Tracking toy tariffs

Justice

Justice

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So I have been debating about making a thread like this for a while. Hoping we can all be civil in our discussions.

According to CNN 54% tariffs were just announced on Chinese goods and of course a lot of what we collect comes from there.


Where is our breaking point? I feel like I need a support group and you guys are it. I 100% would have to cut back drastically on what I collect if this really comes to pass.

I know he backtracks a lot and I'm home hoping that happens here, but right now it is at 54%.
 
The problem is, even if he backtracks, he's setting back global trade alliances decades. There's probably no way to avoid an across the board increase in prices for damn near everything, and once they go up, they're probably not coming back down even if he swings back around (unless he literally does it this week).

I'm not priced out of the market yet, and with my current job I wouldn't be immediately. That said, every dollar over, say, $30 a pop for a standard 1/12 figure and I will buy less. Those prices I only pay for import stuff and indie companies. I'm glad I'm close to what feels like the end of my Marvel Legends collecting because there's a real chance the tariffs will put it down for good either way.

I don't like being a pessimist, but it's very hard to see this as anything other than a willful tanking of our economy and trade partner relationships.
 
Yeah that would SEVERELY change how I collect.

And to add to JakeEkiss, when he was talking tariffs last time then walked them back, Hasbro increased prices anyway didn't they? So yeah, even backtracking will still affect everything. Which is typical, I think. Do the thing, then it's walked back or decided to not be feasible for whatever reason, meanwhile a lot of damage was already done.

I have no head for such things, I am far from being any sort of economist, but this makes even less sense to me than normal economic stuff.
 
That's the scary part. It won't just be figures going up. This is absolute insanity.

From the article:

"And starting on May 2, the 54% tariff rate will also be applied to packages worth less than $800 coming to the US from China and Hong Kong, goods that were previously excluded from tariffs because of the so-called de minimis exemption. This means Americans who order goods from Chinese-based companies like AliExpress, Temu and Shein could have to pay 54% more.

If goods that cost less than $800 come through standard postal service, they’ll be charged at a rate of 30% or $25, increasing to $50 per package in June."

What a damper on the hobby.
 
Ru1977 said:
I have no head for such things, I am far from being any sort of economist, but this makes even less sense to me than normal economic stuff.
Click to expand...

Though it is likely to rub somebody the wrong way, it makes a lot of sense if the American president is, in some way, in bed with a foreign power that has spent the last couple of decades trying to shatter NATO and undermine American global power.

Do I believe Trump is a full-on Russian asset? Well, if I didn't, he's certainly *acting* like one.
 
and toys made in Vietnam are going to be even more expensive

www.nbcchicago.com

Trump's massive 46% Vietnam tariffs could hit Nike, American Eagle and Wayfair

The country became a popular alternative for furniture, apparel and toymakers trying to avoid the crossfire of U.S. trade tensions with Beijing
www.nbcchicago.com www.nbcchicago.com

the reasons behind it are complete BS
the only people paying will be the consumer ie us
the rich won't care it's pennies to them
 
JakeEkiss said:
Though it is likely to rub somebody the wrong way, it makes a lot of sense if the American president is, in some way, in bed with a foreign power that has spent the last couple of decades trying to shatter NATO and undermine American global power.

Do I believe Trump is a full-on Russian asset? Well, if I didn't, he's certainly *acting* like one.
Click to expand...
I definitely grasp that aspect.

Yeah, paying more for my toys is a bite in the ass, but how this will affect SO much else is ... I dunno
It just leaves me speechless.
 
Many, many things this administration is doing affect me and folks close to me in very negative ways, and this will certainly be yet another major negative impact.

It would take a lot to pull me away from toys, and fortunately/unfortunately psychotherapy can tend to be *more* in demand during times of widespread suffering and stress (which is an awful dialectic that I definitely struggle with), so maybe this won’t affect me TOO too much, other than making me more choosy about where and how much I buy. But honestly it’s not really about me: a lot of folks are gonna suffer greatly due to these rash actions.
 
Justice said:
So I have been debating about making a thread like this for a while. Hoping we can all be civil in our discussions.
Click to expand...
Nope. Anyone criticizing the Supreme Leader or his ingenious policies will receive an immediate ban.
JakeEkiss said:
The problem is, even if he backtracks, he's setting back global trade alliances decades. There's probably no way to avoid an across the board increase in prices for damn near everything, and once they go up, they're probably not coming back down even if he swings back around (unless he literally does it this week).

I'm not priced out of the market yet, and with my current job I wouldn't be immediately. That said, every dollar over, say, $30 a pop for a standard 1/12 figure and I will buy less. Those prices I only pay for import stuff and indie companies. I'm glad I'm close to what feels like the end of my Marvel Legends collecting because there's a real chance the tariffs will put it down for good either way.

I don't like being a pessimist, but it's very hard to see this as anything other than a willful tanking of our economy and trade partner relationships.
Click to expand...
I've said from the start that the likeliest outcome for this presidency is that the U.S. will no longer be a world power.

I've seen a lot of conjecture online about what happens when you can't trust one party in a two-party system to uphold basic U.S. trade agreements, treaties, or the very foundations of government. I have no fucking idea. If we get out of this, we'll need a second reconstruction.

I severely underestimated just how bad it would get. I took them at their word about deportations, I didn't think it'd be masked agents kidnapping people in broad daylight. It's fascism, plain and simple.
AceofKnaves said:
fortunately/unfortunately psychotherapy can tend to be *more* in demand during times of widespread suffering and stress (which is an awful dialectic that I definitely struggle with), so maybe this won’t affect me TOO too much, other than making me more choosy about where and how much I buy.
Click to expand...
All you can do is help people. The circumstances that bring them to you are out of your control. As someone who just finished three years of therapy, I can tell you you're making a big difference.

I work at a college. We're in the same boat. Enrollment increases when the economy crashes. All we can do is educate people when they show up.
 
TheSameIdiot said:
I have no fucking idea. If we get out of this, we'll need a second reconstruction.
Click to expand...
Though it's a much longer, more wide-reaching conversation, the failure of the first Reconstruction has just kept screwing America up for just shy of a century and a half now. And yeah, it'll probably take something of that level to even start to address what will happen in the next 4 years.

When he won the first time, I was working overnight at a university dorm and some of the kids were saying "well, it'll just be 4 years". I pointed out that since he was likely to get not one, not two, but probably 3 supreme court nominations, and those are lifetime appointments, I would not live long enough to see things unfucked.

Reader, so far, nothing has happened that didn't make me more sure I was right.

Stuff can change very radically very quickly, in both directions (look at the electoral map for Raegan's victory, it'll blow your mind). But definitely in the short term, and possibly the long term, stuff is going to be very, very rough.
 
JakeEkiss said:
Though it's a much longer, more wide-reaching conversation, the failure of the first Reconstruction has just kept screwing America up for just shy of a century and a half now. And yeah, it'll probably take something of that level to even start to address what will happen in the next 4 years.

When he won the first time, I was working overnight at a university dorm and some of the kids were saying "well, it'll just be 4 years". I pointed out that since he was likely to get not one, not two, but probably 3 supreme court nominations, and those are lifetime appointments, I would not live long enough to see things unfucked.

Reader, so far, nothing has happened that didn't make me more sure I was right.

Stuff can change very radically very quickly, in both directions (look at the electoral map for Raegan's victory, it'll blow your mind). But definitely in the short term, and possibly the long term, stuff is going to be very, very rough.
Click to expand...
As a Southerner, +1 about the first Reconstruction. The South is still fighting that war.

If there's a silver lining, I think Trump and Musk's loud, in-your-face coup might force the country into serious, immediate action. The right's original plan—a slow legal coup—was met with shrugs. They were going to get away with it. Now they're destroying our institutions and our economy. I refuse to believe we'll continue with business as usual for long. I mean, they're desperate to destroy Social Security. That's a dangerous gambit.

I think real Constitutional reform is on the table, but maybe that's copium talking.
 
TheSameIdiot said:
As a Southerner, +1 about the first Reconstruction. The South is still fighting that war.
Click to expand...
As a fellow southerner, yep. "The war of northern aggression" as some Neanderthals still call it.

TheSameIdiot said:
I think real Constitutional reform is on the table, but maybe that's copium talking.
Click to expand...
I want to believe that. I think it's possible. But I also think it's most likely once people start taking to the streets, not because the folks in power will listen then, but because they'll likely crack down harder, and eventually we'll get a Kent State or something similar. Something public and violent that galvanizes even his ground level supporters. Then the anger will become a self-sustaining engine for a while. And it'll get really really precarious.
 
"The war of Northern aggression". Yep one of my high school history teachers exclusively referred to it as that. Yes, I live in the heart of the deep South. It is what we are taught in schools and then it and other similar beliefs are only reinforced as adults through Fox News and other propaganda networks.

Thankfully I was able to pull myself out of it but there was a time I just didn't know any better. I feel like I overcame a whole lot of forces pulling me in that direction. Living as a liberal in the South though, it's tough.
 
I was born in the south with confederate statues by my preschool, and down the street from housing that was converted from former slave quarters. And I honestly don't acknowledge it all that often. My wife and I had a discussion yesterday about our 'cultures', and she said there's gotta be some southern mixed in with mine, but I really reject that. When I moved to California, I forced myself to finally lose my accent, and ended up adopting some kinda mimicry of whoever I am talking to.

but anyway... when we were storming into Part Two of all this, I remember thinking we had a pretty good idea of what to expect since we got a good glimpse last time, but I assumed it would be far more unbridled and extreme. I still am managing surprise at the depth of it though, and it's still early damned days here. There's hope here and there, and this very thread is something of a comfort. And yeah, I know this can all lead to an extreme reaction to right the ship etc etc. I hope so anyway. I know there's this shock and awe, say a bunch of outrageous things to distract and rile up, do horrendous things until someone stops it from happening, doing as much damage as possible before they move on to the next calamity. And man but four years is a long damn time.

I know one person, an in-law, who voted for this. And he's kinda my sample specimen to gauge by, and he's still reciting the talking points from the newsletter, but his long-term love interest is from Mexico, and she's here legally, done everything right, but he's definitely worried he may lose her soon. Amazingly, that doesn't get him to change his tune at all. Even the ones who are being harmed, some of them anyway, are still anxious for these things to happen. I'm not sure I'll ever understand it.
 
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