"Might Be Time To Go Back To A Corporate Job" - Trump's Tariffs Come Into Effect

More fear mongering.

"We MAY . . ."

And, just a thought exercice, but what if some clone system or say the Switch 2 eventually cost $50 more than it might otherwise because of tariffs, but you didn't have to pay any income tax on your wages anymore because that was removed entirely. Would you consider that a loss or a gain overall. . . .

Now, neither of those things has happened thus far, and maybe neither ever will, but it's interesting to think about.

@RetroGames except that tariffs on Chinese goods are already in effect today, while income tax hasn't changed. The first one is a fact, the second one is a hypotesis.

This is what I like to call, a "first world" problem.
I'll think we will survive this 😁

Damonion, do you think tariffs will eventually be good for retro gamers.

This is not an 'economy' thing or something we just need to live with. This will hurt the economy and not just retro goods but all electronics from TVs to meat thermometers. This is one idiot telling the American people that China has to pay more when in reality, it is the people that will be paying more and many believe him. He's either lying (most likely) or he really doesn't know (quite possible). I have FlippyDrives on order and I pre-ordered a Superstation, non-founders. I might get emails from Team OffBroadway or Taki Udon saying that I'll need to pay more or cancel my order. I'll pay it and I won't blame them but that will be less money from my pocket going to local businesses as Voultar suggests (he already got a few bucks from me for his NES exp. audio mod). I was looking at getting an RG35XX SP but I might need to wait on it.

@GiSWiG Pretty sure calling him an idiot violated community rules, and I'd rather not post several paragraphs countering your statements. It's a complicating negotiating technique from a master negotiator who has already made several other countries bend the knee in a short period of time.

If the Retroid Pocket 5 goes from like $220 to $250, whoop dee doo. As said above, first world problems. I had a friend complaining the RTX 5090 prices had just shot up over the tariffs, but a.) first-world problem and b.) Nvidia's profit margins are utterly obscene already. BOM on a 5090 is far, far under the retail cost, and AIBs are given the shift.

Just raise prices a little, not like we haven't already seen massive inflation since 2020.

LMAO. Except they've already been paused in exchange for border security. This is fear mongering at best. The proposed tariffs are doing their job.

@Willonious You can laugh all you want, but there's one problem. The tariffs on China have not been paused. Swing and a miss there. Plus there was another point in the article about the uncertainty and its effect on these small operations. Did you read the article?

@NickStarling But this is not inflation, this is someone saying 'I'm going to make people pay more'. The manufacturers don't make any more money, the extra cost goes from the consumer to the government. Maybe the manufacturer will see a dip in sales but it won't cost them any more to make the product. Where is the incentive to shift production to the US, which would cost way more because we have laws to protect labor. Americans (really the world) would rather pay less for their iPhone made by someone getting paid a few bucks than a living wage, working 40 hours a week with healthcare benefits, etc. I make more in an hour than someone in China makes for 10+ hours a day.
And so what if its a 'first world problem', not my fault I live in the first world. Everyone here is not in the third-world (assumption). I doubt someone who doesn't have indoor plumbing is here worried about the rising cost of a retro mod or handheld.

@betterman I personally haven't experienced a single price increase on any products recently outside of those resulting from Covid and global economic inflation rates, at least not that I noticed. But that's just my personal experience. And I certainly wasn't instantly fear mongering and speculating and attributing those price increases to some dude who hasn't been in a position to affect anything like that for years at this point. So prices go up for various reasons. But what we can all say for sure right now is that none of these products have actually had a price increase recently directly as a result of these brand new tarifs. Maybe they will, and maybe they won't. But the reality is no handheld is more expensive yet because of these new tarifs. But everyone is certainly being made to fear what might happen, that's for sure. And it's interesting that not a single article here was blaming any of the previous price increases in any way on say Biden or Kamala previously and the high inflation that occured in that administration due to all the government overspending, waste, corruption, and so on. That's just my observation mind you.

Well things like the Tink gear are vastly overpriced so there's always room for price cuts to keep the price the same.

@Willonious The Canadian and Mexican governments did not actually capitulate. They agreed to do what they promised to the Biden administration in December. I also wouldn't consider Trump a master negotiator. He's bankrupted multiple companies and often refuses to pay his contractors. He's a fraudster with 34 convictions to prove it

Gotta love how quickly things have changed from "this isn't happening!" to "this won't negatively effect you!" to "okay it will!" to "it's actually good!" in record time

@RetroGames If it cost more, but you ended up without a lot more money in your wallet with income tax being removed? That would be more than make up for the difference. So yeah, that would be a good thing. Though, those who aren't too familiar with how economics work may disagree.

@Willonious The guy hasn't even been in office for a month and people are already flipping out. As if the last administration was so much better.

@nilcam Parroting the media talking points and smearing isn't much of an argument.

@dmg361 Tariffs disproportionately affect people with lower incomes. That's why the United States uses a progressive tax system. It comes down to paying 25% more for goods or be taxed at a rate between 10 and 37%. I'm in the 22% bracket for 2025 so it's a wash for me. If you earn less, it could be difficult.

And pointing out the president is a convicted felon is truth, not a smear.

@Willonious I'm the one in touch with reality. You should try it. It's quite fascinating.

@NickStarling you... You know that a few people in the know said that Mexico said they'd happily ally with China, which made Trump scared enough to fold on the tariff plan, right? That's not master negotiating, that's thinking that threats will bring him big wins. The "capitulation" that both Canada and Mexico have "offered" were from before Trump took his second oath of office.
And those tariffs? You'll see things like fruit, lumber, and car parts double. When the price is set to rise in the place where prices are set (the US) that means the suppliers will raise the price to whatever people will be willing to pay.

https://www.n-tv.de/politik/EU-plant-Gebuehr-fuer-Paeckchen-von-Temu-Shein-und-Co-article25539962.html

The EU also plans a Tariff against Goods from China, Prices will be so here higher.

Edit:
I am sure it will settle in the US, nut not here in the EU.

@dmg361 The last administration is already a mountain load better for not upending our entire federal government. Why the hell would anyone want to close the Department of Education? We don't need every state to have a different education standard.

@LP09 There is zero chance anything going up in price in the last couple of weeks has been caused by what's happened in literally the last couple of weeks of the new administration. Things simply do not work that fast in the world of money. And, similarly, no reasonable person should be expecting any meaningful positive changes to happen in such a short time either. So, honestly, I think people need to wait for at least say a year before they jump the gun here. And maybe even have a look in four years and compare where things are truly at, especially compared to where they were at. If we're all in a living hell and paying $100 for a can of beans and caught up in multiple wars and can't say anything without fear of being cancelled, the naysayers will have something to moan about. And if the world hasn't fallen apart and prices have largely come down and we are generally free to openly speak our minds without fear of being cancelled and the government waste has been massively cut and various other things have improved, I think it's safe to say a lot of people maybe need to check what narratives they're buying into, who's peddling them, and why. So, hey, let's all wait a year or so and see what the world is like then, shall we. And in the meantime, we should all at least have the self respect to even just question the stories we're all being fed by whomever is feeding them. That should be the bare minimum.

After all the massive inflation we have experienced over the past 4 years, NOW we should be concerned about things getting more expensive? I'll take more expensive game consoles that I will probably never purchase over more expensive food that I need to survive.

US 'de minimus' laws means anything under 800$, purchased directly from China for personal use, is tax and duty free.

Trump isn't protecting US industries, he's looking for revenue streams.

@avcrypt Yeah I just think it's ridiculous to get all bent out of shape over some luxury electronic goods maybe going up in price when the price for necessities has gone up so dramatically in recent years. Like I wouldn't expect this site to be covering global economics but then again they did suddenly feel a need to make an article directed at criticizing American foreign policy.

The issue is simple, Trump has no idea what he is doing. The people who voted for him have less than a clue of who the voted for. There is in reason for these tariffs, that was proven last week when Trump caved to Canada and Mexico. The only ones who get hurt by tariffs are the consumer.

@Steel76 yeah it's the other 200 things that we won't survive

@Quick_Man
keep this in mind every time people open their disingenuous mouths

"A Narcissist's Prayer:

That didn't happen.

And if it did, it wasn't that bad.

And if it was, that's not a big deal.

And if it is, that's not my fault.

And if it was, I didn't mean it.

And if I did...

You deserved it."

@RetroGames removal of income tax would tank the bond market instantly and put a major hit on the economy

@Lup Tell me about it.

I love paying more for no reason! And small businesses? Who needs those. Thank goodness we have a Master Negotiator using his shrewd business acumen to bring all the success to America that he brought to...Trump Ice, Trump Airlines, Trump Mortgage, Trump Steak, Trump University, and other famously successful and definitely still alive products. Certainly, he's not just a rich failson who used daddy's money to stumble into enough mob connections to Mr. Magoo himself into looking competent.

I can't even say what I want to about this without likely facing an insta ban. And frankly, it's just not good for my mental health to engage in this stuff these days.

So many of y'all are thoroughly snowed already. God help us.