Notices by Minoru Saba (minorusaba@toad.social), page 2

The "geniuses" at the White House are trying to put a lipstick on this pig by posting this equation for the tariff supposedly charged by other countries, with impressive-looking Greek symbols.

As many have pointed out, the ϵ * φ factor is 1, since they chose ε = 4 and φ = 0.25; hence, the formula reduces to simply the trade deficit divided by imports, which has no relationship with the actual tariff rates charged by the country on U.S. goods.

https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/reciprocal-tariff-calculations
9/n

Note that the reciprocal tariff regime essentially means that foreign countries should pay the U.S. half of our trade deficit.

E.g., if they export $10b to us and we only export $2b to them, they (our importers really) should pay us half the difference =$4b. It's not half their profits or half their tariffs, it simply half of their export minus import revenues.

Mind-boggling and infantile.

Markets this morning are on track to wipe out nearly $2T from US stocks.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tariffs-set-wipe-nearly-120038363.html
10/n

Storage area. We will be putting a lot of stuff in here. (I am not moving, I am helping a friend) #moving

@DrEvanGowan Can understand politicians indulging in sound bites, but as Rogé Karma writes in The Atlantic [Since US tariffs were based on a country's trade surplus vs USA] "there is no clear or obvious path that countries could take to get those tariffs removed even if they wanted to..." and "The only way you will get a tariff reprieve is by groveling at Trump’s feet" which is a strange thing for LDP's Takaichi, CDP's Noda, and DPFP's Tamaki to wish upon #Japan's PM
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/trump-tariff-theory-reality/682279/

@DrEvanGowan Can understand politicians reacting to media pressure for sound bites, but as Rogé Karma writes in The Atlantic [Since US tariffs were based on a country's trade surplus vs USA] "there is no clear or obvious path that countries could take to get those tariffs removed even if they wanted to..." and "The only way you will get a tariff reprieve is by groveling at Trump’s feet" which is a strange thing for LDP's Takaichi, CDP's Noda, and DPFP's Tamaki to wish upon #Japan's PM.

Touching on Trump's "America First" stance, Takaichi said "上等だ。日本もジャパンファーストで、製造業を国内にとどめ置く (Fine. Japan should also go "Japan First" and keep manufacturing industries in Japan)"

🔸Can just see collective face-palming at Keidanren and METI🙄
#populism

"高市氏、関税巡り「指揮見えず」政府対応を批判"
[Sanae] Takaichi [who had vied with Ishiba for head of LDP, thus PM post] criticized Japanese govt's response to US tariffs, saying ”leadership was absent” " and that Trade Minister Yoji Muto should have gone to US and talked to US Cabinet members before the tariff announcement.

🔸Hints of sour grapes, echoes knee-jerk opposition party reactions and lacking even a concept of a plan... apart from rabble-rousing😓
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/9120993effd85ba9bd1ac67efc6a983763a4eb7d
#JapanesePolitics #Japan

"Not a mild illness: As measles cases rise in Japan, expert warns of misinformation [spread by social media]"
"It frequently causes complications, with pneumonia and encephalitis killing 1 in 1,000 patients"
"...in the era when few were vaccinated...nearly 100 kids died [each year in #Japan]"
"WHO stated that the disease infected more people in Europe and Central Asia in 2024 than any time since 1997, cautioning that the risk of a global pandemic is rising"
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250402/p2a/00m/0li/016000c
#measles

@janhoglund
Canada, Mexico and Japan are amongst 12 member nations of CPTPP, the successor to TPP which was aborted when USA under Trump1 withdrew.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_and_Progressive_Agreement_for_Trans-Pacific_Partnership
There seems to have been invitations to EU joining CPTPP as well, though not sure how that's moving.
#CPTPP #Canada #Mexico #Japan

News show presenter in #Japan explained how US raising tariffs would fuel inflation in the US, but since Japan imports animal feed from the US, Japan may be facing higher egg prices.
OTOH the presenter didn't say USD might fall wrt Yen as US economy crashes.
But then sources of US animal feed may disappear altogether🤷♂️
Time for Japan to develop domestic & alternative sources? i.e. strength/resilience through #diversity.

Paul Krugman making the point here that the tariffs Trump says other countries are imposing on the US are entirely fabricated. Does anyone know how he calculated these? Or if anyone checked his math? https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-goes-crazy-on-trade

This morning.
Wife: 2,000 Nobel prize winners wrote a protest letter to US President

Me: Huh? Didn't know that there were that many (...alive even)

▪️Turned out to be "1,900 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine" signing "an open letter warning Americans about the “danger” of the Trump administration’s attacks on science"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/31/scientists-letter-trump-administration

Not confident it'll have more effect on US public than "COVID is not over" warnings😓

Whatever it is those incompetent clowns are doing over there in 'murica, I got multiple contacts who weren't on Signal popping up there in the last day or two.

It's good advertising for the service at least!

#Signal

DOGE, the U.S. government reform project, reflects America's brash, fast-paced approach to change in contrast to Japan's slower, more deliberate cultural norms that prioritize consensus and careful decision-making. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/04/02/japan/the-doge-solution-japan/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #japan #doge #elonmusk #donaldtrump

"...independent investigative committee set up by Fuji Television Network Inc. and its parent company Fuji Media Holdings Inc. has released a troubling report [that] fiercely condemns the broadcaster for a lack of human rights awareness and ingrained tolerance of harassment"
"The report strongly emphasized, ”This represents a structural issue pervasive throughout the media and entertainment industries” "
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250402/p2a/00m/0op/005000c
🔸Not limited to media. Tip of iceberg.
#FujiTelevision #Japan

"...independent investigative committee set up by Fuji Television Network Inc. and its parent company Fuji Media Holdings Inc. has released a troubling report [that] fiercely condemns the broadcaster for a lack of human rights awareness and ingrained tolerance of harassment"
"The report strongly emphasized, ”This represents a structural issue pervasive throughout the media and entertainment industries” "
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250402/p2a/00m/0op/005000c
🔸Not limited to media. Tip of iceberg.
#FujiTelevision #Japan

One of the mates claimed they could harbor furl the main course alone, a task that usually is assigned four or even eight hands. What an absolute unit!

@mattblaze @ct_bergstrom I legit thought it was some misunderstanding of quantum computing at first, but then the title says "AI computing" and I got nothing.

(And to be clear, quantum computing also does not work like that)

Didn't pay much attention to Liszt's Liebestraum No.3 as elevator music or BGM for TV commercials, but attempting to play it on the piano for the first time prompted thoughts about the size of Liszt's hands.
Turns out they weren't that huge, but that Liszt was agile & dexterous.
https://www.cmuse.org/franz-liszt-hands/
So, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step (and a thousand expletives deleted)

"Swiss govt initially intercepted German aircraft in 1940... but caved to German pressure and stopped intercepting their aircraft"
"On several occasions, Allied bombing raids hit targets in Switzerland resulting in fatalities"
"While Allied forces explained [that they were] errors,... #Switzerland [suspected] that some neutrality violations were intended to [press it] to end its economic cooperation with Nazi Germany"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_incidents_in_Switzerland_in_World_War_II
🔸Musing about #Japan ditching USA & going neutral🤔