Maji

Economist | Accountant | Tax Consultant
Helping SMEs stay compliant & profitable
Founder @ Makini Financial Consultants
Stoic | Tanzania 🇹🇿

[Business Insider Africa @BusInsiderSSA]

Congo🇨🇩 strikes diamond deal with Swiss firm to boost local diamond processing

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)🇨🇩, Africa's second-largest diamond producer, is taking another step toward capturing more value from its vast mineral wealth by shifting from simply exporting rough diamonds to processing and selling them locally.

[Maji @Zuberbushir]

@KennedyMmari Can also be due to unemployment rate.Graduates wetu can work gvt au private au hata wakawa wakulima kutokana na size ya arable land tuliyonayo. Wenzetu they cant do much partly bcause waliadopt capitalism mapema zaidi yetu where land imechukuliwa and automation is widely used.

[Maji @Zuberbushir]

@KennedyMmari Kigamboni ndo inafaa kwa hvo vtu.Mana kuna beach nyingi, karibu na city centre plus bado hapajabanana kama ilivo kinondoni nk

Kigamboni ingeoffer mambo mengi sna ya aina hyo hata kuwa na kitu kama Forodhani yetu ni rahis. So viwanda ICDs vipungue regardless of cost

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

Why would corporations like Amazon replace workers with robots? Pretty simple.

Robots don’t need a wage, health care, time off, sick leave, Social Security, Medicare or unemployment benefits.

Maybe it’s time to tax robots & use the revenue generated to help working families.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

Elon Musk: "AI and robots will replace all jobs. Working will be optional."

Bill Gates: "Humans won't be needed for most things."

I have a simple question.

Without jobs and income, how will people feed their families, get health care, or pay the rent?

[UF @UtdFaithfuls]

🚨🗣 - Ruben Amorim:

"I don't like a lot of tea. I love coffee, but sometimes I drink tea to don't drink coffee again.

"I saw some guys drinking tea with milk, that is something I quite don't understand." 😭🤣🤣

[Everything Now @FutureTeslaNow]

In Warren Buffett’s Fortune article from 2003, he outlines a metaphorical system called “Squanderville vs. Thriftville”, using it to explain his concerns about the long-term consequences of persistent U.S. trade deficits. Here’s how Buffett’s analysis maps to Trump’s tariff strategy—along with a critique from the perspective of sound economics:

⸻

1. The Problem: Trade Deficits and National Debt

Buffett’s view:
The U.S. is Squanderville—importing far more than it exports and financing this consumption by issuing IOUs to foreign nations (Thriftville). Buffett warns that this leads to foreign ownership of U.S. assets, long-term economic vulnerability, and declining national autonomy. He proposes a market-based tariff system, a kind of import certificate scheme that would cap imports at the level of exports, thereby forcing balance.

Trump’s approach:
Trump also frames the U.S. trade deficit as a problem, but rather than proposing a market-driven mechanism to align incentives, he imposes punitive tariffs on countries with whom the U.S. runs bilateral trade deficits, aiming to force them into submission or to “buy more American.”

Mapping:
•Both see the trade deficit as a national risk.
•Buffett favors incentive-based corrections through market mechanisms.
•Trump favors coercion and retaliation, using tariffs as leverage rather than balance tools.

⸻

2. Mechanism of Correction

Buffett’s solution:
Buffett recommends a system of Import Certificates (ICs)—exporters receive ICs equal to the value of their exports, and importers must buy ICs to import. This system internalizes the trade constraint and allows market prices to find equilibrium.

Trump’s method:
Trump’s tariff formula imposes fixed, politically determined taxes on imports from countries with large U.S. trade deficits. These tariffs are not linked to U.S. export levels or any incentive structure—they are penalties meant to shift behavior.

Mapping:
•Buffett proposes a self-regulating market mechanism that respects consumer choice and price signals.
•Trump’s method is top-down, punitive, and distortionary, attempting to manage trade through force.

⸻

3. Understanding the Cause

Buffett:
Buffett correctly attributes the trade deficit to macro-level imbalances: primarily under-saving in the U.S. economy. He argues that unless Americans save more, capital inflows from abroad will continue, necessitating trade deficits.

Trump:
Trump’s rhetoric assumes foreign bad behavior is the cause—unfair trade deals, currency manipulation, or protectionism. The tariffs are cast as retribution.

Mapping:
•Buffett’s diagnosis is structural and internal.
•Trump’s diagnosis is external and moralistic.
•Both want change, but only Buffett addresses root causes.

⸻

4. Long-Term Outcome

Buffett warns that without corrective action, the U.S. will find itself renting its own economic base, with future generations effectively paying tribute to foreign asset holders. He predicts slower growth, weakened sovereignty, and rising inequality.

Trump’s policy, if continued, would likely lead to retaliatory tariffs, higher consumer prices, supply chain disruptions, and potentially a trade war. His approach could slow down deficits, but only by shrinking trade overall, not rebalancing it.

Mapping:
•Buffett’s method aims to preserve economic vibrancy while rebalancing trade.
•Trump’s strategy risks stagnation and inefficiency, cloaked in populist optics.

⸻

Conclusion:

Buffett and Trump agree that persistent trade deficits are unsustainable. But where Buffett seeks to align incentives through market-compatible constraints, Trump uses blunt-force political tools that ignore underlying savings behavior and consumer choice.

If Trump’s tariffs are viewed as part of a persuasion campaign (as discussed earlier), then they may be effective in the short-term at reframing the narrative—but they remain far from the systemic, incentive-driven solution that Buffett envisioned.

[Manchester United Die Hard Fans @DieHardUtdFans]

Amad 😂😂😂

[Manchester United @ManUtd]

What a feeling ❤️

#MUFC || #MCIMUN

[Maji @Zuberbushir]

@JeebsTX @elonmusk Sound like Venus Project to me. May this happen in our lifetime 😊

[Maji @Zuberbushir]

@RkFast2 @JeebsTX @elonmusk They will have AI which will help to opt for best routes (no jams at all). So the long waiting wont be there

[Jeff Klumpp @jKlumppster]

@elonmusk “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
― Isaac Asimov

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

The Blindsight device from Neuralink will enable even those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see.

Provided the visual cortex is intact, it will even enable those who have been blind from birth to see for the first time.

To set expectations correctly, the vision will be at first be low resolution, like Atari graphics, but eventually it has the potential be better than natural vision and enable you to see in infrared, ultraviolet or even radar wavelengths, like Geordi La Forge.

Much appreciated, @US_FDA!

[Essential Mastery @EssentialMastry]

This

[Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman]

Why is Failure important? 🧠

• Failure is an incredible learning experience.
• It teaches you humility and growth.
• It is the first step to understanding.
• It makes you realize the importance of success.
• It gives you a sense of direction.
• It gets rid of Fear.

[Maji @Zuberbushir]

@MkulimaKante @HKigwangalla Location matters, gharàma za maisha ya tabora au mkoani sio sawa na dar. Average transport cost ya dar per day yaweza kuwa hata mara 5 ya hyo ya mkoani. Ujenzi pia wa mkoan ni rahisi kuanzia tu kiwanja,vibali mpaka fundi mwenyewe. Ukipata ajira mkoani usiache kwenda

[Maji @Zuberbushir]

@HKigwangalla Pia uligusia ulikua unapata posho mkuu jambo ambalo entry jobs za wengihamna allowances hzo achilia mbali bima na nssf hakuna.

So kiuhalisia kipindi hicho kipato chako kilikua zaidi ya 400k ingekua nchi za dunia ya 1 paye calculator ingesoma parefu comrade.

[Maji @Zuberbushir]

@HKigwangalla Shukrani kwanza kwa darasa. Lakin ningependa kusema 400k kusevu 50% haiwezekan esp kwa dar tea una familia. Nime take note kwako uliposema mke alikua na saloon na ww ulikua nazo nne na mapato ya hzo yalikua ni 30k sna hakika kwa moja au zote.

[Maji @Zuberbushir]

@Imaniluvanga @CRDBBankPlc Nadhan bank charges ni kama usd 60s hivi

[Maji @Zuberbushir]

@nyonijbs @KennedyMmari Hahaaa kabsa Sir . Long time 🙏🏿