We are both right. Nothing could be done tax wise or regulation wise to compete with $.25/hr labor rates. My argument is that labor is such a small component of manufacturing cost using first world labor would increase cost but only a few cents on the dollar.. All of which would and could be offset by eliminating income taxes and reduced social spending. It would also a matter of national defense because I consider the industrial base the key to maintaining our freedom.
oh how stupid of me. Of course you would think such being you both deny reality and basic math...
So let me sum up for you. You claim on one hand labor has little bearing on the cost of goods sold and on the other hand we can't compete with China's low labor rates because it has little bearing on the cost of goods sold.
Right?
I would come at Central_va's calculation of a few cents on the dollar a different way. If you raise tariffs by 10%, and you know imports are equivalent to 16% of our GNP, that's an average price increase of 1.6%. That puts an effective cap on the effect of the tariff.
Effectively the tariff will re-shore production of highly automated processes and products with lower labor components first. High labor products will continue to be off-shored.
And I'm not sure a 10% increase will be enough. A lot of damage has been done. I'd recommend raising the tariff 2.5% a quarter until full employment has been reached and using the proceeds to offset taxes on Americans.