A Political Thread pt. 2

[AlRums]

Beyond Showerheads: Trump’s Attempts to Kill Appliance Regulations Cause Chaos

Donald Trump has long railed against everything from low-flow showerheads to LED lightbulbs. After failed attempts to undo appliance regulations in his first term, he may have found a new end-run to achieve his goal — but for now confusion reigns.

www.propublica.org

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I've had my coffee. Lets argue.

No

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Trump exempts smartphones and computers from new tariffs

The move comes after concerns that tech prices could skyrocket, as many gadgets are made in China.

www.bbc.co.uk

He's making it up as he goes along.

 

[McTallshort]

Trump exempts smartphones and computers from new tariffs

The move comes after concerns that tech prices could skyrocket, as many gadgets are made in China.

www.bbc.co.uk

He's making it up as he goes along.

Who's administrating all these changes. Must need an army of civil servants just to keep up

 

[BrokenWing]

Why can't Britain build another million homes? Texas is building somewhere around 200-300k homes per annum.

And yet I bet there are more cowboys slinging houses together here than there.

 

[Weldit]

The UK doesn't have enough skilled builders due to poor treatment. We have plenty pretending to be builders though - mostly imported.

We've developed a work culture that thinks sitting on your arse looking at spreadsheets is more important than people doing manual jobs and as such, that's why they get paid and treated poorly.

 

[McTallshort]

The UK doesn't have enough skilled builders due to poor treatment. We have plenty pretending to be builders though - mostly imported.

We've developed a work culture that thinks sitting on your arse looking at spreadsheets is more important than people doing manual jobs.

Not sure that's true. There are plenty of self employed engineering contractors (like me) about and the moneys good. Like I said my eldest is doing his apprenticeship in building at the minute and he's doing much better than his peer group most of whom are trying to get similar apprenticeships. I think the push during the Blair years to get 50% of school leavers to go to university hasn't helped the trades but I think it's gone full circle now.

 

[McTallshort]

And yet I bet there are more cowboys slinging houses together here than there.

No way, Texas is full of cowboys

 

[BrokenWing]

 

[AlRums]

I literally heard the exact same thing for 10 years in the US. Then demand surged, home builders raised wages, and all of a sudden there were a ton of builders.

What you mean to say is: There are not enough builders for the wages being offered.

Look what happens when laborers start making $2,000 a week.

New Privately-Owned Housing Units Started: Total Units

View data of the total number of new privately owned homes that began construction in a given month, used as an indicator of economic strength.

fred.stlouisfed.org

Your building trade is quite heavily dependent on immigrant labour.

Also as far as I know, could well be wrong, your construction relies much more on wooden structures almost unheard of in Europe.

Immigrant Construction Workers in the United States

The National Immigration Forum thanks Mina Boukhris, policy intern, for her extensive contributions to this explainer. Introduction The construction industry will likely require over a half a million new workers in 2024 alone to meet development goals. Construction is one of the key United...

immigrationforum.org

Boost US Construction Workforce by Employing More Immigrant Labor | Baker Institute

Despite being one of the largest and most dynamic sectors of the U.S. economy, the construction industry faces a severe labor shortage due to an aging workforce, lower birth rates, and reduced immigration. This new report from the Center for the U.S and Mexico offers recommendations to address...

www.bakerinstitute.org

 

[AlRums]

Trump exempts smartphones and computers from new tariffs

The move comes after concerns that tech prices could skyrocket, as many gadgets are made in China.

www.bbc.co.uk

He's making it up as he goes along.

Either that or Cook has really kissed his arse.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Either that or Cook has really kissed his arse.

He's definitely got his mobile number. There was no way Apple were going to return manufacturing of iPhones and their macs back to America.

And this:

Trump tariffs: A bitter price hike in US coffee shops

Higher prices are worrying independent US coffee shops, which import almost all their beans.

www.bbc.com

 

[Weldit]

Not sure that's true. There are plenty of self employed engineering contractors (like me) about and the moneys good. Like I said my eldest is doing his apprenticeship in building at the minute and he's doing much better than his peer group most of whom are trying to get similar apprenticeships. I think the push during the Blair years to get 50% of school leavers to go to university hasn't helped the trades but I think it's gone full circle now.

Oh, it's slowly changing. Glad to see the younger ones starting to pick it up, but that doesn't mean they'll all stick to it. Also , I'm not talking about engineering as that's not the same thing. Sorry, but it's not.

 

[AlRums]

Trump's retribution sends a chilling message to dissenters

https://us.cnn.com/2025/04/12/politics/trump-krebs-khalil-taylor-crackdown-dissent-what-matters/index.html

Genuine signs of an authoritarian regime.

 

[McTallshort]

Oh, it's slowly changing. Glad to see the younger ones starting to pick it up, but that doesn't mean they'll all stick to it. Also , I'm not talking about engineering as that's not the same thing. Sorry, but it's not.

Depends on the engineering. I fit chemical and lubrication systems which absolutely isn't complicated and any plumber/sparky can do it. Building is absolutely a form of engineering and the apprenticeships for building trades bricky/sparky/plumbing are the same as a welder/fitter.

 

[Reiser99]

I'm not going to get into any arguments. But a couple of other issues with building homes is that many aren't affordable for the people who need them. Also a lot of the land that could be built on is 'privately' owned and the owners won't actually develop it until it's 'profitable'. The government should change the law to force the situation, but they won't.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

I have a field opposite our house, which is used for grazing horses, that was bought by a developer years ago and they wanted to over 200 houses but the local opposition has been massive. Enough to vote out 3 Tory councillors in a Tory stronghold area, to be replaced by 3 Lib Dem councillors who also opposed development.

They went all the way to the High court but lose but won't give up and come back and proposed a reduced amount of houses to build.

They'll no doubt keep trying until they win. But we end up having a nightmare in terms of traffic and amenities. The main road is also prone to flooding when it rains heavily due to drainage problems and that is apparently down to Thames water who have been out a couple of times. But so far it's been fairly dry but i doubt it will hold when it does rain again.

 

[Weldit]

They'll never build enough. I can see them going like Japan etc and building more smaller apartments so people at least have their own space. I actually don't think that's a bad way to do it either as not everyone wants/needs a big house. They will desperately need to bring laws in however to stop landlords etc running away with the costs. It's already a joke in this country for that.

I would not be surprised if a lot of these students accommodations end up being reused for this.

 

[Weldit]

Depends on the engineering. I fit chemical and lubrication systems which absolutely isn't complicated and any plumber/sparky can do it. Building is absolutely a form of engineering and the apprenticeships for building trades bricky/sparky/plumbing are the same as a welder/fitter.

Oh, it's a form, but it completely depends where you go with it. Many go into office never to be seen again.

 

[McTallshort]

They'll never build enough. I can see them going like Japan etc and building more smaller apartments so people at least have their own space. I actually don't think that's a bad way to do it either as not everyone wants/needs a big house. They will desperately need to bring laws in however to stop landlords etc running away with the costs. It's already a joke in this country for that.

I would not be surprised if a lot of these students accommodations end up being reused for this.

There should be more made of emptying high streets. Instead of boarding up shops they should perhaps turn them into apartments. That will hopefully bring footfall to local cafes etc