BalpeenHammer

Is this a joke?

These people are clowns so everything they do and say is a joke.

National and ACT have always been about destroying unions and the working class. Everything they do has that goal at the end of the chain.

It doesn't matter. Law doesn't matter. Ethics don't matter. Morals don't matter.

What matters is that the billboards are up, the media covered it, it spread on social media and half the country now believes the greens will abolish the police if they are in government.

It's hilarious watching people pretend these people care about anything other than hurting the greens and labour. They will break any law and cross any line to do it.

They will say it's satire. The NACT voters will believe they are only saying that to get away with it and hurt the left.

This was done by the sensible sentencing trust so it's third party expenditures. It doesn't count as campaigning. You are going to see a lot more of this stuff. Farmers groups, business groups, churches etc are going to be going all out to make sure NACT gets another term to continue to push for deregulation, dismantling of environmental protections, privatisation, cutting of services, and pushing a more christian fundamentalist agenda on to the public.

In this case the advertisement is an out and out lie. Apparently you can buy a billboard to push any lie you want in the political sphere.

I suspect this is just the beginning. When the election rolls around the various right wing groups will spend hundreds of thousands buying billboards and advertising on social media peddling all kinds of lies just like they did in the US.

They know that the right wing voters can't and won't distinguish between a lie and the truth and don't even care about the truth. They just want to be told how evil greens and labour are and NACT are certainly willing and able to tell them what they want to hear.

Mark my words, there will be our versions of pizzagate and adrenochrome blood harvesting conspiracy theories being spread around.

We are so fucked. We have a gullible population that trusts what they read in the media, we have a media unwilling to challenge the the lies, we have deep pockets who want tax cuts and privatisation and we have parties willing to give them everything they want in exchange for golden parachutes after they leave parliament.

My point is not that there is no where else to buy the products. My point is that there is no point in the government stepping in and deciding that nz businesses now have to pay extra.

I already explained the point. The point is to discourage them from buying from the USA because the USA is trying to discourage it's consumers from buying products from New Zealand. Machines from other countries are likely to be cheaper as well so it might even be cheaper.

The US tariffs dont hurt us much.

It hurts us some, they can also change things on a whim when they decide to hurt us more.

Nzers have more than enough reasons to boycott and avoid the us. I dont think it is a good idea for the government to make the decision for us.

Trade policy is set by the government. If this government just rolls over and takes it then we are going to be forever fucked whenever the US decides to use us as a whipping boy.

It was refreshing to hear somebody who isn't sucking up to MAGA in this country.

Why do I have to be specific, the point stands on its own.

I don't think so. Your point is that there is no way to get competing machines or parts from other places in the world. This is a dubious claim and you'd need to provide at least an example or two.

Why should our businesses pay an increased price for American good?

To discourage them from buying from the USA. The reason for that is because the USA is trying to discourage it's consumers from buying products from New Zealand with the specific intent of hurting New Zealand which means you and me.

Our 3 biggest imports from the US are agricultural machinery, ICT goods and healthcare goods. So I’d say those are hard and costly to replace especially with vendor lock in.

First of all I doubt these machines are actually manufactured in the USA. If they are not we can just import them from the countries where they are manufactured. Both ICT goods (whatever that means) and healthcare goods are widely available from countless countries around the world including the EU, China, India, and Canada.

I wish you could be a little more specific. What kind of machinery? Which businesses will be harmed? Are there really no alternatives to these machines?

The US has stabbed us in the back and even without tariffs I can bet that NZ businesses will be looking for non US suppliers where possible.

tariffs would add some incentive for them to do this.

When you say "aligning with regimes accused of human rights abuses" you mean the USA, UK, Israel, France, Germany etc right?

What are we getting from the USA that we can't get anywhere else?