TARIFF Remember that word? TARIFF shout it loud & proud TARIFF

[Boxerfan]

Seriously-when did we forget every freeking thing about how markets work.

TARIFF

A Tax designed to equalize labor and other costs for trade purposes.

A simple idea & it works -see Germany and America in the 1950's for example.

The system is rigged now so greed is king & all other concerns be damned.

Untill we re-institute tariffs & demand strict buy American policies for ALL goverment purchases-we will never get out of the hole dug by the Republicans.

Long hard road-but till you realize what has to be done its kinda hard to get there.


And frankly this is where I jump up & down screaming-because there is a "debate" panel on "US Manufacturing & competitiveness" right now on C-span 2.

And I have never heard smart people say such stupid things!

Its simple dammit!

Tarrifs!!

If we don't make something & the US needs it-Build a friggin plant!-Period!.

And don't tell me protectionism is bad-It is GOOD!!!!

America needs to be working & we can do it better than anybody when the incentives are correct. The only incentive now is to claw over the other guy/girl for remaining crumbs. It shouldn't be like that.

This 70% service economy plan they put the USA on is laughable at best & should be exposed as the wealth sucking sponge it is.All the "entrapaneurship(buzz buzz)"in the world does no good when the society at large is held down to a service class.

The 70% needs to be actual production.As usual the Republians have managed to put the game on its head.

So-

Lets get this straight-

What does America need?

TARIFFS!

When do we need them?

NOW!!!

sing it loud-sing it proud.

[dkf]

1. You really think the average American wouldn't scream bloody murder if prices go up due to the Govt?

Prices are low because we have been choosing to buy the lowest cost items. That's the choice we make.

Wouldn't the immediate effect be huge cost inflation?

[Boxerfan]

3. Yes there would be-and we would get by

It's one of those things that may hurt a lot at 1st-but to get at the problem you have to remove the cancer-

My dog died due to cheap dog food tainted with melamine.The rest of the products they sell us are laughable crap!

Don't forget what quality brings-true value in a product. Now I have to shop at Goodwill for an older product to get one that lasts.

We can do it-not only that-We Must!

[dkf]

8. But for faddish type products we don't want it to last really long.

Quality is good in cars, and durable goods. Other stuff, not so much.

Professional work clothes are also pretty much timeless, but not the knits and jeans that go in and out of style. And if we all bought old stuff in our twenties and never had to buy anything again what good does that do our economy.

Our disposable stuff is what makes retail a recurring business.

[NNN0LHI]

6. Problem is once the market is cornered the importer can charge anything they want anyway

I bought an American made tool for a Shop-Vac 10 years ago and it was a couple of bucks. Had to buy an identical one recently that was imported and it was over 7 dollars.

So now not only have we lost those manufacturing jobs the product has nearly quadrupled in price.

Don

[Ron Green]

2. Absolutely. This country was not built on religious freedom

or democracy or any other high-sounding platitudes. It was built on tariffs.

[safeinOhio]

5. The first 100 years of this country

there was no income tax. There was a 7 to 15 percent tariff on every thing imported into the US and we had, pretty much, full employment. The Founding Fathers had it right.

[bahrbearian]

4. K&R

[bhikkhu]

7. Its common knowledge that Hoover's Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act accelerated the depression

...destroying a whole lot of jobs and livelihoods, and ending any chance Hoover had for re-election.

Parallels to current times are always risky, but the basic cause and effects is - we raise tariffs on other country's products, they raise tariffs on ours. The end result is less trade and less economic activity, less jobs, less money, less opportunity. In the very long term there is the possibility for a country to claw its way back up to self-sufficiency, but it would be at a much lower level of wealth and technology.

More realistically, what would happen here would be - Hooverization for the party that re-tanked the economy with the stupid idea.