RE: Trade Restrictions Don't Make Sense: Importers And Exporters Are The Same People
Import/Export companies exist because it takes so much freekin speciallized knowledge to fill out all the form, know all the regulations and to know the system.
Thus, as a single person, you may learn to import furniture in small quantities from India. But, if you include more countries, the more likely that getting things through customs will be your full time job.
Your post tries to state that raising prices doesn't help... but it ignores that the prices are already raised. Furthermore, the quantities are severely limited. The whole thing is huge game played with other people's lives.
Lets take the importing of clothes from China. Only so much clothing is allowed into The US every year. And, every year, the amount is filled on the first day. To get your clothing in, you need to have your clothing in a bonded warehouse, or ready to moved into a bonded warehouse (as in sitting off shore).
There are professional line sitters, that hold the place for the importers, because this is usually a multiple day thing. They make those fools waiting for Star Wars I look like rank amateurs.
So, on opening day, there is a line with importers all queued with all the correct documentation filled out. If you have any of the documentation wrong, you just lost everything. Literally.
Those people who didn't get their import forms approved... well some of the containers are rerouted to mexico, some of them are just dumped in the ocean.
Now here is the other thing that is not readily broadcast. Profit dumping.
You know those $100 pair of sneakers? Well, they actually only cost $5 to manufacture. So, they are bought by a company in the Cayman Islands where they are marked up to $95 before they are imported into The U.S. Thus, you only pay $5 of profit in The U.S.
Import/Export fees are actually the only income a country has.
The income tax in The U.S. goes to the FED, where it is literally destroyed. The govern-cement then has to borrow newly created money for its next years expenses.
None of these issues are caused by free trade, but by regulations blocking or trying to manage trade. Arguments should be made to eliminate these barriers, not create new ones, and certainly not to tax consumers and firms that use imported materials.
My core argument is that opponents of free trade never consider all of the jobs trade creates, which vastly outnumber those lost to competition.
There are a ton of bad policies that hurt our economy and kill jobs ...we should be focusing on eliminating those and making our own production more competitive.
Also, I wasn't talking about import/export firms, but about firms that make use of imported materials (most firms in the country in one way or another) and firms that export either directly or indirectly.
There is no free trade in The U.S. and I doubt there will ever be as long as The U.S. continues to exist.
If you want to build something in america from parts made in america, you almost literally have to build it all yourself.
I agree that all of these regulations are abhorrent and should be gotten rid of, post haste.
But to state that they will raise prices or cause any other kind of economic downturn, doesn't really follow. Its already baked in the cake, and its just about which entity gets which slice.
Our worst policy in The U.S. is the minimum wage. If we were really about globalism and building up all markets, our minimum wage would be $3 a day like it is in most of the rest of the world.
So, I am not really upset by more import fees. Its not really a game changer. And arguing for the govern-cement to cut back on regulations... well, that will indeed be a red letter day.
It is all a scam. A less scammy scam isn't really better.
Every new regulation is a new cost in the chain of production. All costs are passed along to consumers through higher prices. They are not already "baked in," and changes have drastic effects.
It is true that trade is heavily restricted rather than free, but every new policy ratchets down the controls and further hampers the market.
Hopefully with Trump many of the absurd regulations will be lifted. Global trade practices by many nations is unfair and many do not abide by the rules! I do not like Trump but with trade I think he is right on the money
i agree with min wage being terrible...there are tons of other regs inducing trillions in lost econ opportunity making our economy less competitive. If the goal is to make U.S. production more competitive, then the healthy way to go about that is to actually make it more competitive--get rid of inefficient regs, artificial cost increases, and lower taxes--the unhealthy approach is to extort consumers.