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  1. Hi there... Can you please quickly check to make sure your email address is up to date here? Just in case we need to reach out to you or you lose your password. Muchero thanks!

FOUND! A free trade pub. amazin', but true!

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by docspor, Oct 24, 2024.

  1. docspor

    docspor GC Hall of Fame

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    IMO, a much higher tax on fossil fuels rather than subsidies on EVs, or CAFE standards would be far more beneficial.
    Greg Mankiw's Blog: The Pigou Club Manifesto

    we've kinda lost the thread. the fact that we subsidize & that China subsidizes is not a good reason to make people worse off by engaging in protectionism. Brazil subsidizing the shit outta coffee production makes us better off! & my BIL is 1 of the very, very few US coffee growers.

    there are less than 2m auto workers here & 92% of us own cars. seems cheap EVs are a huge net win for the US.
     
    Last edited: Oct 24, 2024
  2. Gatorrick22

    Gatorrick22 GC Hall of Fame

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    The Dems version of "free trade" is tantamount to dumbazz trade deals where the American worker's job gets shipped to China.

    China has massive tariffs and trade barriers, and they are winning... But you Dems, the defenders of union jobs, already know that, right? :rolleyes:

    I say tariff everyone that rips us off or tries to dump goods into our country. And yes, I am for a sovereign wealth fund for all Americans.
     
  3. docspor

    docspor GC Hall of Fame

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    Jobs jobs jobs….nothing else matters …didn’t know you were such a fan of welfare. I have to compete with the Chinese more than prob anyone on here & I’m not crying for protection. Hell I’m fixin to try to hire another Chinese Economist.
     
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  4. l_boy

    l_boy 5500

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    So you are for subsidies, depending on the use case and situation, but you are not for tariffs, which are essentially the mirror image, regardless of the use case or situation.

    You are for taxes on negative externalities like pollutions (as am I) but you are against a tariff against a country that produces cheaper goods because they don’t tax negative externalities, and may even subsidize them.

    This reminds me of republicans who hate the idea of taxing social security but are ok with cutting benefits but democrats who are ok with taxing social security but don’t cut benefits - when they both get you to the same place.
     
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  5. docspor

    docspor GC Hall of Fame

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    the prob with this arg is subsides, taxes & tariffs are almost never employed for the greater good. You are confusing theory with reality. Fentanyl can be tremendously beneficial.
    Also, I yet again said I was not opposed to tariffs way back in post #15. Tools are not inherently good or bad.
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2024
  6. dangolegators

    dangolegators GC Hall of Fame

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    I don't think we've lost the thread by talking about subsidies, which are similar to tariffs, which is what your thread is about. It's protectionism either way. The issue is what we choose to subsidize. It would make no sense for us to subsidize our coffee bean industry (if we even have one) because we don't have the climate for it and dependence on other countries for coffee is not a big deal for our national security and economy. And we've long subsidized our sugar industry, which is stupid, and just crony capitalism. But technology like EVs is a different story. We need to be able to make our own EVs. We can't be totally dependent on adversaries for important technologies.
     
  7. 92gator

    92gator GC Hall of Fame

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    *free for we, but not for thee*, is stupidity, not principled.
     
  8. 92gator

    92gator GC Hall of Fame

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    Perhsps if there were some reciprocity somewhere, the notion might be worth entertaining.

    Alas Bubba can't cross the southern border (much less the northern one) and seek honest employment, why ought we offer such a courtesy--at the expense of our own citizens?

    ....but hey, I'm all for the free market of ideas.

    Campaign on it.

    Let's have that convo for real, rather than the dems pretending to be for or against the border, according to the audience in attendance (then actively seeking to grant votes to illegals, between election cycles).
     
  9. l_boy

    l_boy 5500

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    Subsidies and Tariffs benefit some and hurt others. I am not sure how to define greater good. Is it for the country? The world? Is it greater good if the subsidy/tariff leads increased growth and productivity? Solar energy has had subsidies, but now they cost competitive and cleaner, and will continue to get more efficient. Is that good?

    With pharma you have patent monopolies, and extreme tariffs - foreign countries can’t sell the same drugs back to the US at cheaper prices. It drives up costs, but also increases profits and incentives, and possibly R&D. Is it a net positive? Impossible to say.


    This statement is a far cry from the OP and even post 15. But in the end, I probably agree with you more on this issue than disagree.
     
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  10. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    So are you implying we do our thing so we can have/keep the most control over the world?
     
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  11. WarDamnGator

    WarDamnGator GC Hall of Fame

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    I read it as “trade publication”… like he got a subscription to “modern roofing” for free.
     
  12. gatorpa

    gatorpa GC Hall of Fame

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    We hardly have control over most of the world.

    I don’t think we should sit back a let China take control.
    Unless you want a totalitarian regime doing that you should agree.
     
  13. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    We have economic sanctions on 1/3rd of the nations on earth, and some sort of sanction over 60% of the developing world. Why wouldn't China
    look like an attractive trading partner to some country that falls into that very large and ever expanding group? It certainly seems like we are trying to control most of the world through economic or military intimidation and punishing the ones that dont fall in line. So if you are someone that isnt us, or China, it probably seems like a wash in who is the authoritarian bully throwing its weight around. Shit, China probably looks like the more reasonable choice if you are outside the so-called "West."
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2024
  14. Gatorrick22

    Gatorrick22 GC Hall of Fame

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    Lol... the Dems put us in the recession and there are NO new jobs... I like the idea of putting the tariff money into a National Sovereign wealth fund.
     
  15. docspor

    docspor GC Hall of Fame

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    No jobs is a vast improvement over welfare jobs that cost $820,000. Gonna need that wealth fund to pursue Trump's commie dreams.

    https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/trum...ut-at-a-yuge-cost-to-consumers-of-820000-job/

    Despite the increase in domestic production and employment, the costs of these 2018 tariffs are substantial: in a partial equilibrium setting, we estimate increased annual consumer costs of around $1.5 billion, or roughly $820,000 per job created.


    Protectionism. Like welfare but far more costly!!