Posted on 06/19/2007 4:44:26 PM PDT by Kitten Festival
Journalism: If you laid all the economists in the world end to end, goes an old joke, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion. But there's one thing almost all economists agree on: Free trade is good. Yet the media don't get it.
This month marks the 77th anniversary of an economic event that lives in ignominy: The signing of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, the anti-free-trade bill that helped push the world into depression. It should be forever etched in the minds of both the media and the public they serve. Sadly, that's not the case.
Instead, on an almost monthly basis, the release of the trade deficit data becomes yet another occasion for hand-wringing and general economic anxiety among pundits and reporters alike. We fret over the "unprecedented" size of the deficit. Over "what it means" to workers. And to competitiveness. We worry new trade deals "won't be in our interest."
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
Yet the media don't get it.
Two facts of life that will never change.
Good article....thanks.
It is not at all clear that Smoot-Hawley “helped push the world into the Great Depression,” although this is conventional wisdom. The Great Crash occurred in 1929; Smoot-Hawley came in 1930, and it seems to have had very little effect on US exports. Alan Greenspan claims that it was the Fed’s mometary policy that sank us.
We certainly don’t want to go back to smoot hawley, but almost as bad are the tremendously stupid trade deals we have now. It ain’t free trade, except for those importing to us.
If Congress passed the FairTax, (HR25) all this would be meaningless anyway.
The ‘free trade’ we have now isn’t free. Americans are disadvantaged and hamstrung because of our income tax code.
The media opposes trade in general , business is evil. Free Business came straight from hell.
Some people don’t want to be confused with the facts.
Now that's a statement worthy of contemplation...../snicker
Is this an Ostrich joke? LOL!
I guess it is! :)
Which is why we someone like Hunter or Tancredo in the White House: both ardent supporters of the FairTax!
That’s right. I wish Thompson would go there too. He looks very promising, but there are a few gray areas that bug me a bit.
Well, levity is always welcome, but if it isn't that is welcome too!
I hope all is well with you.
Welcome back my FRiend...welcome back!
Yes, all is good here. And you? I hope things are going well for you, too. :)
The Great Crash occurred in 1929; Smoot-Hawley came in 1930, and it seems to have had very little effect on US exports.The Crash and the Depression were related but not necessarily directly. That is, the Crash unto itself did not cause the Depression. It sparked it, but it was, itself as much as symptom as the disease (mostly of monetary policy). During the 1930s the Crash and the Depression were blamed on excess industrial capacity and tapped out consumers. Some historians still buy into that theory, althought they'd do well to look at monetary policy on top of it.
Retaliatory trade barriers overseas, on top of lessening buying power from lost sales to the U.S., most definitely slowed exports, especially in automobiles, which was a major U.S. export. Exports were crucial to the industry's stability, and losing that market sent the industry into a further, faster tailspin than it already had going.
Without the trade barriers which hastened a worldwide crisis, the Depression would have been much less severe, especially in late 1932/early 1933, a moment that was crucial to FDR's ability to enact the New Deal. One cannot ignore the role of Smoot-Hawley.
..you will probably hear more and more about this infamous act
Those who are opposed to Duncan Hunter will try paint him as a present day Smoot-Hawley candidate...
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