Posted on 01/28/2016 11:55:58 AM PST by AngelesCrestHighway
Donald Trump is right when he calls for high trade tariffs to protect American jobs, according to one brave economist. The Republican presidential candidate’s protectionist rhetoric has been playing well with voters heading into the primary season. But Trump has been attacked by economists and the media for violating the sacred belief that free trade is always a good thing, writes Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland. Morici argues that China hasn’t been playing fair, however, and says the artificially weak yuan has cost America hundreds of thousands of jobs. “Trump’s proposals for fixing trade — starting with China — address the salient issues of currency, trade barriers and subsidies,†Morici wrote on Newsmax. A recent academic study by three prominent labor-market economists found China’s entry to the global trading system 15 years ago has caused deep and lasting harm to Americans.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
The Taft Hartley Act worked out pretty well.
Why should we pay tariffs to China for our goods but they don’t when they sell here? Anyone?
We’ve had low tariffs for close to 30 years.
If this is the end result, let’s give protectionism a try.
The USA has 90+ million adult, working age citizens who do not work.
yes, certainly some are sick or disabled - but 90+ million?
These people are nearly all paid by government in some form NOT to work, and we have many disincentives to business NOT to hire. I know for sure my company will NOT hire anyone further to get us close to 50 employees, until Obamacare is repealed.
China is only a minor factor.
This is not about protectionism, it is about honesty and honor. In the US, we have free trade among the states fostering healthy competition, innovation and profitability for everyone because there are no bad actors. Free trade with bad actors is the problem. This is also the problem with NAFTA and TPP.
Thanks for trying.
The Taft Hartley Act aka as the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 doesn't seem relevant to this conversation.
I'm pretty sure you are thinking of Smoot-Hawley tariff that is sometimes blamed for the Great Depression. Only thing is that Smoot Hawley wasn't passed until a year and a half AFTER the Great Depression started. Not only that but exports at the start of the Great Depression only amounted to 4% of GNP, but U.S. industrial production fell 60%. There is no way tariffs were responsible for the Depression.
Also, we had high tariffs for the first 180 years of this country's existence and did just fine. We had tariffs > 20% all through the roaring 20's.
High Trade Tariffs = A tax on consumers with proceeds going to the Federal Government.
High Trade Tariffs = A tax on consumers with proceeds going to the Federal Government.
Go on subsidizing the Chicoms. What could go wrong there?
Who pays for corporate taxes, tariffs and goods Danny?
no necessarily. Consumers can just by a cheaper product that wasn’t subjected to the tariff. They are under no obligation to pay this “tax”.
Who pays for corporate taxes, tariffs and goods Danny?
Who pays for the artificial islands the chicoms are building? You and me.
There Fixed It.
We were also a net exporter nation. The net importers recovered much faster with high tariffs.
Sooner or later you’re going to nedd jobs to buy things, no matter where they are made or how much they cost.
“High Trade Tariffs = A tax on consumers with proceeds going to the Federal Government.”
... and the pockets of domestic manufacturers of import substitutes. Just more crony capitalism.
The burdened labor cost of China is about 25% of the cost of labor in the USA. It might cost $5/hour for a Chinese industrial worker but about $20/hour for a US industrial worker.
Tariffs would have to be on the order of 300% at a minimum to be effective against Chinese cost efficiency.
When a Chinese worker goes to his local ER he can expect a bill of the equivalent of about $5.
Now, there ya go asking for a little analysis and logic. If The Donald says it, it has to be right - and “good, really good”; “it’ll bring great, really great” improvements to the economy and America will be great again.
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