by A.J.(Tony) Powell
TRUMPS TARIFFS – The ‘Fake News Media’ talk like President Donald Trump ‘invented’ tariffs, which, of course, is a lie.
The truth? The first protective tariff was passed by Congress back in 1816. Here are a few ‘facts’ along with a couple of opinions. Tariffs have been controversial in the USA for hundreds of years. Way back in 1828 the infamous “Tariff of Abominations” was created to protect industry in the northern states.
Just like today, northern industries couldn’t compete with low-priced imports. The South, which had no manufacturing industries, labeled the 38% tax on almost all imports (Mostly from Britain) as the ‘Tariff of Abominations’.
Today the ‘fake news’ rants about ‘retaliation’ from China. Back then, the retaliation was from the British who said; without industrial sales to America, we can’t buy your cotton and other produce, which, of course, crippled the economy in the south. These days, the Fake News falsely reports that “It’s American Consumers who ultimately pay these tariffs”. They offer an example where a 20% tariff on imports from China means that it is the people in the USA who will pay the tariff.
Of course, there’s the ‘Truth’ then there’s the ‘Whole Truth’. I don’t know much about ‘economics’, or ‘international commerce’, so I’ll rely on, what I see as ‘common sense’. If you spend $100 at WalMart, some of that money must stay in the store, some must go to the millionaires who manage and own WalMart, some probably goes to taxes. But the rest of it goes to China. As I See It, that means that American Dollars are financing jobs in China, building factories in China, paying taxes to support the Chinese Dictatorship, as well as all the international shipping, all with our money.
Is there an alternative? I think there is. Fake News doesn’t ask, “Who are these American ‘buyers’?. I don’t think China, or any other country, sends their stuff over here and then demands payment from whomever – do they? Isn’t it greedy, self-serving American millionaires, who line their own pockets at the expense of American workers? One billionaires’ workers, are another billionaires’ customers – aren’t they?
As I See It, why wouldn’t they choose ‘America (Americans) First’? Seems ‘Un-American’ to me! That $100 we spend at WalMart, should stay it America – all of it!
The solution? A simple system of ‘credits’. If you want to buy from a foreign country, then you buy credits from an American Company who ‘sells’ to a foreign country.
It’s that simple!
The Billionaires at WalMart can continue to send ‘trillions’ of American dollars to foreign governments if they want to, as long as they can ‘partner up’ with an American Industry which which brings those dollars back.
’til next time. Email Us At:[email protected]
