So how is your trade war going?
If you would have told me this blog would ever give Ronald Reagan credit for anything other than saying “Orange County is where good Republicans go to die,” I would have laughed at you.
The Gipper delivered a radio address on the subject of Tariffs in 1985 that today’s TrumperGOP ought to relearn. If they want to argue in favor of Tariffs, ask why Russia was excluded from the list while our best allies were not spared.
August 31, 1985
My fellow Americans:
Last Wednesday I notified Congress of my decision not to impose either quotas or tariffs on foreign shoe imports into this country. I’d like to talk with you about that decision because the case of shoe imports illustrates why so-called protectionism is almost always self-destructive, doing more harm than good even to those it’s supposed to be helping.
Advocates of protectionism often ignore its huge hidden costs that far outweigh any temporary benefits. The Council of Economic Advisers estimates that the quotas on shoe imports that I turned down would have cost the American consumer nearly $3 billion, and there are other costs. Quotas would have entitled our trading partners to another $2 billion in compensation, or they would have retaliated, slapping quotas or tariffs on the products we sell to them. That would mean an immediate loss of American jobs and a dangerous step down the road to a trade war. Also, if our trading partners can’t sell their products here, they can’t afford to buy our exports and that means more lost jobs for Americans.
Protectionism almost always ends up making the protected industry weaker and less able to compete against foreign imports. Between 1977 and 1981, U.S. footwear manufacturers received protection from foreign imports, but at the end of that time they were more vulnerable to foreign competition than before. Instead of protectionism, we should call it destructionism. It destroys jobs, weakens our industries, harms exports, costs billions of dollars to consumers, and damages our overall economy.
Of course, free trade also means fair trade. We will move vigorously against unfair trading practices, using every legal recourse available to give American manufacturers a fair shake at home and open markets abroad. The balance of trade has become a very emotional issue; some claim our trade deficit has cost us millions of jobs. Congress is awash in bills calling for trade sanctions and retaliation. But look at the facts: In 1980 we had a trade surplus, and about 99 million Americans had jobs. Today we have a trade deficit, and almost 107 million Americans are working. Despite a growing trade deficit, we’ve gained over 7\1/2\ million new jobs since 1980. Our free, open, and growing economy has put more Americans to work in 1985 than ever before in our history. We’ve created more jobs in the last 3 years than Europe and Japan combined.
The surest way to destroy those jobs and throw Americans out of work is to start a trade war. And one of the first victims of a protectionist trade war will be America’s farmers, who have it tough enough already. A news story the other day said protectionist fervor on the Hill is stronger than it has been since the 1930’s. Well now, some of us remember the 1930’s, when the most destructive trade bill in history, the Smoot-Hawley tariff act, helped plunge this nation and the world into a decade of depression and despair. From now on, if the ghost of Smoot-Hawley rears its ugly head in Congress, if Congress crafts a depression-making bill, I’ll fight it. And whether it’s tax, trade, or farm legislation that comes across my desk, my primary consideration will be whether it is in the long-run economic interest of the United States. And any tax hike or spending bill or protectionist legislation that doesn’t meet the test of whether it advances America’s prosperity must and will be opposed.
America is getting stronger, not weaker. Our 23-percent tax rate cuts have given us 2\1/2\ years of economic expansion, a dramatic increase in after-tax personal income, and the most dramatic drop in poverty in 10 years. We must not retreat into the failed policies of the past, whether they be protectionism or higher taxes. Let’s go forward by cutting income tax rates again and building opportunity. On Monday we’ll be recognizing America’s working men and women. We’ve created over 7 million jobs in the last 4\1/2\ years. On this Labor Day, let’s challenge ourselves to create 10 million more in the next four. To do that, we’re going to have to be courageous, hopeful, hard working, and proud, which pretty well sums up what it means to be an American. There is one quality I left out: faith in the loving God who will continue to guide us on the optimistic course we’ve set.
Enjoy your Labor Day holiday. Until next week then, thanks for listening, and God bless you.
Nice try Dan.
More intellectual dishonesty .
I can see you now, “Man, I really got those conservatives this time.. I’m going to use Reagan to make those MAGA’s eat it big time.. hehehehe”
Reagan made these comments before the NAFTA and the wholesale frenzy of “Globalization “ that occurred under Clinton and accelerated under the NeoCon Bush Cheney admin and has been perpetuated on the American public by every successive administration with the exception of Trump 1 .
I’ll dig deeper in a minute but before you drag out an old Reagan speech, why don’t you acknowledge that speeches by Obama and Biden regarding the dire need to cut government waste and fraud? Trump actually does it and DEMS want to stage stupid demonstrations funded by the liberal “oligarchs “ that Dems rail against.. so hypocritical.. so pathetic.
Globalism and the “Free Trade” frenzy only resulted in what Ross Perot termed “ The Giant Sucking Sound” of American Jobs being offshored by greedy establishment business people who were more than happy to sell out Americans and race to find the cheapest labor sources they could find. The Chinese were more than happy to provide cheap slave labor in return for technology transfers to fuel increases in share prices of your precious overblown stock market.
They didn’t give two shits about the environment..
They don’t give two shits about sweetshops, child labor, safety issues..
Meanwhile , all of these countries slowly built up an accretion of trade barriers including Tariffs on US Goods. They dumped their products in the US and slowly forced American out of work . But hey.. the prices were low right?
Why are you so upset about imposing tariffs on China? They steal our intellectual property, artificially devalue their currency and engage in all kinds of anti American bullshit. Just watch the civil unrest that will result if they refuse to come to the table and negotiate.. The Chinese economy will tank, the people will be jobless and the shit will start to hit the fan. I’m all for it. They are our enemies Dan. Watch how they react..
How about Vietnam? Why are we sourcing anything from another authoritarian Communist country that imposes trade barriers on our products? We do prop up any of these murderous regimes? Thats what you are advocating for Dan.
Pathetic.
I guess there is always North Korea as a new source of cheap labor for American business..
You are simply blind to the fact that Trump insisting this as an opportunity to strip away the accumulated barnacles of stealth barriers to American trade and attempting to bring jobs back to our country. And you find this a bad thing.
The media hype is fueling a stock market correction.. one that would have happened regardless. The only bright spot is , six months from now your portfolio will be healthier than it has ever been after we negotiate new agreeements.
And that is the sole reason for the Tariffs.
Negotiating form a position of strength.
Don’t ever invoke Reagan . He was a fantastic President and your disparaging comments were typical of a pathetic attempt at snark that was a total fail.
Let’s talk aging about the whole thing in 6 months or a year.
You will just keep your eyes cast downward and refuse to admit the truth after the economy is firing on all cylinders again
Sad, really
I’m sure I just missed it, and I’m brand new to this blog and have no idea what else goes on here, but nothing you state disputes that Reagan was a free trade guy arguing FOR a trade deficit that would probably crap his pants at the thought of the “protectionism” happening right now (and sure, maybe what’s happened to get us here too). Per Reagan’s own words, “manufacturers received protection from foreign imports, but at the end of that time they were more vulnerable to foreign competition than before. Instead of protectionism, we should call it destructionism. It destroys jobs, weakens our industries, harms exports, costs billions of dollars to consumers, and damages our overall economy”. Either he was wrong, or you actually don’t agree with your hero, but the dissonance is obvious. The whole thing ding dong donny claims he is fixing (which I’m actually not that sad to see him try, if it’s even his true motive) started right there.
Lastly regarding ‘demonstrations funded by the liberal “oligarchs”‘, RIP Tea Party before it got astroturfed into a MAGA nazi nightmare wiping its ass with right to due process – that’s the oligarchy funded movement.
Maga & Republicans suck. Go f..k yourself.
Brilliant response. Demonstrative of the intellect of the readership of this waste of electrons.
Dan is now deleting comments he doesn’t like and will justify it with some lofty rhetoric about being kind to others and not “going low”. But a comment suggesting I insert something in my anus is somehow A-OK
one of your comments crossed a line; be smarter
4 more years bitches.
But what he’s done now is he’s gotten them in a position where they’re going to lose their access to the U.S. market if they don’t redress these types of inequities that they’ve done,” the former Reagan economic advisor continued. “And Trump is a master negotiator, and I’m watching these people calling into Trump — this is exactly what he does beautifully and wonderfully — and I believe he can negotiate freer trade deals, get those tariffs way, way down, much lower than they are now, by primarily those people lowering their tariffs and us keeping ours low or even going lower, and it’ll be a win, win.”
Arthur Laffer- Reagan Economic Advisor
MBA Stanford PhD in economics
All the talking head on MSNBC can’t be wrong right Dan?