If you ask me, the better solution is not exactly tariffs (though they do have their place, they almost definately end up being used inappropriately. The import tariff on sugar being a noteworthy example.) but instead improved labor law.
You know, coming down hard and saying "look bitches, You are abusing the @#$% out of H1B visas. Those are not intended to give you access to an endless sea of foreign laborers at low low prices. They are intended to bring skilled labor to the US, which you then pay going local market rate for." as well as "No, you don't get to outsource 99% of your workforce to bumfuckistan and still call yourself an american company making american jobs."
That, coupled with stronger controls concerning international accounting practices (No, We WONT accept that your money is fungible. You WILL keep separate ledgers for all sales and transactions conducted with US citizens, and you WILL pay appropriate taxation on that ledger, etc, and if you dont, we will fine the living shit out of you until you do.) would go a very long way.
Much of the problems in the US concerning skilled labor and manufacturing jobs comes from the simple fact that the US Economy is so much more powerful than other countries, meaning the same skill sets in other countries are far more inexpensive than here, because the costs of living here are much higher here. Other ancillary factors are environmental protection costs (you can't just dump industrial waste into a river and be done with it, like china does) and increased power of NIMBYisms. (Yes, getting a US steel mill would be great for chicago and detroit, but where are you going to build it!? All that smoke, and noise! Oh my!)
To make "America great again", then the middle class needs to be expanded again. This is exactly counter to the goals of pretty much any major international corporation, which makes most of its profits by exploiting disparities in global economies. EG-- Hiring the Indian IT guys in Bangalore to run the tech support center, instead of american school kids, because they cost factions of the dollar. These international companies are international for a reason, yo. They hold assets in multiple countries for a reason yo. That reason is NOT to make life better for middle class people by enriching them financially through quality employment remuneration. It is to further enrich themselves and their stock holders, by basically exploiting and defrauding these middle class people, and keeping the increases from improved manufacturing and process improvements all to themselves, then sheltering that profit through international tax schemes.
This direct disparity between what is actually necessary for america to be great again(tm), and what Trump and Co are likely to attempt, is why I just can't take the man seriously, even when I try very hard to, out of fairness.
America had its "gilded age" when it was on the profiting side of trade tariffs, labor exploitation, etc-- and industrial giants had a vested interest in improving the local labor force over enabling foriegn labor forces, to maintain that dominance. -- The status quo has changed, and now industrial giants want to maximize foriegn labor pools because they are significantly less expensive to make use of, but still want to suck money out of rich american wallets. The resulting trend has been the massive contraction of the american middle class, the rise of the 1%, and a terribly lethargic american economy.
To make america great again, Trump is going to have to piss off basically every multinational company on the planet, by telling them that they cant do that anymore.
It will never happen.
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Topic: Murrican Politics Megathread 2016: There Will Be Hell Toupée (Read 1587735 times)