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Path: utzoo!utcs!mnetor!fred
From: fred@mnetor.UUCP (Fred Williams)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: High Duties => Increased Competitiveness?
Message-ID: <2188@mnetor.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 16-Sep-85 14:04:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: mnetor.2188
Posted: Mon Sep 16 14:04:35 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 16-Sep-85 15:27:05 EDT
References: <1394@utcsri.UUCP>
Reply-To: fred@mnetor.UUCP (Fred Williams)
Distribution: can
Organization: Computer X (CANADA) Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lines: 38
Summary: 

In article <1394@utcsri.UUCP> peterr@utcsri.UUCP (Peter Rowley) writes:
>OK, you free trade buffs, here's another one for you.  What's wrong
>with this argument (if anything)?
>
>1. Japan has had high import duties for a long time.
>2. Japan's industry is highly competitive in the world market.
>3. Canada's duties have been lower than Japan's for a long time.
>4. Canada's competitiveness is less than Japan's in the world market.
>
>Therefore, we should RAISE duties so our industry can become
>competitive like Japan's.
>
    I'm not satisfied that you have drawn any degree of causality
between 1 & 2, (above), or 3 & 4 for that matter.  Might one also
say that;

    1. Japanese people tend to have slanted eyes.
    2. Japan's industry is highly competitive...
    3. Canadians, (for the most part), have "rounder" eyes.
    4. Canada's competitiveness is less...

    Therefore if Canadians all get plastic surgery to make their
eyes slanted our industry will be better.(:-)>

    With due apologies to any Japanese, no offence is intended by
the above false reasoning!  The point is that correlation between
two phenomena does not  necessarily imply causality.  There has to
be more to it.  For my two cents worth, I think higher trade
barriers at this time would be bad for us. We want to take as much
advantage of the inflated American dollar as possible, bearing in 
mind that if our dollar "strengthens" and becomes more valuable
then the shoe will be on the other foot, and American goods will be
cheaper.

-- 
Cheers,      Fred Williams,
UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!fred
BELL: (416)-475-8980 ext. 318