They never bother, though, to look "behind the curtain" to understand that a half century of inflation brought on by the Fed has created the conditions that make foreign goods cheaper than our own. They can't be bothered to think for a minute that our government's deficit spending has created the market for the debt that foreigners snap up because the US has always been the haven for investment.
No. Instead, they want to punish their own countrymen by imposing taxes (tariffs) on foreign purchases further impoverishing Americans instead of doing the dirty work of insisting that the government clean up its act and stop debasing our money.
I don't get it.
protectionazis = Americans
Not jingoism; patriotism.
Some of us have a deeper notion of the nation state being more than just the security guard at the flea market.
It’s unfair trade because I can’t buy a new Ford pickup.
I know it’s the fault of the Japanese that I can’t buy one because if there were no foreign products there would be fine Union folks giving their fellow Americans free pickup trucks and billing the government. So, it’s not fair to be fair when you could be taken care of instead.
(does this really need a “sarc”?)
I like free trade. It reduces the ability of my friends and family to make a living, and then they are more dependent on the government. This makes them more likely to vote for Democrats in the future. The other good thing is it has removed their self worth, and removed hope for the future from their children, helping them down the path of crime. And of course, there is that Free Trade sends billions to China, so they can build their future as the new world military power.
What if the mercantilists are the Japanese, as they most assuredly are?
The ChiComs don't get it either, why America is so stupid as to transfer entire technologies to them just to save penny's on the dollar. But guys like you, embolden them. Penny wise pound foolish, that is the free traders way.
Taxes, epa, unions, osha, americans with disabilities act, lawyers...foreign manufacturers don’t deal with these handicaps. Therefore it’s not fair to import foreign products. There’s nothing fair about it.
btw, lexuses are made in america. So this isn’t a very good example.
I know the point of the article,, but... $70,000!!!!!!! for a CAR!!!! you must be crazy.......the most I ever paid for transportation was $11,000 for a new F150 in 1995, of which I am still driving..........I bought it for the 300 cu in engine,,, solid cast iron, etc......last year made.....
Push for 1,000% tariffs on everything foreign period. Nothing produced or grown in any foreign country. See how the American quality of life is then. Or, you could work to reduce America roadblock to competiveness. Your choice.
All freedoms have associated responsibility. If the guy wants to indulge a little, more power to him. But taxpayers are on the hook for the pension plans of the union guys here who didn't get that work. There is also the SS ponzi scheme that is already in the red this year. Then there is the problem of his fellow American taxpayers who are on the hook for all of that. When they are thrown out of work because he decides to buy end-use goods abroad, then the remaining taxpayers have to pay more.
Conversely, anyone who proposes government-run trade restrictions needs to realize that the U.S. production market needs free trade to be competitive, we simply cannot make all the inputs the cheapest, but we can add the most value in many cases. So cutting off trade in some political manner is a very bad idea.
Bottom line is that personal responsibility can't be legislated, hopefully the author will figure out himself someday.
I normally respect Walter Williams. but he is clueless on this subject
Fair for Walter, he has a job, he needs to be in the unemployment line to get some perspective. When you buy a car made in America you are helping american families pay their bills. Henry Ford doubled his workers wages so they could afford to buy the cars they made, which had exponential positive effects throughout the US economy.
Williams and too many in this thread really don’t understand the concept of Fair Trade.
Fair Trade means nations competing on even terms in producing materials. Pick any product - a flat screen TV or a blue dress.
An American company must first pay a minimum wage, and then for competitive labor a fair and living wage. It must follow all environmental and safety laws. It must pay all local, state, and federal taxes. It can not hire child labor. It has to fund unemployment insurance, workman’s compensation insurance, product liability insurance,worker health insurance, and Social Security taxes.
The Chinese competitor he must deal with pays his workers a pittance, and cans them when they complain or get sick. It dumps all its waste chemicals and waters out in the back or in a nearby river, without treatment. Peasant children work in his factories. The state will handle what little unemployment, healthcare or retiremnt benefits are available. He doesn’t worry about lawsuits - they don’t exist in China. The government subsidizes his exports while penalizing an American competitor’s imports with taxes and unacceptable legal restraints.
Williams and his followers ahve two choices:
1. Make all import products be manufactured to the same wage, environmental, and social insurance standards that our government forces on the American producer.
2. Assess tariffs equal to the difference in the cost of production due to the burdens placed on American producers.
It is hypocritical for these elites to demand we do everything here to save the environment, the social contract, and the health and well being of the American workers, but ignore the slave-holding foreign polluters who are supplying the American market place.
Even some Mafia dons had issues with making profits based on the drug addiction proclivities of people.