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We'll see. Trump has said that he will prevent TTIP/TPP and put a 40% tax on Chinese imports, but who knows if he will follow through. I certainly don't think

We'll see. Trump has said that he will prevent TTIP/TPP and put a 40% tax on Chinese imports, but who knows if he will follow through. I certainly don't think that he'd be at all bothered by the economic fallout of those things.

logfromblammo 11y ago
If Trump really wanted to make America great again, he'd drop all import tariffs, put a 40% tax on American exports, and throw some chum in the water. When the acquisition-merger frenzy dies down, the last corporations standing would not be ones that you would want to encounter in a dark alley. And, apparently, they would all be software development houses, agribusinesses, LEO launches, and pizza delivery chains. Americans would no longer do anything that they are not objectively best at doing in the global marketplace. They could not afford to even try anything else. But whatever. Let's just try the Hawley-Smoot tactic all over again, and see if it turns out differently this time.
- marcosdumay 11y ago
  Why would you want to tax exports? It is as damaging as taxing imports, as it stands into exactly the same kind of barrier. It's way better to base taxation choices on the need to collect money, plus a rare, exceptional sin tax. Taxation choices based on commercial strategies are almost universally poor.
  - logfromblammo 11y ago
    Sorry. That was intended to project as facetious. This US presidential elections cycle has made me more cynical and pessimistic than ever. I was just making a modest proposal for an all-new horribly bad idea rather than repeating the same old horribly bad idea once more. The best trade policy for everyone is to have no artificial barriers to trade at all. But such a policy cannot be as easily exploited for votes.
    - marcosdumay 11y ago
      You simply won't get an argument about foreign commerce that sounds too stupid to be taken seriously. This export tax, for example, it was not only proposed but even implemented several times around the world - Russia has once gone to the extent of forbidding agricultural exports.
- bbradley406 11y ago
  The further we get into the future, the more it resembles Snow Crash to me

logfromblammo 11y ago

If Trump really wanted to make America great again, he'd drop all import tariffs, put a 40% tax on American exports, and throw some chum in the water. When the acquisition-merger frenzy dies down, the last corporations standing would not be ones that you would want to encounter in a dark alley. And, apparently, they would all be software development houses, agribusinesses, LEO launches, and pizza delivery chains. Americans would no longer do anything that they are not objectively best at doing in the global marketplace. They could not afford to even try anything else. But whatever. Let's just try the Hawley-Smoot tactic all over again, and see if it turns out differently this time.

marcosdumay 11y ago
Why would you want to tax exports? It is as damaging as taxing imports, as it stands into exactly the same kind of barrier. It's way better to base taxation choices on the need to collect money, plus a rare, exceptional sin tax. Taxation choices based on commercial strategies are almost universally poor.
- logfromblammo 11y ago
  Sorry. That was intended to project as facetious. This US presidential elections cycle has made me more cynical and pessimistic than ever. I was just making a modest proposal for an all-new horribly bad idea rather than repeating the same old horribly bad idea once more. The best trade policy for everyone is to have no artificial barriers to trade at all. But such a policy cannot be as easily exploited for votes.
  - marcosdumay 11y ago
    You simply won't get an argument about foreign commerce that sounds too stupid to be taken seriously. This export tax, for example, it was not only proposed but even implemented several times around the world - Russia has once gone to the extent of forbidding agricultural exports.
bbradley406 11y ago
The further we get into the future, the more it resembles Snow Crash to me