|
Posted on 03/05/2002 6:53:24 AM PST by KayEyeDoubleDee
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush was expected to announce on Tuesday that the United States will impose tariffs of up to 30 percent on most imported steel, sources said, in a decision bound to anger major U.S. trading partners in Europe and Asia and possibly spark retaliation.
|
U.S. steel firms and steelworkers have asked for a 40 percent across-the-board tariff for four years on a broad range of steel imports. They blame low-priced imports for 31 bankruptcies since 1997 and are seeking temporary "safeguard" protection under "Section 201" of U.S. trade law.
Administration and congressional sources said the president would impose tariffs of up to 30 percent on many categories of imported steel from Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine. Canada and Mexico, partners with the United States in the North American Free Trade Agreement, and several developing nations would be exempt from the tariffs, the sources said.
Take care!!!
And the idea that this tarrif "tax" is the only economic burden resulting from the tarrifs themselves is blatanlty ignorant of basic economics principles.
Wall Street crashed on October 24th & 29th of 1929.
Smoot-Hawley wasn't signed by Hoover until June of 1930.
Similar to the Dotcom frenzy of the '90s, the Great Depression was cause by speculative stock investment of the Roaring Twenties. Excessive use of borrowed money pushed stocks to record highs. When the bubble burst, margin calls led to a cascading domino effect of bankruptcies and a run on the banks.
Today, brokerage firms and financial institutions attempt to deny their culpability by shifting blame to Smoot-Hawley. The facts prove otherwise.
Just like the pre-'29 tarrifs....
History shows that the crash was much more likely due to the inability of Congress to pass a tariff bill at all than because of the possibility that Congress might pass a high tariff bill. A business community and its nation perceived a lack of leadership, gridlock, and political maneuvering, rather than tending to the needs of the country.
Records show that when Representative Hawley’s bill passed the House Chamber five months before the stock market crashed, the Dow climbed over 5 points to 298.87. After Senator Smoot proposed an even more protectionist Senate version, the market peaked at 381 points. However, a republican Senator from Idaho, William Borah, formed a coalition of constituents to defeat the bill. On October 3, the Dow lost 15 points. The front page of the New York Times stated: “Hoover Defeated on Flexible Tariff; Coalition in Senate, 47 to 42, Takes From President Duty-Fixing Power.”
Although Hoover sustained veto power, the perception was that he had no majority in Congress to pass the tariff bill. Democratic Senator George Norris tacked on an agricultural subsidies program, and Senator William Borah and his coalition of agrarian Republicans took charge of writing the tariff. The stock market did not crash out of fear of higher tariffs. If anything, it crashed due to the perception that Congress lacked the discipline and leadership to pass any tariff bill at all!
The dollar doesn't tend to decline as it should in light of the trade deficit because the US dollar is not only our currency, but it is the currency of choice for people around the world who deal in the international economy. This special status of the dollar provides constant upward pressure on the dollar despite our trade deficit. It means the domestic economy is being sacrificed for the sake of rich people, that's what it means.
One economist proposed that we have two dollar currencies, one for domestic use and one for international use. I don't know how the details would work, but it seems we need to let our currency absorb downward pressure due to the trade deficit or we will not be able to compete and many in america will face poverty as a result.
our current situation is absurd. China exports 7 times to us what we export to them and people say that if we merely impose the same exact tariff on chinese products that they put on our products, then this will cause a depression & a world war. Domestic production makes us wealthy, borrowing money can make us poor. What are we doing?
Corporate America is maximizing short-term value and manager bonuses by contracting with chinese firms to produce and then exporting to America. What will happen in 25 years when those chinese contractors have taken the know-how they need, grown up and become tough competitors? Will those companies be more valuable or less valuable in 25 years due to the destruction of american production by the managers today?
Example: GE is showing Chinese contractors how to make the best appliances in the world and then merely re-selling them here in America whereas just a few years ago they produced these things in America before selling them. GE makes a profit now and in the future may not be able to prevail over the competitors who are now learning how to produce while GE is forgetting how to produce. Jack Welsh gets a bonus now, but will GE really be better off in the long run? I don't think so.
You can't dispute the facts, so you resort to personal attacks.
How shallow!
There is a more fundamental concept which many Freepers understand, and that is that in a free society, the government has no business charging someone for buying cheaper foreign steel.
Seems to me that you're the one who needs a lecture in economics.
ALL Government actions and policies have an economic impact, one way or the other.
The Founding Fathers considered the tariff to be the least intrusive form of taxation to be imposed on the American People. They also considered it an important policy to develop and maintain our nation's economic self-reliance, independence and sovereignty. That's why tariffs were the primary source of federal revenue for the first 100+ years of our nation's existance.
"The prohibiting duties we lay on all articles of foreign manufacture which prudence requires us to establish at home, with the patriotic determination of every good citizen to use no foreign article which can be made within ourselves without regard to difference of price, secures us against a relapse into foreign dependency."
--Thomas Jefferson to Jean Baptiste Say, 1815.
It's quite fresh in my mind that on 9/11 over 3000 of our citizens were slaughtered on our native soil due to the intentional negligence of "open borders" apologists such as you.
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your consul, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget ye were our countrymen."-- Samuel Adams
Now, you can simply go fuck yourself.
Trying to equate free trade with those terrorist actions is about as low as you can get. If you made such an accusation to my face, I'd be hard pressed to merely walk away.
Simply calling a spade a spade.
"Open Border" free traitors typically turn a blind eye to immigration as well, illegal or otherwise.
I have no problem with stating this same generalization to anybody on a face-to-face basis.
Buchananite propoganda at its finest.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
