Tuesday, July 18, 2017

What An Ass: Trump Vows to Protect 'Made in America' Products



President Donald Trump promised on Monday he would take more legal and regulatory steps during the next six months to protect American manufacturers, lashing out against trade deals and trade practices he said have hurt U.S. companies, reports Reuters.

"I want to make a pledge to each and every one of you: No longer are we going to allow other countries to break the rules, steal our jobs and drain our wealth," Trump said to a group of crony capitalists.

"That includes cracking down on the predatory online sales of foreign goods, which is absolutely killing our shoppers and our shopping centers," he said.

The man has zero understanding of the basic concept that foreign trade is a powerful driver of a higher standard of living.

He talks as though he believes in the Lump of Labor Fallacy that if some lose their jobs because of foreign competition there will be no other jobs for them.

Even if other countries put tariffs and other barriers on products entering their countries, it is still to the benefit of the United States to allow goods to flow into this country.

Trump gets none of this. When it comes to economics, he is a full out idiot.
  
-RW

9 comments:

  1. You have to admit that Trump has the best intentions and there's nothing wrong with that. He may not be an economic heavyweight, but he's seen the devastating effects of currency manipulation and loss of American jobs. I have no idea if he's going about this the right way but at least he's trying. Might take a few attempts to get it right. Calling him an "ass" for trying to get this country back on track is a bit too much. Did you skip coffee this morning, Bob?

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    1. There's everything wrong with having the best intentions and then going off half-cocked, knee jerking, with no viable plan, no research, no concern about collateral damage, and way too much power to abuse.

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    2. He wants to ban Americans from buying products from sellers simply because they're "foreign."

      "Ass" is far too kind.

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    3. Re: Matt A,
      ─ You have to admit that Trump has the best intentions and there's nothing wrong with that. ─

      There's no excuse for applying wrong policies despite contrary evidence and economic law.

      ─ but he's seen the devastating effects of currency manipulation and loss of American jobs. ─

      Currency is one thing but there's no such thing as "American jobs". Jobs belong to employers, not to "Americans".

      ─ Calling him an "ass" for trying to get this country back on track is a bit too much. ─

      Again, applying wrongheaded policies which are based entirely on chauvinistic nearsightedness does a lot to make a level-headed person to conclude that the man IS indeed an a$$.

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    4. Trump's intentions... I've given this some thought. Maybe he just doesn't understand things but he doesn't understand them because he accepts the government run economy that created the problems in the first place. He's not trying to fix the underlying problems he's trying to patch them over.

      The underlying problem being that the engine of new things for people to do that allow them to increase their incomes has been decimated by government interference in the economy. Intentionally to stop disruption to the present players. But the current players are under pressure or moving their production overseas or both. It's old stuff, that's what's going to happen. The way to compensate is the new but the new threatens the status-quo and hence government stomps it out.

      So what choice is left? Tariffs and the like. Protectionism. Preserve what is left because there is no new. No new can come without Trump coming face to face with the powers that be. Changes that are politically impossible now, but are the only way to actually fix the problem.

      Government patches over the consequences of their self-serving actions. This is what Trump's protectionism is, a patch. As such well meaning or not he's embraced and accepted the role of government meddling in the economy.

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    5. @Jimmy Joe Meeker

      To the contrary, I view foreign trade as a "patch" that allows people to acquire goods that can't be economically produced domestically due to state interference (or other factors like resource availability.). So I think it makes little sense to frame protection as some sort of economic solution.

      And it's true that protectionism can benefit a select few cronies, but I don't really see that as a big motivation for Trump, either. To me, he's simply realized that his base is mostly raving nationalists who love the idea of these policies, and he makes himself more popular whenever he pushes them. I don't think he really knows or even cares about their ultimate effects.

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    6. I didn't offer protectionism as a solution. There's only one solution and we know what it is but it is not politically acceptable for it threatens those on top today with free market competition and disruption.

      I don't see the imported goods as a patch because it wasn't brought about through an attempt to solve any affordability issues. Cheap foreign made goods are a consequence of actions taken by government and central banks and a step a long a desired plan, not a patch. They allow for a slow orderly decay where people accept a greater and greater role for government in their lives while being able to blame foreigners instead of those who put it all into motion.

      Trump doesn't care for the ultimate effects. That is correct. He is aiming to patch today. Do something now. That's what the voting public always wants. It wants the same out any politician. That's how things keep going the way they do. One intervention begets another.


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  2. ─ "That includes cracking down on the predatory online sales of foreign goods, which is absolutely killing our shoppers and our shopping centers," [president Trump] said. ─

    Predatory Online sales... WHAT??? How in the world can a sale be "predatory"? Where is this man getting his concepts from, the funny papers? And how is it possible to argue that cheaper goods kill "shoppers"? What does that even mean?

    ─ When it comes to economics, he is a full out idiot. ─

    No kidding, Robert. I haven't read idiocy like the above from even the most recalcitrant of Marxists. This man is a complete fool, a certifiable ignoramus and a mountebank. There's little difference between his economic opinions and those of the prominent Flat Earth theory-peddler Wilbur Glenn Voliva.

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  3. When price inflation hits and they try to pin it on Trump he can say "Sure you pay a few extra bucks more than what you used to, but those extra dollars are putting more Americans to work. Surely your extra two bucks is worth your neighbor keeping his job."

    We all know this is a political move (probably a shrewd one) with little consideration for the dismal science.

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