Summary
Russian state TV hosts are celebrating Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, claiming they could “dismantle America.”
Figures like Vladimir Solovyov praised the nominees, including Kash Patel for FBI director and Tulsi Gabbard for intelligence, as a “radical dream team” likely to undermine U.S. institutions.
Critics in the U.S. warn that Trump’s selections, including conspiracy theorists and controversial figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth, signal plans to weaken federal agencies.
Well, he ain’t wrong.
I feel bad for Americans, but a selfish part of me kind of hopes that the dollar crashes so that electronics become cheaper here in Brazil.
In fact, he’s absolutely right. And the chums will still blame the gays and trans people.
As a gringo who had to buy electronics in Brazil a few times, I’m afraid that dollar exchange rate isn’t the main problem - Brazilian import taxes and tariffs are.
I spent the better part of 2009 through 2011 trying to get spare parts into the country, and customs was always the biggest hurdle. And sourcing things locally was ridiculously expensive.
So to anyone still not convinced that tariffs are a bad idea: Try buying consumer electronics in Brazil.
LOS MUCHACHOS
He’s going to be able to walk right by upper-story windows without any fear.
Nah, dont feel bad for us. He won the popular vote. Regaurdless of what people in this thread say, we as a country chose this. The democrats who arent stopping this, the
mentally disabled(sorry, thats disrespectful to the mentally disabled) centrists, and the republicans are all equally responsible.It was a difference of 1.6%. A lot of people didn’t vote. It’s not like everyone voted for this, only the magabrained did.
Yeah, a lot of people voted for this. Thats whats i said.
How much are electronics in Brazil?
Really it’s going to depend on the specific product and where/how it’s produced, but of course as with anywhere else a lot of our stuff is imported from other countries, so since the Brazilian Real lost a lot of its value relative to other currencies in the past few years things have gotten a lot more expensive.
This is obviously not an exact or thorough comparison, but just to give you an idea: The minimum and median wages are, respectively (assuming the usual 40h/week of work):
U.S. - $1.160 | $4.949
Brazil - R$1.412 ($231,86) | R$3.123 ($512,82)
I could be completely wrong but the cheapest USB-3 phone charger I saw on Amazon was $5, so 0.43% of the minimum wage and 0.1% of the median wage, while in Brazil’s main online shop (Mercado Livre) the cheapest one I saw was R$32, or 2.3% of the minimum wage and 1% of the median wage, which seems about right considering the dollar is about R$6 right now.
A new Nintendo Switch Lite costs $200, while here in Brazil the cheapest one I could find was R$1400, so almost the entirety of our minimum wage.
Point is, most things, and especially electronics, are expensive as heck nowadays.
Thanks for the explanation!
That’s fair man. My founder is on a green card. He has said his (asian) color brown isn’t the same problem as the folks to our south have, and he selfishly knows it’s better for him, so he’s keeping his nose down, not upstanding. I get it. He’s got a lot to lose. You gotta do you and get the oxygen mask on.
Your founder? What does this mean? I’m curious.
Sorry, dude at work. Mentioned title to point out he’s running a company (and employing other people, and paying US wages in less industrialized places), so stakes are high in his life in general, exacerbating the challenges of processing one’s feelings about this all.