Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2019/10/09

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Subject: [Leica] As if Leica lenses were not expensive enough.......
From: hlritter at bex.net (Howard L Ritter Jr)
Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2019 14:18:17 -0400
References: <896644065.3466856.1570555480413.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <896644065.3466856.1570555480413@mail.yahoo.com> <1f6afe76-65f4-f473-bb41-d3c496121d7e@cox.net> <935892134.3860255.1570643821745@mail.yahoo.com>

There is no rationale for this, just impulsive presidential pique and 
petulancy, as is wont to happen when the policymaker is reactive rather than 
proactive, gut-driven rather than rational, fixated on form, appearances, 
and pomp. I?d also bet that there is no ?team?.

The above is intended as a more or less objective response to a question. 
Please, no counter-responses. I?m not trying to trigger a flame war or 
introduce politics into the LUG.

?howard

> On Oct 9, 2019, at 1:57 PM, Frank Filippone via LUG <lug at 
> leica-users.org> wrote:
> 
> Tariffs are typically used and defended as a way to protect US made goods 
> (jobs), by making foreign goods more expensive.The last production Optical 
> house I know of in the US is Century Precision Optics.  Owned by Schneider 
> ( German ) they typically make optics for the movie industry and sometimes 
> military.  Their entire production is small by Leica standards.
> As usual with tariff wars and specifically this one, the point of this 
> tariff is lost on me..... What are we protecting?  There is no real 
> consumer or pro optics maker in the US left.
> It does help / protect Japanese and CHINESE optical houses........ who are 
> the leading  optical houses by $$$ or quantity in the World/US.
> The other purpose of Tariffs is to financially hurt another country.  In 
> this case, Germany. Our biggest European trade partner ( $54B Germany / 
> $283B EU).  If Leica ( 2018 sales of 417M Euros or about $500M)  
> completely disappeared tomorrow, as well as any and all other German 
> Optical companies like Schneider  and Rodenstock (same size as Leica), 
> would the economy of Germany ( currently at a bit under $4Trillion) even 
> notice?
> 
> What do we want from Germany anyway???  or, Why is this strategy against 
> Germany a good idea?  What is the point?  Apparently this is to get US 
> Automotive advantages.  Reduce the number of imported German cars. Make 
> more US cars.
> Why not up a tariff on the cars themselves?  Fight fire with fire.
> 
> Now you know why I was an Engineer and not a diplomat or government 
> bureaucrat.Linear thinking, that's me.
> Brilliant strategy, that's the team making up these tariffs.
> 
> I realize that you may not agree with me, that this tariff serves a 
> purpose, or with MY political point of view.... 
> 
> November 5, 2019 is coming.  VOTE! 
> 
> Frank FilipponeRed735i at verizon.net
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ken Carney via LUG <lug at leica-users.org>
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Cc: Ken Carney <kcarney1 at cox.net>
> Sent: Wed, Oct 9, 2019 7:06 am
> Subject: Re: [Leica] As if Leica lenses were not expensive enough.......
> 
> On the bright side, German machetes and tweezers were exempted. Some 
> pretty high-level thinking here.
> 
> Ken
> 
> On 10/8/2019 12:24 PM, Frank Filippone via LUG wrote:
>>   Trump's new 25% US tax on European products includes cameras and lenses 
>> and could significantly increase the price of Leica gear in the US. Here 
>> are the details:
>> Read more: 
>> https://leicarumors.com/2019/10/07/trumps-new-25-us-tax-on-european-products-includes-cameras-and-lenses-coming-from-germany-will-leica-gear-get-more-expensive-in-the-us.aspx/#ixzz61mgtdDW3
>>   
>> Frank FilipponeRed735i at verizon.net
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> _______________________________________________
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Replies: Reply from red735i at verizon.net (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] As if Leica lenses were not expensive enough.......)
In reply to: Message from red735i at verizon.net (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] As if Leica lenses were not expensive enough.......)
Message from kcarney1 at cox.net (Ken Carney) ([Leica] As if Leica lenses were not expensive enough.......)
Message from red735i at verizon.net (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] As if Leica lenses were not expensive enough.......)