Trump / Musk (other than DOGE) Omnibus Thread

  • Thread starter Thread starter nycfan
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies: 12K
  • Views: 325K
  • Politics 


GIFT LINK —> https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musk-...8f?st=o17dkj&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink

“… At times, it has felt like Musk’s politicalization was fueled by aggrievement. He has fumed over his perceived slights by the Biden administration for failing to properly credit him for the electric-car industry’s success; stewed over his son transitioningto become his daughter; and chafed at political correctness that, in his opinion, has run amok.

Trump wasn’t his first choice (nor maybe even his second), but, ever the pragmatist, Musk got on board with the one viable candidate who wasn’t President Biden. (When Harris, the vice president, took over the top of the ticket that animus to administration simply carried over.)

The failed assassination attempt against Trump in July flipped Musk’s behind-the-scenes support of the former president into a full-blown public embrace, turning on his powerful echoverse of fanbois and increasing his already prodigious tweet storms into Category 5 ragers. …”
 
www.nytimes.com

U.S. Farmers Brace for New Trump Trade Wars Amid Tariff Threats

Despite their concerns, some farm operators still support the former president and prefer his overall economic plan.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

U.S. Farmers Brace for New Trump Trade Wars Amid Tariff Threats​

Despite their concerns, some farm operators still support the former president and prefer his overall economic plan.

"...As president, Mr. Trump imposed tariffs in 2018 and 2019 on $300 billion of Chinese imports, a punishment he wielded in order to get China to negotiate a trade deal with the United States. His action triggered a trade war between Washington and Beijing, with China slapping retaliatory tariffs on American products. It also shifted more of its soybean purchases to Brazil and Argentina, hurting U.S. soybean farmers who had long relied on the Chinese market.

When Mr. Trump finally announced a limited trade deal in 2019, American farmers were frazzled and subsisting on subsidies that the Trump administration had handed out to keep them afloat.

Now it could happen all over again.

... Mr. Trump remains popular in rural America, and voters such as Mr. Bowman say they are weighing a variety of factors as they consider whom to vote for.

...American agricultural groups, bracing for the worst, have been warning against the kinds of tariffs that Mr. Trump envisions.

China is the biggest market for U.S. soybean exports and a major buyer of corn. A study published this month, commissioned by the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association, found that a new trade war with China could cause U.S. soybean and corn exports to China to drop once again.

If China retaliated with a 60 percent tariff on U.S. corn, soybeans and soybean products, American soybean and corn growers could lose as much as $7.3 billion in combined annual production value. ...

The trade war with China, which lasted from 2018 to 2019, resulted in billions of dollars of lost revenue for American farmers. To help offset the losses, Mr. Trump handed out $23 billion in subsidies from a fund that the Department of Agriculture created to stabilize the farm sector. But that attempt to mitigate the damage was not viewed as a total success. Large farm operations and farmers in the south benefited the most, fueling concerns about fairness and leaving some farmers feeling cheated.

A second trade war could once again require Mr. Trump to compensate farmers — a reality that could complicate his stated plan to use tariff revenue to replace tax revenue. ..."
 
Hearing in the case over Elon’s million-dollar giveaways today. What a shocker - turns out Elon was totally lying before when he said the winners would be chosen at random, or his lawyer is lying now when he says they’re not:

 
rodoheel said:
Class-action lawsuit, anyone?
Click to expand...
I dunno, who is the injured class? People who gave their info for the fake contest? What’s their injury? I am not a litigator, though, so maybe others see potential there.
 
nycfan said:
I dunno, who is the injured class? People who gave their info for the fake contest? What’s their injury? I am not a litigator, though, so maybe others see potential there.
Click to expand...
I doubt there's a viable class action here, but if Elon's taking their personal information and monetizing it in a way that causes some type of measurable harm to them, I guess you could make the argument and see where it goes.

The bigger risk, in my view, is he's committing some type of wire fraud, which is of course a crime. Not likely to be charged, but it's incredible to me the world's richest man, with billions at stake, would take serious risks like this to run a scam for the king of all scam artists.
 
nycfan said:
I dunno, who is the injured class? People who gave their info for the fake contest? What’s their injury? I am not a litigator, though, so maybe others see potential there.
Click to expand...
Yeah it would likely be a pretty attenuated damages argument. But you could perhaps make out this argument:
  1. I was induced to sign this petition with the understanding that by doing so, I had an equal opportunity to win money with everyone else who signed up; in other words, I was told if I signed up, I would receive something of value (implied value of maybe a dollar or less, but still something of value)
  2. I was not, in fact, given something of value, because in reality I did not have an equal chance to win
  3. I was thereby damaged in the amount of the implied value of the random chance to win $1 million
Even if the "value" is tiny, certain states' unfair practices acts (Little FTC Acts) may be broad enough to cover such actions, and may provide for minimum statutory damages in addition to, or instead of, actual damages. And/or the state AGs offices could be entitled to file an action to impose fines.
 
lawtig02 said:
I doubt there's a viable class action here, but if Elon's taking their personal information and monetizing it in a way that causes some type of measurable harm to them, I guess you could make the argument and see where it goes.

The bigger risk, in my view, is he's committing some type of wire fraud, which is of course a crime. Not likely to be charged, but it's incredible to me the world's richest man, with billions at stake, would take serious risks like this to run a scam for the king of all scam artists.
Click to expand...
Elon could end up losing, in various ways, the vast majority of the biggest individual fortune in the history of the world all because he got "red-pilled" by a bunch of internet trolls a few years ago. Just absolutely laughable - dude loved making 69/420 jokes so much that he somehow set himself on a path to alienate all of his customers and governmental partners for the sake of trying to become the king of memelords around the world. He will forever be the example that proves that the idea that capitalism inevitably rewards merit is bunk, because he became the world's richest man despite never advancing past the emotional level of a teenager.
 
rodoheel said:
Elon could end up losing, in various ways, the vast majority of the biggest individual fortune in the history of the world all because he got "red-pilled" by a bunch of internet trolls a few years ago. Just absolutely laughable - dude loved making 69/420 jokes so much that he somehow set himself on a path to alienate all of his customers and governmental partners for the sake of trying to become the king of memelords around the world. He will forever be the example that proves that the idea that capitalism inevitably rewards merit is bunk, because he became the world's richest man despite never advancing past the emotional level of a teenager.
Click to expand...
He's kind of the Howard Hughes of the social media age.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top