4 ms·

And then I'll introduce tariffs on goods produced using your robots. These are, fundamentally, political-economic questions. Not merely one or the other.

pj_mukh 10y ago
That's how you start a trade war and kill trade aka the Trump solution.
- rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
  To be fair Thomas Jefferson raised tariffs significantly. Most manufactured products simply stopped existing for consumers. All of that demand and no supply spurred the creation of a domestic manufacturing industry in a country that had previously only been useful for agriculture and raw materials.
  - pj_mukh 10y ago
    Thomas Jefferson lived in a very different time. This is a hyper-connected world with a very complex web of trade and inter-dependencies. Simply putting up trade barriers is a sureshot way of isolating yourself from global trade, when has that ever worked out for anyone?
    - throwawaykeno 10y ago
      The choice between NK/Iranian levels of isolation and complete free trade is a false choice. Plenty of countries have high tariffs for certain types of goods and do just fine. Even today. More-over, I hardly think a tariff on the output of robotic labor applied only to expats who left the country for tax reasons is going to cause a trade war...
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
  - anigbrowl 10y ago
    Yes, but the US basically had an entire continent that was almost free for the taking, given the relatively light resistance that Native Americans were able to put up. Of course this land had to be farmed/mined/etc. to be productive, but it's far far easier to take economic risks when you have effectively unlimited quantities of a popular asset (land) at your disposal. I'd be very wary of generalizing from that situation to economic planning in general.
    - rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
      All I'm saying is that tariffs are not universally good or bad. Japan has ridiculous duties on rice because the farm lobby is super strong and the inevitable result of lowering those tariffs is a loss of livelihood for many people as well as the loss of traditionally grown and sourced rice. Is that bad for the economy and for consumers? Duh. But if the rest of the economy can support the inflated price of rice and the Japanese people prefer staying true to their roots, then that's their business.
- legutierr 10y ago
  A collapse of consumer demand will also kill trade.
  - pj_mukh 10y ago
    That's a much better point. Consumer demand is paramount.
55acdda48ab5 10y ago
> I'll introduce tariffs on goods produced using your robots. My robot submarines will run your coast guard surveillance and deliver goods tariff free.

pj_mukh 10y ago

That's how you start a trade war and kill trade aka the Trump solution.

rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
To be fair Thomas Jefferson raised tariffs significantly. Most manufactured products simply stopped existing for consumers. All of that demand and no supply spurred the creation of a domestic manufacturing industry in a country that had previously only been useful for agriculture and raw materials.
- pj_mukh 10y ago
  Thomas Jefferson lived in a very different time. This is a hyper-connected world with a very complex web of trade and inter-dependencies. Simply putting up trade barriers is a sureshot way of isolating yourself from global trade, when has that ever worked out for anyone?
  - throwawaykeno 10y ago
    The choice between NK/Iranian levels of isolation and complete free trade is a false choice. Plenty of countries have high tariffs for certain types of goods and do just fine. Even today. More-over, I hardly think a tariff on the output of robotic labor applied only to expats who left the country for tax reasons is going to cause a trade war...
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
- anigbrowl 10y ago
  Yes, but the US basically had an entire continent that was almost free for the taking, given the relatively light resistance that Native Americans were able to put up. Of course this land had to be farmed/mined/etc. to be productive, but it's far far easier to take economic risks when you have effectively unlimited quantities of a popular asset (land) at your disposal. I'd be very wary of generalizing from that situation to economic planning in general.
  - rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
    All I'm saying is that tariffs are not universally good or bad. Japan has ridiculous duties on rice because the farm lobby is super strong and the inevitable result of lowering those tariffs is a loss of livelihood for many people as well as the loss of traditionally grown and sourced rice. Is that bad for the economy and for consumers? Duh. But if the rest of the economy can support the inflated price of rice and the Japanese people prefer staying true to their roots, then that's their business.
legutierr 10y ago
A collapse of consumer demand will also kill trade.
- pj_mukh 10y ago
  That's a much better point. Consumer demand is paramount.

55acdda48ab5 10y ago

> I'll introduce tariffs on goods produced using your robots. My robot submarines will run your coast guard surveillance and deliver goods tariff free.