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Buy America, weaken America
usnews ^ | 3/25/06 | Richard J. Newman

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 109th; china; economics; globalization; trade
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1 posted on 03/25/2006 8:07:18 PM PST by ncountylee
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To: ncountylee

Schumer and Graham going for TV time. Smile guys.


2 posted on 03/25/2006 8:08:57 PM PST by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: ncountylee

I wholly agree with the tariffs. We need to keep American products competitive, and that is simply impossible when competing with countries employing slave labor. If anything, those price hikes aren't high enough.


3 posted on 03/25/2006 8:09:56 PM PST by Number57
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To: ncountylee

The more I hear from Lindsey Graham, the less I like him.

If he has any further political aspirations than merely being a Senator, he might as well just change parties now.


4 posted on 03/25/2006 8:10:31 PM PST by Redbob
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To: Redbob
If he has any further political aspirations than merely being a Senator
If that Gang of 14 nonsense collapses on further judicial nominees, including the next Supreme Court vacancy, Graham will be lucky to retain his Senate seat. Graham, like Hagel, is a McCain wannabe.

 

5 posted on 03/25/2006 8:13:10 PM PST by peyton randolph (As long is it does me no harm, I don't care if one worships Elmer Fudd.)
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To: ncountylee

While I cringe at the monopoly on cheap production China holds, consider the source. Chucky Schumer. Nuff said.


6 posted on 03/25/2006 8:13:17 PM PST by Sender (As water has no constant form, there are in war no constant conditions. Be without form. -Sun Tzu)
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To: Number57
I wholly agree with the tariffs. We need to keep American products competitive, and that is simply impossible when competing with countries employing slave labor. If anything, those price hikes aren't high enough.

Well said. Economic patriotism demands that we protect American jobs.

7 posted on 03/25/2006 8:15:43 PM PST by neutrino (Globalization is the economic treason that dare not speak its name.(173))
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To: ncountylee

Obviously, the good Senators are ignorant of basic economics as well as US economic history. Similar protective tariffs, like the Smooy-Hawley Act, were disasters for US manufacturers. Besides what use do the Senators have in mind for the money extorted from the taxpayers by such a tax?


8 posted on 03/25/2006 8:16:36 PM PST by The Great RJ ("Mir wölle bleiwen wat mir sin" or "We want to remain what we are." ..Luxembourg motto)
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To: ncountylee
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.

Taht isn't the real problem. The real problem is that Red China has nuclear warheads aimed at the Unitd States, that it has goods made by slave labor and then dumps them in our country at below-market prices to get hard currency to fund that war machine, that it steals our technology, and that there is no freedom for the people -- if you ask for democracy, they'll run you over with their tanks.

That's why Chinese goods must not be circulated so freely in this country. By buying them, we're funding our own destruction. When we buy Chinese goods, we're paying for the enemy to build up its military strength against us.

9 posted on 03/25/2006 8:16:42 PM PST by TBP
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To: Number57
I wholly agree with the tariffs.

I usually don't, as I'm a free trader, but in this case, national security takes precedence. We must not fund those who seek to attack us.

10 posted on 03/25/2006 8:18:17 PM PST by TBP
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To: ncountylee

I suppose I'm doing some kind of harm because I actually avoid buying Chinese products, even if I have to pay more for the item, right?


11 posted on 03/25/2006 8:19:36 PM PST by TBP
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I recall, on Rush radio show, he talked about a tarrif during the 1930s (government policies) that destroyed the US economy.

I don't know what to think of it. Is a tarriff moving closer to a capitalist system or moving it away? Considering China isn't exactly playing fair


12 posted on 03/25/2006 8:19:39 PM PST by 4rcane
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To: ncountylee

I would rather we pump money into new technologies (can you say NANO?). That's where the future bucks come from... the future! Only problem is, will American children be up to the challenge with their politically correct educations?


13 posted on 03/25/2006 8:20:10 PM PST by Visalia
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To: TBP
"I suppose I'm doing some kind of harm because I actually avoid buying Chinese products..."

That's your choice - a tariff is imposed on everyone.

And what's to stop the Chinese from imposing tariffs of their own?

Protectionism's a two-way street, but with dead ends at both ends.
14 posted on 03/25/2006 8:21:45 PM PST by decal (My name is "decal" and I approve this tagline)
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To: Sender

Shumer should be on house arrest. It is embarassing to think of him in China. Btw, GM still sells the most cars in the US, in spite of what this journalist opines from his NYC penthouse. He probably cannot even drive.


15 posted on 03/25/2006 8:21:57 PM PST by ClaireSolt (.)
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To: ncountylee

What America needs to do is have wage and price controls demanding all able bodied persons work for $5 a day! That will show 'em!


16 posted on 03/25/2006 8:22:13 PM PST by endthematrix (None dare call it ISLAMOFACISM!)
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To: Redbob
The more I hear from Lindsey Graham, the less I like him.

His warning to the Democrats that "we will clean your clocks" if they filibustered Alito was pretty cool. His five minute or so segment on that was the best part of the hearings.
17 posted on 03/25/2006 8:22:38 PM PST by P-40 (http://www.590klbj.com/forum/index.php?referrerid=1854)
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To: neutrino
Do the names Smoot or Hawley mean anything to you?

L

18 posted on 03/25/2006 8:23:18 PM PST by Lurker (I trust in God. Everyone else shows me their hands.)
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To: ncountylee

I support tariffs. I view them as one of the sole legitimate revenue streams for a gov't. But you gotta base them on economic sense. If you want to send a message, use UPS.


19 posted on 03/25/2006 8:23:38 PM PST by Bogey78O (<thinking of new tagline>)
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To: The Great RJ

Soot-Hawley-if I remember my history properly- also helped spread the Depression worldwide and lengthened it by quite a few years...gotta love them demoRATS.
Nothing scares 'em more than capitalism.


20 posted on 03/25/2006 8:24:30 PM PST by 13Sisters76
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