Why Tariffs Are Good: The Case for Tariffs

[sealybobo]

Tariffs are a tax on consumers
Manufacturing brought to the US will not mean lots of jobs……new factories will be automated

Besides…we have 3 percent unemployment
Why start a trade war?

I don't want to be a total hypocrite here. There are some jobs we should have NEVER sent overseas. A lot of the manufacturing jobs we sent overseas is why the middle class disappeared. It's why uneducated blue collar workers are doing so poorly today. Those jobs were replaced with Walmart jobs. Can't raise a family on those wages. But America consumers got cheap shit from Mexico and China.

Some things, we should continue to buy from other countries. And they buy a lot from us too. Do we want them to stop? So let's strategically move SOME jobs back home, with tariffs.

I'm going to show you the parts of this op ed I want to point out:

The Smoot-Hawley tariff legislation, which increased taxes on some imported goods by a third to two-thirds to protect American industries, was signed into law on June 17, 1930, well into the Great Depression. In the following two years, international trade dropped from 6 percent of GNP to roughly 2 percent of GNP (between 1930 and 1932), but most of that was the result of the depression going worldwide, not Smoot-Hawley.

STOP. So it wasn't Smoot's fault. It was a global depression that dropped international trade from 6 to 2%, not Smoot. But now, it is Trump's tariffs that are going to drop international trade. And why does he think the rest of the world needs us and won't fight back? This is self inflicted!!!


Smoot-Hawley "protectionist" legislation did not cause the Great Depression, and while it may have had a slight short-term negative effect on the economy ("1.4 percent at most" according to many historians) its long-term effect was to bring American jobs back to America.

So as a liberal, I don't want to flip flop from my position during the Bush years. Or when Clinton signed NAFTA. But did you know Bill Clinton put worker and environmental protections in NAFTA before he signed it? I'm sure Bush removed those protections, but my point is, we should bring SOME manufacturing home. But not like this. And not everything. Trump should have picked certain jobs he wanted to bring home.

Weapons
Airplane manufacturing
Cars
Medicines
Chips
Etc.

 

[Z99]

American leftists love tariffs when it reduces the profit margins of American companies but hate tariffs that reduce those margins on FOREIGN companies.

Whatever hurts the American people you can be sure that leftists are all for it!

 

[sealybobo]

Ah, because all these countries tariff the shit out of U.S. products? Sounds like a good reason to me. It's time to bitch slap those MF'ers.

They tariff any product they want their citizens to buy locally. That's fine. But what products are we talking about? Trump put no thought into it.

Why tariff products coming from McDonald Island?

 

[Mac1958]

Tariffs can be fine when used properly, and not like a fucking ignorant caveman.

 

[Mac1958]

They tariff any product they want their citizens to buy locally. That's fine. But what products are we talking about? Trump put no thought into it.

Why tariff products coming from McDonald Island?

MAGA avoids complexity and nuance and detail. At all costs. Literally.

Just give them a big club and they'll swing it at anyone around them.

 

[rightwinger]

American leftists love tariffs when it reduces the profit margins of American companies but hate tariffs that reduce those margins on FOREIGN companies.

Whatever hurts the American people you can be sure that leftists are all for it!

I have no problem with targeted tariffs against key economic sectors or certain countries
But Trumps Trade War against everyone is just economic insanity

 

[DGS49]

The result of tariffs depends on how consumers react to them, and how sellers deal with them.

The intention is to induce consumers to buy domestic stuff wherever possible, and sellers must decide whether to eat the cost or pass it on, and hope consumers still ante-up to pay the higher prices. And don't forget, the tariffs themselves go into the treasury.

Not mentioned much is what Trump is trying to do with all these tariffs, which is to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. - a process that will take a few years to pay off. Not only has the loss of manufacturing jobs had a huge impact on the life prospects of US HS grads, but it has made us vulnerable militarily, as we currently DO NOT HAVE the ability to mobilize properly if a significant "conventional" war were to break out. It was large US manufacturers that carried us through WWII, and they simply do not exist now.

For the skeptics, tariffs can be cancelled at the stroke of a pen. Also, our major trading partners are all contacting the White House to negotiate compromises.

Note as you read the news coverage today the 90% negative reporting of these developments, and the complete dearth of quotes from economists who support what the President is trying to do.

 

[JoeB131]

How does that help with the cheap Chinese goods being imported into the US?

It creates markets for American goods in other places.

Here's what you guys don't get.

The purchasing of goods and commodities is on a triad.

Price, service, and quality.

We are never going to beat the Chinese on price, and making their goods more expensive to the consumer just hurts the consumer.

So where we need to be better is in quality and service.

Well, there's no incentive to improve quality and service if the government is protecting you from competition. You'll just keep doing the same crappy quality and the same half-ass service.

A good example is our relationship with Japan. (Hey, mikegriffith1, check it out, I'm going to say nice things about the Japanese here.) When Japan rebuilt her industries after World War 2, they invited a guy named Deming over to show them how to run their factories efficiently. He developed what we now describe as "lean manufacturing". Initially, it produced cheap stuff, and "Made in Japan" meant low-quality things. Eventually, they got good at making electronics, cars, and other goods to the point where "Japanese" meant quality in people's minds.

Ironcially, American Manufacturing is now trying to catch up, and a lot of the things Deming taught the Japanese are now being preached in American Manufacturing, just with the Japanese names for them, which is why if you work in Manufacturing, you are going to hear terms like kaizen, poke-yoke, kanban, and muda.

 

[BluesLegend]

They tariff any product they want their citizens to buy locally. That's fine. But what products are we talking about? Trump put no thought into it.

Why tariff products coming from McDonald Island?

God you left wingers are slow and a bit retarded. They tariff the shit out of the products we make and want to sell in their market so we tariff theirs got it? It's not rocket science christ have a 3rd grader explain it to you.

 

[Mac1958]

I have no problem with targeted tariffs against key economic sectors or certain countries
But Trumps Trade War against everyone is just economic insanity

Tariffs are similar to tax deductions and credits, in that they are used to direct certain kinds of positive/constructive economic behavior.

Not to destroy our standing in the world, create enemies out of friends, and trigger domestic stagflation.

 

[sealybobo]

I have no problem with targeted tariffs against key economic sectors or certain countries
But Trumps Trade War against everyone is just economic insanity

Next Trump's going to kill Obamacare but not have a plan to replace it. Worry about that later. Everyone sick and going through something suddenly won't have insurance. I should shut up and not give them any ideas.

 

[JoeB131]

The result of tariffs depends on how consumers react to them, and how sellers deal with them.

The intention is to induce consumers to buy domestic stuff wherever possible, and sellers must decide whether to eat the cost or pass it on, and hope consumers still ante-up to pay the higher prices. And don't forget, the tariffs themselves go into the treasury.

STOP DRINKING THE BLEACH!!!

Why should I be induced to buy domestic stuff if I don't want to? I thought this was a free country. If I want to buy the cheap Chinese stuff for some item I might use once a year, then frankly, that's what I should be able to do. I shouldn't have a tax slapped on me because American companies can't make that same item cost-effectively.

The reality is, sellers will just jack up prices and collect a bit more profit.

Not mentioned much is what Trump is trying to do with all these tariffs, which is to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. - a process that will take a few years to pay off. Not only has the loss of manufacturing jobs had a huge impact on the life prospects of US HS grads, but it has made us vulnerable militarily, as we currently DO NOT HAVE the ability to mobilize properly if a significant "conventional" war were to break out. It was large US manufacturers that carried us through WWII, and they simply do not exist now.

You mean we won't be able to wage meaningless wars? Why, that would be terrible!!!

Um, guy, wars are a bad thing, and free trade and cooperation makes them less likely. Part of the reason why WWII happened was that too many nations turned inward and just saw their neighbors as places to conquer for cheap resources.

For the skeptics, tariffs can be cancelled at the stroke of a pen. Also, our major trading partners are all contacting the White House to negotiate compromises.

There's going to be a point where they all stop trying to mollify the crazy person.

Yesterday, Trump sacked three National Security advisors because Laura Loomer told him to. That's the level of crazy we are dealing with here.

Note as you read the news coverage today the 90% negative reporting of these developments, and the complete dearth of quotes from economists who support what the President is trying to do.

Any economist supporting what Cheeto Hitler is trying to do is an idiot.

Everyone knows this is a terrible idea, which is why the markets are bleeding.

 

[JoeB131]

I have no problem with targeted tariffs against key economic sectors or certain countries
But Trumps Trade War against everyone is just economic insanity

You don't think a trade war with a barren island that only has penguins on it is a good idea?

 

[sealybobo]

Tariffs are similar to tax deductions and credits, in that they are used to direct certain kinds of positive/constructive economic behavior.

Not to destroy our standing in the world, create enemies out of friends, and trigger domestic stagflation.

I just want to remind everyone that when the economy was doing great under Biden and inflation was being fixed, Republicans said President's don't have that much to do with how the economy is going. And of course if the economy had a bad month, it was all his fault.

What Trump is doing shows us President's do or can have a lot of effect on the economy. Many times we don't even know how their policies impact the economy. Perfect example is when Obama was president and the economy was doing great after he got us out of the Republican Great Recession. Republicans would ask "what did Obama do". Well, he did a lot. But to explain it all to a Republican would be pointless. THEN they would say "why is he interfering with the free market?"

But they don't ask that today now do they? How do Libertarians feel about what Trump's doing?

 

[AsherN]

God you left wingers are slow and a bit retarded. They tariff the shit out of the products we make and want to sell in their market so we tariff theirs got it? It's not rocket science christ have a 3rd grader explain it to you.

Canada's trade with the US was 99% tariff free. Australia's as well. Then why?

 

[rightwinger]

You don't think a trade war with a barren island that only has penguins on it is a good idea?

You know, it just shows that Trump surrounds himself with unqualified people who do not check their work.

That whole chart he held up was a joke.

 

[sealybobo]

Canada's trade with the US was 99% tariff free. Australia's as well. Then why?

I read yesterday if you take out oil, we had no trade deficit with Canada.

And they only have 10% of our population. Of course we buy a lot more from them than they buy from us.

 

[SeaMajor7]

Tariffs imposed on the U.S are GOOD.
The U.S imposing tariffs on other countries is BAD.

---The demented LEFT

 

[Mac1958]

I just want to remind everyone that when the economy was doing great under Biden and inflation was being fixed, Republicans said President's don't have that much to do with how the economy is going. And of course if the economy had a bad month, it was all his fault.

What Trump is doing shows us President's do or can have a lot of effect on the economy. Many times we don't even know how their policies impact the economy. Perfect example is when Obama was president and the economy was doing great after he got us out of the Republican Great Recession. Republicans would ask "what did Obama do". Well, he did a lot. But to explain it all to a Republican would be pointless. THEN they would say "why is he interfering with the free market?"

But they don't ask that today now do they? How do Libertarians feel about what Trump's doing?

Rand Paul is pissed. The phony Libertarians are bending over for Trump as usual.

The rubes have been conditioned to believe that the (R) or (L) after their name automatically makes them trained, educated and experienced macroeconomic experts.

The fact is that (and I'll say it again) NOTHING illustrates the Dunning Kruger Effect more vividly than a Trumpster lecturing others on economics and markets.

 

[Delldude]

Ah, because all these countries tariff the shit out of U.S

That's called free trade.