Direct source.

Beginning of 2024 volvo managers from EU had a planned visit to volvo US that they were not looking forward to. The reason was that volvo US was very vocal about how pro trump they were because he was “good for business”.

But not a blanket tarrif, they just targeted some specific products.

I thought Star Trek universe also happened after a major event that was because of politics?

You’re correct—at first glance, going from $12.99 to $18.99 (~46%) seems excessive if there’s only a 25% tariff on barley. Let me break down the math realistically:

Suppose barley represents about 10% of the beer’s retail price (roughly $1.30 per six-pack). A 25% tariff directly adds about 33 cents to production costs. When these extra costs pass through brewery markup, distribution markup, and retail markup, the final retail price would rise modestly—around 8% ($12.99 → ~$14.01).

However, in reality, price changes aren’t just simple cost-pass-throughs. Tariffs create uncertainty, higher logistics costs, and lower expected sales volume due to consumer price sensitivity. Businesses anticipating reduced sales volume and increased indirect costs often raise prices more substantially. Furthermore, retail prices are strategically set to maintain profitability, market positioning, and account for anticipated risks.

While jumping directly to $18.99 could indeed include an element of margin protection (some might view it as excessive), it’s not purely ‘price gouging.’ It’s more realistically a combination of cost management, risk mitigation, and pricing strategy, reflecting broader market uncertainty caused by tariffs.

one thing that i keep needing to bring up as well, with what troops? Russia has been losing a lot of people in Ukraine. Even if we ignore all the numbers being thrown about how many they really lost, they have lost troops. Invading Europe? Even if they would make start churning out vehicles at a breakneck speed now, where do they get the people to operate them? How will they hold the regions they would get?

To me it seems as if the plan is to make it worse for the average person, up till a point that it is almost unbearable. Then spin the narrative blaming the other countries for the situation. Get the base riled up (history has shown that that is quite easy to do). Declare martial law and “expand” American territory.

-> No elections during war time?

Ah, just thinking out loud here. Probably overreacting…

While China is building a LOT of renewable energy and it should be applauded for it, it is not the only thing that are building. China accounted for 95% of the world’s new coal power construction activity in 2023, according to the latest annual report from https://globalenergymonitor.org/

where is this from?