OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
No bio...
User ID: 359
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
17d ago
- Comparative advantage. The essential idea is that each country produces things it is good at and exchanges them for things it isn’t good at. If you reduce trade by creating tariffs, that makes everyone poorer. I won’t dwell on this because there are many good explanations of comparative advantage on the web.
The thing I haven't seen anyone really address is that usually, the Comparative Advantage in question is lax safety and environmental laws. Sure, we have less land well-suited for Cocoa plants than South America. But the reason why it's cheaper to build a factory in China than the US is because China has no qualms with forced labor, unsafe conditions, and pollution. The government of China is able to force people to produce things that there is no demand for, including brand new ghost cities.
Are people just ok with this, morally and ethically? Is there any concern that this is a strategy that China has been employing to explicitly hollow out the American Industrial Capability which won WWII for the Allies?
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
22d ago
I don't know if it makes it better. "At the time I had no idea I'd cancel the reciprocal tariffs a couple hours later!" But of course, it's also all according to plan.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
22d ago
I assumed he was saying that in a "buy the dip" and "please stop selling" sense, not that he was actually going to start taking steps to raise the stock market again...
Whatever happened to the fig leaf of "This is not financial advice, but here's what I'm doing..."
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
24d ago
Most of my (Christian) circles have been tepid on "Believe," largely because making a general argument for believing something isn't very strong without making an argument for a specific happening. It's not clear that there is a category that can be called "Religion and Spirituality" which can be generalized, that includes various world cultural practices, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, etc. Arguing for Athiesm vs Religion in the general doesn't work out super well.
Oren Cass is the guy to watch right now. Trump's plan is basically what Cass has been begging for the past couple of years (though Cass understandably feels like Trump's implementation could use some work.) Below are all from Oren Cass-run outlets:
Policy Brief: The Global Tariff: https://americancompass.org/policy-brief-the-global-tariff/
O Canada! Time to Talk Tariffs: https://www.understandingamerica.co/p/o-canada-time-to-talk-tariffs
The One Word that Explains Globalization's Failure, and Trump's Response: https://www.understandingamerica.co/p/the-one-word-that-explains-globalizations
America's Three Demands https://www.understandingamerica.co/p/americas-three-demands
No Pain, No Gain On Canada and Mexico Tariffs: https://commonplace.org/2025/03/25/no-pain-no-gain-on-canada-and-mexico-tariffs/
How to Think About Liberation Day: https://commonplace.org/2025/04/04/how-to-think-about-liberation-day/
And bonus essay: China’s Tariff-Dodging Move to Mexico Looks Doomed" https://archive.is/m7a9L
Edit: Bonus X thread Tariff roundup: https://x.com/JamesNeilMeece/status/1886136306264129707
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
27d ago
I guess my 31 year old unemployed brother that weighs 400 pounds and plays Halo all day and occasionally destroys the plumbing and breaks the toilet seat and makes my 68 year old mother clean up the mess will just have to get out his tacking hammer and get busy.
These people might be screwed, but it would be nice to catch a guy like this when he's 18-25, before he's 400 lbs and has a decade of habitual sloth. There are many people right now in their prime years who have the potential to turn out like this brother, and changing the incentives might prevent them from falling into such a grim fate.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
27d ago
Is your friend my father? After all the kids left the nest, my father divorced my mother to move in with his aging dad with a large house in Southern California. He took care of my grandpa and the house until my grandpa passed away, and is now trying to keep the house value up and sell it for "what it's really worth." The house is 60+ years old now and most developers just want the land. I worry he's going to pass away before he sees any profit from the investment that robbed him of the last decades of his life.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
People seem to misunderstand the suit comment. It's not like Zelenskyy cannot afford a suit. It's not a class commentary.
World leaders dress to send a message. Zelenskyy knows this, it's why he has been wearing his black outfit since the start of the invasion. The black outfit shows that he is a wartime president, fighting an existential threat to the last man.
Trump doesn't want the Ukraine to fight to the last man. He wants a peace. Suits are the clothing of negotiations and treaties.
The clothing is one of many things that caused yesterday to break down.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
It was sent out Saturday night and has a deadline on Monday night. There could be people who work Saturdays and have Mondays off who will not see it until too late.
I can get behind the idea of explaining what you do and how it serves a specific directive from Congress (everyone should be able to explain this much). I have to send my boss a similar missive every week. But the way Musk is doing this seems solely for the purpose of upsetting people without thinking it through.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
As you build your shiny, state of the art system you are purchasing items from other businesses and those items will be taxed.
If you're just saying that, "As things get less expensive, VAT will decrease," then yes, that's true, but so will the amount of UBI needed to maintain a standard of living.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
preventing immigrants from making better lives for themselves also qualified.
This is not actually inherently evil. The Church teaches that there are many justifiable reasons to secure a border and not accept all newcomers.
Killing a baby in the womb is inherently evil whatever the circumstance.
I understand the confusion surrounding "what side should a Catholic take?" The truth is, don't. We live in a time of Exraordinary Antipolitics and should be content with calling out evil when we see it without actively hoping for evil that we're more comfortable ignoring to succeed.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
Ever wanted to learn more about congressional hearings on UAPs and the proposed coverup, but most sources either avoid going into depth or assume that you already know lingo and who's who?
Jimmy Akin's Mysterous World recently did an episode on the secret government program Immaculate Constellation. As always, it's pretty informative and measured.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
First of all, it’s dependent on getting the money in the first place, and it’s probably pretty trivial to renounce citizenship and bugger off to a tax haven today, and given that “owning AI” doesn’t require you to be in the country at all, there’s nothing tying the guy who owns the company to the country the AI is in.
Say what you want about Andrew Yang, but his idea to tie UBI to a VAT might work. It doesn't matter where the wealthy are, if they want to buy or sell in the American market it pays into the system.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
I see calls from the Right to sufficiently ostracize Bannon for this, and I wonder if that's the wrong tactic. Instead of defending his right to free expression (which in this context begins to sound like a defense of his ideas) or act like the sky is falling the way the left does, can't we just mock Bannon? Take the power out of it. His gesture wasn't funny or deep, he's pathetic, etc. (I'm trying to provide an example of mockery, but without breaking the rules and actually getting into it.)
The left tried the "Act like the sky is falling every time someone does something Nazi-ish" tactic for a while and that didn't help anything. I vaguely remember a time when people would just roll their eyes or add layers of sarcasm. Something like the way /r/TumblrinAction mocked otherkin. That is how seriously I take Bannon, as if he had just proclaimed he was an otherkin on stage. If he wants to stop pretending to be an otherkin and start eating at a human table any time soon, then he's welcome back on the Right. (Now to make actual Right influencers act this way.)
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
There may have been a logic to the Blitzkrieg beyond what we can obviously see.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
I agree, largely because of #3. I'd rather have a President with this power than an "Independent Agency," though I'd rather have more rules made as laws in Congress instead of rules made as regulations by the Executive.
Basically, the Legislative Branch should never give the Executive authority to make regulations that the Legislative isn't comfortable changing every few years.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
I agree on this point, and that's exactly why I liked that these agencies were independent.
Ok, then let's rephrase. Can we agree not to delegate so much to unelected bodies unaccountable to anyone either? I don't want Independent agencies or a Executive with so much regulatory power. I don't want either to have so much regulatory power. I want Congress to stop awarding either with broad powers that are easily abused and difficult to be held accountable.
net increase in deaths caused by droughts, floods, famines, and famine-related-instability.
Do you have evidence for this? I have seen reviews that show that, while the amount of property damage has increased over time, this is not due to storms getting worse, but rather that things have gotten more expensive. It doesn't seem like there has been an increase in deaths as a percentage of population or severity of storms.
If we wanted to reduce the Earth's temperature, we could do it very quickly with some basic geo-engineering. That we don't is a sign that nobody seems to think the problem is very severe yet.
(Also, as a Catholic you should know it's not about the effect of paying for an abortion, it's about the remote material cooperation with evil. Being made complicit in the murder of a baby is the thing that really upsets us and Congress explicitly tried to protect us from.)
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
Democrats are staring down the barrel of that right now and believe me, it is terrifying. You better hope republicans have a plan to rig every future election because otherwise that gun will be turned on you.
I mean, I've been staring at that barrel half my life as well, so my sympathies. Maybe we can agree at this point to not delegate so much to the executive?
What do you think it's been like to be a Conservative this whole time? Do you think we like not having the Comstock Act enforced and have our taxes go to killing babies in their mother's womb? What are you worried about that tops that?
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
Maybe we're talking past each other. One of the reasons it is desirable for the members of the Senate to have longer terms is because it provides "some stable institution in the government." This shows that there was consideration of making the Senate a stabilizing institution in the government, which is in the Legislative branch.
If the objection is that I referenced treaties in my first post, I can pull a reference for that as well. Regarding Treaties, Federalist Paper No 64 has this to say:
They who wish to commit the power under consideration to a popular assembly, composed of members constantly coming and going in quick succession, seem not to recollect that such a body must necessarily be inadequate to the attainment of those great objects, which require to be steadily contemplated in all their relations and circumstances, and which can only be approached and achieved by measures which not only talents, but also exact information, and often much time, are necessary to concert and to execute....
There are a few who will not admit that the affairs of trade and navigation should be regulated by a system cautiously formed and steadily pursued; and that both our treaties and our laws should correspond with and be made to promote it. It is of much consequence that this correspondence and conformity be carefully maintained; and they who assent to the truth of this position will see and confess that it is well provided for by making concurrence of the Senate necessary both to treaties and to laws.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
Are you sure about that? I'd say Federalist Paper No 62 supports me when it discusses the Senate:
IV. The number of senators, and the duration of their appointment, come next to be considered...
Fourthly. The mutability in the public councils arising from a rapid succession of new members, however qualified they may be, points out, in the strongest manner, the necessity of some stable institution in the government. Every new election in the States is found to change one half of the representatives. From this change of men must proceed a change of opinions; and from a change of opinions, a change of measures. But a continual change even of good measures is inconsistent with every rule of prudence and every prospect of success. The remark is verified in private life, and becomes more just, as well as more important, in national transactions...
It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?
Another effect of public instability is the unreasonable advantage it gives to the sagacious, the enterprising, and the moneyed few over the industrious and uniformed mass of the people. Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue, or in any way affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a new harvest to those who watch the change, and can trace its consequences; a harvest, reared not by themselves, but by the toils and cares of the great body of their fellow-citizens. This is a state of things in which it may be said with some truth that laws are made for the FEW, not for the MANY.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
The president doesn't have to enforce laws he doesn't want to
While there is some discretion, I would not go that far. I actually really hate it when a president deliberately refuses to enforce a law. There is a problem of enforcement - the president cannot dedicate 100% of resources to enforce 100% of laws 100% of the time. But a president explicitly setting a policy where they refuse to enforce a law should be an impeachable offense.
independence of independent agencies
What is an Independent Agency? What does the word Independent mean? Does it mean something like, "Not accountable to civilian-appointed leaders?" If so, what makes it desirable? People use the word "independent" like it should have positive connotations, instead of horrific ones.
The justification is typically that Independent means non-partisan, but that is naivete. Everyone who makes policy has a side they prefer, a side that gives them more power or makes policies that align more with their own preferences.
There are Judicial Agencies. There are Legislative Agencies. These exist with direct oversight of the bodies that control them. If Congress wants to make another Legislative Agency, that's fine to do so. If Congress wanted to put the rule-making portion of the FCC's scope under themselves, assign a committee to do so and make laws that way, they are free to do so. I would welcome it. As they refuse, we are instead left with a dysfunctional and unbalanced government.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
Yes, this is exactly my point. This executive order shifts power from the conservative to the-- as you call it-- "dynamic" aspect of the government. And conservatives are happy about this? What?
Yes, I am happy with more accountability in government. I'd be happier with the Legislature passing actual laws instead of delegating regulations to the Executive. The Legislature should never give an executive department (department implementing laws) the authority to make regulations that they are unwilling to have change every presidency.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
but that would increase their workload in reviewing what agencies are up to.
One of the many reasons we should expand the House.
OracleOutlook
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2mo ago
The Legislature is meant to be the conservative aspect of the government. It is supposed to codify things that last, because it is very difficult to get a majority vote on something. This is why congress is supposed to ratify things like treaties. If we want stability, it needs to be explicitly enshrined in Congress.
The Executive is meant to be dynamic. It responds to events as they arise and is supposed to be under the control of the elected President. It should work this way. The new President comes in, representing the will of the entire American people, and determines governmental policy not codified in Law. What the executive does should change every time the President takes control.
A lot of things that are "regulations" should be laws, if they are something Congress can agree on. If Congress cannot agree on them, how is it reflective of our Republic to put unelected, unaccountable people in charge of making them and nothing the American people can do to stop them?
I don't know if this is because you're a convert, but it seems like your problems are not with the Catholic Faith, it's with the people in the pews next to you. Ultimately, I only really need from the Church access to the Sacraments. 99% of my spiritual development has happened at home. How often do you go to Confession and receive Communion in a state of Grace?
I recommend reading Fire Within to see what the end result of spiritual progress would look like. Having an idea of the goal in mind can help a lot. If you already have a goal, what is it? From what you wrote, it seems like your biggest goal of becoming Catholic was to flee an Atheistic Identity while still holding Atheistic Suppositions about the world.
There have been times and parishes where I don't interact with anyone at all, pray silently instead of paying attention to the homily, receive the sacraments, and walk away. It's wonderful when the Church can also provide social opportunities, but it's not often that this happens.
Augustine and Aquinas are not infallible and their philosophy isn't infallible. The Church has not committed herself to their philosophy, even in cases where she uses the phrase "Transubstantiation" there is no commitment to the Accidents/Substance distinction of Aquinas.
If you really need a change of scenery (and a church that doesn't treat Aquinas like Scripture) see if there are any Eastern Catholic churches near you. A benefit of finding an Eastern Catholic Church over converting to Orthodoxy is that Orthodoxy will make you go through initiation again, while you'll be able to just go to an Eastern Catholic Church without a fuss. But I would rather you try Orthodoxy than disappear.
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