3 ms·

Tariffs are backdoor wealth redistributon in some sense. Hear me out. US export industries are more high tech with higher wages, imports are comparatively low

by DenisM 8y ago

Tariffs are backdoor wealth redistributon in some sense. Hear me out. US export industries are more high tech with higher wages, imports are comparatively low tech. When US imposes tariffs it creates low-tech jobs in the US. When the trade partners impose tariffs they destroy high tech jobs in the US. The net result is high tech jobs lost, low tech jobs gained. Overall economic efficiency goes down due to loss of high tech jobs and benefits of specialization.

HillaryBriss 8y ago
> When US imposes tariffs it creates low-tech jobs in the US. I can kind of follow your argument. I can see how it might be true for, say, the recent US steel tariffs (although I don't know enough to say that steel production is 'low tech' these days). But, in general, doesn't your argument depend upon which mix of goods the US includes in the tariff? I mean, I wouldn't call car engines, cell phones, memory chips, television sets, game consoles, etc 'low tech' but the US imports a good deal of them. I also wonder how countries like Germany and Japan manage the blend of tariffs. They certainly produce a lot of high tech goods.
- jethro_tell 8y ago
  >I wouldn't call car engines, cell phones, memory chips, television sets, game consoles, etc 'low tech' but the US imports a good deal of them. Making them is pretty low tech, there's a team of people that design machines, robots, and human processes to manufacture the parts. That would be high tech but it's not that many jobs, and many of those jobs were already here. Then, there's a few people to get the stuff the robots can't do, and a couple guys to grease the robots, and a couple guys to maintain the conveyors and such. None of those are really high tech jobs. The senior machinery tech and the senior robotics guy and a sysadmin may be 'high tech' but most of the work, even working with the robots, is swaping parts, lubing and calibrating. And that, while it pays more than the floor workers, is still far below what we would think of as a high tech salary.
- DenisM 8y ago
  Good point. So much for my theory then.

by DenisM 8y ago

HillaryBriss 8y ago

> When US imposes tariffs it creates low-tech jobs in the US. I can kind of follow your argument. I can see how it might be true for, say, the recent US steel tariffs (although I don't know enough to say that steel production is 'low tech' these days). But, in general, doesn't your argument depend upon which mix of goods the US includes in the tariff? I mean, I wouldn't call car engines, cell phones, memory chips, television sets, game consoles, etc 'low tech' but the US imports a good deal of them. I also wonder how countries like Germany and Japan manage the blend of tariffs. They certainly produce a lot of high tech goods.

jethro_tell 8y ago
>I wouldn't call car engines, cell phones, memory chips, television sets, game consoles, etc 'low tech' but the US imports a good deal of them. Making them is pretty low tech, there's a team of people that design machines, robots, and human processes to manufacture the parts. That would be high tech but it's not that many jobs, and many of those jobs were already here. Then, there's a few people to get the stuff the robots can't do, and a couple guys to grease the robots, and a couple guys to maintain the conveyors and such. None of those are really high tech jobs. The senior machinery tech and the senior robotics guy and a sysadmin may be 'high tech' but most of the work, even working with the robots, is swaping parts, lubing and calibrating. And that, while it pays more than the floor workers, is still far below what we would think of as a high tech salary.
DenisM 8y ago
Good point. So much for my theory then.