Trump's tariff wars...long post.

[tegs07]

Generally I am sceptical about politicians but I have to say Trump is exceeding expectations.

 

Foreign policy.FUBAR

Domestic policy. FUBAR

Economic Policy. FUBAR

Global Security. FUBAR

 

Top marks.

Edited Wednesday at 09:22 by tegs07

[Si600]

2 hours ago, tegs07 said:

the usa is some way off being a dictatorship despite the fantasy of the donald. hopefully he and musk will soon be tied up in legal proceedings and people will wake up to the fact that rather than tackling the cost of living they are getting poorer by the day.

I knew there was something I wanted to link to.  It's the Guraniad again though, who knew bassists were a bunch of lefties 🤣

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/16/small-business-owners-trump-era

[tegs07]

4 minutes ago, Si600 said:

I knew there was something I wanted to link to.  It's the Guraniad again though, who knew bassists were a bunch of lefties 🤣

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/16/small-business-owners-trump-era

Contradicted by:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/us-small-business-confidence-extends-decline-in-february/ar-AA1AGaoV

[SteveXFR]

I've seen lots of talk about boycotting American goods but no one has mentioned boycotting American musical instruments. Is that a thing? 

Are Fender & Gibson etc MAGA supporters?

[Buddster]

2 hours ago, binky_bass said:

Reading some extracts of the Rick Reilly book 'Commander In Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump' really gives you a good flavour of the quite unbelievable personality disorder the man has. 

It's a great book. It's a window into the desperate soul of a man who has to cheat at a game known for it's sportsmanship. 

[prowla]

2 hours ago, tegs07 said:

I see the peace talks went well then. Yes we will have a ceasefire if you tie up the bloke we mugged and put a blind fold on him. Oh and sure we won’t bomb any infrastructure (during this phone call).

 

Mugged off?

I'm just wondering when the penny will drop with Trump.

[Buddster]

You think he's smart enough to recognise it and humble enough to admit it? 

[BigRedX]

2 hours ago, Si600 said:

who knew bassists were a bunch of lefties 🤣

 

Until I discovered music forums on the internet I'd never met a musician, or anyone else creative for that matter, who wasn't left of centre. 

[SteveXFR]

I know some musicians are definitely on the right, Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, Michael Graves, Nickelback and Disturbed are all quite open about it.

It destroyed Michael Graves career when he came out as a proud boy. Didn't go down well in the very liberal punk community.

[Lozz196]

I have to admit that as I advance in years my political thoughts are moving leftwards, not so much party wise but to the thoughts and care for others. Has been somewhat surprising as previously my leaning were more to the right (though not far right hatred mongerism I should add).

[Obrienp]

2 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

I've seen lots of talk about boycotting American goods but no one has mentioned boycotting American musical instruments. Is that a thing? 

Are Fender & Gibson etc MAGA supporters?

I think there was a bit of a discussion about this several pages back. There is a guy who works for Martin on the forum (apologies age makes my memory poor, so can’t remember his handle). He says everyone there is very anti-Trump and what he is up to.
 

Martin is still a family owned firm of course and doesn’t sound like one that should suffer a boycott. Somehow I feel Fender and Gibson are much more corporate, so likely to sit on the fence, if not actively currying favour from the orange idiot. That said, Fender in particular, could suffer from Trump putting tariffs on Mexican and Chinese produced goods. Personally, I could survive without ever buying any more of either company’s products, so would not feel any pain from boycotting them. There are plenty of FLOs and GLOs around from non-US manufacturers, some of which are a lot better than the originals (Maruszczyk for instance). Other people will have different views, of course and I wouldn’t want to punish them, if they are actively opposing Trump.

Edited Wednesday at 12:53 by Obrienp

[Russ]

4 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

I think there was a bit of a discussion about this several pages back. There is a guy who works for Martin on the forum (apologies age makes my memory poor, so can’t remember his handle). He says everyone there is very anti-Trump and what he is up to.
 

Martin is still a family owned firm of course and doesn’t sound like one that should suffer a boycott. Somehow I feel Fender and Gibson are much more corporate, so likely to sit on the fence, if not actively currying favour from the orange idiot. That said, Fender in particular, could suffer from Trump putting tariffs on Mexican and Chinese produced goods. Personally, I could survive without ever buying any more of either company’s products, so would not feel any pain from boycotting them. There are plenty of FLOs and GLOs around from non-US manufacturers, some of which are a lot better than the originals (Maruszczyk for instance). Other people will have different views, of course and I wouldn’t want to punish them, if they are actively opposing Trump.

That'll be me.  

 

From what is being whispered in the C-suite here, international sales are down significantly over the past couple of months. Part of that is just the whole post-Christmas thing and people having less money to spend, there was a small bump in interest around NAMM when some new products were announced, and now it's fallen off again. A lot of that is down to people outside the US deciding to buy local, or, at least, non-US alternatives. They are planning on putting some additional weight behind their international dealers, with better pricing, etc, and possibly adjusting the logistics pipeline so the Mexico-made instruments can go to their final destinations without having to pass through the US. 

 

I do wonder why they're missing out on some obvious international markets though - I pointed out that there's a big market for country music in Australia, and that there are no Martin dealers in Tamworth, NSW (the spiritual home of country music in Australia - think Aussie Nashville) - the nearest dealer is in Sydney, 300 miles away.  

 

Anecdotally, there's apparently been a big rise in people looking for Japanese Fenders, as opposed to US ones. Not only because they're just as good as US-made ones and are usually cheaper, but because people actively don't want to buy American. 

[Agent 00Soul]

2 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

I've seen lots of talk about boycotting American goods but no one has mentioned boycotting American musical instruments. Is that a thing? 

Are Fender & Gibson etc MAGA supporters?

 Not exactly an answer to your question, but there was a post making the rounds on the social SA few weeks back allegedly from a Canadian for claims to be done with all US stuff, even jazz music from dead guys. I know he mentioned Cannonball Adderly and maybe Donald Byrd. Wasn’t Blue Note Records founder Alfred Lion a German guy fleeing the Nazis himself?

[cetera]

16 minutes ago, Russ said:

Anecdotally, there's apparently been a big rise in people looking for Japanese Fenders, as opposed to US ones. Not only because they're just as good as US-made ones and are usually cheaper, but because people actively don't want to buy American. 

 

I've never played a US made Fender that was better than a Japanese one and have saved a lot of money as a result.

 

[Buddster]

3 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

I've seen lots of talk about boycotting American goods but no one has mentioned boycotting American musical instruments. Is that a thing? 

Are Fender & Gibson etc MAGA supporters?

I haven't found many American products I buy to boycot yet. 

I am however holding my own small protest by not typing his name, and if I do, not gratifying it with a capital T. 

[prowla]

I carefully avoided buying some US products over the weekend, but then accidentally bought some Ben & Jerry's ice cream on Monday (that'll be my last tub of theirs).

[Wombat]

Tiny steps but I've restrung the Ibanez so the P can go back in the cupboard...

[chris_b]

I was thinking about a set of Rotosound flats instead of LaBella!!

[Russ]

7 minutes ago, prowla said:

I carefully avoided buying some US products over the weekend, but then accidentally bought some Ben & Jerry's ice cream on Monday (that'll be my last tub of theirs).

Ben & Jerry's are well known for their support for progressive causes, so I'd say absolutely buy it. Support American companies that are on the right side of history.

 

They're based in Vermont (where Bernie Sanders comes from) and there's a bit of a legal battle going on right now with their owners, Unilever, over the status of B&J's CEO. Unilever want him gone, but Unilever are divesting themselves of all their ice cream brands right now, so B&J's are pushing back. 

 

[martthebass]

I was concerned I'd feel guilty about my 2 EBMM basses........I've consoled myself by deciding that they are proudly built by Mexicans in the Democratic Republic of California.

[Obrienp]

36 minutes ago, Russ said:

That'll be me.  

Sorry mate! It’s a memory thing 🥴.

 

I always used to be embarrassed about my home country’s love of Country music, especially having moved to the UK young and being brought up here. It was decidedly uncool in the early 70s, with some notable exceptions (Flying Burrito Brothers, Albert Lee, etc). As I have aged, it has grown on me and I appreciate the skill levels of many country musicians. Apparently, country is having a huge surge in popularity over here in the UK now (not sure how they gauge that).

 

BTW, I think Martin would win a shoot out with Maton and Cole Clark. 

[Buddster]

1 hour ago, Russ said:

Ben & Jerry's are well known for their support for progressive causes, so I'd say absolutely buy it. Support American companies that are on the right side of history.

 

They're based in Vermont (where Bernie Sanders comes from) and there's a bit of a legal battle going on right now with their owners, Unilever, over the status of B&J's CEO. Unilever want him gone, but Unilever are divesting themselves of all their ice cream brands right now, so B&J's are pushing back. 

 

Well this is timely.. 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/19/ben-jerrys-unilever-ceo-ince-cream-david-stever

[LeftyJ]

1 hour ago, martthebass said:

I was concerned I'd feel guilty about my 2 EBMM basses........I've consoled myself by deciding that they are proudly built by Mexicans in the Democratic Republic of California.

 

LOL

 

I've got a few US-made guitars, but I bought all of them used and (in most cases) local to me, so the money has long been sent back to the US by someone else before me. I see no point in shame or guilt about owning items made by US-based companies. I won't enjoy using them any less 

[SteveXFR]

Well it's a good thing British ice cream is so much better.

[chris_b]

13 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

Well it's a good thing British ice cream is so much better.

 

IMO better still is Haagen Dazs and all of the ice cream makes I've bought in Italy. . . .