The middlemen you’re talking about are established brands.

In this case, with the auto industry, yes you are correct. However this same exact thing happens with almost any industry. Just a quick example, I home brew, every single device/machine/vessel I have every purchased from my “local” distributors were all made in China. All of it.

I am not saying your concerns are invalid. I am just trying to see how would it ever be different by just applying tariffs to them. Wouldn’t it make better sense to demand certain guarantees before they are allowed to sell in the USA? How would any Chinese company ever make it to the KTM status you mention?

And to clarify, I am only “defending” China here because something crazy like 90% of what we use today was made totally or partially in China, so to me it makes no sense they are only good when making money for American companies while we pay the middle man

Gotta love how the articles frames it. While at work people “kill time” with tik tok but at home they “goof off” folding laundry

Developers are usually not bad at naming. Marketing on the other hand…

Fair. Although Motorola also left me in the dust with my precious phone, but I was able to find custom ROMs for that one

Well, that’s kind of what is happening today with brands started in the USA as well (Henrik Fisker pulled this stunt twice with Karma and the Fisker Automotive)

I do get your point, I just have a hard time dismissing any and all Chinese cars when the collective “we” have no issue dealing with China as long as there is some middle man charging a premium. I also have a hard time understanding how tariffs address any of these issues.

China is stable enough, or so it seems, to supply most of our electronics, electrical components, plastics, tools, mechanical parts, etc etc etc… There is certainly a way to work with them in a stable way.

But then, how tariffs make all those dangers OK?

PS: sorry but the video is just some Vlogger rant with no evidence presented.

I can find parts for Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota, Mazda, etc all made in China. Why does it work for American and foreign companies making every part they sell in China but it wouldn’t work for a Chinese company

And, if that is the case, wouldn’t it make more sense to just force them to establish some corporate headquarters in the USA (as they rest of the brands do)?

Again, not sure why you are so certain about that when China is already manufacturing the parts for the companies you trust to have them

Good to know you can now uninstall them. I think my son has a Samsung now, I can check with him.

Why? doesn’t Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, SaaB and all the non-American brands already do this? why would China not be able to do it?

A ton of the parts for the American cars actually come from China, why would it be harder for China to do what they already do on behalf of the American manufacturers?

Ok without devolving to ridicule every message, the point it that just because stuff is made in China, it is not necessarily cheap (as in crappy, low quality or unsafe).

I’d like to know what is unsafe about these cars and whether or not this is a real consideration. So far, all I seem to get is protectionism and platitudes.

I think it may be due to the “against” votes coming from the obvious places (Israel, USA) and a bunch of tiny places most people couldn’t point in a map.

The “curious” ones for me are Panama and Argentina. Curious as in I wonder what their statements to vote against would be

I returned my last Samsung because it was riddled with bloatwear that could not be disabled or uninstalled

Facebook was one such app, if I disabled it, it would re-enable itself on reboots

And it wasn’t even a cheap phone

I bought an umidigi Bison Pro 3, years ago. It’s still going strong with no noticeable issues

I tried to get a custom ROM but they don’t seem to exist, people call this a garbage brand (it may be, I don’t know) but it has served me well and I’m happy to have paid $250 for a fast phone so I can constantly chat with my wife and browse Lemmy… Why would I pay $1000 for a “flagship” phone to do those 2 same, completely non critical, tasks?

Not necessarily. China makes all the fancy stuff Americans are super proud of.

If safety were a real issue, the gov wouldn’t have attempted to ban them based on tariffs

Ps: your entire first paragraph could have been about American meat processors and I wouldn’t have noticed

You are correct, but that has happened with American brands (even cars) before

At half the price of other EVs, I bet an entire new class of service stores, half mechanic shop, half third party parts, half mods, would spring into existence if these cars are allowed in the market

Instead, we protect the horrible local brands

I watch V for Vendetta every November

I have watched SnowPiercer at least 6 times (and yes, I totally belive it is a sequel to Willy Wonka)

Strictly speaking, we don’t. Legislation has to be in line with the constitutional authority of the acting branch.

Well, that is not where the USA is going if they continue down the MAGA rabbit hole. They are now even quoting the Bible as a reference for law writing.

What are you going to do? Establish a religious exclusion test for candidates? For voters?

No but you are taking it too far. All I want are laws that are not based on religious beliefs. If they coincide with some religious belief I have no issues, I just do not want religion doctrine to be the driving force.

When large numbers of people engage in the same personal choices, they create an implicit policy.

Which can objectively be avoided or mitigated.

When state officials campaign, they appeal to the local customs and taboos. And those customs/taboos become laws

Why should they? this is exactly what I am talking should not happen and something you just claimed “strictly speaking” does not happen.

What prevents this snowball from forming? Are you going to forbid a plurality of people from propagating their views?

Now you are just pearl clutching for effect

That’s precisely the point bud.

You cannot and therefore we should not use religion (in this instance) to write laws… it would be like banning musical genres based on my taste

I do not agree with the original quote from Hitchen that every religion must be wrong (although I do not think any are right since they are all just made up stories) but I do believe that should be left to people’s personal choice and not a centimeter more.

It exactly resembles the logic. Which is the important part.

Not if the components of the formula you are subbing in the logic are so far departed. But this is my opinion and I feel we are just going in circles here. I do agree with you in that the Hitchens original claim is flawed (actually I never found him as wise as people seem to) but I do not believe your reduced scenario proved that.

Your last argument that I responded to is literally that we shouldnt be acting like a belief is right or certain.

How is me saying that an indication I am thinking in black and white?! Precisely saying we shouldN’T be acting like a belief is right or certain is the opposite of black and white thinking.