President Bush on steel. President Obama on rubber tires. What will the next wise leader do, smack tariffs on oxygen wafts over from some other country?
Barack O’Bush, episode 38347750
Sep 13th, 2009 by wintercow20
Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Sep 13th, 2009 by wintercow20
President Bush on steel. President Obama on rubber tires. What will the next wise leader do, smack tariffs on oxygen wafts over from some other country?
Wintercow, you should classify this one also under Corporatism and Rent Seeking. I assume these are categories for future book projects, so you can appear as a talking head more often than your brother.
I was sickened as the steel industry, including Nucor, sought “fair trade” protection under George Bush. I missed the latest on tires, but it’s the same story.
When Ken Iverson ran Nucor, he eschewed government subsidies, asserting correctly that Nucor could compete with any company, worldwide, period, across its many product lines.
I infer that U.S. tire workers are upset about being uncompetitive, but I wonder about how they think about their competitive advantages presently, the first being that I and many others do not want to buy a Chinese tire because of its reliability.
This could change, as manufacturers send the message that they are worried about their own quality competitiveness per dollar. Angling for tariffs sends the wrong message, and imposing them signals government thinks we have lost.
The bright spot is that our governors think this, and they have been continually wrong.