Tariffs ... help me understand

KevinKohler · Nov 16, 2016

cpwill said:
It's not a solution for anything, unless you happen to be the owner of an uncompetitive but politically connected industry, and want government to steer money from consumers pockets to your own.

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I disagree, at least in principle. Placing a tariff that accounts for the variance in COB from one country to the US will bring jobs back, so long as doing so does not cost more over 5 years than the initial investment in robotics. And for now, it won't. And the prices won't go up, because people won't be able to afford those goods, or as much of them, or a competitor will undercut those prices.

cpwill · Nov 16, 2016

KevinKohler said:
I disagree, at least in principle. Placing a tariff that accounts for the variance in COB from one country to the US will bring jobs back

No, it won't. All it will do is spike consumer prices and cost jobs. Linked the history on this earlier. Obama tried this and we lost ~2 jobs for everyone we "saved", at a cost of $1.8 million to the US economy. The last time we tried it at the scale that Trump is suggesting, it helped to kick-start the Great Depression.

so long as doing so does not cost more over 5 years than the initial investment in robotics. And for now, it won't. And the prices won't go up, because people won't be able to afford those goods, or as much of them, or a competitor will undercut those prices.

You cannot reduce prices below the price of production and maintain production. And those robotics? They're already designed. It's just a matter of purchasing - if you actually bring production back.

You have a case of gangrene in your arm, and your solution is to shoot yourself in the stomach. It's a bad idea.