Trump Signs Pledge

[Kodiak]

Getting the cart out WAY ahead of the horse here. Regardless, in his pledge speech Trump said he's a conservative, whatever he means by that.

My take is that Trump doesn't hold a conservative, liberal or any other coherent political philosophy. I think he believes in himself, in ways that are good and bad. He's looking at what he thinks are big problems and believes he can improve the situation, and he won't be guided by any overarching principles in his belief system but only by practical considerations.

No cart in front of any horse, I did say "if". I also believe that Trump is apolitical, meaning he has no particular side, just believes what he believes and will do what he thinks is right to fix it, not pander to any group(s).

[SlowBurn]

Could someone please explain why if all of our jobs are going to Mexico are there so many Mexicans illegally crossing our boarder looking for work? A curious mind wants to know. Placing a tariff on foreign goods raises the price to the consumer of those goods. Could someone tell me how that helps the average American. How exactly does Trump plan to take Iraq's oil with a military that is at it's lowest state of readiness in the history of our country. If Iran and their allies object to this plan is Trump ready to start WWIII. Trump is very good at delivering the feel good message, but very short on details.

Like a lot of business leaders, Trump doesn't really get the principles of the free market enterprise or why they're good long term for the country as a whole even if something like tariffs or bail outs might be advantageous in the short term to a particular business or sector. What you can say about Trump is that his interest in making the country great again seems genuine and he would do what he thinks is to our country's advantage rather than try to suck up to world opinion or cultural and academic elites. He appeals to people because he doesn't give a rats a$$ about whether other countries like us, his objective is to gain concrete advantage for us and let other countries worry about themselves. I like that, and agree with it, but he's so cocksure and so wrong about what really will work for us that he'd be a disaster.

[DanTana]

The main idea behind tariffs is to increase American made goods production. If foreign made goods become more expensive, then someone will see a need to manufacture these items here and sell them cheaper than the foreign made items. Hopefully, and I do believe he would do it, a tax break would be included for American manufacturing to keep them here on US soil, Trump knows that taxes is killing the American manufacturing business and why many are moving to Mexico and other places, along with Obama care. Many places will not hire full time workers now because of it. I believe Trump will also very aggressively act to defund and recall the laws of that failed and costly boondoggle.

[SlowBurn]

The main idea behind tariffs is to increase American made goods production. If foreign made goods become more expensive, then someone will see a need to manufacture these items here and sell them cheaper than the foreign made items

"Since The Wealth of Nations appeared more than two centuries ago, the case for free trade has been stated thousands of times, but perhaps never with more direct simplicity and force than it was stated in that volume. In general Smith rested his case on one fundamental proposition: “In every country it always is and must be the interest of the great body of the people to buy whatever they want of those who sell it cheapest.” “The proposition is so very manifest,” Smith continued, “that it seems ridiculous to take any pains to prove it; nor could it ever have been called in question, had not the interested sophistry of merchants and manufacturers confounded the common-sense of mankind.”'

Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson, quoting Adam Smith. A whole chapter of Hazlitt's short book is devoted to tariffs. That easy book should be required reading for anyone running for political office, particularly as a Republican. Trump, though, if he hasn't learned it at this stage of his life is never going to get it. Especially since he thinks he already knows it all.

[tv_racin_fan]

"The main idea behind tariffs is to increase American made goods production. If foreign made goods become more expensive, then someone will see a need to manufacture these items here and sell them cheaper than the foreign made items."

Domestic goods only sell cheaper than their foreign counterparts with some sort of tariff on the imports. That simply means the consumer pays more for the same goods and it generally results in those foreign countries putting a similar tariff on American made goods for export which in turn hurts that American manufacturing. Help one hurt another..