• BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    No shit.

    This is literally in the first paragraph of every economics textbook when they talk about tariffs.

    • HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      No, the first page is how it introduces inefficiencies into a supply/demand equilibrium, resulting in a lower quantity supplied and at a higher price.

      No one who every studies economics, even in passing, would even consider another country paying a tarrif for something you buy. The concept is just… what?

      • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Yeah, the, misguided, idea is that the increase in price from imports will drive domestic production, of those things, as the high prices reduce demand, and cut into profit margins. This used to be something that was a sensible assumption of what would happen. However the contemporary world has far too much infrastructure for tariffs to truly work like that any longer. It will, usually, be cheaper to increase the costs for the tariffs, than to restructure back to domestic production.

        • HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          It could drive up domestic production, however there us a good reason we import, which is similar to your last point.

          Bad example, but its the same reason you “import” Mexican workers - their skills and work ethic, along with willingness to work long hours for low wages. You aren’t going to get hundreds of thousands of Americans to decide to work in a sweat shop, or on farms, or doing handyman work for the same wages.

          I was going to mention the low cost of a life in China, and the lax H&S, ethic and environmental regulations, but America is trending that way too.

          • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Yes, for capitalism to exist, there must be both a consumer class, and a labor class, below the capitalist class. The cost of labor in highly industrialized countries is one of the largest driving factors behind the development of this infrastructure. We need to make sure we can import from places where the cost of labor is low enough, for the long term. Even China, and India, are starting to off-sure labor. The problem is that this, along with population growth, can’t be perpetual. Which is the inherent problem underlining capitalism as a permanent economic system.

    • Kalysta@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      My friend just got into a fight with some MAGATs on facebook about why we need things like civics education so we know what we’re voting for.

      You’ll be shocked to learn the MAGATs called him a communist for daring to want to educate them. They don’t even want to open the textbook let alone read it.