BRICS, an acronym that stands for "Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa" is now a massive trading bloc comprising 30 countries (for now) and still growing.
(They didn't change the acronym "BRICS" because 30 letters would be way too long and less catchy)
The combined GDP and consumer population of BRICS is more than half the whole world so imposing a 100% tax on all goods coming from those 30 countries would be implausible to say the least. Also, what would that do to our economy which is already on life support? Nothing good, believe me.
"Trump plans to further sacrifice the American people in the process of this patently fake MAGA move. Because if any of those tariffs were actually put into place, countless American households would be driven into bankruptcy of which many are on the cusp of right now."
I have been skeptical for a while about what to expect from the incoming administration considering how bad the (actual) economic data is after 4 years of incredibly harmful fiscal policies (might as well call it what it is: Bidenomics). If these declarations are any indication, which, why wouldn't they be(?), then I can comfortably say we are all royally cooked. I would have used another term but literally had to bite my hand to keep it off the keyboard.
Obviously the biggest issue most merchants are facing right now is runaway inflation which now looks like it will get worse just as interest rates are going up and demand is slowing down. The Holiday shopping season is upon us so it's too early to tell if it's going to improve things which have been steadily deteriorating since March.
Christmas sales will look better on paper simply because prices are much, MUCH higher. That doesn't mean anything in real terms though since everything has to be "inflation adjusted" in order to understand if we made any profit.
Once again however, we have to listen to the idiotic drivel from the TV talking heads about how things are actually super-duper and all that talk about high inflation is just in our heads.
Ugh! I can't take much more of this people:\
"Inflation Re-Accelerates Despite Plunging Gasoline Prices as “Core Services” PCE Price Index Hits 7-Month High"
Running a business is hard and survival is not guaranteed at all:
"Everyone knows running a business is difficult, and now there’s some new data to validate the sentiment."
Moving forward there will be even more obstacles to running a business than before. Inflation, high interest, slow demand and bone-headed foreign policy that pisses off major trading partners are just a few of the issues we face. My advice to merchants who seek my guidance is to prepare for hard times by locking in inventory at current prices, eliminating unproductive expenses and keeping a significant war-chest of funds in something other than depreciating currency. I suggest either Precious Metals which you actually own and can access easily (not held by you bank or any other counter party) or Bitcoin which has more risk of volatility. The idea is to keep as much money available as it would take to run your business for 6 months without any revenues. I know that's not easy but, interestingly that is exactly what Bill Gates did in the early 80's when Microsoft was still a start-up company. Keeping the funds in non-depreciating assets is meant to protect the purchasing power of funds you already have which is declining rapidly while it sits in your account (or mattress).
We're in the last month of the year so I'm reminding every one to file their BIOR (beneficial ownership) declaration before you get fined for not doing it. It's pretty easy so don't get scammed:
Here are some interesting links from last week:
"Disagreements are final. No discussion. No agreeing to disagree. No compromises. Anyone who doesn’t share your values and opinions to the last syllable is irredeemably evil."
"The BRICS nations will be hit with 100% tariffs on their goods if they try to introduce a reserve currency to rival the dollar, US President-elect Donald Trump has warned."
“Everything was a lie from the beginning. The asymptomatic people don’t transmit. Kids were not harbingers of the disease. They don’t actually, they’re like a break on the disease. Lockdowns were a farce. Masks don’t work.”