Posted on 03/16/2009 3:54:30 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
“and you are counting on others being too stupid to point it out.”
That’s right, rudeboy, everyone here is stupid except you. You’re so brilliant, in fact, that you don’t even seem to work for a living. As you stated, “I’m here all afternoon”...as usual.
Some of us have other things to do.
Bye. Spew away!
I never claimed everyone here is stupid but me. I’m just claiming that you are stupid.
“I never claimed everyone here is stupid but me. I’m just claiming that you are stupid.”
You did. I quoted you. You are a liar among other things. And I’d rather be ‘stupid’ than a free traitor TRAITOR. We’ve seen your ‘logic’ over the years...FREE TRADE WILL SAVE US ALL!
NOT working out so well, is it?
The "Old PRI" is exactly what these fellows have in mind for the USA. That is, smoothly running corruption on all levels, like Chicago on a good day.
Trade Wars Are Stupid and Destructive [Free Republic].As a side note, it includes this little gem:
The business reality of Smoot-Hawley was far worse. 1,028 economists had earlier petitioned President Hoover to veto the bill, but with enactment, tariffs hit all-time levels on some 70 agricultural products and 900 manufactured items. The economists had warned that S-H would raise prices to consumers, damage export trade, hurt farmers, promote inefficiency and promote foreign reprisals. As to the issue of increased prices, you saw in a piece I did two weeks ago that consumer prices actually collapsed in the years 1930-32, a point that we will come back to.Feel free to check my math: 5.24 billion minus 1.6 billion equals 3.64 billion. Using the first inflation calculator that appears on Google here (that I know nothing about), 3.64 billion dollars in 1932 dollars equals 54.78 billion dollars in 2007.As for foreign reprisals, nations were outraged. Historian Richard Hofstadter called the tariff act, “a virtual declaration of economic war on the rest of the world.” Within two years, 25 countries had retaliated and U.S. foreign trade took a huge hit. America had exported $5.24 billion in goods in 1929 and by 1932, the total was just $1.6 billion. [emphasis in original]
Anyone still care to argue that it is chump change?
Even assuming perfect zero-sum (96 American jobs saved), anyone care to hazard a guess how much saving each job actually will cost? LOL
Whatever the cost, it's worth it! /paleo off
Anyone still care to argue that it is chump change?
Just a thought, with the lower productivity back then, that would translate into even more lost jobs than the same reduction now.
Yeah, also think about this: how much was an average company earning at the time? And how much was the average wage for one of its workers?
A 3% drop in our econmy didnt double unemployment. This is FDR propaganda.
What did we import back then? Cars? Oil? Lumber? Steel? Electronics? Crap from China? Food? Nope to any of them.
It’s not only about the imports, but the exports too. A 3% drop in GDP could easily double unemployment. 2008 GDP increased 1.1% with an increase in unemployment of about 70%. Anything that would drop the GDP by 3% would cause real pain.
What happens if this "pilot program" for Mexican trucks is increased by 10 times? 100 times? It might be possible that inspections of the trucks would ensure their safety, assuming that "our" government is forever vigilant and dedicated, but my concern is more with the drivers and the fact that Mexico does not have, and never had, a reliable system for tracking driving records, nor an honest police force.
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