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> Neither having more stuff, nor having more money, is "better" in an 'objective' sense, but relative to what you want out of life. If the Japanese and/or Germa
by rayiner 2y ago
> Neither having more stuff, nor having more money, is "better" in an 'objective' sense, but relative to what you want out of life. If the Japanese and/or Germans are happy saving, then good for them; if Americans are happy spending, then good for them too.
Except our monetary and industrial policy incentivizes or disincentivizes those choices. Japan and Germany engineer those producing versus consuming choices deliberately. And Americans wanted to change that so they voted for the guy promising tariffs.
- throw0101d 2y ago> Japan and Germany engineer those producing versus consuming choices deliberately. Or those cultures aren't as materialistic and don't have as much of a 'keeping up with the Jones' attitude. > And Americans wanted to change that so they voted for the guy promising tariffs. Americans can change things by simply 'voting with their wallets'.
- ricardobeat 2y ago> Japan and Germany engineer those producing versus consuming choices deliberately > Americans wanted to change that Isn't 'smaller government' a one of the top mantras for republicans in the US? This is all extremely contradictory.
- rayiner 2y agoFree trade isn’t “smaller government,” because in practice this has meant maintaining a worldwide military empire to maintain the USD as the reserve currency. Regardless, tariffs and protectionism was a founding pillar of the Republican Party. The party existed for 130 years before the libertarian phase of the 1980s.