Posted on 12/22/2016 8:12:46 PM PST by Rockitz
As the FT first reported yesetrday, in a dramatic development for Sino-US relations, Trump picked Peter Navarro, a Harvard-trained economist and one-time daytrader, to head the National Trade Council, an organization within the White House to oversee industrial policy and promote manufacturing. Navarro, a hardcore China hawk, is the author of books such as "Death by China" and "Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World" has for years warned that the US is engaged in an economic war with China and should adopt a more aggressive stance, a message that the president-elect sold to voters across the US during his campaign.
In the aftermath of Navarro's appointment, many were curious to see what China's reaction would be, and according to the FT, Beijin's response has been nothing short of "shocked." To wit:
The appointment of Peter Navarro, a campaign adviser, to a formal White House post shocked Chinese officials and scholars who had hoped that Mr Trump would tone down his anti-Beijing rhetoric after assuming office.
“Chinese officials had hoped that, as a businessman, Trump would be open to negotiating deals,” said Zhu Ning, a finance professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing. “But they have been surprised by his decision to appoint such a hawk to a key post.”
Shortly after the announcement of Navarro's appointment, the US Office of the Trade Representative yesterday put added more fuel to trade tensions with Chine when it put Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce platform, back on its “notorious markets” blacklist of companies accused of being involved in peddling fake goods.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Taxing commerce was constitutional in the Washingtons day, taxing personal income was not. He was however, a wise man who would eliminate burdensome federal regulations before increasing taxes on commerce.
Still is.
Tariffs are a tax on commerce and economic activity. One clear lesson we learned from socialism is if you want less of something, put a tax on it. Brazil and Venezuela are good examples of high tax/tariff socialist eutopias.
The most destructive of all taxes is the income tax.
I get it. You love government tariffs, and hate free market commerce and economic activity. You embrace socialist Venezuela, and ignore free market economists like Milton Friedman. You don’t want America to clean up its own mess first by slashing federal regulations that punish free market commerce and economic activity, you want to punish American businesses and consumers by raising prices on goods and services by increasing tariffs/taxes on imports.
I get it. Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs!!!!! Taxes, taxes taxes!!!!!! Yippee!!!!
BY the way you never really answered my questions. Progressives like you are very dodgy people.
I get it comrade.
You can eliminate all regulations and all taxes, and you still can’t compete with Chinese workers willing to work a 12 hour day for $2/day.
And the truth is we don’t want to eliminate all regulations and taxes. We don’t want to be like China. We don’t wan’t our air and water polluted. We don’t want unsafe factories. And we do want some social programs.
But you can’t have those things and open the market to countries that will do whatever it takes to undermine your economy and transfer your industries to their country.
So if foreigners are going to sell into our market they should help pay the burden of those regulations and programs. They should pay a tariff big enough to pay for supporting unemployed Americans, the taxes those unemployed Americans should have been paying in, and the opportunity cost of having those wages and industries in the American economy.
Great post!
ping
“China “Shocked” By Navarro Appointment, As Trump Team Proposes 10% Import Tariff”
How disappointing. Only 10%?
“Tariffs are a tax on commerce and economic activity. One clear lesson we learned from socialism is if you want less of something, put a tax on it.”
The greatest period of growth in US history occurred when the nation had its highest tariffs (1865-1900). The current period of economic stagnation and declining standards of living for the average American family is occurring when we have the lowest tariffs in our history. Coincidence?
Tariffs can be raised every year. :) 10% is a good starting point. Maybe a 3% per year increase. The USA has been out of the tariff game so long we forgot how to do it!
Take a business trip to China. Most of their labor advantages are more than offset by poor quality, corruption, and uncertain socioeconomic disadvantages.
The biggest drag on US economic growth is our own federal government, not China.
I get it. You want higher federal taxes on raw materials and finished goods. That’s exactly what Brazil is doing.
“The other thing we’re doing is regulations. The regulations are — in fact, if I asked Greg and your folks, you would probably say regulations might be worse for you than even the high taxes, which is the biggest surprise of the whole political experience. I thought taxes would be number one. Regulations would be up there some place. Believe me, these great leaders of industry, and even the small business people who are just being crushed, if they have their choice between lower taxes and a major, massive cutting of regulations, they would take the regulations.”
Donald J. Trump
December 1, 2016
Transcript, Carrier Plant in Indiana
“But I just noticed — I wrote down because I heard it — since about six years ago, 260 new federal regulations have passed, 53 of which affect this plant. Fifty-tree new regulations. Massively expensive and probably none of them amount to anything in terms of safety or the things that you’d have regulations for.”
Donald J. Trump
December 1, 2016
Transcript, Carriwe Plant in Indiana
Nobody is saying we can’t improve or reduce regulations. But they are not the cause of the offshoring.
The fact is that regulations are a “management” headache. Management are the ones who have to read the regulation, figure out if it applies, write and appropriate policy(s) to address the regulation, and document for the government that the policy(s) has been complied with.
A lot of regulation compliance, eventually get automated, or just become part of the management knowledge base for that particular industry. Compliance usually doesn’t take a lot of time, but management hates it and feels like it takes more time than it really does.
And that’s why Management will complain about regulations before it complains about taxes. Taxes are the corporations or owner’s money. If you’re not going to simplify the process, the rate doesn’t matter to management.
And companies that offshore are not going to say that they are offshoring to take advantage of the cheap overseas labor, but they still intend to sell back into the US market. That would be suicide. No they’ll blame taxes and regulations, They won’t tell you the real reason, because it would make people furious.
I'm so sorry. I didn't know I was debating a dimwit.
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