Posted on 04/25/2025 7:57:53 AM PDT by Angelino97
For people who live in warm climates but would like to own some expensive cold weather gear for those rare occasions, or for hunting or outdoor winter work, whenever you drive through a cold weather state, hit the thrift stores.
We live in Northern Virginia, in one of the several richest counties in the US here. Our Salvation Army store always has a great selection of high-end items.
I was wondering if I still had some old Beany Babies I could sell that my ex bought when that was a thing. LOL
I looked at a camp chair today. It’s a relatively expensive one that folds into a cloth tube. I’ve had it for many years and really like it. A rivet broke and I was going to find the right screw to fix it when I noticed that one of the plastic structural =pieces also broke. Pretty much unrepairable.
Bummer.
I love shopping at thrift shops.
From the article: “The Yale University Budget Lab last week estimated short-term consumer price increases of 65% for clothes and 87% for leather goods, noting U.S. tariffs “disproportionately affect” those goods.”
30% of US apparel comes from China. 70% from elsewhere. Countries like Vietnam and India are today lined up to do trade deals with the US anticipating they can capture most of the 30% of US apparel business sourced in China. Even Central American countries such as El Salvador and Honduras have apparel factories which can be expanded to supply apparel to the US, thereby saving the cost of transportation from Asia.
Any price gouging in apparel will be temporary. Consumers have alternatives as to big retailers like Walmart including second hand stores and hundreds of thousands of online retailers. No doubt Walmart’s buyers are telling Chinese factories they expect the factory to fully absorb any tariffs. At the same time buyers are talking to factories in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other nations about moving production. Trump is setting in motion the wheels of the capitalist system to create conditions for the transfer of production from China to other nations. As factories close down, social unrest will follow in China. In addition as its economy loses global market share, its government will find it more difficult to fund its military build up and investment in high tech industries.
The eggheads at Yale need to read Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” and toss out their static economic models. The global economy is dynamic and competitive. When a factory, retailer, brand, or nation offers outrageous pricing, someone with creativity and drive finds a way to produce the same thing, or better at a lower price.
Trump is forcing China into the same situation US manufacturers experienced in the 1990’s and early 2000’s when three US presidents, multinational corporations, and Wall Street investment bankers colluded to gut US manufacturing and give it to China. By levying stiff tariffs on China, overnight Trump has made China the high cost producer in many industries. Other nations will strike low tariff deals with the US and then reap the benefits of Chinese production moving to their factories and driving their economic growth. What we are seeing is the US finally fighting back in a 30 year trade war with China in which successive administrations facilitated the destruction of the greatest industrial supply chains on the planet and the destruction of the middle class.
To the degree there are any short term cost increases on Chinese goods, the long term economic gain will far exceed the short term pain. For those who remember the great migration of US factories to Asia, it happened very fast. If Trump can get US companies and Congress to back his tariff policies for at least 2 years, China will be crippled and the American consumer will benefit from multiple highly competitive and diverse supply chains.
When change occurs, those who squeal loudest are those who benefit the most from the old way of doing things. They lack the creativity and energy to adapt and prosper.
Yea i had a really nice lounge chair for my deck at the time.
really nice...except for that cheap chinese rivet snapping in two then the Cheap Chinese rope that stitched the canvas material to the frame desintegrating.
One could have some wonderful intricate expensive machine and all it takes is that one tiny little Chinese made gear or whatever buried inside to send that entire machine to the landfill.
it’s crazy..
Was. My focus was on world theater and international threats. I specifically concentrated on dual use technology transfers.
Some of my writing is still out there, archived. I see it being cited in term papers, particularly my series on the constitution or anything pro-life. My one piece against gun control hit multiple platforms and was the most popular article of the year (beating out several other popular conservative voices in total hit count).
I wrote for several on-line outlets but when the kids came along I stepped back.
Thanks Angelino97!
PINGING a few buddies!
I read about a lady who bought a gown for pennies, and it turned out to be a vintage Valentino (sp?)gown worth a small fortune!
I think she put it on EBay)
Yay!
I found the article:
From The TCD (The Cool Down)
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-home/valentino-gown-thrift-store-discount/
I have plenty of socks to sell that are more holey than righteous.
What a gorgeous dress and an exciting find!
I got about ten years of frequent use out of it so I’m not upset.
when I lost 100 lbs two yrs ago, I took a lot of good clothes (some new with tags) to our Christian ministry store.
Then I looked for clothes that fit me.
Just bought a sport coat and 2 dress shirts from one.
Mine lasted around a year or so.
Replaced the rivet with a screw, i suppose i could have replaced the rope but the Green colored material was already fading and most likely gonna get moldy.
On the surface it was a pretty sweet looking comfortable reclining chair.
Typical of the Chinese... POS
Fifteen years ago I had to move for a job. The family couldn’t move for months.
My only chair was a ten dollar camp chair from Walmart. I also took it camping. On one weekend while camping two separate trees fell on my chair. It survived.
Well that’s weird... An article from a day or two ago said all the pawn shops will be screwed by the tariffs because it means people will cut spending everywhere..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.