Should Tariffs Be Part of Our Economic Conversation?

[phantom power]

But should we take tariffs seriously? Should they at least be part of our conversation? We all know what happens when someone suggests them. Annie Lowrey and Dylan Matthews and Matt Yglesias call them moral monsters while these elites blithely ignore the plight of the American working class, calling for minor adjustments to the American welfare state rather than articulating any reasonable job policy for working-class people. This attitude is at least as much social signification as economic policy. But maybe we should rethink them. At least Matthew Cunningham-Cook thinks we should.

(... Discussion of 5 arguments in favor of tariffs ...)

Say what you will about tariffs, but they do help create stable American communities. And we need stable American communities. If you support unfettered capital mobility and the global economy as it stands, it is your moral and perhaps even patriotic duty to come up with concrete answers that you are willing to tell an unemployed American worker as to what they should do and what you are going to do for them. Similarly, those who do support tariffs need to come up with concrete answers for Bangladeshi workers and Honduran workers too. In a global economy like we have now, we can’t just throw a bunch of workers overseas out of a job too. Or we can, but it’s hardly less problematic than the current situation.

The one difference of course between American workers and Honduran workers is that I and most of you have to live in the United States. Millions of unemployed and underemployed and employed but in three jobs to make ends meet is a recipe for social instability. There are concrete political and social reasons to emphasize putting Americans to work in good-paying jobs where they can have a union if they want one. That has to be a real priority for us, as we are seeing in a period of rising fascism. It can happen here.

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2016/01/should-tariffs-be-part-of-our-economic-conversation

[Katashi_itto]

1. Yes.

[Lee-Lee]

2. Of course they should

where would our auto industry be with zero tariffs on imported autos?

[librechik]

3. I wish. America doesn't think of itself as separated from other countries now.

Such independence has been washed clean out of the discourse, which is now purely dominated by neoliberal corporatists. Tariffs are more or less unthinkable to the people in USA who pull the strings. Kinda like a decent social safety net. Don't even mention it, PLEASE!

Ofcourse this is bad for people but they don't care. They don't like people.

[moondust]

4. Even Trump thinks so.

http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Donald_Trump_Free_Trade.htm

Broken clock...

[B Calm]

5. Yes!

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Makes Me Nervous

I don't think it stops the movement of jobs overseas, i don't think it really reduces demand except for the cost, and the people bearing the cost of the tariff is the consumer, which would have a disproportionate impact on low income people.

I'm just not convinced that the reasons in this piece (which all sound superb) would really happen.

[pampango]

7. That is not how modern progressive countries have produced a strong middle class, but we can talk

about anything.

Many think the US is so different that what works in other countries will not work here so we have to try something different. Or that what works in other countries is impossible here due to republican control of congress but tariffs may be politically possible since elements of the republican base - represented by Trump and others - are supportive of the idea of tariffs.

Modern progressive countries seem to find success following the same policies that FDR laid out: high/progressive taxes, legal support for strong unions, an effective safety net and tighter regulation of corporations and the financial industry.