DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism. — Elon Musk
Thus ends one of the dumbest weeks ever, which saw grown ass people argue that retailers should not itemize consumption taxes for consumers. It all started with a report that Amazon was considering breaking out Trump Administration tariffs as a line item at check out for its drop-ship Temu competitor, Amazon Haul. Indeed given the nature of Haul’s biz model — bunch of cheap junk from China, drop shipped from there with one or even two weeks to deliver and incredibly low margins — it is unclear how they could avoid a tariff line item. Worse, free shipping at Haul is reserved for orders over $25, meaning the tariff could push the cost of the order above that threshold artificially, causing Amazon to eat shipping on very low value orders. This reality caused the White House to freak out, calling such a move “hostile” and incredibly, pointing to a Reuters story from December 2021 to show Amazon was in bed with the ChiComs. Nevermind the story had nothing to do with tariffs and in fact, if anything, portrayed China bullying Amazon over some wild demands. Here’s the lede:
Amazon.com Inc was marketing a collection of President Xi Jinping's speeches and writings on its Chinese website about two years ago, when Beijing delivered an edict, according to two people familiar with the incident. The American e-commerce giant must stop allowing any customer ratings and reviews in China.
A negative review of Xi's book prompted the demand, one of the people said. "I think the issue was anything under five stars," the highest rating in Amazon's five-point system, said the other person.
But the WH was not done. WH advisor Stephen Miller stepped up to say some of the dumbest crap I’ve ever heard. I generally like Miller; he strayed far outside his lane with this nonsense, however:
Does Amazon list the cost of California's regulations on everything made in California? Everything produced in California has a massive built-in price hike.
Sigh. Tariffs are a type of ad valorem tax, they are calculated based on the value of a thing. Trump constantly rattles off their percentages for this country, that country with the supposed goal being a flat 10% market access fee tariff. Consumption taxes are very easy to calculate and in the case of tariffs they are imposed when something enters the country. None of this obtains when it comes to regulations, even very costly ones. The cost of those regs are baked into the price of the product and would be nearly impossible to strip out unless you had an identical item made in a less regulated place that sold for less. (Which, if you think about it, is what Japanese automakers kinda did by placing their factories in the South, cheaper labor, less regs.) In any event, the big takeaway is that Trump 2.0 really did not think any of this thru; dropshippers are going to have to break out the cost of tariffs or stop dropshipping, which may happen. And which may be net good.
Amazing biz model
Yep. This is never going to end. It is too convenient.
Most disturbing story of week, cartels edition:
A soldier present at an after-hours nightclub where more than 100 immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally were taken into custody last weekend has been charged with distributing cocaine, court records show. Staff Sgt. Juan Gabriel Orona-Rodriguez, who is assigned to Fort Carson, an Army post near the illegal club in Colorado Springs, was arrested Wednesday evening, the FBI said in a statement. Orona-Rodriquez has been charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and distribution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, according to an arrest affidavit. It said he allegedly sold cocaine to an undercover agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration days before the raid. It wasn’t immediately known if Orona-Rodriguez — a member of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team in the 4th Infantry Division — had a lawyer ahead of an expected court appearance Thursday.
When word trickled out earlier in the week that active duty personnel were caught up in the raid I assumed it would turn out to be some bored Space Force E-1, not a senior enlisted man from a semi-elite unit. All of Ft. Carson will have to be turned upside down to figure out the exposure. This has the potential to be very bad. I mean, were weapons traded for coke?
Creepy mass shooting possibly thwarted in Florida.
The Biden Junta had a procedure to release convicted sex offenders into the country when ICE encountered them. And then lied about it.
Me neither, but here we are.
Letitia James going to jail would be hilarious. It might happen, although mortgage fraud prosecutions are rare these days. The entire system is a fraud.
