r/morningsomewhere 3d ago

Episode 2025.04.03: Turnip Tariff

https://morningsomewhere.com/2025/04/03/2025-04-03-turnip-tariff/

Burnie and Ashley discuss the Switch 2, Big Emoji, GenZ’s parent sex problem, guys vs houseplants, reciprocal tariffs, stagflation, male living spaces, hot judgement, Turnip Island, tanuki, and being a real gamer in the eyes of Nintendo.

17 Upvotes

43 comments sorted by

49

u/SXN_0121 3d ago

The "reciprocal" tariff numbers given by the White House largely aren't even based on a country's existing tariffs on the US, they're just trying to make it seem that way. The administration is largely doing the math based on the existing trade deficit with that country.

Even nations that we have a trade surplus with are just getting slapped with a blanket 10%

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u/CDM_Miller 3d ago

Came here to post this. People need to understand these aren't actually reciprocal tariffs. The white house is just saying that because it sounds good. People will think "hey we are being hit by tariffs so it's reasonable to set some of our own tariffs in response", but that's not what's happening here.

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u/-Plantibodies- 3d ago edited 3d ago

It's one of the most embarrassing misunderstandings of economics the Executive branch has ever demonstrated.

I also think that, respectfully, Burnie and Ashley should not repeat claims like that from this administration. You can't take anything they say as truthful. It's simply not correct what the administration is saying regarding tariffs other countries levy on American goods.

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u/MrBurnieBurns First 10k - Runner Duck 3d ago

I get what you are saying, but even I got sick of myself saying "according to the White House" in this discussion and I did go out of my way to illustrate with the Canadian milk tariff that their interpration was clearly biased. And I even re-edited the podcast prior to release at 5:00AM when new info and analysis was coming out. It's the downside to talking about developing events but I think we do a good job with it.

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u/-Plantibodies- 3d ago

Totally and I was glad that you noted that and did cast some doubt on the claims as the segment went on. And I agree with the last sentence wholeheartedly. Appreciate yeah.

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u/RubberBootsInMotion 3d ago

I don't think you understand. They aren't applying tariffs based on anything related to economics - at least not in any meaningful use of the word.

The whole point is to use them as a political tool to gain power over individual corporations and industries. To wit - unless the manufacturer/importer of a given item pledges loyalty to the administration, they will face impossible to overcome tariffs. If they do bend the knee, they will get some sort of 'special exemption' that allows them to continue as normal.

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u/-Plantibodies- 3d ago edited 3d ago

I don't think you're actually arguing with what I'm saying just FYI.

But yes, suggesting that the trade deficit divided by imports can be described as a "Tariff charged to the U.S." is a complete misunderstanding of economics, and that's what Trump claimed with his chart as justification for the tariffs he announced yesterday.

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u/3ricG 3d ago

Emoji are actually decided by the Unicode consortium. They list out all the emoji and some variants on their site - https://unicode.org/emoji/charts/full-emoji-list.html

There's also an official process for submitting new emojis, anyone can do it! You can view submission guidelines here - https://unicode.org/emoji/proposals.html

You can also view previousand pending proposals - https://unicode.org/emoji/charts/emoji-proposals.html

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u/omarizzle 3d ago

Came here looking for the UC. Thanks for doing the hard work! Hahah

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u/hairylightbulb 3d ago

There's a great episode of the 99% Invisible podcast about this - https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/person-lotus-position/

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u/awm22 2d ago

Extra knowledge about Unicode (ok v old professional interest…)

  1. Windows NT introduced Unicode into its OS in 1993.

  2. Unifying character languages (eg Korean Chinese traditional and simplified, kanji and kana) was a “piece of piss” in comparison with the European languages….

  3. Awesome book orthogonally related to this, about “how do we rationalise our bazillion characters for the modern age” Kingdom of Characters Book by Jing tsu

  4. their solution is as hilarious as it is practical…

  5. Unicode (at least) doubles the size of all files representing each character as two bytes (not one - like old-school ascii)

  6. Making stuff Unicode work is a core part of internationalisation (way too long word - so usually written i18n!), right now the internet name service (domain names) is undergoing. Huge effort to do i18n.

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u/3ricG 1d ago

I'll have to check this out!

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u/awm22 2d ago

Let me tell you stories about early days of the consortium…..

Who knew the Swedish were so damn enthusiastic about å

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u/MrazzleDazzle34 First 10k 3d ago

The Gen Z becoming more prudish is so weird to me. I'm on the older side of Gen Z and anecdotally I know groups of people who hate sex and nudity in media, whereas I also know groups that are like... Hyper sexual.

My girlfriend can't stand watching any scenes where people are even making out. She'll blush and get all flustered and say that it's totally unnecessary.

But then I go online and there's swaths of Gen Z men absolutely fiending over Onlyfans models or the titty streamers, dumping their whole savings into giving these people money. And now there seems to be so many people who post online solely to feed into their Onlyfans or whatever other subscription based porn site they work on.

Hell, a few years ago a guy I knew in high school privately messaged me on snapchat with a message saying "hey, my fiance just opened up an Onlyfans and we're trying to grow the account, here's a link for 20% off your first month" absolute insanity

1

u/The_Makster First 10k 1d ago

Hell, a few years ago a guy I knew in high school privately messaged me on snapchat with a message saying "hey, my fiance just opened up an Onlyfans and we're trying to grow the account, here's a link for 20% off your first month" absolute insanity

This is wild but also oddly supportive of a partner to reach out to anyone to grow their business (even if it's sex work of your betrothed)

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u/evilcheerio Heisty Type 3d ago

Does the switch count as a Japanese good or a Chinese good? I know Nintendo is a Japanese company, but most likely it is going to manufactured in China by foxconn or someone similar and the Nvidia chip is going to manufactured by TSMC.

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u/BurvinGoel2 3d ago

That’s the funny part about blanket tariffs. Since so many countries can be involved in the creation of a single product, it isn’t unusual for a product to be hit by multiple tariffs. So to answer your question, it will most likely fall under both Chinese and Japanese tariffs. If there are economists in the sub that know more please correct me!

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u/manukanawai 3d ago

Not an economist but used to work the government side of importing goods, it should be whichever country where a product was 'substantially transformed' and obtained its 'essential character' becomes the country of origin, and it's corresponding tariff rate. Just putting it together doesn't count, or minor finishing, or packaging, or repairs. 

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u/BurvinGoel2 2d ago

That makes so much sense! Since final construction is only being done in one outside nation, we are just importing the finished product. Where I got confused was the idea of importing multiple different parts from multiple nations, for those to all be assembled in the US to create a final product. In that situation will we see stacking tariffs? Or am I just completely making shit up lol

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u/manukanawai 2d ago edited 2d ago

If you are importing anything to the US, those parts will be classified according to the giant Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). It's a very specific, procedural system the US uses to determine what a product is and it's tariff rate, every single thing in the world can be classified under this system of 10 numerical digits. So upon import those individual parts would have their own HTS codes (because even if they are 'parts', that is the 'finished' product bring imported) and their own tariff rates, so long story short an item made in the US from things from different countries will have differing tariff rates on each piece depending on what it is and what it's country of origin is. I couldn't call it stacking, but it will be cumulative. 

Classifying goods is complicated. There are ten teams totalling about 1000 people nationwide on the government side specializing in those specific goods: (agriculture and prepared products), (apparel, footwear, and textiles), (automotive and aerospace), base metals, (consumer products and mass merchandising), electronics, (industrial and manufacturing materials), machinery, (petroleum, natural gas, and minerals), and (pharmaceuticals, medical, and chemicals). 

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u/BurvinGoel2 2d ago

Genuinely thank you for such an in-depth response. Makes it much easier to understand

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u/ShilohCyan 3d ago edited 3d ago

1995 Millennial here. just ordered taco bell from doordash last night despite being broke. burnie how dare you be absolutely correct 

idk the switch 2 reveal seemed kinda tone deaf to me, focusing that much time on voice chat, which Xbox accomplished in 2003, and 1080p, which Sony accomplished in 2007? and charging money for a system tutorial. Not to mention a port of RRRRRIIIIIDGE RACER that might be $80. 

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u/shutts67 Penis Doodler 3d ago

I'm too cheap to doordash. I also know that it would be a dam bursting if I ever decide to do it. I'll be tipsy on a Friday or Saturday night and be so upset with myself for not planning ahead with snacks

1

u/MilhouseJr First 10k - Coffee Mule 3d ago

Absolutely not a chance in hell that a Ridge Racer port would be $80. I know the worry about Mario Kart World's pricing has gotten a lot of Nintendo fans on edge, but c'mon, Ridge Racer is never reaching that price.

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u/bobcatbart 3d ago

Audio seemed weird today. Every now and again I could hear some reverb or echo. Definitely happening around the 20 minute mark.

Probably something to do with the equipment available in Austin vs. Scotland.

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u/shutts67 Penis Doodler 3d ago

My guess was the room echoing or being picked up on both mics

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u/stephmuffin First 10k - Heisty Type 3d ago

Thank you for saying something because it was subtle enough that I was questioning if I was crazy! It seemed like maybe Ashley’s mic was picking up Burnie or something to me, idk.

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u/Jahoesaphat 3d ago

“Excuse me, I was told I would get some ass” has to be the best one liner of the podcast so far

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u/The_Makster First 10k 1d ago

If Pixar ever make a film about sentient furniture - I know someone from that studio listens to this podcast if they include a dumping chair joke being ashamed that their purpose is not being fulfilled

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u/KebabGud 3d ago

In regards to Nintendos anti-scalping measures, it's been bad for new tech for a while now, and we are fresh off of both Nvidia and AMD launching new GPUs that have been heavily targeted by scalpers.

Amazon has also started fighting scalpers with locking the new GPUs (and probably the new Switch too) behind an Amazon prime subscription.

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u/objectivemediocre 3d ago

God, I remember trying to get a 30 Series RTX GPU in 2020, it was basically impossible and scalpers were selling them for 2x-3x msrp.

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u/RT_Ben 3d ago

Burnie's connection between the Satanic Panic and Steam Tunnels probably comes from the disappearance of "James Dallas Egbert III" which became a huge thing tied to D&D and the satanic panic and blew up in the news cycle. From the Wiki article under "D&D controversies":

As the role-playing game hobby began to grow, it was connected in 1979 of the disappearance of 16-year-old James Dallas Egbert III. Egbert attempted suicide in the utility tunnels beneath the campus of Michigan State University, then went missing for a month. His parents hired private investigator William Dear to find him. Dear discovered that Egbert played Dungeons & Dragons and also heard rumors that students went into the steam tunnels to play a live action version of the game. Dear knew little about the game, and speculated to the press that Egbert had gotten lost in the steam tunnels during one such session. The press largely reported the story as fact, which served as the kernel of a persistent rumor regarding such "steam tunnel incidents".

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u/MythicSuns 3d ago

Fun fact: the Tanuki in Japanese mythology are known for their shapeshifting abilities. This is sort of referenced in Hayao Miyazaki's Pom Poko which centres around the lives of a clan of shapeshifting raccoons.

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u/Bossmoss599 3d ago

Is that the one where the Tanuki fly and attack with their humongous ballsacks?

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u/MythicSuns 3d ago

yup, that's the one.

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u/CalvinP_ First 10k 3d ago

I just started listening to F**K Face from the start this morning while I waited for today’s episode to drop. They talk about Animal Crossing Turnips in their first episode back in 2020. Super weird coincidence!

Thanks for making my morning 30 minutes better!

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u/JackPringle 3d ago

Canadian here and I am not an expert.

I just Sell PVC pipe and Pipe accessories, for my understanding of the Canadian Tarrifs from the states.

If Canada has no source of a product there will be no tariff. For example we have no PVC/HDPE resin source in Canada and most of ours is shipped from Texas. So there is no tarrifs on it. Sources are from multiple salesmen in the Waterworks industry.(Not to say this hasn't changed/won't change)

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u/ActualWhiterabbit Macaque 3d ago

If I had the time, I would create an edited conversation about Burnie buying a sex robot using his coffee money savings and Ashley will watch and give out advice.

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u/Papasimmons Not A Financial Advisor 3d ago edited 3d ago

I also haven't bought a plant, I've received them as a presents/burdens from work but yeah never actually bothered to buy one

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u/RFelixFinch First 10k - Heisty Type 3d ago

I've only ever bought plants that I can eat eventually, ha. I legitimately do not see the point of a plant that you can't.

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u/The_Makster First 10k 1d ago

Surprised no-one has mentioned r/malelivingspace here. The one-stop place to find the most deranged living spaces/man-caves in the world and yet there are people (including me) that think there is nothing wrong with it

-1

u/itisnear 3d ago

This is going to be unpopular, but do you think it’s time to vary the morning somewhere yell at the start? It can hurt my sensitive gen Z ears