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To: Frodo Baxter who wrote (5561)	2/14/1999 6:04:00 PM
From: Z Analyzer	Respond to of 9256

<< Inasmuch as Japanese hot-rolled steel or Korean DRAM is being "dumped" at "below-market" prices in our markets, the proper response is not to bitch and scream and impose punitive tariffs, the proper response is to buy as much as possible!>> I know I'm in the minority who feel that allowing the destruction of American industries by unfair competition is not OK. So we'll leave that issue aside. My unstudied belief is that, for whatever reason, prosperity generally has followed trade surplus and problems have followed trade deficit. I find the US in going from the world's largest creditor nation to the wold's largest debtor nation analagous to a wealthy family first mortgaging the house, then selling the family jewels, then running up the Visa bill. You can maintain the high standard of living right up to the very end when Visa will lend you no more and your standard of living must drop to your income (domestic production), or below if any of your creditors become uncomfortable and demand repayment. Then, all of a sudden, the Rolls and the country club memberships must go along with the big house.

To: Frodo Baxter who wrote (5561)	2/14/1999 6:33:00 PM
From: CPAMarty	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9256

I am all for free trade (NAFDA was a good idea IMO); as long as it is not a one way street. What would be wrong with selective reactions to their trade barriers? Example; if they shut their markets to HDD components (like heads) from US companies, then the US does the same to Japanese companies. This would not result in a trade war, Japan has more to lose from a trade war than the USA does.

To: Frodo Baxter who wrote (5561)	2/15/1999 11:10:00 AM
From: tom pope	Respond to of 9256

>>> Closed societies lose to open ones. Inasmuch as Japanese hot-rolled steel or Korean DRAM is being "dumped" at "below-market" prices in our markets, the proper response is not to bitch and scream and impose punitive tariffs, the proper response is to buy as much as possible<< Lawrence, I'm surprised to find you in the camp of tired academic orthodoxy. Buying as much as possible only works as long as the exporting nations are willing to accept the importer's IOU's, and it helps for the importer to happen to be the nation with the reserve currency. It doesn't work for countries that must actively finance trade deficits in international capital markets. Cut off international credit and free trade becomes impractical. It will only be practical for this country as long as central banks continue to be willing to park the dollars their country's exporters earn in Treasury obligations.