Could these tariffs be considered fraud, waste, and abuse?

One question.
While our country was growing and becoming stronger and more powerful, on tariffs , did we go to income tax on our population?
Why did the GREAT DEPRESSION happen? Why did we go off the gold and silver standards to back our money?
When you can answer that , we might start to get along.
Remember it all happened within 30 years.

...... that one question is getting pretty close to several questions.........

Can you answer one?
Any one question?

It's all about the same thing.
Can you answer any part of it?

Sure. I can answer this one. Yes, we went to income tax instead of tariffs. Why? Because the liberals wanted to stick it to rich, the same as always.



https://millercenter.org/president/wilson/domestic-affairs

Tarriffs are a tax on the consumer.
Same end result as a VAT or a GST,only a much sneakier way of doing it.

So the answer to a more powerful and strong county is tariffs. When all countries do them, will they all be powerful and strong? Tariffs are just a tax that make it possible for domestic suppliers to charge consumers more. The U.S. became more powerful primarily due to the industrial revolution.

The Federal government does so much more then it did in 1912 and the only way to go back to tariffs as the main source of revenue would be unacceptable to 99 percent of current voters.

Do you really believe that?
Fact is our products aren't sold to other countries like they used to be.
Why do you think everything you buy is from China, Japan, Germany, and all the other countries in the world?
Why are you getting scam calls all day long from other countries?
When was the last time you've read MADE IN AMERICA on anything ?

So, OW, think about this for a minute. WHY are there less items that are produced here and exported? WHY do we import so many more?

What is the reason for it?

You really have to ask?
We all know why.
The government found a way to make us all slaves to their will.
When was the last time truth was spoken by our government?
How many treaties were broken with the Indians?
Granted most were caused by greedy interlopers , and caused most.
But our government hasn't been honest to the people since they found a way to tax them to death.
Blame it on the rich, all you want, but they had the money to build everything we have today.
Never will say they aren't corrupt, but there was never a job offered by a poor man.

This last year and a half , have opened your eyes to a lot of waste and theft.

This has been going on for a long time, even before JFK was President.
Built to control all of us.
No more one income to support a family, it's against the law to discipline a child.
Just stop and think about what's happened in the last 16 years.

Yes, I do have to ask, as I still don't think you are getting it.

You will NEVER hear me blame the rich or big business.... I agree with you on that point!

And I don't really much disagree with anything else you have said either. The government IS corrupt. The government has made most people slaves to the government. There are untold amounts of waste and theft in the government. All of that is true.

But I think you are missing the big picture. And the big picture is a big part of why tariffs will never work.

WHY is it hard to support a family on one income anymore?

WHY, with the exception of advanced products such as semiconductors, computer components, etc., do we not export the goods we used to export?

WHY do we import so much from countries like China or Vietnam?

(Hint: the government IS involved in the answer, but that is only part of it.)

Because our government is corrupt!
There's no reason we can't make everything we need right here.
But the government gets kick backs if a company will send their products over seas to be made by third world countries.
I remember when our government gave NIKE 20% off their taxed income, if they sent their shoes to Honduras to be made !
So now the government makes money off the $ 3-400 shoes that are made for $5.00.
Remember sales tax?

I suppose you are referring to a trade deal that allowed U.S. companies to avoid paying import tariffs if they produced their product in a foreign country that was a member country of the agreement. It was a central American trade deal implemented by Bush 2.

But, that's not what caused companies to produce overseas. They already were. That just influenced WHAT foreign countries they were producing their goods in.

There is one reason U.S. companies produce so much overseas nowadays. Cost. That is the same reason U.S. retailers import so many items from overseas and why manufacturing of many items here has dried up.

But it's not government corruption that causes it to be more cost efficient for manufacturers to manufacture overseas, or for retailers to import from overseas.

There are 2 main contributing factors.

Ok, you want to blame government, here is your chance.

1) Government overregulation. Of course, the EPA is the big one. Clean air rules, clean water rules, greenhouse gas rules, hazmat rules, etc. etc. But let's not forget all the other government agencies that have put manufacturers in a stranglehold.

OSHA: PPE, training, record-keeping, etc.
DOE: Efficiency, compliance, etc.
DOL: Minimum wage, OT, etc.
CPSC: Testing, labeling.

And I could keep going.....

None of these regulations are cheap to comply with, and that causes the cost of manufacturing here to skyrocket. You think China cares if some never-before-heard-of-snail is harmed by a little bit of runoff? You think Vietnam cares about the efficiency of the machinery ran in plants there?

2) Labor Unions

We all know that union workers get paid ridiculous wages, and as any good union fan man will gladly tell ya, unions drive up the wages for non-union jobs as well. Do you think Nike wants to pay JaMarkus $35 an hour to make a pair of tennis shoes, or would they rather pay Nguyen Mihn $2.50 and hour to make the same pair of shoes? Once you add in the overhead (including all the stuff mentioned in #1 above) you can be looking at a total cost of nearly $50 to make one pair of shoes in the U.S. that costs around $10 all told in Vietnam.

So... if it cost Nike, say $1bil to manufacture XX number of shoes in Vietnam... it would cost them closer to $5bil to do so here.

Starting to understand WHY so much stuff is imported here? The same is true of exports. Do you think Australia is gonna pay $50 to import a pair of shoes from the U.S., or $10 to do so from VN?

So, just slap a tariff bandaid on it, right? In the scenario above, which IS based on actual, real numbers... we would need to impose a 400% tariff on Vietnam to equal the playing field. So what does that mean for you, as a consumer? Well... as long as you are willing to pay 400% more for your next pair of shoes, then I guess you'd be all for it.

I, on the other hand, would prefer to let Charlie make the sneakers. Let our U.S. workers produce the goods and services that are valuable enough to be able to withstand the high costs of doing business here in the U.S. The vechiles, the semiconductors, the software...the services.... while importing cheap, throwaway junk from the cheap, throwaway countries.