Posted on 11/21/2003 1:43:43 PM PST by Destro
You are correct Master Yoda.
Semiconductor fabrication processes, fiber optic manufacturing processes, any high tech products that carry intellectual property that the Chinese don't have (yet), jetliners, military hardware, software operating systems, etc. Much of this is obtainable elsewhere also, but the question was whether the Chinese would have any desire at all to buy these.
I've never seen so many people as on this site be so happy that their president is raising their federal taxes (which is what tariffs are). tell me, do you believe you can tax your way into prosperity?
You miss point. Look at Boeing, maker of jet airplanes. Let say Boeing now makes plane with cheap Chinese steel. If America imposes tariffs to encourage use of domestic steel, then Boeing has to spend more to buy parts for airplane. Therefore cost of airplane is higher. With higher cost, airline less likely to buy Boeing and instead for Airbus. The result in net loss to American economy.
No. American workers cannot compete with China workers in areas China workers produce in. So they need to move to other jobs. Net result of free trade is more jobs and more economy activity, so this is good. You cannot take isolationism because this is not option any more. It is either globalization or North Korea economy. There is not middle ground.
What part of the country are you in?
I am in Jerusalem.
Here in NY State I can assure you that t-shirt that was once made in the states and usually priced around $15-20 dollars
I do not wear "t-shirt" so does not apply, but principle remains. You pay more and get less because not enough competition, not because of globalization. Solution is more competition not isolationism.
The only ones winning in this free trade scam are the corporations who dumped American workers for the .20 an hour foreign labor, they're getting rich. Everyone else is getting the shaft.
This should be conservative capitalist website? Why to get socialist?
Exactly. It's not about cutting off trade or competition, only doing what's in the best interest of the country. While China steals our technology and dumps their products on our markets, they buy little from us. At some point we either level the playing field or tell them to get lost.
What do you think is going to be the result of these tariffs, t-shirts, dressing gowns, robes and brassieres will suddenly double in price? Is that the tax you're referring to?
First of all, even if all these products were made only in the USA by union labor, the price of them would not be much higher than they are now. As so many people around the nation have confirmed, their costs coming in from the slave labor countries have not gone down hardly at all. But it doesn't matter because China is not the only importer of these goods, there's plenty of competition out there to keep prices stable.
I'd rather we only traded with those whose employees make comparable wages, then Americans wouldn't have to worry about getting undercutted. That was our trade policy for 200 years and it worked. These free trade agreements like NAFTA with third world countries are recent policy, and they are putting Americans out of work by the millions. At this pace we're not going to have a middle class much longer.
that doesn't make any sense. a lawyer's salary is nowhere "comparable" to a casual laborer's, but both benefit when the lawyer hires him to cut the grass (he saves times, the other earns money).
to think trade is good only with people on your salary level is absurd. Sir, have you ever studied economics? thank you.
Not sure what you're talking about, you referring to wages or the abililty to make the products? The US used to have a very large textile industry and was second to none in the world, as was our automobile industry, computer industry, and just about any other industry you can think of. No matter the product, we can make them and better than anyone.
We are giving it all away though through free trade agreements with countries whose labor standards are so far below ours in every category that an American corporation who didn't take advantage of it and move there would be crazy. They are saving a ton of money but not passing those savings onto the consumer. It is corporate welfare, nothing less.
And I would add, globalization is a desired policy by some, not a necessary one. We could and have done just fine without trade agreements with Mexico or China. To suggest we must do this or commit suicide as you have is a faulty premise to begin with, and unfortunately one many people have bought into. But not for much longer, as millions of Americans lose their jobs to policies few desire or agree with, there will be changes. Political realities are already forcing Bush to make them.
Oh here we go with the "you have to have 10 years of economic classes in college otherwise you're not a genius like me". Give it a rest.
You cannot deny that these trade agreements with third world countries are recent policy, for 200 years we did just fine with limited forms of protectionism and trade with countries more or less on economic par with us.
This is about countries who flood our markets with their products using slave labor but take nothing in return. The result is millions of people being put out of work, and I don't need 10 years of college in Harvard to see it. thank-you
any country can do just fine with some protectionism when foreign trade is insignificant because it takes 2 months to cross the atlantic. this is a global era, if the US wants to play the protectionist, it will get marginalized by other countries less intent on intentional self-impoverishment.
Who says, the Wall St. Journal?
if the US wants to play the protectionist, it will get marginalized by other countries less intent on intentional self-impoverishment.
You're forgetting, the United States is the largest market in the world, they need us, we don't need them. If we stop trading completely with China our lives will go on as usual, but they will have few if any to buy their shoddy products will they? Their workers barely make enough to survive, they can't afford them.
Bush, whatever his reasons is doing the right thing. He's saying to China "play fair, or we'll get tough". Reagan did it in the 80s with Japan, I applauded for him it and will Bush as well.
this one is a keeper. to think you can isolate the US from a multi-trillion economy with a billion potential customers without a zilch of impact........... (shaking my head in dismay)
If you read post #26 you would have learned we have an $11.3 billion trade deficit with China. Potentially yes they are a huge market for American businesses, but their workers cannot afford to buy our products, which explains the huge discrepancy. It also explains why American businesses are packing up for China, because their wage rate is so low. But you knew that right?
Perhaps you'd like to tell us all what Chinese consumers in a communist country btw are currently purchasing from the USA?
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