3 ms·

That is the stupidest shit I've ever seen. Just flat rate everything and get rid of all the special exemptions and trash that just creates loopholes. If this r

by 0des 5y ago

That is the stupidest shit I've ever seen. Just flat rate everything and get rid of all the special exemptions and trash that just creates loopholes. If this results in a lot of things soon containing 11% coconut water, I might just snap.

colechristensen 5y ago
Trade policy is explicitly to manipulate balances of imports and exports, that doesn't happen with flat rates. Some things you want to protect, some things are bargaining chips for concessions elsewhere. Of all the stupid shit in government, trade exceptions are far from the worst.
- civilized 5y ago
  Many people might be skeptical of the premise that it's beneficial for the government to manipulate balances of imports and exports.
  - colechristensen 5y ago
    Many people are skeptical that the world is round, when you phrase a statement like that you have the luxury of being right but without having said anything at all because "many" and "skeptical" are extraordinarily vague and trivial to make true about anything. Having trade policy is as old as government, skeptics or not. "Free markets" in the absolute sense have never and will never exist, and talking in absolutes isn't helpful, a "assume a spherical cow" kind of approximation which is just as useful to the real world.
    - civilized 5y ago
      You could have just as well said "War is as old as government, skeptics or not. 'A peaceful world' in the absolute sense has never and will never exist, and talking in absolutes isn't helpful etc. etc." I'm open to the idea that trade policy is sometimes useful but such a defense of it is facile nonsense. The ubiquity of something across time and space doesn't make it good or pragmatic or savvy or endow it with any other nice quality. Some things, like war, are basically bad, and at best perhaps necessary in some very limited situations.
    - thaumasiotes 5y ago
      > Having trade policy is as old as government, skeptics or not. This isn't even true. Government is much, much older than trade policy.
  - someguydave 5y ago
    Even if the us governmemt adopted a purely neutral stance toward, nearly all of our trade partners have adopted extremely unbalanced trade policies.
adtac 5y ago
Why should the import duty on luxury cars and medicines be the same?
b112 5y ago
If this results in a lot of things soon containing 11% coconut water, I might just snap Just wait until the hearings, the media frenzy, when those products are tested and found to contain 9% juice!
bigthymer 5y ago
> all the special exemptions and trash that just creates loopholes Big companies pay lobbyists to add these in. It is no accident that these end up in the tax code.

by 0des 5y ago

colechristensen 5y ago

Trade policy is explicitly to manipulate balances of imports and exports, that doesn't happen with flat rates. Some things you want to protect, some things are bargaining chips for concessions elsewhere. Of all the stupid shit in government, trade exceptions are far from the worst.

civilized 5y ago
Many people might be skeptical of the premise that it's beneficial for the government to manipulate balances of imports and exports.
- colechristensen 5y ago
  Many people are skeptical that the world is round, when you phrase a statement like that you have the luxury of being right but without having said anything at all because "many" and "skeptical" are extraordinarily vague and trivial to make true about anything. Having trade policy is as old as government, skeptics or not. "Free markets" in the absolute sense have never and will never exist, and talking in absolutes isn't helpful, a "assume a spherical cow" kind of approximation which is just as useful to the real world.
  - civilized 5y ago
    You could have just as well said "War is as old as government, skeptics or not. 'A peaceful world' in the absolute sense has never and will never exist, and talking in absolutes isn't helpful etc. etc." I'm open to the idea that trade policy is sometimes useful but such a defense of it is facile nonsense. The ubiquity of something across time and space doesn't make it good or pragmatic or savvy or endow it with any other nice quality. Some things, like war, are basically bad, and at best perhaps necessary in some very limited situations.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    > Having trade policy is as old as government, skeptics or not. This isn't even true. Government is much, much older than trade policy.
- someguydave 5y ago
  Even if the us governmemt adopted a purely neutral stance toward, nearly all of our trade partners have adopted extremely unbalanced trade policies.

adtac 5y ago

Why should the import duty on luxury cars and medicines be the same?

b112 5y ago

If this results in a lot of things soon containing 11% coconut water, I might just snap Just wait until the hearings, the media frenzy, when those products are tested and found to contain 9% juice!

bigthymer 5y ago

> all the special exemptions and trash that just creates loopholes Big companies pay lobbyists to add these in. It is no accident that these end up in the tax code.