Posted on 03/31/2025 9:39:04 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
One of the reasons the United States won World War II was because we could outproduce our enemies. As White House Senior Adviser for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro explained in a Fox News Sunday interview, the American "arsenal of democracy" permitted the Allies to triumph.
Navarro said the "military might" of the United States allowed "General George S. Patton" to take "Berlin … with trucks, Jeeps, and tanks that were made in the auto plants of the Midwest."
Sadly, American manufacturing power has moved to countries like Mexico where "50 football field-sized assembly plants … are … making the engines for here," said Navarro. As the country's manufacturing capacity dissipated in recent decades, the United States became a consumer-based economy, fueled by Americans buying massive amounts of foreign goods.
President Donald Trump is intent on changing that dynamic and will be launching a new series of reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday, April 2, "Liberation Day." The next day, the President is planning on issuing "25% tariffs" on automotive imports into the United States.
Eventually, so much revenue will flow into our country that the president envisions the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) being outpaced by an External Revenue Service, funded by foreign tariffs.
This funding transformation will not happen overnight. In the last fiscal year, the IRS collected $2.5 trillion from income taxes and $1.7 trillion from Social Security and Medicare taxes. In contrast, only $80 billion was collected from tariffs and fees.
Of course, prior to the passage of the 16th Amendment and the implementation of the first federal income tax in 1913, the nation's government was primarily funded by tariffs. According to Douglas Irwin, Dartmouth College Professor of Economics, "From 1790 to 1860, tariffs accounted for 90% of federal revenue."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
> Navarro said the “military might” of the United States allowed “General George S. Patton” to take “Berlin … with trucks, Jeeps, and tanks that were made in the auto plants of the Midwest.” <
I’m in favor of carefully applied tariffs. But I’m not in favor of glaring historical errors.
Patton never took Berlin. The Soviets did. Perhaps Navarro got General Patton confused with Soviet Marshal Zhukov.
Trivia time: In the great movie “Casablanca”, Captain Renault mentioned how the Americans marched into Berlin at the end of WW1. That never happened either.
The "Journal" in question isThe Wall Street Journal.
As I see it, tariffs will have a negative effect on the US economy. For one thing, they will cause inflation.
But these negative effects will eventually be balanced out by positive effects. Tariffs will stimulate domestic production. That’s a good thing. More Americans will find decent jobs. Another good thing.
And it might wake up countries who casually put high tariffs on our goods. Two can play at that game.
But then again, ‘The Wall Street Journal’ never invited me to write a column for them. So what do I know?
Expect the democrats to shout and dance every time some price is raised because of the tarrifs. They will ignore the fact that manufacturing and jobs are returning to the USA.
History is not part of Propaganda journalism.
The big question is: does the average American have the intestinal fortitude to hang on long enough. Sadly, I’d suggest the current population may not. All the more reason we need to have JD in for at least a term.
Old Media has a problem with foreign taxes but not American corporations being taxed. One causes inflation and the other doesn’t according to Mediots.
The WSJ also told us in the ‘80s and ‘90s how opening up to China would result in 1 Billion new customers and very little competition for us since China did not have anything like our infrastructure.
Don’t hear them apologizing for that load of crap now doya?
Read that Vietnam, yes Vietnam, adjusted its tariffs to satisfy American intentions.
This BS about mineral deals in Ukraine. The Ukies dont intend on honoring any such deal since they’ve made a long term commitment with the UK.
Whats easier and more safe. Shipping raw material cross the Black Sea through the Bosphorus Straits, through the Med to our east coast or...shipping them cross the pacific from Eastern Siberia to our west coast.
Our attentions need to be in our own hemisphere and the Pacific Rim. Eastern Siberia is on the Pacific Rim. Largely undeveloped and positively rich in natural resources.
Make a deal for fair trade with them. Europa has nothing we need.
> The big question is: does the average American have the intestinal fortitude to hang on long enough. <
Great question! And sadly, I think the answer is probably not. Too many Americans think about tomorrow only.
Prices will rise, at least in the short term. All the while the media will be pounding Trump for his tariff “mistakes”. And that might even include Fox News.
It will be an interesting next couple of years.
But these negative effects will eventually be balanced out by positive effects.
Hopefully before November 2026.
When the Liberal idiots insist that tariffs will cause great inflation spikes and a recession, we can laugh at them, because we look at every other nation that uses them, and they have no such issues.
But now, we can do the same thing with fools in the Right who insist that "we will all get rich" because of tariffs, because that clearly also hasn't happened in Canada or any other nation that is currently using them.
Who cares about being rich? Debt is slavery without whips; let’s get out of it.
The eventually is what’s the problem. How ling will it take to construct or reconstruct the industrial infrastucture needed? How long to recruit, evaluate and train the workers. This isnt 1930 when we built the Empire State Bldg in 400 days. A car factory tge size of Willow Run would take years, and that’s just one.
Can anyone tell me how a tax makes us prosperous? Tariffs are a sales tax. The taxes raised will be spent by the US government. Maybe it funds tax relief so we can all afford higher prices. But the very point of tariffs as currently proposed is to make goods more expensive so as to favor domestic manufacturers.
If the goal is to raise revenue then the tariff rate is much lower. Think Laffer Curve. The optimal revenue raising tariff rate may be much lower than the punitive tariff rate needed to prevent imports.
Pretty much all that has to be done is simply get rid of the tariffs used by our enemies: including Canada, Mexico, the EU. They use them to favor their own producers, who reward them handsomely for that.
All countries must use tariffs to some extent, to protect home industries and jobs. ALL INDUSTRIES. Pharmaceuticals, metals, energy, etc. Just enough so that if they have to ramp up to cover a war or catastrophe. Any country that does not do this is run by fools or politicos in pay to other countries.
A few observations:
1. If every nation tried to produce all of its needs within its own borders, as Trump thinks the USA can do, the result would be a world-wide depression and a drastic decline in living standards world-wide. Our economy depends on trade far more now than it did when the USA was founded.
2. The winners from tariffs are the owners and employees of the protected industries. But the politically potent winners seldom mention the losers, such as users and consumers of imported goods, exports lost due to lack of dollars earned from imports, and the victims of retaliation.
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