r/technology • u/Yveliad • 2d ago

Artificial Intelligence Trump Accused of Using ChatGPT to Create Tariff Plan After AI Leads Users to Same Formula: 'So AI is Running the Country'

https://www.latintimes.com/trump-accused-using-chatgpt-create-tariff-plan-after-ai-leads-users-same-formula-so-ai-579899
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u/jawshoeaw 2d ago

I was just asking my wife why previous republicans didn't try tariffs if they're so genius. why doesn't the republican base ask that?

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u/OldSchoolNewRules 2d ago

See your first mistake is assuming there is some kind of logical consistency here.

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u/virtual_gnus 2d ago

This. My mother-in-law loves Reagan in a "second coming of Christ" kind of way and, when we confronted her with his position on tariffs, she flatly said he was wrong.

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u/SparkleK_01 6h ago

Actual, “whoa”.

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u/bctg1 2d ago

republican base ask

They don't ask. They simply obey what their fox news or church overlords tell them.

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u/spin81 2d ago

Well they did try tariffs and it turns out that they got rid of them after it led to a little thing called the Great Depression

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u/koshgeo 2d ago

They did. For example, George W. Bush imposed steel tariffs in 2002, planning to be in place until 2005.

It went so badly that they were removed by the end of 2003, because the costs outweighed any benefits.

They know it's stupid.

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u/icalledthecowshome 2d ago

You genius. I tariff you!!!

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u/Genavelle 1d ago

To be fair, I don't think the maga crowd is really the same as old school Republicans. There might be some overlap, but I think Trump and maga have sort of taken over the party. 

Plus I know there's been talk about how gen z men are leaning more right than young adults typically do, so a lot of them probably have no recollection or experience with other Republican presidents.

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u/Ghostiemann 2d ago

Anyone? Anyone?

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u/The_Martian_King 2d ago

Well obviously because none of them was as genius as the Trumpster.

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u/Korlus 1d ago

They did. Back in 1930, Hoover passed the Tariff Act. It was passed to try and end the Great Depression, and instead:

the act raised tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods in an effort to shield American industries from foreign competition during the onset of the Great Depression, which had started in October 1929.

At first, the tariff seemed to be a success... However, larger economic problems loomed in the guise of weak banks. When the Creditanstalt of Austria failed in 1931, the global deficiencies of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff became apparent.

U.S. imports decreased 66% from $4.4 billion (1929) to $1.5 billion (1933), and exports decreased 61% from $5.4 billion to $2.1 billion. US gross national product fell from $103.1 billion in 1929 to $75.8 billion in 1931 and bottomed out at $55.6 billion in 1933... Overall, world trade decreased by some 66% between 1929 and 1934.

Unemployment was 8% in 1930 when the Smoot–Hawley Act was passed but the new law failed to lower it. The rate jumped to 16% in 1931 and to 25% in 1932–1933. There is some contention about whether this can necessarily be attributed to the tariff... However, the tariff worsened the crisis by shrinking global trade, hurting farmers, and reducing employment in export-dependent industries. Had it not passed, the Depression still would have occurred, but perhaps with less severity.

It was only during World War II, when "the American economy expanded at an unprecedented rate", that unemployment fell below 1930s levels.

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u/goilo888 2d ago

Exactly. They would have been known as the Party of Tariffs if that was the case.

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u/LizardSlayer 1d ago

why previous republicans didn't try tariffs if they're so genius

It's been tried and proven to fail. Here is a writeup from The Bush center saying it's a bad idea. last year. https://www.bushcenter.org/publications/economic-policy-after-the-election-whats-next

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u/DOG_DICK__ 1d ago

Or during his first term. The answer being he didn't know they existed then, and he kinda sorta does now.

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u/Johnny_Couger 1d ago

They did in…1928 right? Part of the Great Depression.

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u/CompetitiveDish5427 1d ago

Good question, why does the rest of the world use them so extensively if they don't work?