Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watcgl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watcgl!jchapman From: jchapman@watcgl.UUCP (john chapman) Newsgroups: can.politics Subject: Re: High Duties => Increased Competitiveness? Message-ID: <2527@watcgl.UUCP> Date: Thu, 19-Sep-85 08:52:16 EDT Article-I.D.: watcgl.2527 Posted: Thu Sep 19 08:52:16 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 20-Sep-85 04:14:26 EDT References: <1394@utcsri.UUCP> <2188@mnetor.UUCP> Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 61 > So, do all the opponents of free trade like the way they live in Japan? > Is this why you keep bringing up Japanese society as an argument against > free trade? > > Have you ever considered what it would be like if Japanese goods came into > North America duty free? There is a reason there was fear in Henry Ford's > eyes. > > But seriously, folks, we have heard some of you attack free trade, let's > see you analyse what happens when a duty is put on and why you think it's > good *for the country* as you like to put it. Although I don't like excessive reliance on tariffs it does mean that infant industries have a chance to grow before (theoretically) they have to compete against much larger firms in other countries. > > Let's slap a duty on shoes, for example. First result is some Canadian > shoe makers get nice and rich, and in the short term there are more jobs > in the shoe industry. And this means more votes from shoe makers. > > Second thing that happens is that *every* Canadian pays a few dollars more > for shoes. How much in total? Well the extra paid is at least equal to > the gain obtained by the shoe makers. So a large sum of money is taken > from one sector (the rest of Canada) and given to a proven non-productive > sector. Of course, when a large sum of money is taken away, it means jobs > are lost. In fact, at least as many as were saved in the shoe industry! > Not only that but one of the reasons the shoes cost more is that you can't get away with paying someone $0.50/hr to make shoes in canada. So the people who actually make the shoes get paid a reasonable amount and so have some spending power which creates more jobs, etc. etc. Supporting industry this way does not remove money from the economy however an excess of imports does remove money from the economy. As seen recently the US is quite concerned with their massive trade deficit. > Of course, this is spread over the whole country, so nobody blames their > lack of a job on the "extra" job that was propped up in the shoe industry, > so no votes are lost. > > > Now I see why duties are such a good idea!! > -- > Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473 One thing I would like to see is a complete lifting of duties and taxes on the import of semiconductors from Japan; with cheap enough parts we might have some chance of competing in manufacturing systems. Let's also not forget that duties are a source of revenue to the government and if you eliminate them the government will get them out of your pocket somehow; with duties at least a dual purpose is accomplished (jobs+revenue). -- John Chapman ...!watmath!watcgl!jchapman Disclaimer : These are not the opinions of anyone but me and they may not even be mine.