I suppose historians will settle on a specific term, probably ‘maga’ (though I’d prefer ‘magat’), to apply to the members of this instance of fascism.

That’s what these kind of people carry as walking around money.

You’re the one who said Nazi (in your previous post). I use the term fascist which is more accurate for this regime/movement and its supporters, though I don’t doubt that many in its ranks would also fall under and identify with the specific term Nazi.

The Tesla brand is associated with fascists for a reason–Elon Musk is one, and perhaps even the most powerful one. The Tesla brand should become anathema for that reason. It should be a mark of shame to drive one now, no matter what it was a sign of before. Don’t tell me to feel as sorry for Tesla owners as for the people whose lives are being ruined by Musk and the trump regime as a whole. If they could afford to buy one then, they can afford to get rid of it and get something else. Yes, it’s too bad it turned out that way for them, but the blame for that belongs to Musk, not us.

What’s really too bad people being abducted and sent to prison camps. People who have served in the government being fired for no valid reason and the detrimental effects that will have on the rest of us and our society. The destruction of government functionality so it can be taken over and its resources divvied up between fascist oligarchs.

Yes, I’m more worried about the people who will lose their medical care as Medicaid is defunded by Congress, those who may miss payments or even completely lose their main source of income after thousands of Social Security workers were fired and the agency becomes more dysfunctional, those who are suffering or have already died because USAID was suddenly shut down, etc etc etc than I am about someone’s Tesla resale value or those who work for ICE in any capacity.

I’m sure when you get picked up and detained without due process all you’ll need to do is use reason and logic with them and everything will be fine. /s

I’m also sure that your first reaction to that was to snort in disbelief that such a thing ever would or could happen to you, even though it’s already happening to other US citizens. But sure, if you can fit in as a favored type of citizen, maybe it won’t happen to you (that’s the important thing, right?).

It’s time to stop clinging to the belief that things are normal in the United States. Logic, reason, and rule of law no longer apply. Eventually we’ll all have to choose a side: the easy one going along with the fascists, or the hard and probably dangerous one against them–yes, even your strawman single mother who is “very concerned” but needs that ICE job, has to choose.

I won’t say this is the craziest thing that ever happened, just the first thing I thought of. I once had a short-term contract job at a place that didn’t have a sink in the office so to make coffee you had to get water from a drinking fountain in the hallway and dump it out/wash it in a bathroom sink–which was already gross enough. Also, whoever took the last cup was supposed to make the next pot–but the boss would never make a new pot, just wait until someone else did.

One day after I’d been there a couple months, one of the employees went around telling everyone “Stop drinking the coffee unless you want to drink <boss>'s backwash!” She’d seen the boss walk up and grab the coffee pot, dump his leftover cold coffee out of his coffee cup into the pot, pour himself a new cup and put the pot back. He was too lazy to go dump his cup out in the sink or fountain.

And that was the end of making coffee in that office. People would buy it elsewhere or bring a thermos.

Oh! And another thing that happened when I worked there was someone killed themselves by jumping off the roof. Funny how I remembered the coffee thing first.

I didn’t express any views about it, just asked for help understanding how the process worked and got an insult as the first reply. No, they don’t have to answer and yes, they can just post a disparaging reply if they want, but I am also allowed to respond and defend myself as well.

Several people, including you in your edit, provided helpful information, and I thank all those who posted helpful replies.

Such a profound lack of understanding what tariffs are and who pays them…

They were the ass. Nothing in my post indicated I don’t understand what they are and who pays them. I was asking about how the process works in practice.

(edit: replying to new stuff added to post):

I don’t think the manpower exists to look at every package and charge accordingly.

This was part of my confusion as to how the tariffs were getting calculated and charged. One person said they were getting calculated when being cleared through customs, which would mean that every shipment would have to be processed and calculated at that time, or at least verified if it had already been pre-calculated.

So that certainly seems to justify the de minimus exceptions, since the cost of dealing with small-value shipments would be higher than what would be gained from the tariffs on them. Now they’ve removed that exception for China–I suppose they figure the huge increase in tariff rates will make up for that cost.

If you’re unable to answer the questions, just don’t respond.

So how does this all work in practice? You order something from China and it will be sent over on a ship. At what point do you pay for the item, what steps does it go through to get to you, and how/when do you pay the tariff to the government?

Say you pay the Chinese company $100 online for your order and they ship it. So it arrives on US soil. Who picks it up there, the USPS? Who determines what the tariff amount should be and collects it? Some shipping company or port authority inspector or what? At what point does someone deliver it to you and collect the tariff from you?