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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   34084 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 9, 2024

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Yeah, it does seem like this overtime suggestion is pretty stupid all around.

In regards to tariffs, why do you think they are bad? Yes, in theory, the United States should have a comparative advantage in something. But when we look at the staggering trade deficit, it seems like this isn't really true. We get goods from China, we give them money, they buy assets. China develops and the US falls further behind. Our "comparative advantage" is debt.

Free trade has destroyed the American blue collar worker and the Rust Belt. The idea that we can compensate for these losses via tax redistribution and job training has been proven false. When we look at the industrial policy of the last 30 years, do we really say "yes, more of this please"?

I'd be willing to accept less prosperity for more social stability and supply chain robustness.

We get goods from China, we give them money, they buy assets. China develops and the US falls further behind. Our "comparative advantage" is debt.

Maybe I'm economically naive, but I think the goods we get from them have utility, and make us better. All they get from the deal is dollars.

Chinese manufacturing is eating the world. Do we want to have a domestic steel industry? Because China makes 12x as much steel as the United States. How about cars? China makes 3x as many.

Rinse and repeat for almost every single manufactured thing. There lead only grows with each passing year.

At first, we built things in China because they were cheap. Now we build them in China because we lack the ability to do it domestically.

I'd say they also get factories and expertise.

We get goods from China, we give them money which they use to buy assets. China develops and the US falls further behind. Our "comparative advantage" is debt.

China's got a long way to go before the US could be "behind".

Free trade has destroyed the American blue collar worker and the Rust Belt.

Wage and price regulations, environmental regulations, and general wealth, have destroyed the Rust Belt. If factory workers elsewhere are making $15/day and yours are making $15/hr, and shipping is cheap, you can't compete at factory work. Blocking that off with tariffs makes everyone (possibly excepting the factory workers who would have lost their jobs) poorer.

The idea that we can compensate for these losses via tax redistribution and job training has been proven false. When we look at the industrial policy of the last 30 years, do we really say "yes, more of this please"?

You can't separate industrial policy from the rest of the economy. Would you rather have had the 1970s forever?

Blocking that off with tariffs makes everyone (possibly excepting the factory workers who would have lost their jobs) poorer.

But low Gini coefficients usually make places nicer to live in them. So it also should be included in the calculation. As an IT - my experience has shown me so far that optimizing for a single variable is rarely the wisest thing to do.

But low Gini coefficients usually make places nicer to live in them.

I don't believe that.

I think it's the other way around. High Gini index countries are all shitholes (or city states with distorted demographics), but low Gini index countries can be the best first world countries, regular second world countries or countries destroyed by a war.

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