Trump Should Tread Softly On His New Trade Agenda

Investors Business Daily ^ | 11/28/16 2:03 PM ET | DAVID MCINTOSH and SCOTT LINCICOME

[Democrat_media]

Trump called Tim Cook the ceo of Apple.

Trump talked Cook into building the iphone in America again Trump told him that he would reduce taxes and regulations on American companies and that's what convinced cook to make things in America again.

Estimates now are that the iphone may cost $30 more when build in America.So Trump just exposed another media lie that we can't make things in the USA cheaply or that prices would go up too much. We can make things in the USA cheaply and now we will thanks to Trump.

China was deindustrializing the USA, sending us back to the animal powered age or the stone age. Reindustrializing the USA , keeping technology in the USA, and creating production wealth and Jobs for Americans is far more important than any supposed minor increases in prices.

Trump also did this with Ford and is working on carrier. Read Trump's book , Making America Great again, "how to be a billionaire" , Rich dad poor dad,"The Art of the deal"These books will give you the secrets of success, and joy and hope for the future: Trump books

[Iron Munro]

If other nations need or want US products they will buy them.

If they don’t, they won’t.

How much of what they do buy is financed by loans or grants from the US taxpayer?

You can be assured that the answer is “A Lot”.

If the existing trade agreements were so good for us we wouldn’t have a multi-billion dollar trade imbalance.

And our government would have to hand out loans or grants to get them to buy American products.

[NonLinear]

GDP Report

[Alberta's Child]

That’s one good example of what drives decisions in international trade. There are plenty of examples of idiocy right here in the U.S. that motivate companies to move overseas. I’d be willing to bet that the U.S. would still maintain a large trade deficit even if all labor around the world had the exact same cost.

[Billyv]

This article is why I haven’t read your rag in nearly twenty years. Progressive, leftist, globalist, elitist drivel. Free market capitalism in a laisse faire market and let the buyer beware. No more of your Atlas Shrugged elitist political policies.

[eyeamok]

Thanks to imports, American families effectively stretch their pay check..

Which is a Good thing since their JOBS have been Shipped to a Foreign Country and they now barely survive on Welfare and Food Stamps.

[Nifster]

Utter nonsense and garbage

IBD long ago became unreadable

[Antipolitico]

That’s really nice for all those people who “enjoy subsidies and supplements” from the government, in reference to your suggestion to NOT repeal Obamacare immediately. Those “subsidies and supplements” come from the hard work of people like my 65 year old husband who is still working his butt off and is in the higher tax bracket. Who asked us if we wanted to pay for all those enjoyable “subsidies and supplements” instead of saving as much as possible during this last period of earning money before entering the old age phase of life where you might live another 30 years? We don’t even use the medical system if we can avoid it, so we don’t have to pay the out-of-pocket deductible of almost $15,000 before we can even access our insurance paid by the monthly premium. In case you haven’t read the news lately, the average policy costs for families (unsubsidized) is $24,000. This is totally a socialist wealth transfer scheme and was passed by legislators who do not have to abide by the same rules and costs as Obamacare. THIS IS UNSUSTAINABLE! In fact most other people cannot afford to pay this, and they do not get health care treatment that they need, except the people who are subsidized or those that barely pay get everything and use the system more. Look! You got me started!

[riverdawg]

“It is getting harder to buy USA, because products are not labeled with country of origin.”

What products do you have in mind? Mrs riverdawg buys nothing without knowing its country of origin.

[nathanbedford]

THIS IS UNSUSTAINABLE!

You are absolutely right, nor should it be sustained at the costs you described for your family. That was one of my points, Obama care if not rescued by another government bailout will implode. It will implode because it is not sustainable for you nor is it sustainable on a macro budget level as it hurdles toward bankruptcy.

But when we rearrange the pain and inflict it on some one else other than you and your family, that someone else will squawk and they will tend to vote against those they believe inflicted the pain on them. If Trump and the Republicans move in now to reallocate the pain, which in effect is what they will have to do, they will incur the anger of a portion of the electorate, even as they incur your gratitude. Smart politicians do not want to be seen inflicting pain.

No one disputes your need to be relieved of this dilemma imposed on you by a government dominated by elitists. The question is, how do we reform this mess without catching the blame?

I suggest there is also a similar parallel in reforming trade policy.

[riverdawg]

“China was deindustrializing the USA, sending us back to the animal powered age or the stone age.”

We manufacture about as much today as we ever have. We just don’t use nearly as much labor to do so. Take a tour of the nearest automobile factory. You may be surprised by how automated, and quiet, it is.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’ve never understood why America, the most amazing ‘experiment’ in Modern History, with all of Her super-smart people, awesome Natural Resources, fresh water and productive land, cannot produce any and everything She needs for Herself.

Oh, that’s right. We have a Government that is so far REMOVED from it’s original design it’s no longer workable or recognizable!

Never mind. *SIGH*

[Rashputin]

There's a big difference between the losers losing their homes, their cars, and their livelihoods and the losers losing a third or a half of their 30% profit margin.

Making it possible for average folks to have a job that makes it possible to have a family that lives a decent middle class life is far more important to the long term good of the nation than ensuring that the wealthy can give their kids a larger allowance while they get an education at exclusive, expensive, schools and have vacations around the world during spring break.

JMHo

[riverdawg]

Of course we could produce everything we want right here in the US. However, it would be very expensive to do so and, collectively, we are not willing to pay the prices required. We’d rather buy a $50 shirt made in Honduras than a comparable shirt made in the US for $100. We have met the “enemy” and it is us.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“We have met the “enemy” and it is us.”

To some extent. Some of us live further off the grid than others.

We’re the ones that will be revered as gods while we bake our own bread, grown our own veggies, raise our own animals for food and profit, stitch up wounds and pack our own shotgun shells. ;)

[expat_panama]

...why America...   ...cannot produce any and everything She needs for Herself.

Reminds me of my college days when every once in a while I'd run into some clown that would be telling me he was going up the hills and just 'live off the land'.  That's fine for them that wants it but we need to buy and sell from afar. 

I like my coffee in the morning and chocolate bars in the afternoon, maybe a banana once in a while.   U.S. factories like to make their steel w/ bits of say osmium, tungsten, iridium, maybe rhenium (info here) --stuff we need for manufacturing that mainly comes from overseas mines.  It goes on and on.   Half the world's patent medicines are developed outside the U.S; this makes overseas trade life and death.  How many times do we hear Rush quote the Guardian from the U.K.  Let's face it, the U.S. in on the Planet Earth and that's pretty much a nice place to be.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yep. I get that, too. I just want to do my part and contribute LESS to a lot of problems that others have caused for us through the years.

[Susquehanna Patriot]

“The question is, how do we reform this mess without catching the blame?”

Reality is that no matter what is done, it won’t be perfect, someone will be blamed. Therefore, not how, but when is it best to make the change so that a critical mass of voters are better off with the change than without it, thus guaranteeing a politician’s (re)election. The “when” is “now”. The Dems know this well.

How Obamacare was constructed and implemented shows that the devious Dems strategized about how, on whom, and when to shift pain (shortly after elections) so that the ultimate goal of advancing government single payer health care would be one step closer. Ultimately Dems believed that it was more important to institutionalize Obamacare a.s.a.p. with the passage of an unread, procedurally filibuster-proofed law (and John Roberts helped them survive two major legal challenges!). Also, a different, critical mass of people / beneficiaries (whose pain will be staged by the MSM to blunt any opposition) would be created to prevent any subsequent fundamental changes, let alone its repeal. (Exhibit 1 - the institutionalization of Social Security). The only future fix for Obamacare’s failings is more Obamacare.

In March 2010 Sen Shumer said that “those who voted for healthcare will find it an asset, those who voted against it will find it a liability,” only to see the Dems get slaughtered in the mid-term elections of 2010 and 2014. 2012 Dems were spared huge defeats for several reasons, including Mitt (”Obama-lite”) Romney at the top of the GOPe ticket. In 2015 Shumer went public saying it was a Dems strategic mistake to focus on healthcare instead of the how bad the economy was for the middle class. In 2016 CLinton was for improving Obamacare, and Trump for repealing it. Therefore, Obamacare did not create the critical mass of voters after all . . . that is necessary for its and the Dems survival.

In politics, time is fleeting, and the opportunity to make change can evaporate rather quickly. If Congress puts itself under the same legal burden that all average, working Americans will find themselves after Obamacare’s repeal/replace, that alone could give politicians a near guarantee of the critical mass needed after the change to survive politically. Waiting for things to get worse and implode under Obamacare before attempting to make change is difficult to time, and is to squander the opportunity of a political lifetime.

[nathanbedford]

https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/11/why-democrats-have-de-facto-control-of-the-senate-unless-conservatives-step-up

[Susquehanna Patriot]

Thanks for that dose of reality about the Senate. Obamacare is imploding. Not one Republican voted for Obamacare. It cost many politicians (Dems) their seats. Trump’s platform was to repeal it, he is selecting people to make that happen. So despite the current political makeup of the Senate (Dems + GOPe = Dems), the Senate is going to be forced to act, and most likely not in a way they want or are used to (re)acting. I remain hopeful, knowing that what emerges will be imperfect. Current situation is unsustainable - both Dems and GOPe know this.