[gcruse]

Conservatives expect a business-friendly domestic economic environment that generates employment opportunities.
The Bush Administration's priorities don't address that expectation.

By erecting steel tariffs, Bushhurt domestic industry, driving up the price of steel, creating no new jobs in a rust belt unable to increase output sufficiently, and having no effect on the minimills which were eating big steel's lunch.  After all that, the rustbelt states went Democrat in 2002, and the tariffs were called off.

By listening to anti-free traders, Bush would succeed in driving up costs domestically, harming the economy, going loggerheads at the WTO, and triggering a worldwide trade war.  All to keep Joe Sixpack from having to learn a new trade.

Like the steel tariffs, protectionism hurts more than it helps.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

By erecting steel tariffs, Bushhurt domestic industry, driving up the price of steel, creating no new jobs in a rust belt unable to increase output sufficiently, and having no effect on the minimills which were eating big steel's lunch.

1) Steel prices dropped under the tarriff regime, and rose once it was removed. Perhaps if you actually worked in a field affected by steel prices, you might have paid attention to them.

2) The purpose of the tarrifs was not to create jobs, but to give the domstic industry a couple of years to restructure, which they did. See: International Steel Group, US Steel purchase of National Steel, Severstal purchase of Rouge Steel, liquidation of Geneva, Gulf States, and Acme Steel, etc.

3) The Minimills are now in a world of hurt because of the Chinese economy sucking up all the scrap steel available at prices of many hundreds of dollars per ton.

4) Today we have a steel industry in far better shape than 4 years ago. Then much of it was in bankruptcy despite roaring prosperity nationwide. Today, with a general economic malaiase for about half of the past four years, the steel industry has not been so healthy in decades.

5) Bush and the Republicans did much better in SW PA, SE OH, WV, northern MN (the Iron Range), NE IN, etc. than 4 years ago. Surely helping the steel industry played some part.

[taxed2death]

You wrote: "like the steel tarifs, protectionism hurts more than it helps"

Sure thing chumly, go tell that to R. Reagan. He practiced a little bit of "protectionism" to help out Harley Dividson.

Will you be having red wine with your shorts now?