[harpseal]

#2. Don't agree. If France wants to subsidize Airbus, (pay us to use their services), that's fine. It hurts Boeing, but helps everyone else who's flying Airbus at France's expense. (I think France owns them??) Slave conditions for workers? Depends on what you mean. If they are actual slaves, we shouldn't buy from them. Period. If they are voluntarily going to work in poor conditions, I don't agree with you. #3. If our nat'l security is truly at stake, tariffs are fine. #4. Agreed #5. Agree with the idea of no corporate tax and only employing Americans/legal immigrants. #6-10. Agreed

Since the most that can be said against tariffs are they do not hurt the American economy and the sucsidy of airbus does hurt Americans by cutting both overseas sales and American sales the little bit of French German subsidy to American air travelers does nothing to make up for the harm it does the rest of us by limiting economic activity. I would have no problem with a 50% revenue tariff deswigned to cut income and payroll taxes.

[BMiles2112]

Since the most that can be said against tariffs are they do not hurt the American economy
They do hurt. I work in the steel industry, but not steel manufacturing. Bush's 30% tariff on imported steel allowed the domestic producers, which we buy from, to raise their steel prices nearly 30%. That means our material costs go up roughly 30%. The products we make can be made from Steel, Aluminum, Magnesium, and a few other materials, with each having their advantages and disadvantages. Well, it turns out many of our customers are looking at other material options for their products. The other result is that purchasing steel components from other countries, like China, is now becoming more attractive because the tariff only applies to imported steel, not imported products containing steel.

sucsidy of airbus does hurt Americans by cutting both overseas sales and American sales the little bit of French German subsidy to American air travelers does nothing to make up for the harm it does the rest of us by limiting economic activity
I think this is a difficult statement to argue, either for or against. I stated it helps Americans who travel because it gives them a cheaper alternative at a foreign nation's expense, which it does. And I admitted that it does hurt Boeing. I don't know about the overall impact, it would be difficult to determine. I do think that it could be argued that they cannot continue forever to prop up a company that cannot, on its own, compete with Boeing. It's like pushing a child through school with a 4.0 telling them how great they are, only to watch them get a 600 on their SAT and flounder upon graduation. (I know, the analogy's not bulletproof, but it makes my point. Hope they remove those from SAT's)