Political Memes

Trump absolutely obliterated profits from manufacturing with the steel tariffs. That's the whole reason that I'm struggling really hard right now. It forced me to order even lower quality steel because as the buyer, you're the one paying the markups. It isn't the affected country. This forced me to really put my limited metallurgical knowledge to the test because I had to ship critical components that wouldn't fail to the best of my ability. I had to adjust everything from tool paths to cutting times because they both affect the integrity of the material. I already had to charge way more for the parts I make because I'm not in India or China making $2/hr. I really hate to say it, but American made steel is just too expensive and I can get it from Japan for maybe 3/4 the price. China is even cheaper with nearly the same quality. And, no, I don't order it directly shipped. There are distributors.

I've been screaming at colleagues for years now that Trump has absolutely no clue about real world manufacturing or how it works. He wants to destroy NAFTA, which would absolutely destroy the supply chain I rely on for non-metallic (mostly glass-filled plastics) materials. I make a fair amount of G-10 and G-11 fiberglass parts for nuclear power - from GE, to Hitachi, WestingHouse, to (oddly) Mitsubishi. Want to talk about how nuclear is expensive already? Yeah, go ahead and erase NAFTA. It would go from improbable and financially impractical to absolutely impossible. Get an order from some local business to make some parts? You have to charge at least an estimate of $70/hour just for labor and machine time. With the tariffs, I've had to bump that to about $90/hour.

However, because the costs for me have gone up so much I've had to go from making money to paying to live. I have the skill, equipment, and knowledge to run a machine shop by myself. That orange fuck set it up that if I didn't already have well-established long term contracts, I'd be in a ditch after selling my dog for a month's worth of food. Trump knowing manufacturing, or how it impacts the manufacturers? Get the fuck out.

Sincerely, A trans woman that has been in manufacturing her whole life.

Source: Being a 20+ year career machinist.

Give ‘em a break.

Manufacturing stuff is hard, alright? You have to get off the couch and stuff

He also said it live:

https://youtu.be/buPed_j4PrI#t=45s

A politician who tells it like it is? A guy you could, God forbid, have a beer with? A veteran even, but with working class cred and a love of video games. A total unknown on the national level, but beloved by his constituents... You couldn't order a more perfect veep off a menu. It's almost surreal

JD Vance has never been in a factory job, or in anything other then his couch

And people start to see why he consistently won positions in Minnesota!

And walz knows about manufacturing from all the manufacturing consent he and the dems do!

I'm, unfortunately, reminded me of this bit from the original Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series (which preceded even the books):

In today’s modern Galaxy there is, of course, very little still held to be unspeakable. Many words and expressions which only a matter of decades ago were considered so distastefully explicit that were they merely to be breathed in public, the perpetrator would be shunned, barred from polite society, and, in extreme cases, shot through the lungs, are now thought to be very healthy and proper, and their use in everyday speech is seen as evidence of a well-adjusted, relaxed, and totally unf [bleep!] ked-up personality. So, for instance, when in a recent national speech, the financial minister of the Royal World Estate of Qualvista actually dared to say that due to one thing and another, and the fact that no one had made any food for awhile and the king seemed to have died, and that most of the population had been on holiday now for over three years, the economy had now arrived at what he called, “One whole juju-flop situation,” everyone was so pleased he felt able to come out and say it, that they quite failed to notice that their five-thousand-year-old civilisation had just collapsed overnight. But though even words like “juju-flop,” “swut,” and “turlingdrome” are now perfectly acceptable in common usage, there is one word that is still beyond the pale. The concept it embodies is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is utterly forbidden in all parts of the galaxy except one - where they don’t know what it means. That word is “Belgium” and it is only ever used by loose-tongued people like Zaphod Beeblebrox in situations of dire provocation. Such as…