Posted on 01/28/2017 11:20:07 AM PST by Jim W N
Cruz wouldn’t have killed TPP.
Oh look. No “filtering” required.
MSwho?
Think about that for a second.
How resiliant, how powerful -- how EXCEPTIONAL -- is America that it survived twenty-eight years of minor and major malfeasance in our President?
Bingo.
Extrapolate that a bit. Since 1900, when the world basically decided it didn’t need God anymore (and thus unwittingly turned to man and his government), the vast majority of Presidents have been unconstitutional collectivists. Before Trump, America has had maybe two good pro-Constitution, pro-limited-government Presidents - Cool Calvin Coolidge and Reagan.
That’s 116 years of unconstitutional collectivism with two exceptions. And yet America stands. Only one reason - God’s favor and protection via a Constitutional Rule of Law not easily stripped. America isn’t a man thing. America is a God thing.
>>He’s right about that and about the multilateral trade deals that are really post-national superstructures.<<
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You are absolutely right about this.
So why rule out tariffs? If we are going to have a “Best” deal for someone we like, such as the U.K., then that implies a “Worse” deal for those we don’t like, who refuse to fully open their markets to America, who manipulate their currencies, who oppose us in foreign affairs, or terrorism, or whatever.
We need to have available a weapon (for negotiations) that we can AIM, and FIRE IF NECESSARY.
>>They know a 20% “tariff” means the the pickup truck costs 20% more <<
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NOT TRUE.
It means the customer will choose a pickup made in America that is not subject to the tariff.
It means that many more Americans will have jobs and other economic benefits of making things in America.
Even militarily it is significant. The reason America was able to overwhelm its enemies in WWI and WWII was because of our great manufacturing capability capable of being turned to weapon systems.
You make the best case of anyone here.
But you shouldn’t expect they’ll slap it on without an equal reaction—such that we don’t end up ahead. There need to be carrots and sticks, but tariffs as a regular policy and fundraiser, such as Congress’s “Border Adjustment Tax” are just disastrous.
>The reason America was able to overwhelm its enemies in WWI and WWII was because of our great manufacturing capability capable of being turned to weapon systems.
That and good Americans did not give a whit about the “rights” of the enemy and its filthy supporters.
“I lived in Germany for a long time and I know they put a 10% customs charge and add VAT (currently 19% ) on all our products sold there. “
South Korea and China and Japan do the same thing. In China you have to actually have a Chinese partner to open a business there. The Japanese have actually gotten better by at least building some of their products in the US but the others have not.
The real issue with China is that some of the industrial products they make are from state subsidized factories and they then dump products at below cost into a market to ruin native industries in other places making the other places dependent upon Chinese goods. They’ve done this all over Asia. The South Koreans do it too.
I think it is a false argument to some extent to say that Trump wants closed markets. I think what he is really after is what should be called equitable trade which means that countries do not dump products at below cost by exploiting workers, currency manipulation or both.
The Chinese certainly did that with steel.
In such cases, especially where an industry is important to national defense a protective tariff is appropriate.
My issue with the Trump tariff talk is that he needs to turn the coin over and go after the excesses of the Unions. He was right when early in his campaign he said that part of the problem is that some people make too much. Minimum wage is too high and some union contracts are to, for lack of a better word, generous. Unions need to quit the Marxist “Us versus Management” rhetoric and truly work for the best for both the company and the workers. Compare for example, the wages between the non-Union Toyota assembly plants and the union GM plants. If Toyota had to pay United Auto Workers scale they’d move to Mexico too.
Given all that - I’d rather pay more for products than pay the taxes to keep people on welfare.
Trump was 100% correct on that the US is better off using bi-lateral agreements vs. the use of multi-lateral agreements, since we are always the larger trading partner.
The US got screwed and should have been able to keep tariffs in place during the Japanese steel cases in the 1980’s. Reviving an American steel industry is a matter of national security. Imagine if we went to war with any Asian country...think they will export steel to us to help the US war effort?
Not a chance.
If #44 gave 400+ weekly addresses I missed all 400+
Defense industries and contracts should be closely monitored by the feds and are a whole different animal than the non-defense market which I am referring to.
The unions are a problem but that is something that the companies need to deal with, not Trump. Michigan is a RTW state as far as I know. I think that should make it easier to get free of the unions. Too bad that Obama interfered in 2008 and kept GM and Chrysler from going under and restructuring. That would have been a good opportunity to bring the UAW under control.
...........well, good point, there will be “other” manufacturers building in the US using American workers and their vehicles will not have a tariff on them. But, that then makes my point. If I have a pickup here that is 20% less than the same pickup over there, lol, which one do you thing any sane person is going to choose? Ergo, the 20% tariff Trump is hollering about is just to get everyone’s attention. On it’s face, it cannot happen. Thanks for your comment.
I think you or the auto correct left a word or two out so I can’t understand your comment. Could you pleas say again.
Agree Cruz = typical canadian politician
I agree . Good post.
President Trump done more good for America in a few days than politicians have for the last 100 years.
Politicians talk a good game but only do terrible things against America.
Every day of every year politicians have
1. Let in more third world immigrants into the USA
2.more government regulations
3. More debt
4.allowed countries like Mexico China to steal our
Wealth
5. More loss of freedom
6. More taxes.
7. More taking in of refugees
8. More government
I have a many more but no time to write them all
“Their primary tactic, called “dumping,” is a violation of international law and any number of trade agreements.”
You’re correct. The Chinese will adjust their currency against any tariffs and claim their products are “inferior” when they flood markets with cheap goods.
That chart is misleading because it is just tariffs.
VAT taxes that are charged on imports and credited to local manufacturers on their exports are much higher in countries that have them. China adds 17% VAT to American goods while it gives Chinese exporters a 17% credit. The EU countries do the same but with a 20% VAT.
Placing a 20% tariff on imports and using that revenue to issue 20% credits to our exporters would simply mirror what the EU and China do via their VAT and VAT-credit systems.
It's effectively the same dang thing.
How anyone can have a problem with an excise tax is beyond me. It encourages making it in the US, where we tax it for everything else already made here.
It is the Income tax that is the real problem.
Let me try this one more time: The US produces significantly more than it consumes. That means that exporting is important to our wealth and economy even beyond the advantages that come from comparative advantage.
The more we slap taxes on exports, the more they will be slapped on our products in return—hurting our economy and diminishing our wealth.
And that’s not even getting to the license we would be giving to our overloads to load even more taxes on us, given that income taxes aren’t going away.
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