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Post by graybeard on Feb 9, 2010 8:16:04 GMT -6
I have been thinking about this, but haven't thought it through, so please help me visualize a different future. We are bleeding jobs and wealth by "free trade," as you know.
What if we went to 100% inspection of all imports - paid by the importers - and allowed only legal immigrants to stay? What if we also applied other barriers to finished good imports, as done by most Asians? Would we prosper?
We are a large enough country with a large enough market to sustain mass production of everything. We need be dependent on imports for only a few items: bananas, coffee and other tropical fruits, energy, titanium and some other raw materials.
Would we be an isolated island of wealth, would we falter, or would other countries like Communist China be forced to create their own consumer markets, thereby raising all boats?
Would wealth distribution move up, or down?
GB
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Feb 9, 2010 10:21:27 GMT -6
I have been thinking about this, but haven't thought it through, so please help me visualize a different future. We are bleeding jobs and wealth by "free trade," as you know. What if we went to 100% inspection of all imports - paid by the importers - and allowed only legal immigrants to stay? What if we also applied other barriers to finished good imports, as done by most Asians? Would we prosper? We are a large enough country with a large enough market to sustain mass production of everything. We need be dependent on imports for only a few items: bananas, coffee and other tropical fruits, energy, titanium and some other raw materials. Would we be an isolated island of wealth, would we falter, or would other countries like Communist China be forced to create their own consumer markets, thereby raising all boats? We'd become more wealthy, that's for sure. Wealth distribution would move downward, because the demand for American labor would increase if we produced our own goods. That increased demand for American labor would increase American employment and wages. Since Corporate America would have to pay more for labor, they'd have to share more of their sales revenue with workers. Workers, however, would have more money to purchase goods and services, thus increasing the sale of American goods and services. The increased revenue would offset much of the decrease in profit margins received by American business and Corporations. (It might even completely offset it.) The increased purchasing power of Americans would continue to increase production demand, leading to further hiring of American workers and further increases in individual and aggregate wages. And this could all be achieved by putting large tariffs on foreign imports of everything we can already produce ourselves in sufficient amounts. What we'd lose in the way of exports through retaliatory tariffs would be a pittance, compared to what we'd gain by recapturing our own consumer market for American producers. With an increase in worker income and wage-financed spending power, we'd be able to reduce credit-financed spending by individuals, business, and government. We'd also reduce the power and influence of the financial industry, by decreasing the demand for credit-financing of everything. Wealth would be redistributed downward, though it would be mainly the result of the non-rich becoming better off, not from the rich becoming less rich. The result would be more aggregate wealth in total--with most of the new wealth going to the non-rich.
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Post by fredorbob on Feb 9, 2010 12:38:43 GMT -6
"What if We Closed Our Borders?"
Good things would happen.
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Post by agito on Feb 9, 2010 15:13:37 GMT -6
well- how would imports on oil work in this scenario?
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Post by fredorbob on Feb 16, 2010 15:38:05 GMT -6
well- how would imports on oil work in this scenario? Supply would eventually meet demand. People who really have no faith in basic economic theory like supply and demand, would disagree.
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Post by agito on Feb 16, 2010 16:54:51 GMT -6
uh... i was thinking demand would meet supply.
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Post by fredorbob on Mar 1, 2010 7:31:49 GMT -6
Demand drives supply.
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Post by graybeard on Mar 1, 2010 10:14:12 GMT -6
"well- how would imports on oil work in this scenario? "
We import only crude oil, not value added products like diesel and gasoline, so that would continue.
Like my original post posited: "We need be dependent on imports for only a few items: bananas, coffee and other tropical fruits, --energy-- titanium and some other raw materials."
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