blastdoor

Apple does have a 'social' platform -- it's called iMessage (or 'Messages'). I think Apple should just continue to build on that platform, staying firmly at the pro-social end of the 'social' spectrum, while leaving manipulation and disinformation to the people who are really good at those things. 

Cook becoming chairman and then picking his successor as CEO makes a lot of sense. Apple has a lot of good internal candidates. It would be good to transition while Cook is young enough to be an engaged chairman.

coolfactor said:

I hope we see some solid stats showing how many regret voting for this "President". So many families are in for a lot of hurt over the next four years because his stance on the US is not rooted in modern thought nor being inclusive.

The best data on that will come November 2026.

foregoneconclusion said:

blastdoor said: So, to maintain employment and the stability of the regime, their choice could be between building yet another bridge to nowhere or selling manufactured goods abroad at a huge loss. That’s the pathway by which Trumps claim might be at least partly true. 

See my post above: Trump's tariffs require enormous taxpayer funded bailouts of U.S. industry. It's not going to be any different the 2nd time around. There's no silver lining to tariffs, especially when the trade deals in question were already negotiated by the 1st Trump administration. It's like a dog chasing its own tail...doesn't lead anywhere.

I don't disagree. Trump sometimes stumbles on an issue where the conventional wisdom is wrong. But he's totally incompetent from a policy perspective. He has no idea how to accomplish substantive things in the real world, because his 'business success' is through fraud, not creating real wealth. In a way this is good because his incompetence can temper his malevolence. He could compensate for this if he surrounded himself with competent people and let them do their jobs. He kinda-sorta tried that in the first term, but realized that competent people sometimes disagree with him, which he doesn't like. So now he's surrounding himself with incompetent lackeys.

In a lot of ways, the Biden administration brought the policy competence to actually make progress on issues that Trump stumbled upon. Trump kept talking about 'infrastructure', but never accomplished anything -- under Biden, an infrastructure law was passed. The CHIPS act is an example of a concrete, real world policy that is having the desired effect -- there is a TSMC plan in Arizona that absolutely would not have otherwise been there. When pairing that type of policy with targeted tariffs, it's possible to make progress. But Trump isn't going to pull that off. 

foregoneconclusion said:

muthuk_vanalingam said:

foregoneconclusion said:

FYI: the current trade agreement with Mexico and Canada was negotiated by the 1st Trump administration. That Trump trade agreement is what replaced NAFTA. So if he thinks Mexico/Canada are taking advantage of the U.S., it's because his own deal was garbage. 

Do facts matter with cultists? I am from India and in similar situation to you guys in terms of dealing with cultists. Facts just do NOT matter to them. Only difference - We are in a slightly worser position here in India. Cultists have elected same PM for 3rd consecutive term (yes, it is allowed here, unlike US). And the signs are not looking good for next election in 2029 either.

Correct, not with cultists BUT the most recent U.S. election wasn't determined by Trump's cult. It was largely determined by a combo of lower Democratic turnout + a large number of voters that were upset with inflation and blamed Biden. Inflation is a fact. 

100% right. There's a lot more heterogeneity in the electorate than media (not just old media but all media) narratives ignore