Quote from: Coffeecup on Today at 11:50:32 AMFortunately I am not affected by this stuff. Free League is in Sweden and Modiphius is seated in the UK

So why even comment?

Quote from: HappyDaze on Today at 10:41:33 AM

Quote from: blackstone on Today at 10:39:23 AMand it's only in Florida.

So many terrible things get dismissed for being "only in Florida" until they spread...

Goggle "Florida man" and hope to God it doesn't.

Quote from: Coffeecup on Today at 11:50:32 AM

QuoteThe vast majority of economists agree that full employment is an unemployment rate of 5% or less. 4.1% is well within full employment parameters, therefore there is no employment shortage.

Dude, that number means that only a few people are looking for a job. Quite often these are people who are unemployable.

Unemployable for a number of reasons. We have welfare, social security, and other safety nets for those unfortunate enough to where they physically can't work, but we can't help everybody. As much as the Democrats have tried, they haven't made the US a welfare state yet.

Quote from: Coffeecup on Today at 11:50:32 AM

QuoteAlso, the majority of teens who work that the bill would effect work in places like grocery stores and entertainment (Disneyworld, Universal Studios, etc). We're not talking about places like meat packing or manufacturing. The percentage of people who fall within that age bracket aren't that significant either. So, you're about a specific job category (grocery stores) for a specific age group (14-17). The number is insignificant and it's only in Florida. It's not like that parents can't just tell their kids not to work their. They can quit or decline to sign the waiver to allow them to work extended hours.

You know that some families cannot afford not to sign such waivers or these kids to quit. And while this may only affect a specific kind of job it is a clear sign that there is a labour shortage.

Again, it has nothing to do with a labor shortage. There is none. You can argue that until you're blue in the face, but the fact remains the 4.1% you cited is consider full employment by every economist on the planet.

Secondly, yes there are some families that are in that situation, and we have welfare and other systems to help compensate. The number of families that fall into that specific category you mentioned are small.

Sorry for the derailment folks.

Quote from: Brad on Today at 01:22:09 PMSo now they're complaining about RPG book printing? All my POD stuff from DTRPG and Amazon comes from Coppell, TX (Dallas) and La Vergne, TN (Nashville). There's literally no need to get anything printed in China except because you are unwilling to fork over the upfront cost of a decent sized printrun for full bleed. That's it. They're fucking game books; this hobby is so inundated with metric tons of "style over substance" that I welcome more indie designers producing good quality stuff and the large corps going out of business because they can't afford to get their coffee table non-playable bullshit produced anymore.


Whatever.

POD quality is ass, though. Don't need coffee table books, but smyth-sewn binding is objectively better than a POD glue job. Whether it's a 90-page book, or especially if it's larger, it's going to last longer. I'd argue that this is MORE important for books that are gonna get used, rather than sitting on a shelf and looking pretty.

Quote from: JanDevries on Today at 02:28:25 PMPOD quality is ass, though. Don't need coffee table books, but smyth-sewn binding is objectively better than a POD glue job. Whether it's a 90-page book, or especially if it's larger, it's going to last longer. I'd argue that this is MORE important for books that are gonna get used, rather than sitting on a shelf and looking pretty.

No disagreement about POD vs. sewn bindings. However: https://mixam.com/

I am sure more places will start offering that if the demand is there.

Quote from: blackstone on Today at 02:15:07 PM

Quote from: Coffeecup on Today at 11:50:32 AM

QuoteThe vast majority of economists agree that full employment is an unemployment rate of 5% or less. 4.1% is well within full employment parameters, therefore there is no employment shortage.

Dude, that number means that only a few people are looking for a job. Quite often these are people who are unemployable.

Unemployable for a number of reasons. We have welfare, social security, and other safety nets for those unfortunate enough to where they physically can't work, but we can't help everybody. As much as the Democrats have tried, they haven't made the US a welfare state yet.

In this thread alone the dude has defended/minimized China's use of slave labor and distorted the Florida labor law changes (then expanded to smear "red states").  You know exactly what you are dealing with.

One thing I can say, these leftists definitely have a stranglehold on reality...

Quote from: Brad on Today at 02:42:19 PM

Quote from: JanDevries on Today at 02:28:25 PMPOD quality is ass, though. Don't need coffee table books, but smyth-sewn binding is objectively better than a POD glue job. Whether it's a 90-page book, or especially if it's larger, it's going to last longer. I'd argue that this is MORE important for books that are gonna get used, rather than sitting on a shelf and looking pretty.

No disagreement about POD vs. sewn bindings. However: https://mixam.com/

I am sure more places will start offering that if the demand is there.

That link says the price for a smyth-sewn, 48 page hardback is $268.50.

Edit: and that's digest sized.

Quote from: Coffeecup on Today at 09:04:58 AMI also think that this will be an opportunity for some. Of course the customers will have to pay.
I doubt that there will be zero cost increases.

Last time when Trump introduced tariffs for steel and aluminium (and I am aware that Biden didn't take them back) the prices for e.g. washing machines Made in SA went up.
..

Biden didn't take them back for good reason; because the steel tariffs were good for the USA:

Quote"Trump implemented a 25% tariff on steel imports in March 2018. His reasoning was related to national security, along with a desire to get US steel mills operating at 80% capacity or higher.
Naturally, the critics of tariffs would argue that steel prices should have increased by 25% or more post-tariff, but even though steel prices increased through the summer (steel prices had already been skyrocketing pre-tariff too) and then began falling substantially. US steel prices eventually fell to price levels much lower than pre-tariff prices.

Why did the price of US steel decrease? Domestic manufacturing of steel increased by nearly 10% for the 2 years post-tariffs. Production rose to 86.6 million metric tons in 2018 and 87.8 million metric tons in 2019, before cratering in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Production bounced back in 2021, as American steel mills produced 85.8 million metric tons of raw steel that year.

This means the 2018 tariffs worked — US manufacturing of steel increased and US steel prices dropped lower.

So now you have a concrete example from the 2018 tariffs that show the critics were wrong. The tariffs led to lower prices, increased American manufacturing, more government revenue, and the creation of American jobs. Also, US inflation (CPI) fell from 2.1% in January 2018 to 1.6% in January 2019, so the tariffs didn't lead to higher inflation either.

The USA will win any tariff war because it has been losing the free trade war for decades. America has literally nothing to lose in this regard."

For table-top gaming:

If domestic manufacturers scale up to meet demand we will see a similar effect. Prices will come down so that games can be made in the US for a reasonable price.

This is an empirical good for the USA. The more jobs that come back into our economy, the better for us in the long run.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on April 03, 2025, 03:42:46 PMThey'll just push the costs onto the customers. The only way that we'll bring manufacturing jobs back to the USA is if the government directly funds their creation and bans international competition. Make a new department of government called the Department of Manufacturing, who will build new factories across the USA and re-employ all those former coal miners.

New factories promptly filled with robots and AI.

As for SJG. Oh boo hoo hoo! You profited off the misery of others and now come crying because you can't profit off it. 

On the one hand, it'll definitely make us more self-sufficient. On the other hand, it will probably come at a costs-based price both now and in the future.

We don't have the same level of cheap labor or built infrastructure locally, and even if the jobs come back in potential, and even if there is a reallocation of capital (away from what were previously the preferred investments thereof) our labor pool is still limited. So there's a limit to how much labor we can throw into a given industry even if it becomes suddenly more viable locally in absolutely terms. Also, we don't have as many people willing to work those jobs, especially for a given pricing.

Hopefully even moreso limited than previously once illegal immigrants are no longer being hired locally to work in bad conditions.

Why am I rooting for a labor shortage? Supply and demand, we'll see wages rise for those who don't own their own businesses, or who work lower positions. Also, we'll hopefully see an uptick in local business-starting opportunities.

TLDR: Tariffs will cause prices to go up. This will drive up cost of living. But on the flipside, a labor shortage driven by the tariffs could also hike up labor's wages, which could compensate for the everyman, though overall economic growth will likely still slow a bit since there's only so much labor and capital to go around. But this will still likely rebalance power away from the economic elites and back towards the everyman and aspiring business owner.


(I'm not actually trained in economics, so take all of this with a pile of salt.)

I guess in counterpoint to myself, if the other countries retaliate heavily that would drive down demand for us goods abroad, which could make the labor shortage locally less a thing. Let's hope the negotiations go well on that, I guess.

Quote from: KindaMeh on Today at 05:11:33 PMI guess in counterpoint to myself, if the other countries retaliate heavily that would drive down demand for us goods abroad, which could make the labor shortage locally less a thing. Let's hope the negotiations go well on that, I guess.

Veitnam already caved and said they'd lower their tariffs on all US goods to zero and Trump has said their reciprocal tariff rate will likewise be dropped to zero.

The reciprocal tariffs were always a negotiation tactic. Give it a few weeks for the foreign government economists to run the numbers and all but the most Globalist regimes will make a deal.

Quote from: jeff37923 on Today at 12:59:11 PM

Quote from: Coffeecup on Today at 11:50:32 AM@Jeff
Assuming that everything is great and that there will be no additional costs and better quality - why were people like Chris outprized by China?

Ok, I am out of this discussion. We will see how it goes. In my opinion you will have to face raised prices and lower quality (at least in the beginning).
Fortunately I am not affected by this stuff. Free League is in Sweden and Modiphius is seated in the UK

OK, which Chris are you talking about? You've lost me and I won't be able to answer your question accurately until I know which Chris.

Also, you may be feeling smug too soon. Free League may be in Sweden and Modiphius may be in the UK, but that doesn't mean that their books are printed in those countries.

Weird to quote myself, but a quick Google search shows that Free League prints their books in Latvia and Lithuania while Modiphus prints their books in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, and the UK (apparently to keep shipping costs down). Take it with a grain of salt (Google).

Quote from: JanDevries on Today at 03:38:09 PM

Quote from: Brad on Today at 02:42:19 PM

Quote from: JanDevries on Today at 02:28:25 PMPOD quality is ass, though. Don't need coffee table books, but smyth-sewn binding is objectively better than a POD glue job. Whether it's a 90-page book, or especially if it's larger, it's going to last longer. I'd argue that this is MORE important for books that are gonna get used, rather than sitting on a shelf and looking pretty.

No disagreement about POD vs. sewn bindings. However: https://mixam.com/

I am sure more places will start offering that if the demand is there.

That link says the price for a smyth-sewn, 48 page hardback is $268.50.

Edit: and that's digest sized.

I didn't say it was cheap! But if there is enough demand I bet the price will drop dramatically. What's amazing to me is the US used to do all this stuff and the prices were maybe a bit higher but wasn't fucking Chinese junk. When I was a kid anything made in China was seen as a joke for poors. Now it's ubiquitous and yet the quality is exactly what it's always been. Can you imagine buying a refrigerator, for instance, that just...works? And maybe you replace the freon after 20 years, otherwise you die before it does. That used to be the norm.