Forum Post: Congressional Act to reverse job exportation
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 11, 2011, 6:14 p.m. EST by AndyMorrow
(1)
from Dallas, TX
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
We need to demand that Congress raise tariffs on the majority of imported products. Corporate America will only respond to financial pressure when it impacts their profits. Increased tariffs would make it more expensive for businesses to send jobs overseas. The American people also need to commit to supporting businesses that buy and sell TRUE American materials and products by accepting the need to pay more expensive prices. The cost of American business' free reign in global enterprising has returned to impoverish the country.
"Corporate America will only respond to financial pressure when it impacts their profits"
This couldn't be more true. Nothing will ever happen until the people that run this country start feeling it in their pocket books.
The American public needs to stop buying all together. Stop buying gas, treats, any non essential items, just for a day or two. Don't go to the movies, pizza, coffee houses. Don't make phone calls, search the internet. Everything. Just shut yourself down. That will get people's attention if the movement is big enough, but good luck getting that started.
Higher tariffs would actually hurt the economy, not help it, but it takes understanding economics to know how.
Here's how it works, instead of moving jobs to America, it simply increases the prices Americans pay for goods. This lowers the standard of living. Even if tariffs were put at a high enough level to make this cost inefficient, it still will not work, and I will explain why.
In response to our tariffs, other countries will turn around and slap tariffs on American goods. This will make American goods more expensive in foreign markets, and the jobs intended to be created through the measure will not be created. This is because other countries will not buy American goods due to higher prices, and the necessary output will not be produced, and jobs will therefore not be needed to meet the reduced demand.
In summation, it will not make it more expensive to send jobs overseas. It will only increase prices in America, and reduce our standard of living. Companies will still send jobs overseas in order to meet international demand for their products.
At best American companies would create minimal numbers of jobs, only enough to meet American demand for their goods. These jobs would effectively be cancelled out by the higher prices Americans pay on all goods, and we would be at a net loss because we would not be competing in the international economy. The international economy is where we are today, and ignoring that fact can only lead to a detriment to society.
Textbook answer, but wouldn't necessarily play out that simply.
The key issue is labor arbitrage by corporations that do so for the sake of profits. The current Republican economic model, allowing businesses to use slave labor markets cannot be sustained indefinitely without further impacting the American workforce. Our economy is already tanking, unemployment has risen and the American dollar continues to devalue. A healthy long-term economy requires at least a marginal advantage to local production. China has done so very effectively.
To allow the continued practice of exporting jobs for corporate profit does so at a cost of local economic structure and production capacity. Republicans want taxes lowered so that businesses can maintain their profits and then predict businesses will then produce more American-born jobs. Corporate America is greedy and will simply continue in their current manner of business unless made to turn direction. Strategic tariffs that level out current trade agreements, particularly in relation to China, may produce short-term disadvantages with inflation, but it is a long-term investment in the American economy.
As one of the largest world consumers with a huge trade deficit, the US. has ample supply requirements to sustain significantly more local production, irregardless of international effects. The only reason the US diversified into the international economy was because it could dominate it. Not anymore. And disappointingly, the US has yet to do anything about it.
True on some points, but not entirely a full picture of how things work.
The answer is not tariffs. The answer to creating American jobs in the long term lies in the education system.
The Chinese and their ilk hold a comparative advantage in producing things that are not difficult to produce. Even microchips are easy to produce these days, and this is why you see companies like Apple exploiting cheap labor to do their grunt work.
There are products in which Americans hold a comparative advantage, however. Complicated medical machinery, airplanes, weapons systems, software, and other things requiring skilled labor are dominated by American companies. These companies would love to grow, but the American education system is so poor that it is difficult to find qualified workers.
Liberal teachers unions and their ilk have destroyed American education. They tell students that they deserve to succeed without expending effort. They tell students that they can be whatever they want to be and be successful. This could not be further from the truth. In order to be successful you must be trained in a trade that is in demand in your economy.
The schools need to be cleaned up. The education system needs to be entirely revamped and focus on engineering, math, science, software, and technical skills. This would qualify American workers to actually do the work that is in demand. The problem is that young Americans have it stuck in their minds that they deserve to be successful when they study things like history, philosophy, art, and even receive generic MBA's. None of those things are in demand, and young Americans refuse to do the jobs that are in demand. They think they deserve to be successful painting pictures and refuse to pick up a welding torch and learn how to use it.
Hiking tariffs would do exactly the opposite of what you hope. It is a inarguable fact. Instead, Americans need to just accept that they need to gain the skills that are in demand, and be willing to accept a job where they can apply those skills.
The answer is not to revert to an outdated economics policy that was debunked in the 1700's.