• shastaxc@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    As a non-drinker of coffee, I am fully onboard with raising the price of coffee. Everyone is far too addicted to it and drink excessively to an unhealthy amount. Less coffee would be better for general health. Same for chocolate, as I saw someone else mention.

    Too bad Trump doesn’t care about that and doesn’t actually have any plan in mind for this kind of economic policy for the welfare of the people.

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      As a non-drinker of coffee

      the rest of your opinion is moot. you have no say in this because you don’t understand the concepts behind coffee.

      I had to stop drinking coffee for health reasons. it was fucking awful. drank a cup a day for decades. I couldn’t function properly even six months later.

      eventually I started drinking decaf, it helped.

      you know why? the routine. the caffeine content is abysmally low but it comforts me first thing in the morning. It’s probably the same for many coffee drinkers.

      so really, do you want to inhabit a world where at least HALF of the people you know start their day out on the wrong side?

    • hydrospanner@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      “I want things to be worse for everyone who isn’t exactly like me.”

      You’re the worst kind of person.

    • namarupa@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Maybe the improved focus from a nice cup of joe would have made you realize how foolish this sounds before posting.

  • zeppo@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    It sure would help if Americans weren’t generally ignorant about uh… tons of stuff and especially anything that involves other countries. All sorts of fruits and vegetables are imported - green beans, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, lettuce, berries, bananas, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant. And then at the same time, the Trump bros want to crack down on groups of people who make up a large portion of the domestic agricultural workforce? It’s difficult to see some conservative policies as intended to do anything other than just fuck people over and cause chaos.

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I think thats what the crypto people are banking on. Rapid inflation. You’re better off just buying imported goods now though, you can always sell them the crypto people at a markup later. Real goods have far more intrinsic value.

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        and I’ll probably just pay the tariffs and move on because half the time stuff made in the US falls apart or is laced with pesticides banned elsewhere

        • patacon_pisao@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          They would blame Biden, Harris, Obama and Hillary Clinton for these things and more.

          Jokes aside, people will only start being outraged when Starbucks and Dunkin’ start selling their favorite drinks for $15+. I only hope that when things get to that point people start taking the streets in protest.

    • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      There is also seasonal trade to US even when it grows in US.

      New FDA head will just change the food pyramid to Coca Cola is a vegetable.

      • zeppo@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Right, if all you eat is meat, wheat, corn syrup and potatoes, no problem!

  • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Rabbit hole time.

    Apparently, caffeine in soft drinks is synthetic. I thought they just used caffeine that is extracted from decaffeinating coffee beans - not so. Also it’s barely produced in the US (anymore), and we mostly import it from China.

    Neat part is: it doesn’t look all that complicated to synthesize and requires some common-ish organic compounds and solvents to make. As a bonus, the “the raw synthetic caffeine often glows - a bluish phosphorence”. If anyone is on his Patreon, please give NileRed a nudge to give this a shot; I think it would be right up his alley.

    So we can get by without coffee, but short of running your own chemistry lab, it’s going to be a bit before industry can ramp up production of the synthetic stuff. Meanwhile, caffeinated beverages across the board would be more expensive were synthetic caffeine a part of any tariff scheme.

    More here:

    https://www.decadentdecaf.com/blogs/decadent-decaf-coffee-co/174589383-ever-wondered-where-the-caffeine-comes-from-in-soda-or-energy-drinks-answer-synthetic-caffeine

    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      Foreign slave plantations.

      … Not that slave plantations anywhere makes it better, but the fact that it’s foreign will mean that not only is the labor mainly performed by slaves, but we’re also paying a premium because it’s imported goods. Double jeopardy.

      Yay capitalism!

    • hydrospanner@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I feel like most people I have heard talking about them while supporting Trump seem to know that tariffs are taxes, but have no concept of how they play out in a real economic situation. Most fall into one or both of two camps:

      A) Tariffs are taxes, but they’re taxes for companies not individuals, and they’re only applied to importing, so they won’t affect me.

      B) Tariffs are taxes for foreign companies, to level the playing field and keep American business competitive. Since the companies that have to pay it are foreign, it won’t affect me.

      Spoiler alert, guys: no matter where the tax is levied in the system, the consumer is the only person who ever pays for it, since they’re the only ones that can’t pass that cost on to anyone else.

      Also, while this can make domestic competitors more competitive, it’s important to remember two things: first, if it works, it’s only working by making things more expensive for consumers, and second, this assumes that the domestic competitors want more business, have the ability and posture to increase their production to meet the new greater demand, and will operate in good faith. Much more likely is that they simply also increase their prices in reaction to the tariffs, so they’re not producing or selling any more volume and aren’t creating any jobs… they’re just padding their profit margins at the corporate/shareholder level while doing nothing for their employees, all while having the average consumer foot the bill.

      That’s exactly what happened with the steel tariffs in the first Trump term and that’s exactly what will happen now…the only difference is that this time it seems like there will be significantly fewer economic buffers between the tariff and the consumer, so more people will more directly feel the sting here…and presumably the mental gymnastics from the MAGAts will be even sadder in their attempts to somehow make it not a criticism of their orange leader’s incompetence.

      • ericbomb@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        “Surely the company that sells a product for $100 will keep selling the product for that price once tariffs mean that it costs a $125 to produce and import!” - crazy people.

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
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        2 months ago

        Tariffs are taxes, but they’re taxes for companies not individuals, and they’re only applied to importing, so they won’t affect me.

        Typical Magoo (literally my dad in 2016): “you can’t tax business owners, they’re going to just make everything more expensive for us! They pass on the burden to us!”

        Also Magoo: “Yay tarrifs! They are a tax on business but that won’t get passed on to me!”

        The Magoo motto: Whatever words I need to use to suit my purpose I will use, to hell with reality.

      • ericbomb@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Guyyyyssss, the vote was yesterday!

        Also how was that mess over 10 years ago and they still are in the “Finding out” portion of FAFO?

  • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Not sure if nafta is still active but I don’t think we can tariff Mexico. Mexico has some good coffee options

    And I’m not defending trump at all but I don’t think he has any plans on putting tariffs for South America. I thought it was like only a China thing.

  • Liz@midwest.social
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    2 months ago

    People listing Hawaii like they could meet the total US demand, even if they could scale to maximum production overnight.

    Most of the corn we eat is Brazilian. Most of the corn we grow is feed corn for cows and process corn for HFCS and other processed food ingredients.

    • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 months ago

      Im guessing they also never seen how much the coffee from there cost. Plus supply and demand you dumb fucks. The cost will skyrocket. Kona coffee ranges from $30 to $100 a bag. Think of a massive increase of demand. Are we going to pay $100 a bag for low end stuff?

    • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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      2 months ago

      Hawaii does have the largest coffee growing industry in the entire US but they are severely limited by the amount of available land. Compared to other coffee-producing nations, the Big Island is microscopically tiny, so they mainly focus on high quality, artisanal product sold at extremely high prices. Not that I would mind if all the coffee sold everywhere would be replaced by Kona coffee overnight, but it just isn’t feasible.

    • Johnmannesca@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      As an American born and raised in Illinois I can also inform the rest of the populace our corn also gets used to make ethanol, an alternative fuel source.

      • chaogomu@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Ethanol is incredibly inefficient as a fuel source.

        If not for the massive subsidies it would not exist.

        Still, ethanol is a better fuel additive than lead. (Both reduce knocking)

        Still, the far better use is to grow food.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    2 months ago

    You think it’s going to be bad when people find out coffee prices are shooting up? Wait until they find out about chocolate.