Posted on 02/08/2011 3:14:32 AM PST by Cringing Negativism Network
Just a friendly reminder: Americans increasingly don't make things. Any things!
Another friendly reminder: Americans increasingly only buy things.
A sad reminder: Every single thing we buy, is made elsewhere...
Our nation's founders didn't believe that idea.
A statement that we don’t make anything anymore is just a flat out falsehood. Check the facts. The U.S. is still the world’s leading manufacturer BY FAR!!
The Tariffs enacted in 'the depression' by Smoot–Hawley turned it into the GREAT Depression. They also caused the USA to be the LAST world power to come out of it. All of Europe recovered during the 30's. (Germany was the first, but we knew that)
And if it wasn't for WWII, the GREAT Depression would have lasted longer. As after WWII all those 'busy factories' weren't so busy any more, and most returning GIs couldn't find a job (there wasn't any 'job protection').
The women who still had jobs and were making their own money wanted to keep it. And 4Fs and other older men had jobs they were not about to give up to some Captain who was awarded a medal. As such unemployment again sky rocketed (there was also a severe housing shortage, but that's another matter)
So the effects of a Tariffs Bill enacted in 1930 (and other gubmint price control regulations) had a long lasting effect.
Well, since you have so expertly iterated your case and displayed a brilliant understanding of macroeconomics with your witty prose, other economic luddites can only line up behind you in your blithely uninformed, quixotic crusade.
I happen to actually have a graduate degree in economics, and your argument does not sway my position. In fact, my teenage son can articulate a position on economic policy with far greater logic than what you are demonstrating on these pages.
Only when our government decides which companies and industries should receive protection will we have fair trade. The government will certainly offer this protection only to companies needing it and would never do it for political purposes. Unions and other special interests have no influence over what the government does.
If the state knows what's best for us when it comes to trade, why wouldn't it also know what's best for the entire economy? I mean, just think of all the good government could do if we'd simply trust them with the entire economy. Jobs and wealth would be everywhere and there would be no need for entitlement programs. What a world that would be!
Higher prices and greater regulation of business is what we need. The smart people understand that increased costs and greater regulation will spur growth, create jobs, and make our economy the envy of the world. When it comes to trade, conservatives can trust government to do the right thing. Just look at the record......
agreed!! yours is the best post of the day, although you will find many anti-”buy american” types here.
“A statement that we don’t make anything anymore is just a flat out falsehood. Check the facts. The U.S. is still the world’s leading manufacturer BY FAR!!”
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What are we manufacturing?
I’m NOT disputing what you said, but I would like some particulars stated because I don’t find a whole lot in my
day to day world that are made here. Please list consumer goods.
Yes I know we make Jet Airliners and Railroad Locomotives and Power Plant Generators... but the revenue stream from
those products is not making it into very many US wallets.
Also... is it measured by just GDP or how??
I suspect they have the most to lose when the global economy fragments. They are probabaly heavily leveraged in the asian exchanges, or they own businesses and rely on asian slave labor to keep their margins up. (You know, all those "designed in the USA and made to our exacting standards in China" products? I won't buy them, either.) They aren't any different from the pro-illegal-immigrant posters we user to have around here. All of them owned construction or landscaping companies and couldn't compete in the saturated mid-2000s market without hiring illegal alien labor. As they say, follow the money.
You mean like autos, air conditioners, pharmaceuticals, furniture?
I’ll give you the first three...Maybe.... but furniture no. Good try however. There USED to be furniture mills all over North Carolina. Not any more. Go to Roomstore and look at the tags.
We all know what the Auto industry is like in this country. To say that its wheezing along would be generous. Of all your examples it adds the most to the GDP, but it could even be more if the big three did not make so much in Mexico. And many automotive sub-component suppliers ARE going to China. And Ford just announced a new engine plant for China. Looks like their second. See links below.
http://www.auto123.com/en/news/car-news/second-engine-plant-in-china-for-ford?artid=123212
Even Caterpillar is going to China. See below link.
http://www.pjstar.com/business/x794471817/Cat-to-build-new-large-engine-plant-in-China
When new home construction goes way down so does Air Conditioner manufacturing. Most households only buy a replacement very occasionally. And I would not be surprised to see Air Conditioners go off-shore soon. Not adding much to the GDP there.
Pharma is probably your best bet to keep a true indigenous industry. It adds to the GDP, but at what level?
“I suspect they have the most to lose when the global economy fragments”
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That comment sums up the whole thread pretty well.
I have a “free traitor” friend who works for HP. He defends globalism tooth and nail and even quotes Thomas Friedman ad nauseum...
Well ya... If you work for an “American” manufacturer that is outsourcing (FOXCONN motherboards) their major sub-components, or even whole product, to China... then its OBVIOUSLY good for you.
I don’t know where you live, but even in a relatively small area like mine, there are plenty of manufacturers.
Those who tout free trade forget the fact that people without jobs do not buy anything, no matter how cheap, because they have no money.
How is vetoeing tariffs on imported goods (1985) good for America? He was for NAFTA!
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