Posted on 06/11/2015 7:53:32 AM PDT by xzins
Here’s a very good history of tariffs in America. High tariffs didn’t make American wealthy.
American Tariffs and Wars From the Revolution to the Depression
https://mises.org/library/american-tariffs-and-wars-revolution-depression
James Brovard does a great job. High tariffs for instance, make sugar too expensive and push candy manufacturers overseas.
http://sugarreform.org/why-reform/costs-of-the-sugar-program/cost-to-manufacturers/
The entire site is a treasure trove of data and info, if you’re interested in learning why tariffs are so bad.
If you're going to monkey around with Milton Friedman's ideas, why not give him credit?
I explained why it is so much to China's advantage to manipulate its currency in post #16. That is how business works, particularly manufacturing, and it China benefits greatly as long as they are allowed to manipulate prices and control access to their home market.
Yes thanks for quoting the South Korea figures I could not remember them except it was really bad. Same Deal with NAFTA I think we are $10 billion in the hole to Mexico. The weakest link always prospers in these trade deals to the detriment of the strongest. At this rate our country will be Greece in 10 years or less.
Is it just me or has anybody else noticed that the US govt aided and abetted by the GOP is ramping up the One World govt at a really fast pace all of a sudden?
Couple all this with Jade Helm and you could get really paranoid.
Instead, of paying for a $100 drug in Mexico, you will see that drug being sold in Mexico at American price of $30,000.
This 'free trade' bill prevents a free market realization of a competitive price.
So in effect, Obama's nationalized Affordable Care Act will become the Global Affordable Care Act, with the same lies and misinformation being told worldwide just like when Obamacare was passed, with the added bonus of broke American taxpayers presumably subsidizing third world countries for their healthcare costs.
Every tariff reduction should include a corresponding reduction in internal regulation/taxes to match the corresponding trade country or require that the corresponding country increase their regulation/taxes to match - otherwise it is not “free” trade.
I didn’t hear that from Milton Friedman. You’re muddying the waters. Free trade benefits the US and Americans despite what the Chinese did.
This should be held up until a job impact study has been completed. If this is faked, the deal should have tariffs to reverse any job imbalance.
I've heard Friedman, Walter Williams and others say it, and many repeat it. They say, "You have a trade deficit with your grocer", as if that is some profound explanation of something.
You're just repeating old shop worn cliches about trade and providing no rationale. I explained to you how China or any trading partner (all of the ones in Asia, actually) benefit by manipulated price to make their goods cheaper to export to the US, and keeping their markets largely closed to the US, and keeping domestic prices high, that is a formula for success. It's the Asian model for economic growth followed by Japan, China, South Korea and others, and more who plan to follow it with the TPP.
And how has it ever been shown that any savings from producing in cheap labor nations benefits American consumers? Nike shoes? Much of the saving from lower manufacturing costs go to advertising, bonuses for executives, to shareholders, etc. No proof that it's passed on to consumers.
Are automobiles lower priced than years ago? Does Apple pass savings on to consumers? Is clothing cheaper than years ago? There was a story years ago that Nike paid Michael Jordan more per year than all its Asian employees. That's what happens to much of the savings from cheap labor.
And all these wonderful benefits and savings from free trade can be found in our annual $1 trillion dollars spent on assorted means tested poverty programs. And there are far from sufficient jobs to move people off those programs.
If the Bill was so good why is it secret?
The problem with breaking into Asian markets is cultural, not economic.
The grocer example is simply a mental experiment with a completely lopsided trade. Your purchases from your grocer are free trade. Capisce?
He buys nothing from you. Now imagine that your grocer is China. It’s exactly the same. Even if China is your enemy, as long as the American side of the trade is free (without coercion or force) for Americans.
Now you might want to set up export controls on certain military hardware, but that’s a different subject.
I agree. Every nation is on the race to devalue. The problem in the US is the dollar is on a tear and won’t be stopped. In any case, the whole protectionist game is one that never ends. Country A enacts legislation to give them a political advantage on trade in certain goods, so Country B retaliates in in other goods. It’s a fool game IMVHO.
The one exception for me is China, whom I believe really do cheat at the behest of our own government. Their goods are imported with CHINESE quality and safety standards while our manufactures must meet more stringent regulation. Not to mention corporate espionage conducted by China.
Why would our side want to vote for something 0Obama wants so badly?
Show me just one thing he has done to make the USA better?
This is just one more step to getting rid of the USA and onward to the new world order / one world government.
In 1993 I saw Bob Dole and Bill Clinton stand together and celebrate the passing of NAFTA by one vote...Gore broke the tie. I said to anyone who would listen “When Dole and Clinton agree, it can’t be good for us.”
It's an oversimplied example that illustrates nothing. The question is how is the consumer paying the grocer? Does he have enough income to pay the grocer and his other suppliers, or must he borrow from friends, neighbors, foreigners, and even his children to pay the bill?
The US consumes more than it produces and now has an $18.5 trillion debt to prove it. We can't have a healthy economy based upon everyone selling each other insurance policies of various sorts.
The Chinese have been and will continue buying US dollars to artificially deflate their own currency, which keeps the trade deficit overwhelmingly in their favor. On paper, WTO forbids currency manipulation to maintain trade imbalances, but this is basically impossible to enforce. TPA’s participating nations will do precisely the same with an identical net result. In other words, as with all so-called reciprocal trade agreements, the US and other western nations play fair while our “trade partners” take advantage of the situation.
You’re confusing all kinds of issues with free trade. Government overspending isn’t caused by free trade.
I don’t want to tie America to some 3rd world countries policies. Why don’t we just deregulate and cut taxes at home and enjoy all the benefits of free trade?
Correct. He is buying nothing from you and you are soon out of a job and can no longer purchase Mr. Chin's groceries.
America is like a family that made vast amounts of wealth in the steel industry, but now the sons and daughters sold the family factory on the cheap and are no longer producing steel, so they have no income except to sell off their assets, furniture and eventually their mansions to those that do produce steel.
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