4 ms·
Art of the Deal
by sghiassy 1mo ago
Art of the Deal
- Loughla 1mo agoHonestly though, it seems like he would rather have everyone lose than take a chance that anyone but him wins. Even positive reporting of the man makes him out to have a massively fragile ego.
- padjo 1mo agoHe fundamentally does not understand non zero sum dynamics.
- Avicebron 1mo agoThe business-as-usual multi-international neoliberal supply chain model wasn't benefiting a vast number of Americans with no solution other than "don't complain look at these metrics we made up, you're doing great, don't be upset we are making billions while you struggle to afford to fix your teeth or fix your car". Something had to break and break it did. If you are so non-zero sum, what would you suggest as the fix for those issues if we kept the old model?
- g8oz 1mo agoProgressive taxation.
- padjo 1mo agoAmericans are upset about not having any money while being the richest and most powerful country in the world. They are throwing a temper tantrum about a world order they created and are the main beneficiary of.
- dbdr 1mo agoThere's a class of americans that didn't benefit from that world order. However, they elected someone who pretended he was going to help them, and actually is making it even worse for them and better for those who were already benefiting.
- WarmWash 1mo agoThe reality is that people judge their quality of life in relevant terms, not absolute ones. Better to be absolutely poor in a poor country than relatively poor in a rich country and all that
- padjo 1mo agoSome people, others are capable of being grateful for what they have.
- deleted 1mo ago[deleted]
- vel0city 1mo ago[dead]
- LastTrain 1mo agoI would suggest not going with the dumbest rock you can find and standing behind it against all evidence.
- dpkirchner 1mo agoBefore engaging, let's get this settled: do you believe that the US economy operates on a zero sum basis?
- Avicebron 1mo agoNo it's not zero sum but it can also not be benefiting a ton of people. Which is what I said..
- dpkirchner 1mo agoHere's what I don't get about this: Trump's main campaign promise was to raise prices for American consumers (via tariffs) and to harm the lowest wage earners the most (tariffs as sales taxes are regressive). Going against "business as usual" resulted in higher prices, as predicted and promised. Nearly everyone here benefited from lower prices afforded by reduced trade barriers. This isn't some obscure hidden fact.
- deleted 1mo ago[deleted]
- calf 1mo agoThe mistake here is letting the word benefit do all the heavy lifting. You cannot define benefit in a superficial way and expect things to make sense. Notions like "let them eat cake", or trickle-down-economics, also abuse and distort the notion of benefit. "System X benefitted all Americans in a trivial way" smacks of that kind of false reasoning.
- adjejmxbdjdn 1mo agoImagine seeing American wealth increase dramatically over the past several decades, see tax burdens drastically reduced on the top 0.1%, and see almost all of that drastic increase in wealth go to that 1%, and not be able to come up with a solution other than “well, against all evidence I think trade is zero sum”. And worse, your solution then is tariffs, which are little more than a sales tax which are disproportionately paid by the poorest.
- WarmWash 1mo ago[flagged]
- misnome 1mo agoe.g. hurting the right people, _even if it hurts us too_
- cheonic025 1mo ago[dead]
- WarmWash 1mo agoIt's easy to be upset when you see the wealthiest class of Americans spend all their money on cheap Chinese versions of what you build. Not even because they cannot afford your products, but simply because they can cost cut by going with China. This rot is also existential, because as domestic players die, that knowledge is also lost.
- fzeroracer 1mo agoThe wealthiest Americans aren't buying shit from China, I have no clue where you managed to get that point from but they're buying boutique shit from Europe or elsewhere. American-made goods have the worst cost:quality ratio for multiple reasons. Capitalism hollowing out quality, businesses capturing markets. They sit in an area which are unaffordable for your average American as a result of the middle class vanishing and not boutique enough for the wealthier ones. People voted for a wealthy man to loot everything and he's doing exactly that.
- steveBK123 1mo agoHis negotiating methods, if one can call them that, are like "single use weapons" that are relationship burning rather than building. If you are doing 100s of one-off deals with counterparties you will never talk to again, and who don't know each other.. it might actually work. But you burn the ability to make more deals with the same counterparty again. If you played this game with your neighbor over a fenceline or tree limb dangerously overhanging into your yard.. you would save a few bucks once, and have an antagonistic relationship for the next 10-20 years of living next to them. Good luck getting the benefit of the doubt next time.
- amelius 1mo agoMeanwhile mister Trump is doing quite well financially, so he is doing something right; and your theory is not covering the whole story.
- sghiassy 1mo agoThere is something to be said about this. Apparently Machiavelli was onto something
- ozim 1mo ago[flagged]
- debo_ 1mo ago> Tell me you didn't read "The Prince" without telling me you didn't read it. Do you have to talk like this? How difficult is it to rewrite this as "I don't believe this is the message conveyed in The Prince."
- ozim 1mo agoWell yes, I stand by my sentences. There is always someone out there trying to push on people just like you and the phrasing is not really that offensive and as one would say "tongue-in-cheek". Do you enjoy finding weak people telling them "don't do this" when they barely step outside of "being utterly polite"?