Thoughts?

We're starting to export as we should with the depreciating dollar, but unfortunately we continue to import like it's still strong.

It sounds like basic marco economics applied to our current situation. I think protectionism is good. I don't think all trade should be stopped, but I'd like to see the American worker put first.

:unsure:

That second sentence makes me doubt you know how to apply "basic macro economics".

Tell me, why should I care more about the guys making T-Shirts in Alabama than the guys making T-Shirts in Shanghai?

Well, there are different ways to apply these concepts according to the outcome you wish to acheive. If you are the guy in Alabama you would care about losing your job to the guy in Shanghai. The more we learn to depend on other countries, if their economy falters, so will ours. Plus Shanghai is in China, China is Communist, Communism wants to spread, the more you put money into it the stronger it gets and the money can be used for the military as its not truly a free market. We are mostly importing now for reasons listed in the original post, which means our money is being exported.

So I know how to apply these concepts, I just would take it in a different direction than you would. A globalists knows the same principles, and uses them in the opposite direction.

If we cut ourselves off from the global market we guarantee that we will be poor. The reason that isolated nations are less affected by global economic downturns is that they didn't have any of that wealth to lose in the first place.

The only thing "communist" about the PRC is the name of the governing party.

Hate to break it to you, but the Cold War really has ended. You won't find another state in the same position as the USSR. Not even the PRC.

...and so?

The only direction that economic isolationism will take us is down.



And you still haven't explained to me why I should care more about the jobs of American T-Shirt makers than Chinese T-Shirt makers. Why I should have to shell out more money for plants in this country to stay open when I could get my clothes cheaper from across the Pacific.

I don't know you. I don't know why YOU should care. A Government's first duty is to its own citizens, and a citizen should be more loyal to other citizens than to foreign citizens, that is, if they have any sense of patriotism. If you buy in a protectionist American economy, that money is more likely to stay in the American economy and therefore more likely to come back to you or other Americans instead of going to Chinese nucleur weapons trashed away in a globalist garbage bag never to return.

Plus China is still strongly Communist in many aspects other than name, its market socialism, I explained that in the other thread, you may want to read it.

But what about goods have a derived demand? What if the basic resources get cut off by an angry country. Can you say stalemate! Not only will the resources themselves be lost, but other products which depend on them. When the economy could have been structured otherwise.

Those are some reasons why we should encourage an America first policy. Nowhere am I saying to outlaw global trade btw, I'm just saying to change the game. If we had laws which encouraged people to look inside before outside I would certainly support them, no doubt! Our economy will be more stable if we think "America first, world second." Every country should put their home country in the same fashion.

And the vast majority of Americans are better off if they aren't restricted in what they can import and at what price. Hell, in the long term, even the workers that can't compete with that foreign labor end up better off as they move to specialize in fields in which they have more of an edge.

That's a great argument against nationalism/patriotism.

No, not more likely to come back to me. If I'm allowed to buy on the global market I'm able to spend less of my money for individual items, and purchase more stuff total. Because protectionist economies cause large price hikes, the ultimate result is that everyone is poorer.

I don't give a damn if they get more tax revenue because of the trade. We end up more prosperous ourselves by not shooting ourselves in the foot with tariffs.

Statements like these need hyperlinks.

Oh God, you're right, Russia controls Europe's gas supply, doesn't it? It's got Europe by the balls because it can cut off that gas supply at any moment!

I have a solution, why doesn't Europe just stop importing gas. Yeah, by doing exactly what Russia threatens, Russia won't have that power anymore! Europe's economy will implode, but damn, they'll be safe from those Russians.

You need steel to make buildings. Raising steel tariffs won't somehow increase our access to steel, it will just make it more expensive and mean that we can build fewer buildings.

The biggest one is so that we can be short-sighted self-destructive assholes.

Laws like that have been responsible for some of the greatest financial disasters and lost opportunity in our history, including the Great Depression.

That's why wars are fought.