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What's horrible is that Trump's misunderstanding of how tariffs work is only forgotten by how much he doesn't understand about how viruses and vaccines and health policy works.

Had it not been for the pandemic, he was well on his way to crashing the global economy, between the reckless tax cuts, deregulation and slapdash tariffs. Ironically, the stimulus spending necessitated by the pandemic probably saved him--and all of us--from the second great depression.

That's not at all a bad idea; it certainly avoids Harley Davidson syndrome, which is what we're looking down the tubes of right now.

The first two (labour and quality control) aren't really what affect the MSRP. Labour makes a difference, but it' materials cost that really drives price, and QA isn't really the differentiator you might think.

But that last one--government support--that makes a massive difference. China has been, and continues to be, very strategic throughout the entire supply chain, from security raw materials at low cost, to building transport and energy infrastructure, to setting up hub-and-spoke centres for OEMs and suppliers, to securing a labour force. Non-Chinese OEMs, and especially Americans that depend on tax rebates little else, can't compete.

It wouldn't hurt the American and Canadian governments to twist the arm of industry and get them to think a little more long-term. They won't, of course, because of neoliberal capture, but they could.

He's going to get his wish as leftists sit the next one out.

All eyes are going to be on Harris, if she wins. That'll set the tone: will it be more rainbow-painted wealth extraction, or are they going to try to actually help people who don't have millions of dollars already.

Again, it's "Don't quote the troll". Some of us learned this in Usenet in the 1990s.

Saying "This is bullshit" or "You're weird" without engaging with their ideas stops the contagion from spreading.

It is, though. Studies in disinformation have proven this. This is why right-wing bullshitters are so eager to engage in debate: just getting the chance to show up and be refuted in a legitmate setting, like a major newspaper, gives them an audience for the ideas and credibility, that their position is one worthy of refute.

This is how we got the alt-right in 2015: by taking neo-Nazis seriously.

This is what the media doesn't understand, and why fact-checkers are getting--correctly--rolled on social media. Every time you bring up one of these lies, even to fact check it--especially to fact-check it--you give it credibility.

This is why the Harris/Walz campaign's tactic of ridicule is working so well. Instead of saying "No, you're wrong about XXX because YYYY and ZZZZ", they're saying "What is wrong with you? You're weird." The latter doesn't give the lie any oxygen.

It's not embarrassing that they're Nazis.

It's probably embarrassing because they were brought over at the behest of powerful people who would rather it not be know than they patronized Nazis for political or monetary gain.

Werner von Braun was difficult enough, but you could make the case that they needed to keep him and scientists like him out of Soviet control. This is was probably just people that the Laurentian elite played wet towel tag with at Upper Canada College.

One way to stop the alt-right Russian propaganda campaigns from undermining trust in our institutions would be to improve those institutions

God, this is so succinctly put. Well done.

A huge, huge part of the problem is self-inflicted, with thirty years of neoliberal-induced decay providing fertile grounds full of resentment and disillusionment, ripe for protofascists to grow their poison fruit in.

"Former Langley MP" really buries the lede.

Maybe "protofascist grifter" would be more accurate?

“Liberal” doesn’t mean what many people think it means.

It doesn’t mean “leftist” or “progressive” or “humane”. There might be some overlap, but these are not the same things, despite conservatives trying to define them as such.

Yes it is.

You might not wish it to be, but fact-checking absolutely does amplify fake news, especially if you give details.

A simple “this story is bullshit” is all that’s needed

And now you, the mainstream media, are amplifying it and giving it oxygen.

It’s like y’all never learned the old Usenet adage: “don’t feed (quote) the trolls”.