Posted on 11/13/2012 2:00:40 PM PST by DannyTN
Romney promised that he would act on China's currency manipulation "on his first day." So Republicans can pretend Romney won, and actually act on China's currency manipulation! If they would actually do what they promised to do we could get a lot a lot of "job creation" going on. Or will they continue to obstruct?
China continues to manipulate its currency. It has been getting better but not fast enough. This manipulation keeps the prices of things made in China lower than they should be -- even before taking into account all of the other trade cheating China has been doing. And that means that jobs, factories, industries and big chunks of our economy continue to move to China. Look at what happened with Sensata the day before the election.
For various non-trade reasons -- Obama needs China's help with Korea, etc. -- the President has resisted declaring China to be a currency manipulator. Action by Congress to push this forward strengthens the President's hand in getting something done on this, and in the end could just get it done outside of the administration. So to accomplish this there is a bill to act on China's currency manipulation.
The "China Currency Bill" has passed the Senate but is stalled in the House by Republican leadership. Speaker Boehner is keeping the bill from coming up for a vote. It could come to the floor and pass if just a few of the 60+ Republican cosponsors would actually cosponsor the bill be signing a "discharge petition" to bring it up for a vote.
The people want this. Polls overwhelmingly showed that the public "gets it" about China and trade and what is happening to all the jobs and factories and industries. This polling was why Romney campaigned for this. And this was a democracy election -- the people made it very clear what they want to happen.
Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio recently pushed to have this bill revived and voted on in the House, and now the voters have given their stamp of approval by reelecting Brown. Across the board the public has made it clear that it is time to act. Republicans should pretend it is Romney's "first day" and act on Chinese currency manipulation -- like he promised they would do.
The election is over, it is time for action, not more obstruction.
You’re right about the things I identified as having not caused the Great Depression. I never said they did. They extended, as opposed to having starting, the depression. Just as what you are proposing would extend the depression that began under Bush.
Never happen. the House is run by a wimpy republican liberal appeaser.
Well, I don’t see how labeling China as a manipulator is going to solve anything. We need to raise interest rates to create incentives for capital creation and production. A more liquid labor market would also be beneficial.
I don't see how your comment applies. We aren't borrowing anything in this scenario. In fact we're either getting Gov't revenues from tariffs immediately. Or we're employing Americans, which means lots of Gov't revenues and less safety net outlays.
We're gladly paying the Chinese Tuesday for a cheap low quality burger today. And it needs to stop now.
You are arguing that I should give you the hamburger today, and that you will pay me later.
We don't need to raise interest rates with 25% unemployment. The incentive for capital creation isn't coming from an increased interest rate, it's coming from an increase market opportunity. And with the unwise trade rules we've implemented, the market opportunity is overseas not here.
But I agree, labeling China as a manipulator is not really the solution. It allows us to impose a tariff, which is a start, but it misses the real issue. The real issue is that we don't need to be pursuing free trade with low wage countries unless we are at full employment.
A tariff is an easy tax to avoid. Didn’t your Chinese handlers explain that to you?
Economics Myth #19, written by an illiterate.
Not on the private sector, on imports. That's not a promise it's a definition of a tariff. Gov't revenues will go up immediately and then as the jobs shift back here, tariff revenues will fall but income taxes will dwarf the tariff revenues.
That's not a promise to pay later. That has an immediate positive impact on our nation's health.
But I see your point. It's all about YOU and all about right now. Nevermind your fellow American or the nation's health. You might have to pay a higher amount today for imports, if the Chinese don't absorb the cost. And today you're not having to currently pay for the unemployed, because the nation is borrowing from China to do that. So yeah, I guess I am promising that you'll benefit in the future by having less debt to pay off by paying more for imports now. But only because the true cost of our unemployed today is buffered by ever expanding government debt. If it wasn't for that buffer, you'd see an immediate improvement from import tariffs.
I disagree. If we raise interest rates, we can finally kill wasteful consumer and government spending. We need increased savings for productive asset creation, and we also need prices and wages to fall.
However, this whole argument is moot. We won’t be able to rely on Chinese imports much longer anyway, due to our ongoing inflation. The unemployment situation will not be solved until we have a real economic recovery.
_____
*Economic Myth #19 explained
I could go along with revenue raising tariffs, but protective tariffs just hurts overall competitiveness.
Amazing I’ve never heard of anyone wanting to sanction America for manipulating their currency; we do the same thing by debasing our currency (QE 1,2...).
That’s the key point. The federal government cannot pick winners and losers which includes our manufacturing sector. Our manufactures need to operate in a better economic climate through lower taxes, deregulation, and a more liquid labor market.
Protectionism squashes innovation, frugality, and creativity.
Well said.
It is noteworthy that Romney descended to the level of criticizing China for currency manipulation.
I appreciate China making things cheaper for me. That is conservative common sense.
These threads are a hoot. For daring to suggest that “there is no such thing as a free lunch,” one is called selfish and unpatriotic.
Our economic policies are unsustainable, and I doubt more than 5% of Americans realize this.
Wait one minute!
Next you'll claim that a 100% tariff on imported oil will raise the cost of our domestic oil.
Learn some economics, sheesh.
Who buys crude oil by the barrel, anyway? Don’t want to pay the tax, don’t buy oil. Problem solved.
I should have realized that......
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.