’t valid. It’s entirely nonsense. It’s mostly an excuse for centrists to feel morally superior as the results of their useless ideology lead inevitably to fascism.
AfD is literally a shitty copy-paste of UDC/SVP (Switzerland). Shitty because they lack the one big advantage SVP had in the 90s: Big money backing it. If AfD had at least ONE German billionaire seriously backing it they would already be in power.
If you say so. Seems like a rather incoherent view though…
Fact is that there is a lot of overlap between far and far right voters in ex-socialist parts of Eastern Europe. Just compare the supporters of BSW and AFD in Germany..
Yes, far right parties are very often more popular in areas that have seen more economic hardship.
East Germany was economically crippled for the latter half of the 20th century under Soviet rule. It's started to recover, a bit, but it's slow going. That makes the people there more willing to listen to anyone who will lie to them about a) who's responsible, and b) how easy it is to solve their problems.
Read the "Academic studies and criticism" section of the very page you linked. Horseshoe theory is nothing but a bunch of baloney, that is actually harmful to understanding the current situation.
No, fascist consolidation of state and businesses has little to do with communism and "seizing the means of production".
What's your point? Why do you refuse to learn about the actual reasons we are in this mess? Do you not want to expand on your very surface level understanding of politics and ideology?
The mechanisms behind both ideologies are different, and the outcomes are different too.
Yes, that's how socialism has worked almost everywhere it has been tried.
Everything goes fine when you have enough resources.
When you don't, you suddenly always need to create this division between 'real citizens' and 'others' to maintain (1) your hold on power through votes or force, and (2) expected standard of living.
This is why promising free stuff to everyone is a bad idea, not because people shouldn't have stuff, but because once you can not, things get ugly.
Not that I agree with the comment above but that means nothing at all on itself.
One of the first things the Socialist government did was violently put down a communist coup. The communists would have abolished democracy ASAP and purged the socialists if they ever took power.
Fact is that extremist movements will crack down on anyone that tries competing with them for power. Ideological affinity hardly matters.
Please name, say, three elements of NAZI policies that were socialist. To my knowledge, the only thing that's even a tiny bit socialist was Hitler's plan for some sort of central bank, because of course he saw banking and loans as part of some Jewish conspiracy.
Hitler was an O.G. troll, taking over the Workers' Party and renaming it with the word Socialism purely to aggravate his political opponents. He hated socialists, communists, and anarchists.
> three elements of NAZI policies that were socialist
Government control over transportation, newspapers, and other industries that should ideally not choose profits over quality of service. Communalized non-profit grocery stores. Sounds familiar?
Strict measures to ban or nationalize war profiteering, high interest rates, capital heavy business models allowing rent seeking. Explicit profit sharing required by large companies.
Welfare state with free healthcare and expanded pension funds.
Sometimes 'bad' people have the same 'good' ideas you have. Now sure why this is so difficult to grasp.
No idea what you mean. Public transportation? If that's socialist, then any functional, modern society is going to be socialist on your book. If you mean control over private transportation, then I guess America was socialist during WWII.
newspapers
There's nothing socialist about that.
Welfare state with free healthcare and expanded pension funds.
I really don't think that you can call a "welfare" program Socialist when it excludes Jews, non-Germans, and even anyone who was against the regime.
Sometimes 'bad' people have the same 'good' ideas you have.
This is a great podcast on philosophy in general, but this episode on Technofeudalism
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5SjdkYzdSp6tHTdD2o1OAe?si=8...
talks directly about the state of Big Tech taking over the capitalist free market. The same as is happening with large scale industries like you mention.
I knew without clicking this would be Philosophize This.
I friggin love that podcast, and keep recommending it to friends. The only problem I have with it is that I like to listen to it while driving, but I can't stop to take notes every five minutes.
(Small anecdote: A while back I was listening to the series on anarchy, as a philosophical view questioning the power of the state, and in the middle of the episode I got stopped by the police. Which, especially when driving in Bavaria, can happen randomly without any reason, for those confused.)
This podcast is one of my favorites to listen to while out riding my bike. Something about the cardio + his way of breaking down the core meaning behind philosophers' works is just a very edifying and enjoyable experience.
I had no idea who Byung-Chul_Han was before listening to this podcast- he has a lot of interesting things to say about the current state of our capitalist society. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byung-Chul_Han )
It's beyond that. There's a strong element of White Nationalism and Christo-Fascism at play as well. The proponents make their intentions very clear, albeit without the self-labeling as such.
"Both" were true "classically" in early 20th century Europe in the sense that capitalism being in crisis drove the rise of the communist movement. And then the fascist movement (and other strongly reactionary movements) rose in reaction / fear of that.
Today's pseudo-fascism in the form of Trumpism is something else. More of a reaction to a) climate crisis and the potential/growing crisis in the energy sector and b) and identity politics/culture-wars stuff.
This is nothing new. The number of hoops a former employer had to jump through to export, from the US into the EU, what amounted to a steel bar with some brackets on it was almost worth more in salary hours than the entire value of the sale.
Not so. There exist BOM analysis tools which are free for manufacturers of products to use - you just upload your parts list and your suppliers, and it works down the list either requesting info from the supplier or using pre-supplied info. The suppliers in turn contact their suppliers, etc. - it’s the suppliers who ultimately pay a few hundred bucks a year for access. At the end of the process you know exactly what’s in your doodad, get a materials compliance declaration, don’t poison any kids, etc.
This is something this manufacturer should already be doing, otherwise it’s unclear how they’re complying with RoHS or REACH.
You know that you can't do it on your own, but you need to have certification for that?
> U.S. customs is demanding a Certificate of Analysis (which could cost thousands of dollars and to determine what exact amount of Aluminum, Copper and Steel are in the product), otherwise they assume the entire PCB consists of copper, aluminum, and steel, and charge a 100% tariff on the whole product.
Self-certification generally doesn't mean simply saying "trust us, we won't lie to you". They still expect you to be able to hand over a bunch of laboratory reports proving that you have actually tested your stuff.
The main difference is that with self-certification they will accept reports from your own in-house laboratory, rather than demanding reports from an independent pre-vetted testing lab.
Same with paperwork: you can make your own rather than having it made by an independent auditor - but you better still be able to back it up!
That is not how this works. No one can say - we used spreadsheet software and investigated ourselves and we estimate we use x mg of copper. Governments ask for something like a metal spectrometer analysis of components. They might even say each batch needs to be analysed and we trust analysis from spectrometers manufactured and/or operated in US. Each condition raising the price for certificate/analysis even more.
> Does CBP require an aluminum certificate of analysis to be filed at the time of entry?
>
> At this time, CBP does not require an aluminum certificate of analysis to be filed at the time of entry. CBP, however, >>> can <<< request the importer to provide an aluminum certificate of analysis if CBP needs one to ensure compliance with the entry requirements pertinent to the item being imported.
In other words: they usually trust people to file their paperwork correctly, but reserve the right to demand lab reports when they suspected foul play. Filing lab paperwork in advance is not needed, however.
As mentioned in Olimex's blog post: US customs is now starting to ask everyone for a Certificate of Analysis. Paperwork isn't enough anymore, even when it is an obviously harmless product which has been imported many times in the past without any issues. If you can't hand over a lab report, it's not getting in.
In a less "everyone is s**" take than siblings, this could be a number of biases:
- Availability/survival bias: People took fewer pictures in the past and were more likely to be taking those pictures on special occasions (when they were dressed nicely).
- Now that we live in a world of generational fashion, the previous generation's "casual" wear becomes the next generation's "dressy" (read: stodgy) wear.
- People owned less clothing, had less access to varied clothing, and laundry processes were harsh, so they wore sturdier (and heavier) clothing that more easily supported "dressing well".
- "Back in my day, people conformed" isn't exactly a novel take.
> - Availability/survival bias: People took fewer pictures in the past and were more likely to be taking those pictures on special occasions (when they were dressed nicely).
Contra: while not as prevalent as in the current digital age, street photography was a thing in the past too. If you look at the photos (e.g.) Vivian Maier took of everyday people, doing everyday things, you'll get a more random sampling:
It's not just purchasing scale that prevents smaller businesses from competing; the infrastructure that supports those big box stores is heavily subsidized at the municipal, state, inter-corporate and federal levels in a way that is unattainable for local businesses.
It's not that it's subsidized so much as that 1-500k of hoop jumping makes financial sense when your goal is to turn a forested lot on the side of the highways into a Costco or Target or some other Mecca for people with lots of money to spend.
The amount of hoop jumping is the same if you're putting in a family mini golf with a restaurant and bumper cars. But you'll never make it back so the development never happens...
Municipalities and states frequently offer tax abatements, pay to build the road and utility infrastructure to the middle of nowhere, and rebate sales taxes in ways that they never would for even a non-brand-name store, much less a store that could fit in the middle of the town.
True. My town did that for Walmart 30 years ago, and recently did it again for Amazon. Meanwhile, small businesses that have served the area for decades get no breaks.
They also tried to stick a massive apartment building in a nice nearby residential neighborhood to house the cheap workers Amazon will bring in, but the residents caught wind of it and managed to get it stopped. For now.
This is actually an interesting challenge for places that work with electronics assembly at an industrial scale; they have competing drives to keep humidity high for ESD mitigation, but also deal with a lot of moisture-sensitive components whose acceptable exposure to free air (after baking, but before reflow) is measured in hours (and substantially worse with higher humidity).
I know at least two people who are still paying for an AOL dial-up subscription despite not using because they use an @aol email address and think it will be discontinued if they don't continue to pay for it.
As far as I can tell, yes. AOL pretends that the subscription offers other services (tech support, "security" etc) but you definitely appear to be able to keep access to your email address without paying the $50/month subscription.
I switched phones and somehow lost my Netscape (owned by AOL) email password. Would'nt have been a big deal but I had it linked to some famous .com service that I have been using since the 90's. I paid something like $10 to have a live human reset the password and get back in.
To pick a closer analogy, the professions that engineering in the traditional sense (electrical, mechanical, civil) also have professional licensure that includes ethical training in their licensing requirements. However, the goals of both the licensure and the ethical training are centered around "follow standard practices and processes to minimize deaths and avoid undermining the public trust in the competence of your field", not "don't slowly degrade the society around you through your decisions".
This is something I think about with my kids when they get to that age. I was calling my friends (on their landlines, using our landline) regularly by then, talking to their parents en route to getting them on the phone, and arranging visits. My kids won't grow up in a world where that's something that happens, and I'm not sure how to support their social independence in a world where (as you say) it seems nigh-on-negligent for them to have their own phones.
Deep deep minority. I'm similar to you, in that every dollar going in or out gets tracked and categorized, but due to a medical emergency I recently started helping an elderly family member with their finances (logistically, not monetarily) and was astounded that they just can't identify what the destination is for half (by value) of the money going out of their bank account (we're working on it...).
I think they meant critical as in a critique rather than a criticism. They are requesting discussion and exploration of the history and ramifications of China's policy, what the meaningful ROI and costs have been, and what the other (4-ish) countries that had the capacity for that sort of investment got out of non-investment (investment in other things).
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