General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I Simply Do Not Understand Obama's Support Of The TPP. [View all]B Calm
(28,762 posts)interested in our national interests, instead of viewing the entire world just to make more wealth for a few individuals.
Tariffs: The Smoot-Hawley Fairy Tale
Once again, it's necessary to debunk the Globalist fairy tales about the "damage" caused by the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. Below is a copy of U.S. GDP from 1929 through 1939. These are official government figures from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis
(Here is a link to graphic copy of the 1929-39 GDP chart with the key numbers underlined. The Trade Balance has been underlined in Red. Exports have been underlined in Blue. Imports have been underlined in Orange.)
Notice that there is a slight decline in both exports and imports by the end of 1930. The trade balance remained around 0 during the entire time. Exports bottomed in 1932 2 years before any revision or modification of Smoot-Hawley occurred.
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff was signed into law on June 17, 1930, and raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods. Legislation was passed in 1934 that weakened the effect of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. In effect, the 1934 legislation functionally repealed Smoot-Hawley. Thus, the effects of Smoot-Hawley cover only the period between June 17, 1930, and 1934. This is the time frame that should be focused on.
So in reviewing the chart, what evidence is there that the Smoot-Hawley Tariff "hurt" the economy?? Is there any evidence at all?
No, there is practically NO evidence that Smoot-Hawley hurt our economy.
The US was already in a Depression when Smoot-Hawley was enacted. Prior to Smoot-Hawley, the 1929 Trade Surplus was +0.38% of our GDP. In other words, it contributed less than 1/200th to our economy.
What happens if we focus on exports alone? Exports were $5.9 billion in 1929, and had declined to $2.0 billion in 1933, for a -$3.9 billion decline. This $3.9 billion decline was roughly 3.8% of our 1929 GDP, which had already declined by a whopping 46% over the same period of time. Thus, of the -46% GDP decline, only 3.8% of it was due to a fall in exports.
But the effects on trade must also include the reduction in Imports, which ADDS to GDP. (A decline in imports increases GDP). If the import decline is added back to the GDP total (to measure the net trade balance), the "loss" becomes only -$0.2 billion from our GDP or less than ½ of 1% of the total GDP decline.
In other words, the document-able "loss" from the Smoot-Hawley Tariff the "net export" loss contributed less than ½ of 1% of our our -46% GDP decline. Overall, the Smoot Hawley Tariff caused almost 0 damage to our economy during the Depression.
To put this in better perspective, let's compare all the GDP components together:
1929 .......................................................... 1933
- See more at: http://www.thomhartmann.com/users/unlawflcombatnt/blog/2011/03/tariffs-smoot-hawley-fairy-tale#sthash.8JvHN56g.dpuf