Understanding the Morality and Necessity of Tariffs

 

If you don't understand the tariffs, or you think there is no plan, I really encourage you to watch this video by Clayton Morris on his gaming channel.

THIS IS NOT A GAMIMG VIDEO, though it launches from the new switch game prices. This video is the best simple explanation of the wisdom, morality and practicality of the tariffs.

We in the West have been gutting our working class for decades now to immorally profit off basically slave labour in poorer countries. All to pay slightly cheaper prices for electronics that we used to make here and could afford anyway before they were offshored.

The bill has come due. The sooner our own government follows Trump's lead, and puts large tariffs on countries like China, India and others, the sooner we can move through the pain and rebuild our own industry here. If your economy is vulnerable to tariffs, it's because you have structured it immorally to serve the financial elites who move money across borders in the billions at the press of a button. It's time to reign that in. For the good of all of us.

Just consider one of the less thought about impacts of free trade. Because of Australia’s offshoring policies since at least the 1980’s the amount of companies and factories that made stuff you could invest in has gone down. It is now much harder to invest in production in Australia, than it once was. This has created a situation where the major sectors for investment in Australia have become the resources industries, which are mostly sold overseas, the universities which import a lot of people into these sures as their business model, and housing. Why housing you ask?

Well for decades in Australia housing has been one of the only sure bets to increase your money. There have been several housing booms pushing house prices to levels people once considered impossible. So, more and more money has been put into the land and housing market, while less and money in Australia goes into producing the things that we consume. This has had the terrible effect of locking Australia's wealth into unproductive land and housing. This is money which could have gone into industry, but instead it is just moved around in the housing market, continually inflating it. Which has also in turn, of course, had a terrible effect on housing affordability. It is not just debt and high immigration which is causing the affordability problem, the lack of genuinely profitable sectors to invest in also contributes. In essence Australians have traded cheap T.V.s and cars for unaffordable houses. And what is worse is much of the money spent on those devices and products goes overseas. So, to continually inflate the economy our government has chosen the shortcut of high immigration, because Australia is a desirable place to live, but this has come at the sacrifice of affordability and productive ability. This is a serious double blow to our national lifestyle. It is unsustainable. 

The bad effects of free trade and offshoring are many. I especially like the explanation from the business owner in this video using the illustration of a Chinese made lighter verse and American one. This video is a good breakdown of why these tariffs are not just necessary, they are moral and we have to rethink how we go about buying things.