Posted on 03/25/2006 8:07:17 PM PST by ncountylee
The Durabrand 10-inch portable DVD player available at Wal-Mart retails for $199.94. A group of senators would like to raise the price to $254.67. The Creative Zen Nano Plus 512-megabyte MP3 player seems like a bargain at $89.72; less so at $114.39, the price the senators would prefer that you pay. The price hikes would be the result of a 27.5 percent tariff on goods imported from China, a proposal sponsored by Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and is scheduled to come up for a vote in the Senate this week.
Schumer and Graham aren't crazy, of course—they know better than most that taking money out of voters' pockets is a sure way to be sent packing. In other words, that 27.5 percent price hike won't be coming to a retailer near you anytime soon. But as an attention-getter, it's pretty good, and attention is what the two senators, and a number of colleagues who support them, are after. The chief bogeyman they want to flog is China's communist government, which—according to Schumer and the rest—deliberately keeps its currency undervalued in order to sell more cheap imports to the United States and other countries. Reasonable economists differ on that question. The tariff, if you buy the argument, would bring prices on Chinese imports closer to their unsubsidized value, leveling the playing field for honest tradespeople in, say, New York and South Carolina, who can't possibly produce goods as cheaply as the Chinese and still earn enough wages to buy all the DVD and MP players that they need.
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
As for China - if you don't perceive the Dragon flexing his muscles and licking his chops, you have not been reading the news.
It seems that people today are being taught to be more dependent not less. I don't have the answer to your question but everyone should do his part. Its hard to teach people that their security is the knowledge between their ears and not in a government or job. It has to be taught young or learned by experience. If the government or job fails (and they all do in time) they will learn or be left behind.
> All of which is completely orthogonal to your original objection to tariffs.
Please cite. My arguments against tariffs have been practical arguments grounded in morality.
Perhaps yours have been too? "From each according to his ability..."
I'm for the tariffs. I want Americans to have a chance to live a good life with manufacturing jobs. Americans with good jobs can buy things and contribute to our economy. Americans with lousy jobs only buy essentials.
China has tilted the playing field with the manipulation of their currency. I tarrif would tilt it back.
Man, if that doesn't sound like a line out of Tobacco Road or Grapes of Wrath..
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I have read both and I totally fail to see the connection, it is simply an observation of fact. Most of the things I consider luxuries are not going up in price or are falling while housing, medical care etc. have gone up enormously. I would say that that type of observation is light years removed from Tobacco Road or Grapes of Wrath, two stories in which people were lucky to be able to stay alive. They certainly were not commenting on the relative prices of luxuries and necessities.
But then you would be far from the first to read something in that is really not there.
Sorry, been too busy to check for replies...
I thought "you know, luxuries are getting cheaper all the time but necessities are going sky high" recalled the story of Tobacco Road, when the son bought the car while the whole family was scrabbling for the smallest morsel to eat. Grandma dies and no one seems to notice. Eventually the car is beaten to scrap metal and they're at square one again.
I'm trying to recall this from memory, so forgive me if I made any major mistakes.
I have to be honest; I don't remember why I brought up Grapes of Wrath, except that maybe it was a study of a different family caught in nearly the same set of circumstances & timeframe. But vastly different in interaction, of course.
Some high quality items are just too cheap. Consumers will not respect items that are priced too low and will treat them as disposibles. I have seen several examples of this recently.
Actually, his death repudiates you.
Pounding upon the table again, I see.
Events are developing which will, I think, end globalization. I'm going to enjoy the developments that accomplish that worthy end.
And I look forward to our exchanges during the interim. I shall particularly enjoy your lamentations when free trade dies.
I should at least get some credit for not bringing your drivel to the attention of some of the veterans here. Let me ask you this, if a hundred U.S. soldiers die instead of ten, will it make your argument more persuasive? [hoot]
A very good point. But then I never suggested that you weren't a perfectly fine fellow - even if (sadly) misguided regarding f.t.
Let me ask you this, if a hundred U.S. soldiers die instead of ten, will it make your argument more persuasive? [hoot]
It is well that you add the "hoot" to the statement, since it shows that you intend humor. I agree, the premise of the statement is hilarious.
I didn't intend the comment to be humorous, I intended to show derision. It's a real question: try answering it, if you can. [hoot]
Oh, come now. You're a clever fellow; you can communicate more effectively than that.
That said, if more people make the supreme sacrifice for their country, it casts those unwilling to spend a few extra dollars in an even harsher light.
What about those "unwilling to spend a few extra dollars" that have made the supreme sacrifice for their country? Not patriots, either?
I'm sure that their spirits are on my side. I challenge you to prove me wrong.
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