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Aratus
05-29-2008, 08:52 AM
i feel i must think the implications of tariffs thru...

WRellim
05-29-2008, 10:23 AM
i feel i must think the implications of tariffs thru...

Tariffs, like ALL forms of taxes (or indeed, any and ALL forms of government action) can be used judiciously for the benefit of a country & society ...or in an abusive and damaging fashion.

They are a dangerous tool.

But many tools are dangerous.

I can use a hammer to appropriately hammer nails... but a psychopath can use it to bludgeon someone to death.

I can use a chainsaw in a very productive manner to cut down trees, and provide wood for building and to heat my home... but in the hands of a psychopath, the same chainsaw could be used for horrific crimes.

Should we therefore BAN hammers and chainsaws?

Or should me do our best to keep PSYCHOPATHS (and other people who would use them harmfully) away from them?


I would say the same is true of all government roles -- and Tariffs & Taxes among them... where we have failed is in allowing dangerous individuals to have charge of them (either putting them in place OR removing them in an injudicious manner).

For example, the granting of "Most Favored Nation" status to China (essentially lifting all tariffs and restrictions) fueled the injudicious transfer of such a vast amount of manufacturing plants from the US to China. Had that NOT occurred, the transfer would have been much slower and easier to manage or adapt to; but combined with our penchant for deficit financing, the result has been disastrous.

Conversely, setting up HIGH tariffs in an equally (but obverse) fashion, could cause other disastrous problems as well.


P.S. And it is not merely the "psychopaths" that can cause damage with dangerous tools. Children can easily injure themselves, their playmates, their homes, etc -- with something as simple and small (but inherently dangerous) as a hammer. Likewise a fool can fatally injure themselves (or others) with a chainsaw (or any saw or tool). But do we blame the tools? Or the Fools who misuse them?

Aratus
05-30-2008, 07:58 AM
very high tariffs have a direct correlation to very low tariffs.
very high tariffs when in place too long have very low tariffs
being in place to heal a trading war or breech. sometimes
in the 1800s we see the reasons for a hike of the tariffs being
inately not a given policy but greed and graft. you raise the
rates, you briefly quickly pull in more monies. someone taking
a satchel of money in the auld days to europe or latin america
is akin to someone today going to tahiti. excessive greed ups
a rate. an aggrandizing desire for fast cash can trigger a trade
war on a sitting president and this is an ancient 1800s lore...

Aratus
05-30-2008, 08:00 AM
the wit and wisdom of potus bill mckinley also can apply to today... our here and now!!!

familydog
05-30-2008, 08:25 AM
Ron Paul supports tariffs.

Aratus
05-30-2008, 09:01 AM
which is very good of him... some tariffs are by nature beneficial. others are not.

Aratus
08-14-2008, 03:49 PM
tariffs... i think i sorta understand tariffs...

No1ButPaul08
08-14-2008, 03:56 PM
Ron Paul supports tariffs.

nonsense


Time and time again, history proves that tariffs don’t work

Protectionism Vs. Liberty (http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul21.html)