CHANGING MY VIEW

After much toiling,  I've changed my view on free trade.  I've always believed in U.S. isolationism (George Washington,'s concept of No Foreign Entanglement,  Hamilton's famous quote "Trade with everyone--alliances with no one") but I was also a globalization free trade guy.  However,  I read through the history of the Tariff Act of 1816 today and it occurred to me that all four presidents on Mount Rushmore were actually protectionist.  

Further,  until the roaring twenties,  America was largely a self-sufficient farming and industrial nation with virtually no federal income taxes--instead we derived our federal revenue from tariffs on imports.  The roaring twenties saw free trade and had weakened America after the 1929 crash to the point where other countries could afford to retaliate when Hoover raised tariffs on imports by signing the dreaded Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.  (Keep in mind Hoover also raised taxes) 

WWII pulled us out of the depression, but since the war, America has seen many of its industrial sectors demolished by foreign countries such as Japan, who actually sold televisions at a price that would yield a negative profit for their companies in order to wipe out our American companies in that sector.  The tactic succeeded.  Since then, in 1994 China revalued its currency, debasing it to the point where they became the export king home to countless American (and other non-Chinese corporations).

In short, we are getting hustled by other countries.  Does that make me a pro-Union liberal? Absolutely not.  I am as anti-union as they come and I think unions, indeed, have contributed greatly to the demise of the big 3 automakers.    

Thus, my new view is that I support cutting federal income taxes earned in America from companies operating on American soil to 0%, as well as slashing payroll taxes for the same category and capital gains taxes to low single digits.  In place of this federal revenue, I would be in favor of heavy tariffs on imports.  Note that this plan only works if regulations and union boondoggles are lifted on American companies to let them operate more efficiently.