KD on how to fix the economy

[gates]

Jokker these are some of the fixes I alluded to on the ther thread - again - Im not holding my breath:

http://tickerforum.org/akcs-www?singlepost=2145156

[offshore44]

Just read that...the question becomes: how do we prevent another Smoot-Hawley situation? If we eliminate wage and environmental arbitrage through tariffs, what stops other countries from retaliating? If we damage their economies by imposing tariffs, you can bet that they are going to bring as much economic and political pressure on the US as possible.

Does it even matter though, because of our huge trade imbalances. I've got to check the numbers on that and correlate with exports with wages and environmental regulations. We could end up burning just Asia excluding Japan, burning India and burning OPEC. Maybe some Eastern European countries would / could get burned as well.

The Fair Tax idea has some possibilities...I haven't thought it through yet. The prebate part sounds like more bureaucracy to me though. The idea is to eliminate bureaucracy as much as possible at all levels. It sure would stimulate saving and investing though!

[gates]

Im not saying he has all the answers just that what he is proposing, if implimented, will be forced on congress - they wont do it before we blow up.

[offshore44]

:rofl: Before we blow up?

I think that has happened already, hasn't it? OK, a very low velocity detonation, but it seems that we (all of us) have created quit the IED politically and economically over the last 75 to 100 years. I think that it went off about two years ago.

This is at least some descent ideas on how to get out of it.

The other part that needs to be addressed is the zillions of regulations that flow from .gov and the bureaucracy. You know how it is...if your job is to make and enforce the rules, it's very hard to stop making and enforcing rules. That is a major component of running business out of the US. It's like plaque on your teeth, it just keeps building up until you start brushing regularly or your teeth fall out.

I was trying to think through the repercussions and implications of those tariffs. Who would it effect and what they might do about it.

The Chinese might just wig out, and we owe them a grip o'money.

Then there is the transition from here to there...might not be so pretty.

[TheJokker]

the site seems to be down this morning; can't read the article.

while i have not read the book i like what i know about the fair tax.

what can china do in response? they have problems of a different nature. communist china is a welfare state on steroids with a billion peasants and with dollars flowing into china they have to combat inflation which could further escalate their entitlement costs. even though deflation presents a different set of problems for the united states and even though our own problems are rather severe i suspect our own vulnerable economy is more robust than china's.

consider where capital will go to in a world in a dangerous correction? if we make the right decisions and minimize our problems it will return to america if we are the most stable country in a very troubled world.

there are still a lot of positives about america. we can't dismiss the positives when we consider the negatives.

[MtnWulf]

I think people will think twice about investing or putting their money in America with the looters in charge.

I do not see any " if we make the right decisions and minimize our problems it will return to america if we are the most stable country in a very troubled world." happening anytime in our future, under either of the 2 parties.

[Eric Bryant]

If you do these two things then most of "global wage arbitrage" disappears. Now we get down to brass tacks - is our legal and tax environment really disadvantageous for business, or is the real issue that manufacturers want to abuse their employees and trash the environment?

If manufacturers want to make things overseas, that's fine. But if we really have a colorable argument for our policies in regard to wages and environmental issues, we have not only a right but a duty to prevent firms from evading those laws yet enjoying full and free access to our markets at the same time. We're either right on the facts and the ethics, or we're wrong.

There's no way to stop it so long as the "free trade" globalists are allowed to rule the day where their definition of "free trade" means "enslave someone and ruin the environment, so long as you don't do it here, and it's all good."

:bow:

Ya know, KD often irritates me by falling into the same message and tone, week after week - and then he reminds me why I still check his site on a daily basis.

I support both tiers of his proposal - remove the wage/ethic arbitrage, and fix the tax system. I don't think that employment will "enjoy a boom", at least not right away - there is still tremendous mis-allocation of physical capital after three decades of poor corporate behavior, and the US has also pissed away its education advantage after wasting its best scientific and mathematical minds on parasitic quantitative investing techniques. But we'd eventually fight our way back, at least in certain areas of industrial innovation.

Originally posted by TheJokker
there are still a lot of positives about america. we can't dismiss the positives when we consider the negatives.

This, coming from Mr-Fair-and-Balanced himself.

:rolleyes:

gates, don't waste your time with this guy - it's like trying to invent a recordable vinyl LP. He's never once show the ability to be influenced by a well-reasoned argument. Go scream at your living-room wall - it'll provide a better debate experience.