Hatch: Trump steel and aluminum tariffs are a 'tax hike on Americans'

[txradioguy]

You are not seeing the forest for all the trees.

Answer me this:  Does the defense of this country strengthen or weaken when we have a strong domestic auto, steel and aluminum industry?

Doesn't much matter if people can't afford to buy the auto or the aluminum because the prices have skyrocketed due to tariffs.

Who are the winners and losers in that case?

It's not the government's job to pick the winners and losers in a free market economy.

[Concerned]

It's not the government's job to pick the winners and losers in a free market economy.

The above bears repeating IMO.

 And now more US losers as Mexico retaliates with $3B in tariffs on US bourbon, pork, cheese, and produce. Ain’t a trade war grand?   

[IsailedawayfromFR]

The US is always in a stronger position if we can purchase something from a foreign country for less money than it costs to produce it ourselves.  Always.

Really?  Is that how we won the last World War?

We are talking about the defense of this country.  Relying upon another country to supply our needs during wartime is a recipe for our destruction.

[kevindavis007]

Really?  Is that how we won the last World War?

We are talking about the defense of this country.  Relying upon another country to supply our needs during wartime is a recipe for our destruction.

We won the last war cause that was the last time ocean saved our butts from getting bombed.  If there is a WWIII (god willing), it won't matter since all it takes to launch a missile and hit our cities only in minutes.

[edpc]

Really?  Is that how we won the last World War?

We are talking about the defense of this country.  Relying upon another country to supply our needs during wartime is a recipe for our destruction.

You can’t accurately compare that era with today. When the United States entered WWII, we had already been in the Great Depression for over a decade. Asking people to ration goods was not as much of a hardship, since they have been doing without for years, anyway.  FDR had been elected for the 3rd time and had more public support than Trump currently enjoys.  You’re going to be fighting the environmentalist enemies within to go heavy with mining and industrialization.  You won’t have anywhere near the volunteer personnel in the armed forces, with all the conscientious objector types.  Don’t even consider rationing with today’s entitlement generation.

[Suppressed]

You are not seeing the forest for all the trees.

Answer me this:  Does the defense of this country strengthen or weaken when we have a strong domestic auto, steel and aluminum industry?

Who are the winners and losers in that case?

@IsailedawayfromFR
Define what you mean by "strong domestic auto, steel and aluminum industry".  If you mean an low-quality one, because its been propped up by Affirmative Action, I mean subsidies....i.e., tariffs...then no, we're not stronger for it.

Such a setup can weaken our national defense in another way, too: by hurting our economy as we use wealth redistribution to prop up underproducers.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

@IsailedawayfromFR
Define what you mean by "strong domestic auto, steel and aluminum industry".  If you mean an low-quality one, because its been propped up by Affirmative Action, I mean subsidies....i.e., tariffs...then no, we're not stronger for it.

Such a setup can weaken our national defense in another way, too: by hurting our economy as we use wealth redistribution to prop up underproducers.

One that does not have vacant factories and the worker skill set is nil.

We need factories capable of retrofitting to produce war machinery, and skilled workers not needing training.

That is, if we want to win.

Are tariffs the way to do that?  I honestly do not know, but it may have a place among other strategies to ensure our industrial might is vibrant.

I do not know where you get our manufacturing base is low quality, propped up by subsidies or affirmative action. Is that what you think of our own workers and industrial companies?

The whole point is you have been describing the horrible effects on the consumer but there are certainly other rationale germaine to the usage of tariffs, some of which are long term and under the auspices of the person in charge of defending the country.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

You can’t accurately compare that era with today. When the United States entered WWII, we had already been in the Great Depression for over a decade. Asking people to ration goods was not as much of a hardship, since they have been doing without for years, anyway.  FDR had been elected for the 3rd time and had more public support than Trump currently enjoys.  You’re going to be fighting the environmentalist enemies within to go heavy with mining and industrialization.  You won’t have anywhere near the volunteer personnel in the armed forces, with all the conscientious objector types.  Don’t even consider rationing with today’s entitlement generation.

A few nuclear bombs leveling a few American cities with a million dead, who knows what we are capable of to destroy a known enemy?

I do not buy the rationale of 'won't work today' when survival is the paramount factor.

[edpc]

Initially, the retaliatory tariffs enacted by Mexico on US queso did not make much sense, until I found out Trump was the Commander of Cheese.


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