>For decades, America pursued free trade with gusto, chasing cheaper goods and higher corporate profits. The result? De-industrialized towns, millions of lost jobs, and rising inequality.
Millions of lost jobs, millions of better, easier, higher value jobs created.
Unemployment rate is extremely low and has been except for a few years of the Great Recession.
>Traditional economic models assume fair play.
Why? It has never been fair play. The US has the world's biggest military and they push countries around for economic gains. The US has historically installed dictators as long as the they side with the US.
>But if the aim is rebuilding industries, protecting workers, and rebalancing global power, tariffs start to look like a strategic necessity.
No one in America wants to work in factories anymore. Unemployment is already extremely low. Where are you going to find workers to slave away in a factory in America? Illegal immigrants?
>Millions of lost jobs, millions of better, easier, higher value jobs created.
Partially true. But look at many of the rust belt towns now. High unemployment, opioid addictions. Has that been a fair outcome for them? Is it ok to leave them behind in exchange for some of these "higher value jobs"?
>Why? It has never been fair play. The US has the world's biggest military and they push countries around for economic gains. The US has historically installed dictators as long as the they side with the US.
Exactly my point. It has never been fair play. Hence the traditional approach to evaluating tariffs does not always work.
>No one in America wants to work in factories anymore. Unemployment is already extremely low. Where are you going to find workers to slave away in a factory in America? Illegal immigrants?
Not entirely true. Many of those workers who would traditionally work in factories are now in low wage service jobs with little job security or prospect for earnings growth.
>Partially true. But look at many of the rust belt towns now. High unemployment, opioid addictions. Has that been a fair outcome for them? Is it ok to leave them behind in exchange for some of these "higher value jobs"?
They'll need to re-invent themselves. The entire country can't be tailored to save a few towns in the rust belt. I know those states hold a lot of power because they're swing states.
>Exactly my point. It has never been fair play. Hence the traditional approach to evaluating tariffs does not always work.
That we agree. It was never a free market. It was always who had the biggest guns and point them at people standing in the way of your economic goals.
>Not entirely true. Many of those workers who would traditionally work in factories are now in low wage service jobs with little job security or prospect for earnings growth.
Seems like you've never been inside a factory making lower value goods. You're thinking of coushy factories making Mercedes Benz. I'm thinking of factories mass producing pens. You know. The other stuff Trump wants to tariff.
Maybe tariffs can work better for America. But your reasons are unconvincing.
Trump's tariff plan starts with a lie and goes down hill from there.
Tariffs are a tax, plain and simple --- paid directly to the US government by US importers and manufacturers who are ultimately reimbursed by consumers (you and me).
Huge new tariffs amount to nothing more than a massive tax increase combined with huge price increases (aka a spike in inflation) --- a double hit to the economy.
Show me a country that has ever taxed it's way to greatness.
A US president has some authority granted by congress to enact Tariffs.
Donald Trump doesn't like being told no.
Donald Trump is also very transactional.
Ergo, he can implement them and then tell the entities under the tariffs he can make them go away if they give him what he wants.
I'm not sure Donold is actually good at negotiations. The last time, the tariffs did not have the intended effect, we had to bail out farmers from reciprocal tariffs, and the deal to end it was not honored by the other side (did not buy anywhere near the amount of farm products they agreed to)
He is first and foremost a reality TV star, second an unilateral directory of a family real estate empire. All of his other "businesses" are largely brand deals for his name, most of which went bankrupt
I think the reason he reaches for things like tariffs is because he is lacks experience in and is unable to negotiate and build consensus, especially with members of congress. Tariffs are a unilateral action he can take, which is like how he has operated in his private family businesses
I'd be curious to hear Maggie Haberman's take. Trump has given her more access and interviews than others over something like 20 years
"There is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong." -- HL Mencken
Simple minded solutions for simple minded people --- aka, people who would fail running a casino.
>For decades, America pursued free trade with gusto, chasing cheaper goods and higher corporate profits. The result? De-industrialized towns, millions of lost jobs, and rising inequality.
Millions of lost jobs, millions of better, easier, higher value jobs created.
Unemployment rate is extremely low and has been except for a few years of the Great Recession.
>Traditional economic models assume fair play.
Why? It has never been fair play. The US has the world's biggest military and they push countries around for economic gains. The US has historically installed dictators as long as the they side with the US.
>But if the aim is rebuilding industries, protecting workers, and rebalancing global power, tariffs start to look like a strategic necessity.
No one in America wants to work in factories anymore. Unemployment is already extremely low. Where are you going to find workers to slave away in a factory in America? Illegal immigrants?
Valid points... However:
>Millions of lost jobs, millions of better, easier, higher value jobs created.
Partially true. But look at many of the rust belt towns now. High unemployment, opioid addictions. Has that been a fair outcome for them? Is it ok to leave them behind in exchange for some of these "higher value jobs"?
>Why? It has never been fair play. The US has the world's biggest military and they push countries around for economic gains. The US has historically installed dictators as long as the they side with the US.
Exactly my point. It has never been fair play. Hence the traditional approach to evaluating tariffs does not always work.
>No one in America wants to work in factories anymore. Unemployment is already extremely low. Where are you going to find workers to slave away in a factory in America? Illegal immigrants?
Not entirely true. Many of those workers who would traditionally work in factories are now in low wage service jobs with little job security or prospect for earnings growth.
>Partially true. But look at many of the rust belt towns now. High unemployment, opioid addictions. Has that been a fair outcome for them? Is it ok to leave them behind in exchange for some of these "higher value jobs"?
They'll need to re-invent themselves. The entire country can't be tailored to save a few towns in the rust belt. I know those states hold a lot of power because they're swing states.
>Exactly my point. It has never been fair play. Hence the traditional approach to evaluating tariffs does not always work.
That we agree. It was never a free market. It was always who had the biggest guns and point them at people standing in the way of your economic goals.
>Not entirely true. Many of those workers who would traditionally work in factories are now in low wage service jobs with little job security or prospect for earnings growth.
Seems like you've never been inside a factory making lower value goods. You're thinking of coushy factories making Mercedes Benz. I'm thinking of factories mass producing pens. You know. The other stuff Trump wants to tariff.
Maybe tariffs can work better for America. But your reasons are unconvincing.
Trump's tariff plan starts with a lie and goes down hill from there.
Tariffs are a tax, plain and simple --- paid directly to the US government by US importers and manufacturers who are ultimately reimbursed by consumers (you and me).
Huge new tariffs amount to nothing more than a massive tax increase combined with huge price increases (aka a spike in inflation) --- a double hit to the economy.
Show me a country that has ever taxed it's way to greatness.
[flagged]
A US president has some authority granted by congress to enact Tariffs. Donald Trump doesn't like being told no. Donald Trump is also very transactional. Ergo, he can implement them and then tell the entities under the tariffs he can make them go away if they give him what he wants.
Yeah. That's absolutely true. I think people under-appreciate their effectiveness as a negotiating tactic.
I'm not sure Donold is actually good at negotiations. The last time, the tariffs did not have the intended effect, we had to bail out farmers from reciprocal tariffs, and the deal to end it was not honored by the other side (did not buy anywhere near the amount of farm products they agreed to)
He is first and foremost a reality TV star, second an unilateral directory of a family real estate empire. All of his other "businesses" are largely brand deals for his name, most of which went bankrupt
I think the reason he reaches for things like tariffs is because he is lacks experience in and is unable to negotiate and build consensus, especially with members of congress. Tariffs are a unilateral action he can take, which is like how he has operated in his private family businesses
I'd be curious to hear Maggie Haberman's take. Trump has given her more access and interviews than others over something like 20 years