Featured Trump tariffs put the US auto industry in disarray

I agree with that article. But the main factor is that success isn't always what we're told it is. There is no American Dream. Just because someone doesn't own a home or have savings for retirement or have a healthcare plan doesn't mean that that person isn't successful. Just because someone is blind and deaf, just because they live in a third world country and makes that kind of wages, just because they are dying from cancer, doesn't make that person unsuccessful.

Doing your best to do what is right makes one successful.

After all, "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all." You can work like a maniac for your whole life and still lose it all.

What really gets me is when the focus is on the material. "Work hard, buy a house, buy a new car, that will make you happy." only holds water for a few people in this world, and even then, only to a certain degree. Instead, do your best and be happy about it, even if it isn't what others say you should be doing. Regardless of whether you are a millionaire or are stuck in prison, do your best, that's all that matters.

 

Hockey players carry sticks and many have missing front teeth.

They had problems sending Marines with police clubs to a riot but fixed by cutting the clubs in half.

Bob Wilson

 

Yeah right, they had an opportunity to fire him a few years ago with that recall and people already forgot the treachery he did during Covid. They are even less now about it. Come back here to tell me I am right in 3 years when he EASILY becomes president after this clown show is over..people will welcome a slick talking psycho as their president.

 

'the american dream' is a fallacy promoted by politicians and the one percent.
sure, it's possible for some to attain their dream, but there are millions of hard working, intelligent people who will never succeed.
the system is wired for politicians, big business and the stock market.
while it has improved over the last century, it is a long way from being fair.

 

Fair my azz. It took me +50 years to go from street rat to very comfortable...and not one day has ever been fair.

 

Well in terms of q1, demand went up for autos because fear of bigger price increases due to tarrifs, made people think that they would pay less than in q3. This is higher prices because of inflationary expectations, which simply moves purchases earlier but does not increase long term sales. Forecasts are US auto prices will rise and sales will fall in q3 and q4. Steel and aluminum tarrifs did not help US manufacturing workers and cost jobs. Forecasts are unclear on the new tarrifs which seem to change every week, but tarrifs and retailiation should cut manufacturing and agricultural employment and decrease gdp.

Tallying the two channels of job losses from tariffs | Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

A bizzare negotiation with japan may have companies like toyota move us jobs to japan. The tarrifs on steel, aluminum, and auto parts for a us manufacturer are higher than the 15% tarrif negotiated on imported japanese cars. This is exactly the oposite of what you would do if you wanted cars affordable and higher manufacturing employment in the US.

 

Wait until those jobs aren’t there. Total disaster, worse than any depression before.
Some people don’t have normal jobs. They have been buying overpriced houses, dolling them up, fresh flower beds in front and all that, flipping the house for substantial gain, and buying another one. Now there is a notion proposed by this admin to make the gains unlimited tax free.

 

exactly

 

less we forget - for thousands & thousands of years, what we call the American dream has been an aberration. It's too late to reverse time - but if we had never shared our intellectual & Industrial know-how with the rest of the world (or allowed it to be stolen), it probably would have gone on for only a few decades longer at best. Once you start competing with a world that subsists on eaking out something much closer to a bare minimum? how is it expectable for us to continue our gluttonous excesses.
We ought to be thankful for the excesses that a large percentage of us held on to for such a long time as we slowly sink back into the norm.
(this has been an editorial from Captain depressing. )

 

I would agree 100% the American Dream is dead -for you - and has been for a long time for you and others that hold that attitude.

For the rest of us the American Dream is still very real and attainable - many people come to our country legally to participate in it .. and they change their family trajectories for the better.

You miss a very important point when you discuss the American Dream - I most always say my American Dream.
my American Dream means to me: being able to go to the church I want and freely expressing my faith, moving anywhere in the country I want - anytime I want, working where I want, voting for local leaders who are interested in the community welfare, raising my family with the morals, ethics and faith I think are best, being able to contribute to society and help others, having laws and our society enforcing safety to protect their citizens, having access to clean water and food having a military that allows us to leave in peace in our homes, even freely posting my views on Prius Chat... and so much more!

So even though your American Dream is dead for you for others their American Dream is alive and well.

... if AOC, Govenor Newsome, Joe Biden Donald Trump, JD Vance etc etc etc runs the country ... guess what?...... I am still going to go to Church, play pickleball 2 or 3 times a week, grow a garden, go fishing, smile at others and say hello when I pass them, vote for local leaders who do a good job running the area I live in, appreciate my family members and enjoy each day as it comes - it doesn't really matter a hoot- in -hell who is President for my American Dream to come true every day.

 

That's a different definition than most say is the American Dream. In reality, most of Europe has the same laws protecting one's rights to work, worship and live where they want. The same can be said of Central and South America, as well as some African and Asian countries as well.

The first result I got from Googling "American Dream" is the Encyclopedia Brittanica:

This just isn't true. The United States is NOT the land of opportunity it once was.

Like I said before, donate all your current equities and benefits and start from zero like all the young ones are facing, then come say how full of opportunities the US actually is.

And as for freedom, whether the USA has true freedom of religion or local leaders who are interested in community welfare is sometimes debateable.

I'm not saying it isn't a nice country to live in or immoral. But people who ignore the issues and blame everyone who's struggling as being lazy and having a victimized mentality instead of the cases where the rich do rob the poor, where people are actually the victim of prejudice and oppression, and that such things are getting to the point that some simply cannot continue to find opportunities to continue their upward mobility simply because they believe that the USA is too good for such things to happen need to show some interest in their community's welfare and see what it is now like to start out life in the USA for the millions of younger Americans who, in reality, do not have near the opportunities that people born a decade or two before them did.

 

forget the 'once was', and read american history. for the entire history, most people have been under the thumb of big business, due to monopolies, graft and corruption.

 

It has never been a perfect country. But it is getting harder than before.

People in power tend to use their power for their own interests. The rich want to keep getting richer, even though that means getting richer at the expense of the poor.

Take real estate for an example. Real estate is about 2.5 times more expensive than in 1980 when adjusting for wage inflation. And it keeps rising.

"So just work harder! Stop victimizing yourself" Ok, what was a 25%-30% of a normal full-time job is now 50%-60%. So a person could work an extra 25% to 30% more and pay off the house, no big deal I guess, assuming they can find a part-time gig job that pays the same as what they make at their main job and that they can get a loan even though they need to spend over 30% of their income on the mortgage. Also, that 40 to 50 hours a week becomes 55 to 85 hours a week depending on the exact comparison and circumstances, no big deal, right?

And no, just saying that someone today can make triple digits means that anyone can make triple digits is just insane. Why didn't people make 50% to 100% more money than you did back in 1980? Were y'all lazy back then? You're asking people to do what you didn't do when you go down the narrative that just working harder is the solution.

At any rate, what will we do if housing prices continue to rise. Eventually people are going to say that working 85, 100, 120 hours a week or more is insane. I guess it's great that manufacturing is being brought back to the USA because that way I can work two full time jobs like a lot of people I know. That is how you get a house and such things these days, in case anyone cared to know.

But the rich, do they care? Not really. If we were to flood the market with more housing then all the rich and investment firms would lose money big time. While I'd love to see a house that doesn't take 85 hours a week to afford, the rich don't see it that way. Making housing prices closer to what they were 40 years ago mean they'd lose money, period. The more the poor can work and funnel money towards the rich in every way shape and form, the better it is for the rich. That doesn't matter if it's through real estate, product prices, rents, etc. The rich have the upper hand and they have no incentive to care about the poor, pure and simple.

 

do mark zuckerburg, jeff bezos or any of them look like they care? healthcare insurance execs?
goldman/sachs? eon munks? ronald trunk? joe biden? jamie dimon?

 

It is easy to say houses and cars are more expensive. But compare a house built in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and you find very different content. And today even more.

As one who has live in houses of each era and who has built 3 houses the latest in the 00s, just think of AC as a feature expected today. Insulation standards, roofing standards, grounded electrical outlets, GFIs, multiple bathrooms, built-in microwaves, etc. My kitchen appliance update this year cost twice what my father's house new bought during WWII cost.

And cars from the same eras are different too. Safety, efficiency, reliability, features. They have all changed. I sure as heck didn't expect my $1k used '70 Volvo PV544 to last 100k and it didn't. But today's car I expect double that and maybe more.

So how do you factor those into the cost inflation? The CPI does factor out those improvements.

 

you'd have to compare wages. but both are affected by region, state and city town, so it is a very subjective analysis

 

Not until they lock you down again if there's another pandemic.

 

The average cost of a new car in the US is just short of $50k

Cloud Theory’s 2025 Average Marketed Price - Automotive News

 

but you don't have to buy an average car. i've never spent more than 30k, and am very happy with my current 23k vehicle.

 

The big difference here is that BOTH husband and wife has to work in order to even get a shot at the "American dream".
20 -30 years ago; You could've made it on a single income. Not any more and other expenses creep into the picture.
IMHO; gen X still has a shot - if their smart with their money and keep their debit load low.
From what I've seen of the following generations; I wish them luck. They think they're doing OK, but they need a "side gig", to make ends meet and they think that being in debt is OK. It's usually credit card debt; we're not talking mortgage or something that keeps up with inflation. Hint; buying a car is a depreciating asset.

YMMV