I’m in favor of all states going right to work.
We need to reduce regulations even more than President Trump will likely be able to — about 95 percent or so. The lighter the regulatory touch, the more dynamic the market and the loser the regulatory costs. That means lower prices — especially when combined with lower taxes. You could, if you wanted, even raise salaries and still cut prices.
If we impose tariff or “border adjustment” taxes, other countries will impose higher taxes (in one form or another) on our exports. They will make it harder for us to do business.
It truly depends what is being imported and exported. For example, during the Chinese import boom during Bush, one of our most expensive imports was the steel shipping containers that contained other goods. At $30-$50,000 each minimum, they would be sent here, unloaded, but *not* returned to China.
In California there are still rusting mountains of those shipping containers. And yet these definitely counted in our massive trade deficits with China. And this paid for China’s boom in coal and steel production, that supported their huge boom in construction.
The US top exports are:
Machinery including computers: US$190.5 billion
Electrical machinery, equipment: $167.2 billion
Aircraft, spacecraft: $134.6 billion
Vehicles : $124.3 billion
Mineral fuels including oil: $94.7 billion
Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $82.0 billion
Plastics, plastic articles: $58.4 billion
Gems, precious metals: $57.8 billion
Pharmaceuticals: $47.1 billion
Organic chemicals: $33.9 billion
Looking at the list, a lot of these products are vital to the economies of other countries. So tariffs on their part may hurt them far more than they hurt us.