[brownsfan]

What happened? The U.S. overtook G.B. in wealth, and economic power. There are complex reasons for this, but are tariffs a factor? It's a fact that it happened.
The fact that the U.S. population, resource base, transportation infrastructure, etc. far exceeded anything that Great Britain had to offer was the major cause of this, not the tariffs. In fact, if you look at Great Britain compared to the rest of the world in these areas I mentioned, it's a wonder they managed to remain an economic power for as long as they did.

I think that's too dismissive. I did allow for that by saying the reasons are complex. However, in the 1970s when Japan was kicking our collective butts economically, and they are still competitive, how do you explain that? To use your words with a twist: The fact that the U.S. population, resource base, transportation infrastructure, etc. far exceeded anything that Japan had to offer...

[Alberta's Child]

However, in the 1970s when Japan was kicking our collective butts economically, and they are still competitive, how do you explain that?

You just answered your own question. The notion that Japan was "kicking our collective butts economically" is one of the great myths of recent U.S. history. Certain Japanese companies (really only manufacturers) may have been "kicking butt" compared to their U.S. competitors, but even at its height in the late 1980s Japan as a nation always had a standard of living that was quite modest compared to the U.S.

Japan's ability to "kick butt" in these areas was a function of two things: 1) a currency that was always kept weak in comparison to the U.S. dollar (hence, their ability to offer lower labor costs was accompanied -- by definition -- by a lower standard of living); and 2) the same U.S. transportation infrastructure that I mentioned in my last post (due to rapid changes in the global shipping industry, it was no more expensive -- and maybe even less expensive -- to ship an automobile to New York from Japan than it was to ship it to New York from Detroit).

Item #1 is particularly noteworthy because Japan's labor cost advantage disappeared once their currency strengthened against the U.S. dollar. As a result, the Japanese can no longer compete with their new manufacturing competitors (China, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.) when it comes to exporting goods to the U.S. But they still "kick butt" in the one area (auto manufacturing) where -- get this -- they now manufacture a large number of their products right here in the United States!