American exporters in last-ditch attempt to stop Obama raising the trade barriers

Link
American exporters in last-ditch attempt to stop Obama raising the trade barriers - Times Online

I very much doubt that Obama will be permitted to carry this foolishness through.
Erecting Trade Barriers is the surest way of prolonging a recession.
It was tried during the 1930s and is believed to have contributed to a worsening of the situation.
Perhaps a more subtle way would be to insert a clause in the 'Bail out bill' stating that only products made by American Workers should be used in reconstruction.
Comments please.

jujuman13 said:

Link
American exporters in last-ditch attempt to stop Obama raising the trade barriers - Times Online

I very much doubt that Obama will be permitted to carry this foolishness through.
Erecting Trade Barriers is the surest way of prolonging a recession.
It was tried during the 1930s and is believed to have contributed to a worsening of the situation.
Perhaps a more subtle way would be to insert a clause in the 'Bail out bill' stating that only products made by American Workers should be used in reconstruction.
Comments please.

Click to expand...

More protectionist nonsense that won't help the economy.

History must not be on the mind of Congress or The President.

Oh crap. You have to be kidding. Hoover tried it with Smoot-Hawley, and it turned a rather nasty depression into the Great Depression. I seriously hope that, if this is what Obama intends to try, that he is stopped, and stopped quickly. There are times for tarrifs, such as leveling the playing field when another nation attempts to do an end run around free markets, but a severe recession is not the time to institute them.

Yuck. As a liberal, I hate this- but perhaps for different reasons than some of the other people here. Living in a poor state, everybody relies on cheap Chinese imports, whether or not they want to joke about the quality. If I am poor and can get two things with one being half the price of the other (with little visible difference in quality) then I'm going to buy the cheaper one ten times out of ten.

What happens when we stop the cheap imports and American manufacturers raise all their prices since their competition is gone? It's not like we will immediately have more money in our pockets to start paying for things.

jujuman13 said:

Link
American exporters in last-ditch attempt to stop Obama raising the trade barriers - Times Online

I very much doubt that Obama will be permitted to carry this foolishness through.
Erecting Trade Barriers is the surest way of prolonging a recession.
It was tried during the 1930s and is believed to have contributed to a worsening of the situation.
Perhaps a more subtle way would be to insert a clause in the 'Bail out bill' stating that only products made by American Workers should be used in reconstruction.
Comments please.

Click to expand...

American only products used? Wedge-anchors and a lot of metal products are imported from overseas. Let the vendors compete for sales like in any free-market. It drives down costs.

The fact that Obama even mentions this foolishness is an indication he is as he was defined by the right during the election; Obama is an economic illiterate.

His staff should purchase him a copy of Economics for Dummies.

As much as I despise cheap, low-quality Chinese imports, this is a terrible idea. As has already been noted, this has EXACERBATED economic recessions in the past, NOT made them better.

It is obvious President Obama failed history class. He doesn't know how many men have been President of the United States and now he seems completely unaware of the historical effects of protectionism in economic recessions.

Protectionism is one of the most horrid government policies that still infests our economy. I hope the Europeans challenge this at the WTO.

jujuman13 said:

Link
American exporters in last-ditch attempt to stop Obama raising the trade barriers - Times Online

I very much doubt that Obama will be permitted to carry this foolishness through.
Erecting Trade Barriers is the surest way of prolonging a recession.
It was tried during the 1930s and is believed to have contributed to a worsening of the situation.
Perhaps a more subtle way would be to insert a clause in the 'Bail out bill' stating that only products made by American Workers should be used in reconstruction.
Comments please.

Click to expand...

I think it is a good idea.Screw the anti-American world trade. Perhaps the idea behind requiring American steel to be used for tax payer funded projects is help employ Americans. I do not want tax dollars being used to help foreign nations and foreign companies(an outsourced company is no longer American). We should get out of world trade,we seemed to be doing fine before it



American exporters in last-ditch attempt to stop Obama raising the trade barriers - Times Online
A coalition of leading American exporters, including Boeing, Caterpillar and General Electric, is trying to stop a “Buy America” clause being included in President Obama’s $825 billion stimulus package.

The American Steel First Act would ensure that only US-made steel was used in $64 billion of federally funded infrastructure projects.

Hey, what better way to reduce carbom emissions than stifling the national economy?

We have seen how depressed economies in eastern Europe have successfully led to reduce carbon emissions there, lets try it here, too, right?

:roll:

LOL. Obama looks like Bush.

Remember Bush's tariffs on steel?

What a tool. Let's pay more for inferior goods!

I am completely unsure of the details, but if this is just a requirement that those who receive bailout funds are required to buy American first while they are spending the money, then I have no problem with it. It is small small potatoes, and not even what I would call classic protectionism (Tariffs or Quotas and such).
If, however, the bailouts are being used as a rationale to raise REAL protectionist barriers, then I have a huge problem with them.