>> The Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930 wasn't the first tariff to contribute to the Great Depression. That would be Fordney-McCumber, 1922. <<
gee, tariffs in 1922. that wouldn't have had anything to do with the roaring twenties now would it? that is what i would have to conclude using your simplistic logic. using your argument that these things are a long time in the making, i could argue that it was woodrow wilson who lowered tariffs dramatically that culminated in the events leading to the great depression. just how far do you want to go back? you went back eight years to blame a modest tariff, why can't we go back another eight and blame wilsons substantial reductions of tariffs?
if tariffs lead to great depressions, how come we didn't suffer great depressions in the century leading up to world war one when much of that time we were far more protectionist than in the 20's?
Woodrow Wilson
multied.com
Wilson personally appeared before Congress (he was the first President since John Adams to make such an appearance) to persuade it to pass the Longwood Tariff Act which substantially reduced tariffs.
Wilson also helped to establish the Federal Reserve system, the first national banking system since the time of President Jackson.
Wilson followed a liberal foreign policy. He ended the policy of Dollar Diplomacy, in which the United States could use force to enforce economic policies. He did not, however, object to the use of force for the sake of democracy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
like i said, we have one of the worst presidents of the 20th century woodrow wilson (i'm being generous to clinton) to thank for this free trade, one-world, utopian nightmare of free trade dogma.
>> Smoot-Hawley was just the icing on the cake. This is, IMO, the major problem with tariffs. The consequences are unforeseeable <<
gee we had more than a century of tariffs protection and the country seemed to be just fine to me. the consequences to unfettered free trade look quite foreseeable if you ask me. woodrow wilson taught us what to expect from free traitors.
>> Also, other countries which have lower prices may well be in dire straits themselves, so tariffs further destabilize them, which isn't a good idea if you want them to be a market for your own goods. <<
give me a frigging break! what has free trade given us? massive destabilization! two-bit third world countries devaluing and trying to export their problems onto us. free trade and these global new world order dopes have brought us to the point where every time some podunk country topples the whole world economy is on the verge of collapse! remember the asian contagion? it started out with tiny thailand and spread like wildfire across the whole globe--all thanks to free trade, and globalization. we taxpayers are asked to spend billions via the IMF to bail out the financial whores of the world like goldman sachs who are profiting from this free trade perversion of capitalism. notice how every bailout gets larger and larger? we were on the hook to mexico for $50 billion, then the IMF spent $120 billion to bail out thailand, indonesia, and south korea, not to mention tens of billions more for russia. now argentina alone wants $132 billion from the IMF!
every year or two countries come crying to the IMF about how they need more money because they cannot learn to be self sufficient. of course the politicians and big bankers plead with us that capitalism itself hinges on bailing these countries out and if us taxpayers don't pony up, the whole house of cards is coming down.
these are the pernicious effects of this utopian, neo-socialist, global movement towards free trade. |
