General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Offshoring: Should America be impoverished in order to help other populations become better off? [View all]Zalatix
(8,994 posts)Export dependent economy, you say? Once again, the documented facts contradict that.
Do you even realize how much greater our imports are than our exports? Comparing exports to imports, we have NEGATIVE exports.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/balance-of-trade
[img]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Trade_Balance_1980_2010.svg[/img]
Our imports have been vastly outpacing our exports. The math cannot be denied. You compare tariffs on our side to outright embargoes on the other side... but if we slapped an outright embargo to match theirs, here is the hard core math.
BOOM, there goes a big chunk of the Middle East's oil exports.
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3887
BOOM, there goes 20% of China's exports.
http://www.starmass.com/china_review/imports_exports/china_top_export_market.htm
BOOM, there goes 70% of Canada's exports.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/daily-mix/us-will-be-canadas-top-export-market-in-2040/article2044537/
Plus, we would IMMEDIATELY stop the flow of jobs out of this country due to imports, which is far greater than the jobs that are coming in due to exports.
My point? Raise tariffs on stuff that we're outsourcing. And if the other side decides to get nasty, BLOCK EVERYTHING from that country, period. Look at the trade deficit we're running with China, Europe and Brazil. They have more to lose.
As for my link, the conclusions were not ridiculous, you are leaving out the whole story. Imports fell by roughly the same amount as exports. GDP also fell.
The only time the US can get in trouble with tariffs is when we half-ass it.
I'm not sure what the point of your manipulation of the facts is? Are you trying to argue in favor of America having a high and ruinous trade deficit? Perhaps, and I don't even expect an answer to this because it's far too damaging to your argument, you'd rather see the US dollar continue to decline until imports are too expensive because of import price inflation. And yes, the dollar is losing value BECAUSE of outsourcing.
So you have two choices here. Tariffs, or the dollar eventually devalues into oblivion and imports stop because they become too expensive. Which will you choose? Again, I'm not expecting much of an answer to that because it so completely closes the book on outsourcing... and reality does not present an option #3.