Ask Lemmy

Remember when COVID supply-chain difficulties made prices shoot up? And several years after that situation peaked prices STILL haven't gone back to normal? This gonna be like that except COMPLETELY unnecessary, brought to you entirely by MAGA. Remember it when the midterm elections come up in 2 years. That won't be difficult cuz it will still be going on and will be even worse.

Cargo container bookings are down 60%. 60%! Thats an incredible drop, and it really hasn't even started yet.

I'm ready for a "Hot Tariff Summer."

I've been on a no-purchase kick for a while now, even before HitlerPig was elected. We have become such a culture of consumerism that it had started to disgust me. I've embraced the "re-use, repair, re-sell, recycle" philosophy. If i need something, i try to buy it used.

I'm a guitarist, so I buy used guitars when i get a good deal, clean them up, fix them, and re-sell them at a small profit. It puts a beautiful instrument back into service, allows a poor or new musician an opportunity to have an inexpensive but quality instrument, and its music makes the world a slightly more beautiful place.

I even went on a much-needed diet (down 80 pounds so far, and still going), and decreasing my consumption, and spending less money with evil corporations, is a primary motivation.

So let the shelves be empty of cheap Chinese-made consumer goods, i don't need them, despite how much advertising and marketing tells me i do.

The silver lining is that if tariffs become a longterm thing, people will be forced to come around to my way of thinking, and when the tariffs finally end, corporations may be surprised to find that nobody needs their shiny crap any more.

Most aren't even aware that this is coming.

I'm far less worried about the imminent supply shock to the economy and far more worried about the long term damage to things like the FDA. We've decided we're going to try to go from ~10% vegetarian to closer to 80% or 100% because I simply don't trust that thing like meat and milk can stay safe to consume. I do have a solid amount of food in my house, and if shelves start emptying I think I'll be okay for a bit, but that'll pass. I can't really leave this country, so I need to be planning for longer term problems too.

I think shortages will be short-lived as companies and retailers just have to suck it up and pay more. People won't be able to buy as much stuff, so layoffs and a recession or depression are likely, but there's not much I can think of doing to prepare for that.

Curling up into the fetal position and crying in between protests.

Regardless of whether you think something catastrophic will happen tomorrow, next month, next year or never, it's a smart plan to have an emergency stash of shelf-stable food and drinking water to last 72 hours per person in your household for whatever natural or manmade disaster.

I have read testimonies from other people who have gone through economic/political instability and hardship. What i got out of it is that prepping will help for a week to a month maybe. But after that preppers just feel dumb after that as all that work didn't mean much long term.

The only thing that universally matters is having community ties. Unfortunately.... USA aren't very community friendly or even have the opportunity to create strong local bonds. As all community events are during work hours so only retired people part take in those.

I got a passport, and am wrapping up a degree in nursing.

It's not necessarily my intention to jump ship as soon as I graduate, but knowing that it's an option will be a great comfort.

Other than that, I stopped eating eggs.

Prepare? I'm poor lol

OP’s data shows the U.S. is stocking up tremendously in April, and then maintaining year-on-year patterns after that with a slight downturn that doesn’t even compensate for April’s glut.

I haven’t seen this data before but it shows the opposite of the shortage I was expecting.

Not yet here. Maybe a few more weeks?

Know your communities, people. That's the prep you need.

I feel awful for the genuinely good people living there. But to all of the people that either voted for this or sat back and did nothing to prevent this: I genuinely, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart hope that you fucking suffer like never before.

My company layed off the newest hire, and bought $50k of materials we need for R&D for the next year and a half. Im in the process of buying a duplex instead of a single family as a hedge, so my cost of living will be low enough to survive on my wife's part time salary if we can keep a renter. I will be planting food producing trees and bushes, and building garden boxes after close, and learning canning.

Not shortages yet, but steep price increases.

I have dropped some items from my normal grocery list because of ramping prices. Eggs and avocados were first, but it's expanding to other things now.

I have some hobby projects I want to do that would require buying new hardware; those prices are going up so that is on hold until further notice.

I work from home 95% of the time and do much of my evening/weekend socializing and hobbies within walking distance of my home, so I could drop my driving and fuel consumption very low.

I bought a $30 renter-friendly bidet kit so I am way less exposed to another toilet paper shortage.

I was going to buy a new car, probably a RAV4 internal hybrid, within the next 1-2 years but that is completely up in the air now. My current car is functional, just old, and I would continue driving it rather than swap to an inferior and dangerous American car like Tesla.

Buy less, budget conscientiously, wait to see what happens. Exactly what Trump doesn't want but which anyone with half a brain cell knew would happen.

at the moment not enough to cause panic buying or draw significant media attention. Select goods have begun to creep up in price, and freight industry reports show projected decreases in demand, but not really seeing it yet.

People don’t really know what to do, except save money, cut back on disposable spending, and watch carefully. Maybe buy some big things early like a laptop or EV now rather than wait for the shock. The big problems are a few weeks to months away.