Message from @SilverLining
Discord ID: 503320042381770755
One which does not exist within an unobstructed market
The point is that does not change nation's economy. Let us say that Bill Gates earn $100 trillion because of monopoly. Then, he would spend it. The nations economy would suffer from zero effect of Bill Gates acquiring of money by unethical or even illegal means.
I'd encourage taxation on said gains, rather than outright tariffs
Perhaps... stratified tariffs, even
Just not flat tariff rates
Flat tariff rates would harm the poor more than the rich
It's why I oppose VATs
So, basically it is a form of pro-poor argument?
To some degree, yes
In addition to an argument of increased productivity, and thus general living standards
That is a myth perpetuated by free marketers. There is no theoretical argument for that.
Specialization's ability to improved productivity is well known
And that specialisation is achieved because a lot of capital is lost because home companies are destroyed by free markets
Tariffs are only beneficial when used to knock them down, or to buy votes
As humanity settled, we were able to specialize into certain fields rather than requiring everyone to hunt or gather, enabling new enterprises to arise
That is a different type of specialisation. What it has to do with free market?
It's just one example
Technological specialisation increases productivity.
I mean, autarky is just generally a poor idea
Every state has a maximum amount of production they can hypothetically achieve in each field, limited by resources, labor, capital, and so on
We're not in a post scarcity economy
It is not. What Autarky does is something like social welfare. Everyone survives, so overall quality is lower. Free market destroys weak competitors so quality is higher. But this higher quality also entails destruction of relatively poor business owners, who cannot compete with MNCs.
So, you destroy businesses today and benefit tomorrow
Equal tariffs would also produce a large amount of immediate damage as well
Imports/exports are required to sustain each state and its current quality of life
They won't. If they are imposed on nations which export more to the country putting tariffs. That is why Trump's tariffs are a success.
A success?
It's going to harm farmers in the long run
It already is, actually
Exports are going to decrease
You were talking short term. You said immediate damage
Both short and long term
In short term they are benefiting USA
Even then, you're more or less saying that short term benefits outweigh producing something sustainable in the long term
No. I am saying that they are theoretically equal.
Not particularly...
International trade, particularly without tariffs, shifts out the ultimate amount of potential productivity possible
It'd force some short term shifts in specialization (potentially, domestic industries don't need to pay transportation fees as high and would have shorter delays in shipment, so there are a lot of domestic boons), but in the long run, would result in greater overall productivity
That overall loss is equalised by earlier boons and increase in government exchequer. You can literally prove it via mathematical equations
Over time, however, the amount of damage caused would continually increase